Why not have 'ship transfers' be another (new) station facility? Instead of having all shipyards have this capability, have the stations capable of this be much less common.
I'll outline my idea
I see merit in both sides of the instant vs delayed transfer arguments. Just recently my friend and I were helping a new player out and were commenting on how nice it will be when the transfers are implemented. But I also can see the huge implications and changes to the game it will have. However, I have mostly came to the conclusion that delayed transfers would really only achieve a realism effect. Any balancing or game mechanic trying to be accomplished with a delay is rather small when you take into account that the ship is effectively removed from the game during the delay.
One of the chief complaints against instant transfers is that players will just roam in their taxi and then move their fleet of ships to where its needed. And you won't need jump range on your combat or mining ships. This completely undermines the main downside of most combat ships, their low jump range and fuel tanks.
The main idea is to essentially allow instant transfers, but you will likely have to make 2-5 jumps to get to your final destination (on average). While exact densities and distances would need to be tweaked, I'm guessing having around 50ly between systems with the ability to transfer ships (again not all shipyards would have the ability, it would be a new facility). This will help maintain the disadvantages of combat ships while still making it relatively easy to move all of your ships.
Allowing the player to transfer ships that aren't in a station with the facility allows them to still use shipyards as a local hub to operate out of.
I guess I see the problem with instant transfers at shipyards being that shipyards are pretty common. Generally at most 1 jump away.
As a programmer, I do see the simplicity of giving shipyards instant transfers. This is obviously not as simple, but most of what I have proposed here shouldn't be difficult to implement (add a new station facility type, add the new behavior to this facility instead, populate stations with the facility). The challenge would be informing players of these facilities and where/how to find them. Finding a station with a black market is a bit of a chore right now, but that makes sense for black markets.
I'll outline my idea
- Add a new station facility 'ship transfer' to select stations, probably more rare than black markets
- Player must be at a station with this facility to instantly transfer a ship
- The ship being transferred does NOT have to be at a station with the 'ship transfer' facility (any shipyard will do)
I see merit in both sides of the instant vs delayed transfer arguments. Just recently my friend and I were helping a new player out and were commenting on how nice it will be when the transfers are implemented. But I also can see the huge implications and changes to the game it will have. However, I have mostly came to the conclusion that delayed transfers would really only achieve a realism effect. Any balancing or game mechanic trying to be accomplished with a delay is rather small when you take into account that the ship is effectively removed from the game during the delay.
One of the chief complaints against instant transfers is that players will just roam in their taxi and then move their fleet of ships to where its needed. And you won't need jump range on your combat or mining ships. This completely undermines the main downside of most combat ships, their low jump range and fuel tanks.
The main idea is to essentially allow instant transfers, but you will likely have to make 2-5 jumps to get to your final destination (on average). While exact densities and distances would need to be tweaked, I'm guessing having around 50ly between systems with the ability to transfer ships (again not all shipyards would have the ability, it would be a new facility). This will help maintain the disadvantages of combat ships while still making it relatively easy to move all of your ships.
Allowing the player to transfer ships that aren't in a station with the facility allows them to still use shipyards as a local hub to operate out of.
I guess I see the problem with instant transfers at shipyards being that shipyards are pretty common. Generally at most 1 jump away.
As a programmer, I do see the simplicity of giving shipyards instant transfers. This is obviously not as simple, but most of what I have proposed here shouldn't be difficult to implement (add a new station facility type, add the new behavior to this facility instead, populate stations with the facility). The challenge would be informing players of these facilities and where/how to find them. Finding a station with a black market is a bit of a chore right now, but that makes sense for black markets.