In Flight Refuelling?
- Thread starter Avago Earo
- Start date
I would love to have the ability to go refuel/rescue folks.
I imagine that my on board computer would chime in "distress beacon received" and a carat would appear on the galaxy map, with the pilots name, allowing you to contact them directly. This would obviously be delayed by distance. Help would not appear magically, of course. I reckon it would not really help with pirate attacks, unless the person requesting help was close, within a few light years.
Taking this idea and running with it could open up new opportunities system wide. How about Engine damage increasing fuel consumption? That crash out of FSD uncalibrates the "injectors" or something, increasing fuel consumption and power requirements? This Idea is a win/win for everyone, in my opinion.
It could add another layer of realism. That is not a bad thing, no?
I imagine that my on board computer would chime in "distress beacon received" and a carat would appear on the galaxy map, with the pilots name, allowing you to contact them directly. This would obviously be delayed by distance. Help would not appear magically, of course. I reckon it would not really help with pirate attacks, unless the person requesting help was close, within a few light years.
Taking this idea and running with it could open up new opportunities system wide. How about Engine damage increasing fuel consumption? That crash out of FSD uncalibrates the "injectors" or something, increasing fuel consumption and power requirements? This Idea is a win/win for everyone, in my opinion.
It could add another layer of realism. That is not a bad thing, no?
You said the words exactly: "running out of gas is unfathomably stupid."
Okay. Let's say FDev does implement this. How long do you have to wait? What is the maximum range of the distress beacon? And what is wrong with simply learning not to run out of fuel (do you run out of fuel when driving your car?).
Not for me it isn't. I jump 20 or so (half a tank or so) times then refuel for about 30 seconds. A3 scoop. I also don't run out of fuel.
It's kinda funny to read through the comments about getting drained is stupid. Yes, it's very bad planning to run out of fuel, but it can happen(well for traders there's almost a station in every system you visit, but for exploring, bad planning can lead you into a cluster of red dwarfes and such). If you would run out of fuel in your car someone could stop by and help you. It's a logical feature, not to be used very often, but its there because it makes sense.
You don't have an interactive game where there's a rock blocking your path on a road and say "well, cant pick that up, must go around it because it's stupid to move it clearing the road".
You don't have an interactive game where there's a rock blocking your path on a road and say "well, cant pick that up, must go around it because it's stupid to move it clearing the road".
I am currently 3,000ly from Sol heading towards the core. I know if I run out of fuel it is my fault, no one else's. I also think having a button where some NPC will magically appear 3,000ly out, when it has taken me 15hrs of gameplay to get there, to top my tank up, is dumb and immersion breaking.
Anyway we are covering old ground because this subject has been raised several times.
Actually you do have immovable objects in games to put a confinement on the play area.
How fantastic of you to think beforehead. Well, if you're 13,000 light years out you're ed anyways and yes, that is your fault and your fault alone. But if you're not alone, but you have company of a wingman and he/she have a few spares left so that you can atleast jump out of that system to refuel on another star, that would not break any game, any rules or immersion.
People are very hasty of using "dumb" do describe a logical mechanism and suggestion. Is it dumb that modern era aircraft can do aerial refueling? Of course it is, it's also their fault for bad planning when they crash. *Insert sarcasm* It is obviously a dumb suggestion to let players reload their multicannons as well, because why would you want to reload when you have 3 rounds left.
Last edited:
You get planes that can take off, fly around and land on a air craft carrier autonomously. We don't have that level of automation in game because it is a game mechanic, like planning ahead for refueling.
Refuelling from a friend is needed here. It would allow another multiplayers gameplay options.
Examples:
1. one player in wing have best fuel scoop, others have cellbanks, one is scooping, and share a fuel with another.
2. FDL player is run out of fuel. At now he is forced to self destruct ship... Better way is allow to 'call a friend' who will bring a gas.
Examples:
1. one player in wing have best fuel scoop, others have cellbanks, one is scooping, and share a fuel with another.
2. FDL player is run out of fuel. At now he is forced to self destruct ship... Better way is allow to 'call a friend' who will bring a gas.
Hi, this is a simple suggestion: allow us to add a label to the friends, so that we can know how we met them and why they are friends.
I have some friends that are in my RP group and other that I randomly met in space... it would be nice if I can know who's who.
I have some friends that are in my RP group and other that I randomly met in space... it would be nice if I can know who's who.
^+1 for this.
Avago Earo
Banned
That's exactly what I'm saying.
Plenty of people run out of gas while driving. Yeah, it's dumb. Know what would be even dumber? Setting their car on fire instead of calling AAA.
I don't get your point. If distress calls/refueling were implemented, that would also be a game mechanic. And in my opinion, a FAR more interesting and immersive one. Like I said earlier, it would be far less convenient than refueling at a station, far more expensive and risky than using a scoop. Let's say it costs 1000cr of fuel to get from Point A to Point B. The player absentmindedly forgets to refuel before heading out and gets stranded. He sends a distress call...maybe nobody shows up, maybe a pirate shows up and steals all his cargo, maybe someone shows up to help but charges 15,000cr for the fuel. Do you honestly think anyone is going to do that on purpose instead of refueling at stations? And isn't that much more interesting gameplay than just saying, "Well, I'm out of gas. Better blow myself up and get magically transported to a station despite being 3000ly out"?
It could potentially even add another play style to the game: perhaps NPCs as well as players could activate distress beacons. Players could outfit their ships with a "refueling tank", and maybe "long-range SOS scanners" or something, and fly around listening for distress calls and charging for their services. Or maybe finding a waiting trap at the end of that distress call!
Note you never attempted to answer my original questions.
You also seem to think about the view as equating the current world to that of the Elite galaxy. I feel it would be better to view the ED universe as similar to exploring the wild west. There is civilisation out there, but it is a long way away and you have to be self reliant.
The point is that you keep bringing up the real world as a why it should be in the game. I bring up other examples in the real world that would destroy the game if we add them to the game.
Which brings me back to my original questions: How long do you have to wait? What is the maximum range of the distress beacon?
Lets say you can hear someone from 3k ly (which violates other tenants of game, as why can't you send combat bonds remotely or find out prices of items from distance?). One guy managed 18k ly in 22 hours on twitch of solid jumping and refuelling from the core to Sol. So even if you were as hard-core as him you would be there in 3 1/2 hours. People have lives and maybe they will log off to go to bed, which means he won't be there once you arrive.
No sympathy: His fault. You can go a long way on a half empty tank of fuel unless you are on fastest route at which point you will burn through it in 8 jumps or so (in a A-rated Asp). Learn to plan ahead.
Last edited:
I like how it sounds that it's more logical to put a bullet to your head than calling a number to get gas. Wow, we have come far in the year of 3301.
You are assuming that you can make a phone call over a number of light years. The ability to do so would break several other game mechanics.
Like I said, think in terms of wild west rather than Birmingham (or wherever you live).
Parts of it are like the wild west, sure. And other parts of it are like downtown NYC. The system might well be useless to someone out in the middle of nowhere, but would still be plenty useful to someone in the middle of civilized space.
I honestly don't know precisely the best way it should be implemented, I'm just arguing in general that it would be a better system than the current one. How long you'd have to wait would depend on whether or not anyone is close enough to respond, and whether they decide to do so. If nobody does, you self-destruct just like now. I don't think it should be able to save someone who's thousands of light years away from civilization, unless they've brought along a buddy. But someone out there is going to need a fuel scoop to even get there in the first place, so the point is moot anyway. I feel like you're using a bit of a strawman here...you keep arguing against the idea based on players stranded thousands of light years out, when I haven't seen anyone here suggest that at all. This is something that would benefit players stranded close to or inside civilized space, or players flying with a wing.
Besides, if it makes no sense that someone would hear and respond to a distress call 3000ly out, it stands to reason that self-destructing a ship at that distance would result in no chance of the pilot ending up back on a station.
Well ofc this should be kept in mind. But you can message your friends faster than light. See it as this, the further away from civilized space you are, the more f**ed you'll become because the distance. There will be a point where suicide is the only option because you simply cant send a distress signal over 1000 light years and expect someone to show up like you ordered a pizza. The distress signal could be for other things as well, like broken thrusters or such. But the refueling feature would be more focused on wing members. Like said many times, a bigger ship can make more jumps before needing a refuel, but a sidewinder or eagle in that wing could possibly only manage one jump fur such a distance and can leech from the bigger ship when they arrive if it is not fitted with a fuel scoop, which add mass and limits jump range.
The fact that was included in game was because it would of occurred out of game via team speak anyway.
I think this is a great idea. Role specialising is a great way of expanding gameplay and making community play a much more enriching experience. This game is obviously geared toward encouraging people to play together (note the lack of an offline single player mode) and being able to enterprise by selling goods and services directly to players rather than faceless NPCs would be so much more engaging and fun.
This could not only be fuel but ammo and even minor hull repair as well. I'm sure people could provide an excellent mobile ammunition freight service to combat zones giving the area a little more life and variety than endless tailchasing.
While it's true that graham.reeds is obsessed with planning ahead, he does have a point. You should maybe install a fuel scoop or plot your course a little better if you don't want to run out of fuel, though the point of making a useful SOS system would perhaps need to use FTL drones (perhaps with a 2-3 drone supply), or some kind of hyperspace broadcast to alert others as to their position. The further out you travel, the less likely you will receive help and the greater the risk. I find this idea provides the best of both worlds. There is no gaurantee that help will ever come but it could be just the sort of thing that saves your life if you are limping back to civilised space.
I think discounting the whole idea by claiming "You should have planned better" seems a little elitist (pun intended) as you may be more thorough in your operations, but ultimately it boils down to 2 options. One is a universe where everybody knows exactly what they are doing, flies from A to B and logs off, nice and efficiently.
The much more real other option however, would be people overestimating, overstretching and being a little too ambitious allowing an opening for other players to profit and draw a gameplay experience by getting involved with other people's mistakes and either playing the good samaritan or effectively holding them to ransom.
Anything that adds more gameplay and player interaction can only be a good thing for the longevity of the game and player base which is absolutely essential for a game that is not subscription based.
This could not only be fuel but ammo and even minor hull repair as well. I'm sure people could provide an excellent mobile ammunition freight service to combat zones giving the area a little more life and variety than endless tailchasing.
While it's true that graham.reeds is obsessed with planning ahead, he does have a point. You should maybe install a fuel scoop or plot your course a little better if you don't want to run out of fuel, though the point of making a useful SOS system would perhaps need to use FTL drones (perhaps with a 2-3 drone supply), or some kind of hyperspace broadcast to alert others as to their position. The further out you travel, the less likely you will receive help and the greater the risk. I find this idea provides the best of both worlds. There is no gaurantee that help will ever come but it could be just the sort of thing that saves your life if you are limping back to civilised space.
I think discounting the whole idea by claiming "You should have planned better" seems a little elitist (pun intended) as you may be more thorough in your operations, but ultimately it boils down to 2 options. One is a universe where everybody knows exactly what they are doing, flies from A to B and logs off, nice and efficiently.
The much more real other option however, would be people overestimating, overstretching and being a little too ambitious allowing an opening for other players to profit and draw a gameplay experience by getting involved with other people's mistakes and either playing the good samaritan or effectively holding them to ransom.
Anything that adds more gameplay and player interaction can only be a good thing for the longevity of the game and player base which is absolutely essential for a game that is not subscription based.
Last edited: