My argument against upkeep

[Cmdr Nemo]

Just as well the same thing doesn't go for Anacondas, right?

Not Yet! Only Fdev knows what tomorrow will bring.

 

[Cmdr Nemo]

The argument most people make for upkeep is usually that there needs to be a way to clean up the servers so that there aren't unused fleet carriers lying around everywhere. This is a fair point and I agree with that; but upkeep costs arent the way to effectively deal with this problem. There are two different ways to handle this problem. 1 Have the upkeep so excessively high that barely anyone can afford one or 2 have it very low. The problem with having a low upkeep is that it defeats the purpose. Say someone buys a fleet carrier, then drops enough money to keep it running for the next few months. When the time limit is almost up they can come back do a quick mining run to get the upkeep back up then take off again for a few months. The carrier is still just sitting there unused taking up server resources. Even though the owner isn't doing anything. Likewise there is the possibility that a random Cmdr could drop by and redeem some bounty vouches or cartography data thereby extending the deadline potentially another few months while the owner isnt even there anymore.

I would propose that upkeep costs be removed and a timer be placed on each carrier that starts every time a player logs out. When it reaches 0 taking say 2 or 3 weeks at which point the carrier deactivates and becomes a signal source that only appears for the owner until they can log in and reactivate it. Furthermore in place of the upkeep a percentage of all profits from the carrier should be deducted to compensate the crew in the same way we compensate the SLF crew. Also the price of maintenance could be increased.
I realize Fdev are wanting to increase player activity and if the upkeep was meant to accomplish that then I would suggest doing that with ARX. There are many ways to so this such as increasing the weekly cap or offering ARX as prizes for community goals to name a few.

I'm curious as to how would FC's effect the server, when there are thousands possibly tens of thousands player's since first launch some who haven't played in days, weeks, months or even years; All with at least one ship or more parked somewhere which doesn't effect the server's.

 

[Sensei Jacksama]

I'm curious as to how would FC's effect the server, when there are thousands possibly tens of thousands player's since first launch some who haven't played in days, weeks, months or even years; All with at least one ship or more parked somewhere which doesn't effect the server's.

My idea is that when they are deactivated they will only appear as a signal source to the owner so it will only exist as an instance for that player. In theory if it worked like that it shouldn't have much effect if there are thousands of deactivated FCs floating around out there.

 

[Cmdr Nemo]

My idea is that when they are deactivated they will only appear as a signal source to the owner so it will only exist as an instance for that player. In theory if it worked like that it shouldn't have much effect if there are thousands of deactivated FCs floating around out there.

I agree, though we the player's don't have the figures available; There are a LOT of explorer's which park in the void for days, weeks, months and longer, between play sessions. What's the difference?

 

[Sensei Jacksama]

I agree, though we the player's don't have the figures available; There are a LOT of explorer's which park in the void for days, weeks, months and longer, between play sessions. What's the difference?

Another thing too. Apparently the server can handle dozens and dozens of FC's parked in a single system so idk what the big deal is anyway.

 

[Ganogati]

Another thing too. Apparently the server can handle dozens and dozens of FC's parked in a single system so idk what the big deal is anyway.

From a technical perspective, think that the concern is that the numbers will far exceed dozens. Faaaaaaaaar exceed.

I can make a billion in a few weeks of decent effort grinding. If I went full hardcore, I could probably make that in a week. This means that many players are going to eventually achieve the credits needed to buy an FC, and many of them may just leave it parked somewhere.

A few dozen FCs isn't a problem, but what about thousands upon thousands? If FCs aren't cleaned up by the system, then after a couple of years of FCs being released you'd have FCs littered everywhere. The servers probably wouldn't appreciate that very much. Even if they logged the FC out with the player, this would mean you'd have 2 objects in the game (3 counting fighters) for every 1 player who owns an FC: their ship and their carrier.

I can definitely see the concern. They need a way to clean up the clutter, because the current price point for FCs is simply too attainable by most folks over time.

 

[CMDR Jayce MacLeod]

I can almost be sure that in 2 or so years from now (heck maybe even less) one of our youtubers will post a video "Sidewinder to Carrier in less the 12 hours!". I know D2EA has already started a series.

Like Anacondas, Cutters and Vettes, Getting and maintaining a Carrier in the future will, most likely, be 123 easy and quick. It used to take months perhaps even a year to get an Anaconda. Now the record I think is less then 10 hours.

Imagine a game where not 1% but 90% of all players had one. You see those huge strings of fleet carriers in Diso? Imagine every system like that.