Feature request: Instant transport to own ships

[varonica]

Only once - then infinite fast travel would be available to that location.



You can transfer the asset to your current location if you want to use it....

Yes it would be just like the Milestones in LOTRO or the teleport scroll in Atlantica Online, a magic way of getting somewhere you have already been, we don't use magic, we use physics (although a rather strange form I must admit) that doesn't allow for instant travel. Not going to happen as long as I am playing.

 

[Cmdr. Numa]

Guys, what is proposed here is in no way the same as traditional fast travel systems. It is not "unlock this waypoint then always have access to it." You only get to choose which of your ships you log into. you still have to fly it everywhere you need to have it. If you need more than one ship in one place, let's say if there is a trade CG and a bounty hunting CG in the same system, you still need to fly both ships there or have the second transferred to you. The only thing eliminated are the taxi times while moving between your ships. And those really add nothing but tedium to the gameplay.

 

[varonica]

So I take my ship, my combat Python to a point I want to fast travel to, say Maia, leave it there and fast travel back to my sidewinder I left in the shipyards at Sol, I then fit out another combat Python and fly it to Colonia, where I park it and fast travel back to my sidewinder in Sol, then I fit out another combat Python etc. Pretty soon I have a web of fast travel points across the galaxy where I can take part in several CG's at the same time, one in Colonia, maybe two in the bubble, I have my explorers parked in Hell Port in Seagull nebula, Attenborough's Watch in lagoon sector.

People play this game for years, how many wouldn't, given the opportunity, have a web of explorers and combat ships in convenient locations where they can jump backwards and forwards to take advantage of the game to make more money, maybe attack explorers just arriving in Colonia. It would certainly make the fuel rats job easier, "hey who's got fast travel to TolaGarf's Junkyard, we got a guy out there calling for help."

And every time a new port was built or the game was expanded into a new area the first thing that would happen would be a rush of people out there to set up a fast travel point.

it's not unlike just about every fast travel system in every MMO I have ever played, it's waypoints, it's milestones, call them what you will, but once you have been there to set it up your ship becomes a milestone for fast travel.

 

[Chrystoph]

it's not unlike just about every fast travel system in every MMO I have ever played, it's waypoints, it's milestones, call them what you will, but once you have been there to set it up your ship becomes a milestone for fast travel.

There is one major difference between "in every MMO" and this proposal that is critical and you addressed it yourself. In MMORPG style games, the character is transported with the gear loadout since that is part of definition of the character. Here, you would be jumping to the ship parked at the location, being limited to whatever possessions you have at that location. Depending on implementation, that could mean the one ship that you have parked in "system X".

 

[Robert Maynard]

There is one major difference between "in every MMO" and this proposal that is critical and you addressed it yourself. In MMORPG style games, the character is transported with the gear loadout since that is part of definition of the character. Here, you would be jumping to the ship parked at the location, being limited to whatever possessions you have at that location. Depending on implementation, that could mean the one ship that you have parked in "system X".

Deploying assets would be trivial.

Teleport, summon, teleport, summon, (repeat), log out when asset redeployment initiation complete....

 

[Chrystoph]

On the fallacious premise that every player has an infinite budget and only if you limit the proposal to established facilities, agreed.

 

[Xender]

I think this feature fits well into Elite game style. As telepresence in multicrew, it should be also available in your ships... Or maybe Frontier should rework multicrew?

 

[Rustnsawdust]

And, ultimately, you wouldn't need to 'summon' - players would have fully-spec'd, A-rated ships all over the galaxy... if you needed 'less than A-rated' that's a trivial thing with module storage.

I'm having a hard time believing this is being discussed because it's so game-breaking.

 

[Rustnsawdust]

I think this feature fits well into Elite game style. As telepresence in multicrew, it should be also available in your ships... Or maybe Frontier should rework multicrew?

No, see the much earlier response https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...to-own-ships?p=5658605&viewfull=1#post5658605

 

[Captain Willard]

"I'm having a hard time believing this is being discussed because it's so game-breaking."
It's never going to happen so no need to worry.

 

[varonica]

On the fallacious premise that every player has an infinite budget and only if you limit the proposal to established facilities, agreed.

There are plenty of people who already have every single ship available in game and still have billions to spare, do you really think money is a problem in this game? If so you are either playing it wrong or playing it right. First if you are focussed on money and don't have billions you are playing it wrong, if you are just having fun and not worrying about money and don't have billions you are playing it right.

 

[Chrystoph]

There are plenty of people who already have every single ship available in game and still have billions to spare, do you really think money is a problem in this game? If so you are either playing it wrong or playing it right. First if you are focussed on money and don't have billions you are playing it wrong, if you are just having fun and not worrying about money and don't have billions you are playing it right.

See, the problem here is that you are making your decision based on those "haves" and not on the entire player base. This is the functional equivalent of arming your police exclusively with grenade launchers.

*Foomp* Got the bad guy!

Yep, and the 30 innocent bystanders surrounding him.

As to my game play, I am currently about 1.4 kly below the galactic ecliptic out on the rim in an engineered AspX. I have three other ships, the biggest of which is an IClip and just over 200 MCr in the bank. For a frame of reference, I also have the DWE3302 logo on the AspX.

 

[DGBaley]

Not game-breaking if done right

Thank you for your feedback. It seems to me that the primary objection to my original request was that it would somehow 'break the game' or be abused in some way by players with lots of ships spread all over the galaxy. I disagree. If this feature is implemented carefully, it could dramatically increase the variety of game-play options while also preventing the aforementioned abuses.

The most obvious abuse would seem be: Load up a ship in one system, teleport to another system, then call the first ship to you. This would completely trivialize the notion of running trade routes or passenger missions as there would be almost no danger of having your ship interdicted or otherwise molested en'route. One could argue that this mechanic is already being exploited too much in the game. I could take one ship out to Colonia, and then simply call all of my remaining ships to me without having to make the trip multiple times.

The obvious solution is to do away with automated ship-relocation. (I never really liked that game-mechanic anyway.) If you have physical assets in the game, they must be moved from system to system in ship piloted by a CMDR. (This should also be true for modules - each module could take up N units of cargo space, where N is the size class of the module).

With this modification, each pilot would still be required to move their ships about the galaxy to accomplish any of the in game objectives. The only difference would be that you would be able to have multiple ships engaged in different roles in different parts of the galaxy. It would make no difference if you had only two ships or twenty. If the mission involves transporting any item (cargo, people, data, etc.) then those items must be transported manually (and possibly transferred from ship to ship if they are collocated at the same station/base).

Please continue the discussion. I would really like to hear a FDEV chime in on the feasibility of implementing this feature, along with any pros and cons that should be considered.

D.G. Baley

 

[Cmdr. Numa]

I don't think FD will remove the ship transfer feature. And really, if I wanted to have my whole fleet transferred to Colonia, I'd need almost as much credits to do that as the whole fleet is worth. I don't have that kind of cash.

 

[maudibe]

Total game breaker.

Now if teleportation only had a locally short range, cost a fortune and carried risks (i.e. a percentage of the time it turns you into a lump of jelly) then.... just maybe... LOL.

Teleportation (as in the Star Trek variety) only works over relatively small distances.... so perhaps an option to beam down to a planet, when walking is available. Or to beam onto a nearby ship... but galactic teleportation is a no-no for sure.

 

[Robert Maynard]

The most obvious abuse would seem be: Load up a ship in one system, teleport to another system, then call the first ship to you. This would completely trivialize the notion of running trade routes or passenger missions as there would be almost no danger of having your ship interdicted or otherwise molested en'route. One could argue that this mechanic is already being exploited too much in the game. I could take one ship out to Colonia, and then simply call all of my remaining ships to me without having to make the trip multiple times.

Ships cannot be stored with passengers or cargo in them - so there are no current exploits relating to ship transfer.

Ship transfer was added as a quality of life feature to allow players to play the game while ships were being transported to the location that they were in when they initiated the transfer. It is neither instant nor free.

Removing ship transfer in favour of player teleportation would probably not be well received....

 

[Chrystoph]

Removing ship transfer in favour of player teleportation would probably not be well received....

Given the choice, let would rather have the ability to choose my ship in any given session.

 

[JohnnyDangerous]

Also, lore-wise I can see no situation under which it'd be made legal for a ship to be polited entirely by telepresence with no qualified pilot aboard.

Lore-wise, how is it possible to eject at Beagle Point and instantly wake up from your ejection pod back in a station somewhere, with your exact same ship exactly engineered whether that station supplies that ship, those parts, etc. Also, you have your 500 units of rocks and spare parts in your magic pockets, but not the exploration data from your ship's hard disc, but you do have your other data from your other scans because... the cloud I guess? This game is a patchwork quilt of rules and logical consistency already, all this masochism does is keep people from interacting with their real families while watching the hyperspace load screen replay over and over again.

 

[Captain Willard]

OH WAIT Can we load up our trade ship and then teleport to another station? YAY No more flying. Really tho, we have telepresence now , People in the military flying drones. It's a very looooong stretch to teleporting.

 

[Cmdr. Numa]

OH WAIT Can we load up our trade ship and then teleport to another station? YAY No more flying. Really tho, we have telepresence now , People in the military flying drones. It's a very looooong stretch to teleporting.

Way to misunderstand this thing. Of course noone advocates loading up your ship and then using a magic portal to teleport you, ship and cargo to the destination. You'd still have to fly your ships to where you need them, you'd still need to haul the cargo to where you need it. You and only you, no other asset could then switch do another ship elsewhere to do something else. By no means would this eliminate the need to fly. It would just take the tedium out of switching ships.