[SUGGESTION] Ship Design: Exploration Cruiser (referred as EC)

[foxpur]

Ok, as a summary, this is based loosely on Star Trek explorers, but not as big.

Ok, we have a galaxy, and LOTS to find out there, possibly of 'first contact' situations.

Here is my idea. For the detail and exploratory minded this would be a big ship that REQUIRES several npc staff and a substantial outlay of cost AND is a powerplay effect for your faction.

The EC is a ship with 5/10 staff (available in Small and Large)
They can go on away missions on Earthlike planets.
The EC is too big to land on anything higher than .5 gravity, it WILL have a docking bay that can carry up to a Asp size ship (2 if you have the large ship) and player can fly them as part of the crew.
There will be a new kind of missile added that can be used to research the teraform testing planets to see how they size up. With this data teraform can be given a 1 - 10 rank table of the planet and a rank 1 or 2 could even be started with syntheses of a tereform startup kit. This teraform testing would take several days of scanning with teraform missile or several. During that time the ship is in orbit. The on-board explore craft can be used to check out local systems but for weight concerns they have a very limited range.

The larger of these 2 craft will contain a decent mining and refining section and can locate high-quality rings and asteroid belts.

The staff of npc will have to be of several schools of abilities. You pay for the higher skills.

The EC ship is sponsored by a faction (can even be a player faction) that 'finances' the ship so the data collected needs to be turned into a neutral location (no bonus for discovery of new areas) or your faction bases (where you get npc promotions and bonus pay).

Earthlike away mission use a very stripped down lander that takes npc's down... they can get killed. As future design happens eventually the players can do ground missions, but with current game design we have to rely on the input from the away team (and the drop ship is auto pilot, so if the away die the ship CAN come back, but if it is infected or tests as toxic it will be scuttled and have to be re-synthesized new.)

Away missions can take many hours or days. They MAY 'first contact' but that is very rare. SRV don't work well on earthlike terrain. They MAY start a trading agreement with your faction.

The EC ship is not fast, but it has extended jump range and reasonable cargo for the stuff that can be found. This is a deep space research, and not really designed as a diplomatic ship (although you have to hire a diplomat AND a trader npc if you want to arrange a trade agreement and will keep you longer just sitting over the planet. Again, local systems can be detailed with the asp.)

The EC ship IS a faction based ship and therefor other factions want you dead, so weapons are a need. Again, nps and player needs. These CAN travel with a wing, but they would be VERY bored most of the time. There would be 2 or 4 fighters available if attacked.

The EC scanners are more intensive and would be able to detect ruins, crashes, and unique features from space giving your SRV/asp something to do on other planets.

A EC CAN build a beacon for a system and place it in the area as a notice this is a 'faction' system, but those will be VERY hard to build and can't be pre-made a carried... you need to build in the system it will be used in. It will take more than the space you have so it needs to be built in stages (I think 5) and then assembled using more time and synthesis. And once built it CAN defend itself but it CAN be destroyed if a large enough force attacked it.

Additional ideas?

 

[space voyager]

Such a ship could be viable somewhere in the unforeseeable future when ELWs (all atmospheric planets) are landable. Beyond Beyond Beyond.

 

[foxpur]

Such a ship could be viable somewhere in the unforeseeable future when ELWs (all atmospheric planets) are landable. Beyond Beyond Beyond.

Would be viable to new found planets too, nothing says it's not viable for the next year.

 

[Daish]

With the advent of incoming Squadron carriers and wings now having the ability of big teams of players, what about something similar as "OP" but Explorer vessel large enough to bound together with a group of dedicated explorers but not necessary explorer ships.

For example, new creation of explorer carriers lets say, with so many landing bays? can be team purchased by a dedicated group of explorers which in turn can dock any ship they own, the carrier then can jump (FSD) to deep space and the explorers can disembark and explore as a group or by there self or in some cases maybe just piggy back a ride to a said destination, this would open several possible scenarios for other players not wanting to follow the carrier around but can buy a lift as it where?

players can choose to stay with the carrier as it jumps from system to system or rendezvous with it at a preset time somewhere in the black, this would also afford multi-crew options within the carrier itself, so not so much NPC but real players wanting to explore as a group.

 

[foxpur]

With the advent of incoming Squadron carriers and wings now having the ability of big teams of players, what about something similar as "OP" but Explorer vessel large enough to bound together with a group of dedicated explorers but not necessary explorer ships.

For example, new creation of explorer carriers lets say, with so many landing bays? can be team purchased by a dedicated group of explorers which in turn can dock any ship they own, the carrier then can jump (FSD) to deep space and the explorers can disembark and explore as a group or by there self or in some cases maybe just piggy back a ride to a said destination, this would open several possible scenarios for other players not wanting to follow the carrier around but can buy a lift as it where?

players can choose to stay with the carrier as it jumps from system to system or rendezvous with it at a preset time somewhere in the black, this would also afford multi-crew options within the carrier itself, so not so much NPC but real players wanting to explore as a group.

As a option perhaps, but I don't want to deal with other players.
My playstyle is very different because I am disabled and I want a play ability for person that pretty much HAS to play alone can, but it CAN be also a multi-ship option.

 

[MBaldelli]

Some of these ideas as good, but feels like you're putting the cart before the horse as we're still waiting for being able to land on a planet with any sort of atmosphere. It's been promised, but have been told on numerous occasions of it being a programming issue.

Also the only reason why the invention of transporters were created on television. were because of a budgetary constraint in the 60s to replace using models for shuttles to landing on planets. As this game doesn't have the same budgetary constraints as DesiLu had, I personally find the inclusion to being sort of nonsensical given we can land on planets with even Corvettes and Anacondas even though Star Trek is now 50.

The idea of something larger like a capital ship to the player base while being a vanity tends to become extremely immersion as well as putting the cart before the horse once again because NPC crews haven't remotely been introduced to the game yet.

 

[foxpur]

Some of these ideas as good, but feels like you're putting the cart before the horse as we're still waiting for being able to land on a planet with any sort of atmosphere. It's been promised, but have been told on numerous occasions of it being a programming issue.

Also the only reason why the invention of transporters were created on television. were because of a budgetary constraint in the 60s to replace using models for shuttles to landing on planets. As this game doesn't have the same budgetary constraints as DesiLu had, I personally find the inclusion to being sort of nonsensical given we can land on planets with even Corvettes and Anacondas even though Star Trek is now 50.

The idea of something larger like a capital ship to the player base while being a vanity tends to become extremely immersion as well as putting the cart before the horse once again because NPC crews haven't remotely been introduced to the game yet.

I considered that we don't have access to land on earthlike, so as a prelim it would just be report from status

 

[MBaldelli]

I considered that we don't have access to land on earthlike, so as a prelim it would just be report from status

I'm not quite sure what you mean here. It has been discussed more than a couple of times during the routine live-streams. It's remembered and disseminated by those users that watched the live streams.

Are you asking for more ways to having it reported?

 

[foxpur]

I'm not quite sure what you mean here. It has been discussed more than a couple of times during the routine live-streams. It's remembered and disseminated by those users that watched the live streams.

Are you asking for more ways to having it reported?

HEHEHE, no... I shall be more specific...

SINCE we can't land on earthlike planets yet (we will, someday) this would be a 'placeholder' version. This would be an example:

a) Discover a Earthlike planet
b) send the away team drop shuttle (staffed by npc)
During the next several hours or longer (you can always recall them) they will send regular reports (by game voices would be best, but text works) and the more they work the higher the Explore team rating for later colonization.
c) There is a chance, I suspect pretty high, that there could be hazards or even death. And that also gets reported to the ship and a alert. As captain it is up to you when to call it quits (the larger ship can carry a bigger drop team)
d) (optimally) that the planet has been explored by 'X' player for a incomplete/minimum/low/weak/medium/fair/good/very good/excellent/perfect conditions for colonization... (ie- Foxpur has explored and determined a 26% chance of a weak environment for colonization.)... if you stay there exploring for several REAL days you COULD get it up to 99% chance or 'rating' and get paid well from the faction.

(Deaths are recorded as part of your journal. Excessive deaths regularly will make people of high skill less likely to want to work with you in your faction.)
The general ship NPC are limited AI in that several are just there there to provide a action or so and the rest of the time just sit there looking busy based on if they are in orbit or not. As example.. the probe command will get a verbal "Launching probe" from the astrophysics npc and you will see the probe launch and the npc will have a probe action. As the probe delivers data the npc can tell you that data has been updated partially or completely and you can have a keymap or use VA to have the nps speak it, or you can just open your planet data (no plan what screen will have that) and read it or just acknowledge it.

 

[MBaldelli]

HEHEHE, no... I shall be more specific...

SINCE we can't land on earthlike planets yet (we will, someday) this would be a 'placeholder' version. This would be an example:

a) Discover a Earthlike planet
b) send the away team drop shuttle (staffed by npc)

Again, this relying on NPC staff and seems to be a continuing example of putting the cart before the horse. We barely have a good working multi-crew function in the game as this sort of thing has been pretty much abandoned between the strong potential trolling and the fad quality of it since it's been introduced.

During the next several hours or longer (you can always recall them) they will send regular reports (by game voices would be best, but text works) and the more they work the higher the Explore team rating for later colonization.

Hours?! Even with me performing a complete system survey through multiple stars in an entry point, I'm usually done in 40 minutes (on average. Sometimes more, more often less)... You're expecting Explorers to spend hours in a system for Random Generated text or voice scripting?! I don't know if you've been paying attention to the explorer chat in this forum, a lot of the suggestions tend to gravitate toward less time in a system... Not more/.

c) There is a chance, I suspect pretty high, that there could be hazards or even death. And that also gets reported to the ship and a alert. As captain it is up to you when to call it quits (the larger ship can carry a bigger drop team)

And if I'm going to continue to be blunt on this, I am not the only voice in this forum that is adamantly against RNG. There's already way too much of it in this game, a lot of it creating a negative impact on grind. This might sound good to you, but you're going to find a fair amount of fight against it here as it's creating player punishment in order to make the sandbox feel alive.

Allow me to suggest if you want abuse and RNG like this, the Dark Souls line of games might be for you.

I take it you're inspired by the old RPG game of Traveler come Star Trek? If not, this idea of red shirt away teams definitely contributes to it. And seems to go outside of the scope (a lot) that Elite Dangerous has routinely foisted since it's introduction.

 

[foxpur]

Never played Dark Souls, (you will have to define RNG for me). I never played traveler. I know WHAY too much about Star Trek, my Godfather was the designer of the Enterprise and my Godmother was one of the prime names behind Star Trek (Bjo Trimble), I had some of my clothes designed and made by D.C. Fontana (Costumes of Star Trek and Sr. Script Consultant)... so that certainly affected some of my thoughts.

I'm not really asking anything of the npcs, and they are no more than scripted bots with variable responses attached to a algorithm database designed on variable chance of response to the math that determined the feasibility of the planet that is already generated. I could write those in a couple hours.

The making it longer is a option, just like you can hock a system or you can visit every planet and moon. I am looking at expanding on those options, you CAN just go, get a viability report of livability or of teraform ability... but to get the REAL feel of space research you NEED to make it research or it undermines the point. Now again, to remove the tedium of just sitting there you DO have a limited range explorer (more like the Diamondback with cheap engines and very streamlined) to search the other local systems nearby, and you CAN holo to a wing ship and go farther out. But you don't HAVE to stay, it just gives you a better reading and a higher income and makes your faction happy with you.

But the away team code is just basically a countdown to "we are all done" and a note you explored it, but if someone kills you and steals your data the name explored by 'user' is removed and it has to be rescanned even though the data was sold from the kill because it was from a unreliable source. Or maybe list that 'user scanned but data not received." and then the new users gets noted as scanned by 'users' but a (2) after it (or however many rescanned it till it gets turned in to the scanned faction that it was headed to)

The point being the away team IS doing a in-depth study on the surface... and that isn't just a 'pop down, sniff the air, dig a hole, then leave' if you want to call a planet explored you should darn well explore it (ie- spend time that would technically be looking down there) and the random comments would come about every 10 - 60 mins (user selectable, either in game as a launch option, or a command you can send to the team, or a setting in the commands menu)

 

[MBaldelli]

RNG

Whether you're creating an NPC personally or it's being generated by an algorithm, it's still an NPC. Hence why I'm referencing the idiom, you're putting the cart before the horse. Especially when it comes to the coding of this game.

The making it longer is a option, just like you can hock a system or you can visit every planet and moon. I am looking at expanding on those options, you CAN just go, get a viability report of livability or of teraform ability... but to get the REAL feel of space research you NEED to make it research or it undermines the point. Now again, to remove the tedium of just sitting there you DO have a limited range explorer (more like the Diamondback with cheap engines and very streamlined) to search the other local systems nearby, and you CAN holo to a wing ship and go farther out. But you don't HAVE to stay, it just gives you a better reading and a higher income and makes your faction happy with you.

I would endorse the possibility of what you're inferring here, but not the way you're inferring it. The thought of a better navigation system from the Galaxy Map that would allow a more systematic method of surveying systems in a sector. As it stands the current galactic mapping and navigating falls terribly flat of that.

What you're suggesting here is going well outside the current scope of the game and would involve the sort of thing that I guarantee would require more game coding than what has been provided by Frontier with the current development of the game. Ever hear the saying, "you've crossed the line in sand?" Based on what you're suggestion as an improvement not only crosses the line, it's gone into the forest, through the tundras of the Arctic and clear to Io -- one of Jupiter's moon.

It's the sort of thing Star Trek Online might have done if it didn't try to be more like Starfleet Command or Starfleet Battles. But they didn't, and based on what you're suggesting should be done in a starter game akin to Star Flight/Star Flight II with better graphics. But this? Here? *shakes head* I don't see it happening with the new season.. Or the next 5 seasons..

 

[foxpur]

RNG

Whether you're creating an NPC personally or it's being generated by an algorithm, it's still an NPC. Hence why I'm referencing the idiom, you're putting the cart before the horse. Especially when it comes to the coding of this game.

...

But this? Here? *shakes head* I don't see it happening with the new season.. Or the next 5 seasons..

(I almost missed that link, but thanks)

Be it next season or 5 hardly matters, and I did try to take into current coding into account. The coding needed I could also accomplish within a month, and the algorithms would take another couple of weeks. The graphics and ship are more code specific and that isn't my skill. I did make props but that doesn't translate to coding... and at Origin Systems and Atari I was in testing and layout, neither exactly relevant. Voice acting that I still do now and then MIGHT be of some distant use

But the code WAS considered. I see adding 8 different scanning criteria, 17 different design factors (art and function), 30 different npc designs, voice acting maybe 150 lines, 4-8 new API fields. The rest is already coded.

But when doesn't matter, that's why it's a suggestion. It gives a starting point to get goals and plans into design.

Sorry the presentation wasn't to your liking, but it's lots of concept and typing and want more ideas to make it a reality, not ways for it NOT to work.

And my language skills are not working as well as I would like today, which is annoying (stroke side effects)

Edit: Not a RND issue by the way, didn't mean to imply that. In much the same way entering a station gets a voice over this would be a set of responses based on length of mission. Not as RND but not really much variety (unless they give a personality voice for each npc, that's a different problem)