Any point in having "shuttlecraft" available?

[Marcns007]

I like this and it should be possible with the new small ships.
It reduces your risk, if you die you go back to the Mother ship.

 

[777Driver]

I like this and it should be possible with the new small ships.
It reduces your risk, if you die you go back to the Mother ship.

Have the devs stated how long the VR tether will be to the mothership? Am thinking Canyon runs or base attacks, would be nice to order the mothership to stay put 20+ km away.

 

[Alex Brentnall]

Untill you take a 20mm shot to the chest from that sentry skimmer guarding the base.

As for the big ship - outpost interaction... if its implemented in a sensible way ( a cargo drone module with several drones which costs a ton of money for example) I´d be in for it. You wont be so keen on interacting with said outposts with a shuttle that holds like,2-4 cargo units when you have to unload around 400 tonnes of it.

Make it like an Imperial Courier. Great shields, super quick but built out of paper.

Great for covering terrain and infiltrating bases for scans, terrible for cargo hauling and combat. I'd buy that

 

[ROSS-128]

I think I'd rather have a full sized shuttle than a hoverbike. Like a Star Trek shuttle, or the shuttle from Helldivers.

Basically somewhere between the size of a van and a D-day landing boat. That way my Federal Dropship can launch mini-dropships.

 

[Ydiss]

I think I'd rather have a full sized shuttle than a hoverbike. Like a Star Trek shuttle, or the shuttle from Helldivers.

Basically somewhere between the size of a van and a D-day landing boat. That way my Federal Dropship can launch mini-dropships.

Russian doll deployment go.

 

[veryinky]

The M-44 Hammerhead hovertank from Mass Effect 2 looks like it was made by the same manufacturer as the one who did the skimmers in Elite Dangerous. Would love to explore the surface in one of these.

But an actual shuttle or utility vehicle would be very welcome. Worm class shuttles, interplanetary shuttle, lifter class utility ship from the old elites.

Purely utility to move people/cargo from a ship too large to dock with a station, no shields or weapons just cargo space. In EliteDangerous it'd be great for large ships who can't dock at an outpost, to complete missions.

A welcome addition would be some kind of non-expendable "small craft" version of the limpet, able to collect cargo, prospect asteroids, transfer fuel, and maybe do field repairs/restock ammo on ships using up the launching ship's AFMU fuel.

 

[DukeIronHand]

Ugh...the Hammerhead.
The only thing in the whole darn ME series I didn't like.

 

[knowles2]

Shuttle yes but should be left until walking around, no point in having it when we only can telepresence into other vehicles at the minute.

 

[ROSS-128]

Russian doll deployment go.

Then we can put the FDS in a Corvette, and put the Corvette inside a Farragut.

 

[IndigoWyrd]

Landing on high G planets (up to 10G) is a non issue for any ships currently in game. Same deal with atmospheres, our ships have an incredibly high amount of thrust available, atmospheric landings won't be an issue with the possible exception of severe weather- although weather should have a negative effect on all ship types large or small.

With all the being said I'd love to have to shuttles for the big ships, was hoping our fighters would have landing capability & at least SRV size cargo bays. I guess there isn't much use for shuttles as far as the devs are concerned, the only use they would have at the moment is shuttle runs to outposts, every other type of station and planetary port has large pads

I can't find it, but there is a lovely video someone posted a while back, of many failed attempts to land on high-g planets in anaconda... it's kind of funny actually, to see these behemoths rushing towards the ground and becoming stacks of pancakes... yes, I realize this was entirely a pilot-error issue, or multiple pilots in this case, but..

 

[ROSS-128]

I can't find it, but there is a lovely video someone posted a while back, of many failed attempts to land on high-g planets in anaconda... it's kind of funny actually, to see these behemoths rushing towards the ground and becoming stacks of pancakes... yes, I realize this was entirely a pilot-error issue, or multiple pilots in this case, but..

The highest I've attempted a landing on was 1.3G, and that was strong enough to overcome the retros and side thrusters on a Corvettte (so only my vertical thrusters and main engines were strong enough to keep me off the ground). Fortunately I had already learned the hard lessons in an Asp, so the Corvette only took shield damage.

I have a hard time imagining what a 10G landing would look like. I know most ships' main thrusters can put out more than that (especially while boosting), but it sounds like all the maneuvering thrusters would be incapable of hovering. Do you have to basically land on your main engines and then fall forward onto your landing gear? XD

 

[Zambrick]

The Shuttles will be used for when we have atmospheric landing. Most of the small fighters can fly in atmo but alot of the other ships have the aerodynamic characteristics of a misshapen stone. Basically any ship without an airfoil built into it will need to send down shuttle craft.

These ships should be able to go into the atmosphere.
Eagles, Side winders, Cobras, Vipers, Dropships, Orcas, Belugas, and Maybe the diamondbacks, FDLs, hauler and adder.

Everything else either weighs too much or are not really shaped to go through an atmosphere.

 

[Alex Brentnall]

I can't find it, but there is a lovely video someone posted a while back, of many failed attempts to land on high-g planets in anaconda... it's kind of funny actually, to see these behemoths rushing towards the ground and becoming stacks of pancakes... yes, I realize this was entirely a pilot-error issue, or multiple pilots in this case, but..

Ooh, you mean this one where they told people on Reddit/Forums that there was a ton of high paying missions there then stood back and watched the carnage? That was awesome

[video=youtube;WDebwFrQdeU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDebwFrQdeU[/video]