Player Owned Capital Ships
Ship Interiors. Boarding Parties. Pilotable Fleet Carriers.
These things are requested regularly. What if I told you there was a way they could all stem from the same thing?
This is the new frontier of spaceship simulation in Elite. Ships truly massive in scale, yet controlled by a single pilot. Ships with a navigable interior, and the capacity to maintain, rearm, and launch ships and fighters. Ships that can be boarded and sabotaged from within!
I present to you...the Frigate.
Specifications
The Frigate is the first generation of capital ships made available to members of the Pilots Federation. Only recently has automation technology progressed to the point of allowing such a tiny crew to pilot such a massive vehicle. Operating with less than a dozen dedicated officers, they are nonetheless capable of single-handedly changing the course of wars.
The size of Frigates rests between the largest ships currently available, and Capital Ships used by navies. While large enough to be heavily resistant to fire from smaller ships, they are by no means immune to it, and the presence of a larger Capital Ship can very rapidly send them into retreat.
All Frigates share a few similar characteristics.
- A single external large landing pad with basic rearm capability.
- A force-field-maintained Landing Bay, where small and medium ships can board, rearm, and quickly launch while shielded from enemy fire.
- Internal capacity for 1 large ship, 2 medium ships, 4 small ships, and fighter manufacturing facilities.
- A cargo bay, capable of holding 1000T of cargo.
- A Type-2 Tritium Hyperdrive, capable of making jumps up to 250ly.
Frigates will also have a number of modifiable components, including the ability to mount up to 8 turreted class 4 weapons.
Frigates will not be engineerable. Instead, they are serviced by a small crew of well-trained officers, who will slowly gain experience and improve the abilities of the Frigate. These officers include:
- Tactical Officer(Weapons and Sensors)
- Engineer(Engines and Power Plant)
- Emergency(Life Support and FSD)
- Maintenance(Shields and Armor Repair)
- Marines(Internal Defense)
Each of these officers can both grow stronger in general, as well as be specialized into selected roles. The Tactical Officer, for example, can learn to fire more rapidly, OR learn to fire more accurately. This only happens via experience; however, that experience is gained more rapidly when tested against a diverse list of targets.
Playstyle
Imagine the scene: You're fighting in a Conflict Zone, and things aren't looking good. An enemy Spec Ops wing is tearing up your side, and much of your ammo has been depleted. You're thinking about bugging out, when suddenly... Capital-Class Signature Detected! A massive ship emerges from witchspace, and launches a wing of fighters! Suddenly things are looking better! But a few minutes in, there's an explosion from the ship! Someone has boarded it and sabotaged it from within! Desperately, you fly into the tiny slot and leap from your ship, weapon in hand, and begin to blow away boarders, pushing through wave after wave as you get closer and closer to the power plant. At the last moment, you reach the engineering section, and open fire, killing the last interloper seconds before they deal critical damage to the power plant! Wiping your brow, you turn and return to your ship, which has been rearmed in the interim, and launch back into the fray.These ships are not intended to be a player's primary vessel. The turrets are completely automated, and while the player can pilot them throughout the battlefield, their speed is extremely slow, prohibiting the type of quick, 'jousting'-type of combat currently popular. Instead, they encourage a more thoughtful and strategic style of combat, taking advantage of allies and blind spots to draw or prevent enemy fire, while allowing the turrets to focus on enemy capital ships and deal maximum damage. And while they offer great superiority over the battlefield, they can also be boarded and attacked from within, so players must constantly keep their survival in mind.
Players can use their terminal inside their ship to have a basic level of control over their Frigate, ordering it to move, turn, rotate, and so forth, without the necessity of being on board. This makes them a powerful strategic and tactical advantage. Notably, these massive vessels cannot dock at stations or outposts; in fact, going within 7500m of a station will result in a warning before being fired upon.
A major advantage of these vessels is the ability to rearm smaller ships without leaving a Conflict Zone! This will make many weapons and ships that are currently difficult to effectively use, such as torpedoes or small ships, a much more viable choice for combat.
However, these ships are by no means indestructible! If they take sufficient damage, either within or without, the Emergency Officer will call for a special FSD jump into deep space to carry out repairs, which will take hours, or even days to complete, depending on how badly damaged the ship was. If absolutely necessary, the player can countermand this, at the risk of their Frigate being destroyed outright, with a VERY hefty rebuy!
Price
These vessels may lack many things that a Fleet Carrier has, but they also can do many things a Fleet Carrier cannot. That being the case, they should cost nearly as much as a Fleet Carrier.
The first three types available are:
- Lakon Type L Frigate(not shown) - No rank requirement, Cost: 4,250,000,000.
- Federal Independence-Class Frigate - Requres Rank: Admiral, Cost: 4,400,000,000.
- Imperial Olympic-Class Frigate - Requires Rank: King, Cost: 5,500,000,000.
At a later date, additional types may be added, depending on popular demand, including:
- Zorgon Peterson 'Icebreaker'-Class Light Destroyer.
- Faulcon DeLacy 'Dredger'-Class Search and Rescue Ship.
This expansion gives players everything they've long been wanting. Ship interiors. Pilotable Capital Ships. Crews. Boarding Parties.
At the same time, it takes many little-used aspects of content, like torpedoes and smaller ships, and brings them to the forefront.
What more could you ask for?
