USS KENTUCKY

[d8veh]

I use mine as a mobile base, so I can switch between different activities at a moment's notice. All my ready-to-use ships are based on board the carrier (minus a few item storages and mothballed ships in Shinrarta). Before I owned my FC, I would waste hours flying from A over B and C to D just to fetch a ship or new modules for a different activity (e.g. If I had been mining for a bit in my Cutter and decided to do some AX combat, I would need to fly my Cutter to Shinrarta, get into a long range ship, then fly to either Pleiades or Witch Head to get my AX ship...and then I'd probably be bored already and turn Elite off for the evening). Today, I simply plot one jump for my Carrier and get going.

I don't get it. Don't you have to find/get fuel for the carrier, which is going to take time. You have to go to the carrier to get your fuel ship, get the fuel and bring it back. What is it - something like 8 jumps for a Cutter full? I can jump from one side of the bubble to the other in my DBX taxi in the same time it takes to shift a carrier or less, then call up any ship in my fleet. My fleet is spread all around the bubble, with each ship in an ideal location for its activity, so in most cases, I don't even have to call it up.

the FC made me take greater risks (e.g. exploring High-G worlds) without the fear of losing weeks or even months of work.

That's taken away the only exciting thing about exploring a long way from home. It's a bit like combat with NPCs in a low RES using a fully engineered Corvette - seeing how many you can kill with only one shot. It's not really fun. Did you ever find anything on a high G world that you didn't find mon a low G one?

 

[Chris Simon]

I don't get it. Don't you have to find/get fuel for the carrier, which is going to take time. You have to go to the carrier to get your fuel ship, get the fuel and bring it back. What is it - something like 8 jumps for a Cutter full? I can jump from one side of the bubble to the other in my DBX taxi in the same time it takes to shift a carrier or less, then call up any ship in my fleet. My fleet is spread all around the bubble, with each ship in an ideal location for its activity, so in most cases, I don't even have to call it up.

I guess that depends on your mindset entirely.
Some people take golf as a well-spent afternoon. Other people take their car and take it to a track day and would find golfing boring.
I think majority of people here are more on that golf side of things and tending to their carriers actually keeps them playing.

Not me and I suspect you, too .
You take your Hurtmaker and go kill things, I'd rather spend a day zooming through canyons but we are not most people. Most people apparently need a proper anchor.

 

[Astaran]

I don't get it. Don't you have to find/get fuel for the carrier, which is going to take time. You have to go to the carrier to get your fuel ship, get the fuel and bring it back. What is it - something like 8 jumps for a Cutter full? I can jump from one side of the bubble to the other in my DBX taxi in the same time it takes to shift a carrier or less, then call up any ship in my fleet. My fleet is spread all around the bubble, with each ship in an ideal location for its activity, so in most cases, I don't even have to call it up.

Refuelling the carrier isn't that much of a deal. My Cutter takes 720t and I use a bit under 100t fuel per 500ly jump. So depending on how much I jump around, it's more than 8 jumps per Cutter load. I don't "waste" my time looking for cheap Tritium anymore. I've just accepted that it's pricy to move a carrier around and buy at around 50k now (last time I played it was still at 40k. No idea what happend during my break that increased the Tritium price).

Well, of course you can use a DBX taxi and call in your next ship (although you'll have to wait for it's arrival then anyway). I use the 15min jump timer to either read forums/social media, do some RL workout or I play around with ship outfitting. It's not a big deal to me. When I do long carrier journeys (e.g. exploration) over more than 10k ly distance, I plan them around Sunday, so I can watch NFL Football in TV and jump the carrier in the meantime.

I think the main difference between us, is that I am more of a Nomad in Elite anyway. There's no place I call "home" or a place where I am tied to due to Powerplay or BGS or just nostalgia. Even Jameson Memorial was just a storage out of convinience, but it was never "home". Now my "home" is my carrier and it genuinely feels like "returning home" when I hear ATC Blair "Welcome me aboard this carrier".

That's taken away the only exciting thing about exploring a long way from home. It's a bit like combat with NPCs in a low RES using a fully engineered Corvette - seeing how many you can kill with only one shot. It's not really fun. Did you ever find anything on a high G world that you didn't find mon a low G one?

Elite is a videogame I play just to relax and to get away from daily life and stress. I don't need any "thrill" or "adrenalin rush" (like PvP in EVE Online) in a videogame to get me hooked up. I get my fun out of the game in a different way. Combat in Elite is just something I just "do". I don't find High CZ much more "fun" than a low CZ or even a low haz res. Most if the time I only do it for the engineering materials anyway

 

[ky4jw]

I prefer the USS Louisville.

That was cute !!

 

[Morbad]

Personally, FCs are number two, closely following Engineers, on my list of the the worst content additions to the game.