Why can we not select one of our ships to start with at beginning of play?

[Ethaidan]

Again, how much damage can a cargo load really do?

And as far as BGS and PP goes, is going to the effort to purchase, load, deliver, and park a bunch of T9s really worth the effort on the off-chance that later circumstances make it beneficial to bulk sell or buy?
Also, anything that finally kills off the walking dead thing that is PP must be a good thing right?

Joking aside, the OP's suggestion would transform the game for me.

Actually, in the wrong hands, I think it could be used to devastating effect.

And entire faction could slowly load up multiple T9s each, spread out over a few days, and leave them parked at or near the station/system target. Then log in to one ship-deliver, log into another-deliver, log into another-deliver, etc. No travelling to and fro, just a massive immediate attack that can be built up over days by storing full ships while just casually going about doing other things. An obvious easy fix for that type of exploit would be to empty the cargo hold of a ship as soon as you log out of it - but can you imagine the community salt that would generate? Crash during session - cargo lost, need to stretch out collecting meta alloys over 1 session, cargo lost...

I can see how this feature would definitely benefit some, possibly many, players (even me, I would have multiple ships, but I don't tend to embrace exploity/gamey nonsense a feature like this would avail), but... I think the potential damage, in the wrong hands, would outweigh the benefits.

I am, however, on the fence regards me jumping on a transport at the end of a session so I can log into a different (home) station and leave my ship behind somewhere - maybe we'll see this when we can walk around stations? Also, I'm in favour of sending a ship ahead using the transport system - I see no issues with that at all. If I can send for it, suryi can send it ahead?

 

[Han Zulu]

The only thing I wish could be added is when you have multiple accounts, to be able to switch between them from the game menu instead of exiting, and having different exe-files for different logins. If I've paid for 2-3 accounts, why not allow different logins from the menu? It would make it more convenient.

 

[Azreh Helas]

This is totally against my idea of what the game is.

Same here, the game is a space flight simulator sandbox.

I would rather suggest that we could be able to hire taxis with super engineered parts that's focused on jumping. Like a Taxi Diamondback or asp that could do 50-60 ly per jump

 

[MadDogMurdock]

So, to get past the Cargo exploits that have everyone so vexed.
If you leave the game with cargo in your ship, then that is the only ship available to log into.

That reduces the flexibility somewhat - i.e. Activities like the Guardian Ruins would have to be played out with no breaks in other ships.

So with that in place, carry on.

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

So, to get past the Cargo exploits that have everyone so vexed.
If you leave the game with cargo in your ship, then that is the only ship available to log into.

That reduces the flexibility somewhat - i.e. Activities like the Guardian Ruins would have to be played out with no breaks in other ships.

So with that in place, carry on.

Same with passengers.
Data courier missions too - otherwise you could take a mission at location A, log out, log in to a ship at location B and hand the mission in. Rinse and repeat.
No exploration data either. 60kLYs from home? No problem. Just log in to a ship in the Bubble and hand it in.

But sure, with those restrictions in place, go ahead

 

[MadDogMurdock]

Same with passengers.
Data courier missions too - otherwise you could take a mission at location A, log out, log in to a ship at location B and hand the mission in. Rinse and repeat.
No exploration data either. 60kLYs from home? No problem. Just log in to a ship in the Bubble and hand it in.

But sure, with those restrictions in place, go ahead

Missions (including passengers) and Nav Data can be tied to the ship in the same way that bounties are.

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

Missions (including passengers) and Nav Data can be tied to the ship in the same way that bounties are.

As I said earlier, the issues with C&P and tying things to ships not Cmdrs suggests that that isn't a trivial change.

Also, it'd be great for blockade running.
Since you can't be stopped LEAVING a station, just buy a Sidey at the blockaded station, fly your T9 full of cargo missions out and deliver, then log in to the Sidey, summon the T9 and repeat.

 

[Cmdr. Numa]

I've suggested this long ago and was even more viciously shot down verbally. I'm still all for it. We already telepresence into fighter, we already telepresence into multicrew, we already instantly reappear where we last docked (with the new C&P exceptions) after destruction. I've long since started to see my Avatar on my ship as an android clone that can be remote controlled. I can easily see one being on every ship, so I have no problems with the idea and would welcome it greatly, with the needed safeguards at exploiting things as mentioned in this thread.

 

[MadDogMurdock]

As I said earlier, the issues with C&P and tying things to ships not Cmdrs suggests that that isn't a trivial change.

Also, it'd be great for blockade running.
Since you can't be stopped LEAVING a station, just buy a Sidey at the blockaded station, fly your T9 full of cargo missions out and deliver, then log in to the Sidey, summon the T9 and repeat.

FD can be the judge of what is and isn't a trivial change.
Also, triviality is not the measure of a good suggestion.

I'm pretty sure mode switching already dodges a block far more easily than your contrived solution.

 

[Han Zulu]

As I said earlier, the issues with C&P and tying things to ships not Cmdrs suggests that that isn't a trivial change.

Also, it'd be great for blockade running.
Since you can't be stopped LEAVING a station, just buy a Sidey at the blockaded station, fly your T9 full of cargo missions out and deliver, then log in to the Sidey, summon the T9 and repeat.

Well, you can deliver the cargo, summon the sidey, fly side back, summon the T9, already right now. As long as both stations or stations close by have shipyards. This is how I move some of the less kylie capable ships. Call my skippy (a FSD charged hauler). Jump in it, fly to destination, call the bigger/low-ly ship.

 

[ZeroAi]

So you want basically to have it that the commander actually is doing everything by telepresence.

I never said anything even close to that lol.

I just want to choose which ship I spawn in when I start the game, like the OP.

If you'd bothered to read any of the current replies you'd have seen that nobody has mentioned immersion

Hmm, so does that mean "fake" and "magical unicorns" were posted in responses already?

Like I said, in the many previous posts on the subject those have been some of the many indefensible arguments - indefensible because of all the instant mechanisms already in the game.

the arguments against have revolved around how it is incompatible with pretty much all the existing game mechanics and would be open to abuse and exploitation.

Doznes of profitable and popular AAA open world games on the market already have a feature like this.

But if those in "Open" are worried some people may save 15 minutes in hyperspace so they can meet up with their friends quicker, then just support in it Solo and PGs.

Or don't support it at all and leave it for the next big space game to implement.

I'm sure you feel better now that you've blown off some steam, so maybe you could respond to some of the comments that actually exist

Yeah, I'm glad I could beat the "magical unicorn" forum goers to the punch, however I'd much rather see the game working again.

If everything is easy, the least easy option is the hardest.

You are able to fly your body around in space, lets keep that illusion shall we?

"Two to beam up. .... Engage!" - "Why are we flying in space when we can beam around like this?"

You're already "magically" doing things currently in the game that make no sense, but you're unable to see your doing the impossible, and just lashing out at players who want to pick a ship to spawn to eliminate having to slow travel everywhere they've already been.

I guess you can't see the magical unicorn if you're already riding it!

Maybe FDev will read your post and realize that since FTL is currently impossible they should eliminate Hyperspace from the game.

Then you'll no longer "magically" beam your ship between systems, and you'll happily be forced to "slow travel" between the stars.

The only thing I wish could be added is when you have multiple accounts, to be able to switch between them from the game menu instead of exiting, and having different exe-files for different logins. If I've paid for 2-3 accounts, why not allow different logins from the menu? It would make it more convenient.

I totally agree, however I don't think we'll get it in Elite Dangerous as it wasn't built-in from the ground up.

That said, most games that came out this decade have supported that feature, and it's much appreciated.

Another one that didn't is Eve Valkerie - they don't even have a clear save feature :-( :-( :-(

Same here, the game is a space flight simulator sandbox.

I would rather suggest that we could be able to hire taxis with super engineered parts that's focused on jumping. Like a Taxi Diamondback or asp that could do 50-60 ly per jump

Funny, computer and console Flight and Driving simulators DO NOT require you to fly everywhere you want to visit. Never have.

And I respect your opinion that Elite is a sandbox, but imo it is totally not a sandbox but a multiplayer open world game.

To me, games like Minecraft and Dual Universe are sandboxes because you can build anything you want. Elite is more like mmo's with a big shared open world with quests and very limited crafting, but you can't build anything new - only mix existing items.

And I've already spent the time to engineer an ASPx and DBX that I use as my taxis, and each get around 50ly jump range.

That said, it still takes 10-15 minutes to travel 400lys to meet up with friends, which is why I would like to choose which ship to spawn in.

Note - it wouldn't be needed so much if we had more than combat roles in Multi-crew, but it doesn't seem like that's going to be expanded.

I've suggested this long ago and was even more viciously shot down verbally. I'm still all for it. We already telepresence into fighter, we already telepresence into multicrew, we already instantly reappear where we last docked (with the new C&P exceptions) after destruction. I've long since started to see my Avatar on my ship as an android clone that can be remote controlled. I can easily see one being on every ship, so I have no problems with the idea and would welcome it greatly, with the needed safeguards at exploiting things as mentioned in this thread.

+Rep well said

 

[Para Handy]

I never said anything even close to that lol.

I just want to choose which ship I spawn in when I start the game, like the OP.


...............

So what "mechanism" are you going to explain how your Commander can physically jump up to many thousands of light-years between the location where your ships are docked in the time it takes to reload the game?

Seriously, your idea could only be accommodated by supporting "telepresence" - so LOL all you like.

 

[Seizewell Warrior]

None of the other single player space games have what the OP is proposing either. In Terran Conflict, if I'm in Herrons Nebula I would still need to navigate the gates to Aladna Hill or make several jumps depending on my ECell capacity. And you still have to take your existing ship with you. The only possible way this could work is a player "transfer" similar to recalling a ship from a distant station. So this would be on a AI generated passenger flight which would be calculated to take the same time as travelling there jumping continually, during which time you are locked out from doing anything else. So 25 K LY from Sol to Colonia jumping 25 LY each minute is going to take around 16 or 17 hours.

Any form of "instant" travel is going to negate just about everything ED is all about. Otherwise we will have players in Saggy-A suddenly materialising in Ceos, hang on nothing happening here let's check out Achenar totally destroying any credibility of the concept that space is so big it takes time to travel. The only exception to that is destruction/rebuy which transmutes you back instantly in time but I'm guessing that's only because anything other than that would raise a massive hue and cry.

 

[MadDogMurdock]

If we're falling back on immersion as the only argument left then there's no longer any reason not to implement the OP's idea.

We're way past the point of ED being anything other than a game.
It gave up being a simulation before it was even released.

There is very little advantage to be gained by logging into different ships in different locations and the additional convenience that provides opens up a great deal more flexibility.

Doing pretty much anything in the game requires a full time commitment to a particular ship in a particular location.
Switching gameplay styles can often waste a whole session.

In a typical week I have to choose to do one thing and one thing only.

I'd gain a great deal from the idea with special purpose ships at appropriate locations.
-- Big freighter parked in the Pleiades for Station Repairs and Medicine runs.
-- Passenger ship at the latest Damaged Station for refugees.
-- Ships to move around the bubble for this weeks CGs.
-- A ship out in Colonia.
-- An exploration ship on a long term trip to Beagle Point.
-- A mining ship at my favourite ring system.
-- A ship out at the Guardians sites doing that.
-- A general purpose mission running ship based in the bubble.
-- Combat ship at my favourite Res. site.
-- A ship placed wherever my friends like to hang out to do wing stuff.

Done properly:
I would still need to fly these ships around as events change.
I would still need to fly those ships to complete the missions they were used for.
I would still need to return to the bubble to cash in exploration data.
If I leave cargo in a ship, that's the ship I have to log in to.
etc.

This is primarily a game about the ships, not the pilot.

This idea does not reduce the scale of space in the way that increasing FSDs, jump gates, or instant ship transfer does.
Moving the pilot around doesn't achieve anything on its own.

 

[Robert Maynard]

This is primarily a game about the ships, not the pilot.

.... yet the pilot can only be where they have travelled to in a ship (unless they "died").

.... in a game about flying ships around the galaxy.

What is being requested is a form of fast travel - and would permit players of particular play-styles to inflict their own brand of merriment and mischief on others around the galaxy much more easily.

I don't agree with the contention that the game is primarily about the ships - as it is the CMDR who gains ranks and reputation, has a credit balance, is welcomed by any mission giver, etc.. The CMDR owns assets and can dispose of them / replace them at will, after all.

 

[zombieapocalypse]

Such a suggestion is not only contrary to the spirit/intent of the game and series, but it opens a whole array of possible exploits, increases the potential for griefing, reduces the scale of the galaxy, and turns ED into little more than an arcade game. You might as well reduce the galaxy to just 20 or 30 systems and have done with it.

 

[Hell Razor5543]

I could see where being able to select which ship to start out in would work, and this is when you logged out when docked at a Station where you had more than one ship. Provided there was no cargo in the ship you last used, and there were no missions pending (and all of the ships were of the same legal status) it would not, in these circumstances, be unreasonable to allow the Player to choose which ship they got in. However, ship at other locations would not be available to choose from.

 

[MadDogMurdock]

.... yet the pilot can only be where they have travelled to in a ship (unless they "died").

So instant pilot transfer (and ship) is already accepted as a necessary mechanism in certain circumstances.

.... in a game about flying ships around the galaxy.

Indeed, and you would still need to do that to achieve anything in the game.

What is being requested is a form of fast travel - and would permit players of particular play-styles to inflict their own brand of merriment and mischief on others around the galaxy much more easily.

I don't fear the bogeyman. It would allow everyone to play whichever playstyle suits their mood at the time.

I don't agree with the contention that the game is primarily about the ships - as it is the CMDR who gains ranks and reputation, has a credit balance, is welcomed by any mission giver, etc.. The CMDR owns assets and can dispose of them / replace them at will, after all.

That is merely how we keep score.

 

[Rochester]

This is totally against my idea of what the game is.

Totally agree, we all accept the game is not 100% based within reality but this concept is not in line with FD plans. Understandable that some want instant access / action and that's the obstacle FD are facing when building this title - ED is a lonely, long haul, where you might die at the end and loose everything. Unfortunately it feels more and more that FD are steering away from what Elite used to stand for.

I respect your comments and kudos but this not where I would want the game going.

 

[Robert Maynard]

So instant pilot transfer (and ship) is already accepted as a necessary mechanism in certain circumstances.

When not playing the game, yes - relocation on destruction is a concession to continued gameplay (i.e. the player does not need to wait for an unspecified period of time for their "escape pod" to be recovered and processed). Similarly the instant availability of an exact duplicate of their ship (at the time of destruction, excluding contents). Being "dead" is not playing, in this game.

Indeed, and you would still need to do that to achieve anything in the game.

Except for the instant teleportation of one's CMDR between any location that they have chose to strategically store a ship.

I don't fear the bogeyman. It would allow everyone to play whichever playstyle suits their mood at the time.

The bogeyman does not exist. Players who go out of their way to adversely affect others do, however. The consequence of choosing to travel to any location in the galaxy, in this game, is that one cannot suddenly choose to be elsewhere - which, given the scale of the galaxy, is entirely appropriate, in my opinion of course.

That is merely how we keep score.

Ships don't define the CMDR.

It's probably worth noting that when the player-base was asked whether ship transfer should be instant or delayed they overwhelmingly chose delayed - which doesn't seem to suggest that fast travel to anywhere in the galaxy would be that well supported by that same player-base....