Refueling Fleet Carriers

[thistle]

I hope that refueling fleet carriers uses actual fuel, albeit a LOT of fuel. Think of it - we could become 'oil tankers' in Elite! I can picture my Type-7 (love that ship) loaded with extra fuel tanks and a huge scoop, loading up on fuel at the local star, ferrying it to the fleet carrier, rinse and repeat. I suppose one could buy fuel at the station as well. Perhaps with the run on fuel, Frontier could raise 'gas' prices to match accordingly.

While this may sound dull to some, I think it beats having to harvest jumponium or something... Though you could add a cool mechanic to allow greater jump range based on fuel type and synthesis. Imagine harvesting neutron stars for greater FC jump range!

Anyway, for the sake of immersion and "fun" (I actually would enjoy ferrying fuel), I hope Frontier considers this option. Thoughts?


ps - This assumes FCs need refueling to begin with. I'm not sure the lore behind megaships not being able to scoop their own fuel. Too large for the gravity well, perhaps?

I support this idea.

 

[Han Zulu]

No matter how they do it people will complain !!!

And people will complain about other people complaining.

 

[Old Duck]

And people will complain about other people complaining.

And other people will hijack the thread and complain about crappy shadows.

 

[Han Zulu]

And other people will hijack the thread and complain about crappy shadows.

I have no shadow. I'm a vampire.

On a serious note, I totally support your idea. Refueling your carrier by using a maxed out Type-7/9. I'm all for it.

 

[krylite]

No matter how they do it people will complain !!!

yep, it's the typical hypochrondical hyprcritical reactions like this thread full of EBL , LOL. Making up nitpicking/impatient issues where there is none for attention. pathetic.

 

[RolloTreadway]

Surely, carriers will need to be driven by the most powerful and fastest fuel in the galaxy: bad news.

 

[Alpenniless]

Carriers defense ? must be a lot ?

 

[aRJay]

Why doesn't water appear on the commodities market?

Because it is so hazardous, it has to be shipped as its component gasses or dehydrated.

 

[aRJay]

Fleet carrier is the panther clipper

They aren't that big.

 

[Cmdr Aeries Hunter]

I think it will be fueled by CMDR's tears and unicorn dust.
Or
void hearts and anemone excretions
But only the ones furthest away, hardest to find, and definitely at the mercy of an RNG mechanic.

 

[IndigoWyrd]

I hope that refueling fleet carriers uses actual fuel, albeit a LOT of fuel. Think of it - we could become 'oil tankers' in Elite! I can picture my Type-7 (love that ship) loaded with extra fuel tanks and a huge scoop, loading up on fuel at the local star, ferrying it to the fleet carrier, rinse and repeat. I suppose one could buy fuel at the station as well. Perhaps with the run on fuel, Frontier could raise 'gas' prices to match accordingly.

While this may sound dull to some, I think it beats having to harvest jumponium or something... Though you could add a cool mechanic to allow greater jump range based on fuel type and synthesis. Imagine harvesting neutron stars for greater FC jump range!

Anyway, for the sake of immersion and "fun" (I actually would enjoy ferrying fuel), I hope Frontier considers this option. Thoughts?


ps - This assumes FCs need refueling to begin with. I'm not sure the lore behind megaships not being able to scoop their own fuel. Too large for the gravity well, perhaps?

Nobody sells a Size 20 Fuel Scoop.

More than likely these things will move in the same manner as Capital Ships, complete with that strange, rolling black smoke effect, before they disappear, not into Frame Shift wormholes, but into old fashioned Witch Space. As for fuel... who's to say they're not fueled by a quarter million tons of Plutonium in the first place?

 

[CMDR Karrde Sun]

Aircraft carriers have a whole host of specialized support vessels for underway replenishment and refueling.

Could the Elite equivalent be the Panther Clipper?

How about one of these?

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous

s.orbis.zone

 

[Cmdr Aeries Hunter]

Oh, who thinks the fleet carrier will be the Panther Clipper? Why didn't I see the obvious before lol

 

[NW3]

I hope that refueling fleet carriers uses actual fuel, albeit a LOT of fuel...

While this may sound dull to some, I think it beats having to harvest jumponium or something... Though you could add a cool mechanic to allow greater jump range based on fuel type and synthesis. Imagine harvesting neutron stars for greater FC jump range! ...

I like your idea. It would be much like mining. Some groups will likely hate harvesting fuel, though. I would like to see an NPC component: Hire crew to automate the collection and who require pay (just like now). The DW2 ship will be following a set route on a timetable, so clearly there's some sort of auto-refueling mechanic in place.

I like the harvest jumponium option a lot actually. I have a huge quantity of jumponium components on hand, which I almost never use. I need a good excuse to use my SRV, which is gathering dust.

 

[Vardaugas]

The carrier will have a fuel depot where you can refuel your ships or dump fuel into from your tanks or drop the commodity in to fill it up. Initiating a jump takes a good amount of that fuel and jumponium is required to fine tune the distance.

 

[Shanaeri]

If the carrier takes longer to fuel than it takes for people to jump there or is boring it won’t get used and will become pointless.

Discord and out of games tools render the need to refuel redundant. Let’s face it.. these things are not often going to be used outside the bubble and that being the case, space stations will do everything a carrier can

 

[dxm55]

Some groups will likely hate harvesting fuel, though.

Because it doesn't make sense that a capital ship won't come with a capital class fuel scoop. And also a fuel transfer line that can hook up to a space station, drydock or depot.

Basically the carrier should work the same way as the Farragut or Majestic. I bet those ships don't need their crew to go harvest for fuel everytime they make a jump, right?

 

[Robert Maynard]

If the carrier takes longer to fuel than it takes for people to jump there or is boring it won’t get used and will become pointless.

I don't see it that way - as the Carrier will, presumably, be able to transport docked CMDRs whether they are online or not - so they may well become a good way to keep a group of players together, simply by them docking on the Carrier at the end of the play session and, on rejoining, they will be on the Carrier, wherever it may have travelled to.

Discord and out of games tools render the need to refuel redundant. Let’s face it.. these things are not often going to be used outside the bubble and that being the case, space stations will do everything a carrier can

Disagree on both counts - Discord can't transport the offline members of a Squadron around the galaxy and I fully expect Carriers to be able to be used outside the bubble simply because, as stations can fulfill some functions, they can only do so where there are stations - Carriers will very probably be able to travel to systems where there are no stations at all (and none for some distance).

 

[Shanaeri]

If they are off line, then how can they assist in what you want them to do... it then becomes a tool for the afk player, not the active one

And would 2 years of development time have been well spent just to benefit players who don’t log on...

 

[Robert Maynard]

If they are off line, then how can they assist in what you want them to do... it then becomes a tool for the afk player, not the active one

In a sense it would, yes - however I suspect that one of the roles of the Carrier is to offer players a means to remain co-located, regardless of how long they may have been offline, with a view to facilitating group play.

It could also offer players opportunities to provide passenger transport services for other players.