Idle thoughts about cup holders and then passenger missions.

[Monk]

For some reason, the cup holders in the Adder popped in my head. I haven't had an Adder in months but the thought bothered me, nonetheless.

Think about it, the Elite Universe doesn't have some magic auto-gravity technology. As evidenced by the spinning stations relying on centripetal force instead of traditional structures with planar gravity. Therefore, I think it is safe to assume that the commander in the cockpit is in zero-g.

I find a cup holder in such a situation as ridiculous and careless!
...there are several reasons why it could work, but that isn't the point right now...

This got me thinking about the large change in G forces the pilot and his crew must experience. A boosting Imperial Clipper would certainly turn my lunch into wall decorations.

Then, I boosted by an Orca inside the station (SPEEDING, hah) on my way to drop off some Imperial Slaves.

Now I started thinking about passengers that aren't in cold stasis. Certainly, if they are any kind of decent Imperial citizens, they would want, no, demand a smooth ride. Boosting from the back of a station and slinging around to the front to line up a boost into the station might not go over well with your patrons. Vomit and blood aren't always appreciated.

So, with all that, should true passenger implementation in the game include a sort of G-meter? As a luxury Orca pilot, you would always have to keep under a certain threshold if you wanted to get paid well, or even at all.

 

[Alex Brentnall]

I did think this, sometimes I play around when bored trying to make my docking as smooth as possible like not having to reverse etc. I imagined cup holders would feature some kind of cups with straws that have a one-way valve like some expensive snorkels have these days.

Yeah, my personal roleplay until told otherwise is that passengers are strapped into seats whenever outside supercruise and that inside sleeping areas etc that all surfaces are coated with bubblewrap or other soft materials making small or smooth direction changes not matter much.

Also has anyone else noticed the "ding" sound when the Orca boosts like the seatbelt signs on an aircraft?

 

[GrimThara]

That could actually be worth considering in a way. Making us have to obey the speeding limits, flight regulations and of course put the comfort of the passengers above our own would be sensible ways of making passenger hauling into its own kind of gameplay. It could also depend on the kind of passenger I guess. If you're just smuggling refugees or criminals, I doubt they'd care for a few bumps along the way. However, if you're hauling vip's or the like, you'd need to be more considerate.

I'd like that.

 

[Yomamas Fett]

You know, if we're playing around with toys like the FSD; then little gravity emitter throughout a ship would not be far-fetched.

Sure they don't use them in the station hangers (keeps the cost of moving tons of cargo around down to negligable), but that doesn't mean that they are not used in the habitation parts of stations, Baltah'Sine Station is famous for having over 2million "spring break" Bohemians living there at any one time, that'd be certainly "interesting" in zero/low-G.

Not to mention that without monkeying around with gravity/inertia any collision of ships would be fatal to the crew long before it is fatal to the ship. 100m/s is like falling out of a high storey building....splat.

Then again the Orca does make that lovely "Bing" noise before the boost to warn the passengers...so maybe I'm wrong?

 

[Karakhian]

For some reason, the cup holders in the Adder popped in my head. I haven't had an Adder in months but the thought bothered me, nonetheless.

Think about it, the Elite Universe doesn't have some magic auto-gravity technology. As evidenced by the spinning stations relying on centripetal force instead of traditional structures with planar gravity. Therefore, I think it is safe to assume that the commander in the cockpit is in zero-g.

I find a cup holder in such a situation as ridiculous and careless!
...there are several reasons why it could work, but that isn't the point right now...

This got me thinking about the large change in G forces the pilot and his crew must experience. A boosting Imperial Clipper would certainly turn my lunch into wall decorations.

Then, I boosted by an Orca inside the station (SPEEDING, hah) on my way to drop off some Imperial Slaves.

Now I started thinking about passengers that aren't in cold stasis. Certainly, if they are any kind of decent Imperial citizens, they would want, no, demand a smooth ride. Boosting from the back of a station and slinging around to the front to line up a boost into the station might not go over well with your patrons. Vomit and blood aren't always appreciated.

So, with all that, should true passenger implementation in the game include a sort of G-meter? As a luxury Orca pilot, you would always have to keep under a certain threshold if you wanted to get paid well, or even at all.

Well, those cup holders do actually have removable lids on them if you look carefully

Also in a ship, you still need a concept of 'up' since it will spend quite a bit of its time in gravity - either at a station or on a planet... and the cup would presumably work fine there. Hell, even in zero G, you'd want a consistent plane that you keep clear of obstacles to walk around in your magnetic boots on, so you might as well have a 'floor' and 'ceiling' and 'walls'.

I also believe the pilot suits commanders wear help deal with G forces - it was in the newsletter where they talked about them.

I actually find the G-meter kind of hilarious, but it sounds like implementing it would create more aggravation and frustration for players. Presumably, since most ships are zero G while in spaceflight, they'd be strapped in somewhere?

Instead of it having any real effect on your mission, it might be funnier to hear your passengers voice actual feedback as they leave your ship at the station, that is based on how comfortable their ride was... so it doesn't have any real consequences, it just adds atmosphere.

Awful, forget to ask for docking permission, trespass warning, go back out then back in, full on collision in slot, tried to hit the pad without landing gear down - "Where did you learn to fly? I am never flying with you again."
Mediocre, some rough last minute course adjustments and a near collision with an Adder, slammed onto pad hard - "Thanks for the trip. Kinda bumpy on landing, don't you think." -
Good, smooth approach, a little heavy on the manouevring, slight jolt on touching the pad - "Excellent piloting, sir! I'll be sure to recommend you to my friends."
Excellent, perfect approach, entered slot at less than 100 m/s, gentled onto the landing pad with perfect horizontal alignment - "That was the smoothest ride I have ever had. I didn't even realise we'd landed. And the complementary Lavian brandy was much appreciated."
Lunatic, boosted three times to get to slot, spiralled around three cops on approach, boosted again, went sideways at full speed with flight assist off to avoid Type 9 practically filling the entire slot, looped inside the station to land perfectly on the pad - "Honey, don't worry about the vomit, oh god, hurry, let's get off before he sees us - DONT MAKE EYE CONTACT DONT MAKE EYE CONTACT"

In fact, it would actually be kind of awesome if you could hear your passengers commenting on your piloting and just having conversations while they're on board through the PA system.

"What was that? That sounded like the hardpoints deploying."
"God help me, if he boosts again, I'm not paying."
"BLEEUURRRGHHH"
"Amy I told you to use the seat harness, how many t - OH GOD SOMEONE GRAB HER"

 

[GriM_AoD]

You can approach a G limit in some ships. Like in my FDL boost while holding up or down and I get a warning with visual effect. So it would seem a system of sort is already in place, which could as you say be applied to passenger missions and it would make sense to do so.

Though the largest force experienced by boosting will be very short lived as force is equal to the rate of change of momentum, and while initially high when boosting, it drops off very quickly. So I don't see it being much of an issue

 

[ChaosCloud]

I only managed to get a slight red out when boosting in my Vulture and pushing down, no blackout though for pulling up. It's only on D thrusters though, I'm out of energy to spend. Could probably let the FSD and Scoop take that while in combat, might try that.
If I wouldn't be about to replace it by a Python xD

 

[Windscreen Smudge]

Magnets, son. Just use a magnetic cup.