Repurpose megaship tankers to move tritium to Colonia / remote places in fuel convoys

[Rubbernuke]

Remember these?

Megaships are now pushed into the background and vestigial- please make something of them instead- make them cargo convoys that provide opportunities for bounty hunting, piracy, role play and an actual logical reason to exist.

This idea has several benefits (and also is based on the assumption you (FD) have fixed megaship piracy and that stolen tritium fuel can be used in fleet carriers).

1: Colonia / place x gets a regular tanker run of tritium so its levels are higher than its economy can support.

2: Just as the Gnosis has 'stops' on its set route, so can tankers. This will provide areas for piracy. It can be timed for every x days, with stops in visually pleasing areas.

3: Make this a permanent CG: each tanker can have a fixed amount of tritium, and each pirate attempt that succeeds drains this supply. So, if enough people steal the tanker arrives empty. Players can 'ride along' to protect the Megaship, people can ambush and drain it. Its in Colonia / destinations interests to protect it, and would give a solid in game job.

 

[Achtung-Goomba]

And right there is a little bit more of a 'living galaxy' to play in

 

[Tifu]

This is a great idea.

My only question is how is the victory state (ie. Tanker makes it to Colonia with most of the tritium intact) determined considering that the outcomes of Open/Private Group/Solo modes all affect the same tanker at the same time. Which game mode state takes priority?

 

[Achtung-Goomba]

This is a great idea.

My only question is how is the victory state (ie. Tanker makes it to Colonia with most of the tritium intact) determined considering that the outcomes of Open/Private Group/Solo modes all affect the same tanker at the same time. Which game mode state takes priority?

Can't pass comments on the merits of it, but surely none? The current build has all game modes as equal.

 

[Achtung-Goomba]

This is a great idea.

My only question is how is the victory state (ie. Tanker makes it to Colonia with most of the tritium intact) determined considering that the outcomes of Open/Private Group/Solo modes all affect the same tanker at the same time. Which game mode state takes priority?

And a like for the Crimson Pig

 

[Ian Doncaster]

My only question is how is the victory state (ie. Tanker makes it to Colonia with most of the tritium intact) determined considering that the outcomes of Open/Private Group/Solo modes all affect the same tanker at the same time. Which game mode state takes priority?

Same as it does for War/CZ outcomes, I would expect - the actions in which players have participated, regardless of instance/time/platform, are summed up for both sides.

It would need stolen Tritium to be usable in tankers as well, to give more of an incentive to sit out in Skaudai and try to rob it, of course.

 

[Rubbernuke]

This is a great idea.

My only question is how is the victory state (ie. Tanker makes it to Colonia with most of the tritium intact) determined considering that the outcomes of Open/Private Group/Solo modes all affect the same tanker at the same time. Which game mode state takes priority?

For simplicity the megaship would have an NPC escort, and be armed, and that its a simple lure in the places it stops, each one more remote than the last.

I should say in reality its less than a CG mechanically, its essentially the Gnosis with a set amount of tritium stopping x times- (like a station repair total, just in reverse ).

So I was a bit naughty in calling it a CG, it really has no 'win' state as such. What it would do is transport say, half a million tonnes of tritium to Colonia in a regular cycle and that you'd have opportunistic pilfering along the way- I'd be surprised if it arrived empty.

 

[Rubbernuke]

Same as it does for War/CZ outcomes, I would expect - the actions in which players have participated, regardless of instance/time/platform, are summed up for both sides.

It would need stolen Tritium to be usable in tankers as well, to give more of an incentive to sit out in Skaudai and try to rob it, of course.

My other thought would be that if it is robbed empty it heads back for tritium restocking and tries again.

What I really wanted is to have cheap automatism set up so we have places that act as gathering points for activities. You could then make a surprise bounty hunting CG actually from the stopping points, rather than the stopping points being CGs themselves.

 

[Tifu]

So I was a bit naughty in calling it a CG, it really has no 'win' state as such. What it would do is transport say, half a million tonnes of tritium to Colonia in a regular cycle and that you'd have opportunistic pilfering along the way- I'd be surprised if it arrived empty.

I just had a picture in my head of a pirate FC intercepting the megatanker

This would be a tremendous boon for gameplay no matter what mode you're in

 

[Achtung-Goomba]

I just had a picture in my head of a pirate FC intercepting the megatanker

This would be a tremendous boon for gameplay no matter what mode you're in

I’d drop by just to watch live-action Star Wars...

 

[Tifu]

I’d drop by just to watch live-action Star Wars...

So would I

And it goes both ways, the mission could be to intercept a pirate megatanker then return the stolen tritium to the destination it's intended for.

 

[Achtung-Goomba]

Oh for the emergent gameplay possibilities! A man can dream...

 

[Auricanus]

Why limit to only Tritium though...convoys of other commodities will be great too.

 

[FrogsFriend]

Isn't that essentially what the current Megaships do? They fly a set route around half a dozen systems and at each stop they can be attacked, robbed or defended. But extending their routes and linking Colonia's, and perhaps other distant outposts', Tritium availability to their success or failure is a great idea.

 

[Rubbernuke]

Isn't that essentially what the current Megaships do? They fly a set route around half a dozen systems and at each stop they can be attacked, robbed or defended. But extending their routes and linking Colonia's, and perhaps other distant outposts', Tritium availability to their success or failure is a great idea.

I was vaguely aware of megaships and routes, but I was not really sure if it was still a thing or not.

 

[varonica]

As a game play element I can see a lot of pluses on this one, as a way to resupply Tritium it seems......pretty pointless.

As a game the devs have control over resources, and since it's all imaginary resources they are effectively limitless, it's only Tritium that's come up as a factor here because of a perceived shortage, but the same game play paradigm can be used for any purpose, for instance why in systems in famine states shouldn't emergency supply conveys be a thing, with the same sorts of goals, a faction in charge of the system protecting them to bring it out of famine state while attackers trying to stop them to keep the system vulnerable.

It could be a thing happening anywhere in the galaxy to give game play to combat oriented players, with different rewards for different event outcomes, limiting it to just Tritium would be to limit a good game play element.