This post tries to implement my ideas using existing mechanics and I try to keep in mind what I imagine are the technical limitations of the engine
I am more than willing to cooperate with Frontier over the course of this summer on refining these ideas, even if just theoretically. I believe Carriers were done a big injustice and that they can be greatly improved to make them more desirable for the community.
I'm tired as I finish writing this, so I'll update this with edits when I think of more stuff.
TL;DR:
Interior:
Services:
- the commander has docking access; (no docking access = "no docking access" error when selecting the carrier as a destination)
- they're less than x Ly away from it; (too far = Apex not available in wheel menu)
- a standard shuttle can traverse that space; (non-traversable space = deep space with far-apart stars or permit walls) (condition fails = route plotting fails in the galaxy map)
then they can call shuttles to said carrier. This is especially helpful in deep space. x could be anywhere from 50 to 100 Ly.
Piloting:
Balancing+stats+Misc changes:
I am more than willing to cooperate with Frontier over the course of this summer on refining these ideas, even if just theoretically. I believe Carriers were done a big injustice and that they can be greatly improved to make them more desirable for the community.
I'm tired as I finish writing this, so I'll update this with edits when I think of more stuff.
TL;DR:
- Fleet Carrier interior made of Concourse + Bridge (cockpit)
- Possible way to add Concourse-only services to Carriers and incentivize player use
- Fleet Carrier flight model and possible ways to integrate it with the docking system and the instancing system
- Misc changes
Interior:
- The Concourse of a carrier should be more like that of a prison ship or outpost: reduced in size, focused on practicality and managing space.
- The offices for the existing services should be like produce market stalls: small offices that are closed with a metal rolling door when they're suspended or not installed.
- When a carrier is decommissioned with players inside, they should be transported with their belongings to the nearest starport (or wherever stored ships go from decommissioned carriers)
- The physical location of the Concourse could be either at the base of the bridge "tower" or be the bridge itself and it must have at least a front and back view to account for Carrier layouts like the Nautilus
- The owner's bridge (optionally, with a separate set of access permissions) is at the very top of the carrier, which can be accessed through the exit elevators, by adding a "Bridge" item to the elevator menu. The bridge view is wide and, again, should cover the back as well. It contains the captain's chair (a standard ship chair with a standard UI when you sit in it)
- The Concourse/whole carrier should have an internal message board for visitors, where the owner can delete unsavory messages and where blocked users can't send messages. If you make it Carrier-wide maybe you can integrate it into the chat system?
Services:
- Adding a material trader service which generates a small profit for the owner as well as a carrier material storage space
- Occupying the above mentioned space in the Concourse, pilot-only services should be available to purchase in Fleet Carrier Admin systems. As with the other services, the representative can be swapped and said representative should be the same as the person behind the counter. Optionally, as a cosmetic alternative (and to make the carrier feel more mechanical), the owner may choose to "automate the services" and replace the representatives with monitors.
- Inter Astra comes as standard if the Fleet Carrier has a shipyard and should be renamed "Shipyard office"
- Frontline might not be an option given its faction-bound nature.
- Bartenders come as standard and all transactions have a small chance to generate profit for the owner; also requires adding carrier storage for assets and goods
- Apex needs a little something extra to make players want to use it, and at a markup no less. And I think that something is the ability to choose coordinates for the planet you want to land on, ONLY on the Fleet Carrier Apex. Then, the shuttle would look for a landing spot as close as possible to the selected spot. This would be great for feet-only explorers, sightseeing etc.
- Due to the aforementioned change, I believe the Apex service could use a different name. I'm not sure though. Maybe "Shuttle Office"?
- If:
- the commander has docking access; (no docking access = "no docking access" error when selecting the carrier as a destination)
- they're less than x Ly away from it; (too far = Apex not available in wheel menu)
- a standard shuttle can traverse that space; (non-traversable space = deep space with far-apart stars or permit walls) (condition fails = route plotting fails in the galaxy map)
then they can call shuttles to said carrier. This is especially helpful in deep space. x could be anywhere from 50 to 100 Ly.
Piloting:
- A blue circle is behind the Captain's chair, allowing the Captain to sit down and pilot the Carrier, using a normal, albeit limited ship control scheme;
- When the Captain sits in the chair, all passengers are given an alert akin to "Attention: Carrier manouver in progress" or something;
- The Carrier can only move forward and be rotated slowly and has very slow acceleration and deceleration;
- When the carrier moves, everyone in every instance is able to see the motion;
- When the Captain sits up, the Carrier's rotation and new position are updated.
- Carrier jumps can have lower preparation times (like 2-5 minutes) when the Captain is piloting the carrier. As a downside, when the Captain is piloting, the carrier has to be manually rotated towards the destination
- The carrier's motion is instantly halted if it tries to breach a body's exclusion zone (it simply won't move unless it's rotated "upwards" towards a valid direction)
- While piloting the carrier, the "flight assist" option is replaced with "safe flight protocols".
- While SFP is on, the carrier is limited to 200m/s and can only turn very very slowly.
- When SFP is turned off, passengers are warned that the carrier is performing high speed maneuvers and that they should brace themselves. e.g. "Attention: High speed maneuver in progress."
- SFP - off slightly increases rotation speed, and increases maximum forward speed to at least 1000m/s. Acceleration/deceleration are still as slow, and rotation is no longer possible past 200m
- SFP - off results in the carrier's POI marker being removed from the navigation panel until the Captain re-enables SFP, sits up or disconnects. The POI's location upon ending SFP (which body it's connected to) will be updated accordingly
- SFP - off will result in the docking bays retracting, preventing ships from docking.
- Ships can still perform an emergency undock from a SFP-off carrier to avoid being trapped. Doing so will grant them temporary damage immunity and eject them from the carrier, perpendicular from the landing pad, inheriting the carrier's forward speed, then rapidly and forcefully decelerating to 0 (all ships should take like 10 seconds to fully decelerate). The damage immunity lasts until the ship has completely stopped moving.
- Stations are protected from carrier collision by not allowing SFP-on carriers closer than 10km, and not allowing SFP-off carriers closer than 20km
- The actions of turning on/off Carrier controls when entering or exiting the seat as well as switching between SFP modes should take a long time. At least 30 seconds each.
- While the Carrier is being piloted, the turrets lose their Reverb Cascade and gain normal turret behavior, specifically target-only and fire at will. Yes, this can be abused in combat zones. See the Balancing changes below for a potential lore-friendly solution.
- Carriers will be firmly repelled away (like ships are repelled during a Carrier's jump animation) if they get too close to immovable objects like asteroids, another carrier's landing pads, Stellar Phenomena items etc. This "collision hitbox" also covers 200-300m above the landing pads to prevent the Captain or other Carriers from blocking them. The repelling range of the objects should be quite small, maybe even small but strong enough to allow low-speed collisions. This will prevent the Carrier from turning into a pinball in asteroid rings.
- While a Carrier is jumping, all elevators are disabled and all offices are in their closed state. Visitors can watch the jump from the Concourse. (Alternatively, the Concourse windows can become tinted black until the jump finishes)
Balancing+stats+Misc changes:
- Carriers will have Heat Relays exposed while the Captain is piloting it. If all the Relays are destroyed, the Carrier will immediately jump to another body/location in the system and its turrets will be completely disabled for 15-30 minutes.
- Sitting up from the Captain chair in a CZ is not possible. Logging off mid-battle will cause the carrier to immediately jump away to another side of the CZ body and enter its cooldown state.
- Turret damage is mediocre, but adds up nicely if all turrets are firing on the same target.
- Sensor typical emission range is 15-20km
- Carriers gain a new setting which decides whether they can draw tritium directly from the cargo