The actual mechanics of decommissioning a fleet carrier are mysterious and opaque, so the Fleet Carrier Owners Club spent some time, effort and about 700 million credits putting it to the test. (We got 500 million back eventually.)
There are several conflicting sources of information about the fleet carrier decommissioning process, including the in-game Codex, the Fandom wiki, and these forums (mainly referring to changes during the fleet carrier beta period, eg here). Our test implies that there are several instances where the information in every source is wrong.
This experiment was conducted by CMDR JonSatriani (me) on behalf of the Fleet Carrier Owners Club, with support from CMDR GlowyHedgehog and CMDR Ed Lave. You can read a full write-up of the experiments here, or read the summary below.
When the Pending stage ends, any ship that you or other commanders are currently using, and are docked on the carrier, are moved to 10km out once the carrier is decommissioned. Other stored ships and modules remain on the decommissioned carrier and can be relocated for no fee.
You receive a financial rebate: 5 billion credits, less a 125 million credit decommissioning fee, less outstanding upkeep costs. It seems there is also some sort of extra penalty, possibly dependent on length of service, but this experiment could not investigate that. Other than ships and modules, you currently lose without rebate all other services and stock, including stored cargo, tritium in the tank, and the costs of any optional services and associated stock. These are refunded in full if removed during the Pending Decommission stage.
[CORRECTIONS: the decommission fee is 150 million credits, and no outstanding upkeep is paid. Cargo is refunded.]
On Discord and now Reddit (r/FCOC) we promote carrier trips – almost always free of charge – to places like Colonia, Sag A, Beagle Point, Witch Head, Coalsack, Guardian and crystal shard sites, and recently the infamous Rackham’s Peak at the top of the galaxy. Nearly 500 carrier owners have their own Discord channel on our server, where they organise trips, bulk trading opportunities, blog about their carrier adventures, and much more.
There are several conflicting sources of information about the fleet carrier decommissioning process, including the in-game Codex, the Fandom wiki, and these forums (mainly referring to changes during the fleet carrier beta period, eg here). Our test implies that there are several instances where the information in every source is wrong.
This experiment was conducted by CMDR JonSatriani (me) on behalf of the Fleet Carrier Owners Club, with support from CMDR GlowyHedgehog and CMDR Ed Lave. You can read a full write-up of the experiments here, or read the summary below.
The basics
You can voluntarily begin the decommissioning process in any system, and can cancel it at any point during the Pending Decommission stage with no penalty.When the Pending stage ends, any ship that you or other commanders are currently using, and are docked on the carrier, are moved to 10km out once the carrier is decommissioned. Other stored ships and modules remain on the decommissioned carrier and can be relocated for no fee.
You receive a financial rebate: 5 billion credits, less a 125 million credit decommissioning fee, less outstanding upkeep costs. It seems there is also some sort of extra penalty, possibly dependent on length of service, but this experiment could not investigate that. Other than ships and modules, you currently lose without rebate all other services and stock, including stored cargo, tritium in the tank, and the costs of any optional services and associated stock. These are refunded in full if removed during the Pending Decommission stage.
[CORRECTIONS: the decommission fee is 150 million credits, and no outstanding upkeep is paid. Cargo is refunded.]
Summary of inconsistencies/mistakes in Codex entry for fleet carrier decommissioning
We compared our findings with the in-game Codex, which comprises the only post-beta official information available. At time of writing, all references in the Decommissioning section of the Fandom wiki point to beta period forum posts and content reveals.| Incorrect statement in Codex | Actual behaviour |
| At the first step of decommission, before confirmation: “Owners will be shown […] the number of assets currently stored.” | This rarely shows the correct number of ships and modules stored on the carrier. |
| “Upon decommissioning a fleet carrier, pilots will receive a remunerative sum contingent on the following: the purchase cost of all installed facilities aboard the carrier […]” | The sum returned (~4.8 billion credits) was not apparently contingent on the costs of the test services and stock (Shipyard and Outfitting, with stock, total cost 502 million credits). After some back-and-forth with Customer Support, the 502 million credits were refunded (thanks Luna), implying FDev acknowledge this is not expected behaviour. |
| “[…] the galactic average price of all non-stolen commodities stored on board […]” | Apparently not contingent, although with our test of 3T biowaste this is difficult to verify. |
| “The Pending Decommission state will last for a minimum of seven days.” | The Pending Decommission state in our test lasted for a little under five days. |
| “Fleet carriers in [pending decommission state] will still be able to sell existing services to a system’s Carrier Construction Dock […]” | Also they can be sold in a Fleet Carrier Administration (FCA) system. |
| “[…] All other operations will be blocked.” | In fact almost all core services still operate, including the ability to make jumps, donate fuel, set buy and sell orders and change the ship and carrier livery. The only core services apparently blocked are crew lounge and remote workshop. In FCA systems it appears from button states that you can install new services. Clicking the button plays the installation sound effect but does not install the service. |
| “Pilots with ships or modules stored on the newly decommissioned carrier will be informed of the situation via inbox message.” | They are not. |
Other findings
Pending Decommission
- You can cancel from “Pending Decommission” status at any time with no apparent loss of credits or assets
- Upon cancelling decommission, optional services remain suspended until you resume them manually
- Commanders docked at the carrier receive no communication whatsoever during the decommissioning process
Decommissioned
- Tritium in the tritium depot is lost without rebate (up to 1,000T; 50 million credits at galactic average at time of writing)
- Commanders parked in the carrier at time of decommission respawn 10km from the decommissioned carrier
- Any ships and modules stored on the decommissioned carrier can be transferred anywhere for 0 credits
- You can apparently buy a new carrier immediately after decommissioning; it receives the same six-character code (in the case of the test carrier, H2T-LHV)
Addenda
Subsequent experiments, with the help of several Fleet Carrier Owners Club members, have revealed or confirmed additional information.- The voluntary decommissioning fee is in fact 150,000,000 credits, not 125,000,000 as stated
- No accrued upkeep is paid upon voluntary decommission
- The threshold for decommission timing appears to be around 19:00 Sunday. Decommission before this and your decommission timer will be <7 days; decommission after and it will be >7 days
- In our test cases, decommissioned fleet carriers were removed from the game just over two months after entering the Decommissioned state. Stored ships and modules were immediately transferred (at no cost) to the nearest Carrier Vendor station.
About the Fleet Carrier Owners Club
The Fleet Carrier Owners Club (FCOC) is a group of carrier owners and enthusiasts who run tours to interesting places in the galaxy, investigate carrier behaviour (like this experiment) and run occasional rescue operations for commanders out of the Fuel Rats’ jump range. We’re a welcoming, lo-salt community of more than 7,000 people on our Discord server.On Discord and now Reddit (r/FCOC) we promote carrier trips – almost always free of charge – to places like Colonia, Sag A, Beagle Point, Witch Head, Coalsack, Guardian and crystal shard sites, and recently the infamous Rackham’s Peak at the top of the galaxy. Nearly 500 carrier owners have their own Discord channel on our server, where they organise trips, bulk trading opportunities, blog about their carrier adventures, and much more.
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![Ed [FCOC]](https://d2aefvhu2f0gi9.cloudfront.net/data/avatars/m/144/144754.jpg?1583440657){kind=avatar}
