After months of development, is this all the developers could do for FC interiors at launch?

[Apocalysse]

I apologize in advance if my English is not fluent, but I will try to make myself understood.
I Find current state of the interior of the FC all approximate and almost useless, I wasn't expecting new game mechanics and I think it would have taken little to implement really useful things.

1) Captain's chair: Beautiful with animation of the tablet that is positioned in front of us ... This is all it does, it's just aesthetics, why not at least think of plotting the route from there?

2) All the "information panels" are rigorous and exclusively fake, was it so difficult to put real panels with information on the carrier and / or on the system in which the carrier is currently located?
Many CMDR use the fleet carrier to explore with other CMDRs, why not introduce a panel that can be written by the owner of the FC in which shows the stops and departure times or general notices ?

3) What is the purpose of the captain's room or the screen on the wall? why the panel on the desk was not used which made the most sense to manage FC. If that is the captain's room, where only the team can enter, why not make it a briefing room where you can look at the galaxy map or the system map to take team decision?

4)The Pioneer Supply is sold at a high price and has an exorbitant maintenance price as if it were something precious and useful. In practice it sells weapons and armor at lvl 1 and consumables, all stuff that is both useless because people are looking for weapons and armor at lvl 2/3 maybe with engineering and when you take missions you are inside a base so if you need consumables you get them from there. This module has nothing but an aesthetic function on a FC, it has no real practical function and so its price is exaggerated. What about to put a high pay price for the module, no maintenance cost (who will come on your FC to buy the ultimate technology of lvl 1 suits and weapons or some garbage consumable ?) and 100% more cost for all things sold that don't go to the FC owner for the rare times that someone might buy something ?

5) The bar: aesthetically it is beautiful and has a nice view, but that's about it. Whoever designed the bar system does not play the game, it is not possible that he has not seen that the system conceived in this way does not work with the current game mechanics.
First of all we only have 100 materials available to either buy or sell, when the game requires hundreds of materials and wild grinds to upgrade suits and weapons, so 100 materials to use on the market is like ing in the sea.
Secondly, the market works exactly like the normal market, with the result that since the prices of Odyssey materials are really cheap, 1000% of nothing remains nothing, becoming a market only for the exchange of materials eventually and not a market to be able to earn credits or reduce the weight of the grinding. Personally I already exchange the materials with other CMDRs by going to the bases on the ground and the bar does not add anything on this side.

6) The staff of the FC do not recognize you as the owner, nobody does anything when they meet you, there is no different tone, you are a complete stranger like many others. The Bridge Crew is simply a mythological character and on the "Bridge" you will find two strangers at the controls.

I don't think these were difficult things to implement or correct, but only with these precautions would they have made the launch of the FC interior more roast than smoke.
My 2 cents

 

[Northpin]

Yea, 4) is quite on point.
Too expensive for almost nothing.

However, i will get it on my carriers for no other reason that i hate to see that door weld shut

The bartender is useful even with the global limitation of 100 traded materials - it has the potential to make the rare items less rare.
The bartender is not a Storage depot nor a Cash printing machine.

 

[Rubbernuke]

Artistically I kind of hoped for less of this

And more of this

I mean, why have you got lots of seats to each side on the bridge? There is like 24 or so which just seems odd too me. I don't feel as if I'm commanding a fleet carrier, more like I'm directing a greenhouse with a BBQ outside or that when a carrier jumps everyone files in like school assembly. I get FD had to do this using assets that already existed, but it just feels wrong visually when FD get it so right inside smaller ships like the Corvette or Anaconda, or especially like the T9 and T10 which have split floors and feel 'right'.

 

[Barking_Mad]

I don't think these were difficult things to implement or correct, but only with these precautions would they have made the launch of the FC interior more roast than smoke.
My 2 cents

That's why you're playing games and not making them.

 

[Alien]

Is fleet carriers interiors necessary? Maybe not.
Does having fleet carrier interiors add more depth to the game? Yes.
Does having fleet carrier interiors add more gameplay? Maybe not.
Does having fleet carrier interiors encourage players to do things together? At first yes, we had fun last night as a group on Kerrash's carrier experiencing the jump and testing things. I logged into the game for the first time in months, and might start playing again.

All things considered, while you could argue fleet carrier interiors are a waste of time, and there will always be some who are never happy whatever Frontier do, I like that we have interiors, and I hope Frontier continue development on Elite Dangerous.

 

[fennster]

Is fleet carriers interiors necessary? Maybe not.
Does having fleet carrier interiors add more depth to the game? Yes.
Does having fleet carrier interiors add more gameplay? Maybe not.
Does having fleet carrier interiors encourage players to do things together? At first yes, we had fun last night as a group on Kerrash's carrier experiencing the jump and testing things. I logged into the game for the first time in months, and might start playing again.

All things considered, while you could argue fleet carrier interiors are a waste of time, and there will always be some who are never happy whatever Frontier do, I like that we have interiors, and I hope Frontier continue development on Elite Dangerous.

They're not arguing about whether FC interiors should be in the game or if it was a waste of time, but the fact it is poorly implemented.

 

[Agony_Aunt]

While i like the addition in general, i feel more or less the same about the features.

The barman is practically useless. Pioneer store is almost useless.

The only really nice thing is being able to watch the jump sequence.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

who will come on your FC to buy the ultimate technology of lvl 1 suits

True, but the same is mostly the case for the original outfitting and shipyard services too, in terms of what they actually sell. A way to give deep-space explorers an Artemis Suit if they upgrade to Odyssey in the middle of nowhere is probably the main actual use for it.

The bar

It'd certainly be much more interesting with unrestricted pricing and a larger storage cap (perhaps keep the default storage cap at 100 - whatever the bartender can keep in their pockets - but then allow extra storage to be allocated from the 25kT total space?) - and hopefully Frontier can be convinced to move it in that direction.

Still, at least it makes it possible to swap materials with other players without having to be online at the same time, which is a feature I'd have found useful enough a few times.

 

[LifesAJourney]

I was pretty surprised yesterday, honestly. The game worked on the patch day, no crashes, no issues.

They've been some weird decisions made, sure. But it's nothing that can't be fixed/added later. I'm optimistic.

 

[Alien]

So that is what you call... depth? Maybe not.
Not an old school gamer, eh?

Adds depth.
If playing the original Elite in 1985 and Frontier Elite II in the 90's counts as "old school gamer" .... then I'll leave you to your own conclusions.

 

[Alien]

They're not arguing about whether FC interiors should be in the game or if it was a waste of time, but the fact it is poorly implemented.

Ok, that is a fair comment and I probably mis-read the intention behind the post.
But given previous Elite updates, I think this went pretty smoothly. Yes there are bugs and yes you can expect Frontier to have implemented 100% perfectly, but it's a rare case this days for an update from any company to go 100% without any issues at all.

 

[Rubbernuke]

Is fleet carriers interiors necessary? Maybe not.
Does having fleet carrier interiors add more depth to the game? Yes.
Does having fleet carrier interiors add more gameplay? Maybe not.
Does having fleet carrier interiors encourage players to do things together? At first yes, we had fun last night as a group on Kerrash's carrier experiencing the jump and testing things. I logged into the game for the first time in months, and might start playing again.

All things considered, while you could argue fleet carrier interiors are a waste of time, and there will always be some who are never happy whatever Frontier do, I like that we have interiors, and I hope Frontier continue development on Elite Dangerous.

I'd feel happier if FD just did things with a straight bat.

If you are trading materials, why not....make a shopfront for just that, using what they already had with mat traders? Why mix it into the bar, which is simply crazy. If you want a black market contact, why not utilize the spaces away from the massive crowds and public spaces such as the seat area in the hangar bays? You know, the dark shady places? Its akin to the old "I WANT TO SELL STOLEN GOODS" dialog of old.

This is just applying simple logic which makes artistic sense, as well as use what has been already built in game. What it seems to be is FD thought "I spent all this time making the bar, I have to make damn sure people look at it repeatedly" while not thinking "does this make sense"?

 

[CardioTherapy]

At first when FC launched many players said they are useless and all things you can do pretty well from a station. You don’t need them for trading neither for exploration and all that done in a ship is better. Today everyone wants to have a fleet carrier and they are generally considered a must have end game gadget. The same will happen with interiors. At the beginning they will be useless cosmetics with useless facilities, and I expect slowly to be developed into something very useful and more and more we will find purpose to use them. maybe one day there will be a gameplay lined to FC interiors. Who knows.

 

[Alien]

I'd feel happier if FD just did things with a straight bat.

If you are trading materials, why not....make a shopfront for just that, using what they already had with mat traders? Why mix it into the bar, which is simply crazy. If you want a black market contact, why not utilize the spaces away from the massive crowds and public spaces such as the seat area in the hangar bays? You know, the dark shady places? Its akin to the old "I WANT TO SELL STOLEN GOODS" dialog of old.

This is just applying simple logic which makes artistic sense, as well as use what has been already built in game. What it seems to be is FD thought "I spent all this time making the bar, I have to make damn sure people look at it repeatedly" while not thinking "does this make sense"?

I 100% agree with what you said here.

 

[Deleted member 182079]

I'd feel happier if FD just did things with a straight bat.

If you are trading materials, why not....make a shopfront for just that, using what they already had with mat traders? Why mix it into the bar, which is simply crazy. If you want a black market contact, why not utilize the spaces away from the massive crowds and public spaces such as the seat area in the hangar bays? You know, the dark shady places? Its akin to the old "I WANT TO SELL STOLEN GOODS" dialog of old.

Dark, shady places like settlements, which do spawn mission givers now? Increase the payouts substantially to make me want to visit a settlement just to meet that dodgy mission giver, which you could quite literally hide in a dark corner of the settlement (they could even act as a fence for stolen goods as well). And get rid of the mission giver marker while at it, I thought this was Elite Dangerous and not Elite Handholding.

But I know, what a stupid idea, right.

This is just applying simple logic which makes artistic sense, as well as use what has been already built in game. What it seems to be is FD thought "I spent all this time making the bar, I have to make damn sure people look at it repeatedly" while not thinking "does this make sense"?

Precisely this - assets were created first, and then they must've started thinking about "what do we use those for actually?".

 

[Astaran]

Yeah, the prices for installation and upkeep of the interior modules are a bit steep for what they provide. Vista Genomics is essentially the only "must have" for me for the next expedition, but I've installed the rest as well.

A few thoughts:

It would be nice to see if the FC based pioneer supplies also offers upgraded and pre-engineered equipment. Time will tell I guess

I haven't checked it yet, but is there even a way to see the trade offers of a bartender from outside the FC or do I have to dock and walk all the way to the bartender to see if he even has something, let alone something I might want?

I agree that the various panels could have been used for more "real" information about the FC. A message board would be a decent start.

Why are my FC crewmembers all wearing their pyjamas at work? It's an Imperial aligned FC, so I expect them to wear proper uniforms: crisp, clean and squared away.

Any chances to get "themes" or more individual customization options for FC interiors? Like a slot for a decal in the bar to show your achievements?



All in all, it's not bad and I am very happy that even on patch day the game worked 100% stable and smooth for me. As a matter of fact, a friend (with whom I actually wanted to play Farcry 5 yesterday) asked me to stream Elite via Discord for her to watch. She's now genuinely interested in the game, despite my many, many warnings

 

[amigacooke]

I assume Frontier have hobbled the carriers so that players have some reason to still use all the stations and settlements?

 

[Rubbernuke]

Dark, shady places like settlements, which do spawn mission givers now? Increase the payouts substantially to make me want to visit a settlement just to meet that dodgy mission giver, which you could quite literally hide in a dark corner of the settlement. And get rid of the mission giver marker while at it, I thought this was Elite Dangerous and not Elite Handholding.

But I know, what a stupid idea, right.

Precisely this - assets were created first, and then they must've started thinking about "what do we use those for actually?".

Its aspects such as this where I share your frustration- form should follow function and once you have the things you need to represent you then build those avatars and assets.

Or, that using what FD already have, allow us to apply decals (or have them pop up) based on what we do / who is there etc. If I'm an Empire player, why can't I plaster Imp logos, Powerplay posters / apply themes that reflect that, all things that I already have / can buy / already exist to make this flying mall 'mine'?

If FD had played its cards better, creating a saner foundation for on foot things would have provided incredible flexibility and allowed the BGS / RNG / players true expression via settlements, stations and FCs.

sobs

 

[[VR] wi03016]

FC Interiors is a nice cosmetic addon and increase the immersion apart from this the game needs realy substantial addons. Like small camp/base building and real atmosheric worlds with clouds and gas giants upper layer access including floating ports.

 

[Deleted member 182079]

I haven't checked it yet, but is there even a way to see the trade offers of a bartender from outside the FC or do I have to dock and walk all the way to the bartender to see if he even has something, let alone something I might want?

I asked this yesterday, and I tried to look everywhere in the sys/galmap. Not a biscuit.

So without being able to search Inara it'll be impossible to know where I can trade mats because unlike commodities they can't be filtered in the game. I hope the player journal will convey this to the likes of Inara, but even then - who in their right mind will sell their MI's/OP's/Weapon Components for buttons? If people want to give them away for free they'll already do so anyways.

Back when I had my FC, I used to trade in Meta Alloys and Thargoid Hearts - at about 1.5m-ish a piece it was worth gathering them up, and they usually sold like hot cakes. I hoped I could use the bar of other carrier owners in a similar way, but this has gone out the window now. Even set at 1,000% it's just not worth it.