Carrier refuelling?

[TheSisko]

How about multiple modules?

Consider that if a Carrier can be engineered, the modules might need to be able to fit into regular ships so we can take them to an engineer.

In that case, maybe your Carrier has slots for up to, say, 6 FSDs.
When you buy a Carrier it comes with 1x 6E FSD but if you want a 500Ly jump-range, you're going to need to buy, engineer and fit 6x 7A FSDs.

And then there's the PPs, PDists, Sensors, Life-Support etc......

All pure speculation, of course, but FDev could be opening the door to a lot of mat' scavving and engineering.



Thing with fuel is that if we can mine it in a regular ship we have to be able to store it aboard a regular ship as well... and if we can do that we can, theoretically, store up to 794t of it aboard a suitably-equipped Cutter.

Course, FDev could apply some arbitrary limitation on the amount of Carrier fuel we can stockpile ("It reaches critical mass if you store more than, erm, 50t of it together") or, perhaps, use the Support Ships to limit how much we can stockpile ("it's radioactive and must be transferred to a Supply Ship immediately or it'll damage and destroy any ship it remains aboard").

Ultimately, though, if Carrier fuel is abundant, mining it won't be a huge hassle.
If, OTOH, it's like mining VO's and we need hundreds of tonnes of it to make a single jump, it's going to be a nightmare.

Multiple modules? Na. It could happen (this is FD were talking about here) but I'm sure there will be just one CSD per Carrier.

I hope.

Support ships carrying fuel? Sure.......but then, who carries the fuel for support ships which jump with your carrier automatically?...........meh, we need hard data, Frontier, stat! Unleash that livestream already!

 

[Ebel]

I guess I'm an immersion fan, and one of the game's strengths for me is the sheer size of the sandbox. Space is BIG and I like the way ED reflects that. Capitial Ships Drives (can I call them CSD's?) should have great range and yeah, a big tank, but then if the tank is huge then why is there the option of mining for fuel?

Don't worry, I don't hate you.

Thanks


Let's see, answer might be so that those that don't care to pay some large amount of Cr's to "fill'er up" can do it for free (so to speak)? Or perhaps we might end up going a bit farther than the tank is large? Who can know.

 

[TheSisko]

Thanks


Let's see, answer might be so that those that don't care to pay some large amount of Cr's to "fill'er up" can do it for free (so to speak)? Or perhaps we might end up going a bit farther than the tank is large? Who can know.

Based on what we know so far, the only 'free' way of filling up the tank would be to mine for the fuel, and pray that someone finds (and shares) the location of mining hotspots for that fuel.

 

[Ebel]

Based on what we know so far, the only 'free' way of filling up the tank would be to mine for the fuel, and pray that someone finds (and shares) the location of mining hotspots for that fuel.

Hopefully "hot spots" will not be necessary or just enhance a quick and straight forward proceedure. I would really hate to see this be some type of horrible grind. To me it really just doesn't make sense from an exploration standpoint to make this a limited range platform, otherwise I can just use my current exploration build and jump 250 to 300 ly per jump and only fuel up (under a minute) every 3500ish lys (almost forgot, that is a good time to AFMU the FSD too). Only difference I see is bringing several ships with you. It is not "game breaking". Anything too much less and it is useless for Exploration (except perhaps within some moderate distance of the bubble). Still, we'll see what December brings, I for one am excited that it could be really good. I hope. Track record is not promising.

By the way, think of all the systems that the FC Cmdr is passing over (not exploring) on their way to their desired exploration location. This is not going to diminish the galaxy.

 

[Six6VI]

FDev - Please use Hydrogen Fuel for the FCs, just like all the other ships.

Save yourself the complexity of some other unicorn flatulence mechanic.

 

[TheSisko]

FDev - Please use Hydrogen Fuel for the FCs, just like all the other ships.

Save yourself the complexity of some other unicorn flatulence mechanic.

Hopefully "hot spots" will not be necessary or just enhance a quick and straight forward proceedure. I would really hate to see this be some type of horrible grind. To me it really just doesn't make sense from an exploration standpoint to make this a limited range platform, otherwise I can just use my current exploration build and jump 250 to 300 ly per jump and only fuel up (under a minute) every 3500ish lys (almost forgot, that is a good time to AFMU the FSD too). Only difference I see is bringing several ships with you. It is not "game breaking". Anything too much less and it is useless for Exploration (except perhaps within some moderate distance of the bubble). Still, we'll see what December brings, I for one am excited that it could be really good. I hope. Track record is not promising.

By the way, think of all the systems that the FC Cmdr is passing over (not exploring) on their way to their desired exploration location. This is not going to diminish the galaxy.

What you guys call flatulence or grind, I call gameplay . Mining is part of the game, one of the best parts of the game right now, IMO. I have no issue with having to mine for fuel deep in the black, or for that matter, having to gather materials now and then in the black for exploration, I think that's realistic when you're far out there and adds to the gameplay. I personally think its daft we have magical unlimited probes for the DSS, that seems too arcadey for this game and inconsistent. Unlimited ammo for the DSS? Sure, can I have unlimited ammo for my Fragment Cannon too? ......why not??!?

You have the choice - go with the FC with 500Ly jump range and have the option of taking your fleet with you for whatever purpose you decide, or take your exploration ship instead with smaller jump range, no-mining for fuel and save billions of credits in the process by not buying a FC. Its good the game gives the choices with pros and cons to each, so I'm against using the Hydrogen Fuel for FCs.

We don't know how FCs will benefit exploration apart from the ability to being your fleet with you. We don't know the size of the fuel tank, if there are different CSD classes, what role support ships play (hopefully more than determining the carrier load-out, surely that's done when you buy the bloody thing!) or even how much FCs cost yet. There's gonna be pros and cons to either approach (traditional exploration vs FC exploration) and until Frontier says something (glares in the direction of Cambridge), we.....don't know.

 

[Six6VI]

That was more of a sarcastic reference to unicorn flatulence as a commodity, with some new dev majix mechanic for collecting it in the middle of nowhere instead of keeping the game internally consistent. The hydrogen fuel commodity is already on the market, as are fuel scoops and optional fuel tank modules.

Adding a way to 'sell' cargo and 'non-limpet' transfer fuel to the carrier is far less complicated than bins for a brand new fuel and why stop there? How long before people start screeching for jumponium boost on the FC and do you have dock to supply materials from your own magic pocket or can someone else?

Capital ships already warp but we've seen nothing other than H-Fuel. 'Grind' wasn't the issue.

 

[Stealthie]

What you guys call flatulence or grind, I call gameplay . Mining is part of the game, one of the best parts of the game right now, IMO. I have no issue with having to mine for fuel deep in the black, or for that matter, having to gather materials now and then in the black for exploration, I think that's realistic when you're far out there and adds to the gameplay. I personally think its daft we have magical unlimited probes for the DSS, that seems too arcadey for this game and inconsistent. Unlimited ammo for the DSS? Sure, can I have unlimited ammo for my Fragment Cannon too? ......why not??!?

Keep saying the same thing but I'd certainly like to see more reasons to, say, suspend exploration for a while because I had to go down to a planet to collect stuff to repair/maintain my ship.

The trick, of course, is to make it important without making it "grind".

Having to go and find a handful of something to fix your ship every few thousand Ly is probably a welcome break from routine.
Having to go and farm 100 of something to fix your ship is just sadistic.

Long as FDev kept things enjoyable, I'd take as many distractions and "side-quests" as they're willing to throw at me.
They just need to learn that making people do the same thing 100 times is NOT the way to expand gameplay.

 

[Tikanderoga]

Having to go and find a handful of something to fix your ship every few thousand Ly is probably a welcome break from routine.
Having to go and farm 100 of something to fix your ship is just sadistic.

That is pretty much what will make or break the carriers, how much "gameplay" is needed to refuel the carrier. Will it be gameplay or just another session of sitting on glass shard & Tabasco sauce while jumping up and down on it?