I think it would be neat to have a public transportation system in place between stations. It would be nice to be able to leave a ship staged in a far off port with out having to bring another ship to your home station. I feel this would be better than having a free bus available where ever you go.

Heck, even make it so a player has to pay for a ride. If they can't pay, (because they were dumb and ran out of creds,) then maybe something else could be worked out. Say like, a station patron will let you use a ship to run some "cargo" to the next station. In return the NPC will pay for your ticket back home. Of course this little mission should have some element of risk.

Another idea is to have the 'trip' take a few minutes of real time.

Also, having the 'interstellar bus' NOT go to every staion would be a good idea. Maybe only between Capitol and Commercial stations.

Maybe having to pay 'rent' to stations outside your nation is another option that can be worked in as well.

I like it! Many times, I've levelled up somewhere in Bractus, and had to trek home to get the license. It'd be a godsend if I could just take the shuttle home for my license test, paying some nominal fee and waiting a bit.

Why would you want to be a helpless passenger for X odd minutes?

/me digs around the forums for a bit and finds his old thread http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/5316#69477
not exactly what you are suggesting but just some food for thought.

I rather think a universe that it takes an hour and a half to get across is a good thing.

yea i read this thread before, What i am looking at is a way to leave your cargo ship near your favorite route, your pirating ship near your favorite pirating place, and your stock pile of hulls and equipment somewhere else. All this and still have a way to get there without having to take a another ship there. Or say, your buddy needs help with something, wouldn't it be nice to get there in a couple of minutes, rather than a half hour or more.

I also like the idea i have seen about WH that skip systems. I.e. wh from pyronis to pelatus. ( no reason just an example)

having a large universe i cool Celebrim. But there are times when i would like to get from Metana to dau in a few minutes instead of 30 min.

that might cause a problem with realism unfortunatly. if we have the ability to insta warp anywhere in a few mins why even bother having ships.

The 'insta warp' as you put it, does not allow for 'cargo', just you. At your destination you have to either buy a ship or have one waiting. This is why i said something about not being able to go to any station just a few. Also the rent thing would help stop someone from planting ships in all the possible destination stations.

As for realizm, maybe the WH that skips several system is a better option.

Love your idea, sounds nice

Hey, howabout this idea; you get stashed as cargo on an NPC ship and sent to your destination...but if someone destroys that ship they can pick you up and sell you at a station of thier choice <G>.

haha, i'd be hunting NPC more if that were to happen :D

This might make an interesting suppliment to the other post linked to in this topic, since you could have a hub station in every system the bus network ran on, and while travel from station A to station B might be instant, there would be a layover at each station in the route you took. So, you are in, say Dau, and want to get to a small station somewhere a couple systems away - you pay your fare, hop to the hub in Dau, then wait a minute or two, hop to the hub in the next system, wait, hop to next hub, wait, hop to the hub in your destination system, and finally hop to the actual destination system.

The hop times would need to be short enough that this would offer some manner of advantage for those wanting purely to get from point A to point B, but would need to be long enough to preserve some manner of realism.

How about making a ship that takes people from the bar instead of cargo?

Destroying it would give 24 PK's... ;)

I'm opposed to the "instant movement" idea. It makes the universe seem smaller.

I'd rather tell someone "Sorry, can't help you. I'm on the other side of the galaxy. It'll take me 40 minutes to reach you!"

I agree... Instantaneous movement (of ANY kind) would kill the idea of space, and having a "neighbourhood" that I travel in a lot ('cause it's close) and an area that I never go too, because it's just too far away (unless I had some REAL important business there to make it worth my while).

I don't mind the idea as long at it's not instant. If you want to mine (future update) on the outer reaches, it shouldn't be an instanteous trip.

Demonen's idea is a good one, I think. Maybe it could be a way to earn money and trade XP. Either negotiate, or set the cost of a trip and allow players to pick up passangers.

It could be a way to introduce a service economy to the game.

Both Kamui, and Soltis, have intresting ideas. I was not really talking about 'instant' travel. All I am after is a way to travel from say; Itan to Ukari, while leaving my cargo ship in Itan, with out having to buy another ship that I am only going to use once. I think it is kinda like buying a car to go to the next town on a business trip, then sell the car when I get back. Obviously someone who has multiple ships, is not worried about money.
The selling of a person to any station you wish is an intresting twist to the bounty thing. ( deep in thought )
However the realism aspect screams for the lay-over at a hub station.

While I do respect Atomic's view of a neighborhood; I ply the space lanes as a trader and occational privateer. It is a pain in the rear to have to fly a ship to every station that I want use as a staging point for various activities.

I had thought of some kind of player provided service. This idea is provocative enough to merit further discussion. But PC passenger cargo I think has too much potential to be abused. What would happen if someone did not like you and jettisoned you in the middle of nowhere? There are all kind of solutions for these problems, but why even allow them to happen at all?

An MMPOLRPG is surely a good place for pc based service industry...but IMHO there are other areas this can come to light.

I also agree that with the advent of mining on the near horizen, instant travel to the distant systems would be unfair.

Once you start playing more you will find that ships realy dont cost much at all. The sense that im spending all this money on a new ship is gone once you hit 1 million credits.

I currently have over 5 mil in credits. I never said buying a ship was the problem. I would just like to be able to go somewhere and leave a ship without having to buy one or take a free bus back home.