2.2's Instant Ship and Module Transport - Yay or Nay?
- Thread starter Kintch
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100% agree. Timer doesn't need to be too punishing, just something to give the feeling that the ship has to actually be moved. (Don't even get me started on the silly "3D printing" notion thrown around. I sincerely hope FD drop that for fighters as well, and go with preassmbled pieces instead...)
I can plan for myself - and my girlfriend sitting on the next table to some (very limited) extent.
I can not plan for every other player in this game that might want to see me.
There's ways around it, sure. Just like there's ways around the immersion breaking aspect of instant transfer, which are so simple, it hurts (figuratively speaking): order your ship, go to bed, get in your ship the next day. tadaaaaa
Lol sorry but most aspects of this game are extremely simplistic. In fact I'm having difficulty at the moment naming any that aren't right off the top of my head. I've done everything too... from PvE combat (of all forms) to trade, smuggling, exploration, and hours upon hours of PvP.
None of it is very complicated. This game is "big".... in a sense. Of course that's if seeing a bunch of reused and recolored procedurally generated assets constitutes "big" to some people. Sometimes I just feel like there's too much loading screen and not enough game. The only size is really in the galaxy map... and I suppose planets feel pretty big when you're landed on them. Pity they are still so bland. Hopefully FD can widen their customer base and increase revenue to continue building some of the awesome features they've planned. A broader audience would probably be enticed by a reduction in prohibitive yet pointless timesink mechanics... remedied by features like an instant ship transfer to your current station. Oh wait!...
Interesting. Slightly more elegant method, for sure. It emulates that the ship is making the journey, achieves a similar outcome and at least follows some of the rules Frontier place on people. Still means it's the easiest approach, but I suspect that's pretty much unavoidable at this juncture. It also means you may be able send your ship to one location, though, and then go someplace else. EG sending home, and you can continue on elsewhere. So it actually has some additional benefits.
Frontier have already set the ground rules, though, so can't see it changing.
Lol so true.
Everybody has constraints on their time.There's almost no point in "scouting" when most systems along routes are empty. Additionally, most traders (and possibly even yourself) utilize EDDB to plot routes along profitable circuits-- which will still offer the highest profit margins over other exploitive techniques (at least in all the examples I've seen so far by opponents of the instantaneous aspect of this feature).
Now, onto the pros:
-For traders and explorers (although to murderhobos' detriment... yay that should please even more of you honestly), they can now enter heavily populated systems in tougher ships without fear of entering in a lightly or completely unarmed ship, and then transfer that ship there safely.
-For ALL gamers, it reduces redundant travel times that get in the way of actual gameplay and engagement in desired activities by allowing them to transfer desired ships to their location right away without having to suffer through tons of witchspace jumps just to ferry them.
-that specifically benefits gamers that have constraints on their time
-it also benefits combat players and traders that may have lacking jump ranges on their ships due to limitations of the base hull and their builds-- though not in the form of an exploit, simply a time saver of removing the requirement to watch loading screens over and over (witchspace). If these players are looking for localized gameplay in a certain region or want to group up with friends in a distant area of space, they can do so without wasting upwards of an hour or more jumping and then refitting (although they still have to jump there in something, call it a taxi. It's pretty irrelevant to anyone but the actual beholder).
-the gaming community at large benefits for the greater allure of Elite Dangerous as it will appeal to a broader audience, meaning the likelihood of more incoming new players that are no longer deterred by as much of the prohibitive timesink the game previously and needlessly required. Additionally, more players that grew bored with these elements of Elite Dangerous may return, meaning a greater population for all to enjoy. Finally both of these potential increases will demonstrate an increase in the game's overal popularity, which is known to stimulate growth, which means more money for Frontier to utilize to continue expanding and building this game into something amazing beyond what it is now. That's something everyone benefits from.
-the feature is entirely optional so it does not force anyone into a style of play they do not desire
-ship role balance is intact because it does not make any ships better at what they are not intended for. i.e. combat ships are not better for exploration, trade ships are not better for combat, and exploration ships are not better for trade. The only difference is the needless hours of ferrying ships along from known points in inhabited space will require less time-- an acceptable and OPTIONAL drop in realism for those who elect to take convenience over immersion.
Overall this is a great feature and it should be instant.
And 'you don't have to use it' is a non-argument. It's the same as adding a instant win button and saying you can ignore it.
If this was a single player game, then allright.
But it isn't. So no unnecessary cheats please.
And what's next? "Oh it takes so long to jump from one system to the other, please let us upgrade our fsd to allow 10.000LY jump with no fuel consumption since scooping 'takes too much time'" ?
Really, where's this instant-win crowd coming from?
Well, instant transfer doesn't break the game, either. Outside of very constructed case studies.
It does boil down to "immersion".
And there I think Commander Marrs' suggestion is really decent: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...-Nay/page181?p=4387206&viewfull=1#post4387206
And does not deserve to be lost in 3000 mostly opinion related posts wheter vanilla or chocolate icecream is the Herreneis.
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Are you argueing in favour of instant ship transfer, or against instant respawn (I could imagine a respawn timer based on how far you are from the station you respawn at - also not to respawn at the last dock, but whatever is the nearest one with a shipyard...)
Having them instantly transported seems a bit, well, cheaty. I mean, if ships can instantly be transported from one system to another, why am I flying my ship from place to place? A civilization that can instantly teleport spaceships hundreds of light-years doesn't need people to ship commodities around. A 500LY journey only takes around a real-time hour anyway, so I would rather wait as long as it takes a skilled pilot (which is what you would be paying to hire). Pay a fee for the pilot's services as well as fuel and maintenance expenses along the way. Space is supposed to be big, and negotiating it isn't easy.
I hope we can sell ships remotely, too? I have a couple of ships stashed many hundreds of LY from my current location that I will never need again and could use the capital!
I hope we can sell ships remotely, too? I have a couple of ships stashed many hundreds of LY from my current location that I will never need again and could use the capital!
Not at all. 20 minutes to an hour is often what it takes, depending on how efficient you are and of course the distance.
I only play a few hours a week, but would much prefer a time on the ship transfer. Just seems wrong for it to be instantaneous. I can still do other things while I wait for my ship/s to arrive or I can call them just before I log of for the night, and have them there the next time I play.
Robert Maynard
Volunteer Moderator
Presumably as a fundamental concession to continued gameplay - being "dead" is not gameplay.
Cool. So now I can't like the idea of having this be instant, with the argument being that it's a great time saver, without being a disloyal transient narcissist?
Dear Diary: I learned something new about myself today. I'm an ignorant disloyal disingenuous transient narcissist. I don't know how it got this far, but Dad says I play too many video games and should go outside more. I'm really hungry right now, I might go down to the corner deli and get a sandwich... Ohh, yes.. A pastrami sandwich sounds really good right now.
rootsrat
Volunteer Moderator
That's exactly what I've said about the game being fun and compromises made for realism vs fun factor. Waiting doing nothing for your capsule to arrive in a starport is realistic, but not fun. Hence instant teleportation can be forgiven and understood as a compromise.
Waiting for your ship, where you CAN DO other things - is more realistic and also fun (depending on what you're going to do, but that's as per normal gameplay).
Ship teleportation is very unralistic and hence not that much fun.
That's my personal POV of course.
Remove "transient" and you have yourself it seems.
That still is problematic in my opinion and it would be suitable solution,
if we were able to choose the actual delivery destination,
other than "call the ship" to our actual position.
Planning ahead is a key element of E: D and should stick with it,
just having the basic "summon" option is bland, and with a timer
a waste of time.
Surely you could do something in that system, but if you have to travel to the system you
want to mine in, and are not in the mood to fight with your combat ship,
it just is another waiting timer, like waiting on missions to refresh.
It is just unnecessary to blow up the balloon of wasted time so much.
I like the transfer as a feature, and i love to use it to consolidate my "fleet"/collection at my homebase.
If i can't order my ship there, without actually being docked at the destination,
why would i want another waiting time?
This is stuff that simply gets you out of the game.
Sure travelling long distances and summoning your battleboat to jaques is something
people can exploit, but don't forget it always happens by CHOICE.
I am sure FD can limit the maximum range to ferry your ships to,
if stuff gets out of hand, but then again why should we bother with a QOL feature,
if we again cut it down to uselesness.
Example:
My Gunship has no scoop, so maximum range is 60 Ly with one tank,
if the ship would be limited to be transported that range, i could faster fly there, grab it myself
and do the trip manually.
A feature that is cut too much could be simply completely left out.
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I'll just paste my post from the other thread here.
All this instant ship transfer business annoys me to be honest i think it cheapens the experience of Elite, i can see and understand the point of removing some barriers but still not convinced that this is the proper way to go about this particular feature.
An other choice would've been as when a transfer is asked system takes the ships jump range in account and calculated how many jumps required, applied a fixed time on it let's say 1 minute plus some additional for the final destination simulating jumping into system and getting to the station. We already have logic for this in game as in calculating delivery missions for players and yeah i know it is not perfect but would've still worked for ship transfer.
Also i can't help but wonder if this removing barriers for players sympathy would extend beyond ship and module transfer to Player groups in the future.. We really can use a group interface and some social tools.
All this instant ship transfer business annoys me to be honest i think it cheapens the experience of Elite, i can see and understand the point of removing some barriers but still not convinced that this is the proper way to go about this particular feature.
An other choice would've been as when a transfer is asked system takes the ships jump range in account and calculated how many jumps required, applied a fixed time on it let's say 1 minute plus some additional for the final destination simulating jumping into system and getting to the station. We already have logic for this in game as in calculating delivery missions for players and yeah i know it is not perfect but would've still worked for ship transfer.
Also i can't help but wonder if this removing barriers for players sympathy would extend beyond ship and module transfer to Player groups in the future.. We really can use a group interface and some social tools.
Yea, haha, so clever... sorry, but that argument is getting old, and it's still invalid in the context of this discussion.
What? First of all, what's stopping you from doing that if that's what you want, and what is "normal" gameplay in a game that is supposed (but sometimes fails) to be about variety and freedom? Seriously. Let other players use this instant feature if they want and you use it however you see fit for yourself. Problem (not that it ever really existed) solved.
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