Fleet Carriers Update - Beta 2 has now ended!

[Rock-Hermit]

Hoist by my own petard!

But if you do choose to operate outside the carrier's unrefuelled radius no amount of planning will save you from needing more fuel. And even inside the shaded area, there's a limit to the amount you can move about without needing more fuel - a bigger limit the closer you stay to home, but still.

There will be carriers stationed throughout the non-shaded area of 777Drivers map. They are the dssa carriers and they will sell tritium to anyone who needs it to get home.

I think people are fighting for their own playstyle here. Those that want to solo it and not have to plan ahead and want to take their personal spacestation anywhere and at anytime, and those that want carriers to bring lots of other gameplay loops into the mix, like mining and cooperation. Things like the dssa can link both play styles together and make it work for all. I hope frontier don't re-balance things too much to favour one over the other.

Mining yields need to increase significantly to appease the solo guys. Fuel efficiency needs to stay as it is, or decrease slightly to give miners a purpose and give carriers the challenge needed that counterbalances all the other benefits they offer an owner.

 

[ChipStar65]

Ok Cool, so 200t per hour. 5 Hours to fill a carrier tank, 6 tanks worth of fuel needed to take me 7k ly.

So I simply mine for 30 SOLID HOURS to move 7k ly! FDev are having a ruddy Giraffe! I mean, I play about 10 hours a month!

No, you can mine 2 hours a day for around two weeks to travel that 7000ly. That's one jump per day. Or make two jumps and do it in a week. Why be in a bigger hurry? Are you not out there to look around and find cool stuff?

Any Commander running their carrier dry before mining fuel is a fool. My beta FC required around 150T/500ly jump, and I could mine that in under two hours and have change after topping off the tank. Then I spent whatever hours I needed exploring the bubble around the FC waypoint and payed my expenses weeks in advance with UC data and still had plenty of cash for burgers and brew once the FC pubs open up out there in the black. 2500ly in 4 days was my shakedown cruise, and it was a blast, mining was only a small part of the whole experience, which included finding an ELW, a Wolf-Rayet star, and a single system that scanned out for 12M+ @ UC, an entire week's upkeep in about an hour. That system also accounted for about half the Tritium I mined during the entire trip.

If all you are going for is record distance in record time, stick to a jumpaConda, NS highways and the like. Fuel's basically free (though not profitable) and maybe you can find a carrier out there to take care of your ship integrity and other possible repairs.

 

[Linarri]

I don’t see the fleet carrier as a money earner. I see it as a reward for playing the game for a long time, and I think it would be most helpful for deep space explorers.

When I first visited Sagittarius A, there wasn’t anywhere safe to repair. The same when I visited the other side of the Galaxy, you had to get back again in one piece.

Saying all that, I hope others managed to make a profit. Still, personally, when I buy one and jump off to the other side of the Galaxy, I doubt I’ll be back to the bubble for a few years with my fleet carrier. I can’t think of any games that you can do the same in solo, without being ganked at least.

That is the adventure, and I really hope the developers pay close attention and have hidden treasures to discover out in the black.

Looking forward to the 9th.

 

[cheesenbiscuits]

you are basing mining figures on unknown drop rates, then accuse me of being bad at maths. Just quit while you are behind, you seem to be incapable of logical thought.. You've had enough of my time mate..

I'm just telling you the figures from actual in game observations,you're the one attributing malice and replying in kind,if these figures upset you imagine how i feel?

 

[Andro]

Look at Tritium practically, maybe you could mine a little while you're out, but planning is important for taking a whole Carrier out, you're far, far better off spending your time mining something expensive, and using those profits to purchase bulk Tritium, and still have money left over. Around 10 LTDs at their current price will buy you enough Tritium (~250) for a full 500ly jump. I checked my CMDR's stats, and I've only ever mined 18,387tons, in six years. Good luck keeping your eyes from rotting out trying to mine 25,000 for a Carrier, if anyone actually believes that.

 

[SysteQ]

Lol just shove it out there, eh. Upkeep and decommission remains and that doesn't seem to be changing.

Guess that's it then. It's a bubble ship.

 

[WKJezz]

Thank you for communicating with us through this whole process, not just content creators, but as a community at large. It was great seeing it all play out and seeing the feedback getting integrated into the game in front of us.

I am aware there are a few more things on the wish-list with fleet carriers for some people, but I for one went from not really wanting a fleet carrier on the launch of beta1 to finishing beta 2 feeling like I can't imagine not owning one.

Great outreach, great feedback, great job.

 

[Slamdance_Kozmopolis]

I have read all the posts you mention, and find the majority of posts regarding Tritium mining to be facile, tantrum-y complaints about having to work to maintain a carrier. My response is TANSTAAFL.

Everyone isn't a masochist. I, for example, play games for fun.

I'm not averse to a bit of work, but I expect to be paid when I do it.

This is the attitude of all the serious people I know.

 

[Nutter]

No, you can mine 2 hours a day for around two weeks to travel that 7000ly

And that is the whole problem, firstly I don't play that often, when I do play I want to explore.

You have just described a part time job, which I will need to do before I can play my way!

THIS is the issue, well that and Upkeep

 

[cheesenbiscuits]

For balancing purposes, the upkeep of the service would need to exceed the cost just of buying tritium from ports, certainly well in excess of the amount for which it can be sold. But I can see this not being entirely unreasonable in principle. Of course, any passive generation of commodities would need some kind of hydrogen bomb mitigation to be implemented first, or it's wide open to exploitation.

We make a distinction between tritium and fuel,increase the fuel tank and only scoop/gather fuel for the tank.

 

[ChipStar65]

...you're far, far better off spending your time mining something expensive...

The good news is that it's possible to mine Tritium and high-end minerals at the same time, from the same rocks. Many times Tritium SSDs and surface scabs adorned a core rock with Alex, Grandi, LTD and VO, and some of those also had intrinsic Tritium for lasering out. In four days travel in beta I mined principally for Rocket Tea but was able to also stash around 50T or more of the priciest minerals, plus assorted quantities of gold, platinum and other lesser commodities. Had it not been beta I would have spent more hours digging out the cash crop hotspots, but time limits were pressing me.

Yeah, 25kT would take a long time to fill, but I plan to be out there a long time, and the stuff's not going to evaporate in my hold

 

[ChipStar65]

And that is the whole problem, firstly I don't play that often, when I do play I want to explore.

You have just described a part time job, which I will need to do before I can play my way!

THIS is the issue, well that and Upkeep

The obvious solution is don't buy a carrier. They are endgame assets (at least as the game exists at present, who knows after we've spread throughout the galaxy thanks to carrier Commanders willing to go the extra light years to make it happen?) and as such are not for everyone. They aren't toys or status symbols or gargantuan hood ornaments, they are tools Commanders can choose to make work for them in a number of ways if they have the time and industry required. Not having one is not a demerit, it just means you play the game differently than others, and that's perfectly fine. Hell, you're welcome to visit my J's Resolution any time and tag along into the black, rent is cheap (pay me in Tritium! ) and the food is passable, maybe I'll lay in a stock of the most exotic liquors as well. That might even convince me to play in Open regularly!

 

[777Driver]

I'm just telling you the figures from actual in game observations,you're the one attributing malice and replying in kind,if these figures upset you imagine how i feel?

No malice intended. I see no reason to base rates on old figures, I also mined and checked rates at single hotspots (both laser and sub) What we know for sure, laser rate is similar to LTD3, devs have announced an additional lucrative boost to increase subsurface. I see no point in talking about old drop rates, we need to test these 'apparently' lucrative rates.

It is similar to people complaining in Beta 2 about the old Beta 1 fuel burn rates, what is the point?

 

[Crank Larson]

firstly I don't play that often, when I do play I want to explore.

Then what need have you for a fleet carrier? If you don't play that often, it is pointless - that has been clear from the start (when FCs were going to be for squadrons).

 

[ChipStar65]

Everyone isn't a masochist. I, for example, play games for fun.

I'm not averse to a bit of work, but I expect to be paid when I do it.

This is the attitude of all the serious people I know.

Passive/aggressive insults are ineffective on me, your judgementalist attitude just shows your intrinsic selfishness -- "Make the game work MY way!" Boo-hoo.

 

[WINGBACON]

K71-Z7X approves! Ty stephen!

 

[cheesenbiscuits]

The obvious solution is don't buy a carrier. They are endgame assets (at least as the game exists at present, who knows after we've spread throughout the galaxy thanks to carrier Commanders willing to go the extra light years to make it happen?) and as such are not for everyone. They aren't toys or status symbols or gargantuan hood ornaments, they are tools Commanders can choose to make work for them in a number of ways if they have the time and industry required. Not having one is not a demerit, it just means you play the game differntly than others, and that's perfectly fine. Hell, you're welcome to visit my J's Resolution any time and tag along into the black, rent is cheap (pay me in Tritium! ) and the food is passable, maybe I'll lay in a stock of the most exotic liquors as well. That might even convince me to play in Open regularly!

We're trying to make the game better,not the fantasy game in your head.

 

[ChipStar65]

We're trying to make the game better,not the fantasy game in your head.

No, you're trying to dumb it down. And puh-leeeez! You play a game in a fantasy world of FTL starships and hostile aliens and sector-wide empires yet chide me for using my imagination about doing so? It is to laugh!

 

[cheesenbiscuits]

No malice intended. I see no reason to base rates on old figures, I also mined and checked rates at single hotspots (both laser and sub) What we know for sure, laser rate is similar to LTD3, devs have announced an additional lucrative boost to increase subsurface. I see no point in talking about old drop rates, we need to test these 'apparently' lucrative rates.
It is similar to people complaining in Beta 2 about the old Beta 1 fuel burn rates, what is the point?

I don't beleive drop rates can solve the problem,the man hours mining to keep a carriers fuel tank fed are orders of magnitude out of whack,it would need to be around 2000t/hr,and thats just game breaking.

 

[shogun195333]

Ok Cool, so 200t per hour. 5 Hours to fill a carrier tank, 6 tanks worth of fuel needed to take me 7k ly.

So I simply mine for 30 SOLID HOURS to move 7k ly! FDev are having a ruddy Giraffe! I mean, I play about 10 hours a month!

No, 1 tank will get you 4 500 ly jumps. That's 2,000 ly a tank. 3 1/2 tanks for 7,000 ly.
That's what I was getting in the Beta 2.