Fleet Carrier autorefueling

[Greasetrap42]

tank filling speed 50-100 units per hour (to be changed if necessary)

I'm not a fan because this idea encourages more AFK gameplay.

I realize players can do other ingame activities while their carrier gets auto-refueled. But they can also just walk away and make dinner too. This idea, might as well just have insta-refuel button when cmdr finds tritium hotspot because it amounts to almost the same thing.

 

[Dillon Fallon]

I'm on the side of people who throw some change at hiring some minions. That's what they're for (and a good job they do too- empty to 5000t in one evening and I did nothing more than setting up the buy order. This was in Colonia).

The problem I see is that the idea is anti- minion. How are they going to earn their credits if I can just park near a ring and have no need of setting up a buy order?

 

[alexzk]

How are they going to earn their credits

There are no hirelings in 57000 ly away from Colonia and 57000 ly away from the Earth. So automatic refuel would help. Right now I can't enforce me to mine 2 times per week. This means, I play 2 days a week - 1 mining, 1 - use mined fuel. Other days I play other games.

Also suggestion is about TANK, which is 1000T only and trittium cannot be exacted out if it.

 

[Dillon Fallon]

There are no hirelings in 57000 ly away from Colonia and 57000 ly away from the Earth. So automatic refuel would help. Right now I can't enforce me to mine 2 times per week. This means, I play 2 days a week - 1 mining, 1 - use mined fuel. Other days I play other games.

Also suggestion is about TANK, which is 1000T only and trittium cannot be exacted out if it.

Well, you chose to bring it knowing it would need refueling.

How it comes across now is that you'd remove something that benefits the majority to give a benefit to a minority who chose to be in their situation.

"Just" the tank though. That's enough to easily clear 4000 ly in one go and for most players to never need to worry about refueling ever again. Not saying that FDev would never implement some kind of carrier fuel scooping, but as the idea stands you've more chance of getting FDev to intentionally reintroduce the infinite damage plasma accelerator bug from a while back.

 

[Schmack]

Autoreueling only in systems with a population makes no sense at all. You can usually buy tritium there without any problems.

That doesn't mean it makes no sense as a game mechanic. It means it's not as useful for you to have it.

as for the Fleet Carrier crew... there is always a crew on this ship, it is not a one-man ship. However, there could be an additional option to rent an additional pilot who would only be responsible for refueling, or as some write, as an additional Fleet Carrier module. Self-refueling only makes sense when you are far from civilization. >>> I would like to ask moderators to move the thread to the appropriate place <<<

That crew is already dedicated to other things. We'll likely not get more utility from the same modules/crew. No crew can jump into a ship and go do things without you, this is why they are crew, not commanders.

The solution to deep space refueling is for the fuel source to be more abundant. I cannot imagine any serious, profit driven company developing a carrier expecting the owner to manually mine fuel in deep space. Of course, I've had carriers for years and have never had an issue with fuel, but then I don't use it for long range exploration.

 

[Makroshlyta]

A tritium mining module would be cool for long exploration. At least gives some purpose to all those npcs inside the carrier. Plenty of opportunities to balance changes.

 

[AEBRAM]

If we're going to auto refuel, it should be in populated systems only. It doesn't make sense to be able to auto refuel on in the middle of nowhere unless you had crewmembers hired for that purpose, like a carrier refueling module. So yes, technically the same outcome but with some explanation as to how it happens and a trade off. I don't care for the huge time sink though, but it's better than nothing.

I would disagree. Having an auto-refueling feature from the carrier's cargo would improve ownership QoL. This could be an added feature under Navigation tab to refuel from stored Trinium from the carrier's cargo capacity. This would repurpose the 'donate' function by passing the source in the argument.

 

[Schmack]

I would disagree. Having an auto-refueling feature from the carrier's cargo would improve ownership QoL. This could be an added feature under Navigation tab to refuel from stored Trinium from the carrier's cargo capacity. This would repurpose the 'donate' function by passing the source in the argument.

This is a different issue. I think we are talking about bringing fuel to the carrier, not just moving it from the cargo to the depot.

 

[Ameeleean2]

An option to move tritium from cargo storage to depot: yes.
I would also agree to auto-mining module but this idea seems to be against devs intent (which is to make players do all the work imho).
However special FC module, a kind of refinery, to produce hydrogen from tritium would be nice (tritium= hydrogen isotope). I would simply fly my old obsolete Type-9 Heavy equipped with best fuel scoop, filled up with extra fuel tanks to nearest scoop-able star, then get back, unload that hydrogen to refinery and w8 for it to be processed into tritium.

 

[SteveWW57]

An option to move tritium from cargo storage to depot: yes.
I would also agree to auto-mining module but this idea seems to be against devs intent (which is to make players do all the work imho).
However special FC module, a kind of refinery, to produce hydrogen from tritium would be nice (tritium= hydrogen isotope). I would simply fly my old obsolete Type-9 Heavy equipped with best fuel scoop, filled up with extra fuel tanks to nearest scoop-able star, then get back, unload that hydrogen to refinery and w8 for it to be processed into tritium.

So, if implemented, a CMDR could scoop, refine, fill hold with tritium and then sell tritium. Much easier and quicker than mining, which is why I believe such suggestions are non starters. Would be nice, but ....

Steve

 

[Ameeleean2]

So, if implemented, a CMDR could scoop, refine, fill hold with tritium and then sell tritium. Much easier and quicker than mining, which is why I believe such suggestions are non starters. Would be nice, but ....

Steve

Why not? If You are so concerned with balancing issues You could just think of ways to eliminate that flaw... like lowering tritium price (now all tritium miners should make angry shouts in capital letters), adjusting efficiency, production time, production cost. There are many ways to make this happen and do not break so called balance, just try to look at issue from more than one angle.
I also believe full balance makes game boring. I know some games that went from being interesting to boring while progressing more and more into balanced state.

 

[Decksmeck]

Hello. It is very tiring for me to collect fuel for the Fleet Carrier when I am far from civilization. Therefore, I have a proposal: for the Fleet Carrier to be able to automatically refuel with tritium fuel. But:
1 - fuel is only filled into the fuel tank and it cannot be removed from the tank.
2 - The Carrier must be parked in the orbit of a planet with a ring containing tritium deposits. We need to scan the ring ourselves first.
3 - tank filling speed 50-100 units per hour (to be changed if necessary)

If you park near the neutron star layer ~ 1000-1100 LY above or below the galactic plane I guess you could offer something for every 10,000 LY from the nearest commodity markets. If a T9 delivered ~750 tons, for about 100 million per 10,000LY? Then you could just make friends with some T9 pilots.

 

[alexzk]

If you park near the neutron star layer ~ 1000-1100 LY above or below the galactic plane I guess you could offer something for every 10,000 LY from the nearest commodity markets. If a T9 delivered ~750 tons, for about 100 million per 10,000LY? Then you could just make friends with some T9 pilots.

Even with NS boost it will be over 500 jumps to me. That is 16 hrs to jump (no sleep, no eat). You can relaxed mine 100t / hr = 1600t during that time

 

[Decksmeck]

Even with NS boost it will be over 500 jumps to me. That is 16 hrs to jump (no sleep, no eat). You can relaxed mine 100t / hr = 1600t during that time

It would be a lot of jumps.

I don't know what would make it worthwhile. Along the neutron plane it is fewer jumps, but you still have to fuel scoop. Also, getting to the neutron plane would be a lot of jumps, but you can get there with half the jumps if you use fuel injections. Though it is a bit aggravating to do so manually, but I suppose that a route could be mapped out in advance and have a list of star systems to the neutron plane.

Check my math here if this is interesting to you. I think I did this right.
Here is a T-9 (672 tons cargo)

It could be made more efficient and of course it has max engineering. It on gets 30LY when laden. That would be 120 on the neutron plane, but only 60LY with 100% fuel injection getting to the plane. It consumes 8 tons max per jump so it can get a max of 8 jumps between refuels. That would be 30 from the scoop and then 840 boosted, so 870 max on each tank. So that would 11.5 tanks for 10,000 LY on the plane or about 92 jumps. That is with maximum efficiency, but it would take more since it will never get a perfect 8 jumps per tank. (not sure about this since the fuel efficiency improves as you burn fuel)

A type 7 (224 tons)
This one gets 41 LY laden, but you could use the double engineered FSD for an improvement. As it is, with a regular max engineered FSD it consumes 5 tons per jump, max. That means 6 jumps on a tank. 41 from the scoop, and 820 on the neutrons for 861 per tank. That would be 11.61 refuels per 10,000LY or about 70 jumps.

I guess you could build out either one with some extra fuel tanks so that you don't have to scoop as often.

Type 9 (560 tons cargo, 192 tons of fuel)
So, carry a smaller AMFU and get rid of some things and add 128 tons of fuel for a total of 192 tons of fuel. That gets 24 jumps per tank. Still getting 30 from the scoop and now 2760 on the neutrons for 2790 per refuel. So, it takes 3.58 refuels to arrive or about 86 jumps per 10,000LY at max efficiency.

Type 7 (224 cargo, 52 tons fuel)
Added an extra 20 tons of fuel. That brings it to 10 jumps per refuel. Now getting 40LY from the scoop and 1440 on the neutrons for 1480LY per refuel. That would be 6.7 refuels for 10,000LY or about 68 jumps.

The fuel efficiency would improve as the fuel was burned, so it would probably be better to recalculate the route every 5 to 10 jumps. That would probably lower the number of jumps some, but I don't know by how many.

At 50,000 a ton, 560 tons would cost 28 million. So, 125 million for a little more than half a full tank or 250 million per deep space full refill (per 10k LY). Is that too much? I hear people make billions a week these days. Maybe it isn't enough.


Well, I guess people with a fleet carriers could venture to position their fleet carriers on or near the neutron layers and buy Tritium from players full time and then mark it up and sell it to other fleet carrier owners who could jump into the system and make a couple of T-9 runs between. I don't know how you can advertise that service though or how to advertise that you are paying 4x or more for the delivery of it. Some fleet carrier owners are making enough money that paying 300 hundred million or more for a full tank would probably seem like a deal.

 

[alexzk]

So that would 11.5 tanks for 10,000 LY on the plane or about 92 jumps.

1 minute per jump, that will be 6 hours for 40000 ly It is 2x faster to mine it relaxed just yet.

 

[Northpin]

Hello. It is very tiring for me to collect fuel for the Fleet Carrier when I am far from civilization. Therefore, I have a proposal: for the Fleet Carrier to be able to automatically refuel with tritium fuel. But:
1 - fuel is only filled into the fuel tank and it cannot be removed from the tank.
2 - The Carrier must be parked in the orbit of a planet with a ring containing tritium deposits. We need to scan the ring ourselves first.
3 - tank filling speed 50-100 units per hour (to be changed if necessary)

Also suggestion is about TANK, which is 1000T only and trittium cannot be exacted out if it.

A tritium mining module would be cool for long exploration

An option to move tritium from cargo storage to depot: yes.

Nah, Nope.

They specfically designed carriers to require cmdr intervention as opposed to automatic offline play.
And the carriers work as designed. If you like it or not, that's a different matter.

So, we have a fuel tank that limits the number of jumps before cmdr is required to act on it
No automated tritium transfer from storage to the fuel tank, so a cmdr is required to act on it
It has only a 1 jump plot capability - so cmdr is required to act before each jump.
It requires fuel that can only be purchased or mined - so it requires cmdr to act on it.

All these mechanics show a clear intention against any and all forms of automation and offline play
No auto refueling, no multiplot automated jumping, no... you get the idea.

Carriers do have some solid perks, but they do have some downfalls designed to balance those perks.

Is it bad for exploration? I dont think so.
But if someone finds too much the price of taking a carrier out to explore the galaxy, maybe should reconsider the thought and do it in a ship - no point to drag a carrier in tow if you cant pay the "price"
There are DSSA Carriers all over the galaxy - no need to drag around your own if it's a burden to you.

 

[CMDR ROGER]

If we're going to auto refuel, it should be in populated systems only. It doesn't make sense to be able to auto refuel on in the middle of nowhere unless you had crewmembers hired for that purpose, like a carrier refueling module.

Or anyone else on board, for that matter. Not being able to order your crew to do certain tasks (like mine fuel and haul it back) when parked and paying their salary is a tad bit silly.

 

[CMDR ROGER]

All these mechanics show a clear intention against any and all forms of automation and offline play
No auto refueling, no multiplot automated jumping, no... you get the idea.

Until Supercruise Assist and Apex happened.

 

[Northpin]

Until Supercruise Assist and Apex happened.

How is that related?
Can you set your ship to supercruise assist to a destination, then log off and tomorrow find yourself there?
Can you plot an 100ly apex trip, then log off and then when you log back in 2h later, to find yourself at the destination?

 

[CMDR ROGER]

Can you set your ship to supercruise assist to a destination, then log off and tomorrow find yourself there?

That's not the point, before SA Frontier would have cracked down on players trying to automate it.

Can you plot an 100ly apex trip, then log off and then when you log back in 2h later, to find yourself at the destination?

The point is that it's automatic, it does not care if you're at your seat or not, and it's something anti-automation players would have went ballistic over. That's what the suggestion is about, your crew performs jumps and maintenance tasks on their own, and it's not a stretch to say they should also be handling fuel themselves instead of needing their commissioner to mine and... "donate" the fuel themselves. Just as you don't need to scan every inch of the hull yourself every week.