Patch Notes Fleet Carriers Update - Patch 4 Patch Notes

[Just Ice]

Now, if you are doing a "round trip" with an FC and wonder what is the "safe distance" to nearest tritium selling startion,
when you have to turn back to avoid serious mining effort.

For "my" FC it's ca. 33.000 ly (in jumps).

Much more then half of total range - because the more fuel you have already burned, the less fuel will be used for every 500 ly jump - you are coming back on "fumes", in a lightweight FC.

I even added 1000 cargo as a "safe margin" (or in my case - LTD/VO/Painite I mine on the way - I am usually testing interesting hotspots - a short, 320t mining run here and there.

Elite: Dangerous Index

spansh.co.uk

 

[Just Ice]

Summary:
no, FC are not "useless" to ANY explorer.

Just to those, who want to go travel in a FC more then ca 35 tsd ly away AND back with no mining at all.


To get a "sense" of distances,

this is how far can you fly in a FC with most of services when on a "suicide" trip (till you run out of bought Tritium)

 

[Just Ice]

And this is how far can you jump with FC if you want to make it back without mining:

And now please, keep telling yourself how FCs are "broken and useless"

 

[Just Ice]

And the same for a more "specialized" FC setup - 1000 modules capacity, 24.000 Tritium in cargo:

One-way range:

Two-way range:

 

[Just Ice]

It is the "base" ot those pictures:
I emulated Sol - Beagle Point trip-
Checked when FC runs out of fuel - this is "one-way range",
Then changed the destination to the system where it happens (It's ALMOST at Beagle point !), and used "show route" option.

Elite: Dangerous Index

spansh.co.uk

 

[M4RTH4]

And now please, keep telling yourself how FCs are "broken and useless"

There plenty more that go even farther than that, as well as return. Le Guin returned to the core to assist another DSSA Carrier (Glomar something. Expanse? I don't remember) to set up in the Norma Expanse region. She >carries< miners and explorers with her. Not just her owner, but multiple other commanders, as well.

 

[Just Ice]

There plenty more that go even farther than that, as well as return. Le Guin returned to the core to assist another DSSA Carrier (Glomar something. Expanse? I don't remember) to set up in the Norma Expanse region. She >carries< miners and explorers with her. Not just her owner, but multiple other commanders, as well.

So?

Yes, there are SOME goals we are unable to achieve in current state of things.

Yes, it was mean/wrong/fraudulent by FDev to change the rules AFTER introducing FCs.

My only point here it to "balance out" this mass hysteria, I bet that many of commanders who wrote angry rants here never put effort in doing such "fact checking" on their own and the maps I just pasted triggered some kind of "cognitive dissonance" in their minds

 

[[PS4] Lorenzo Waringos]

You're missing the fact that there are several systems out there that are only reachable with the fc:s range of 500 ly.

Well I reckon those places should take a bit of graft to get to.

 

[Just Ice]

Game is still fun and FCs are very usefuL EVEN considering "I WILL NOT MINE TRITIUM" only range that covers more then 50% of Galaxy area (very safely approximated assumption based on the last picture I pasted)

 

[M4RTH4]

Game is still fun and FCs are very useful with their "I WILL NOT MINE TRITIUM" range that covers more then 50% of Galaxy area (very safely approximated assumption based on the last picture I pasted)

Most carrier owners I've talked to are more than willing to mine Tritium.
It's moreso for a while we physically couldn't, as it was are rare as six-leaf clover. Now it's workable, but at a signifigantly reduced rate compared to pre-mining nerf with overlaps.

 

[[PS4] Lorenzo Waringos]

Yes, that's true -- and I DO have a lot of tritium in my hold - whenever there is a dump of cheap tritium, I buy it. Whenever I'm mining, I grab a few tons, but the whole point of a ship like this is not to be dependent on populated systems, it's to be able to go large distances and be self sufficient.



Yes, obviously, the clue is in the name; the question isn't about what it does, but WHY it does it. WHAT AM I DOING with those ships? If I use an FC to explore, then I need an explorer and a miner (I also want a fast little canyon runner if I find an interesting planet). If I'm engaging in combat, I want to be able to transport squadrons of combat ships somewhere for battle. If I'm hauling cargo, then I'm probably not even interested in a lot of ships, just a couple for transporting to stations (a cargo-laden python for medium pads and a cutter for large pads, for example).

Yes, these are, absolutely, a best fit for groups of people, and that is what I intend to use mine for, but we still come back to the fact that the time investment simply isn't worth the reward with the scarcity of tritium, and that leads me right back to the original question: WHAT IS IT that FDEV expects these things to be used for? What purpose do they have? What game mechanic do they drive forward? It seems like they looked at MMOs and saw guilds and guild-halls and then did a half-arsed job on squadrons (guilds) and FCs (guild halls), a pattern that seems to be repeated over and over: "here's a bunch of things tossed into space, figure out what you want to do with them, but don't expect us to put in any effort driving the game forward."

I’m a kid of the 70’s, we used to get these Lego sets for Christmas. There were a couple of pictures on the box lid but nothing else, (not like the ‘specific build’ kits you buy today), they gave you the bricks and a couple of pointers and let you get on with it. I see Elite like that. Tbey give you some tools, couple of pointers and let you create you’re own game.

 

[Just Ice]

I’m a kid of the 70’s, we used to get these Lego sets for Christmas. There were a couple of pictures on the box lid but nothing else, (not like the ‘specific build’ kits you buy today), they gave you the bricks and a couple of pointers and let you get on with it. I see Elite like that. Tbey give you some tools, couple of pointers and let you create you’re own game.

Heh, I usually had my own ideas even before I build what LEGO has pictured I had on the box / in the sheet.
I just mixed new bricks with my old and made something unique, based on my own imagination.

It was SOOO much more satisfying then just "following the book".

 

[Just Ice]

Most carrier owners I've talked to are more than willing to mine Tritium.
It's moreso for a while we physically couldn't, as it was are rare as six-leaf clover. Now it's workable, but at a signifigantly reduced rate compared to pre-mining nerf with overlaps.

I totally miss hunting for double/triple Tritium hotspots.

 

[Kestrel71]

I’m a kid of the 70’s, we used to get these Lego sets for Christmas. There were a couple of pictures on the box lid but nothing else, (not like the ‘specific build’ kits you buy today), they gave you the bricks and a couple of pointers and let you get on with it. I see Elite like that. Tbey give you some tools, couple of pointers and let you create you’re own game.

I'm also a kid of the 70's and LEGO was my go-to toy, but Elite is FAR from being anything remotely like LEGO - if I want that kind of creative environment, I play SPACE ENGINEERS where the point of the game (like LEGO) is to actually create something.

While this is a game that does lend itself to player-driven initiatives, it can't survive SOLELY on that; it needs game-driven goals and storyline or it WILL die. It needs REAL rewards for the amount of work put into the game (consider, for example, the effort required to reach top ranks in Empire and Federation and you get absolutely NOTHING. It's not even a rank that anyone else gets to see. There's no decal, no skin, not even a tag in the CMDR description; you literally get NOTHING). This is a game built around grinding away to achieve something, but there's just nothing to really achieve barring a handful of system permits, half a dozen ship unlocks, three visible ranks, and two invisible ranks).

 

[Kestrel71]

Initially, the players DID figure out new and emergent ways to use these carriers and a community was developing organically around mining and trading. Then FDev smashed this into oblivion with their nerf hammers. I can agree that the egg needed to be smashed. I can agree that the credits were flowing too easily and should have been scaled back. It just seems to me this could have been more easily accomplished by changing buy and sell rates and/or spreads, rather than changing up well established game mechanics with supply and demand and hotspots so much.

I completely agree. It's one thing to scale back earnings, it's quite another forcing people to spend multiple hours for a handful of tons of some material in the rings. It is incredibly boring pinging, pinging, pinging, prospect... nothing, over and over and over and over.

 

[Just Ice]

As someone who has never mined in Borann before, I am quite impressed with how easy and reliable tritium sources are now at each and every tritium hotspot. Any simpler, and you'll see me slipping into rage mode

No harm would be done if Tri2 would offer 20% more and Tri3 40% more yields then regular spots.

"Mining for ride" would still require more then enough effort.
And tri overlaps are not common - I have found two maybe, on zillion of scanned icy rings.

the TENSION when we were

• waiting for "yellow circles" to appear
  and then
• identifying resource types after notiing an overlap

was just priceless and without it game feels a bit "castrated"

 

[Just Ice]

I completely agree. It's one thing to scale back earnings, it's quite another forcing people to spend multiple hours for a handful of tons of some material in the rings. It is incredibly boring pinging, pinging, pinging, prospect... nothing, over and over and over and over.

Well, it's not like exploring is SO non-repetitive activity.

I have to do dumb stuff like this to "speed up" the slow pace...

Source: https://youtu.be/otC7AzkMlTw

 

[askavir]

Game is still fun and FCs are very usefuL EVEN considering "I WILL NOT MINE TRITIUM" only range that covers more then 50% of Galaxy area (very safely approximated assumption based on the last picture I pasted)

Absolutely.

I am one of those "I don't want to mine tritium", or better "I don't want to rely on mining tritium" as I don't mind mining a bit of tritium occasionally. I'm perfectlyt OK with the carrier range, if the absence of Tritium at Colonia were to be fixed to me it would be absolutely perfect. If I ever want to venture outside the carrier range, I'll park the carrier at the edge of being able to return, and launch an autonomous exploration ship (my trusty old Type-7) to go beyond.

That means that I'll never be able to get to the farthest systems where only a carrier can jump into, but I'm fine with that, still have plenty of galaxy to explore for several lifetimes with my carrier (and beyond with my T-7), and I still think the ones who are willing to rely on mining tritium to reach those previously unreachable places deserve to be rewarded for their efforts.

As for being fun and useful, I have to say that exploration is pretty much what I ever cared about in this game, I always wished I someday could set off on a large science vessel and explore the galaxy like a Captain Kirk, FCs finally made that possible, to me it's one of the best additions ever, even with the lingering issues.

 

[alexzk]

, but why would someone like that of all people want to mine several 1000 tons in one go? Makes absolutely no sense to me, sorry.

I think you play short sessions.
If I play today 10 hours, only 2 things I can do in Void - mine trit and explore. Lets imagine age case I already explored everything and must move FC. But I don't have fuel. That's why I need 1000t. And as I play for long this is going to be like 8 hours of pure mining. If you say - mine a bit then explore, well, I could be 2000ly away. I don't want to return to mine a bit.
I think all that comes from fact, I don't like to mix things. In games I always take (or filter ) 1 quest. Because i don't like 10-20-30 lists. If I play - then I play whole day. If I work - I work whole day etc. Same for mining and exploring.

 

[Tyres O'Flaherty]

10 hours a day???