Elite Dangerous’ second round of Fleet Carriers beta is raring to go next week. You know this because you read MassivelyOP. But what does it entail? Thank you for asking because Frontier has outlined a few of the key changes in a dev post today. In addition to adding the Universal Cartographics system to carriers, reducing tritium consumption by half, and implementing module and ship storage for owners by default, Frontier is also adjusting how decommissioning fleet carriers works.
“There has been a lot of conversation and feedback around this, so thank you to all the Commanders who shared their thoughts with us,” the studio writes. “Fleet Carriers affect Elite Dangerous in a way the game hasn’t seen before; they are persistent objects accessible across all platforms and controlled by player Commanders.”
“Due to this, Fleet Carriers require these new systems in order to facilitate them in the galaxy. While Elite Dangerous can sustain as many Fleet Carriers as the community could wish for, there is a finite number of objects that can orbit a single body. Left unchecked, this could become a problem if Fleet Carriers are left in key locations like popular capital systems or near to carrier construction facilities, especially when a recent buyer wants to pick up their new Fleet Carrier. Decommissioning acts as an inactivity system that refunds the initial investment while preventing unused Fleet Carriers adrift in the galaxy. By adjusting the refund amount, we think this will be more in line with your expectations.”
This leg of the beta begins May 11th and runs through May 26th on PC as well as console; Frontier has noted it’ll continue using the beta price of 1M CR on carriers so that everyone can properly test them, just don’t freak out when they go back up to 5B CR come launch. Yep, that’s a B for billyuns.
