Fleet Carrier ideas / hopes for Q4 2018

[Perfect Dark]

The idea of being able to interact with Fleet Carriers in the upcoming Q4 update for 2018 is a truly exciting idea. I started this thread to hear everyone's input on how they would want this to work, including how the structuring of Squadrons would play into the fleet carrier concept.

-Should they be an existing dockable Megaship or a new design entirely?

-Do you think they could be piloted? If so would the membership and hierarchy structure of Squadrons determine who could fly the ship and access the bridge?

-Should they act as a space station giving Commanders the ability to refuel and purchase items based on the Squadron's collective wealth and
acquisitions?

-Pertaining to Squadrons, how do people feel about the concept of making donations in the form of credits and ships to the squadron/Fleet Carrier? An
example of this could be a Commander who "gives" one or a few ships to the Fleet Carrier which is docked on the vessel for anyone to use. This ship
could be reclaimed by the owner at anytime if they choose to leave the Squadron.

-If multicrew is an option for Fleet Carriers, are there any new jobs that Frontier could develop that would be useful? An example of this could be a crew member devoted to power management, using turrets for defense, managing the smaller ships entering and leaving the fleet carrier, etc...

 

[MK Regular]

1) I would hazard a guess that fleet carriers will reuse most/all of an existing mega ship design(s). There is already one class of megaship that could potentially qualify as a fleet carrier
2) I do not see fleet carriers being pilotable, since it would probably cause some serious balancing issues and/or be incredibly boring gameplay
3) I think fleet carriers will have refuel, repair, and rearm facilities, as well as limited outfitting and a limited shipyard. Outfitting would be useful for module storage, and not much else, and the shipyard would be useful for ship storage, and not much else
4) Cash donations would be fine, but I don't really see ship/module donations being a thing considering the outfitting and shipyard from #3
5) I don't think we will be seeing multicrew in fleet carriers. As with #2, it would likely cause balancing issues and/or be really boring to do.

 

[Agony_Aunt]

I'm hoping we can take fleet carriers out into the black. If they need materials/stuff to keep them flying, let it be stuff we can mine and hunt for out in the remote regions and not human commodities.

I'm hoping that we can choose between several different variants in style.

I'm hoping we can get missions from our fleet carriers (presume it would require either squadron factions for those missions or tying a squadron to a faction - that might not happen).

I'm hoping Robert Maynard doesn't think he's driving

I doubt we will actually fly them. Presumably just target a system to move to and then next weekly cycle the ships move. Probably a limited range on them like 1000LY/week or something (hope a lot more than that though).

 

[varonica]

The idea of being able to interact with Fleet Carriers in the upcoming Q4 update for 2018 is a truly exciting idea. I started this thread to hear everyone's input on how they would want this to work, including how the structuring of Squadrons would play into the fleet carrier concept.

-Should they be an existing dockable Megaship or a new design entirely?

-Do you think they could be piloted? If so would the membership and hierarchy structure of Squadrons determine who could fly the ship and access the bridge?

-Should they act as a space station giving Commanders the ability to refuel and purchase items based on the Squadron's collective wealth and
acquisitions?

A lot of this information has already been given out. Not going to try and find it in the videos so I will post this from polygon.com;

The weekend’s biggest announcement was that Frontier plans to introduce player-owned carrier ships late next year. It will also introduce a new organizational structure within the game world called squadrons. Previously, players were able to form up into wings — small, ad hoc groups of players who traveled and fought together. Squadrons will be persistent, and carrier ships will allow their members to refuel, refit, rearm and respawn anywhere in the Milky Way galaxy.

So yes pilotable but not sure of the mechanics, we'll at least be able to tell it where to go, repair and rearm, respawn at. I imagine they will use capital ship drive system, I also imagine they will be larger than any ship we currently have and may indeed be a mega-ship design, but I hope something new.

-Pertaining to Squadrons, how do people feel about the concept of making donations in the form of credits and ships to the squadron/Fleet Carrier? An
example of this could be a Commander who "gives" one or a few ships to the Fleet Carrier which is docked on the vessel for anyone to use. This ship
could be reclaimed by the owner at anytime if they choose to leave the Squadron.

-If multicrew is an option for Fleet Carriers, are there any new jobs that Frontier could develop that would be useful? An example of this could be a crew member devoted to power management, using turrets for defense, managing the smaller ships entering and leaving the fleet carrier, etc...

I expect a major update for the fleet carrier introduction, should be fun, I imagine they will hammer a lot of that out at the time. I am hoping our group can get a science and research squadron carrier.

 

[Cosmo]

The idea of being able to interact with Fleet Carriers in the upcoming Q4 update for 2018 is a truly exciting idea. I started this thread to hear everyone's input on how they would want this to work, including how the structuring of Squadrons would play into the fleet carrier concept.

Q 1. Should they be an existing dockable Megaship or a new design entirely?

1. The Fleet Carrier should have a new design, preferably customizable with modules. Federation, Empire and Independent variants would be great.

I like the design of the Hiigaran Carrier in Homeworld.

Q 2. Do you think they could be piloted? If so would the membership and hierarchy structure of Squadrons determine who could fly the ship and access the bridge?

2. Yes, Executive Control which Frontier promised we'd get with player owned capital ships. So authorized Squadron members could give orders to the Fleet Carrier to go to a destination. It's not direct cockpit control that we have with the smaller ships.

Q 3. Should they act as a space station giving Commanders the ability to refuel and purchase items based on the Squadron's collective wealth and
acquisitions?

3. Well it should be a customizable capital ship. Frontier said it will be akin to a mobile-base for a guild.

Q 4. Pertaining to Squadrons, how do people feel about the concept of making donations in the form of credits and ships to the squadron/Fleet Carrier? An
example of this could be a Commander who "gives" one or a few ships to the Fleet Carrier which is docked on the vessel for anyone to use. This ship
could be reclaimed by the owner at anytime if they choose to leave the Squadron.

4. I like that idea. Only Squadron members could use the ships docked in the carrier. It would require credits so it's a good money sink as well.

Q 5. If multicrew is an option for Fleet Carriers, are there any new jobs that Frontier could develop that would be useful? An example of this could be a crew member devoted to power management, using turrets for defense, managing the smaller ships entering and leaving the fleet carrier, etc...

5. Yes there could be multicrew roles for the Fleet Carrier such as the Squadron Leader who gives orders to the Fleet Carrier to go somewhere and someone who controls the turrets and another one who can manage the Fleet Carriers inventory (cargo hold).