Time for a FSD update

[Mobius]

in the early days of development of Elite it was suggested that various star types would give various improved jump ranges, since those days we have only seen one update with neutron stars giving us that improvement.

With the recent discovery of the thargoids and the ancients we as a species have developed new and improved weapons using ancient tech to combat this new threat, surely its about time we start seeing improved tech to improve ship jump ranges to bring the fight to the thargoids and to expand further into our galaxy.

With improved jump ranges we as a species could expand further into our galaxy and create new Colonies that could evolve into new empires and cultures.
Improved jump ranges will offer combat ready ships the chance to give a swift responses to new alien and government threats, traders can improve their profits taking much needed supplies to new trade locations and explorers can discover new regions of our galaxy for possible colonization.
The engineers have already shown us that improving a FSD is entirely possible using our current limited technology, maybe its about time a major breakthrough is needed to make our galaxy that little bit smaller.

do you think its about time for this update?

 

[shustas]

Server load on recalculating 100k ships jumping in on different star every mili second says no

 

[Vasious]

Spoiler

The Lastest Guardian site log entry speak of the Guardian FTL tech, just that it will take a while to work through, suggesting Guardian improved jump drives coming at some point. There was also a spoiler post the mentioned Guardian FSD modules having the wrong price.

So they are "in the game" per see, just not unlocked yet by the story line progress and I would hazard a guess they will be a Tech Broker item

 

[Zynniah]

I love the way you wrote your post. Very engaging. You will make a great politician someday.

However, FSD range is not an issue for colonizing the galaxy. We can get to all but the most remote stars on the edge of the Galaxy already. Plus, based on what I read, the engineering updates have resulted in a very small improvement for extreme jump range explorers. So, we already got an improvement.

That being said, I would be happy if I could take a fully A rated armed Anaconda to the stars past the edge of the galaxy. I want to visit the LMC and be able to defend myself from all the hostiles that are hiding there.

 

[777Driver]

As mentioned above, guardian FSD boosters should be available soon, and I think it was Sirius corp developing new FSD tech, although don't hold your breath for the latter


We've been interested in collaboration for a while," said the marketing manager of Sirius Corp's hyperdrive research division, "and were in talks over licensing MetaDrive's exciting new technology. We have no desire to see them go under."

 

[MadDogMurdock]

Aren't we there already?

It's already quicker to take a tourist to Beagle Point, than it is to get a Wombat Burger from Sydney to London.

 

[ZeroAi]

in the early days of development of Elite it was suggested that various star types would give various improved jump ranges, since those days we have only seen one update with neutron stars giving us that improvement.

With the recent discovery of the thargoids and the ancients we as a species have developed new and improved weapons using ancient tech to combat this new threat, surely its about time we start seeing improved tech to improve ship jump ranges to bring the fight to the thargoids and to expand further into our galaxy.

With improved jump ranges we as a species could expand further into our galaxy and create new Colonies that could evolve into new empires and cultures.
Improved jump ranges will offer combat ready ships the chance to give a swift responses to new alien and government threats, traders can improve their profits taking much needed supplies to new trade locations and explorers can discover new regions of our galaxy for possible colonization.
The engineers have already shown us that improving a FSD is entirely possible using our current limited technology, maybe its about time a major breakthrough is needed to make our galaxy that little bit smaller.

do you think its about time for this update?

YES! (+Rep)

 

[Alex Brentnall]

My issue is the implication it has on everything else. This very week someone broke the 2 hour mark for record time from Sol-Sag A*. I myself hold a 6h 35m record for the Sol-Beagle trip. Lets not forget when the first mass race to Sag A* took place, the original Buckyball A* class the record time was 8h 43m odd. We are now over an 80% reduction in travel time, it's enough.

Personally the only thing I want is a few more neutrons to fill the zero co-ordinate gap. This would give much more latitude for combat ships using them to get places near the bubble where currently only 3/4 viable neutrons exist.

Or this idea: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...dule-Thread!?p=5900516&viewfull=1#post5900516
Fuel Scoopercharger to compress fuel giving you a neutron level boost. Not possible to fit at same time as a fuel scoop so you have to choose... Or make it an engineer mod so it changes the scoop function. That'd allow for support ships to refuel combat ships using supercharged jumps.

Both ideas won't have a massive impact on other things like exploration, racing and stuff like that. Would be much more manageable.


The other thing I'd add is that thargoids are actually at the bubble and judging by permit sector their homeworlds are perhaps 400ly away maximum (Barnards loop area). Even the worst combat ship gets 10.XXly, that's 16ly with Engineers or 25 jumps. A jump a minute isn't unreasonable so that's 25 minute travel time, for the heaviest combat ship with all the armour and weapons it can possibly fit. You could go light and get double that range or half the time. It's really not as bad as most people make out.

If the thargoids homeworld were somewhere distant say 5,000ly or 40,000ly away I'd agree but at current rate I think FSD range has really really got to a level where any further increase is frankly taking the.... biscuit. Others may disagree but I already feel it's gone a touch too far and the distant places are now a gentle weekend trip out and back instead of an arduous journey few would undertake and fewer still would complete. Even factoring out DW3302 its no longer special to say I went to Beagle, it's no longer special to say I went to Colonia. It'd be like adding micro-jumps in, it'd no longer be special to say I went to Hutton and all I got was this mug..

Possibly unpopular but my personal view on the matter.

 

[WR3ND]

Does the game particularly need an FSD boost for some reason that I'm not aware of?

I can already get my Vulture to Beagle Point and back without using jumponium nor star boosts, apparently. Seems sufficient to me. Of course, it will never be enough for some, but boosting it won't particularly change that much, I think.

Thargoids? I can get to the Pleiades from the heart of the bubble in like half an hour in a fully combat loaded Vulture, Chieftain, Python, or similar without using boosts. Should it be faster than that?

In general I'd rather have more things to do in the game and ways to do them, interacting with our environments and circumstances more, not so much just skipping over to where we perceive the action to be.

I guess it kind of depends where Frontier are able to take the game and how they plan to get it there.

 

[drakhyr]

I agree entirely with Alex.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

With improved jump ranges we as a species could expand further into our galaxy and create new Colonies that could evolve into new empires and cultures.

I'm pretty sure it's "lack of interest in travelling outside the bubble", not "lack of jump range", that's meaning we're not doing that.

Colonia is doing pretty well ... I'm not sure there's enough interest in the player base to support a second similar region somewhere else.

The other thing I'd add is that thargoids are actually at the bubble and judging by permit sector their homeworlds are perhaps 400ly away maximum (Barnards loop area). Even the worst combat ship gets 10.XXly, that's 16ly with Engineers or 25 jumps. A jump a minute isn't unreasonable so that's 25 minute travel time, for the heaviest combat ship with all the armour and weapons it can possibly fit. You could go light and get double that range or half the time. It's really not as bad as most people make out.

I would guess Cone Nebula - which is a bit further back - for their homeworlds, as that's surrounded by a massive amount of permit locks, and the Barnards Loop area is just various forward bases. Either way, all it takes is one human outpost with a shipyard nearby and it doesn't matter that much how much range the combat ships have because you can travel fast then transfer.

It'd no longer be special to say I went to Hutton and all I got was this mug..

Using the detention centre trick, I think it might be possible in 3.0 to get from Sol to Hutton Moon faster than one can get to Hutton Orbital.

 

[Mobius]

as I previously stated Frontier had discussed during development of the game that various stars would offer improved jump ranges and that engineers have also shown that with some sacrifices jump ranges can be improved. sure we can get to colonia in 6 hours, but think about it 6 hours of just jumping star to star to get from A to B doesn't make for and entertaining evening if you could do Colonia in 2 hours it would open up colonia as a viable trade route.

 

[777Driver]

as I previously stated Frontier had discussed during development of the game that various stars would offer improved jump ranges and that engineers have also shown that with some sacrifices jump ranges can be improved. sure we can get to colonia in 6 hours, but think about it 6 hours of just jumping star to star to get from A to B doesn't make for and entertaining evening if you could do Colonia in 2 hours it would open up colonia as a viable trade route.

People would just complain 2 hours is too long. People complain about a 15 minute trip to the Pleiades.

I don't think distance is the problem, it is the repetitive jumping and the lack of things to do whilst travelling, if it was all seamless SC or star trek style (As I imagined before Alpha) There could have been scope for a lot of content in the spaces in between each system or just out in deep space, anomalies, derelict ships, course plotting, abandoned bases etc, would have loved to be travelling at 5000c and seeing a blip on long range scanners 0.3LY out, a secret base, or derelict ships.

 

[WR3ND]

as I previously stated Frontier had discussed during development of the game that various stars would offer improved jump ranges and that engineers have also shown that with some sacrifices jump ranges can be improved. sure we can get to colonia in 6 hours, but think about it 6 hours of just jumping star to star to get from A to B doesn't make for and entertaining evening if you could do Colonia in 2 hours it would open up colonia as a viable trade route.

Viable to who? I already took 216 tonnes in a Python with a roughly 15LY jump range. Sure, it took a long time, but it was my choice to do it and it was for a good cause. Do people need to be able to reach Colonia more easily than they already can?

Spoiler

If you don't want to just jump-honk along your way, you can always stop and smell the roses and look for some interesting systems. Two other Commanders had tags in this system on the way to Colonia but somehow missed this in it.

Spoiler

Either way, I agree that having more and varied things to do in the game would be nice, but like I said, that kind of depends on Frontier and what can be implemented in the game.

 

[Mobius]

even if frontier didn't offer improved jump drives maybe they could change how fuel stars improved the jump range.

 

[WR3ND]

even if frontier didn't offer improved jump drives maybe they could change how fuel stars improved the jump range.

The way I see it, they can never really viably nerf jump ranges nor other ease of access type features in general, so it largely depends on what Frontier has planned, I think. I'm not really able to make a judgment call one way or the other beyond presenting this perspective.

Cheers.

 

[Jenner]

From a gameplay standpoint - sure, why not?

From a lore standpoint - I think we're jumping too far, too fast already.

Given the ease of travel in Elite, I think the entire galaxy should be overflowing with humans in a few decades from 3300. lol

So...
Sure, let's have increased jump range.
BUT I'd like to see jumping itself outside of the bubble carry a lot more risk and challenge than it does now.

 

[cussine]

even if frontier didn't offer improved jump drives maybe they could change how fuel stars improved the jump range.

Or bring on the rarest of rares the Dilithium Chrystal

 

[WR3ND]

Hmm... Maybe some fairly rare black holes with intermittent accretion disks that provide a very significant jump range boost but also are rather dangerous? This way they can't just all be mapped out and used all the time, but can be well worth finding when you do find them.

I think I like the sound of this the best, at least regarding further stellar type boosts.

Plus, how awesome would it be to see something like this in the game?

Spoiler

I'd look for them just for that.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

if you could do Colonia in 2 hours it would open up colonia as a viable trade route.

Trading in what, though? And what would be viable in two hours but not the current six? Colonia has no significant [1] needs for commodities it can't produce locally much more efficiently than even a 4-hour round trip to fetch would be ... and it's certainly not economically large enough to provide any significant amount of goods to the Sol bubble either.

I'll agree that several hours of jumping isn't particularly interesting - but if you're solely interested in speed it can already be done in two hours (and probably quite a bit faster than that in 3.0) - and the more general solution surely has to be to make travel more interesting.

If you want a Colonia-like region closer to the bubble ... well, the Pleiades are a bit of a mess right now, but there's a nice area starting to form around the California Nebula that in terms of size is a lot like Colonia was 18 months ago, and is much closer for travel. Why not support that? (Or Lagoon Nebula / Heart and Soul / Eagle Nebula for a few other places which have a pair of settlements to build from)


[1] The exact economic details of what Colonia can't produce locally and the obscure situations it would actually matter are probably not of interest to anyone else. Rares, regionals and meta-alloys is the summary, all of which can and have been brought up in large quantities when the situation required it.