I'm amazed at how few of the existing game play mechanics are used by the fleet carriers. Fleet carriers could make use of existing game play loops that are already familiar to players. I believe the following mechanics would significantly enhance the capabilities of the carriers and make them more compelling for a variety of play styles.
1. Universal Cartographics. This is a no-brainer. It is essential for explorers. Please find a way to make it work.
2. Crew pay should be tied to the ship's profit, just like current NPC crew. Having more crew members and/or more capable crew onboard is going to eat further into those profits, but at least you will not be constantly hemorrhaging credits just for the privilege of owning a carrier.
3. I can understand why one would not want to risk a ship of this size attempting to fuel scoop around a star. I think the tritium mining game play loop is fine, but we need to have a way to easily transfer tritium between the fuel tanks and the market storage space. Why else bother with putting out a buy order for tritium in the market place. It's only useful for one thing.
4. Each carrier should come fitted with a massive AFMS and repair limpet controllers. Upkeep of the ship's physical condition should be managed from these two modules, just like they are in all other existing ships in the game. Hull integrity can be managed internally, but should require input of additional raw materials. A FC that has been well kept up, should have a decent sell-back value regardless of how far it's jumped or how long it's been in use.
5. NPC crew fuel and resource delivery. You have a crew for a reason. Assuming you are able to scout out a suitable source of tritium or other specific resources needed for carrier upkeep, you should be able to assign your NPC crew to begin mining a specific ring / hot spot and returning the fuel / resources for the carrier. Obviously the rate of return will depend on the quality of the reserve, its distance from the carrier and the number of crew members assigned and their respective experience levels. It will likely take longer for the NPC crew to do the same job as a CMDR could, but perhaps this could also be tied to their expertise and/or commensurate with their rate of pay, similar to NPC fighter pilots. If you're concerned about BGS and resource farming, then just restrict NPC collected materials to only be applied to ship upkeep (i.e. not to be collected for the commodities market). But it should also be possible for the FC owner to pull commodities from the market to refuel and repair the ship.
6. Module and ship fabrication from raw materials. Looting and crafting on steroids. Carrier owners must first purchase the blue prints for each module and/or ship they want to fabricate. Each will come with fixed costs to synthesize from collectable resources. Module blueprint and resources costs should be reasonable. Ship blueprint and resource costs should be considerably higher. Perhaps a per module / per ship licensing fee might also be required, but should be limited to some small fraction (<25%) of the typical for sale price of the module / ship.
And here's something that might encourage PVP game play (for those who like that kind of thing):
7. Like every other mega ship in the game, a small fraction of the carrier's cargo is vulnerable to attack by pirates hacking the cargo doors.
8. To defend itself, the carrier can equip ship launched fighters that are both NPC and player controlled. If ever there was an argument to be made for multicrew, I think having a half dozen or so ship launched fighters defending a carrier against incoming pirates would be pretty compelling.
9. A carrier may sustain some damage during these encounters, but should not be disabled. All damage can be repaired via the AFMS / repair limpet game play loop.
1. Universal Cartographics. This is a no-brainer. It is essential for explorers. Please find a way to make it work.
2. Crew pay should be tied to the ship's profit, just like current NPC crew. Having more crew members and/or more capable crew onboard is going to eat further into those profits, but at least you will not be constantly hemorrhaging credits just for the privilege of owning a carrier.
3. I can understand why one would not want to risk a ship of this size attempting to fuel scoop around a star. I think the tritium mining game play loop is fine, but we need to have a way to easily transfer tritium between the fuel tanks and the market storage space. Why else bother with putting out a buy order for tritium in the market place. It's only useful for one thing.
4. Each carrier should come fitted with a massive AFMS and repair limpet controllers. Upkeep of the ship's physical condition should be managed from these two modules, just like they are in all other existing ships in the game. Hull integrity can be managed internally, but should require input of additional raw materials. A FC that has been well kept up, should have a decent sell-back value regardless of how far it's jumped or how long it's been in use.
5. NPC crew fuel and resource delivery. You have a crew for a reason. Assuming you are able to scout out a suitable source of tritium or other specific resources needed for carrier upkeep, you should be able to assign your NPC crew to begin mining a specific ring / hot spot and returning the fuel / resources for the carrier. Obviously the rate of return will depend on the quality of the reserve, its distance from the carrier and the number of crew members assigned and their respective experience levels. It will likely take longer for the NPC crew to do the same job as a CMDR could, but perhaps this could also be tied to their expertise and/or commensurate with their rate of pay, similar to NPC fighter pilots. If you're concerned about BGS and resource farming, then just restrict NPC collected materials to only be applied to ship upkeep (i.e. not to be collected for the commodities market). But it should also be possible for the FC owner to pull commodities from the market to refuel and repair the ship.
6. Module and ship fabrication from raw materials. Looting and crafting on steroids. Carrier owners must first purchase the blue prints for each module and/or ship they want to fabricate. Each will come with fixed costs to synthesize from collectable resources. Module blueprint and resources costs should be reasonable. Ship blueprint and resource costs should be considerably higher. Perhaps a per module / per ship licensing fee might also be required, but should be limited to some small fraction (<25%) of the typical for sale price of the module / ship.
And here's something that might encourage PVP game play (for those who like that kind of thing):
7. Like every other mega ship in the game, a small fraction of the carrier's cargo is vulnerable to attack by pirates hacking the cargo doors.
8. To defend itself, the carrier can equip ship launched fighters that are both NPC and player controlled. If ever there was an argument to be made for multicrew, I think having a half dozen or so ship launched fighters defending a carrier against incoming pirates would be pretty compelling.
9. A carrier may sustain some damage during these encounters, but should not be disabled. All damage can be repaired via the AFMS / repair limpet game play loop.