Ship loadouts and increased module storage

[Ian Doncaster]

This is of course how it works with Odyssey equipment - you don't need a separate Dominator suit to hold your Laser+Kinetic weapons and to hold your Plasma+Laser weapons (which also would need a separate laser on the "ship" outfitting model). You only need a second Dominator suit if you want it to have different experimentals to your first one.

Odyssey has the advantage that all your "modules" travel permanently with you, so you never have the issue of "your Aphelion is at a different station, now what?" of course.


Ship outfitting I think is still stuck with the Elite/FE2/FFE paradigm where you could only own one ship at once, there weren't that many modules to choose from, and the higher-end ships could have "at least one of everything" anyway, which is very much not how Elite Dangerous outfitting works. Things have been bolted onto that since - module and ship transfer, Fleet Carriers, universal limpets, extra internals - and pay increases have made the need to micromanage because you can only afford one 5A FSD rather less significant - but the whole thing is still an overcomplicated mess with lots of useless options cluttering it up.

Loadout templates - at least for those with either a definite home station or a Fleet Carrier - would certainly help with that, since it's probably far too late for the more substantial reform outfitting needs.

 

[Northpin]

Because you can't put a A3 FSD in.

You can put it in an AspX or an Anaconda
So T-10 for weapons, utilities, optional internals and certain cores, and a smaller ship for smaller cores. I usually prefer AspX for the 2x Medum and 4x small hardpoints.
Good to hold those size 1 longrange mining lasers or those cytos

Same for the most of the base modules (for me, the main reason why I try to stick to Class 5 FSD Ships

For which you can buy multiple 5A FSDv1 from tech brokers.
I have at least 3-4 of them already in ships and with at least 1 spare (not outfitted in any ship)

IF you just want to have a single module and move it from ship to ship, you can, but the game is making you interact with the ship - and i dont think this will ever change because apparently the game was not built like a 1-click browser game (edit: at least for ship outfitting)
The devs want you to interact with your ship, pretty much like they want you to interact with the ship panels to request dock or to engage supercruise assist

 

[Ski'Thor]

You can put it in an AspX or an Anaconda
So T-10 for weapons, utilities, optional internals and certain cores, and a smaller ship for smaller cores. I usually prefer AspX for the 2x Medum and 4x small hardpoints.
Good to hold those size 1 longrange mining lasers or those cytos



For which you can buy multiple 5A FSDv1 from tech brokers.
I have at least 3-4 of them already in ships and with at least 1 spare (not outfitted in any ship)

IF you just want to have a single module and move it from ship to ship, you can, but the game is making you interact with the ship - and i dont think this will ever change because apparently the game was not built like a 1-click browser game.
The devs want you to interact with your ship, pretty much like they want you to interact with the ship panels to request dock or to engage supercruise assist

Understand your point, but the interaction with the ship etc... this was necessary, because there was nothing else to do. So yea, it was extremly important to create a deeper "bonding" with your ship, because this is what it was, Ship = Player

But with Oddy? There are people playing without a ship.
They combined the code bases, only one codebase, changing things now shouldn't be this difficult anymore.

And why shouldn't they do an update on this matter?

I want... MORE!

 

[Northpin]

This is of course how it works with Odyssey equipment

Which i find it to be quite arcade-ish

I go in a station, at a public terminal, with lots of people around - and i change outfits with anyone around watching me?
It sort of works inside your own ship, but in a station? not so much.
And being able to always have with me like 10 suits and 20 weapons? Even without having a ship with me? Even more arcade-ish
Not to mention the materials in the ship locker, which ship locker is always with you even if your ship isnt?

TBH Odyssey is a quite enough departure from Elite that it warranted being released as a separated game - not tied with Elite except the universe and the Galaxy/BGS

Ship outfitting I think is still stuck with the Elite/FE2/FFE paradigm where you could only own one ship at once

Indeed, but this is sort of partially being reflected in ED too.
While we can own multiple ships, we must have an active ship at all times - no matter if that ship is abandoned in some station and you move around using the Apex. You cannot switch to another ship present in that station, you have to recall your active ship.
And it gets even worse if your ship is destroyed and you travel around in an Apex - i once quit the game while being in an Apex, following the ship being destroyed while landed at settlement and i couldn't log back in the game. I had to call in support to manually move me to a Starport

And this active ship requirement is quite stupid in the context of Odyssey (but it does make sense in Horizons and inevitably in a DLC that offers the ability to play either the base game or the DLC)

 

[Northpin]

But with Oddy? There are people playing without a ship.

See the post above.

I'd really wish they released Odyssey as a separate game and break all the ties with Horizons mantra of player=ship and ship=player.

 

[Sethioz]

If the issue is you want ships with slight differences... there is no need to build an entirely new ship. It is not tough is to swap out a module.

Obviously you can also completely strip down a ship to repurpose for a new ship. Or you can build a new ship.

If the issue is you want one master set of modules that can be swapped between your 32 ships... I don't agree that fits well with the overall concept of the game.

No, my main problem what seriously annoys me, is that if I want to take some parts from other ships, I have to SWAP to that ship, which is literal WASTE OF TIME. It takes time to load the ship ..

You people are missing the ENTIRE point, which is:
In order to take ONE part off of a ship and put it on other ship, you must LOAD the ship ONLY for the purpose of clicking "store module" and then load back into your other ship (+menu loading times, which are sometimes quite long). This is not immersion, this is just pure waste of time and it's annoying.

At least let me remove parts from ships WITHOUT having to load them (remove directly from manage ship screen).

We have suit loadouts, why not have ship loadouts? Suit loadouts work pretty much how it should, you don't have the need to have multiple engineered weapons, you can have 1 of each and simply click on the loadout you want to use! this is exactly how ships should work too. You have ONE base ship and all the parts would be shared.


I would absolutely like having an actual hangar where you can see all your ships, similar to garage in GTA online. so you can walk around and build ships by using tools such as cranes and forklifts. That would at least be fun and immersive .. but having to load ship just to take part off .. NO!

It's same as just increasing loading times 10x and saying "it should be like this, it's fun" .. I don't see how looking at loading screens is fun. Try playing some older games, such as half-life and see just how fun those loading screens are. Back in the days games were limited by technology (it wasn't possible to make huge maps without loading points), but nowdays games are limited by developer's imagination and creativity.
It's completely possible to make a fluid game without any loading screens (game loads content ahead of you, so you're inside the "loaded bubble" at all times). Look at Just Cause series, maps are huge and no loading screens. One way to reduce loading times in ED, would be to add loadouts or make it possible to take parts off of ships without having to load the ship.

 

[Ski'Thor]

Suit Loadouts require a suit per loadout. And because you can't buy a flightsuite, you can only have one Flightsuite Loadout.

As said, inconsistant in some parts of their own system.

 

[NUSQUAM]

All the changes in the OP will turn the outfitting into arcade.

It isn't already? It's more realistic to get out of the ship you're in, store it, pull another from storage, get into the cockpit, order ground crew to pull off a mod, get out of the ship, store it, get back in your original ship, order ground crew to then put that mod on? It's not more realistic to sit in your current ship and say "Ground crew, please pull the 4A shield cell battery from my other ship and put in in a slot in this one."? The crew, were they real, would hate you if you did it how it is currently implemented. As it stands now it is more video-gamey because of lack of features. It would be more realistic to sit in one ship at the station where your stuff is and have the crew pull what you want rather than waste their time going all the way to the pilot chair each time.

Also Elite is an arcade game with lite simulation elements. It's old and it's menus and features could use a quality of life pass. OP makes good suggestions on improving the game.

 

[GroG79]

Or.. You know.. Just stop hoarding?

(Says the guy with 10 T10s; Doing much better recently.. )

 

[varonica]

No, my main problem what seriously annoys me, is that if I want to take some parts from other ships, I have to SWAP to that ship, which is literal WASTE OF TIME. It takes time to load the ship ..

You people are missing the ENTIRE point, which is:
In order to take ONE part off of a ship and put it on other ship, you must LOAD the ship ONLY for the purpose of clicking "store module" and then load back into your other ship (+menu loading times, which are sometimes quite long). This is not immersion, this is just pure waste of time and it's annoying.

Yeah I know, I think that every time I take my Hyundai down to the garage and ask them to fit new tires to my 4x4, they want me to go home and bring my 4x4 down, why can't they just do it!

 

[Greasetrap42]

You people are missing the ENTIRE point, which is:
In order to take ONE part off of a ship and put it on other ship, you must LOAD the ship ONLY for the purpose of clicking "store module" and then load back into your other ship (+menu loading times, which are sometimes quite long). This is not immersion, this is just pure waste of time and it's annoying.

Fully understand your point. Just don't agree with your idea.

I'm all for good ideas and changes, I just don't see this happening in the near future. You might want to adapt to how the game is. Not how you would like it to be.

 

[Tividar]

I like the idea of being able to store loadouts and quickly switch between them. In practice I just build multiple ships: six Cutters and counting. The drive behind the desire is a criticism of the UI. Having to switch each hardpoint one by one and wait for the animations on each... not engaging. Trying to remember which modules I settled on for the station-rescue Cutter... frustrating.

 

[Northpin]

I like the idea of being able to store loadouts and quickly switch between them. In practice I just build multiple ships: six Cutters and counting. The drive behind the desire is a criticism of the UI. Having to switch each hardpoint one by one and wait for the animations on each... not engaging. Trying to remember which modules I settled on for the station-rescue Cutter... frustrating.

I dont really get the part with 6 cutters and not remembering the modules for the station rescue?
I have a station rescue Conda, a miner Conda, an exploration Conda, an AX Conda and a CRCR Conda - they are named accordingly and i can check their builds on inara > coriolis/edsi
I have a hauler Cutter, i have a miner Cutter, i have an AX Cutter - they are named accordingly, and i can check their builds on inara
I have a Sightseeing Python, a medium pad cargo runner Python, an universal mission runner Python - they are named... well you know what i'm going to say here.
And so on.

So i'm not changing loadouts, i change ships.

Regarding the similarities to on-foot loadouts:
I have no joy changing suit loadouts and no specific connection with any of those loadouts. It's basically a press of a button while im descending to the destination settlement.

However, designing and building a ship for a certain role and the entire process behind it is something that i always look forward to and, at least for me, creates a bond with that ship. So for me it's very hard to say that i prefer X ship more than other ships.
Having the right ship in the in the right place was kinda killed by Carriers - now i have all my ships on my carriers, maybe with some exceptions - like i still have a Robigo runner somewhere in or near Robigo (it's possible in one of Ceos stations actually), and i still have an AX ship in WHN and a Buckyball racing compliant Viper in Pareco and several ships in Colonia.

 

[zikolach]

I like the idea of being able to store loadouts and quickly switch between them. In practice I just build multiple ships: six Cutters and counting. The drive behind the desire is a criticism of the UI. Having to switch each hardpoint one by one and wait for the animations on each... not engaging. Trying to remember which modules I settled on for the station-rescue Cutter... frustrating.

Watching a taking a seat animation is also... not engaging.

I would maybe consider the idea of being able to equip module directly from another ship (if that ship is parked locally) or order module transport (if that ship is remote) while keeping the logic of replacing core modules with default ones for free.

 

[Tividar]

I dont really get the part with 6 cutters and not remembering the modules for the station rescue?

Before I gave in and just started building ships to specific purposes I had a combat Cutter, and a not-combat Cutter. The not Combat Cutter I switched between Mining, Hauling and Station Rescue. Sometimes RL will pull me away for a couple of weeks to a couple of months. When I got back to the game I generally wouldn't remember what I had last used the not-combat cutter for, or what I had decided the optimum build for a given activity was.

Now its one job, one ship. For all its flaws and missed opportunities, Carriers do a pretty good job of facilitating the building of specific-purpose ships and having them all readily available (For the time-cost of about half an hour of AX combat a week in upkeep and Tritium).

Kharon's Icebox (Station Rescue)
Atlas Chained (Hauling)
Quantum of Solace (Piracy)
Fragarach (Generic Combat)
Xenocide (AX Combat)

 

[SergMx]

Please add ship loadout feature. Each ship should have at least 3 loadout slots, but could have more.
Way it should work, is that when you have modules in storage, in same station or fleet carrier, then you can simply select any loadout you want and all the modules and weapons will automatically be equipped. If you're missing something or have different mod on it, then you will get a warning and get a choice: Replace it -- Don't equip it -- Buy identical (if station has one) -- Buy replacement (whatever station has to offer)

For this to work properly, module storage needs to be increased to at least 1000. What sense does it make, that you can store 40 ships in each station or carrier, but you can only store 200 modules globally? That doesn't make sense.
Fleet carriers alone should be able to store at least 1000 modules or maybe make it so that each module takes certain amount of space.
It doesn't make sense that a small shield booster takes as much space as a HUGE weapon to store.

I don't know what logic is put behind it, but I find it extremely frustrating having to swap ships and moving modules from ship to ship, it's literally waste of time and causes player abandonment. Please re-think this system and make it more user-friendly.

With ship loadouts, you can then store all the modules in your carrier or station and easily switch between loadouts without having to switch ships like 100 times just to remove modules and re-equip them .. because you only have space for 200 modules globally ..
Ship loadout should also save paintjobs and cockpit items.
So once you have made a ship build that you like, you can hit that SAVE button and don't have to worry about losing the loadout you like, because you can always load it.

If you have ships in same station or carrier that have parts for your loadout, you'd also get an option "Take necessary parts from selected ships" and then you have option to select ship/s to strip from parts and put them on your current one.

Hope you consider this amazing idea, because it would surely make players a lot happier! Perhaps give 3 loadout slots per ship and 4+ are unlockable with ARX. Thanks.

EDIT: at very least make it possible to install / remove parts from ships without having to switch to them. It's just big waste of time having to switch into a ship just so that you can remove something. In the ship management screen, just add "EDIT" option that lets you remove and install parts (only from current module storage, you can't buy new ones or engineer them, just take them off, replace or put them on).

You'll need to make a journal and write down the same sentences there. In particular, this suggestion has already been heard 50 times.

 

[NUSQUAM]

You might want to adapt to how the game is. Not how you would like it to be.

This is the suggestion forum, the correct space for suggesting changes. How one wants the game to be and an improvement aren't mutually exclusive. You might be on the wrong forum.

In particular, this suggestion has already been heard 50 times.

That is a testimate to how many people want this improvement. The more that want it and post about it in the suggestions forum the more traction it can get. This isn't a ticket system or general where duplicate posts are pruned.

I don't think there is a good reason not to pull modules directly from a locally parked ship other than system/time/dev limits at the time. Swapping between cockpits to move things could use a quality of life update. It's entirely unrealistic. Especially on your own fleet carrier, it is your personal garage. You should have total omnipotent control over the parts and ships inside.

Then module storage needs to be increased . I have G5'd almost 26 out of 36 ships. It is going to reach the point I just buy Challengers to store modules. Talk about backwards.

 

[SergMx]

This is the suggestion forum, the correct space for suggesting changes. How one wants the game to be and an improvement aren't mutually exclusive. You might be on the wrong forum.



That is a testimate to how many people want this improvement. The more that want it and post about it in the suggestions forum the more traction it can get. This isn't a ticket system or general where duplicate posts are pruned.

I don't think there is a good reason not to pull modules directly from a locally parked ship other than system/time/dev limits at the time. Swapping between cockpits to move things could use a quality of life update. It's entirely unrealistic. Especially on your own fleet carrier, it is your personal garage. You should have total omnipotent control over the parts and ships inside.

Then module storage needs to be increased . I have G5'd almost 26 out of 36 ships. It is going to reach the point I just buy Challengers to store modules. Talk about backwards.

Yes. And people instead of looking up old sentences and putting +, etc. there. It turns out all the supporting votes are scattered in different topics and their weight is not significant !

 

[NUSQUAM]

The devs are also capable of searching topics

 

[Greasetrap42]

I'm all for good ideas and changes, I just don't see this happening in the near future. You might want to adapt to how the game is. Not how you would like it to be.

This is the suggestion forum, the correct space for suggesting changes. How one wants the game to be and an improvement aren't mutually exclusive. You might be on the wrong forum.

I am replying to the persons "significant annoyance". Obviously such an idea will not be implemented in less than 12 months if ever, yet the OP has chosen a playstyle that causes "significant annoyance". Sure they can chose their own playstyle, no problem there. Choosing a playstyle that the game wasn't designed for and then complaining about it is quite illogical. Hoping & waiting for FDev to change a fundamental game design concept in the next 1-2 years to adapt to a person's playstyle doesn't make much sense.


Certainly a suggestion forum is for posting suggestions. It is also for replies. So yes, I am on the correct forum.