Elite Dangerous needs to make its fleet carriers worthwhile
A second beta test for the coming fleet carriers has ended, and while the megaships mostly work, they don't really have much to do.
www.rockpapershotgun.com
Rock Paper Shotgun: "Elite needs to make its FCs worthwhile", "reasonable conclusion to infer is that FDev are establishing groundwork for New Era"
- Thread starter StuartGT
- Start date
www.rockpapershotgun.com
Deleted member 182079
D
I've been on quite an emotional rollercoaster since FCs have been announced. Excitement, disappointment, indifference, confusion. You name it.
But now, after the dust has settled a bit, there are a number (yes!) of things that I do look forward to, and what I will use my FC for:
Moveable base of operations - I like to move around the bubble, but on top of that I'll be able to go on extended trips a little further afield (Guardian sites, Cali & Pleiades nebulae, etc.) bringing all my ships, and my second CMDR (although, I do need the shipyard for this, right?), without the need to transfer ships and modules.
Commodity Storage - this will also affect the way I mine. Now, I'm focusing on single commodities, whether that's for missions (barely ever do those) or credit grinding. Going forward, I'll mine everything (yes, even the low value stuff), stock up on those and then see if I can use them for missions. This will also require me to build mining ships for different purposes (large bulk miner, small core miner, something inbetween maybe, too).
Taxi - as mentioned above, my low level alt CMDR will be able to hitch a ride. They're a single ship pilot in an Eagle so this will be quite beneficial.
Exploration - I might eventually go on a longer trip out, still undecided. Shorter excursions to destinations of <3k Ly's are certainly a possibility though, especially to the 'top'/'bottom' of the galaxy if I fancy a change in scenery. Do a bit of mining, a bit of exploration. Then return back to the bubble.
Fleet Expansion - building more specialised ships that I don't have to pick up/ship from across the bubble as they're always with me now. And the FC will require proper bulk haulers (T9 mostly likely) that I currently don't bother with.
So while FCs don't offer any new gameplay loops as such, my playstyle will change a fair bit.
Only thing I'm really dreading are the inevitable bugs come release.
But now, after the dust has settled a bit, there are a number (yes!) of things that I do look forward to, and what I will use my FC for:
Moveable base of operations - I like to move around the bubble, but on top of that I'll be able to go on extended trips a little further afield (Guardian sites, Cali & Pleiades nebulae, etc.) bringing all my ships, and my second CMDR (although, I do need the shipyard for this, right?), without the need to transfer ships and modules.
Commodity Storage - this will also affect the way I mine. Now, I'm focusing on single commodities, whether that's for missions (barely ever do those) or credit grinding. Going forward, I'll mine everything (yes, even the low value stuff), stock up on those and then see if I can use them for missions. This will also require me to build mining ships for different purposes (large bulk miner, small core miner, something inbetween maybe, too).
Taxi - as mentioned above, my low level alt CMDR will be able to hitch a ride. They're a single ship pilot in an Eagle so this will be quite beneficial.
Exploration - I might eventually go on a longer trip out, still undecided. Shorter excursions to destinations of <3k Ly's are certainly a possibility though, especially to the 'top'/'bottom' of the galaxy if I fancy a change in scenery. Do a bit of mining, a bit of exploration. Then return back to the bubble.
Fleet Expansion - building more specialised ships that I don't have to pick up/ship from across the bubble as they're always with me now. And the FC will require proper bulk haulers (T9 mostly likely) that I currently don't bother with.
So while FCs don't offer any new gameplay loops as such, my playstyle will change a fair bit.
Only thing I'm really dreading are the inevitable bugs come release.
Last edited by a moderator:
That was a paid article they got provided a test account with 15 billion credits.
You'd assume a bit more lenient resume for a paid article. They provided a 15 bn account because noone having a job can be bothered to grind for that.
Not paid for, and not players either because frontier had to provide them an account. Complete mystery then!
That would be nice, but I’m not really seeing any obvious hints in-game to that. Or any great hypothesises doing the rounds as to how.
If we were to hypothesize that the 'leak' overview is broadly accurate, how does that dovetail? How would Legs make a market that doesn't currently appeal to commanders appeal? Or lend itself to an involving internal space? (Above and beyond other comparable locations etc)
I could chain some massive conjectures together, like: Base building = planetary mining operations = more player-driven economy.
I'm not convinced everyone would then run around buying cut price minerals off each other, but hey, maybe they would. I don't understand economists, and who would turn down a player-generated gold rush I guess
---
Nice write-up otherwise. I do mainly agree with the kitchen wok analogy
Last edited:
RPS are players of Elite, see some of their previous articles:
Elite Dangerous
Discover everything you need to know about Elite Dangerous.
www.rockpapershotgun.com
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/EliteDangerous/comments/gs5swt/rock_paper_shotgun_elite_dangerous_needs_to_make/fs3684h/That would be nice, but I’m not really seeing any obvious hints in-game to that. Or any great hypothesises doing the rounds as to how.
If we were to hypothesise that the 'leak' overview is broadly accurate, how does that dovetail? How would Legs make a market that doesn't currently appeal to commanders appeal? Or lend itself to an involving internal space? (Above and beyond other comparable locations etc)
I could chain some massive conjectures together, like: Base building = planetary mining operations = more player-driven economy.
I'm not convinced everyone would then run around buying cut price minerals off each other, but hey, maybe they would. I don't understand economists, and who would turn down a player-generated gold rush I guess
---
Nice write-up otherwise. I do mainly agree with the kitchen wok analogy
It's always been a field of tension between independence and access to information. There's much worse bull with marketing and games "journalism". Just look at EA influencers. Giving out press accounts is pretty tame.
RPS are players of Elite, see some of their previous articles:
Elite Dangerous
Discover everything you need to know about Elite Dangerous.
Cant type too busy mining...
Anyway, I've never read RPS, Kotakus or whathaveyous anyway. Game journalism kinda died with the magazines.
Ay fair play, the default commodity market certainly shows it's a focus. And a baffling focus in lieu of AIs using it as a marketplace
What format would you imagine an expanded player economy taking then? (I could see larger scale mining operations possibly working, gated by a big cash outlay for the base / installation / larger mining vehicles / time etc, or whatever). What else would / could shake up the current system? (With mobile markets being of particular use).
This same thinking has already done the rounds here on the forum in a few threads and comments.
Obviously FC's as we see them now are a foundation for features to come.
At least we all hope.
Obviously FC's as we see them now are a foundation for features to come.
At least we all hope.
Placeholder content with the intent of establishing groundwork for future updates has been how people have described this game for years.
Nowadays Kotaku is a shadow of its former self in my not so humble opinion, and producing generic "I'm offended on your behalf" clickbaits.
That should be "alluding" StuartGT...
[Pendantic mode off]
Yeah I do agree on Kotaku, I just thought the 'games journalism died with magazines' take and timeline was excessive
There is still good gaming journalism out there periodically I'd say, it's just normally buried beneath a deluge of compromised crap
. (Although to be honest I tend to go to dev blogs and the like for the more interesting insights these days anyway. And the more business sector end of games coverage for the 'truth to power' attempts )
The author seemed to come at Elite cold, and their lack of imagination about the carriers is also something I've seen a lot.
Couple of worthwhile points.
1. Who you see in a system does not correlate to how many commanders see a carrier in a system. As an individual you are there in one instance at one time. The carrier is there in all instances, across all modes and platforms. Comparing the two is absurd.
2. The article was from the perspective of someone who admits their playstyle is not conducive to carriers. It's no surprise that they didn't connect with oone.They wanted to fly a giant space ship into a black hole... not operate a player owned station in a hub of their own creation.
Still, if you agree with them it's nice validation I suppose.
Couple of worthwhile points.
1. Who you see in a system does not correlate to how many commanders see a carrier in a system. As an individual you are there in one instance at one time. The carrier is there in all instances, across all modes and platforms. Comparing the two is absurd.
2. The article was from the perspective of someone who admits their playstyle is not conducive to carriers. It's no surprise that they didn't connect with oone.They wanted to fly a giant space ship into a black hole... not operate a player owned station in a hub of their own creation.
Still, if you agree with them it's nice validation I suppose.
Possibly. But carriers don't do anything that people didn't expect carriers to do back on the original 3.3 release plan (other than individual ownership, which has advantages and disadvantages but doesn't significantly change their capabilities) - people expected a player-controlled dockable megaship, and that's what they are.
So on that plan they'd have been "establishing groundwork" for something not intended to come out for another 2 years, and left the FCs with not much to do [1] in the meantime. Even now it's going to be another 9 months or so before they're "useful" on that theory.
I'm not saying that the next expansion won't add more uses for them - a big expansion should be adding more uses for everything, after all - but it seems unlikely that Frontier deliberately set out to create another Orca [2]
In practice, I think that plenty of people will be willing to spend 5 billion plus maintenance just to avoid the inconvenience of the existing module transfer and storage tools, the DSSA will do pretty well, and a few people will come up with interesting niche uses for them.
[1] Well, if they had been released on the original schedule there were still semi-regular CGs where the bulk hauling and rapid transport would have come in useful, they could have joined Distant Worlds 2, and so on, so they might actually have been more useful than they are now.
[2] For those not here back then, the Orca was released as a specialist passenger ship, with restricted slots which could only be used for passenger cabins, well over 18 months before either passenger cabins or passengers to put in them got implemented.