My primary interest in this game is purely and entirely twofold: 1) Exploration and 2) Commerce. Though there is a humongous amount of other stuff available, I really don't want any of it. No combat. No ship-handling. Just jump into the cockpit and punch the Autopilot button and take a snooze traveling to the next destination. So I've been reflecting on a couple things.
The first is docking. After a a considerable amount of thought on the subject and a little mental roleplaying, I have to ask: What station owner in his right mind, with a tremendous amount of advanced (from our POV) tech available, would be crazy enough to let just any old vessel fly itself into his space station. Billions of credits in materials and construction, enormous employee wages cost for working in a hostile environment, etc. Whyever would he allow some total stranger say, "I know what I'm doing. Trust me."? If the tech has tractor beams, it automatically also has repulsors. Use the tractor to latch onto the nose of the docking vessel and pull it into the docking bay. At the same time, a circle of repulsors ring the entrance. Weaker than the tractor beam, as the vessel approaches the entrance, computerized controls keep the vessel perfectly centered coming through the entrance. Tractor until centered over the landing pad. Landing gear out, the vessel touches down, docking complete. No muss, no fuss. And NEVER a scratch on the station's paint job.
Secondly, I'm wondering just how extensive is the MapQuest version --which would be available in that era's version of the Internet = GalNet) of the galaxy maps are to new shipowners? I gather not every player starts in the Sol system. But as a resident of the starting system, the character would have at least a rudimentary knowledge of what is where in nearby space. Just like in Real Life, practically every grade school kid knows the planets and relative location within our solar system of each of the planets, and the names of each. I get the impression the game is designed to make the galaxy map a total tabula rosa to new players. Yet, logically the residents of any given system would have a knowledge of their home system and the immediately adjacent systems with which that system has any kind of traffic load. And then upon arrival in an adjacent system, connecting to the Internet/GalNet would expand the map database to include the systems adjacent to that system. And so on all the way out to the Frontier where some adjacent systems are shown on the map as "Unknown". This isn't a universe using Lewis & Clark mapping to roughly sketch in details as tho explorers wander around. It's more like a 35th Century (or whatever the current century is) version of Wikipedia where everyone and their third-cousin is trying to show off what they learned that no one else has discovered (yet). [Now, just what there is to be found in those recently mapped systems remains to be seen.]
Thirdly, NO COMBAT. Which of course indicates a lack of interest in the multiplayer functionality of what is primarily a MMO. Really, if I can play this game and never interface with another live human being, it would be fine with me. And at the same time, never run into pirates or heavy-handed militant government space navies. I just want to wander around, buy interesting goods here and then sell them for a profit there.
Is all ^^that even possible?
The first is docking. After a a considerable amount of thought on the subject and a little mental roleplaying, I have to ask: What station owner in his right mind, with a tremendous amount of advanced (from our POV) tech available, would be crazy enough to let just any old vessel fly itself into his space station. Billions of credits in materials and construction, enormous employee wages cost for working in a hostile environment, etc. Whyever would he allow some total stranger say, "I know what I'm doing. Trust me."? If the tech has tractor beams, it automatically also has repulsors. Use the tractor to latch onto the nose of the docking vessel and pull it into the docking bay. At the same time, a circle of repulsors ring the entrance. Weaker than the tractor beam, as the vessel approaches the entrance, computerized controls keep the vessel perfectly centered coming through the entrance. Tractor until centered over the landing pad. Landing gear out, the vessel touches down, docking complete. No muss, no fuss. And NEVER a scratch on the station's paint job.
Secondly, I'm wondering just how extensive is the MapQuest version --which would be available in that era's version of the Internet = GalNet) of the galaxy maps are to new shipowners? I gather not every player starts in the Sol system. But as a resident of the starting system, the character would have at least a rudimentary knowledge of what is where in nearby space. Just like in Real Life, practically every grade school kid knows the planets and relative location within our solar system of each of the planets, and the names of each. I get the impression the game is designed to make the galaxy map a total tabula rosa to new players. Yet, logically the residents of any given system would have a knowledge of their home system and the immediately adjacent systems with which that system has any kind of traffic load. And then upon arrival in an adjacent system, connecting to the Internet/GalNet would expand the map database to include the systems adjacent to that system. And so on all the way out to the Frontier where some adjacent systems are shown on the map as "Unknown". This isn't a universe using Lewis & Clark mapping to roughly sketch in details as tho explorers wander around. It's more like a 35th Century (or whatever the current century is) version of Wikipedia where everyone and their third-cousin is trying to show off what they learned that no one else has discovered (yet). [Now, just what there is to be found in those recently mapped systems remains to be seen.]
Thirdly, NO COMBAT. Which of course indicates a lack of interest in the multiplayer functionality of what is primarily a MMO. Really, if I can play this game and never interface with another live human being, it would be fine with me. And at the same time, never run into pirates or heavy-handed militant government space navies. I just want to wander around, buy interesting goods here and then sell them for a profit there.
Is all ^^that even possible?
