The need (or request) for Small Pad only locations.

[Tarman]

How about we all stop sniping for a minute and look at the whole picture available of ship landing and size, since we all want to have more cool things to do with more spaceships.

Ultimately this thread presents a concept to provide more specialization for a specific ship class, based on landing availability. Instead of us getting all peepants about this being applied to one aspect of one ship type, we need to look at ALL ships for ALL landing type scenarios and see which ones are still not ingame, which ones can still be added in what order, and which ones may never be added due to other game concerns. This area of the game has plenty of room for iteration.

There was a thread a while back, about providing access to smallpad stations for large ships by various methods. I didn't favour adding direct support for large vessels without adding more roles and landing for other vessels as well, since it would be a game-changer to allow this access by itself. In a suite of larger landing-specific options though, it becomes less damaging to gameplay and more "lookit the little ship coming to get the stuff from my big ship yaaaay".

I personally would like to see more situations where the dock is Ship-Type X Only. Large industrial spacedocks that can ONLY accommodate big vessels, with a shuttle bay for Smalls on their "office" station. A pirate base with tons of small and medium pads and one large one for their big bird. A private base with 4 large worked-for pads so your wing doesn't need to compromise its composition. There are endless iterations of this concept, and a whole collection of them adds a great amount of texture to the game on a destination feature level.

THEN we can fight about THOSE details instead. >______>

 

[Agony_Aunt]

Is there really a reason, to be practical, to keep using them once you own a Python, AspX, or whatever?

Don't really care about being practical. I just fly what i want. I still fly both Cobras. They are the only 2 ships that survived my recent ship purge as a I redo my fleet.

 

[Stealthie]

How about we all stop sniping for a minute and look at the whole picture available of ship landing and size, since we all want to have more cool things to do with more spaceships.

Ultimately this thread presents a concept to provide more specialization for a specific ship class, based on landing availability. Instead of us getting all peepants about this being applied to one aspect of one ship type, we need to look at ALL ships for ALL landing type scenarios and see which ones are still not ingame, which ones can still be added in what order, and which ones may never be added due to other game concerns. This area of the game has plenty of room for iteration.

There was a thread a while back, about providing access to smallpad stations for large ships by various methods. I didn't favour adding direct support for large vessels without adding more roles and landing for other vessels as well, since it would be a game-changer to allow this access by itself. In a suite of larger landing-specific options though, it becomes less damaging to gameplay and more "lookit the little ship coming to get the stuff from my big ship yaaaay".

I personally would like to see more situations where the dock is Ship-Type X Only. Large industrial spacedocks that can ONLY accommodate big vessels, with a shuttle bay for Smalls on their "office" station. A pirate base with tons of small and medium pads and one large one for their big bird. A private base with 4 large worked-for pads so your wing doesn't need to compromise its composition. There are endless iterations of this concept, and a whole collection of them adds a great amount of texture to the game on a destination feature level.

THEN we can fight about THOSE details instead. >______>

Exactly.

beats me why anybody would be against the idea of a bit of variety.

Just cos I own a T9, I'm not going to moan because I also need to have a Python or an AspX to make deliveries to a platform.
Hell, I enjoy that cos it gives me an excuse to buy yet another ship and play around upgrading it.

Similar thing could apply here.
There could be systems that simply ban the use of larger ships and so the player is given an excuse to play with small ships, optimising them for combat or trading etc.

With hindsight, it might have been nice (with rgard to BGS stuff in particular) if the majority of the low-tech systems started off with almost exclusively small-pad stations/platforms and then, as factions increase their status, the stations were upgraded with larger pads.

That'd create more opportunities for players to have an effect on the galaxy.
You find, say, a backwater system with pristine metallic rings, you work to improve a couple of facions' status so they upgrade to medium and then large pads and then you can bring in bigger ships to go mining with and to trade with.

 

[cmdr m0kn]

I really like this idea, as I have thought about it too.

These new CQC assets could have small landing pads only with very rare (and expensive) commodities (with 2-4 allocations) and well paying missions (VIP escorts, criminal escorts, rare item smuggling, etc...)

I have a silent runner, lightweight Cobra MK3, it's my favourit ship. I want to use it for something so badly!!!
(I hope silent running against NPC ships is going to fixed too someday...)

Also we have small settlements that could have small landing pad and/or SRV docking capacity.

Fly safe Commanders! o7 =)

 

[DukeIronHand]

I really like this idea, as I have thought about it too.

These new CQC assets could have small landing pads only with very rare (and expensive) commodities (with 2-4 allocations) and well paying missions (VIP escorts, criminal escorts, rare item smuggling, etc...)

I have a silent runner, lightweight Cobra MK3, it's my favourit ship. I want to use it for something so badly!!!
(I hope silent running against NPC ships is going to fixed too someday...)

Also we have small settlements that could have small landing pad and/or SRV docking capacity.

Fly safe Commanders! o7 =)

Right on Cmdr!
The sky's the limit as for mission types to these small scientific research stations, secret military bases, criminal hideouts, exclusive tourists spots, mining camps, etc, etc. I can imagine a lot more. And this won't require some huge game project, IMHO, as the are just bases or outposts less then a city in size and not with 1000's of inhabitants. Really all depending on the imagination and effort FD wants to put into it in addition to regular trading - everybody needs supplies or transport.
I think it would all be very cool.

 

[Deleted member 115407]

I concur with everything that the Frog and the Duke and the other folks have to say here.

 

[FrogsFriend]

The more I think about this, the more I like the idea of adding a little extra functionality to all those surface outposts that currently have nothing more than a Beacon to scan.

 

[Jonathan E]

I will admit I am a ship junkie and flying, and building, certain ships for certain tasks is part of the fun of ED at least for me. Unfortunately I also have a bit of practical "OCD'ism" and a ship has to make some sense also.

We all have our favorite ships we would like to own, or fly, more often but don't like the awesome but underutilized T7 - unable to use medium pads (that it practically swims on) because it is less then a meter too high. Now that one of my Lakon plugs is out of the way...

Small ships?
Is there really a reason, to be practical, to keep using them once you own a Python, AspX, or whatever? Besides the obvious fun factor of course but trading and missions is serious space-business eh?

What I would like to see are in-game locations that are small pad only.
These necessarily don't have to be extensive or fancy but something. Special outposts, semi-secret military installations, scientific research stations, passenger locations, etc, etc both planetary and in space. This, to me, is not some wild pie-in-the-sky request but it makes a certain kind of sense. Not every location in space where people need to be are the size of a small city. And, as a bonus, it is something that only a small ship can do and a good reason to own one.

And, for my final Lakon plug, perhaps the T6 can finally get a "T7 haircut" so it can go on small pads and not keep look ridiculously undersized on medium pads.

It would force people to do a mission in a ship thats not comically overpowered. Like many RPGs have a chapter where you temporarily lose your gear and such. In ED it would be optional, but it would provide a purpose for small ships beyond kicks&giggles.

great ideas. make it so FD

 

[CMDR Redcrest]

Is it possible to launch your Srv while docked on an orbital outpost? Just wondering if it's possible to thrust about in zero g and run off the landing pad.
Will test when I get outta bed later today.

 

[JetsonRING]

I agree. It could also be used as an incentive to motivate players to buy the Horizons DLC: If FDev would organize CGs using a large-ship-friendly terrestrial port that has a small-landing-pad-only outpost orbiting the planet above it, players without Horizons could participate in the CG but would be limited by their access to the small-landing-pad-only outpost in space, as opposed to Horizons owners who would have access to the large-landing-pad capable port on the planet's surface below. Get the Horizons DLC, get large-landing-pad access in the CG, get into the top 10%. Even Horizons owners could be further filtered by their access to the large ships and possibly even further by outfitting and skill-level if the CGs are run on high-G worlds.