Hey Frontier, not sure if anyone has posted something like this, so sorry in advance if it has already been discussed. Also, this is my first post to your forums, so I apologize if I missed something in terms of rules, format, or something.
The new Ship-Transfer feature coming in the next Horizons update has me really excited. Finally I'll have the freedom to play more spontaneously, rather than plan out a specific way I want to play for awhile. But I've noticed that some players are worried that since the transfers will be instantaneous rather than timed, the feature will break immersion. My idea is a scientific explanation of this feature.
Since 3D printers exist in the Elite: Dangerous universe that can print food, equipment and ships, why not say that purchasing a transfer is paying for schematic costs, proof-of-purchase licensing, ship building rights, and material costs. The player's transferred ship would be scanned and broken down. The station would then transmit the reconstruction data to the new station that the player is located at, and the station would 3D print the players ship exactly the way they had it. This explains the instantaneous transfer of the ship in a way that makes sense, and since the station is transmitting the proper licenses needed to build the ship and onboard equipment, it explains how the station could print things that it doesn't have access to in its shop. The materials from the broken down ship at the previous station would then be transported to the station where the ship was transferred to in order to replace the materials that where needed to print the transferred ship. Since the player already owned the ship, and the materials that were needed to rebuild it were transported to the new station, the cheaper pricing could be better explained, as brand new replacement materials wouldn't be needed to rebuild the transferred ship like they are when a ship is destroyed.
Again, this is just an idea I had for explaining instantaneous ship transfers and, if not used for actual in-game canon, still makes for some convincing mind-canon for myself. You all are doing great on Elite, and I look forward to playing the game for a long time! [smile]
The new Ship-Transfer feature coming in the next Horizons update has me really excited. Finally I'll have the freedom to play more spontaneously, rather than plan out a specific way I want to play for awhile. But I've noticed that some players are worried that since the transfers will be instantaneous rather than timed, the feature will break immersion. My idea is a scientific explanation of this feature.
Since 3D printers exist in the Elite: Dangerous universe that can print food, equipment and ships, why not say that purchasing a transfer is paying for schematic costs, proof-of-purchase licensing, ship building rights, and material costs. The player's transferred ship would be scanned and broken down. The station would then transmit the reconstruction data to the new station that the player is located at, and the station would 3D print the players ship exactly the way they had it. This explains the instantaneous transfer of the ship in a way that makes sense, and since the station is transmitting the proper licenses needed to build the ship and onboard equipment, it explains how the station could print things that it doesn't have access to in its shop. The materials from the broken down ship at the previous station would then be transported to the station where the ship was transferred to in order to replace the materials that where needed to print the transferred ship. Since the player already owned the ship, and the materials that were needed to rebuild it were transported to the new station, the cheaper pricing could be better explained, as brand new replacement materials wouldn't be needed to rebuild the transferred ship like they are when a ship is destroyed.
Again, this is just an idea I had for explaining instantaneous ship transfers and, if not used for actual in-game canon, still makes for some convincing mind-canon for myself. You all are doing great on Elite, and I look forward to playing the game for a long time! [smile]
