Forums » Suggestions
Convoy capship spawn
Currently, convoy capships just spawn out of nowhere, and despawn suddenly as soon as they jump to a station sector. Same with the Constellations at Capitol stations. This is inconvenient, and can be optimised by one of two systems.
A)
Capships carry smaller ships inside. Obviously not using overstuffing. Let's say a convoy Goliath carries 2 Behemoth Heavies, a convoy Trident carries 2 Behemoth Heavies and an Atlas, and so on (I don't know the cargo capacity of Capellas and Constellations). These ships undock from the capship only at the destination station. If the capship is scanned, the scan shows the cargo inside the ships. Not just "2x Behemoth Heavy".
Once the ship has been unloaded, it may go to an empty sector, wait there for 30 seconds and self destruct (so any following players can see the big bang) or it can travel to the nearest dockable station and dock. Or maybe even change faction and load up with ships of the faction who owns the station. So a Valent Capella goes to Nyrius F6, unloads some ships, then changes to a BioCom Capella and loads up on BioCom ships. This method also solves the problem of how factions with no capship dockable stations have capships.
B)
Capships jettison cargo. Upon reaching a station sector, the capship travels into the NFZ and jettisons it's cargo, which is then picked up by ships that specially undock for the purpose. While it is possible to pick up said cargo, doing so causes standing loss, both with the ship's and the station's faction. This system potentially has a lot more execution issues and potential for bugs, but would avoid any problems with ships undocking or docking in capships.
The reason for above suggestions is to increase immersion and planning for "voy spotting" where players may coordinate to spot and kill convoy capships. For example, a player seeing a Valent Goliath jumping to Latos C2 will know that there will soon be a Xang Xi convoy Goliath leaving from either of the Latos wormholes, and prepare for it in advance.
I understand that this would require a large amount of work, and I don't expect this to be anywhere near the Devs priority. I'm just posting so that it can be "refined" through discussion by players, so if it attracts the Devs attention, it can be more sensible.
A)
Capships carry smaller ships inside. Obviously not using overstuffing. Let's say a convoy Goliath carries 2 Behemoth Heavies, a convoy Trident carries 2 Behemoth Heavies and an Atlas, and so on (I don't know the cargo capacity of Capellas and Constellations). These ships undock from the capship only at the destination station. If the capship is scanned, the scan shows the cargo inside the ships. Not just "2x Behemoth Heavy".
Once the ship has been unloaded, it may go to an empty sector, wait there for 30 seconds and self destruct (so any following players can see the big bang) or it can travel to the nearest dockable station and dock. Or maybe even change faction and load up with ships of the faction who owns the station. So a Valent Capella goes to Nyrius F6, unloads some ships, then changes to a BioCom Capella and loads up on BioCom ships. This method also solves the problem of how factions with no capship dockable stations have capships.
B)
Capships jettison cargo. Upon reaching a station sector, the capship travels into the NFZ and jettisons it's cargo, which is then picked up by ships that specially undock for the purpose. While it is possible to pick up said cargo, doing so causes standing loss, both with the ship's and the station's faction. This system potentially has a lot more execution issues and potential for bugs, but would avoid any problems with ships undocking or docking in capships.
The reason for above suggestions is to increase immersion and planning for "voy spotting" where players may coordinate to spot and kill convoy capships. For example, a player seeing a Valent Goliath jumping to Latos C2 will know that there will soon be a Xang Xi convoy Goliath leaving from either of the Latos wormholes, and prepare for it in advance.
I understand that this would require a large amount of work, and I don't expect this to be anywhere near the Devs priority. I'm just posting so that it can be "refined" through discussion by players, so if it attracts the Devs attention, it can be more sensible.
Umm. I think there's a mixture of confusion in here, and then a bunch of suggestions built on confusion.
Why don't you start with clearly stating the actual gameplay problem you're trying to address?
All you say is that the current situation is "inconvenient" and you want to "increase immersion / planning".
Basically, instead of dedicating all the text to your suggested-change(s), at least put a considerable amount of it into describing the actual problem you're trying to solve?
Why don't you start with clearly stating the actual gameplay problem you're trying to address?
All you say is that the current situation is "inconvenient" and you want to "increase immersion / planning".
Basically, instead of dedicating all the text to your suggested-change(s), at least put a considerable amount of it into describing the actual problem you're trying to solve?
It's not really a problem. I'm just trying to suggest a system that reconciles the capships RP wise, and may also create some new gameplay. Actually on hindsight, it seems just too complicated and not worth it. Rule #1 violation. Sorry for wasting your time.
Ehh.. okay? I mean, it doesn't have to be a "problem" per se, but you have to at least explain what you're trying to do, with some detail.
Like "why" is the suggested change of-value. And not just like mono-sentence "RP" and "gameplay", I mean actually explain exactly why. Not everyone on here has the same style of gameplay.. like traders who have never attacked a convoy, so a thorough explanation is helpful.
If anything it's more like a Rule #5 violation, as there isn't enough information.
Like "why" is the suggested change of-value. And not just like mono-sentence "RP" and "gameplay", I mean actually explain exactly why. Not everyone on here has the same style of gameplay.. like traders who have never attacked a convoy, so a thorough explanation is helpful.
If anything it's more like a Rule #5 violation, as there isn't enough information.
So currently, players can camp all the stations of say Aeolus, and still there will be voys spawning in other places that they haven't seen. They're spawning on their own, suddenly jumping into the wormholes without being seen at the Aeolus stations themselves. A capship simply can't spawn out of an Aeolus station, since they don't have capital ship ports. With my suggestion, they can have capships without capship ports.
So if say someone wants to pirate Aeolus capships specifically, they can
a) watch out for other factions' capships moving towards Aeolus stations, and thus predict Aeolus capships
and b) camp the Aeolus stations to coordinate with players in say Arta C. The spotter says "There's an Aeolus dent carrying megaposi moving to Ukari L2" and the other guy can be ready to give it a warm welcome. Basically make it easier to accurately predict convoy movements, and to systematically kill convoy capships instead of relying on chance to throw one your way.
So if say someone wants to pirate Aeolus capships specifically, they can
a) watch out for other factions' capships moving towards Aeolus stations, and thus predict Aeolus capships
and b) camp the Aeolus stations to coordinate with players in say Arta C. The spotter says "There's an Aeolus dent carrying megaposi moving to Ukari L2" and the other guy can be ready to give it a warm welcome. Basically make it easier to accurately predict convoy movements, and to systematically kill convoy capships instead of relying on chance to throw one your way.
+1 npc caphips should travel to these stations and pick up the loot. Same with escort missions... capships should not spawn and load by magic. There could be a timer on the mission as when the capship would get there for capship escort missions that would pay better then the moths can dock in the capship.
Basically make it easier to accurately predict convoy movements, and to systematically kill convoy capships instead of relying on chance to throw one your way.
That's why I'm asking about the purpose. Because, I'd rather have some orthogonal way of notifying people about convoy movements, then add your suggestions into the game.
There are very, very good reasons why we handle convoys the way that we do, and those reasons will become even more relevant with more players. So, while I appreciate the "no magic@!#" desire, the answer there is "I cannot manage the reality of our current convoy load, at scale, without the possibility of some quantity of magic". We roll around 14,000 convoys per day, at present, and that may increase based on next-gen economy fluctuations.
So, if your goal is to gain information about convoy movements, maybe there could be some interesting shared-data thing there (like paying off a local network, or someone within the faction via a mission).
But, I'm not dropping cargo in space, or sending convoys of small-ships into stations.. that's a whole other ball of wax. It doesn't matter whether the ships are large or small, there are reasons why they are not guaranteed to show up, and they probably never will be guaranteed.
That's why I started out by saying.. this whole premise is based on a lot of confusion, and stating the goal is actually more important than the "solutions".
That's why I'm asking about the purpose. Because, I'd rather have some orthogonal way of notifying people about convoy movements, then add your suggestions into the game.
There are very, very good reasons why we handle convoys the way that we do, and those reasons will become even more relevant with more players. So, while I appreciate the "no magic@!#" desire, the answer there is "I cannot manage the reality of our current convoy load, at scale, without the possibility of some quantity of magic". We roll around 14,000 convoys per day, at present, and that may increase based on next-gen economy fluctuations.
So, if your goal is to gain information about convoy movements, maybe there could be some interesting shared-data thing there (like paying off a local network, or someone within the faction via a mission).
But, I'm not dropping cargo in space, or sending convoys of small-ships into stations.. that's a whole other ball of wax. It doesn't matter whether the ships are large or small, there are reasons why they are not guaranteed to show up, and they probably never will be guaranteed.
That's why I started out by saying.. this whole premise is based on a lot of confusion, and stating the goal is actually more important than the "solutions".
Got it.