After seeing the arguing and speculation about the capabilities of the Imperial Courier I've been having a think about the upcoming features of the game.The rumour mill seems quite confident that the ability for ships to take on passengers will be coming up in the next content patch. If that's the case though, I think it's important that passengers should not be treated as just another ton of cargo - slaves are naturally expected to get stuffed liked sardines in a packing crate but unless EasyWarp and RyanVoid will be introduced as new factions I'm pretty sure that paying customers will be somewhat more discerning about where they're stowed for the trip!
To that end I think that you should have to purchase and install a distinct Passenger Cabin module to your ship's internal components before you are allowed to take on passenger missions. Passenger Cabins should be expensive even at entry-level - bear in mind that the module isn't just a bare scaffold to slot a cargo container into, and that price will factor in things like life support, food and water, furniture, entertainment and so on - but they can easily be graded from Steerage Bunks to Palatial Suites to recommend you as suitable for particular journeys, whether you're schlepping a gaggle of tourists to Disneyworld Alioth or escorting an Imperial prince to a discreet rendezvous with a courtesan. Given the amount of disagreement I've seen over what the Courier should actually do and why you'd buy it over any of the other established vessels, new ships like this could more easily find their niche to set them apart and make them more attractive for purchase by coming with a Passenger Cabin already pre-installed for free.
While we're on the topic of passengers, a few other elements about passenger missions that could improve them when they eventually appear in the game.
-Transport missions have strict time limits. Passengers have schedules to keep and they're not going to tolerate waiting around while you try to find a profitable place to offload that Beyrllium in the hold as well. You rack up progressively greater fines if you're late.
-Transport missions should as a rule avoid combat. However, if you're attacked or interdicted and you escape from or destroy your attacker you can earn a big bonus from grateful passengers happy that their hero pilot has rescued them from peril. However, if you initiate hostilities on another ship then conversely you suffer big fines as passengers are outraged that you've put them in harm's way.
-There are many beautiful sights in the Elite: Dangerous galaxy from scintillating ice-rings to colourful nebulae. One class of transport mission could be "scenic routes" where you are quite literally a tour guide taking your passengers on a circuit of attractive destinations, your final pay varying according to how many Water Worlds or Black Holes or other special locations you can visit before having to return them to their port in a certain time limit.
-If you're attacked by pirates and told to drop your cargo, a cowardly commander could sell his passengers into slavery instead...
-If your ship is destroyed you don't only need to pay the insurance premium to replace your ship but also pay compensation for the passengers on-board who died!
-Like how you can meet traders to take your cargo at signal sources, you can transfer passengers in the same way. There might be a businessman who missed his shuttle and is willing to pay you top-dollar if you can catch up with it, or it might be something shadier with you meeting and taking on board a criminal who's hoping to get through under the radar in a ship that the security services won't recognise.
-While Transporters generally deal with civilians, if you have a high enough faction rank you can equip a special Passenger Cabin, a Barracks, which allows you to take on board a party of Marines. This allows for a twist on hunter missions where instead of just destroying a set number of craft you have to specifically target subsystems to disable them instead and then deploy the Marines which can capture and commandeer them as a prize for their faction. You don't need to pay compensation if you lose Marines, it's an occupational hazard for them after all. You might also be able to hire independent Mercenaries to capture ships for yourself, for bigger financial rewards than just destroying it and claiming a bounty... however, if you go an extended period without successfully capturing a ship the mercs get angry about the lack of a payday, mutiny and boot you off your own ship unless you pay them off.
-While Passenger Cabins are as a rule expensive modules, there's one exception, the Scow Berth. This is rancid, barely-liveable stuff, more just stuffing a camp-bed between cargo containers, but it is cheap. The only transport missions you can take with this type of Cabin are from the desperate - refugees, criminal drug mules and the like - and they count as Illegal Cargo if you're scanned by the security services.
This all seems to me to be a good way to make passengers not just another item to be traded on the Commodities Market but make a Transporter a meaningfully distinct career that's as valid as a Miner or a Bounty Hunter. What does everyone else think?
To that end I think that you should have to purchase and install a distinct Passenger Cabin module to your ship's internal components before you are allowed to take on passenger missions. Passenger Cabins should be expensive even at entry-level - bear in mind that the module isn't just a bare scaffold to slot a cargo container into, and that price will factor in things like life support, food and water, furniture, entertainment and so on - but they can easily be graded from Steerage Bunks to Palatial Suites to recommend you as suitable for particular journeys, whether you're schlepping a gaggle of tourists to Disneyworld Alioth or escorting an Imperial prince to a discreet rendezvous with a courtesan. Given the amount of disagreement I've seen over what the Courier should actually do and why you'd buy it over any of the other established vessels, new ships like this could more easily find their niche to set them apart and make them more attractive for purchase by coming with a Passenger Cabin already pre-installed for free.
While we're on the topic of passengers, a few other elements about passenger missions that could improve them when they eventually appear in the game.
-Transport missions have strict time limits. Passengers have schedules to keep and they're not going to tolerate waiting around while you try to find a profitable place to offload that Beyrllium in the hold as well. You rack up progressively greater fines if you're late.
-Transport missions should as a rule avoid combat. However, if you're attacked or interdicted and you escape from or destroy your attacker you can earn a big bonus from grateful passengers happy that their hero pilot has rescued them from peril. However, if you initiate hostilities on another ship then conversely you suffer big fines as passengers are outraged that you've put them in harm's way.
-There are many beautiful sights in the Elite: Dangerous galaxy from scintillating ice-rings to colourful nebulae. One class of transport mission could be "scenic routes" where you are quite literally a tour guide taking your passengers on a circuit of attractive destinations, your final pay varying according to how many Water Worlds or Black Holes or other special locations you can visit before having to return them to their port in a certain time limit.
-If you're attacked by pirates and told to drop your cargo, a cowardly commander could sell his passengers into slavery instead...
-If your ship is destroyed you don't only need to pay the insurance premium to replace your ship but also pay compensation for the passengers on-board who died!
-Like how you can meet traders to take your cargo at signal sources, you can transfer passengers in the same way. There might be a businessman who missed his shuttle and is willing to pay you top-dollar if you can catch up with it, or it might be something shadier with you meeting and taking on board a criminal who's hoping to get through under the radar in a ship that the security services won't recognise.
-While Transporters generally deal with civilians, if you have a high enough faction rank you can equip a special Passenger Cabin, a Barracks, which allows you to take on board a party of Marines. This allows for a twist on hunter missions where instead of just destroying a set number of craft you have to specifically target subsystems to disable them instead and then deploy the Marines which can capture and commandeer them as a prize for their faction. You don't need to pay compensation if you lose Marines, it's an occupational hazard for them after all. You might also be able to hire independent Mercenaries to capture ships for yourself, for bigger financial rewards than just destroying it and claiming a bounty... however, if you go an extended period without successfully capturing a ship the mercs get angry about the lack of a payday, mutiny and boot you off your own ship unless you pay them off.
-While Passenger Cabins are as a rule expensive modules, there's one exception, the Scow Berth. This is rancid, barely-liveable stuff, more just stuffing a camp-bed between cargo containers, but it is cheap. The only transport missions you can take with this type of Cabin are from the desperate - refugees, criminal drug mules and the like - and they count as Illegal Cargo if you're scanned by the security services.
This all seems to me to be a good way to make passengers not just another item to be traded on the Commodities Market but make a Transporter a meaningfully distinct career that's as valid as a Miner or a Bounty Hunter. What does everyone else think?
Last edited:
