Navigation and landing gear for the fighter

[Gorrister]

Hi,
I mostly use the fighter for exploration, but it lacks the navigation panel.
I find it hard to find anomalies without the spot marked by the navigation panel.
Also the fighter clearly got landing gear. It is shown in the hangar.
Please make it able for Odyssey. I would love to buy an exploration version of the Taipan.

Best regards,
Gorrister

 

[Bottom Hat]

It doesn't jump very far or have supercruise. What exploration do you have in mind?

 

[here_it_comes]

It doesn't jump very far or have supercruise. What exploration do you have in mind?

OP clearly means planetside exploration. I'd be all for it, though I have to say I don't see them putting time into it as few will bother to use it this way due to lack of supercruise. Most planets take far longer to navigate between POIs in normal flight than just about anyone is willing to stomach.

 

[Bottom Hat]

OP clearly means planetside exploration. I'd be all for it, though I have to say I don't see them putting time into it as few will bother to use it this way due to lack of supercruise. Most planets take far longer to navigate between POIs in normal flight than just about anyone is willing to stomach.

Don't go using logic and reasoning - it's a dangerous approach in the forums!

 

[Caeruleus]

OP clearly means planetside exploration. I'd be all for it, though I have to say I don't see them putting time into it as few will bother to use it this way due to lack of supercruise. Most planets take far longer to navigate between POIs in normal flight than just about anyone is willing to stomach.

As for few players doing it, I'd say this would give explorers a reason to actually take fighters, right now it's a pure novelty. The implementation should be rather quick and easy, I would just do these things:

1. Rename them to exploration scouts since that is their purpose, no weapons, leave the weapons to the SRV.
2. No tethering, the ship gets dismissed like when the SRV is deployed. (maybe give the fighter a fuel requirement like the SRV to combat balancing issues. Maybe an engineering mod to increase fuel efficiency? )
3. They should really only be deployed on planets, this could be a restriction. Even if they are deployed in space they serve little purpose (a distraction maybe) since they have no weapons.
4. They need a scanner like the SRV, longer-range since they move a lot faster and are high up.
5. They need landing gear so that you can get out and walk around.
6. Duh they are fighters (scouts), so no supercruise or jumping abilities. I have no idea why people would want that since all your jump range comes from your main ship.
7. Normally you can buy multiple fighter types in a fighter bay, if you choose the scout then you are committing to no combat-based deployable.

The point is they offer a speed advantage for the new exploration mechanics in Odyssey, they give explorers a fun new way to explore if they are going to the surface of a planet, and non-explorers would not see this in a negative light since there is no combat advantage. Who knows, some of them may consider getting the exploration fighters for their own reasons.

It's completely possible, I'm missing something, I have seen plenty of others post about it in the past, I'm just not sure why Frontier has never commented on it.

 

[varonica]

2. No tethering, the ship gets dismissed like when the SRV is deployed. (maybe give the fighter a fuel requirement like the SRV to combat balancing issues. Maybe an engineering mod to increase fuel efficiency? )

It's completely possible, I'm missing something, I have seen plenty of others post about it in the past, I'm just not sure why Frontier has never commented on it.

Fighters are telepresence, fighter gets destroyed, pilot still alive sitting in ship, either you or the hired pilot. Ship dismissed and goes out of range, SLF goes boom!

They would need to majorly rework the fighter to use it as a exploration ship, and I am not against it, but it's more work than it initially appears. It would need to be changed from a telepresence to an actual pilot, you couldn't just print them anymore because they now require life support and other advanced features, so you would need a completely different type of bay and it might come down to, you can have a Ship Launched Explorer, no FSD or SLF's but never both at the same time, none of which would bother me, but it's more than just changing the SLF into an explorer!

 

[Lugh]

They would need to majorly rework the fighter to use it as a exploration ship, and I am not against it, but it's more work than it initially appears. It would need to be changed from a telepresence to an actual pilot, you couldn't just print them anymore because they now require life support and other advanced features, so you would need a completely different type of bay and it might come down to, you can have a Ship Launched Explorer, no FSD or SLF's but never both at the same time, none of which would bother me, but it's more than just changing the SLF into an explorer!

I don't think you need to go that far. In odyssey if you die you simply respawn in your ship, fighters can already be assumed to have life support as it is only player fighters that are unmanned.

from a game design stand point not much would need to change, have launch fighter do the same as it does now but if you select board fighter it can land, be disembarked from. have a module management panel and be able to use synthesis.

It should not have an FSD or anything like that but it should be able to be used for exploration. If they wanted to go beyond and add more gameplay they could allow you to tag objects that would then show up on your POI as well as the POI filter for any crew/wing mates letting you co-operatively explore the planet. one player in a fighter and another on the ground in an SRV.

 

[Gorrister]

I use the fighter just to scout the surface. The mothership follows closely. The only thing is, that POI are not shown because of lack of Nav panel. Also you can't land. But the model in the hangar during colour choosing, shows a landing gear.
Actually the telepresence stuff can be kicked in my opinion. I would gladly magically respawn in my ship. I don't question such things.

 

[JTFireblaze]

I use the fighter just to scout the surface. The mothership follows closely. The only thing is, that POI are not shown because of lack of Nav panel. Also you can't land. But the model in the hangar during colour choosing, shows a landing gear.
Actually the telepresence stuff can be kicked in my opinion. I would gladly magically respawn in my ship. I don't question such things.

Pretty much my exploring playstyle. Being able to dismiss the mothership, scout around in a fighter and land? A great idea. With Odyssey if you can manage your suit loadout from the fighter too that'd be perfect.

And yes, get rid of telepresence. It was a handwavium lore addition to justify people being able to group up in multicrew. It should have just been a gameplay concession that the player just appears in the ship during multicrew, or that they respawn in the ship when a fighter is destroyed. Just like the SRV. And just like the on foot gameplay appears to be in Odyssey.

 

[Gorrister]

Pretty much my exploring playstyle. Being able to dismiss the mothership, scout around in a fighter and land? A great idea. With Odyssey if you can manage your suit loadout from the fighter too that'd be perfect.

And yes, get rid of telepresence. It was a handwavium lore addition to justify people being able to group up in multicrew. It should have just been a gameplay concession that the player just appears in the ship during multicrew, or that they respawn in the ship when a fighter is destroyed. Just like the SRV. And just like the on foot gameplay appears to be in Odyssey.

Exactly.

 

[The Wallet Inspector]

As for few players doing it, I'd say this would give explorers a reason to actually take fighters, right now it's a pure novelty. The implementation should be rather quick and easy, I would just do these things:

1. Rename them to exploration scouts since that is their purpose, no weapons, leave the weapons to the SRV.
2. No tethering, the ship gets dismissed like when the SRV is deployed. (maybe give the fighter a fuel requirement like the SRV to combat balancing issues. Maybe an engineering mod to increase fuel efficiency? )
3. They should really only be deployed on planets, this could be a restriction. Even if they are deployed in space they serve little purpose (a distraction maybe) since they have no weapons.
4. They need a scanner like the SRV, longer-range since they move a lot faster and are high up.
5. They need landing gear so that you can get out and walk around.
6. Duh they are fighters (scouts), so no supercruise or jumping abilities. I have no idea why people would want that since all your jump range comes from your main ship.
7. Normally you can buy multiple fighter types in a fighter bay, if you choose the scout then you are committing to no combat-based deployable.

The point is they offer a speed advantage for the new exploration mechanics in Odyssey, they give explorers a fun new way to explore if they are going to the surface of a planet, and non-explorers would not see this in a negative light since there is no combat advantage. Who knows, some of them may consider getting the exploration fighters for their own reasons.

It's completely possible, I'm missing something, I have seen plenty of others post about it in the past, I'm just not sure why Frontier has never commented on it.

Great idea, it would be amazing if they untethered it and allowed it to be used like the SRV. As for fighters being operated by telepresence that's just dev handwavium because they had no space legs during multicrew's development. Why is there a cockpit in the fighter with a person in if it wasnt capable of being piloted in person? It should be simple to unthether it and allow players to disembark from it (because in game there is little to no difference between TP and 'in person', it's just a narrative distinction not a game mechanical one, just have you respawn on the ship like an SRV death). It would drasitcally improve exploration for me, but maybe there would be a little more work involved in making an SLF dedicated for exploration with a decent nav panel etc..

 

[JTFireblaze]

Great idea, it would be amazing if they untethered it and allowed it to be used like the SRV. As for fighters being operated by telepresence that's just dev handwavium because they had no space legs during multicrew's development. Why is there a cockpit in the fighter with a person in if it wasnt capable of being piloted in person? It should be simple to unthether it and allow players to disembark from it (because in game there is little to no difference between TP and 'in person', it's just a narrative distinction not a game mechanical one, just have you respawn on the ship like an SRV death). It would drasitcally improve exploration for me, but maybe there would be a little more work involved in making an SLF dedicated for exploration with a decent nav panel etc..

There are probably some programming and networking hurdles to overcome to allow fighters to be properly disconnected from the ship. Which is probably one of the reasons they're currently only allowed within 30km bubble around the mothership.

But if they could make that not be the case... and while they're at it maybe make SRVs 3d printable in the same way SLFs are. Same rules, print 4 per bay or something but only have 1 per bay out.

The points about the cockpit are valid though. Why even bother having a cockpit or anything if they're remote piloted. And telepresence. Yeah, it's time to let it go. Just put us physically in the ship for a crew session.

 

[The Wallet Inspector]

There are probably some programming and networking hurdles to overcome to allow fighters to be properly disconnected from the ship. Which is probably one of the reasons they're currently only allowed within 30km bubble around the mothership.

But if they could make that not be the case... and while they're at it maybe make SRVs 3d printable in the same way SLFs are. Same rules, print 4 per bay or something but only have 1 per bay out.

The points about the cockpit are valid though. Why even bother having a cockpit or anything if they're remote piloted. And telepresence. Yeah, it's time to let it go. Just put us physically in the ship for a crew session.

I absolutely love the SLF's and just want them to have more roles in the universe

 

[here_it_comes]

I absolutely love the SLF's and just want them to have more roles in the universe

I wouldn't object at all to them being expanded upon but they are clearly crafts built for one specific role, so I don't mind their current implementation as it makes sense. Those things can't have much fuel, or even equipment past the basics needed for it's pew.

 

[The Wallet Inspector]

I wouldn't object at all to them being expanded upon but they are clearly crafts built for one specific role, so I don't mind their current implementation as it makes sense. Those things can't have much fuel, or even equipment past the basics needed for it's pew.

Sure but we could have one with no weapons and extra range dedicated for scanning surface objects, that we could get out of. As for fuel, well just like the SRV let us synthesise more. As Im also a VR player I will be spending most of EDO in an SRV or SLF (or the vanity cam) anyway lol

 

[JTFireblaze]

I wouldn't object at all to them being expanded upon but they are clearly crafts built for one specific role, so I don't mind their current implementation as it makes sense. Those things can't have much fuel, or even equipment past the basics needed for it's pew.

For sure, they are ship launched "fighters" after all. But there is so much potential for them to be expanded upon.

• Ship launched miner (lasers and abrasion blasters while your hulking Type 9 manages collectors)
• Shuttles for larger ships to access outposts (I know, I know, I picked the Anaconda, I should live with the consequences)
• Exploration vessel with a huge bubble cockpit. Maybe with supercruise capability so you can drop into a system then deploy from the mothership and explore with an awesome view

And definitely more.

 

[here_it_comes]

Sure but we could have one with no weapons and extra range dedicated for scanning surface objects, that we could get out of.

Well now you're not talking about SLFs, but a new launchable craft. Which would be cool indeed! Ship-Launched Scout?

o7

 

[The Wallet Inspector]

For sure, they are ship launched "fighters" after all. But there is so much potential for them to be expanded upon.

• Ship launched miner (lasers and abrasion blasters while your hulking Type 9 manages collectors)
• Shuttles for larger ships to access outposts (I know, I know, I picked the Anaconda, I should live with the consequences)
• Exploration vessel with a huge bubble cockpit. Maybe with supercruise capability so you can drop into a system then deploy from the mothership and explore with an awesome view

And definitely more.

Imagine a scenario where your main ship was destroyed but you managed to escape in an SLF, would you be able to land it and get out, try to survive somehow by using it as a mobile base? Maybe call the fuel rats for a ride home? Maybe one day when we have EVA a commander will be able to use an SLF as a personal transport between two vessels, or as a means to get deep inside some space derelict before disembarking.

 

[Lugh]

For sure, they are ship launched "fighters" after all. But there is so much potential for them to be expanded upon.

• Ship launched miner (lasers and abrasion blasters while your hulking Type 9 manages collectors)
• Shuttles for larger ships to access outposts (I know, I know, I picked the Anaconda, I should live with the consequences)
• Exploration vessel with a huge bubble cockpit. Maybe with supercruise capability so you can drop into a system then deploy from the mothership and explore with an awesome view

And definitely more.

They should definitely never have super cruise and be reliant on a mother ship for such things.

The mining one should be equipped to subsurface and surface mine not laser mine. These would be the two areas where being smaller and more agile help where as most laser mining ships can already deplete an asteroid in seconds.

Not sure what the point of accessing outposts would be other than the few mission givers found inside them with odyssey because they definitely shouldn't give you access to anything for the mother ship.

 

[JTFireblaze]

They should definitely never have super cruise and be reliant on a mother ship for such things.

The mining one should be equipped to subsurface and surface mine not laser mine. These would be the two areas where being smaller and more agile help where as most laser mining ships can already deplete an asteroid in seconds.

Not sure what the point of accessing outposts would be other than the few mission givers found inside them with odyssey because they definitely shouldn't give you access to anything for the mother ship.

Good point about the mining craft. I didn't consider how good a large ship is at regular laser mining when I typed that. But definitely on board with the subsurface stuff. Hurling a Type 9 around the debris can't be easy.

Accessing outposts would just give more options for a player's base of operations. But it's true, there really isn't too much it would offer.

As for the exploration cruise capable ship. Well... I suppose with Fleet Carriers people can kind of do this already. A Carrier and a Sidewinder or something small and agile. But this hypothetical ship would only be cruise capable, not hyperspace. I just like exploring in my Anaconda, even though I hate the turning circle. Self inflicted misery! So it's a selfish request for a cruise capable exploration craft...