Solution for slow FC exploration

[Dommarraa]

My solution would be for FD to make it clear WHY there is a such a gap (its because of Squad mechanics), then for people to sit back and think carefully about the position so they can understand that the mechanic, while not suitable for the way they imagined it would be, might in fact be a reasonable limitation.
Then let it lie.

At some point I will blame FD for all of this for not fighting their corner.

 

[Wrecked]

Your idea isn't stupid at all it will take 4-8 hours to refuel.

One problem at a time

 

[[VR] Dr Gentech]

My solution would be for FD to make it clear WHY there is a such a gap (its because of Squad mechanics), then for people to sit back and think carefully about the position so they can understand that the mechanic, while not suitable for the way they imagined it would be, might in fact be a reasonable limitation.
Then let it lie.

At some point I will blame FD for all of this for not fighting their corner.

Why is there such a gap?

 

[Dommarraa]

Why is there such a gap?

I can explain it, but nobody will accept my explaination. How many people EVER change their opinion on ANYTHING when its just someone elses opinion. Its really up to FD to do so, then its FACT. Still wont be agreed with by many, but at least they might accept it an move on.

FD did begin to justify it in the stream. The 1 hour spool up was so that guests of the FC have time to finish what they are doing and return to the FC before departure.
The 1 hour cool down IS just my opinion, but trying to think of what might happen:

• Cmdr Bob has lots of ships and modules stored on the FC.
• He misses the Jump for whatever reason, it happens.
• He is sitting in his Combat FDL, 500ly away from the rest his belongings
• Is 1 hour enough to fix the situation and get back to the FC or must he just give up, and transfer everything back to his current location and give up on the FC. 2 hours is reasonable, even in a Combat FDL.

This is just an example. FD will have many other situations that justify their decision, some better than others, and I think they should stand up for their decisions.

 

[777Driver]

And before anyone just says “this idea is stupid, it would ruin the game!!!” Explain how.

It wouldn't ruin the game, it would cause a lot of issues since everyone is online sharing the same carrier. I have a bunch of cmdrs docked on my ship, on a whim I decide to do jump from the Bubble to VY Canis Majoris, it is only fair that everyone onboard gets ample time to conduct business and leave.

An hour will still cause problems due to everyone being in different time zones. But it is the least that can be done to minimise people getting stranded.

I remember when Jacques station did that mini tour of the bubble, you would get kicked off the ship before the jump. In theory the devs could implement a default opt out for anyone on the carrier, shorter spool time, cmdrs have to state if they wish to jump with the carrier once docked.

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

I don't think the warm-up is going away. They want people to get notice of the impending jump that may be interested. I say I should have control over that, but I still doubt it goes away. It would be more livable at 30/30mins for sure.

It's a "personal" FC. Not a public asset.

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

I can explain it, but nobody will accept my explaination. How many people EVER change their opinion on ANYTHING when its just someone elses opinion. Its really up to FD to do so, then its FACT. Still wont be agreed with by many, but at least they might accept it an move on.

FD did begin to justify it in the stream. The 1 hour spool up was so that guests of the FC have time to finish what they are doing and return to the FC before departure.
The 1 hour cool down IS just my opinion, but trying to think of what might happen:

• Cmdr Bob has lots of ships and modules stored on the FC.
• He misses the Jump for whatever reason, it happens.
• He is sitting in his Combat FDL, 500ly away from the rest his belongings
• Is 1 hour enough to fix the situation and get back to the FC or must he just give up, and transfer everything back to his current location and give up on the FC. 2 hours is reasonable, even in a Combat FDL.

This is just an example. FD will have many other situations that justify their decision, some better than others, and I think they should stand up for their decisions.

Well, it should have been a squadron thing in the first place. It's never a good idea to give ppl tools to troll others in MP anyway.

 

[Dommarraa]

Well, it should have been a squadron thing in the first place. It's never a good idea to give ppl tools to troll others in MP anyway.

It was, and in many respects it still is. Its a squad thing that has been made available to individuals because they asked for it. Some compromises to that squad idea have had to be made to make it even partially usable by individuals, but I dont think it is reasonable to disegard squad use just because individuals can get one.

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

It was, and in many respects it still is. Its a squad thing that has been made available to individuals because they asked for it. Some compromises to that squad idea have had to be made to make it even partially usable by individuals, but I dont think it is reasonable to disegard squad use just because individuals can get one.

I just think it doesn't cut it for solo use.

 

[Quantis Trap]

OP what potential issues and exploits are you envisioning could be caused by lowered cooldowns/warmups?

Not sure. I wasn't worried enough about it to give it a lot of thought.
Maybe it's just that a half hour to hour wait before the first jump is good to help commanders get on board before the FC leaves, BUT there's no reason for that on faster sequential jumps.

 

[Snowymonk]

I dont have a problem wth the slow spin up / spin down time period with a FC.
It is a support vessel not some sort of front line dreadnought.
Ships have different jump ranges so if a group of people were attempting to head to a particular point in the galaxy, they wouldn't all go exactly the same route or take exactly the same amount of time (and some would faceplant along the way if everyone rushed)

I haven't do a lot of expeditions or exploration so I might not be necessarily getting the concern but if you look at what people did on DW2 - the largest expedition that Elite has done, you can get an idea on how this could work.

The faster ships to get to a location first, the slower ships follow behind at their own rate.
In the case of the FC, it would come along in 500ly jumps & two hour jump windows (plus refuelling windows)

The Fleet carrier owner would need to ensure that he had access to a mining ship (his own or someone else's) to keep the carrier moving.


There are three 'issues' with Fleet carriers that I see deep space explorers having to overcome.
a) The 2 hour / 500 ly jump cycle - I think that some people have become too used to being able to get places too easily. Would people be complaining if the biggest jump range of the current ships was just 20ly for example?
b) The Carrier requires mined Tritum to act as jump fuel - We dont currently know how prevalent this new mineral is or how long it takes to mine but it is not much different, as a funciton over fuel scooping for other ships.
c) The upkeep cost - so you have to pay a weekly upkeep cost to allow you to support a deep space expedition. It is not much different to 'don't fly without rebuy' or 'KGB FOAM' it'll just become one of the things that becomes the background to the game. When people forget (and moan on this forum) they'll get the 'Git Gud' response.

People are merging ships and carriers. They are different beasts and logic that works for one shouldn't have to work on the other.
Personally, I would prefer the 'base' carrier to be free of upkeep costs and only the carriers services requiring upkeep, that way if you don't keep up payments then the carrier just becomes another POI. Until the carrier owner boots up the power and kicks it back to life, then it is nothing more than a hunk of space junk orbiting a start. (perhaps system authorities could move a 'dead' carriers to a carrier graveyard around some of the more remote planets in a system if they do become 'dead' but this wouldn't be needed for day 1)