The issue with Carriers is that greed is driving people into owning more than one by using additional accounts. I myself am sticking with one on my primary and only account. But to think some people have parked up permanent Carriers they can then use to hog a slot for juicy trade and make billions from, well that's a bit rubbish for people who come and go on their active account.
FC Usage Charts
- Thread starter Factabulous
- Start date
Slight uptick in FC usage in the last week - will be interesting to see if the soon-to-happen CGs and current station attacks liven things up still more (red is the 7 day trend)
Last couple of weeks of CGs have helped activate more FCs again
Looks like with the CGs in the Coalsack last week we're almost back to as many active FC as when they were launched. Almost.
The Orange Sidewinder approves of this message.
Just updated. Surprisingly FC usage looks to be up to where it was when they launched (just about). Maybe the Epic players have been busy 
Interesting numbers on carriers.
I must check my jump numbers since purchase although I suspect no more than 25.
Access to fuel is for me the encumbering factor for use of carriers.
There is no difficulty aquiring fuel for any of the player ships and that is how it should be. It is cheap and plentiful.
Carrier fuel of course is awkward to aquire, more awkward transporting, painful storage/transfer and expensive to buy.
Another poorly managed asset from fdev.
I must check my jump numbers since purchase although I suspect no more than 25.
Access to fuel is for me the encumbering factor for use of carriers.
There is no difficulty aquiring fuel for any of the player ships and that is how it should be. It is cheap and plentiful.
Carrier fuel of course is awkward to aquire, more awkward transporting, painful storage/transfer and expensive to buy.
Another poorly managed asset from fdev.
I'm managing my carriers fine by myself. FDev have no say in that
I made your statement much more accurate
ETA: Tritium is plentiful in the bubble and making money with a FC is certainly a crime... (700 million profit in around 3 hours of play seems reasonable, and it is continually repeatable currently)
Tritium is plentiful in rings in Colonia - mining it is the simplest way - I can mine around 200t in an hour in a single hotspot: Carcosa CD2... I don't like mining much, but in a few more sessions will have sufficient to return to the bubble to pick up a friend...
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Dunno where you're getting this from, there's loads of places to buy it a varying prices & quantities.
I've got a Type-7 "FC Refuelling Ship" with exactly 300 cargo space. About once a month i'll pop to the nearest system that has a reasonable price/supply and spend an hour or two bouncing back and forth.
10 round trips = 3000 Tritium and that's me sorted for a while.
I don't even worry about the price that much as the recent payout rebalance means I'm rolling in pew pew money (it wasn't even an issue before hand).
I even have my market set up to buy it at twice the Galactic Average (just checked and my whole order has be filled & reset again).
FCs really aren't difficult to manage if you've got your game loops and basic maths down
I find it odd you would think that, considering that a carrier costs so much to
-buy
-fuel
-spin up time to jump
To this day, i still dont understand carriers, they just seem so outta place as a vessel. I feel that it would have been far better recived if Fdev woud have made a like 500 million credit xl ship that could carry a single medium class ship with it that players could dock and undock from at their own leisure.
They make sense on many levels, depending the imagination of the player.
But, the ability to have 40 of one's own ships and the same number for friends / alt accounts / squadron, as well as module storage... Then to fly to or from Colonia, even with inflated fuel costs is considerably cheaper than just shipping a fully fitted 'big' ship.
If a player doesn't have a particular use in mind for the FC it will likely be a waste of time
They make sense on many levels, depending the imagination of the player.
But, the ability to have 40 of one's own ships and the same number for friends / alt accounts / squadron, as well as module storage... Then to fly to or from Colonia, even with inflated fuel costs is considerably cheaper than just shipping a fully fitted 'big' ship.
If a player doesn't have a particular use in mind for the FC it will likely be a waste of time
No i get that you can find uses for it, but the uses themselves are so limited and the data here kinda shows that, bascially people spin them up, park them, and then just leave them. I mean hell power play home systems and Mimorial are basically just carrier parking lots at this point.
They just seem so.....extra....like eh, i could easily see them for deep space exploration of course, but even then thats super niche as getting around the bubble really does not warrant the need for a fleet carrier.
Your not wrong, they are basically a station, i just find them so pointless in their current iteration because you basically just clog up a system with a dozen "stations" for reasons.
FCs are basically mobile player owned stations that have, from my point of view, revolutionised how I play ED.
All my stuff is in one easily accessible place, the jump/cool down time vs travelling in a ship with a Fuel Scoop is negligible and the operating costs go almost unnoticed if you're at the point of be able to afford one without using "gold rush" techniques.
They also allowed me to strip out my multi-purpose ships and re-fit them for specific roles. None of my combat ships have Fuel Scoops anymore because they don't need to, I just jump my FC near where i want to shoot things and refuel when I turn in my Bounties/Combat Bonds.
Limited uses?
I don't know the circumstances around the 'parked' FC's you see, but know that my 2 are active (although main is 'parked' next to a Tritium hotspot regularly for another week or so) in various systems - being able to carry 16,000+ tons of cargo over huge distances is quite useful, as is having a mobile platform for the 3 R's beside a Haz Res or CZ, plus the entire fleet to hand...