Not the only one. Two things that keeps this game going (not only two but two for sure) are the need for credits and the ability to earn them doing activities in the game. The mining gold rush was popular because of the impending FC introduction. There's a need for credits and a source for credits. There's a lot more to the game, but those two things, supply and demand, seem to fuel a lot of the play time.
An unfortunate observation about Fleet Carriers
- Thread starter Aerendyl
- Start date
The carrier does cost 5b minimum. It is well known that you habe to spend upkeep for it. Someone who complains about upkeep after purchasing a FC is very suspicious. How does he get the initial 5b? Was he not aware of the upkeep? Why so? Why is there a need to complain at the forums about it instead just selling the FC again?
I've tried for months to get a carrier to be passively self-sustaining with simple things, but realistically that's not been viable.
You'll probably want to source commodities and materials for which there's a heavy player demand - and sell those on your carrier.
So that'd be Meta-alloys, Modular Terminals, and Caustic Tissue Samples for the commodity market.
And it's Power Regulators, Suit Schematics, Weapon Schematics, and Ionised Gas for the bartender.
Price them all ten-thousand percent, but keep the Meta-alloys at something like five million credits per unit.
Regulators and Suit Schematics sell for 5M¢ each, with Ionised Gas and Weapon Schematics selling for 3½M¢ each.
Of course, you'd be responsible for sourcing the materials yourself. And, critically, you'd need to regularly update your carrier's market data on the EDDN with a utility like the Elite Dangerous Market Connector -- and you'd need a properly set up Inara account to boot, since that's how other players would find your carrier. You'd need to log into the game for like two minutes a day to update your carrier on EDDN.
If you hit Arai's Mine (please don't, just source missions and do those) you get probably two schematics, one suit and one weapon. And you pull the regulator. That's 13½M¢ for an Arai run, on average.
There are much better settlements out there that'll net you an average of ~25M¢ in player-desired materials for a single run.
I'd recommend you sell directly to other player bartenders and skip the EDDN thing - just search the Bartender demand on Inara.
Just don't forget to sort on Price - sell at premium pricepoints only!
Update 16 has been a beautiful thing - it's really opened up the player economy.
There is no direct benefit to players. Never has been.
The indirect benefit is that it really works to get rid of carriers - I've seen a lot of 'em go away.
It's a game. If the developers spend valuable time to add implement something, there should be some benefit to it being there. Even if it's just "immersion" as Ian said for example.
Sure, back in the day it was probably also intended to get rid of unused carriers. Funnily enough your own post proves that doesn't work anymore. You say you have 50bn in your carrier. If you stopped playing for good tomorrow, how many years exactly would it take for your carrier to "vanish"? So no, imho reducing the clogging doesn't really count as benefit anymore, since it clearly doesn't work.
Why would it not be useful for casual players? Store all your ships and stuff, sell to other players, have a base out in the black,...
At an hour a week... what are all these ships this imaginary player is gonna have? Out in the black? A bunch of unengineered sidewinders and vultures? How are they going to fuel it with tritium.... at one hour a week? It doesn't make much sense.
I don't see the point there.
It's possible that somebody wants to enjoy this new feature and even plans their finances accordingly, but still doesn't like the concept of upkeep.
How many hours a week are required to be allowed to own a carrier in your opinion?
It doesn't always work but the OP disproves any assertion that it never works. So getting rid of some carriers >> getting rid of none. The fact I have been playing since 2015 and have that much in my carrier bank suggests I am not dabbling in it. If I was struggling to keep up because I only play less than an hour a week, I wouldn't have that much in the bank.
So sure, there will be carriers that never go away in the life of this game unless FDev creates a mechanism to resolve it. But if the carrier is being used by others, if it has services active, it's basically a station. An unfunded station that goes away likely had no useful services.
It's not an allowance. You either can afford it or you cannot. If you can make the upkeep in 15 minutes a year, you're all set.
A similar argument can be put forth for jumping to BP. I don't have enough Tritium, cannot afford it or mine it since I don't play enough. How many hours a week are required before I am allowed to jump to BP in my carrier?
I do think it would be cool to have reduced fees when you are X distance from inhabited systems, as if the fees are for system taxes and such. It would mean carriers out in the black which don't clog anything or ever appear on your screen can stick around longer. I think it would also entice some players to move their carriers if they aren't going to be in the game for a long time.
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I focused on casual deep space exploration with no fleet carrier for a year after they were introduced. The DSSA was absolutely fine. All the services provided for me for free. Even storage of additional ships.. out in deep space. I didn't need to buy or mine a single ton of tritium.
How many hours a week? Obviously up to the player. But if a player bankrupted themselves to get a trophy that's their choice.
The key word "trophy" vs "tool" that I see it as. The carrier pays for itself since I love to raid bases. I dump all my wampum on there and commanders scoop it up.
Sometimes you just have to deal with the things you are facing. That might be a sad truth for some people but upkeep is a very common concept in games and ... even in real life also, hands down. When you don't like it, just stop playing or stop to own a FC. Simple.
Deep space exploration it becomes a great credit making tool too. By rapidly zipping away from human space (+5K Ly) to unexplored systems exobiology payouts are massively bigger. Having Vista Genomics onboard I cash in whenever I want. If scanning exobiology samples no longer yields codex discoveries... the payouts drop and it is time to make a couple more jumps for fresh scanning grounds with different samples. Or a move to different galactic region.
If a cmdr likes deep space exploring activities then inadvertently slurping up the credits to pay for the fleet carrier maint costs and bank a bunch extra can easily be done in a few hours per week.
Edit: Getting a fleet carrier for deep space exploration my overall income per gameplay hour increased significantly. The ability to conveniently use dedicated exobiology ships with better engines, shields, hull, and small landing footprint really speeds up the scanning process. Also with zero fear of crashing or losing my SRV I can take risks I wouldn't do in my old exploration ships. All this means faster exobiology, faster credits.
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I understand the desire (and right) to complain. I do it all the time! I tend to draw the line where one person's suggestion to make the game better for them would end up making it worse for me. Removing carrier maintenance fees is such a suggestion.
Disclaimer - I'm not playing right now, haven't for some time, but I still have at least a year to return before my carrier empties its bank account, so I think I get a say. And if I don't return, plenty of folk will probably be glad that my carrier will be decommissioned and removed from the endless clutter of carriers polluting the galaxy (though in Odyssey I think my carrier is still outside the Bubble).
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Wow, you're telling me to stop playing the game. What a brilliant argument.
I am dealing with the consequences and I'll happily make my own decision whether I want to own a carrier or not.
And it should be possible to say I don't like upkeep without getting all these hostile replies telling me to get lost.
I turn OFF all the services I can if I'm not going to use the Carrier for a while. However, sometimes it turns them back on again. Happened to me recently. Logged back in after five weeks, greeted by five lots of FULL upkeep and all services active. Turned them all off, again, so we'll see what happens.
i dont want to sound that mean, but i think the math here is pretty simple.
if you can get a carrier i expect you to be able to afford its upkeep. as in at that point you should be that capable and knowledgeable to source the required amount effectively.
if you arent at that point yet, but you managed to get a carrier, you will struggle to keep it running. and at that point in the game i dont think carrier is really necessary and its lack wouldnt mean that much difference to you... meaning you maybe should consider letting it go and decomissioning it.
carrier is a 'luxury', not a requirement.
if you can get a carrier i expect you to be able to afford its upkeep. as in at that point you should be that capable and knowledgeable to source the required amount effectively.
if you arent at that point yet, but you managed to get a carrier, you will struggle to keep it running. and at that point in the game i dont think carrier is really necessary and its lack wouldnt mean that much difference to you... meaning you maybe should consider letting it go and decomissioning it.
carrier is a 'luxury', not a requirement.
I 100% agree that some players don't like the maint costs of the fleet carrier. Some players that can easily afford the costs. That's fine. I understand some players not liking the principle, the ingame mechanic. Its not game breaking for them... they just don't like it. Understood, there are some things I don't like too.
Several of us were replying to your example of a hypothetical player that plays only 1 hour per week. It doesn't seem like a reasonable example. IMO the inability for a cmdr to of afford the maint costs means the cmdr did not make a good gaming decision.
I broadly agree with your point that carrier upkeep seems a bit arbitrary & decommissioning it is quite a harsh alternative if the players circumstances change. I do think there should be one though.
FDev cannot put upkeep up (it would frustrate those that did plan ahead & have enough upkeep stored in the carrier bank), they can lower it or remove it entirely.
If it's lowered that just lowers the bar at which carrier ownership is still viable (it would help the OP) but someone else would just face the same dilemma as the OP.
I think if someone understands the game well enough to be able to obtain one they know how to make money, they just don't want to right now or no longer have time. Carrier life sadly is not for them. They can get another if their circumstances change again & they are able to play more.