Apex Interstellar Transport Module for Fleet Carriers [Odyssey]
- Thread starter Dylan D
- Start date
I don't think a module should be required. You should just be able to select a carrier as a destination and order an Apex from the UI while on a carrier.
I think the reason why this wasn't done was because the carrier might have moved while a taxi was en-route.
I guess the countdown to a jump could be delayed with a notification about the taxi but that seems like something that could be abused so maybe have the taxi just turn back?
tbh I've not used a taxi since the first stage of alpha testing (I'm out exploring) but it does seem reasonable to me that the taxis should be able to take you to & from carriers.
I guess the countdown to a jump could be delayed with a notification about the taxi but that seems like something that could be abused so maybe have the taxi just turn back?
tbh I've not used a taxi since the first stage of alpha testing (I'm out exploring) but it does seem reasonable to me that the taxis should be able to take you to & from carriers.
I'm not sure an FC jump is such a big problem. There's a 5 min FC pre-jump routine, most Apex trips don't take that long. If an FC is already in Pre-jump just deny it as a destination. Or maybe even the entire 20M pre-jump.
Something like this the mechanism needs to account for all eventualities. A 400kLS trip to a distant binary takes 18 minutes from experience, flying a direct route at full throttle and there are potential travel times longer than that in the game even without factoring in multi-jump trips.
With ship transfers (which of course happen in the background, unlike taxi trips) once the transfer is requested it doesn't matter how far the carrier jumps, it costs the same & take the same time. I don't think a taxi could do that.
But taxis do now have a 'cancel en-route' option (I've not experienced it myself as mentioned earlier), that same mechanism could be used to automatically cancel the trip if the ETA is after the schedules carrier jump (the game knows both of these times).
It would make sense as a module to enable the Apex desk on the FC, but as you say FC should always be available to jump towards. Same with Frontline - module to add a Frontline Desk.
The 15 minutes countdown should be enough time to warn off an Apex on route, and if it isn't then the time that CMDR spends waiting for the Apex to run out of fuel and explode should put them off trying it again
(Now I'm tempted to see if you can Apex to one of the movable megaships - start travelling just before the Thursday downtime and see what happens when the servers come back ... off to look at the Sadler's Song
)
Yes - and because you can log off mid-Apex, then the carriers don't even need to be physically that distant. Someone could set off, log off, and then the destination could be long gone by the time they log back in the next day.
I'm interested to see what Factabulous' experiment comes up with as to what the Apex thinks of that!
Even that still leaves an edge case, though, if you're in deep space a long way from any NPC stations.
1) Set up Apex trip from Carrier A to Carrier B
2) Launch Apex, log off (or have the carriers be a long way apart)
3) Both carriers now depart
4) Once they're gone, log back in - there's now no destination in range to re-route to.
If that happened to you in a normal ship without a fuel scoop you'd probably have to self-destruct, or find a landable planet to walk around on while awaiting rescue. In an Apex you can't even do that - you'd have to wait for someone to fly a rescue carrier into range.
Personally I think it's a rare enough edge case and one that you'd almost have to be trying to get into if carriers with jumps scheduled weren't valid destinations that they should just let us get into that mess and either have a cool story about rescuing a lost shuttle or an extra call for support once in a while.
(Frontline, on the other hand, wouldn't be a problem. Even if the carrier departs while you're fighting, by definition there's always at least one station in the system the Vulture can return you to, even if it doesn't then have a desk)
They could even add a simple rule like 'no Apex to systems without a permanent Apex desk'. It's not ideal, as you would be stopped from using it when parking in an unpopulated system, but it would be simple to implement, clear and (I think) would remove all issues. If you get to the system and the FC is gone then you can redirect to an Apex location in the system.
Sure, it would stop people Apexing around out in the black, but you can't do that now, and it allows Apex where we mostly want it.
Sure, it would stop people Apexing around out in the black, but you can't do that now, and it allows Apex where we mostly want it.
See, that seems like a case for not having a Apex module....
If someone is on route to a fleet carrier on an apex, the carrier jump could be delayed "pending the arrival of a shuttle" if someone logs off or the carrier jumps away then either it will return the customer to wherever he booked the apex, or have a fuels scoop fitted and catch up with the carrier anyhow.
I dont think anyone is going to Apex to Colonia at 50LY per trip...
Perhaps Apex shouldn't even offer services that far away from civilization. And if it's a trip from uninhabited system to another inside or near a bubble, the shuttle should be able to divert to nearest populated system. If that all is too complicated, there is always the ol' escape pod option, rude as it is.
Umm, no? I think you will find delaying the carrier jump would be a big no from a lot of players. I can't see an Apex shuttle chasing a carrier either. You book shuttle, leave it running, carrier starts jumping, you log in next day some 10k or 15kly or more from the bubble with the carrier still not in sight and no hope of catching it, so you have to cancel and then wait for Apex to carry you 15kly back to the nearest Apex desk!
I personally think it would cause more problems than it's worth, but that's me, I wouldn't equip the service anyway!
This could potentially be fixed by rerouting the taxi if it doesn't make it to carrier by lockdown time.
There would need to be somewhere to redirect to. Restricting carrier destinations to ones parked in populated systems with a taxi service desk would work though:
Sorry I could have specified. The simplest redirect would be returning to where the player boarded the taxi. Maybe an option could be presented as to where the redirect would be, but this starts to complicate things.
I am pretty sure if FD had any chance to implement this, they would. It is clear to me that there are some gameplay or technical limitations that didn't allowed them to implement this.
I also believe they actually tried to implement this but failed, because there are 2 lifts on the carrier. I believe one was initially used for APEX and the second one for our hangar.
I also believe they actually tried to implement this but failed, because there are 2 lifts on the carrier. I believe one was initially used for APEX and the second one for our hangar.
For carrier lifts see this thread
(in the reveal for fleet carrier interiors, they had multiple destinations for elevators... but we got only one)
Fleet Carriers Express Lift
Is it possible to get multiple destinations for Carrier Lifts as presented in the December Stream? I really miss the extra options I mean Like this (at least an extra destination for Carrier Bridge) Instead of this:
There is a simple solution to the carrier leaving problems. As soon as the carrier enters lockdown, the player is presented with a screen where he can chose a re-route destination OR to use the escape pod moving him to the nearest station with an apex service (just like with the escape pods on the carrier itself). Other solution would be to disable Carrier to Carrier shuttle service that way there MUST BE an immovable apex destination where the player came from.
To solve that you could just use our insight action wheel. So you call the shuttle to pick us up just like when you are at a settlement and want to get away. There isn't an apex desk there either. This would also mean that carrier owners don't have to pay for yet another service. Furthermore, this would also mean you could only call an Apex Taxi if you are in range of their service. In other words the carrier itself has no apex facility but only serves as a destination for shuttles.