Long distance travel and Many ships

[S3nt1n3l]

I have an idea that I'm hoping fits in with the game mechanics and would hopefully cure a problem that I've encountered.

I've recently moved out to empire space, but found that transporting my ships that great long distance is a real pain, not to mention costly.
That that end I have two suggestions.

Firstly and probably a really quick one to implement is the introduction or a small cheap ship that can jump long distances.
This ship would have no weapon hard points and would purely be a personal long range shuttle.
This means it couldn't be used for anything other than moving to different parts of colonised space.
It would have a jump distance of about 20LY or more in one jump with a maximum range of 100LY before needing to refuel.

My second suggestion is a little more complex and would need something to fit it into the story of ED.
Perhaps a system of jump gates which would have to be player built.
These gates would have to be Supercruised to before they can be used and the player would have to target the system they want to Hyperspace to and pass though the gate during their Hyperspace jump.
This would mean they can only be used to jump in certain directions and would work with the players existing Frameshift drive giving a variable doubling or tripling of the players existing range.
If this is to complex them maybe just a fixed jump range.
Because of the complexities of building them perhaps only a few systems would have them, the more wealthy/high tech systems perhaps.
The players contributing to building them would then get a reward based on their contributions.

Failing that can we have another means to transport multiple ships from one place to another as at present its a real pain?

 

[Colonel North]

Until the 10% depreciation applies to modules the hauler is a quick and cheap way to shuttle between ships.

With 'A' rated fsd and 'D' rated modules the hauler has a superb jump range, over 32Ly

If your transferring ships and need a 'one way ticket' - strip the hauler down and fit the cheapest modules before you sell and your cost exposure is less than 4k.

 

[S3nt1n3l]

I'll have to try that

 

[Crowax]

I have ships all over the place, from Fed space down to Emp space. And I use most of them all the time, depending on my mood on what I want to do in ED (most of my ships are equipped for a certain role, I just prefer it that way instead of reequipping all the time), and I find traveling "long" distance to be of no problem in ED. To be honest, up to 300ly is really not a long distance. Just use "Taxi" service aka the Hauler. It can jump long distances (around 30ly) and if you equip it right there is little need to refuel. Traveling 200ly will take you around 6 jumps, so you reach your destination in like 10 minutes, that's nothing.

It would have a jump distance of about 20LY or more in one jump with a maximum range of 100LY before needing to refuel.

So this is already in game, it's even better than that. So there is really no need for different way to travel.

Try this Hauler build (or similar, you can also fit in more fuel tanks, for example instead of fuel scoop if you prefere not to refuel or if you can't afford 1mil fuel scoop): http://edshipyard.com/#/L=70V,,2-3m3m3I2C2C2C3c,4zM5DI7OW

Happy traveling Commander

 

[goemon]

that ship exists and it is the diamondback explorer. strip it from everything, a class fsd, all other d class, and put a docking computer. you can cross the bubble in 10 jumps with one refill -> 15-20 minutes. (6-7 million). you can nearby do the same with an featherlight adder for 500 000 cr (~30 ly instead of 35 ly jumprange)

 

[S3nt1n3l]

The idea is to have a very cheap ship as it will be binned once you've collected your main ship(s) and head back to your new system.
I'll give the Hauler a go. I was using the Sidewinder before.

This then leaves the moving of the main ship(s) which takes the time.
I've only got 3 ships at present setup for their roles.
Some only have very short jump distance though and this is where my second suggestion would help big time otherwise it's 30 jumps later and an hour of time and 10 refuels later before I've reached my destination only to have to head back to fetch the next ship...

 

[Colonel North]

The idea is to have a very cheap ship as it will be binned once you've collected your main ship(s) and head back to your new system.
I'll give the Hauler a go. I was using the Sidewinder before.

This then leaves the moving of the main ship(s) which takes the time.
I've only got 3 ships at present setup for their roles.
Some only have very short jump distance though and this is where my second suggestion would help big time otherwise it's 30 jumps later and an hour of time and 10 refuels later before I've reached my destination only to have to head back to fetch the next ship...

Are your ships with short jump distances because they're combat orientated and you're trying to keep the power down? If so chuck on a high rated FSD anyway and set the priority to '3' in modules. It's generally weapons that demand power but they can't be deployed when engaging the FSD and vice versa. You can always sell the expensive FSD back when you've relocated your ship.

Also fit the most expensive fuel scoop you can, again on a combat ship down rate the priority on modules.

If you find yourself fed up with loads of jumps and fuel scoops just pretend you're an explorer... ;-)

 

[Crowax]

The idea is to have a very cheap ship as it will be binned once you've collected your main ship(s) and head back to your new system.
I'll give the Hauler a go. I was using the Sidewinder before.

This then leaves the moving of the main ship(s) which takes the time.
I've only got 3 ships at present setup for their roles.
Some only have very short jump distance though and this is where my second suggestion would help big time otherwise it's 30 jumps later and an hour of time and 10 refuels later before I've reached my destination only to have to head back to fetch the next ship...

Well it help to plan things out before you start moving. You don't need all the ships at all places all the time. As a tip, this is what I did (have around 15 ships, all fit for different role) - I put all the ships in a spreadsheet, planned out what role I want to equip each of them for, find a system that would fit that role and park all the ships there. So for example:
- Viper - Erevate - new player assistance ship (reason: it's a low "level" ship that fits in a system with many new players. It's still capable of killing some griefers if I choose so)
- Clipper - Parked near my powers (ALD) border for piracy missions (currently), but I can move in a near systems for some PvP action
- Anaconda - parked at my trade route systems
- Diamond Scout - Parked at Felicias systems for some undermining fun
... etc... Plan out, move ships. It's easier to move once than every other day
Beside, ED is all about fun... I could do all the combat in my Vulture of FDL, would be easier, but I'm quite happy to do some "low level" combat in ships like Courier, Scout or Viper.
Also, I'm a kind of player that loves to plan ahead.. I had ALL the ships planned out what they will do and where they'll be even before I got most of them. Basically I'm "playing" elite in spreadsheet and edshipyard.com even when I'm not playing the game. But then again, I'm more of a theory guy