It's just part of the monetisation scheme. As with engineers the whole grind doesnt have monetisation propped on top (for "player choice" these things are never made to annoy) - so there is very little purpose to it.
Not a good move Frontier - Fleet Carrier upkeep
- Thread starter killerofstars
- Start date
Details?
LOL, this is the Internet! We don't do that 'details' nonsense around here!
But....
Carriers demand a crew. Imagine the reactions if they didn't have one. I at the least would be raising an eyebrow. Its pushing it that I can fly a Cutter crew-less. A flipping Carrier? Hell no.
Imagine if that crew didn't get paid. Cue questions (and rightly so) of "why would an NPC do a job and not get paid?". Weren't we wondering not long ago why SLF pilots would do a job which could only result in their death? (before you could buy them back after ship destruction).
So, I have no issues with maintenance (crew salary?) fees. But the decommission? Hmmm. Better just to refund players the majority of the carrier + modules fee I think, rather than put the player in debt because real-life issues took priority. I'm not sure if the resulting 'rage-quit' bandwidth increase would do anyone good right now.
Previously they said that the carrier can be scrapped, and money would be returned.
I am assuming that if your carrier hits the debt threshold, it is scrapped and money is returned to the player.
Then why would you want a fleet carrier when you can just continue playing for fun?
If you really want one, go and mine some LTDs like the rest of us did. you can make a billion a night, so you'll have enough in a week. they're not going to be available 'til june, so you have plenty of time to get the credits.
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Stephen Benedetti
Community Manager
Greetings Commanders,
While Fleet Carriers require a weekly upkeep for crew and enabled Fleet Carrier services, there are a number of options which will allow owners to earn credits and cover the ongoing running costs of a Fleet Carrier. There's more to the debt and decommissioning of a Fleet Carrier, and it's not something that should happen if the player hasn't incurred a HUGE amount of debt. We understand there's a fair bit of concern about this but rest assured, we'll be going over this in quite a lot of detail in the upcoming Content Reveal livestream next week.
There are also going to be two public beta periods where you'll be able to test this for yourselves and share with us your feedback.
Thanks for your understanding!
While Fleet Carriers require a weekly upkeep for crew and enabled Fleet Carrier services, there are a number of options which will allow owners to earn credits and cover the ongoing running costs of a Fleet Carrier. There's more to the debt and decommissioning of a Fleet Carrier, and it's not something that should happen if the player hasn't incurred a HUGE amount of debt. We understand there's a fair bit of concern about this but rest assured, we'll be going over this in quite a lot of detail in the upcoming Content Reveal livestream next week.
There are also going to be two public beta periods where you'll be able to test this for yourselves and share with us your feedback.
Thanks for your understanding!
Robert Maynard
Volunteer Moderator
Thanks, Stephen.
The way I see if if u buy a house IRL it still costs you weekly and monthly Bill's, if the Royal navy purchases a new aircraft carrier it still costs the navy for the up keep of the ship, if u don't spend money on ur house it eventually falls apart, if the navy doesn't spend ooodles of money on a ship it falls apart and is eventually decommissioned,
If ED is supposed to be a simulator more than a game then its sticking to real life, it could be worse you could have to purchase more NPC crew to man said carrier and then you'd be paying a weekly crew wage bill in top of your up keep.
Why moan about something before you even get chance to try it out, do you tell a date you don't like her favourite restaurant even tho you never eaten there?
Personally i never found the fleet carrier a must have item.
If ED is supposed to be a simulator more than a game then its sticking to real life, it could be worse you could have to purchase more NPC crew to man said carrier and then you'd be paying a weekly crew wage bill in top of your up keep.
Why moan about something before you even get chance to try it out, do you tell a date you don't like her favourite restaurant even tho you never eaten there?
Personally i never found the fleet carrier a must have item.
Because I'd like to have something that I could call home. It's like in No Man's Sky, you can build bases that you can have an attachment to, where you store your stuff and your ships. A place you can go back to and feel "this is my place."
I actually don't play Elite anymore. It ended around Christmas last year, after several years playing and thousands of hours. I was hoping the FC could bring some new light and interest to the game for me, but it doesn't. Rather the opposite. Before, it was something that could peak my interest in playing again, but alas, no. I've said it earlier on one of the threads, when New Era comes out, maybe I'll look at the game again. I've tried to play Elite for "fun", but it isn't much fun anymore. If it's fun for you and others, that's awesome, it's great that the game continues with other people.
I really hate the “this is for exploiters” line of thinking. I have multiple billions in assets, and while steep, the 5b price tag is not out of reach. I have NEVER done a credit exploit in elite. Not a single one
My money came from exploration, mining, and trading. Noteably, 2.8 billion came from an expedition to Beagle point, and I made sure to fully scan every system on my way there. I had lots of fun making it all the way out and back. Then I used the LYR bonus before cashing in. ALL legit game mechanics.
dont poo poo others for having played more/ more efficiently (in terms of making Cr). If you’re a person that logs in a couple times per month, FCs likely aren’t for you, and that is OKAY.
not everything is meant for everyone. My understanding of the announcement is that FCs are going to be owned by some, but add content for all (with the markets/ trading). I would still recommend reserving judgement until next week’s stream
Thanks Stephen, we appreciate you responding.
I think the main concern people have is completely losing their 5 billion investment just by not logging in for a little while. I think this is a worst-case assumption based on incomplete data.
If there is upkeep for keeping crew and services running, that's not bad just by itself. As long as there is a mechanism to prevent debt from accumulating when logged-off, then we will be okay (either by de-activating, or turning off services, or something). Players don't want to lose their investment of time and credits just by being inactive.
I hope the stream covers one very serious concern - viability of carriers in the black - will explorers be able to sell exploration data while away from the bubble? Realistically it's only option to ensure you don't eventually run out of money while using carrier as a mobile base on exploration trip - unless the upkeep cost for exploration-fitted carrier is miniscule.
Going dormant mode is an interesting idea. If you know you're not going to play for a while, being able to mothball the carrier for close-to-nothing cost until you pick the game up again.
Edit: sorry meant "is" not "isn't"
There is a difference between upkeep for the sake of it and running cost for actually productive assets. One is where you do chores to keep it spawned while it just drains away time - the other is an asset you can operate for some benefit. What kind bears the question?
Thanks, does this mean if i'm 50,000ly from anywhere I can sell exploration data to my carrier to keep the lights on?
Royal Navy buys the aircraft carrier and maintains it, not the captain through money brought in by taxes. With the house situation, people arent restricted to passing over cash to each other rather than buying random stuff and dumping in front of them.
Tune in next week to find out
All this time waiting for this feature and Fdev manage to lockout a lot of players from the content!
Gotta wonder who makes these decisions as they seem highly detatched from actually playing Elite.
Bottom line for me is I am not credit grinding for this.
Maybe the gold sellers will finally click onto this game!
Gotta wonder who makes these decisions as they seem highly detatched from actually playing Elite.
Bottom line for me is I am not credit grinding for this.
Maybe the gold sellers will finally click onto this game!
I could deal with the price, even if I consider it about twice as much as what I'd call reasonable. But the upkeep idea needs to die, that's just stupid. Considering how many people can't deal with debt in real life, I fully expect at least one poor each month losing their shiny carrier, and lots of bitter, salty tears until Frontier stops hurting people. Alternatively, the game will lose a ton of players and die a slow death. Both options are possible, from my viewpoint.
Yes, exactly. I hope that inactivity results in the carrier getting mothballed, after a certain period of time - essentially frozen, with whatever debt has accumulated needing to be paid off before it can be re-activated.
And I certainly hope this "huge" debt cannot be accumulated just by not logging in. But if it gets mothballed before than can happen, we are okay!