I feel I should apologise - my comment was written in haste and was a bit ill mannered. Thanks for the replies, and I hope I can contribute to the effort; that's certainly why I'm posting in the thread.
I'm not trying to disparage and I want to express gratitude for all the effort put in to this. It's a monumental task and anyone hoping to integrate into a communal effort is battling a very fragmented situation in terms of information and structure - I mean, the nexus of in-game comms, discord servers, forums, etc. It's easy for things to go astray.
I've tried to just say hi to captains in various discord channels and some of their individual forum posts about their DSSA initiatives. I'm not expecting much and I know that no-one is under any obligation to respond - simply logging interest so that it might be picked up down the line is all I'm realistically trying to accomplish for the most part.
Thanks for the detailed responses Heavy Johnson - I'm heading your way!
If you expected them to be swarming with players all the time, I think you misunderstand how large the galaxy is, and what players are likely to do. For the fixed DSSA carriers, I suspect most players will drop in to use them as a port of rest and repair, and then move on. You might run into another player there... but I wouldn't count on doing so. This is still deep deep space.
I understand this, and I'm not expecting the DSSA ships to be busy hubs, in-game at least. It does seem, though, that they are naturally going to draw players together into particular areas at the same time, even if they aren't going to see each other in-game. With FCs being as they are CMDRs can hitch rides and stow away without anyone even realising that they are there, so it's all too easy for it to be a ships-passing-in-the-night situation. I've tried to leave invites and messages on some of the Discord channels (the Fleet Carriers Owners Club e.g.) but I think that there's probably just too many of them for bulletin type communications to be of much use.
You're welcome to get a group of players together, buy a carrier, and help!
I am doing just that, but I don't hold much sway, I'm sorry to say, so my small band is not going to be able to do much.
Please do feel free to communicate this to FDev, because they're the only ones who can make that happen. Also, mining in deep space for what purpose? If it's valuable minerals, they only thing you can do is sell them to the carrier - if the owner is willing to buy them. What does the owner do with it?
If you mean tritium, what use does a now fixed-in-place fleet carrier have for tritium? Might sell to passing other carriers, but that's about it.
Yes, I agree that FDev have not provided any in-game use for commodities. Tritium is the only thing worth mining of any consequence in this situation. Building up caches of fuel seems to be the only economy worth pursuing at this juncture. I've brought a stock of various rares out with me, but the only use they are going to be is as a sort of tinsel.
Please feel free to stop by in the Fleetcomm Discord and jump into the #miners channel.
I've had a look at this, but I'm not seeing much in the way of organising personel or focus on concentrated efforts/initiatives. I do keep half an eye on that channel though and try to keep up with some of the tools available and databases used.
This has been going on for months. We've had dozens of expeditions, and more are scheduled. Paying attention, advised.
I've been tracking a few of the expeditions since they were first posted and have been following the DSSA tracker. Those are the launching/deployment efforts. I was thinking more of the network of CMDRs who are going to use the network and the mining gangs needed to get out to the ships en-masse - it doesn't seem obvious to me where a player might be able to link up with or be able to recognise those players who are interested in forming around the DSSA network.
My status is currently: "Feeling awesome because my group of 20 people took a carrier to one of the hardest to reach places in the galaxy. Explorer's Bar and Grill now a challenge destination for explorers and a rest stop for the weary."
We're heading your way (have been travelling down the Outer Arm from the Formidine Rift) and was hoping to attract and transport CMDRs and their ships to various DSSA FCs, including yours. It does now seem possible that CMDRs could hitch rides all over the galaxy on FCs plying the lanes between the DSSA ships. I'm trying to make an effort to open up my own FC in this way; I am trying to contribute an Outsiders (of the Fleetcomm structure) view of what it's like to try and interface with the network in a meaningful (in-game) way. The DSSA ships should be able to serve as nodal points for a galaxy wide network of travellers and FCs travelling between them can/should be harnessed.
How strange. We've been pitching ideas in the publicly-advertised FleetCom Discord channel since April.
That channel is somewhat inward-facing though, even if it is publicly-advertised. I do try and read through it every now and then but it can be a bit hard work. Not that that's much different from most channels - the proliferation of which seems to be part of the difficulty.
Sort of.
Other than the three carriers being already run by the Rock Rats mining group, you mean?
Yes. Good to hear that there's something forming. I've never heard of the Rock Rats, though I assumed that there must be something already in existence, but this kind of illustrates my point - it's difficult to find out about this sort of thing. The only thing I found after some digging about was the Intergalactic Mining Union channel - and that's also somewhat obscure and byzantine to the outsider. Having a Name and a Clear Purpose does seem a prime requisite for getting any concentrated effort to form in the playerbase.
Hi mate! Many DSSA Carriers do want this kind of interaction, many do not. The initial vision of the DSSA was pretty much limited to the deployment, and it is considered a "bonus" if an active player group forms around any one Carrier. I know for sure that CLB Vooqoway and DSSA Callisto have very active player groups around them; check them out!
I understand and I can see that it's kind of necessary that the DSSA ships be very light on the demands of their captains' time. Expecting anything else from them would be unrealistic, I definitely appreciate that. Thanks for the tips on the CLB Vooqoway and DSSA Callisto; will check them out.
