The FAQ mentions that capital ships in the game are not controllable, but will be. This sort of implies that Players will have access to the huge military vessels we see in the game at the moment. While I can see the appeal in making capital ownership a large-group goal, at the same time I'm not sure making "Big ships" exclusively the sort we see now is the greatest thing.
So in between the fighters and small frigate-esque craft we see now and the lumbering military ships, I'd like to present a vision of affordable, customizable civilian heavy shipping. As a quicker example than rambling on, I've just gone ahead and made a sketch. Please refrain from laughing at my out-of-practice drafting skills as I present the Lakon Spaceways RCP, or "Reconfigurable Container Platform." (Or Type-14, or whatever you want to call it.)
As you can see here the idea is to provide the player with a platform with a wide variety of options. This current sketch shows the craft in a configuration of Command Pod, cargo truss, habitation ring, cargo truss and engine block. Alternatively one or the other cargo truss or the habitation ring could be removed from the final design or, if we get really ambitious, the order and configuration of these parts could likewise be made modular. (Lakon command pod with DeLacy engines and Kruger luxury habitation?)
The idea here is to provide an affordable platform for a small group of players, without jumping to the kilometers-long behemoths currently in the game. Each truss supports four containers, and in the cross-section I've doodled in the lower left, we can see the types Cargo, Fuel/liquids storage, and hanger. The hanger is roughly equivalent to a regular small pad, but instead of withdrawing into the vessel, simply clamshells closed. With these alone the player has the opportunity to create a huge, lumbering freight vessel, an incredibly long-ranged exploratory ship, a pocket-carrier for their mercenary Wing, or anything in between.
The command pod section shows the possibility for further modularity, with a section of hull on which could be mounted a hardpoint slot for a large, forward facing support weapon; a high gain scanner to allow the vehicle to play AWACS and spot targets or Signal Sources from further away than normally possible; or just a big luxury lounge bubble. As examples anyway.
The Command and engine sections are both assumed to have some room for cargo and fuel, before factoring in the containers themselves, and I assume each would mount a few defensive hardpoints. The habitation ring is almost entirely fluff, though imagining uses in keeping NPC crewmen happy during long exploratory voyages, or taking missions to act as a cruise vessel also come to mind.
While a perhaps crudely drawn example, what I'm really suggesting is, as the title says, not to forget the low and middle. To potentially provide players with fewer companions or less free time a solid entryway into the joys of large-ship ownership.
So in between the fighters and small frigate-esque craft we see now and the lumbering military ships, I'd like to present a vision of affordable, customizable civilian heavy shipping. As a quicker example than rambling on, I've just gone ahead and made a sketch. Please refrain from laughing at my out-of-practice drafting skills as I present the Lakon Spaceways RCP, or "Reconfigurable Container Platform." (Or Type-14, or whatever you want to call it.)
As you can see here the idea is to provide the player with a platform with a wide variety of options. This current sketch shows the craft in a configuration of Command Pod, cargo truss, habitation ring, cargo truss and engine block. Alternatively one or the other cargo truss or the habitation ring could be removed from the final design or, if we get really ambitious, the order and configuration of these parts could likewise be made modular. (Lakon command pod with DeLacy engines and Kruger luxury habitation?)
The idea here is to provide an affordable platform for a small group of players, without jumping to the kilometers-long behemoths currently in the game. Each truss supports four containers, and in the cross-section I've doodled in the lower left, we can see the types Cargo, Fuel/liquids storage, and hanger. The hanger is roughly equivalent to a regular small pad, but instead of withdrawing into the vessel, simply clamshells closed. With these alone the player has the opportunity to create a huge, lumbering freight vessel, an incredibly long-ranged exploratory ship, a pocket-carrier for their mercenary Wing, or anything in between.
The command pod section shows the possibility for further modularity, with a section of hull on which could be mounted a hardpoint slot for a large, forward facing support weapon; a high gain scanner to allow the vehicle to play AWACS and spot targets or Signal Sources from further away than normally possible; or just a big luxury lounge bubble. As examples anyway.
The Command and engine sections are both assumed to have some room for cargo and fuel, before factoring in the containers themselves, and I assume each would mount a few defensive hardpoints. The habitation ring is almost entirely fluff, though imagining uses in keeping NPC crewmen happy during long exploratory voyages, or taking missions to act as a cruise vessel also come to mind.
While a perhaps crudely drawn example, what I'm really suggesting is, as the title says, not to forget the low and middle. To potentially provide players with fewer companions or less free time a solid entryway into the joys of large-ship ownership.
Last edited:
) I hadn't considered it as something more like influencing simply where a capital ship is deployed.