Fleet Carriers - Specified role outfitting/activities and resultant new gameplay/mechanics

[NeilF]

For me an interesting aspect of FCs are what they can bring to the ED gameplay wise. While I'm all up for having in effect a personal "platform" that can be move around - at least to work from, ideally to move your ships around with you too - my biggest questions (hopes) would revolve around what mechanics and gameplay will they inject into the game.

Hence I'm hoping the "loadouts" and "support for different activities" delivers some new gameplay & depth. I quote:-

Commanders can choose a number of loadouts for their Fleet Carrier, governing services/module and ship availability to support a number of different activities, such as: -

• Bounty Hunter
• Mercenary
• Pirate
• Trader
• Smuggler
• Miner
• Explorer
• Search and Rescue

So any folks got any hopes/thoughts/expectations on what gameplay these eight roles could bring to the game?


To get the ball rolling, here's one I suggested last year as regards FCs being used for mining:-

• CMDRs can deposit/store/remove mined materials on the FC. eg: Smaller ships could mine and deposit onto the FC. Larger ships could then be used to load that cargo from the FC and fly off to sell it.
• You can optionally declare your station a "trading post", at which point some simple mechanics puts a estimated price on any stored materials on your FC and then periodically NPC ships arrive, dock, buy, and fly off, slowly eating up your stored mined materials.
• If when surface mining is added, an FC can be called to a surface mining location and it "parks" say one kilometer over the location. An elevator is then dropped/deployed to the surface from which CMDRs on the FC can immediately deploy on the surface in SRVs. Materials mined can be dropped off at the elevator to be loaded onto the FC.

 

[MadDogMurdock]

I'm not sure we'll see a huge amount of variation other than the items for sale in Outfitting and maybe which Station Services are offered.

• BH - sells KWS
• Mercenary - hand in Combat Bonds
• Pirate - sells Hatch Breakers
• Trader - Commodity Market
• Smuggler - Black Market
• Miner - sells Prospectors and Collectors
• Explorer - Cartographics
• S&R - has that S&R screen

Basically, the same sort of menu specialization you get at the different Engineers and similar limitations on the kit you can buy.

 

[NeilF]

I'm not sure we'll see a huge amount of variation other than the items for sale in Outfitting and maybe which Station Services are offered.

• BH - sells KWS
• Mercenary - hand in Combat Bonds
• Pirate - sells Hatch Breakers
• Trader - Commodity Market
• Smuggler - Black Market
• Miner - sells Prospectors and Collectors
• Explorer - Cartographics
• S&R - has that S&R screen

Basically, the same sort of menu specialization you get at the different Engineers and similar limitations on the kit you can buy.

Oooooh! You're seeing that specialisation being mainly an outfitting thing? I hadn't considered that!

So an "Explorer" specialisation for an FC might just mean you can sell your exploration data there, but doesn't in itself mean the FC will participate/offer any exploration gameplay mechanics?

That being the case, CMDRs buying their refitting/repairs/ammo at your FC I assume would be at a traditional cost? Where do those CRs go? The FC owner?

 

[MadDogMurdock]

Oooooh! You're seeing that specialisation being mainly an outfitting thing? I hadn't considered that!

So an "Explorer" specialisation for an FC might just mean you can sell your exploration data there, but doesn't in itself mean the FC will participate/offer any exploration gameplay mechanics?

Yup, I'm firmly in the pessimist camp when it comes to what any new feature might actually create in terms of new gameplay.

Although the Support Ship thing is curious - I'm not sure anyone really knows what they are though, so I'm reluctant to invest any great hopes in them.

 

[askavir]

I'm not sure we'll see a huge amount of variation other than the items for sale in Outfitting and maybe which Station Services are offered.

• BH - sells KWS
• Mercenary - hand in Combat Bonds
• Pirate - sells Hatch Breakers
• Trader - Commodity Market
• Smuggler - Black Market
• Miner - sells Prospectors and Collectors
• Explorer - Cartographics
• S&R - has that S&R screen

Basically, the same sort of menu specialization you get at the different Engineers and similar limitations on the kit you can buy.

That is my hunch as well. Different specializations enable different station menu buttons.

edit: although I doubt there wil be commodity markets orblack markets... one would just park the carrier next to the station where the price difference for some commodity is the biggest and fly maximum profit station<->carrier roundtrips.

 

[Raino]

Just so received from Frontier:

Purchasable with a large amount of credits.
One Fleet Carrier per Commander. Available for base game and Horizons players.

Capacity

Fleet Carriers have a total of 16 Landing Pads, composed of:
8 Large
4 Medium
4 Small

Set permissions to allow others to dock at your Fleet Carrier.

Operations

All Fleet Carriers feature rearm, refuel and repair services.
Commanders can choose a number of loadouts for their Fleet Carrier, governing services/module and ship availability to support a number of different activities, such as:
Bounty Hunter
Mercenary
Pirate
Trader
Smuggler
Miner
Explorer
Search and Rescue

Travel

500 LY jump range (per jump).
Schedule jumps from the Galaxy Map when you want and from wherever you are in the galaxy.
Commanders require a unique resource to fuel the Fleet Carrier in order for it to jump.

 

[Hanerib]

They probably have limited station services. Cartographics on a mobile base is a bit strange perhaps, not that radical anymore. I think they'll have a shipyard and markets too. New UI. No sense having a black market on a carrier, instead you'd have a megaship full of slaves. Purchasable, kind of an item storage functionality, via a proxy. Megaships used to carry a tiny amount of BGS with them, I wonder if they are still working with "hidden factions" or whether it's all new. There will likely be some funny shenanigans how it all fits in still left.

 

[NeilF]

They probably have limited station services. Cartographics on a mobile base is a bit strange perhaps, not that radical anymore. I think they'll have a shipyard and markets too. New UI. No sense having a black market on a carrier, instead you'd have a megaship full of slaves. Purchasable, kind of an item storage functionality, via a proxy. Megaships used to carry a tiny amount of BGS with them, I wonder if they are still working with "hidden factions" or whether it's all new. There will likely be some funny shenanigans how it all fits in still left.

So what could the mining outfitting bring to the table then, other than MadDogMurdock suggest, the likes of just being able to buy Collectors & Prospectors...

And as I mentioned earlier, this being the case, if CMDR Y buys outfitting stuff at CMDR X's FC, do those CRs go to CMDR X? I suspect not, else exploit time?

 

[Hanerib]

The carrier could benefit from increased traffic and trade. Specializations and upgrades could require commodities.

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

Remember the original Multicrew announcement?

I'm pretty sure that gave a list of diiferent roles that multicrew could provide - a list very similar to the list of support modules in the fleet carrier announcement.

What we actually got was 'shoot stuff' and 'enjoy the view'.

I think expecting anything more complex than storage and basic (existing) service contacts is overly optimistic.

 

[Old Duck]

I curious how fleet carriers will integrate into the BGS. Hopefully they don't become a "requirement" to win.

 

[NeilF]

Remember the original Multicrew announcement?

I'm pretty sure that gave a list of diiferent roles that multicrew could provide - a list very similar to the list of support modules in the fleet carrier announcement.

What we actually got was 'shoot stuff' and 'enjoy the view'.

I think expecting anything more complex than storage and basic (existing) service contacts is overly optimistic.

I was fighting for mechanics and gameplay FC's could bring, but I do fear MadDogMudock has probably hit the nail on the head. His suggestion we're in for predominantly just variations on outfitting options does sound like typical FD's all too often bolt on/reuse, add on some sugar coating.

If it is predominantly that, then count me disillusioned - Why not just have one type of FC that offers all those features if its as simple as that?

Hopefully with all the extra time FD have had, FCs will be more involved than that...

 

[Sylow]

I'm not sure we'll see a huge amount of variation other than the items for sale in Outfitting and maybe which Station Services are offered.

That's also what I would expect. Not that this option would overwhelm me with joy. But I don't really see what else the carrier should provide on the aspects given. I mean, what else can it do? Should for example the mercenary option just provide the option to turn buy weapons and turn in combat bonds or should it miraculously also offer +25% firepower? Wouldn't that just just be more unnecessary powercreep?

Or what else could it provide, which would not be yet another combat advantage and thus power creep? Perhaps they have some awesome ideas which I just can't come up with quickly. But in my eyes outfitting options and services are the best way to go. It does make things easier for the right path e.g. if you can park your mining carrier right next to the void opal spot or mercenary carrier right outside of a combat zone, making it much faster to cash in, restock and return. Yet it would not provide yet more direct power creep. So at least within the limits of my current imagination, it's the best we can have.

So what could the mining outfitting bring to the table then, other than MadDogMurdock suggest, the likes of just being able to buy Collectors & Prospectors...

Being able to sell materials. Perhaps even at a good rate, means it would internally be considered of a material consuming economy. This could reduce travel efforts a lot for the miner. (Which would just be fair. If you consider how much such a carrier probably will cost, before even looking at material costs to move it, it'll have to save you weeks and months of traveling time to pay off. )

 

[Arindor]

Interesting, if FCs are merely an extension of space station services, then apart from multiple ships and jump range, what's the point?

Outfitting a FC is also something which needs clarifying. How many roles can you outfit it for? Two, three? I'd like to see a combination of exploration and mining.

PS: I still want one though!

 

[dannysquid]

I was fighting for mechanics and gameplay FC's could bring, but I do fear MadDogMudock has probably hit the nail on the head. His suggestion we're in for predominantly just variations on outfitting options does sound like typical FD's all too often bolt on/reuse, add on some sugar coating.

I suspect this too! Although I think lots of things in ED are filled with exciting promise until they remember it has to be implemented in multiplayer and a whole load of gigantic limitations rear their heads.

Personally, I'd like it if the fleet carriers (or support ships, not sure how it works) generated bespoke missions for you. So an explorer FC might have lots of "find 10 units of mercury", "find a ringed water world" type missions that would pop up to make you a bit more cash.

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

I was fighting for mechanics and gameplay FC's could bring, but I do fear MadDogMudock has probably hit the nail on the head. His suggestion we're in for predominantly just variations on outfitting options does sound like typical FD's all too often bolt on/reuse, add on some sugar coating.

If it is predominantly that, then count me disillusioned - Why not just have one type of FC that offers all those features if its as simple as that?

Hopefully with all the extra time FD have had, FCs will be more involved than that...

I think you have to consider the other side of the coin too - if FCs provide new actual gameplay (as opposed to being a mobile base for existing gameplay) then that content is gated behind owning a FC. It would be true 'end-game' content, only accessible to multi-billionaire commanders. Void opals aside, that's a significant time investment in the game.

Currently the ED ethos is that there is no end-game - everything in the game is accessible within a few hours gameplay. Not necessarily attainable immediately (due to 'grind' reasons) but still accessible. Introducing gameplay gated behind being a billionaire would be a significant step for FDev to take. I'm not arguing about whether they should or shouldn't take that step, but the fact that there IS a step needs to be factored into our expectations.

Because of this, I think that FCs will just be 'more of the same' rather than introducing anything groundbreaking.

 

[Sylow]

Interesting, if FCs are merely an extension of space station services, then apart from multiple ships and jump range, what's the point?

In my eyes the point of a fleet carrier is not the specialization. It's that many players can dock there. The most common use scenario would be that your group for example decides to invest into the next intersteller initiative. Which is faaaar out. In the current game, everybody is trucking there by himself. The active players are there on time, the less active players turn up on the weekend and wonder where everybody has gone to. They find out, see that it would take them two hours to travel there (another two hours to go back later) and decide that it's not worth it. So they log out again instead.

With the fleet carrier, the less active players would log in, see that they are somewhere else than last time they were on, but they'd still be where their friends and squadron members are. So they can just join up and have fun right away.

So that's really the one positive in my eyes: when used well, carriers will hopefully be able to drastically reduce the opportunity costs for less active members and thus make it much easier for them to also come along, contribute and have fun.

I think you have to consider the other side of the coin too - if FCs provide new actual gameplay (as opposed to being a mobile base for existing gameplay) then that content is gated behind owning a FC.

Which I actually consider to be a good choice. No content should be gated behind that much effort of collecting money.

Mind you, I am all for the game getting more content. I'd want plenty of new things to do. Piles of new things to find out in the black and especially on planets. There's so much space in space and on planets yet so little to find in the end. The more content the better! I am all for it. But none of it should be locked behind having to earn something like a fleet carrier before you can get into it.

 

[NeilF]

I think you have to consider the other side of the coin too - if FCs provide new actual gameplay (as opposed to being a mobile base for existing gameplay) then that content is gated behind owning a FC. It would be true 'end-game' content, only accessible to multi-billionaire commanders. Void opals aside, that's a significant time investment in the game.

Understood, but if that limits what FC can offer gameplay/depth wise is that a good thing?

Consider my mining suggestion in the OP. Given the choice of no one having that because of your suggestion, or some Wings of CMDRs who have committed a lot of time, meaning one of them could get an FC and start using those mechanics? I'd go with the latter...

And of course if we consider Squadrons? This would be even more likely to mean CMDRs who can't afford an FC, can likely utilise the gameplay of one through fellow Squadron members?

But I do understand your point...

 

[Kissamies]

I curious how fleet carriers will integrate into the BGS. Hopefully they don't become a "requirement" to win.

I'm expecting they will be just like stations, with mission boards, contacts and markets depending on their loadouts. The main benefit would be that the player could place them more conveniently for them than the system's own stations.

 

[Arindor]

Imagine, you take your fleet carrier x LYs away, jump into your explorer and FSS several systems nearby. You find one worth mining and call in your carrier, dock, then jump in your mining ship. In principle, to me that sounds like fun. Getting back to the bubble to sell though, well that's another thing!

Regarding squadrons though, what's stopping each squadron member having a carrier and outfitting it for a different role? It's still four players with four ships.