I would really like to see an option for players to pay for passenger trips, just like you pay to have a ship sent to you it would be nice if we could get a taxi to a place we left a ship.
Player Passengers
- Thread starter SecretGnome
- Start date
I wouldn't object to something like this, but it may be outside the remit of a pilot and ship game.
I have yet to find a Commuter SimulatorTM game - waiting in queues at the station, fumbling for change, failing to find a seat and having to stand in the aisle, exciting delays and cancellations...
Really, I stopped playing the Sims when my guy was just repeating what I had done during the day.
But back to the subject in hand - at some point you'll have players stranded on stations with no credits left and no ship at that location. You know it'll happen!
I have yet to find a Commuter SimulatorTM game - waiting in queues at the station, fumbling for change, failing to find a seat and having to stand in the aisle, exciting delays and cancellations...
Really, I stopped playing the Sims when my guy was just repeating what I had done during the day.
But back to the subject in hand - at some point you'll have players stranded on stations with no credits left and no ship at that location. You know it'll happen!
That would fall under the category of player to player credit transfers, which is something FDev has repeatedly stated they will not allow.
That being said, if such credit transfers were severely restricted to, say, a single 500 credit flight per day, a single 500 credit transfer in any 24 hour period and both CMDRs MUST travel a certain minimum distance (100 LY?) together per daily flight, it is not something I would be averse to.
This way the rate of P2P credit transfer would be too low to have a meaningful impact on anyone's credit balance: 500 credits/day = 3500 credits/week or 14,000 credits/month and both players would be required to log in and travel daily to make all those transfers.
Nobody would ever do this just to transfer credits because a CMDR can earn 500 credits in just a few seconds in a hundred other ways.
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I could see it working more as an alternate transfer, i.e. pay 1.2M credits to have your ship delivered to you (remain in game), or pay 10,000k to be sent to your ship(logout). Being sent to your ship would still take IRL time, and you'd be logged out until you arrive. While more expensive, having the ship sent to you would allow you to keep flying while it was in transit. On the other hand, if you know you're going to step away for a while, you could transfer to another station.
Another type of mission that could be fun would be a "ferry" mission. While it wouldn't be a direct player to player transaction and still be randomly generated like the standard missions are, it would allow a newbie commander to fly a larger/more expensive ship for a run. I'm thinking a kind of cross between a courier and sightseeing mission in scope.
Another type of mission that could be fun would be a "ferry" mission. While it wouldn't be a direct player to player transaction and still be randomly generated like the standard missions are, it would allow a newbie commander to fly a larger/more expensive ship for a run. I'm thinking a kind of cross between a courier and sightseeing mission in scope.
Credit transfers are an issue. The next best thing right now is multicrew with virtual people, earning their stay but never really traveling themselves.
I am eager to know if elite-feet shakes changes how we play right now, having "real" guests on board, SRV multicrew, allowing to take over the helm, etc.
But be prepared for very little entertainment if you just want to be a passenger.
Hm, being able to see the galaxy from a tourists point of view could be the next Arena-like cheap standalone version. Just add enough buttons to the passenger cabin, give access to the voiced galnet and the codex database. Hm, that will probably still be boring. Scratch that.
How would you envision this to be implemented?
You are at station A, you book passage to Station D some 250 LY away.
How long would this trip take?
What would you be doing during this time?
Should travel time only count ingame time or real time?
I have a very hard time believing that the transfer should be instant. What the point of a game where the entire foundation is about you flying a space ship? Keep this in mind, that FDev have a vision about what this game is all about.
What existing stuff do you see yourself be doing in transit? or would you just be dong something else while the game plays itself?
But the biggest obstacle to this is the availability of cheap bubble taxi builds, it is not hard to travel this distance in a temporary bought small ship. A D-rated Hauler with an A-rated FSD, do easily break 30 LY, and if going crazy with a 3A fuel scoop, this costs just over 1.1 million, and here the fuel scoop is over 80% of the total cost
So we are talking about 9 jumps, to travel 250 LY, and not being very efficient, we spend a minute in each system scooping and going around the star. that gives us ~9 minutes travel time.
And if doing the same with an Diamondback Explorer, you get some 37 LY, at around 10 million credits, and here the 5A FSD is 50% of the cost. This would cut our trip down to 7 jumps, and with the same time estimates, down to ~7 minutes travel time.
And this is with NO engineering, no Guardian FSD boosters. Going back to the hauler, unlocking guardian FSD booster, which can be done by most players in ~4 hours time, you can add a fixed boost, for our hauler, that gives us a maximum boost of little over 7 LY. Then FSD upgrades on engineering is the two starter engineers, so they are not hard to unlock. So in most cases, a couple of hours game play to unlock and gather some materials, etc to be able to start to engineer stuff. Even low grade upgrades gives a noticeably boost. Both of these things are useful for ALL your hips, to move around.
So the same Hauler above with the biggest Guardian FSD booster you can fit and G2 FSD boost, increases the cost to 2.7 million (Guardian FSD booster now the most expensive module), we get 44 LY range, and this means that we an de the trip in 6 jumps, or cut the travelling time to ~6 minutes.
If you go all out crazy with engineering, reduce weight to max FSD range, you will get over 56LY. But the effort for this compared to the above is many times more time consuming as you have to collect more rare materials unlocking many more engineers etc, etc. So I would not recommend to set this as a goal, as if we do the easy version to our Diamondback Explorer, add G2 FSD boost and a Guardian FSD Booster, we now have a ship that is capable of over 55 LY! at a fraction of the time it would take to make our cheap hauler have as good jump range.
So my point being, travelling around the bubble is not rocket science, and even without Guardian tech, or engineering, you can build a very cheap bubble taxi out of a Hauler.
And with some invested time in entry level engineering, and unlocking one Guardian Tech, you will be able to boost your FSD range of ALL your ships.
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I'm picturing this as NPC drives his own ship (like a player does for NPCs) and the player pays them X amount for doing so, the time it takes to get there depends on how much you pay (more for faster) the player would be locked into a multi crew situation with an NPC if they logged on during the time they are traveling but will still be transported if they are logged out (just like transporting a ship and logging off) so people can pick where they want to go on a night and by the time they get home from work the following day they should have arrived.
I don't want to taxi round the bubble, I was thinking more along the lines of Colonia and only being able to get a taxi to places you already have a ship means people could get a taxi to Colonia while they go to work but only once they had made the trip in person and left a ship there.
I don't want to taxi round the bubble, I was thinking more along the lines of Colonia and only being able to get a taxi to places you already have a ship means people could get a taxi to Colonia while they go to work but only once they had made the trip in person and left a ship there.
So another suggestion to make Colonia be closer to the bubble thread. you just have to go there first and then you can zip back and forth without effort.
What is the missions timer for doing missions to transport passengers to Colonia? Ship transfer times appear to be around 60 hours, so not unthinkable player as passengers would take equally long. So no wonder that you want to have an express option, but why should players as passenger have that? when ship trasnsfers does not?
You know, I don't know if ED pilots would care to use this feature much, but you know who might?
People who don't play the game.
Picture it: somebody who doesn't play Elite Dangerous hears about it from a friend, but isn't convinced. Friend says "check out this app then; you can book a ride on a ship and see some of the galaxy. You could even be a passenger on my ship!" Skeptic downloads, experiences a passengers eye view of the black, maybe even witnesses a pirate attack on his "cruise" and watches his buddy skillfully haul their hoops out of the fire. He thinks "huh. Maybe I'll check this game out after all..." or maybe just "dude that was awesome, when are we going out again?"
Boom. Something to show less interested people, a way to diversify the game and allow smartphone users or VR owners to just spectate after a fashion, a REASON to take passenger missions (because those are PEOPLE this time!) advertising for the game and an excuse to get space legs in!
It could be like a whole minigame app that non-pilots enjoy just for casual stargazing and VR immersion or the like. Interested in the concept of ED but don't care for the actual game? Slide on the headset, pay a dollar or something and enjoy your virtual cruise to Sag A (or whatever's an appropriate value!)
REAL passenger missions! Frequent flyer miles! Free (or very nearly free) advertising for the game (design time notwithstanding!) IT'S BRILLIANT AND YOU'RE WELCOME.
EDIT: Oh and I forgot to mention this would be a VERY good reason to brush up on your pilot jargon, acting skills and professional manner (or just make a deal with some buddies to "gank" you during the cruise while some other buddies "come to your rescue...") SHOW BUSINESS, BABY.
People who don't play the game.
Picture it: somebody who doesn't play Elite Dangerous hears about it from a friend, but isn't convinced. Friend says "check out this app then; you can book a ride on a ship and see some of the galaxy. You could even be a passenger on my ship!" Skeptic downloads, experiences a passengers eye view of the black, maybe even witnesses a pirate attack on his "cruise" and watches his buddy skillfully haul their hoops out of the fire. He thinks "huh. Maybe I'll check this game out after all..." or maybe just "dude that was awesome, when are we going out again?"
Boom. Something to show less interested people, a way to diversify the game and allow smartphone users or VR owners to just spectate after a fashion, a REASON to take passenger missions (because those are PEOPLE this time!) advertising for the game and an excuse to get space legs in!
It could be like a whole minigame app that non-pilots enjoy just for casual stargazing and VR immersion or the like. Interested in the concept of ED but don't care for the actual game? Slide on the headset, pay a dollar or something and enjoy your virtual cruise to Sag A (or whatever's an appropriate value!)
REAL passenger missions! Frequent flyer miles! Free (or very nearly free) advertising for the game (design time notwithstanding!) IT'S BRILLIANT AND YOU'RE WELCOME.
EDIT: Oh and I forgot to mention this would be a VERY good reason to brush up on your pilot jargon, acting skills and professional manner (or just make a deal with some buddies to "gank" you during the cruise while some other buddies "come to your rescue...") SHOW BUSINESS, BABY.
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What?
How are these non players going to pay for their "trip"? How can they go anywhere? wasn't one of your premises that you had travelled to a location and place a ship there first?
How would this make a sell? How would FDev make money from this? How would a trip out to Colonia or Sag A be like for these players? What amazing things would they see/encounter looking out the window?
nobody said this was a suggestion for FDev to make money, this is for the players not the Devs and as for people who would use this, I know people who stay in Colonia and people who stay in the bubble and I mostly don't play with the friends in Colonia because I don't want to repeat jump 22kly to do the same things available in the bubble in a different setting but if I could get a taxi to Colonia then spend a week with them friends I certainly would even if that meant booking the taxi on Sunday night and not arriving till Wednesday, I have over 1000 hours of playtime and I would pay for this trip without question if it saved me the repetitive hyperspace jumps to Colonia.
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Currently: Pay X to have Ship transferred from Station to station, With time delay of Y.
If CMDR's use the same to move themselves the main issue becomes what do players do in time delay Y.
This feels like a feature best suited when combined with elite feet.
By adding one screen that i will call the passenger screen, we could hypothetically use the multi-crew system that is currently in game to simulate the openings player passenger suggestion. The passenger screen works similar to a rebuy screen but has the option to transfer a currently owned ship to the players location and/or be provided a stock sidewinder. or request boarding permission with last CMDR, or request new boarding permission with a CMDR at the current station.
So we can currently telepresence into another players ship instantly with the draw back of "not actually being there". Ship explodes, Player logs out, the CMDR returns to to their last location.
Suggest adding a layer to multi-crew that allows players to partake in multi-crew without telepresence.
1. Requires both players to be docked at the same station.
2. Players get the additional option in the appropriate chat tab to request boarding permission, or invite to current ship.
While onboard all standard multi-crew features remain the same.
3. When docked at a station players can disembark and be relocated to that station.
(If you don't have a ship at that station you are presented with a passenger screen, Options to transfer a ship, and/or be provided with a stock sidewinder like the rebuy screen offers.)
Mishaps:
1. Ship destruction while boarded: Both players are sent to the closest station, or last visited as normal. The pilot is given the standard rebuy screen, the passenger is given the above passenger screen
2. Player logout: If not docked, the passenger is sent to the closet station and given the passenger screen. or option to rejoin the pilot with permission.
If CMDR's use the same to move themselves the main issue becomes what do players do in time delay Y.
This feels like a feature best suited when combined with elite feet.
By adding one screen that i will call the passenger screen, we could hypothetically use the multi-crew system that is currently in game to simulate the openings player passenger suggestion. The passenger screen works similar to a rebuy screen but has the option to transfer a currently owned ship to the players location and/or be provided a stock sidewinder. or request boarding permission with last CMDR, or request new boarding permission with a CMDR at the current station.
So we can currently telepresence into another players ship instantly with the draw back of "not actually being there". Ship explodes, Player logs out, the CMDR returns to to their last location.
Suggest adding a layer to multi-crew that allows players to partake in multi-crew without telepresence.
1. Requires both players to be docked at the same station.
2. Players get the additional option in the appropriate chat tab to request boarding permission, or invite to current ship.
While onboard all standard multi-crew features remain the same.
3. When docked at a station players can disembark and be relocated to that station.
(If you don't have a ship at that station you are presented with a passenger screen, Options to transfer a ship, and/or be provided with a stock sidewinder like the rebuy screen offers.)
Mishaps:
1. Ship destruction while boarded: Both players are sent to the closest station, or last visited as normal. The pilot is given the standard rebuy screen, the passenger is given the above passenger screen
2. Player logout: If not docked, the passenger is sent to the closet station and given the passenger screen. or option to rejoin the pilot with permission.
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Did you care to read post I answered? Here it was suggested that non-owners should be able to use this to gain a feeling for the game. As such, how worthwhile would such a feature be to Elite, would it actually generate a positive revenue compared to the cost to develop such feature. You might not think this is important etc, but be sure that FDev sure considers these sort of things.
And regarding those playes in either the bubble or Colonia, that have friends in the other location. How likely is this scenario in the first place? And you do have to remember, it was a free choice by players to go to Colonia in the first place, no player starts there, there was a one time offer to move there, all others have had to make the trip, and it should be quite clear to everyone that decided to move to Colonia, that it was FAR AWAY from the bubble.
Also, the initial suggestion have it that you have to have a ship to travel to, so no ship left in bubble, then no transport back home, not visited Colonia and bought a ship to store there, then no travel back to Colonia.
Then we have the obvious issues with choosing an option that basically blocks you from playing the game.