Ship Rental

[SkW3rL]

Greetings, Commanders o7,

I had this idea while I was buildings a ship that I wanted to leave in a specific spot but needed to finish engineering it out. Because it was a ‘new’ ship, my jump range sucked so I thought, I’ll use Apex Interstellar to get me to my destination and then request my ship from the shipyard and wait out the necessary time, but Apex didn’t travel as far as I needed it to. Enter Ship Rentals.

I think there are a couple of ways this could be done effectively:

1) One-way Ship Rental – Apex Interstellar
2) Round Trip Ship Rental – Apex Interstellar
3) Round Trip Ship Rental – Fleet Carrier Option or player owned business at station, Potential Passive Income

One-Way - Apex
I think this option would be as straight forward as renting a car in real life. Choose a ship size, then select perks, options, and upgrades.

Round-Trip – Apex or Player Owned
Again, a straightforward approach mimicking one-way. Choose a ship size, then select perks, options, and upgrades.

In my experience with Apex, there are two counters, and one seems to always be vacant. When requesting the service, I think a similar layout to Apex would be adequate. Ship rentals should have its drawbacks though, to reduce commanders from using these as their daily drivers, such as no cargo or player-controlled weapons for example. In the same breath, there should be some perks associated with choosing a ship rental: Higher range FSD, interdiction blocker, or greater shields, if so chosen. I think there are many ways to improve on this and I could write this all day, but I will leave it at this, for now.

 

[Wheeltalk]

Interesting idea. Begs some questions though.

• For renting from Apex:
  • Apex iirc only has Adders, with no fuel scoops, on offer for their own pilots. Would they do the same with their rental fleet?
  • Somebody will inevitably get a rental ship blown up. Do they make you put down a deposit before you fly, for the cost of a rebuy, just in case you kaboom it? Does Apex have the right to put you in debt if you don't have the money for a rebuy?
• For renting from another player:
  • Are there any equipment rules that the game will enforce?
  • Does the ship owner set the rental price, or is it calculated by the game? Does the ship's equipment and/or the distance of flight, influence the price?
  • Can you rent Fed/Imp ships that are above your naval rank?
  • Same concern about a ship going boom, do you have to put in a deposit ahead of time, or can another player put you in debt if you blow up their ship?
  • If a renter blows up my ship, where does the replacement ship spawn and in what amount of time?
  • If a renter commits a crime with my ship, does it become my problem?
  • Can players allow one-way rentals? Can they dictate which dropoff ports are allowed for their ships? If I want my ships moved from the bubble to Colonia, can I offer discounted/free use of my ships for pilots who are making the trek?
  • Can I restrict my rentals to squadron/friends? If I allow everybody to rent, could I give my squadron or my friends a discount?
• Do they charge late fees?
• For one-way rentals, do they make you declare ahead of time, which port you're going to drop it off at?

 

[SkW3rL]

Interesting idea. Begs some questions though.

• For renting from Apex:
  • Apex iirc only has Adders, with no fuel scoops, on offer for their own pilots. Would they do the same with their rental fleet?
  • Somebody will inevitably get a rental ship blown up. Do they make you put down a deposit before you fly, for the cost of a rebuy, just in case you kaboom it? Does Apex have the right to put you in debt if you don't have the money for a rebuy?
• For renting from another player:
  • Are there any equipment rules that the game will enforce?
  • Does the ship owner set the rental price, or is it calculated by the game? Does the ship's equipment and/or the distance of flight, influence the price?
  • Can you rent Fed/Imp ships that are above your naval rank?
  • Same concern about a ship going boom, do you have to put in a deposit ahead of time, or can another player put you in debt if you blow up their ship?
  • If a renter blows up my ship, where does the replacement ship spawn and in what amount of time?
  • If a renter commits a crime with my ship, does it become my problem?
  • Can players allow one-way rentals? Can they dictate which dropoff ports are allowed for their ships? If I want my ships moved from the bubble to Colonia, can I offer discounted/free use of my ships for pilots who are making the trek?
  • Can I restrict my rentals to squadron/friends? If I allow everybody to rent, could I give my squadron or my friends a discount?
• Do they charge late fees?
• For one-way rentals, do they make you declare ahead of time, which port you're going to drop it off at?

I'm going to answer in order, I apologize for the delay:

• Apex Rental
  • Yes, I think fuel Scoops should be an option
    • If Apex won't get you more than X-ly away, then a ship rental could.
  • Deposit, optional insurance, I think they should put you in debt, somehow. Maybe send you straight to jail to pay off the debt?
    • Just like real car rentals, if you opt for insurance, then that is what is lost in and no more in the event of a catastrophe, but if you don't, you are responsible for the whole cost.
• Player Rental
  • As I stated, my thoughts are to limit certain functionality to persuade against using these as daily drivers: no cargo holds, no player-controlled weapons, etc. At the same time, I think there should be some perks available if you so choose: Higher range FSD, interdictor blocker, etc.; all at an added cost. (This could also work as Apex Rental)
  • Ship owner sets price, distance/equipment would affect the price
    • So much per ls, ly, kly, etc.
  • I initially thought no, but then I began to think about and decided on yes: With limited functionality (no cargo holds, no player-controlled weapons, etc.) and not being able to fully utilize it, I would say its ok to rent something outside your rank.
  • I think a deposit up front would be necessary to avoid this situation and avoid bankruptcy. I haven't been through bankruptcy, so I am not sure how that mechanic works
  • Let's put a GTA spin on this: Calls Mors Mutual and then your ship is ready at its nearest location. In all seriousness, I think this could work, picking random spawn points throughout the systems is no different than purchasing a ship; they're only in certain places. Then you can pay to have it relocated to you or maybe some other mechanic implemented.
  • No, it is the renter's problem.
  • I think that mechanic could be implemented, but it would be difficult to track IMO. I think when it comes to player-based rentals, they should have full control of pricing, distance, one-way/round-trip, etc. But not including the no cargo holds/weapons. This is a ship for flying only, basically. No working/monetary gain, or at least limited (IMO)
  • I would say yes, again like GTA, you can limit who is allowed in your cars/properties/ships to: friends, crew, friends and crew, no one, everyone.
• No late fees, per se: My thought is when you make a rental, one-way or round trip, a timer is displayed saying you have x hours/days whatever to get there (fair time frame). If you extend past this time, the next station you dock at will immediately repo the ship. Kick you out of the cockpit and place you into the concourse (Odyssey), for Horizon... maybe bring up the "rebuy" screen to place you into a ship (Free or otherwise) - didn't think about Horizon as hard as I did for Odyssey...
• Yes, again much like RL, when you rent a car, or U-Haul, you are picking a drop off destination at the same time. If you do not drop off at the agreed upon destination, then you cannot drop off. If you extend past your time then the ship gets repossessed, you go to jail, and any fees associated get paid to owner due to being in jail.

Again, this is just my opinion, and I am not a programmer/designer at all, so I do not know if this would work in reality or not. I know for me, I wanted to leave a ship at a certain station, and I was not able to use Apex to get to another ship. I could have had ship delivered, but I didn't want to do that. That's where this idea came from.

 

[Wheeltalk]

All good. I wasn't trying to poke any holes - I just figured in case an FDev product manager reads this thread, it's better if one of us actually answers those questions, so they know what we, the players, want.

I'll add another one, too. I built a rescue ship yesterday, that I plan on leaving on one of my squadron mates' carriers, in case it's ever needed. If they let us indefinitely leave limpets in the cargo hold of a ship, and allow our squadron mates to borrow the ship for only the cost of any limpets used, and not one red credit more, then I'd start building more of those for fun.