A Case For Fast Travel

[nanite2000]

Perhaps it's you who should read the OP again. You say there's "unreasonably long times" to meet up, between players... in the bubble? Are you sure you read the OP? Since it states it would be an hour to transfer, from specific locations, inside the bubble, but you think that would eliminate "unreasonably long times" to meet up... in the bubble.

I think you misunderstood what the OP was saying.

The OP said:

This requires either very slowly flying your main ship to your destination, docking/scooping for fuel every few jumps (none of my PvP ships use fuel scoops). Or, zip over in your taxi ship, in minutes, and then wait up to an hour for transfer to complete.

In other words, if you travel there in your combat ship right now it could take 30-40 mins (even longer if you don't have a fuel scoop). Or you could travel there quickly in a ship with a high jump range, but still have to wait up to an hour for your combat ship to be transferred to your new location.

Spending 30-60 mins to meet up with someone in-game is a long time if you only have a couple of hours free time to play.

Even a combat ship could fully cross the bubble in a half hour, but you think making that trip longer would reduce "unreasonably long times".

Sorry, I don't understand. Please can you explain why the OP's suggestion of:

...some kind of "Nav beacon highway", where a select few special beacons allow you to jump from one, to another (normal space to normal space, at special nav beacons only, not every Nav beacon), and cross a fairly large distance quite quickly. You'd still have your final run to the station/whatever to do, and any unconnected jumps in-between.

...would make the trip across the bubble longer than it does right now?

 

[djadjok]

As it was stated, this is an "Inflammatory Post"

In short - simply no.

That was discussed many time along all those years.

1) We already have ship's transfer. The only additional option I can understand is the addition of remote transfer to a known station, transfer "in advance" (also discussed many times earlier and even already mentioned in this thread)

2) Sooner or later we will have Fleet Carriers

3) We have engineers

3) We have CQC

4) Creating - by any means possible - a Bubble-wise "anomalous time-space zone" where an outfitted to an extremity of being reduced to local system based stationary turret so-called "combat ship" would have the same travel ability as a stripped exploraconda does sound for me as both logic- and immersion-breaking mechanics.

 

[[VR] M4st0d0n]

Wasnt there at one point some kind of hint as to how they would update the black hole ubersafe placeholders we got now with some scooping mechanism that would allow one risky trick jump with massive range?

 

[Lestat]

Still nope. If you want Teliporation to play another game.

 

[nanite2000]

Still nope. If you want Teliporation to play another game.

Please show us where the OP asked for 'Teliporation'.

 

[Ethaidan]

I'm not convinced by the whole, but my combat ship needs to get there ASAP.

Here's my solution to this conundrum for my fully fitted medium size combat ships.

1. Remove MRP, fit fuel scoop.
2. Remove HRP/MRP, fit guardian FSD booster.
3. If needed swap FSD for long range model.
4. Fly ship - maybe 5-10 jumps - so, 5-10 minutes?
5. Remove fuel scoop and guardian FSD booster, replace with new MRP & unengineered HRP/MRP.
6. Ship removed modules to new location.
7. Play game - at most, without one engineered HRP and a slightly heavier FSD until they arrive. Oh, the horror.


As for logging into a different ship. Maybe, but with external ingame defined constraints, and range restricted (ie no more than 1000ly to prevent Colonia jumping). If you've been logged out long enough to have taken the slowest transport ship to your desired ship, fine. If you want to log out, then right back in on the other side of the bubble, no.

 

[ebbrell]

No thanks, more simulation needed I think
Fast travel just turns it into more like an arcade game

We need to experience the distance travelled not just jump over it

 

[Brrokk]

Yes, I suggest that OP overlooked the fact that getting your ship to the right place is an important game activity. Asking for fast travel is really asking for a combat advantage: the ability to relocate but still have all the HRPs etc. on board.

ED often presents this dilemma: travel ability or task effectiveness? Someone focused on combat to the extent that they think only combat is gameplay may not recognise this as an in-game dilemma. In fact any good game should present me with trade-offs where it's not obvious what the optimum choice is; I must decide myself based on my game objectives.

I think ED has largely got this particular dilemma right.

 

[Dillon Fallon]

One of the things I like about this game when it comes to ships and outfitting is the choice involved. Yes, I could create an 80ly jump range Anaconda, but it's not going to be any good at combat. I think the fact that compromises are needed underlines where the skill is involved in shipbuilding. Start taking that away and I can't see how it's any worse than asking that a lightweight exploration ship with a couple of guns on being able to survive getting stuck into a CZ.

 

[MadDogMurdock]

...

As for logging into a different ship. Maybe, but with external ingame defined constraints, and range restricted (ie no more than 1000ly to prevent Colonia jumping). If you've been logged out long enough to have taken the slowest transport ship to your desired ship, fine. If you want to log out, then right back in on the other side of the bubble, no.

Just out of curiosity, why?

 

[Florenus]

Spending 30-60 mins to meet up with someone in-game is a long time if you only have a couple of hours free time to play.

Maybe, but I'm seriously concerned that the only space game I really enjoy playing might become even more casual, choices less meaningful, because some players want to have everything at moment's notice.

 

[TiberiusDuval]

What? I do not have any problems traversing through bubble with my explo Krait, very few jumps from edge to edge. Oh maxed out killing machine does not jump as well. Well my Krait does not FIGHT as well. So either you jump or either you fight. Your choice.

 

[Phisto Sobanii]

TL: DR, Limited Fast Travel around the bubble might help liven up the multiplayer aspect of the game.

It could grease the wheels but what needs focus are reasons to fight. The old, "If you build it they will come" solution.

Right now there just aren't very many meaningful fights to be had. Take Carcosa as an example of one. We just fought off another player group. If they'd succeeded, the shipyard would've likely closed and that would've reduced the amount of ship types available in Colonia. Being 22,000 light years out, that's a real loss.

Have more objectives like that in the Bubble and heck, people might not even care about fast travel because they'll just buckyball out there and get it done anyway.

 

[M00ka]

It could grease the wheels but what needs focus are reasons to fight. The old, "If you build it they will come" solution.

Right now there just aren't very many meaningful fights to be had. Take Carcosa as an example of one. We just fought off another player group. If they'd succeeded, the shipyard would've likely closed and that would've reduced the amount of ship types available in Colonia. Being 22,000 light years out, that's a real loss.

Have more objectives like that in the Bubble and heck, people might not even care about fast travel because they'll just buckyball out there and get it done anyway.

Off topic here and I do sincerely apologise but I have to ask this: How do you know the shipyard will be lost if your little group loses? Did your group install the shipyard or was it there when you took control? If the other group is an Independent Anarchy group wouldn't the status remain the same in regard to the shipyard.

Just really curious because as soon as anyone mentions anything in the game, one of you will quote the 'but if we lose the entire regions will lose the shipyard' bit and it seems strange (to me at least) that if that is the case, why aren't shipyards even in the bubble disappearing, reappearing, changing what ships are being sold?

 

[Phisto Sobanii]

Off topic here and I do sincerely apologise but I have to ask this: How do you know the shipyard will be lost if your little group loses? Did your group install the shipyard or was it there when you took control? If the other group is an Independent Anarchy group wouldn't the status remain the same in regard to the shipyard.

Just really curious because as soon as anyone mentions anything in the game, one of you will quote the 'but if we lose the entire regions will lose the shipyard' bit and it seems strange (to me at least) that if that is the case, why aren't shipyards even in the bubble disappearing, reappearing, changing what ships are being sold?

First I'll clarify something. When I said "the shipyard" I specifically meant the availability of Federal and Alliance ships. That's just how we think of it internally, so apologies there.

If the Nameless lose control of Carcosa it's not likely the shipyard will close. It was there last year before the Nameless took control. However, it's likely Federal and Alliance ships will go away. They weren't there last year before the Nameless took control. The Nameless are the only faction native to Carcosa, and it's very obviously a handcrafted system, so it's likely their unlocking of ships is intrinsic to the faction somehow (the station in Earth Expeditionary Fleet has iEagles now thanks to the Nameless, for example).

The government and superpower alignment of a faction is know to have an affect on outfitting, shipyards, and all the rest. This is well known and documented. It happens in the Bubble all the time, you just haven't noticed.

 

[M00ka]

First I'll clarify something. When I said "the shipyard" I specifically meant the availability of Federal and Alliance ships. That's just how we think of it internally, so apologies there.

If the Nameless lose control of Carcosa it's not likely the shipyard will close. It was there last year before the Nameless took control. However, it's likely Federal and Alliance ships will go away. They weren't there last year before the Nameless took control. The Nameless are the only faction native to Carcosa, and it's very obviously a handcrafted system, so it's likely their unlocking of ships is intrinsic to the faction somehow (the station in Earth Expeditionary Fleet has iEagles now thanks to the Nameless, for example).

The government and superpower alignment of a faction is know to have an affect on outfitting, shipyards, and all the rest. This is well known and documented. It happens in the Bubble all the time, you just haven't noticed.

Fair enough but surely if the faction that takes control of Carcosa from the Nameless is like Nameless, an Independent Anarchy faction, why would anything change? Has the factions trying to take control been linked to the Empire or Federation? You said in your first line that because of the Nameless Carcosa has Federal ships available then later on states that because of your faction Imperial ships are available at other stations. So why would the status quo change if another PMF wrestled control away from the Nameless? Can you, with 100% certainty state that if the Nameless were outed from Carcosa that the shipyard would immediately cease selling Federal and Alliance ships (that weren't being sold when the Nameless took control).

I am not trying to be smart or snarky, just genuinely curious because it seems if everything you and your fellow Nameless teammates are stating, FD are specifically handcrafting events and outcomes in the region. For example, my home system has gone from Empire to being taken over by an Independent / Cooperative faction yet the shipyard stayed exactly the same. Why didn't all the Imperial ships disappear from the associated shipyards, why didn't Alliance ships suddenly become available?

 

[Greasetrap42]

You know when people walk to the south pole...
You know when people walk to the top of a mountain...
You know when people walk across a country...
You know when people walk to the shops...
You know when people walk to the kitchen...

Why do they have to always put one foot in front to the other?

I really don't think people walking to the Antarctica has any relevance to this thread.

ED is a spaceship game. We don't walk. Dunno what you are trying to say, but all this talk about walking makes no sense.

 

[Phisto Sobanii]

Fair enough but surely if the faction that takes control of Carcosa from the Nameless is like Nameless, an Independent Anarchy faction, why would anything change? Has the factions trying to take control been linked to the Empire or Federation? You said in your first line that because of the Nameless Carcosa has Federal ships available then later on states that because of your faction Imperial ships are available at other stations. So why would the status quo change if another PMF wrestled control away from the Nameless? Can you, with 100% certainty state that if the Nameless were outed from Carcosa that the shipyard would immediately cease selling Federal and Alliance ships (that weren't being sold when the Nameless took control).

Couple things to know here.

The only superpower alignment in Colonia is Independent. There are no factions in Carcosa like the Nameless. They are all player factions with non-anarchy government types. When we arrived, Explorers' Nation was in charge. They are a cooperative. Edge Frat (confederacy) and Earth Exped Fleet (coop) were there to. Others have moved in since and their government types are dictatorship, cooperative, and feudal. Since there were no Fed or Alliance ships under coop, we can be quite sure another coop would take them away. As far as dictatorship and feudal are concerned, we're not interested in finding out. We've done a lot of work to keep the anarchy in charge, so it would be dumb to undo all that just for science.

To be blunt, if someone wants to do the work needed to defeat us and put someone else in charge of Carcosa they're welcome to, but if Federal and Alliance ships go away because of it you bet your bottom dollar that milestone is getting tied around their neck in front of the entire community. I'm not trying to be a jerk here, I'm just taking the opportunity to clearly state how having something meaningful to fight over can rouse the passions.

No fast travel needed!

I am not trying to be smart or snarky, just genuinely curious because it seems if everything you and your fellow Nameless teammates are stating, FD are specifically handcrafting events and outcomes in the region. For example, my home system has gone from Empire to being taken over by an Independent / Cooperative faction yet the shipyard stayed exactly the same. Why didn't all the Imperial ships disappear from the associated shipyards, why didn't Alliance ships suddenly become available?

As far as I know FDEV hasn't done much in Colonia over the past year. Heck, I can't remember when the last CG was. They added a research station in Jaques, upgraded the outfitting, but I think that's it? I could be wrong. We're not aware of them doing anything in regards to our activities in Colonia. Don't even know if they noticed, to be honest.

When I said Carcosa was hand crafted, I'm referring to it being put into the game. How do I know this? Carcosa, Robardin Rock, Aragon Silo, Amber Dock, and the Nameless can all be tied to inspirations of the Lovecraft mythos - specifically the story An Inhabitant of Carcosa. Check out the tale, it's pretty creepy! Finally, Michael Brookes is a big fan of Lovecraft so it's pretty obvious what's happening here. FDEV has fun like this elsewhere in the game too.

As far as why the shipyards do what they do? No idea really. Someone programmed it that way and sometimes it doesn't make sense. Lots of BGS stuff is black box mysterious.

 

[Greasetrap42]

If a Galactic superhighway was made, wouldn't the first thing that various powers do is try to control it?

Great, another Toll Road.

Also, wouldn't fast travel in the form of a highway be really difficult when dealing with warring factions? Access points would need to be strictly controlled with local area force? To prevent a marauding army of baddies from charging into my home system, doing a smash-and-grab, and disappearing on the highway never to be seen again!

Soon I plan to be an Imperial King. My first edict would be to put-up Customs & Immigration booths at all of our borders. No entry without proper identification.

 

[M00ka]

Couple things to know here.

The only superpower alignment in Colonia is Independent. There are no factions in Carcosa like the Nameless. They are all player factions with non-anarchy government types. When we arrived, Explorers' Nation was in charge. They are a cooperative. Edge Frat (confederacy) and Earth Exped Fleet (coop) were there to. Others have moved in since and their government types are dictatorship, cooperative, and feudal. Since there were no Fed or Alliance ships under coop, we can be quite sure another coop would take them away. As far as dictatorship and feudal are concerned, we're not interested in finding out. We've done a lot of work to keep the anarchy in charge, so it would be dumb to undo all that just for science.

To be blunt, if someone wants to do the work needed to defeat us and put someone else in charge of Carcosa they're welcome to, but if Federal and Alliance ships go away because of it you bet your bottom dollar that milestone is getting tied around their neck in front of the entire community. I'm not trying to be a jerk here, I'm just taking the opportunity to clearly state how having something meaningful to fight over can rouse the passions.

No fast travel needed!



As far as I know FDEV hasn't done much in Colonia over the past year. Heck, I can't remember when the last CG was. They added a research station in Jaques, upgraded the outfitting, but I think that's it? I could be wrong. We're not aware of them doing anything in regards to our activities in Colonia. Don't even know if they noticed, to be honest.

When I said Carcosa was hand crafted, I'm referring to it being put into the game. How do I know this? Carcosa, Robardin Rock, Aragon Silo, Amber Dock, and the Nameless can all be tied to inspirations of the Lovecraft mythos - specifically the story An Inhabitant of Carcosa. Check out the tale, it's pretty creepy! Finally, Michael Brookes is a big fan of Lovecraft so it's pretty obvious what's happening here. FDEV has fun like this elsewhere in the game too.

As far as why the shipyards do what they do? No idea really. Someone programmed it that way and sometimes it doesn't make sense. Lots of BGS stuff is black box mysterious.

Thanks for that explanation, it has cleared a few things up. So when the Nameless took control, there were only Imperial ships being sold since you stated that there were no Fed or Alliance ships available. I guess those were removed from the shipyards and the Fed and Alliance ships were introduced.

BTW, your faction should be congratulated, according to EDDB, Robardin Rock is the only non-planetary Independent Anarchy with a Military economy in the entire game!