Multi-Crew Exploration Idea

[Inubis]

Hello Commanders,

With the upcoming launch of Multi-Crew I have recently gotten back into Elite Dangerous. What brings me here today is a simple recommendation of something I think should possibly be implemented with multi-crew provided it could be worked up fast enough. I won’t hold my breath.

I know a lot of people want many ships like the Clipper, Asp, and others to house fighters. For the most part I agree with fDev, this is not a good idea. However, recently I have gotten into exploring and the more I am out there (so lonely ) the more I wish a friend could hop in my ship and explore with me. As it stands right now they could essentially just spawn into my ship and watch… with minimal involvement. My proposal is rather than introducing fighter hangers introduce drones! I know, this isn’t a new concept people have been wanting drones for ages, for combat and TBH it reminds me too much of another game Elite has been dead-set against “not copying”. Rather than for combat I would suggest what I call a “surveyor drone”, a weaponless, shield-less, non-Hyperspace but supercruise capable UAV’s both controllable by the player and any player crew members who may be on board. This would facilitate multi-crew exploration which is just a fun concept.

Now ideally the surveyor drone is only equipped with sensors and scanners, pretty much a DSS. It would be limited to the instance the player ship is in meaning it cannot change system nor land on a planet without first returning to the mother ship. Drones could be abandoned and I would suggest a drone bay holds several drones, with only one operable at a time. It would be cool to fully scan a system quickly with a friend, and have someone who can tag along with you on the surface of interesting planets essentially being an "eye in the sky".

As far as combat uses go I would keep it minimal, nothing that rivals a fighter. At most fitted with a dumbed down version of the SRV's plasma repeater that would provide minor assistance against skimmers. I know I am not the first person to reccomend drones and perhaps I am not the first person to reccomend this exact type of drone but it would be a fantastic prospect.

 

[VAN LORD]

Good idea.
However at the moment, control distance of a fighter is 30 km. Interestingly, control distance of a drone will also be 30 km?
It is noteworthy that the fighter is much larger than a drone and can carry more powerful the transmitter, however, even such a large object as the fighter is not able to carry the engine allowing it to reach a "cruise" speed.
Maybe instead of a drone, it is better to give the ability to set on a fighter a "stellar scanner" and "planetary surface scanner" in the gun slots, and give the ability to navigate within the system on a "cruise" speed, albeit with a limited supply of fuel.

Perhaps a new type of a "fighter"? Discovery one, exclusively for large ships with a hangar bay.
For example, with ability to search (near the surface) for a resource-rich locations for further installation of drilling rigs.

I believe it is useful to give the ability to launch fighters from a ship located on the surface of the planet, from a hangar bay located on the top of the ship.

 

[Inubis]

I really like to see other Commanders interested in this idea. I apologize for the length of my reply.

So, I am by no means an expert in FSD's or the like but it has always seemed to me the most energy intensive process is initiating the jump. Once in, it is relatively easy for ships of all sizes to maintain hence leading to it reaching a consumer level as described by David Braben.

I kind of imagine it working like this:
A drone launched from a mothership while in supercruise would not need to achieve SC on its own but simply maintain a small portion of the motherships existing warp bubble-- I use warp bubble here since FSD’s are loosely based on the concept of the Alcubierre Drive. It would use a modified FSD that is simply able to temporarily maintain SC for a set period of time, say 20 minutes. After which period the drone will cease to function and fallout from SC.

Options for drone recovery from FTL:
A) There is no recovery, drone is ripped apart once it falls from supercruise.
B) The drone is rendered inoperable but sends out a beacon for recovery. You can also manually drop from SC/send beacon by pressing "J".

Option B would be the most fun in my opinion as not only can you recover your drone saving you some credits but it could be a medium for random encounters as well as discoverable by other players in SC at the same time. Drones would not be recoverable while in SC and should the mothership drop SC first the drone would be lost entirely as it was unable to send its beacon.

Distance and Operation Time:
I would prefer to limit the drones usage to time and instancing instead of distance like fighters. I feel somewhere between 10 and 20 minutes would be acceptable and on some of the more spread out systems give you time to get out there and back relatively close for pick up should you deem drone recovery worthwhile. The drone would only pack a super strong transmitter but also a Detailed Surface Scanner and the modified micro-FSD drive.

So why wouldn’t we be slapping these things on fighters? Well in my mind simply because launching a fighter sized craft while in SC would be highly dangerous. It is far too large and has too much mass, it would be “borrowing” too much of the existing bubble that it could risk destabilizing the motherships FSD and send everyone hurling out of FTL and being ripped apart. The fact that the drone is very small is the only reason this is possible.

Another reason I would not want to allow this for fighters is simply gameplay. I don’t think fighters would make very good “exploration probes" and unmanned drones seem like a much smarter, safer and cost effective idea. We are already using drones as a society militarily, professionally, and personally. It is a technology we have today and one that is gaining in popularity and usefulness. We already use drones to explore our own planet in hard to reach places. Additionally, the fighter bays really limit the number of ships you can explore with using this method. This gives all players the chance to hit the black with a buddy in any ship of their choosing from a Cobra to an ASP and explore with a friend. It is also a great way to attract new players in pairs into exploring this vast, largely unexplored galaxy together.

 

[Eshackleton]

Just let exploration vessels carry a small single person (manned) ship. It could be about the size of an srv and not capable of carrying weapons. Also it does not have an FSD and can only hold limited amounts of fuel, so it must be refueled by it's mothership.