Clearly the best part of Elite Dangerous is combat. What better way to instigate combat and give the the various types of ships we have, big or small, their purposes other than two fleets trying to destroy each other?
Here's a warning first. This is a crazy and very elaborate idea that is more fit for an expansion pack than an update if it ever happens at all.
Overview
Fleets are largely self-sufficient military entities (more on this later) that are composed of a set number of warships of various types. Each type serves a particular purpose. Some are straight forward and more or less expendable (ie: destroyers). Others are essential to the functioning of the fleet and once lost might cause the eventual destruction of the fleet. Think Battlestar Galactica and you get the idea.
Fleet Composition
Destroyers: smaller warships with relatively low health but high density of turreted anti-fighter/anti-bomber weapons. Meant to provide AA screen on the outskirt of the fleet.
Cruisers: medium size warships with a good balance of AA and anti-ship weapons such as torpedos & large calibre railguns.
Battleships: large warships with huge amount of anti-ship weapons but relatively low AA capability. Capable of bombarding planets.
Carriers: large ships that act as mobile space stations. Carriers rearms and repairs docked ships. Unarmed.
Logistics Support: large ships that contains huge greenhouses for food, storage and refines fuel. Unarmed.
Mobile Factories: large ships that manufactures ammunition, missiles, torpedos and smaller crafts from materials. Unarmed.
How do WE, the pilots, fit in this:
To fly as part of a fleet the player must "sign up" for a tour of duty with the fleet. Once signed the player move his base of operation to one of the carriers of the fleet and must generally use the fleet carriers for the duration of the tour. If the player lands anywhere outside the fleet and do not return to the assigned carrier within a set amount of time (ie: 1 or 2 days in real life) the player is considered a deserter and a VERY large bounty may be placed on his head. While the player is on active duty the player respawns on the assigned carrier.
As an active pilot the player's ship & weapons are provided by the fleet, meaning the player is assigned a ship free of charge (maybe by his own choosing in a limited way) with a loadout that is also free (and maybe customizable to a limited degree). However, after the tour ends he doesn't get to keep the stuff obviously unless he deserts. This does not mean people can simply spam the biggest, baddest ships to their desires. See fleet operation.
Different types of fleet missions should be available (see Fleet Operation). The most simple would be combat missions with goals like "escort certain ship" or "destroy certain target". In the case of combat missions, to maintain the scale of fleet operations players should be assigned as squad leaders. Each player commands three AI wingmen and should be allowed to give rudimentary orders such as "Form up on my wing", "Cover me", "Attack my target", "Protect my target" etc similar to the Freespace command interface.
Fleet Operation
The fleet should have some sort of directive (ie: get to this point to blockade/intercept or bombard this particular planet). Successful completion of the directive should have huge consequences (ie: destruction of enemy fleet, immediate change of allegiance for the region, annihilation of population & spaceport etc etc).
Fleet directive should respond to the situation (ie: projected interception by enemy fleet -> directive should change to destruction of enemy fleet or retreat to another location).
The fleet can jump a very long distance compared to the small spacecrafts that we pilot. The fleet flagship (most likely a battleship or carrier) initiates the jump and all warship has their ftl drive slaved to it.
After each jump the fleet requires a very long cool down time before it can jump again (on the order of days).
All ships consume food & fuel at a different rate corresponding to their sizes. The fleet stays operational as long as its flagship is alive and it has enough food & fuel to support all the ships that are still in the fleet. If logistics run low for more than a set amount of time the fleet will either surrender all of its warships to the dominant political entity of the region or disband outright if such an entity doesn't exist (this creates derelicts for salvaging).
Food can be grown, fuel can't -> fleet must periodically dock with compatible space stations with proper allegiance in order to obtain fuel that is then stored on logistics support ships. If the time comes and said stations are not available then the fleet must obtain fuel through an alternative mean (ie: utilize smaller spacecrafts with fuel scoops en masse).
You can't make something from nothing -> the fleet maintains a set number of spacecrafts of each type. Each type requires a certain amount of material and time to be built by the mobile factory. For example, the fleet maintains 40 sidewinders as fighter screen and 5 pythons as heavy assault gunships. After a battle 10 sidewinders are lost and 1 python destroyed. The amount of material and time needed to build 10 sidewinders may be exactly the same as for 1 python! This means that while the python is a much more capable ship, if everyone in the fleet flies pythons soon there will be no ship left to fly (except the sidies that no one flew before).
The fleet also maintains a set number of armaments like various types of weapons and ammunition. Same mechanics should apply to stop people from spamming missiles & railguns.
Keep the factory fed -> while the factory build things automatically it can't get the material required by itself. This means the fleet must maintain a mining or trading operations to get the material the factory needs. In deep space or behind the enemy line incursions mining may be the only way out.
Potential problems
Instancing & solo/group mode: how can we maintain consistency and keep track of the status of each warship if they are instanced in a P2P environment? Solution: some sort of classic server-client architecture that supports fleets. Since it makes sense that the universe only sees a very low number of active fleets in any given time it does not cost too much to have fleets running on a classic dedicated server-client type setup. Interacting with the fleet bubble requires the client to join the server hosting the fleet. Once the interaction finishes the client seamlessly switches back into the P2P architecture.
What about people playing solo/group? Well the design is largely meant for epic PvP conflict and camaraderie. Playing solo or group is the wrong way to go about it, no? Not to mention all the consistency issues when your flagship is being destroyed by some magic pixies no one can see or touch. So yeah, players in solo/group should be barred entry to the fleet bubble to prevent their direct interaction with the fleet (ie: they can see the fleet location in supercruise but can't drop out near the fleet). if a pilot is enlisted with the fleet and switches into solo or group the only fair way is to ask if the player wishes to desert when they try to start. If he chooses yes then he is instantly kicked out of the fleet bubble as a deserter and starts the game floating in the system the fleet is currently at.
Artificial Intelligence: the fleet needs a powerful and strategic mind to plot its course, manage its logistics and maneuver against enemy forces. Also it needs to know how to launch fighter/bomber wings to protect itself and attack others.
Balance: obviously many things need careful balancing. Material & time cost of ships and weapons, fuel consumption etc etc. Too many to mention.
Further down the road
Human controlled warships, human fleet commander that gets to plot fleet course, manage fleet missions, and give orders to his warships for tactical maneuvers, etc etc. One can dream.
Here's a warning first. This is a crazy and very elaborate idea that is more fit for an expansion pack than an update if it ever happens at all.
Overview
Fleets are largely self-sufficient military entities (more on this later) that are composed of a set number of warships of various types. Each type serves a particular purpose. Some are straight forward and more or less expendable (ie: destroyers). Others are essential to the functioning of the fleet and once lost might cause the eventual destruction of the fleet. Think Battlestar Galactica and you get the idea.
Fleet Composition
Destroyers: smaller warships with relatively low health but high density of turreted anti-fighter/anti-bomber weapons. Meant to provide AA screen on the outskirt of the fleet.
Cruisers: medium size warships with a good balance of AA and anti-ship weapons such as torpedos & large calibre railguns.
Battleships: large warships with huge amount of anti-ship weapons but relatively low AA capability. Capable of bombarding planets.
Carriers: large ships that act as mobile space stations. Carriers rearms and repairs docked ships. Unarmed.
Logistics Support: large ships that contains huge greenhouses for food, storage and refines fuel. Unarmed.
Mobile Factories: large ships that manufactures ammunition, missiles, torpedos and smaller crafts from materials. Unarmed.
How do WE, the pilots, fit in this:
To fly as part of a fleet the player must "sign up" for a tour of duty with the fleet. Once signed the player move his base of operation to one of the carriers of the fleet and must generally use the fleet carriers for the duration of the tour. If the player lands anywhere outside the fleet and do not return to the assigned carrier within a set amount of time (ie: 1 or 2 days in real life) the player is considered a deserter and a VERY large bounty may be placed on his head. While the player is on active duty the player respawns on the assigned carrier.
As an active pilot the player's ship & weapons are provided by the fleet, meaning the player is assigned a ship free of charge (maybe by his own choosing in a limited way) with a loadout that is also free (and maybe customizable to a limited degree). However, after the tour ends he doesn't get to keep the stuff obviously unless he deserts. This does not mean people can simply spam the biggest, baddest ships to their desires. See fleet operation.
Different types of fleet missions should be available (see Fleet Operation). The most simple would be combat missions with goals like "escort certain ship" or "destroy certain target". In the case of combat missions, to maintain the scale of fleet operations players should be assigned as squad leaders. Each player commands three AI wingmen and should be allowed to give rudimentary orders such as "Form up on my wing", "Cover me", "Attack my target", "Protect my target" etc similar to the Freespace command interface.
Fleet Operation
The fleet should have some sort of directive (ie: get to this point to blockade/intercept or bombard this particular planet). Successful completion of the directive should have huge consequences (ie: destruction of enemy fleet, immediate change of allegiance for the region, annihilation of population & spaceport etc etc).
Fleet directive should respond to the situation (ie: projected interception by enemy fleet -> directive should change to destruction of enemy fleet or retreat to another location).
The fleet can jump a very long distance compared to the small spacecrafts that we pilot. The fleet flagship (most likely a battleship or carrier) initiates the jump and all warship has their ftl drive slaved to it.
After each jump the fleet requires a very long cool down time before it can jump again (on the order of days).
All ships consume food & fuel at a different rate corresponding to their sizes. The fleet stays operational as long as its flagship is alive and it has enough food & fuel to support all the ships that are still in the fleet. If logistics run low for more than a set amount of time the fleet will either surrender all of its warships to the dominant political entity of the region or disband outright if such an entity doesn't exist (this creates derelicts for salvaging).
Food can be grown, fuel can't -> fleet must periodically dock with compatible space stations with proper allegiance in order to obtain fuel that is then stored on logistics support ships. If the time comes and said stations are not available then the fleet must obtain fuel through an alternative mean (ie: utilize smaller spacecrafts with fuel scoops en masse).
You can't make something from nothing -> the fleet maintains a set number of spacecrafts of each type. Each type requires a certain amount of material and time to be built by the mobile factory. For example, the fleet maintains 40 sidewinders as fighter screen and 5 pythons as heavy assault gunships. After a battle 10 sidewinders are lost and 1 python destroyed. The amount of material and time needed to build 10 sidewinders may be exactly the same as for 1 python! This means that while the python is a much more capable ship, if everyone in the fleet flies pythons soon there will be no ship left to fly (except the sidies that no one flew before).
The fleet also maintains a set number of armaments like various types of weapons and ammunition. Same mechanics should apply to stop people from spamming missiles & railguns.
Keep the factory fed -> while the factory build things automatically it can't get the material required by itself. This means the fleet must maintain a mining or trading operations to get the material the factory needs. In deep space or behind the enemy line incursions mining may be the only way out.
Potential problems
Instancing & solo/group mode: how can we maintain consistency and keep track of the status of each warship if they are instanced in a P2P environment? Solution: some sort of classic server-client architecture that supports fleets. Since it makes sense that the universe only sees a very low number of active fleets in any given time it does not cost too much to have fleets running on a classic dedicated server-client type setup. Interacting with the fleet bubble requires the client to join the server hosting the fleet. Once the interaction finishes the client seamlessly switches back into the P2P architecture.
What about people playing solo/group? Well the design is largely meant for epic PvP conflict and camaraderie. Playing solo or group is the wrong way to go about it, no? Not to mention all the consistency issues when your flagship is being destroyed by some magic pixies no one can see or touch. So yeah, players in solo/group should be barred entry to the fleet bubble to prevent their direct interaction with the fleet (ie: they can see the fleet location in supercruise but can't drop out near the fleet). if a pilot is enlisted with the fleet and switches into solo or group the only fair way is to ask if the player wishes to desert when they try to start. If he chooses yes then he is instantly kicked out of the fleet bubble as a deserter and starts the game floating in the system the fleet is currently at.
Artificial Intelligence: the fleet needs a powerful and strategic mind to plot its course, manage its logistics and maneuver against enemy forces. Also it needs to know how to launch fighter/bomber wings to protect itself and attack others.
Balance: obviously many things need careful balancing. Material & time cost of ships and weapons, fuel consumption etc etc. Too many to mention.
Further down the road
Human controlled warships, human fleet commander that gets to plot fleet course, manage fleet missions, and give orders to his warships for tactical maneuvers, etc etc. One can dream.
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