Pilot transfer between stations with stored ships.

[Karmachi]

I'm wondering if there is, or could be introduced a transport method, at cost for a pilot (me) to move between stations where I have ships stored.

For example I have a Python as a passenger transport at Sol. I do a few missions and then want a change of play. As i understand it I now have to return 450LY to where I have my Krait to enable me to go mining. Then when I want to go passenger again I have to travel 450LY again. Rinse and repeat.

Is it possible to have a pilot transfer similar to module transfer to target stations only where you have ships stored?

Thank you.

 

[Factabulous]

. I am ready.

 

[Robert Maynard]

Bubble to Colonia in an instant? Hopefully never.

 

[Hell Razor5543]

I tried it once. Never again! I had to deal with incompetent travel agents (who charged me a 25% surcharge, which they never explained), the bus was late, so I missed the train and had to catch a late flight to the space port and then run to the gate. The ship (which was an Orca) was supposed to be in the top 1%; it was probably in the top 1% of ships to avoid flying in. The cabin was filthy, the food was worse, the navigator got lost three times (and took us 14,537LY off course), we got jumped twice by pirates (who then took pity on us, repaired the damage they had caused, and gave us food parcels) and it took 4 months longer than advertised. It would have been quicker to have walked, AND I would have been fitter and healthier for that.

 

[wAsh67]

Excellent idea. I can imagine how it would work...

Post your destination request on the mission board of the station you are at.
Wait 18 hrs for somebody to accept the mission.
Travel the wrong way while the pilot drops off a few dozen units to an outpost 1,450,000 ls from its star.
Wait for an hour while refuelling and the pilot works out the waypoints for your destination, stopping to trade at each waypoint.
Fuel scoop for 10 minutes at each star with a 1E scoop
Overnight layover at an outpost halfway to your destination. You can't dodge the Tacho...
Resume after a lie in and a late breakfast.
Interdicted by pirates, escape by skin of teeth in wrecked ship and struggle to nearest outpost while life support ticks ominously down to zero
Wait for repairs and refuelling. Share cabin with a particularly malodorous scruffbag.
6 hours and several trades later arrive at destination star.
Pilot engages silent running because the particularly malodorous scruffbag is wanted in this system.
A Type 9 emerging from your destination port doesn't see you and blots your taxi out of existence.

Happy days!

 

[Para Handy]

I'm wondering if there is, or could be introduced a transport method, at cost for a pilot (me) to move between stations where I have ships stored.
...............

No thanks - buy another account or play on a PS4.

 

[Gaarp Kobayashi]

I'm wondering if there is, or could be introduced a transport method, at cost for a pilot (me) to move between stations where I have ships stored.

For example I have a Python as a passenger transport at Sol. I do a few missions and then want a change of play. As i understand it I now have to return 450LY to where I have my Krait to enable me to go mining. Then when I want to go passenger again I have to travel 450LY again. Rinse and repeat.

Is it possible to have a pilot transfer similar to module transfer to target stations only where you have ships stored?

Thank you.

Nope. You can transfer your ships to your destination though.

 

[S3B4ST13N]

I'm wondering if there is, or could be introduced a transport method, at cost for a pilot (me) to move between stations where I have ships stored.

For example I have a Python as a passenger transport at Sol. I do a few missions and then want a change of play. As i understand it I now have to return 450LY to where I have my Krait to enable me to go mining. Then when I want to go passenger again I have to travel 450LY again. Rinse and repeat.

Is it possible to have a pilot transfer similar to module transfer to target stations only where you have ships stored?

Thank you.

What sort of travel time did you have in mind for this feature?

 

[Karmachi]

What sort of travel time did you have in mind for this feature?

Well this is a great question. I'm not sure of the answer, but wasn't thinking of zero time teleporting. Maybe a shuttle that takes the same time one of your ships or modules would take to be transferred to you.

Maybe because I'm new is why I think this is a good feature. I only have stock ships and FSD so doing 30 hops just to change activities which keep me interested in playing the game at that time.

Anyway I take it from the other comments CMDRs treat this more as a sim than a 'game'.

As a low level CMDR, I just play in the solo mode. Maybe this feature could be included in only that mode?

Thanks for your reply.

 

[S3B4ST13N]

It's not a bad feature, you just need to show you've done the requisite research into it, the suggestion just needs show that it's a benefit to the game; and not an "easy mode" for example.

When you get more ships, hopping the bubble can be done in a few minutes; so it's not a biggy later on; but yes, at the start it can be a bit slow.

We have a lot of different CMDR's, but I'd say that a large portion of the playerbase treats ED something between a game and a sim.
No instant gratification. No magic teleporting. Some even push for no auto-docking, or auto-piloting.
Some, like me, are happy that we have delayed transfer, but quite frustrated that other aspects are instant, based entirely on when and where it suits Frontier; eg: telepresence. Being able to "teleport" yourself onto your friends ship on the other side of the galaxy.

To give you an idea of the sort of community we have here; Frontier did an official poll several years ago to decide on Ship Transfer. The options were instant transfer, or delayed transfer. I can't remember the exact number of players who voted, but the overwhelming majority (70%+) voted in favour of delayed transfer. So you are dealing with a majority of the community whose preference is for more plausible, realistic features. Preferably features that bring something to the experience.

When suggesting pilot transfer, I would include transfer times and costs in line with the current game. If you wanted to transfer your ship to you and it would take 3 hours, the expectation is that it would take 3 hours if you did the same thing as a passenger. Some Cmdr's won't like it, but they'll like it more than instant transfer.

The problem with solo only is that we're not limited by the mode we play on. A player could jump into solo, transfer, and then jump back into PG or Open. Plus Frontier tend to prefer to give all modes equal access.

I personally like the idea of pilot transfer. Pick a destination, pay the necessary amount, travel to my destination, log out of the game and go to bed. Next morning, log in and I'm at my destination. Of course, I'm now at my destination with no ship; so I'd have to call it to me (or, send the ship ahead of me if "sending to location" ship transfer ever gets implemented).

 

[Kaocraft]

I'm wondering if there is, or could be introduced a transport method, at cost for a pilot (me) to move between stations where I have ships stored.

For example I have a Python as a passenger transport at Sol. I do a few missions and then want a change of play. As i understand it I now have to return 450LY to where I have my Krait to enable me to go mining. Then when I want to go passenger again I have to travel 450LY again. Rinse and repeat.

Is it possible to have a pilot transfer similar to module transfer to target stations only where you have ships stored?

Thank you.

You know you can have ships transferred too, not just modules, right?

 

[Lestat]

Here an easy fix for you. Engineer a Third ship for distance let say avg jump of 50 LY so that 450 LY. So you only have to deal with 9 Jumps

 

[Karmachi]

It's not a bad feature, you just need to show you've done the requisite research into it, the suggestion just needs show that it's a benefit to the game; and not an "easy mode" for example.

When you get more ships, hopping the bubble can be done in a few minutes; so it's not a biggy later on; but yes, at the start it can be a bit slow.

We have a lot of different CMDR's, but I'd say that a large portion of the playerbase treats ED something between a game and a sim.
No instant gratification. No magic teleporting. Some even push for no auto-docking, or auto-piloting.
Some, like me, are happy that we have delayed transfer, but quite frustrated that other aspects are instant, based entirely on when and where it suits Frontier; eg: telepresence. Being able to "teleport" yourself onto your friends ship on the other side of the galaxy.

To give you an idea of the sort of community we have here; Frontier did an official poll several years ago to decide on Ship Transfer. The options were instant transfer, or delayed transfer. I can't remember the exact number of players who voted, but the overwhelming majority (70%+) voted in favour of delayed transfer. So you are dealing with a majority of the community whose preference is for more plausible, realistic features. Preferably features that bring something to the experience.

When suggesting pilot transfer, I would include transfer times and costs in line with the current game. If you wanted to transfer your ship to you and it would take 3 hours, the expectation is that it would take 3 hours if you did the same thing as a passenger. Some Cmdr's won't like it, but they'll like it more than instant transfer.

The problem with solo only is that we're not limited by the mode we play on. A player could jump into solo, transfer, and then jump back into PG or Open. Plus Frontier tend to prefer to give all modes equal access.

I personally like the idea of pilot transfer. Pick a destination, pay the necessary amount, travel to my destination, log out of the game and go to bed. Next morning, log in and I'm at my destination. Of course, I'm now at my destination with no ship; so I'd have to call it to me (or, send the ship ahead of me if "sending to location" ship transfer ever gets implemented).

RedPaintedPaw, thanks for taking the time authoring such a great response.

I can see a pilot shuttle feature would become less and less used the further into the game progression a CMDR gets. If it takes only a few minutes I have no issue. At the moment I'm facing about 40 jumps to swap from passenger to mining ships.

And as I mentioned this would only be between station where you have ships in storage. Thus you couldn't shuttle to some far, far, far away system and then transfer all your ships. You'd still need to make the initial exploration trip.

Again, I thank you for your response and now understand the game base and Frontier's approach to features. This surveying is a great method of staying in touch with your players.

CMDR NOOB signing off.

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

450ly is 7-8 jumps in your average engineered DBX taxi. A min/maxed DBX taxi will do it in less.
At less than 1 minute per jump, you're better of flying yourself than waiting for FD to implement something most of the community don't want.

 

[Karmachi]

Here an easy fix for you. Engineer a Third ship for distance let say avg jump of 50 LY so that 450 LY. So you only have to deal with 9 Jumps

Hi Lestat, I think RedPaintedPaw nailed it on the head, and that is and now you've also highlighted being a low progression player I'm seeing features that will not be greatly needed as I get progressed. I still think it's an option for some circumstances, but at what development cost.

Just for back ground, I installed Elite Dangerous years ago when it came out, stopped playing and then saw a few streamers playing. Bought Horizons and started back up. I've unlocked the first three engineers. But no engineered modules as yet. Silver in bank is 120mill and I have a mining Krait Mk II, sharing modules with a Python, now kitted for passengers and my Asp-X which from your suggestion should be my jump ship.

So yeah early days and I have a lot still to learn.

 

[Nadreck]

If it takes the same time as ship transfer (but would be a lot cheaper, as you're just booking a cabin on a passenger liner), I'd have no objection in principle. But I don't know how often I'd actually use it.

It's possible that Fleet Carries will move like this, so you get to take a ship somewhere and wait to arrive (or go on ahead in a faster ship). But we don't know yet.

 

[Misty_Dark]

Hi Lestat, I think RedPaintedPaw nailed it on the head, and that is and now you've also highlighted being a low progression player I'm seeing features that will not be greatly needed as I get progressed. I still think it's an option for some circumstances, but at what development cost.

Just for back ground, I installed Elite Dangerous years ago when it came out, stopped playing and then saw a few streamers playing. Bought Horizons and started back up. I've unlocked the first three engineers. But no engineered modules as yet. Silver in bank is 120mill and I have a mining Krait Mk II, sharing modules with a Python, now kitted for passengers and my Asp-X which from your suggestion should be my jump ship.

So yeah early days and I have a lot still to learn.

You could turn your Asp Explorer into a "taxi" ship.
You could also get a Diamondback Explorer and create a taxi ship out of this, these are very cheap, so just shy of 10 million will this set you back, for a comparable AspE that is 20 million, as a reference(if not going crazy with the fuel scoop).



Just to show some numbers, and these are very similar if you decide to use a stripped down Asp Explorer.



With no Engineering, it is easy to get almost 38 LY with stripped down and still having a small shield for convenience:
Link: DBE - no engineering

With some entry level engineering in FSD, a modest G3. , you have probably already unlocked one of the two entry level engineers doing FSD engineering, Felicity Farseer or Elvira Martuuk.

So what change will we see if doing some engineering on only the FSD:
RAW - 38 LY
G1 - 43 LY
G2 - 47 LY
G3 - 50 LY
G4 - 54 LY
G5 - 57 LY

So thre is no need to go directly to G5, just going to G2 will give you a very noticeably boost, that is pretty cheap on material, especially compared to what G4 and G5 costs, and this gives you nearly a 10 LY boost, You also can also add an experimental effect, that will give you ~2 LY more.
Link:DBE - with some G3 FSD engineering with special effect



Then we have things that we can unlock, Guardian FSD Booster, that gives a bonus to range. For a DBE, that would add another 9 LY to the existing jump rang, so the above example with a G3 FSD engineering, would bring it to 60-62 LY LY.
To unlock this module, you have to fly to specific Guardian ruins and collect material and a blueprint. There are several guides on how to do this, but it should not take to long to complete. I would expect 4-8 hours, depending on how experience you are etc. There is some shooting involved and stuff that shoot at you in your srv. And a good start is to have a ship with good jump range, as you there some travelling involved to the Guardian ruins.



Range wise, there is no huge difference between an Asp Explore and Diamondback Explorer, the later is a tiny bit better, and cheaper. I know we do not plan on crashing etc, but cheap rebuy have its benefits sometimes if things goes horribly wrong, DBE 0.5 million, vs a similar AspE build 1 million (2 million if going crazy on the fuel scoop)


TL/DR
A taxi ship is easy and can be pretty cheap, I recommend to consider a Diamondback Explorer (DBE), as they are cheap. And you do not have to change outfitting on your existing Asp Explorer.
Also I recommend to take a little interrest in engineers, as they even at low level offers some great upgrades, above you can see the effect every level of engineering has on an FSD in a specific DBE build.

 

[Stabby_Dave]

I still have my original sidey, all a rated. Jumps just under 40 ly and costs about 1000cr to transfer anywhere. I use it as a taxi.

 

[V'larr]

It's a QOL feature that would only work in a truely Solo game without a shared universe, like Battletech, unfortunately. I dunno that anybody would want to sign up for being stuck on a shuttle for several hours of RL time spent ingame, either. Best option is to just taxi-ship yourself around.

You could also try finding a good hub from which to do all the different activites you wish to do, or find systems closer to an existing hub you use already. There's no shortage of systems out there.

 

[Schmack]

OP

You can have your ship transferred but operating between two systems 450 LY apart is a bad idea. You can find similar tasks and payout much closer. With only two ships, find two systems that do what you want within reasonable jump range. Use the galaxy map and filter by government or state (state being what is the system doing, war, boom, famine, outbreak, etc..) as each are going to lead to different mission types being generated by the local factions. So if you want to haul medicines, for example, you should find systems in outbreak close to systems that sell the medicines. Then you can not only take the haul missions but also just load up with medicines and head over, you'll likely not be interdicted as much that way and you'll make money by taking the same missions and completing them instantly (instead of selling at the market value).

There are plenty people on this forum and in the game who will help you find lucrative game play doing the things you like to do, but when you suggest change some get very upset.