Small landing shuttle for large ships

[UberMeg67]

I've had an idea! It doesn't happen very often.

So with the new Bridging the Gap II including the fabulous idea of a ferry between 2 distant places, i decided to take my Fed Corvette out of the garage for this challenge. With the ferry I don't need a huge jump range, and with the Corvette, i can bring a fighter hanger, SRV and tons of cargo space...
However, i didn't take into account that I wouldn't be able to use the new Outposts, because they only support small and medium landing pads... grrrr

So my idea is simples...
How about an option to be able to carry one small shuttle in large ships! One that would be capable of landing on small landing pads and carry a small amount of cargo. The trade off would be that you might have to do several small trips between the big ship and the station to pickup or drop off large amounts cargo/commodities, but have the convenience of being able to use facilities restricted by smaller landing pads. Also no hardpoints, purely basic transport. And maybe grab a sandwich and a cup of tea.
What do you think?

 

[jnTracks]

A skiff! To ferry you to and from small stations or planet surfaces! It would need to contain it's own SRV or something..... Or maybe it could be a hybrid SLS (ship launched skiff) and SRV. So it would be "amphibious". You could do SRV things in it, and also land at small pads to do any data transactions, but couldn't do outfitting or anything that would require your cargo bigger than 1 or 2 tons.

 

[Schmack]

I like the idea for planets, not for outposts. There's a balance issue that keeps things in perspective regarding trade off for ship sizes. It would be interesting though, for only courier missions.

 

[Captain Willard]

OR. You could fly a small ship. Big ships=fail here
How piquant. Get with the program.

 

[MickyG1982]

Here's how I see this going...

Happy trader in big ship, gets to drop their stuff off at an outpost with their lovely shuttle.

Pirate, hangs about at the outpost, kills the shuttle with his ship (most outposts don't care much about you fighting).

Much whining ensues "it's not fair, you are a cheat etc" because trader can no longer complete their mission and has just lost their only means of trading with the outpost...

Forum fills up again with "pirate ganked my shuttle" posts with open letters calling for FD to sort it out etc...

 

[lenna]

How about an option to be able to carry one small shuttle in large ships! One that would be capable of landing on small landing pads and carry a small amount of cargo. The trade off would be that you might have to do several small trips between the big ship and the station to pickup or drop off large amounts cargo/commodities, but have the convenience of being able to use facilities restricted by smaller landing pads. Also no hardpoints, purely basic transport. And maybe grab a sandwich and a cup of tea.
What do you think?

The idea is not exactly new and could be addressed using the current SLF mechanics perhaps.

Another option would be for a new type of drone controller to be added (c/f collector drone or fuel transfer drone) that enables the exchange of cargo between a ship and a facility (not other ships necessarily). The "Trade Drone Controller" would notionally be usable anywhere too (not just stations a ship could not directly dock at) but they would probably be quite slow and not be dependent on landing pad availability. It would notionally require remote access to the trade menu - and perhaps the station mission menu but not the passenger menu - and may lay the ground work for notionally XL size vessels (e.g. Panther Clipper).

As for PvP/PvE piracy concerns with either system - it is a risk the player takes by using such a system. In addition, they would notionally have to compromise their build to accommodate the remote trade feature however it is implemented (assuming it ever is).

 

[Boff'in]

Been asked time and time again.

Small shuttles could only load offload clumps, and if piloted and players must dock/redock between station and ship- it will soon lose its appeal.

but if you have a small fleet of AI limpets, or a group of limpets that have, well, a fishing net. and just bundle all the cargo and then hoist it over.

 

[Lestat]

I rather have players use some basic common sense when accepting a mission and check to see how large the station is. It not that hard to click Galaxy map and buy System data and view if a station big or small. We don't need a feature that could be used to clog small station preventing small medium ships from landing forcing them into solo mode.

 

[lenna]

I rather have players use some basic common sense when accepting a mission and check to see how large the station is. It not that hard to click Galaxy map and buy System data and view if a station big or small. We don't need a feature that could be used to clog small station preventing small medium ships from landing forcing them into solo mode.

The trade drone idea would allow even smaller ships to bypass that issue, and if implemented would not create the circumstances you are fearing would be the case.

 

[Warprider]

Well if spacelegs ever shows up maybe you could just park your ship and float over to the station. Remember to lock the doors though

 

[VR CMDR Novindus]

This has been suggested before, and is a good idea despite the nonsense about needing to artificially balance ships, and the oft-repeated bizarre notion that the request for a ship-launched cargo vessel would not be needed if people just checked the landing destination before accepting a mission.

I calculated in a previous thread that you could have a dedicated 100 tonne cargo vessel with an overall volume somewhat smaller than that of a Dolphin. This would make it viable to be launched from a Type-9, Type-10, or Imperial Cutter, with the requirement that the hangar needs a size 8 internal slot. You could then have smaller versions with less cargo space that could be launched from some of the other medium to large ships, with size 7 and 6 internal slots for the hangars.

Regarding balance, trying to say that a large ship shouldn't be capable of carrying a cargo vessel that can land on a small or medium pad, is like saying that small ships should not be so agile and harder to hit. Essentially, it's an attempt to artificially negate an advantage or disadvantage that is determined by the physical nature of the subject. Bigger ships are bigger, and so should have more space in their hulls for cargo and anything else, and thereby be naturally more suited for transporting large amounts of cargo. Oddly though, some people complain that this makes small ships comparatively far less useful for trading.

In any case, using a cargo vessel to make multiple runs between ship and landing pad has its own inherent costs, in credits, reduced cargo space due to the required hangar, and time spent. It's more than enough of a trade off, as it will leave many people preferring to trade only at stations with large pads, or else use a medium ship. Those who choose the cargo vessel route will largely be doing it for the novelty of it, or the roleplaying factor, or because they have a particularly profitable route planned, and they're practised in it enough to accomplish it without too much extra time.

As for your ship being fired on while you're making a cargo run, well that's a risk you choose to take. Otherwise, you could run multicrew or wing up.