Elite: Dangerous Fleet Carriers — The good, the not so good, and what can be improved

Source: Frontier Developments

Elite: Dangerous is a massive game full of things to do. But developer Frontier Developments added in new aspirational content not besides long ago that far outpaced the usual Anaconda, Corvette, Cutter trifecta that people often shoot for. Fleet Carriers, gargantuan ships that can act as a mobile base of operations, ushered in a new era for players.

Armada Carriers, as the proper noun implies, can haul your fleet, act as a mobile commodity market, ship and outfitting g, and even black market. These are the largest ships that players can purchase, since we've never been able to purchase upper-case letter ships, and they certainly deliver on their basic premises. But they're also astronomically expensive, non simply to purchase but besides to maintain.

I've had my Fleet Carrier for some fourth dimension at present, and I've played around with it. I've made huge jumps, and I've parked it 1 organisation away from my favorite mining spot for now. So here are my thoughts on what it's like owning 1 of these giants. Spoiler: I'yard non a fan.

o7

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Fleet Carriers: The good

Source: Windows Central

I love having a mobile base of operations of operations. Wherever I am, I know that I can land safely on my carrier and bound to a new arrangement. As long as I have tritium, I'm good to get. Afterward some initial exploration, I decided to park my carrier, named Lawmaking Lyoko, in a system neighboring my current favorite mining hotspot.

Once I recoup some of the sunk costs and stock up on tritium, I program to take my carrier far out into the deep of space. I may head to Colonia, or Beagle Point, or Sag A, or wherever I desire to become. Yeah, it takes a long fourth dimension (15 minutes) to spring again, just that gives me a chance to scout the arrangement I land in (or nearby ones). The opportunities that a 500ly jump range offering are practically endless as far as the Milky Way goes.

It also is awesome conveying all of my ships around. I always want to fly my engineered Imperial Hawkeye more, but its poor bound range has always meant that I've kept it safely stored in Sol, and I wing around the solar system when I need a speed set up. But now I can take my Python out for mining, DBX out for some exploration, and Imp Eagle for some speed runs (or canyon runs, if I find whatsoever).

Fleet Carriers: The non so adept

Source: Windows Fundamental

Alas, that's where the fun of a Fleet carrier ends. Showtime and foremost, the biggest problem with them is the weekly upkeep costs. It essentially requires you to play Aristocracy: Dangerous consistently to make certain your bank account isn't tuckered. And so that meant that I logged on one time a week for an evening, mined until I was bored out of my mind, sold my goods, put coin into the carrier's bank (it doesn't pull from your master account; you lot have to practice this manually because reasons) and so logged off until the next week.

I love playing Elite: Unsafe, mind you, merely in that location are other things I similar to exercise, other games I like to play, and other life circumstances to take care of (not to mention, you know, my existent jobs). Even if yous have the v billion credits to buy a Fleet Carrier, and the extra hundreds of millions to "outfit" it, the weekly upkeep cost is the unmarried reason why I'd recommend no one buy a Fleet Carrier. Seriously.

Fleet Carriers are basically flying space stations, and they're well-nigh as useful every bit that. They're not capital ships, despite using capital letter ship-class parts like the FSD, but they accept the typical station defenses in example you have pirates or trespassers. Other than that, you don't get to pilot these things. Hell, you don't even get to encounter the jump animations unless y'all're outside of the carrier itself. If you're safely docked, you stare at a wall and watch a ticker in your HUD tell you what stage of the jump y'all're in. It's mind-numbingly dull, and I spend most of my time in Elite: Dangerous mining.

Weekly upkeep and severe depreciation merely add insult to monetary injury.

Because how cool some ships look, especially the Core Dynamics (Federal) and Gutamaya (Royal), I was disappointed with how much of a letdown the design is. Why not add new elements depending on what services y'all've purchased, avails that already be in-game thanks to mega-ships? Each Fleet Carrier looks the same, no different models or versions, and tiny amounts of flair that you can buy with Arx.

But without a incertitude, the worst part about the Fleet Carriers is the weekly rent, er, upkeep. Being forced to rely on tritium for fuel is fine, I don't accept a problem with that, only the weekly upkeep means that your fancy new carrier becomes a 2nd (or third or fourth) job — this is even with FDev cutting down the costs significantly. Yeah, they were worse in the beta.

And don't fifty-fifty get me started on the depreciation calibration. This is Borderland insulting you for second-guessing yourself. Say you lot get a few weeks in, and you decide the Armada Carrier isn't for you. Well, guess what, yous'll be lucky if you get fifty-fifty sixty% of your investment back.

Honestly, the price tag for a carrier is a massive barrier to entry that most players won't ever achieve. Weekly budget and severe depreciation just add insult to monetary injury. And and then you accept to deal with a terrible menu structure and system, and spend hundreds of millions to buy unlike services like a shipyard (and so afterwards purchase ship stock), fuel depot, commodity market, Universal Cartographics (which is 150m for some stupid reason), so on. Of course, adding these services isn't the end — they add on to your weekly upkeep, also.

Fleet Carriers: Last thoughts

Source: Windows Central

Fleet Carriers are, ultimately, meaningless. At this point, I don't recommend anyone buy them unless they really want to ferry other people around in some deep-space exploration. And that's fine; I would enjoy participating in that (fifty-fifty though I play in Solo). Withal, that'due south a small subset of players, and almost of yous who want to go on such expeditions can do then equally individual pilots. Just be nice and donate some tritium to your helpful carrier owner.

Elite: Dangerous is an excellent game, but information technology has a core, fundamental problem: you, the player, don't affair. Aught nosotros practise does anything in the scope of the game. Sure, FDev can talk about the Background Simulation all they want, merely at that place aren't whatsoever narratives, no matter how modest, that make u.s.a. feel like we matter.

Beginning improvement to Fleet Carriers? Do away with the weekly budget. It's not fun, information technology doesn't add to the immersion, and the initial toll tag was more than enough to make u.s.a. who could buy one feel cool. Don't sour the experience, since the tritium requirements solitary are enough of a "maintenance" cost.

Second, make them hateful something. Does the Federation or the Empire have an issue with these privately-owned massive ships flying in or through their territories? What if a player wanted more of a upper-case letter transport to take on Thargoids — imagine going toe-to-toe with the aliens flying your Decease Star Corvette, NPC pilots in your fighters, all while your carrier inflicts insane amounts of impairment.

Source: Windows Central

Also, how has the global economy been affected by the introduction of all of these carriers? I can think of a lot of examples, like what if the Low Temperature Diamond or Void Opal markets get turned on their heads because at that place are players all of a sudden buying those appurtenances in a organization neighboring the popular mining spots instead of being hundreds of lightyears abroad?

I'm sure, between all of us, FDev could have some notes on the actual touch of these carriers and make the game feel more live. It already feels lifeless well-nigh of the time anyhow. These are just some things that could drastically ameliorate the experience for players and make carriers something people actually want.

Third, give us something cool to look at as the ship jumps, non just a wall and ticker. Does this massive FSD make Witch-space look or feel whatever dissimilar? Tearing a hole open in space itself is cool, but I want to encounter it. And since we have sound in our ships, can we get some absurd sound furnishings during the leap sequence? Perchance the massive FSD spooling upwards, the crackling tears in space, something.

Quaternary, perhaps add unlike levels of Fleet Carriers. For example, have some cheaper but smaller ones, or some that specialize in gainsay, but have the least amount of landing pads. This would requite players choices in what carrier to purchase to suit their own needs. The ane model fits all thing doesn't work for me.

If I was rating the Fleet Carriers like a game on our scale, I'd give it a 2/five, and it's that high generally for the art and development teams' hard work; they should be commended for the amount of effort this took, fifty-fifty if the menu system is screwy.

Ferrying around my fiddling fleet is cool, but it's not worth 5 billion credits. And I sincerely doubt that'southward going to change any time soon.

o7

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