Greetings Commanders,
You can now find our Fleet Carrier Content Reveal Video over on our YouTube channel here, where we gave you an insight into the long-awaited Fleet Carriers!
Since our first reveal of Fleet Carriers, we've examined the predefined loadout system and felt that we could take this even further. We have made it so that Commanders will have the ability to customise their Fleet Carriers loadout as they see fit, which will allow you to be fully equipped for any task.
If you haven't watched our Fleet Carriers Content Reveal yet, don't worry, we've got you covered with a full recap of the content below!
WHAT IS A FLEET CARRIER?
Fleet Carriers are massive ships used as a mobile base of operations, offering multiple hanger bays and various services controlled by you, the Commander. Fleet Carriers can be customised to fit different playstyles by managing a number of onboard services, which the owner can tailor to fit their needs, and the needs of their fellow Commanders. With a 500ly jump range, Fleet Carriers provide new opportunities for expeditions and long-range travel, the ability to reload, refuel and repair for conflicts and campaigns, as well as tools and storage for mining operations far from home... and much, much more!
CORE INFORMATION
- A Fleet Carrier costs 5,000,000,000 credits.
- If you have the Kickstarter discount, it will be applied when purchasing a Fleet Carrier.
- Fleet Carriers are individually owned, and the owner can only have one Fleet Carrier at a time.
- The Fleet Carrier owner can manage docking permissions to allow or restrict Commanders, friends and Squadron members from docking.
- There is an additional setting that allows owners to prevent Commanders with Notoriety from docking.
- A Fleet Carrier has 16 landing pads:
- 8 Large
- 4 Medium
- 4 Small
- Fleet Carriers no longer have determined loadouts, but instead have a variety of services that can be tailored to the playstyle of the owners choosing (much like player ships are).
MOVING YOUR FLEET CARRIER
Fleet Carriers have an astounding maximum jump range of 500ly, allowing Commanders to go further than ever before!
- For the Fleet Carrier to jump such distances, the enormous FSD used to move the Carrier requires the commodity 'Tritium' as fuel. This can be acquired by purchasing it at starports with refinery economies, or by mining Ice Asteroids.
- For a Fleet Carrier to move to a new system, the owner must first plot the destination.
- If the owner plots the destination on the Galaxy Map, the Fleet Carrier will appear, and orbit a body within that system.
- If the owner wants the Fleet Carrier to orbit a specific body, they can do so by entering the System Map and selecting the body that they would like it to orbit.
- Fleet Carriers will not be able to enter any Permit Systems, even if the owner holds a permit for that region of space.
- The owner can decide to jump their Fleet Carrier at any time, but this does take some planning.
- For a Fleet Carrier to jump, it will take one hour to prepare the crew, and the vessel for the jump.
- Once the jump is complete, the Fleet Carrier will not be able to jump for another hour as it will need time to recharge.
- Each jump will incur Wear and Tear costs (more on this below).
HOW DO YOU PURCHASE A FLEET CARRIER?
The Brewer Corporation, the creators of the new Fleet Carriers, now operate Carrier Construction facilities at a select handful of starports throughout human-populated space.
As mentioned, only certain starports sell Fleet Carriers and these are visually indicated by 'Carrier Construction' structures found nearby (you can also find these starports through the Galaxy Map).
- Carrier Construction facilities are a new Starport Service and will appear in the available Service filters on the Galaxy Map.
- When purchasing a Fleet Carrier, Commanders will find it in the nearest available system orbiting a body.
RUNNING A FLEET CARRIER
Although you are the owner of the Fleet Carrier, you are not alone in running the day-to-day operations. For this, your Carrier requires a crew that run the facilities, perform maintenance, and takes your Fleet Carrier wherever you wish to go.
- You can recruit new crew members, add new services, and even temporarily suspend certain services.
- All Carriers come equipped with a Commodity Market, Tritium Depot, and a Deck Officer.
- In order to add and remove services, or hire new crew members to operate them, your Fleet Carrier must be in star system that hosts a station with a new contact, the Carrier Management Service.
- The services and crew members you have aboard your Carrier contribute to a weekly running cost, deducted from the Fleet Carrier's balance during Elite Dangerous' weekly maintenance.
- Core costs - These crew members are required to run your Fleet Carrier's core services.
- Optional costs - These crew members run your Fleet Carrier's optional services, and must be paid the minimum weekly amount for any active service currently utilised by the Fleet Carrier.
- Maintenance costs - This is the cost of degradation to the Fleet Carrier caused by performing jumps. This is a flat cost added for each jump that the Fleet Carrier has made during that week.
Fleet Carrier Bank
The Fleet Carrier is equipped with its own bank, which holds funds that are used for all Fleet Carrier costs.
- The Fleet Carrier owner can deposit, and withdraw credits directly from the bank.
- Fleet Carrier Bank funds are used for all Fleet Carrier transactions, fitting new services, purchasing desired commodities from visitors, and more.
- The Fleet Carrier owner can also charge an additional fee when visitors use its services. This fee can be set between 0 to 100% by the owner of the Fleet Carrier.
- If there aren't enough funds in the Fleet Carrier bank to cover the weekly running costs, the Fleet Carrier will go into debt (we'll talk more about this below).
FLEET CARRIER SERVICES
Fleet Carriers provide a base of operations for Commanders and can be customised with a number of services that offer owners and visiting Commanders a range of different options, from selling commodities, to refueling and rearming, and more!
- Fleet Carrier services are run by the crew, and used by any Commanders who dock on the Fleet Carrier.
- All Fleet Carriers come withCore Services, which provide the basic functions needed for the Fleet Carrier to trade, receive fuel, and purchase additional services.
- Additional services can be bought by the Fleet Carrier owner to tailor their Fleet Carrier to their playstyle, and provide a variety of tools for Commanders to use.
- Services take up space on a Fleet Carrier, and the owner will need to manage the way the space is used.
Core Services
Newly-purchased Fleet Carriers come with Core Services, a Commodities Market and a Tritium Depot, which remain active at all times. Running a Fleet Carrier is no easy task, so a Deck Officer will be provided upon purchase of the Carrier to help manage these integral services.
- Commodities Market - Allows visiting Commanders to purchase and sell commodities.
- Tritium Depot - Stores the unique fuel that the Fleet Carrier uses to jump.
- Fuel Capacity - Allows owners and visitors to see how much fuel is remaining and the current jump range for the Fleet Carrier.
- Tritium can be donated to the Fleet Carrier via the Tritium Depot.
Additional Services
There are also a number of additional optional services that can be enabled to make your Fleet Carrier unique!
- Some starports will be equipped with a Carrier Administration Service that allows Carriers to fit new services, restock their fitted services, and hire new crew.
- This is where you will manage your crew.
- You can suspend and re-enable services at any time.
- Each Additional Service has an installation and a weekly running cost.
- Fleet Carrier owners can sell any installed services at a reduced cost in a system that have a Carrier Administration Service in it (these locations can be found in the Galaxy Map). Alternatively, the owner can enable or disable Additional Services at any time, reducing the weekly upkeep for the service.
- When disabling a service, the crew will remain onboard the Fleet Carrier, and will be charged a retainer fee.
The Additional Services are:
Redemption Officer
- Allows visiting Commanders to sell Vouchers at the Fleet Carrier but at a cost. The Redemption Officer and the Fleet Carrier Bank will take a fee from the sale price, for the convenience of handing in the Voucher onboard.
- You can sell Bond, Trade Dividends, Bounties, Powerplay Salaries and Code Vouchers to the Redemption Officer.
Advanced Maintenance - Comprised of three separate facilities that allow visiting Commanders to repair, refuel and rearm (restock) their ships, respectively.
- Repair Crews
- Refuel Station
- Armoury
Outfitting
- Allows visiting Commanders to purchase, sell, and store modules at the Fleet Carrier.
- Module Stock- The Outfitting service can be stocked with a wide variety of module selections available in varying tiers of quality. This allows the owner to customise what others can purchase from their Carrier as they see fit.
Shipyard
- Allows visiting Commanders to purchase, sell, and store ships at the Fleet Carrier.
- Ship Stock- Similarly to the Module Stock, Fleet Carrier owners can purchase Ship Stocks which contain a number of different ships. These stocks are themed with ships for different roles, for example: the Cargo Advanced Ship Pack includes the highly-respected cargo freighter variants: Type-6, Type-7 and Type-9.
Fence
- Allows visiting Commanders to purchase (and sell) illegal goods from the Fleet Carrier.
ADDITIONAL FEATURES
Crew Members
One does not simply run a Fleet Carrier on their own, they employ a trusty crew to run all of its operations.
- Each service will have a Head Crew Member, who manages that service's crew. If the owner doesn't like the cut of their jib, they can replace them at anytime.
- You will also be able to view your Deck Officer, who is responsible for day-to-day maintenance, navigation, weaponry, and other duties you don't want to have to worry about as the owner.
Engineering Blueprints
- If you have pinned an Engineering Blueprint, you can view them on the Commander interface window at the Fleet Carrier.
Navigation
- Displays the current location, Tritium reserves and the Fleet Carrier's current jump capability.
- This is where the Fleet Carrier owner can plot their Carriers jump through the onboad Galaxy and System Map.
Budget
- Fleet Carrier owners can enable a Tariff for using the Fleet Carrier's services, allowing owners to earn additional funds when those services are used by visitors.
- This tax can be changed at any time and any funds earned during this time will be added to the Fleet Carrier bank balance.
Livery
- Just like player ships, Fleet Carriers have a number of customisation options for that extra personal touch.
Security
- To maintain order, the System Authority will send Authority Vessels to patrol the Fleet Carriers in their system.
- If the Fleet Carrier owner, or visitors, participate in illegal activity around the Fleet Carrier, then the System Authority will increase their patrols, making it difficult to partake in illegal activity.
- The Fleet Carrier's security level will increase with the system's Superpower over time if no illegal activities take place, reducing System Authority patrols.
Other
- Fleet Carrier owners and visitors will be able to view a summary of the Fleet Carrier, showing current capacity, available services, and the local Superpower reputation.
- Fleet Carrier owners can set the Fleet Carrier's focus, a visual change to the interface, showing visitors an icon linked to the Fleet Carrier's purpose, such as mining, bounty-hunting, pirating and more!
- There is a new docking user interface when a Commander docks on the Fleet Carrier. Here landing Commanders can Refuel, Repair, and ReStock, at the click of a button, without having to enter the Carrier Services.
- When a the Fleet Carrier owner is docked on their Fleet Carrier, they can transfer cargo directly to the Fleet Carrier.
DEBT AND DECOMMISSIONING
Being in Debt
- If the owner is unable to keep up to date with the weekly running costs of their Fleet Carrier, then the Fleet Carrier will go into debt.
- The debt owed will increase each week if the funds are not added or earned to cover the level of debt accrued.
- When in the Fleet Carrier goes into debt, all optional services will be disabled and they cannot be re-enabled until the debt is paid (the Fleet Carrier will not operate fully, but it will help to lower the running cost).
- The owner must pay off all of the debt in the Fleet Carrier bank to get out of debt, and once they do so they can then re-activate any Additional Services on that Fleet Carrier.
- You can continue to accrue debt for a number of weeks but once it exceeds a set limit, you'll be given a week to resolve your finances or lose the carrier permanently.
- If this happens, the Fleet Carrier will be shut down and the owner will be notified that the Fleet Carrier has been decommissioned and can no longer be recovered.
Decommissioning a Fleet Carrier
- As Fleet Carriers have a high upkeep, some Commanders may find themselves wanting to relinquish the responsibilities of maintaining their vessel, and paying the crew.
- If this situation ever occurs, the owner can decommission their Fleet Carrier.
- By choosing to decommission the Fleet Carrier, it will go into a pending decommissioned status, and the owner will have a several days until the Fleet Carrier becomes decommissioned.
- Whilst in this state the Fleet Carrier is pending decommissioned, it is still possible to do a number of functions:
- Dock at the Fleet Carrier.
- Sell off services (if in a star system with the Carrier Management service at one of the starports).
- Retrieve stored cargo.
- Put commodities up for sale.
- However, the following will not be possible:
- Purchase new services.
- Hire crew.
- You can continue to accrue debt for a number of weeks but once it exceeds a set limit, you'll be given a week to resolve your finances or lose the carrier permanently.
- The owner of the Fleet Carrier can cancel the Carrier from pending decommission, if they change their mind.
Decommissioned Fleet Carrier
- Any Commanders who have stored modules on the Fleet Carrier will be notified when the Fleet Carrier is Decommissioned.
- Commanders can still transfer their modules and ships elsewhere during this period.
- If the modules are not transferred, then they will be moved the nearest starport with the Carrier Construction service, and will require a standard charge for transferring those modules to a new location.
- If your Fleet Carrier is decommissioned it will be taken over by a recovery crew and the owner will be reimbursed for a portion of the Carrier's current value.
- This value is determined by the contents of the Carrier at the moment it was decommissioned as well as its service time and how far away it is from the nearest Construction Dock.
BETA
As it currently stands, we're aiming to launch the Fleet Carriers update in June and will be calling all commanders to experience Fleet Carriers (as both visitors and owners) in two upcoming public betas before the update is live! The first beta will begin on 7 April for PC only, and the second beta which will be launched on PC, Xbox and PlayStation, will take place in May. Please note that there is a chance that these time frames may change slightly in the coming weeks, but we'll keep you up to date on the specific times, dates and instructions in the near future.
We can't wait to see how you use your Fleet Carriers in the beta and how they can affect our wider Elite Dangerous galaxy when the update is live!
o7