Player Features and Ideas Discussion

I was thinking, wouldn't it be nice to be able to hitch a ride on a carrier...

Since we can load assembled ships onto a carrier and even a super carrier, why not make it to where the pilot of those ships be able to stay in those ships and be able to dock up inside of the carrier... Obviously the limit would already be preset as you can only load so many ships onto a carrier, but further restrictions can be applied when loading pilots with those ships.

For example we could have the carrier have a 5 passenger limit and have the super carrier have a 10 passenger limit.

We pretty much have a means to move mass fleets via titan bridges, jump bridges and covert ops portals but I think it would be pretty awesome to see the carriers get an additional role, TAXI SERVICE lol...

My idea is to see groups of pilots getting hot dropped into the action then undocking from the carriers to provide support... Ultimately what it would probably be turned into is just what I wrote above "Taxi Service" ppl hitching a ride to avoid making the long trip in a sub cap from point A to point B.

As far as the docking graphics are concerned, screens shouldn't have to change to a hangar bay or station environment or anything like that, once docked the camera can just snap to the carriers view like if you were to right click the carrier and select "Look At", no extra graphics are required, no nifty in-ship walking, or ship spinning graphics from inside the carrier...

I don't doubt that someone came up with something like this already in a past post but I'm not Indian Jones accompanied by a small asian boy, so finding something relevant seems a bit time consuming...

Anyhow, post your thoughts and comments on whether or not this is a decent idea or something horrible and that I should be killed with fire...

Titans can continue to bridge people to cynos as they always have and that mode works far better for moving large fleets rapidly.

I really like the carrier suggestion though because it would make it more interesting to have smaller squadrons of pvpers led by a carrier pilot or someone in the parasite ship squadron and supported by carrier logistics. The engagements that could generate would be very interesting and could lead to some fascinating new dynamics in large scale fleet deployments.

I was under the impression that the engine could not handle people docking on player ships or something alike. You know, one of those physical lmitations of the game itself - at least that is what people tend to preach most of the time.

Indeed, great idea, hands down.



I'd almost be for "Titan should find a new f'ing job". Pretty much just floating in PoSes, logged out due to possible awox/bumpers etc, or attempting to blow something up and get blown up itself. Somebody had even suggested to just reimburse everybody who invested in one with hefty sum and have titans removed for a while until the concept of territorial pvp has been expanded.

There are certainly more than enough creative heads to find new tasks for titan too.
That's just me of course.

This idea however gives more of a feel of carriers, and it is by far more accessible and versatile than such like a titan. That idea would also give more of a chance for the frequent smaller "Scout Carrier" sort of ideas too. And I think people would love that FLOTILLA sort of a gang pvp than blobs

If this idea could work, too, it would be great to see a set of FTL capable Carriers for team-jumping.

Absolutely outstanding idea! +1

This could add a whole new element to small-gang PvP, I like.

+1

I believe the core limitation for this is that anything "inside" or related to a ship is "owned" by the player according to the game code and server. This causes the player to "own" characters (whoever is a passenger) and winds up causing a giant mess server side.

Don't remember where I read it, but I know I read it. Something about the original purpose of the ship maintenance bays/hangars was to allow pilots to dock in carriers/supers/titans, cyno to a system, and then deploy.

But it didn't work out.

Approve it.


This game needs titans?

The engine already supports walking through station + as we saw on Fanfest, it handles flying above planet's surface (does DUST514 run on same engine btw?) - it should absolutely, positively and necesarilly handle undocking animation via one of the carrier's gaping hangar bays (those with forcefields).

More pros:
- Saving mass on WH travelling
- They will never know what's gonna undock from the carrier ;)

+1

I think the only problem with that is size. The model for a machariel is almost as big as the nidhoggur yet supposedly you can fit two of those things in the carrier. A lot of BS have a similar situation. Though not as big a deal for supers.

The mechanics of this are not terribly difficult, just need to be adapted.

EDIT: Add in specified 2,000 meter range for this mooring line, I was thinking it in my head but saw I did not spell it out.

By docking to the carrier, the game will just depict a mooring line running between the ship and the carrier.
(It doesn't need to be displayed as a space object, just listed like an effect above the capacitor the same way being webbed is, etc.)

If you move or direct your ship to leave or log out, the mooring line is released.

If the carrier jumps, your ship and you go with it.

Why does this work, when the previous problems existed in the past?
Because the mooring line actually represents a standing command to jump-bridge, just like pilots using a titan or blops bridge need to click on the graphic.
The mass of the ship is added to the carrier's, for fuel use calculation.

The mooring lines can be left in place after the jump, in the event it is a multiple jump event, or released so the individual pilots can go on their merry way.

Does this make carriers OP?
No, in fact it places them at risk. The carrier lands in the target system with the other ships, unlike the Titan or BLOPs which stay safely at the starting point / staging area.