Picked up a cheeky $20 Andromeda to Starfarer G CCU on the back of that news.
I looked at some videos and WiP pictures, its massive, compared to everything else in game so far, I just have to have a go in it as soon as its flyable.
Greymarket? Didnt think they were being sold at the moment. You know its unlikely Gemini owners will be seeing the regular Starfarer in hangar for a while longer, right? Maybe flight ready you'd get a loaner Starfarer.
I think that system is wrong, personally. You own a variant that isnt HR/FR, and theres a variant that is HR/FR, then you should get access to that till your one is available. As it stands, the only ship where this happens, is the Retaliator. I have a base, yet ive got the Bomber in hangar and 2.0 (loaner). You own a Vanguard other than the Warden, and you dont get no Warden in your hangar to get a feel for it, to provide feedback they're asking for (supposedly part of the reason for putting near-finished ships in-hangar, which im expecting the Starfarer to be the 3rd ship like this, following the V.Warden & Sabre).
If i can see & use a $275 ship from my $150 base, i dont see why the same cant apply for other ships. I could understand that being a reason NOT to, but its the opposite. Cheapest variant gets it, expensive ones left waiting.
^^ I'm actually worried we'll need 3 or 4 people just to use the Starfarer as it is, I originally had one when it was a 2 man vessel about 12 months ago. I can get it back easily enough but won't if it's going to need a reasonably large crew. Like the fact it's big but don't necessarily want that to mean larger crew requirements
Now if we can gather raw materials THEN refine fair enough but if it has to happen at the same time and can't be done with 1 or 2 people then I'll probably pass on it and look to get a Vanguard or the prowler when it pops up at some point.
Shortly after CIG did the Gemini concept sale, they confirmed in a Q&A that it'd be possible for players to take them out solo. Now, whether this means +3 NPC, i dont know.
The process is just like, you'd gather the gas at a rate much faster than it can refine it, so it'd scoop the gas and put that into a 'gas' tank, at the same time, it'll be pulling gas from tanks to go through the refining process to make it into fuel, and that'll go into a 'fuel' tank. Eventually once all tanks are full you'd start heading off, and the ship carries on refining till all the tanks are holding fuel.
There hasnt been anything like a fuel deep dive yet, we know they've been working on it (was confirmed in the same Q&A series as mentioned earlier) so i suspect it'll come around the time the January content patch is released (ie end of Jan, early Feb - not sure whether the PTU will be were it goes at that point, or if it'd be in PTU the last week of the month etc), or Feb patch if it doesnt make the deadline.
So we dont know anything about the whole process, however we've had mining, passenger transport, and repair deep-dive documents and all 3 explained different 'mini-game' like elements, such as passengers ordering drinks, and you needing to create the cocktail right and within a certain timeframe to keep them happy, cheap/high grade juices having an impact on the grade, which ultimately rated the overall experience and determined whether people would pay well for better run flights etc. That was just 1 of 4 examples they gave for flights (flight duration, quality of movies available, and availability of services (ie no downtime) were the others given), so it would suggest there'll be a lot more to the fuel gathering/refining process than flying, scooping, flying back and selling. I dont think any job will be that simple, freight perhaps?
However NPCs can do all of these jobs if you dont want to. They would be the 'click a button' solution most games would opt for, gather fuel, press a button to refine it, wait X minutes and it'll be available.
I suspect that one mini-game would involve scanning areas of a gas giant and finding better grades, going there and collecting that and keeping that in 'high grade' tanks, so that what you collect ends up being a premium fuel. Alternatively, just dive in and gather anything, get a mixture of good, great and rubbish gas, and end up with bog standard grade of fuel. We know theres definitely grades of fuel, as well as 3 varieties (flight/hydrogen fuel, which all ships scoop and supply themselves anyway. Quantum fuel, and Jump fuel) so i'd expect a interactive element will be for this, as well as the in-flight refuelling process. That'd make 3 (scanning, sorting, and refuelling) which seem plausible as others have done variations similar.
I can understand with some ships where they're BIG and require a dozen+ crew, Corvette/Idris upwards, maybe the Endeavour (wow... 16ppl!!!). However the T3 ships (Carrack, Orion, 890, Reclaimer etc) i think flying them will be perfectly fine with 1-2 people and a handful of NPCs for the rest. I wouldnt be put off by that, at all. What i would be concerned about is say Reclaimer + 3 NPC escort fighters.
It'd be nice to do it all player, but i wouldnt give up on a ship i liked if i could perform its duties at 80% using NPCs, when the alternative would be 40% without or simply not going out with it or not owning it. Not having a use for it would be a reason, not enough players shouldnt be an issue for anything but the 10+ crew ships. Im only concerned about their need for support/escorts.
