ANNOUNCEMENT Fleet Carriers - Content Reveal Recap

Minemoder

M
From what I've heard from the stream and my knowledge of the existing in game markets, carriers will be largely not worth the investment. There will be very few scenarios where the commodity market will make a profit, and nobody will use the shipyard or outfitting because Li Yong Rui space exists with a 15% discount, except for out in Colonia. The carrier isn't viable for exploration either because it will never be able to catch up because any explorer can easily cover more than 500ly in an hour, much less be able to afford the upkeep if they're out in the black for long times. So far, this just seems like a sorry attempt to keep people playing.
 

SuperNerdNathan

S
CipherGalm said:
No cartographics? There goes any reason I might use a fleet carrier for exploration. I'm severely underwhelmed by this reveal thus far.
Click to expand...
They said in the stream that Carriers will not replace stations. So it would make sense that some stuff like cartographics would be missing from its services.
 

Deluvian

Deluvian
First of all: @frontier - Great Job!!!!

Second thou, as I am still working (WFH) and the chat was chaos, I did not catch - anybody answered "he cooldown time" question?

Thanks in advance

EDIT: I am sorry, I found it:

Q. What is the Fleet Carrier jump process?
A. Fleet Carriers and their crew need to make preparations before the vessel begins its Hyperspace Jump. The preparations will take one hour to complete, and whilst this is happening, all Commanders in the vicinity will receive several alerts throughout the countdown, warning them of the time left until the jump commences. When the Fleet Carrier arrives at its destination, there will be a one hour cooldown before it can begin preparations to jump again. We'd love to hear your feedback on these timescales during the betas!
 

Capt Bellinger

Capt Bellinger
Thank you for the brief introduction to Fleet Carriers. A couple of things spring immediately to mind:

1. The only cost mentioned is the 5B CR purchase price - how much will installing and maintaining the other services cost?
2. Is a Cartographics function included in the Redemption Office?

I'm sure more questions will come to mind later.
 

CMDR Redcrest

C
Quick question:
Say I have a Bounty hunting carrier.
A player drops off 1000cr of bounties.
I take 30% (300cr)
Do I pay the remaining 700cr to the commander or is that handled by the game?
That is to say the bounty issuer gives me 1000cr and I keep 300cr?
Or do I only get 5% because IF have taken their 25%?
 

CMDR Redcrest

C
Minemoder said:
From what I've heard from the stream and my knowledge of the existing in game markets, carriers will be largely not worth the investment. There will be very few scenarios where the commodity market will make a profit, and nobody will use the shipyard or outfitting because Li Yong Rui space exists with a 15% discount, except for out in Colonia. The carrier isn't viable for exploration either because it will never be able to catch up because any explorer can easily cover more than 500ly in an hour, much less be able to afford the upkeep if they're out in the black for long times. So far, this just seems like a sorry attempt to keep people playing.
Click to expand...
Would it not be theoretically possible to buy from LYR space and sell at 15% mark up?
Or buy from Jameson and sell at 10% mark up?
 

Stewiem1196

S
Will you be able to start a FC jump, leave the game, and come back to it in the new jump location? Or will jumps (and their cool down periods) only work while a commander is actively playing the game?
 

Stephen Benedetti

Community Manager
Stephen Benedetti said:
Greetings Commanders,

We would like to thank the community for all of the amazing feedback and questions about the Fleet Carrier Update so far! Since our announcement last week, we've collated as many of your community questions as possible and answered them below.

If you have any additional questions that are not answered here, or in the recap, let us know!

Q. Why are Fleet Carriers such a large investment?
A. Fleet Carriers are massive vessels, which have crew and services with the ability to impact the owner's experience, but also the experience of other commanders from across the galaxy. It's a huge responsibility aimed at experienced commanders with the time and credits to maintain and manage these mammoth vessels, offering potential services to many different players.

Q. Other than Fleet Carriers, what else will be included in this update?
A. Fleet Carriers are of course taking the main stage for this update, but it will also include several fixes from the Issue Tracker. Keep an eye on our forums as we will be publishing the Fleet Carrier Update - Beta 1 - Patch Notes in the coming days.

Q. How will Fleet Carriers interact with Powerplay, and the BGS?
A. Fleet Carriers won't directly affect Powerplay or the BGS and therefore won't include a Power Contact. However, the owner can still use their Fleet Carrier to benefit players coordinating to change the state of given systems. For example, if a system needs certain commodities, Fleet Carriers can load up on supplies and transport them to the system in question. Fleet Carriers provide new opportunities to interact with existing systems and we're excited to see what you achieve with them!

Q. How might an explorer fund their Fleet Carrier's upkeep costs?
A. Whilst Elite Dangerous' top traders might want to turn their Fleet Carrier into a trading post that turns a profit, we expect most Fleet Carriers to be fitted in ways that help players do what they enjoy in the game. For example, explorers who have accrued large sums of cash, they'll be able to take a Fleet Carrier and ferry it out to the remote regions of the galaxy and explore never-before seen locations. Equally, explorers could set their Fleet Carrier up as a trading post in a convenient location to turn a profit while they engage in other activities.

Q. What will happen if you are unable to access the game, and your Fleet Carrier gets decommissioned?
A. Fleet Carriers come with a lot of responsibility and maintenance, and if for some reason the owner can not access the game for a period of time, they can set in place several ways to stop their Fleet Carrier being decommissioned. As it will take a lot of debt for a Fleet Carrier to be decommissioned, the owner can make sure there is enough funds in the bank to cover costs over a lengthy period of time. The owner can also reduce costs by suspending or completely deactivating services entirely, minimising the outgoings. Certain services can also be set up to generate income in a system with a high traffic for supplies, generating income for the Fleet Carrier over time.

If these options fail and the Fleet Carrier gets decommissioned, the owner will still receive a 'salavage cost' for the Fleet Carrier. If a Fleet Carrier is decommissioned, the owner will receive a salvage cost equal to a portion of the purchase price plus any additions such as modules or other items stored on it.

Q. Will any in-game discounts be applied when purchasing a Fleet Carrier?
A. Only Commanders with 'Kickstarter Outfitting' or with the Founder Tier (and higher) discount will receive a discount when they purchase a Fleet Carrier. Fleet Carriers cannot enter or be bought from permit-locked systems (including Shinrarta Dezhra).

Q. How do you obtain Tritium?
A. Tritium cannot be refined from other minerals and is instead obtained from directly mining ice asteroids, or being purchased from some starports. Be warned, Tritium is a commodity and therefore can be stolen or lost like any other commodity!

Q. What happens if your Fleet Carrier jumps into a system and runs out of fuel?
A. Fleet Carrier owners will need to plan their trips carefully as there are high risks in being stranded, especially with a vessel that can jump 500ly away. Tritium can also be stored on the Fleet Carrier. Visiting commanders may also stop by to donate fuel or sell it to the Fleet Carrier, providing more fuel for jumps!

Q. Will Fleet Carriers be persistent in the universe? Even if you are offline or play in Solo Mode?
A. Fleet Carriers themselves are persistent in the galaxy across all game modes, whether you are online or not, and player ships docked at one are subject to the usual normal game mode and matchmaking rules. If a Commander docks on a Fleet Carrier in Solo which then decides to jump to a new system, the commander who is docked will jump with the Fleet Carrier, even though they are in Solo.

Q. Can Fleet Carriers be stolen by other Players?
A. No, other players cannot steal a Commander's Fleet Carrier.

Q. How many landing pads are there, and will it be possible to store ships on Fleet Carriers?
A. Fleet Carriers have 16 landing pads for the owner and fellow commanders to use. If the Fleet Carrier has the Shipyard Service, commanders will also be able to store their ships onboard (these ships do not use up any additional capacity, the Shipyard handles this for you). The landing and storage of ships acts in the same way as regular starports.

Q. Can Thargoids attack Fleet Carriers?
A. No, Fleet Carriers do not attack Thargoids, and Thargoids do not attack Fleet Carriers.

Q. What is the Fleet Carrier jump process?
A. Fleet Carriers and their crew need to make preparations before the vessel begins its Hyperspace Jump. The preparations will take one hour to complete, and whilst this is happening, all Commanders in the vicinity will receive several alerts throughout the countdown, warning them of the time left until the jump commences. When the Fleet Carrier arrives at its destination, there will be a one hour cooldown before it can begin preparations to jump again. We'd love to hear your feedback on these timescales during the betas!

Q. Can anyone store commodities in a Fleet Carrier?
A. Only the Fleet Carrier owner can transfer commodities into the Fleet Carrier's personal storage and back again, similar to how cargo transfer works between SRV's and ships.

Q. Are Fleet Carrier names unique?
A. Fleet Carrier names are not unique across the galaxy and can be changed by the owner. However, each Fleet Carrier has a unique callsign that appears on the Navigation Panel which cannot be changed.

Q. Are Fleet Carriers manually controlled from a bridge?
A. No, Fleet Carriers are not manually piloted by the player and instead, manned by a Deck Officer who helps oversee the operations and running of the Fleet Carrier crew and services.

Q. Can a Fleet Carrier go into Supercruise?
A. Fleet Carriers do not use Supercruise to travel, and instead use Hyperspace Jumps to navigate through the galaxy.

Q. Can you sell Guardian Weapons or Modules from a Fleet Carrier?
A. No, it will not be possible to sell materials, Rare Goods or modules that need unlocking from Fleet Carriers.

Q. Does the Fleet Carrier's economy affect the surrounding system's economy?
A. The Fleet Carrier is an independent vessel and will not affect any system's economy.

Q. What happens if a Commander attacks a Fleet Carrier?
A. Fleet Carriers act in the same way as stations, outposts and planet ports, if they are attacked they will fire back to eliminate the threat with onboard turrets.

Q. Can you buy multiple Fleet Carriers?
A. A Commander can only own one Fleet Carrier at a time, however, if the owner decides to decommission their Fleet Carrier they can purchase another one.

Q. What happened to the support vessels?
A. We examined the concept of predefined load-outs through the use of support vessels, but they restricted the level of customisation that we wanted Fleet Carriers to have. We removed the support vessels and changed it so that Fleet Carrier owners had more control of the Fleet Carriers' customisation.

Q. Can a Fleet Carrier and a Capital Ship jump alongside each other?
A. No, Fleet Carriers and Capital Ships will not be able to jump alongside each other.

Q. How much control does a Fleet Carrier owner have over a Fleet Carrier's destination?
A. If a location is selected directly from the Galaxy Map, the Fleet Carrier will orbit the first available interstellar body. If a location is selected from the System Map, the Fleet Carrier owner can specify which body they want the Fleet Carrier to orbit, providing there are not too many other Fleet Carriers orbiting the same location.

Q. Can the owners remotely manage their Fleet Carrier?
A. Fleet Carrier owners can use the Remote Fleet Carrier Management option in the Internal Panel on their ship to access Fleet Carrier Management Services.

Q. Can we visually customize our Fleet Carrier?
A. Similarly to other ships in the game, you will be able to customise your Fleet Carrier through the onboard Livery.

Q. Can Fleet Carriers land on planets?
A. No, Fleet Carriers cannot land on planets.

Q. Will Carriers have the same gameplay interactions as Megaships? ie Turrets, Data Terminals, Comms Array, and Cargo Bay
A. No, most of the interactions will happen once a Commander has docked on a Fleet Carrier.

Q. Can Fleet Carriers be used in conjunction with Rescue Vessels at damaged starports?
A. Fleet Carriers can support Commanders as they go to help damaged starports, but they can not directly aid Rescue Vessels at these damaged starports.

Q. Can I manufacture commodities for trading on a Fleet Carrier?
A. Fleet Carriers only deal with trading commodities and do not have the facilities to make, grow or manufacture any goods.

Q. If the market onboard can be set by the player, what happens if the player decides to sell narcotics etc. and then jumps to a system where they are illegal?
A. It is up to the Fleet Carrier owner if they would like to sell and buy goods that are illegal in that system. Although the Fleet Carrier itself will not get into trouble for selling illegal goods, any ships caught carrying illegal goods can be caught by the System Authority surrounding the Fleet Carrier

Q. Can Fleet Carriers be ordered to jump into unexplored systems?
A. Yes! If a Fleet Carrier jumps to an unexplored system it will target the primary star as its destination.

Q. Will a log of Fleet Carrier actions be kept, similar to the CMDR journal for player actions?
A. There will not be a dedicated Fleet Carrier Journal, but a Commander's Journal will include some of the transactions that they might have with a Fleet Carrier.

Q. Can players steal from Fleet Carriers in the same way goods can be stolen from Megaships and Installations?
A. No, Fleet Carriers do not have any external cargo bays.

Q. Can I open a Black Market on my Fleet Carrier?
A. Yes, Fleet Carriers have an additional service that allows Commanders to trade stolen goods.

Q. Can Squadrons pool money to purchase a Fleet Carrier (with the squadron creator being the owner of the carrier)?
A. It is not possible to donate credits to a specific Commander.

Q. Which aspects of Fleet Carriers are subject to feedback and suggested changes during the beta?
A. Similar to our previous beta, we appreciate every piece of feedback that you contribute to the development of the Fleet Carrier Update. We need Commanders to come together and test both the durability and functionality of Fleet Carriers as both owners and visitors to ensure a successful launch.
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Hey!

We have answered some of the burning questions about the Fleet Carrier Update here!
 

Zornbringer

Zornbringer
Stephen Benedetti said:
wide variety of module selections available in varying tiers of quality
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what does this "quality" mean? we don't have this unit in the game. does this equate to some sort of engineering grade? tier 3 being grade 3 engineered?

do these modules differ from modules you can buy at any other station? can you draw a scenario where this would be useful at all?
 

Valorin

Valorin
So....

- What about support vessels?!? What about exploration?!?

And the most important thing for me:

- Is there a way to get around the weekly costs when offline or out exploring? Some explorers are out there for a year or so. If I take the carrier with me (why else would it be able to jump 500ly?) it can't make profit in that time, and paying up weekly is kind of time limit until broke and/or carrier gone. That completely discourages one of the playstyles, and since there was an exploration support vessel announced earlier (which I was looking forward to VERY much), this new idea of paying upkeep doesn't really work.

The functions and all look pretty awesome apart from being mainly a deposit and trading station it seems.

And then there is the lose-stuff-while-offline thing. This is that single MOST atrocious mechanic in any online game and one of the main reasons why I stay away from mmorpgs.
Having such a mechanic in any way in Elite, no matter in which way it's implemented, downgrades the the whole game for me. Why offer a Solo mode as a substitute for playing offline, if you come up with a weekly fee when NOT EVEN PLAYING.
That's kind of the breaking point and whatever hype there was for me, is now a pretty dim light.
 

Peter_Quill

P
Thanks for the stream and detailed information, really sad that you cant sell exploration data on the carrier. Also no NPC trading is disappointing since I doubt many random players will visit your carrier in hopes to make a good trade deal. I dont think anyone will go to a carrier to buy a ship, maybe looking for a certain module but I would guess most just look in inara where the closest station is that sells it.
 
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