Wha... what did they DO to you?

Made him watch Akira 20 times in a row, in a Clockwork Orange device. I did. For science!

Edit: CHRN has exhaustive research files on this subject, if you'd like to buy them.

I smell a scam.

And that made him turn into a bunch of vomiting, emotionally traumatized trident bits? Interesting...

I smell a scam.

Get yer nose checked.

The process is not ready for market introduction yet.

How much are those files? Any more info forthcoming? Pig-in-a-poke?

O' great and powerful Ferrous Crainus, think about how else one might have tested the abilities of various capital ships to deal with turret fire.

I'll ask for a full quote.

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am interested in your products. Please let me know the information's price and approximate content I can expect to find upon delivery.

Your sincerely,

Prof. emer. Dr. mifune toshiro kanchou

Please chalk up my lack of true business English to my inability to articulate, I'm tired as hell.

RE: Information prices.

Dr M T Kanchou,

The research files in question contain a statistical breakdown of Trident and Constellation class capital ship survival through all important wormholes in the galaxy, based on data collected in an extensive field survey conducted as a join effort of CHRN and the Syndicate Applied Sciences department. Before delivery, the recipient will be required to sign a complete Non-Disclosure Agreement regarding the information contained in these documents. The cost of this information is 10 Billion standard credits for files on UIT space alone, or 16 Billion credits for files on all Nation-owned wormholes.

If you have questions about the contractual specifics, I direct you to Dr. Lecter.

Thank you for your interest

Asala Valeski
Chairman, Syndicate Applied Sciences Department

Please note that for an additional 5 Billion credits, data can be provided on the survival time of Trident class capital ships within range of Acheron's Gate defensive turrets, as well as the offensive performance of such vessels against said turrets.

Your offer regarding information prices.

Dear Mr Valeski,

Thank you for your offer. Due to the nature of our research, we do not yet have need for such data, but will consider your products in the future, should the opportunity arise.

Yours sincerely,

Prof. emer. Dr. mifune toshiro kanchou

I leave my thread for maybe 16 hours and what happened? This place is a mess! Everyone grab a mop.

happens every time. the egos here are absolutely ridiculous, wonder if that might be some of the cause for the extraordinarily low player rate 24/7.

Anyway, i like the OP's idea alot. fine tune the bugs and exploits and get that mission in game!

I leave my thread for maybe 16 hours and what happened? This place is a mess! Everyone grab a mop.

It was already veering into RP when I got here!

Edit: Tosh & Lecter, ur both ninnies.

"i really like that you have to be out side the ship to lead it to different sectors hopefully that would cut down on abuse with sneaking into nation space or trading with impunity"

nah it dont stop that at all, you just need somebody in a hound to lead the trident loaded with however many xc's you can park in it to the destination.

with however many xc's you can park in it

There isn't even a limit to that, to the extent of my testing.

I didn't think there was a limit, but however, you can only muster so many xc's at once, even though that's really only limited by the total computer power of your group, you're still limited.

So, let's say Some Trading Guild That Habitually Exploits Game Bugs For Profit decides to take the obvious route and exploit this. They get to move 5-6 XC's (based on peak numbers of A Trading Guild That Habitually Exploits Game Bugs For Profit I see online at a given time) in the near-perfect safety of a Trident. That's 1200 cu of cargo, which is rather ridiculous.

And before some carebear chimes in about how it's "so hard" to dock XC's on tridents, I've also tested that pretty extensively. Anyone who can't dock a loaded XC with a Trident should probably have their trader license revoked.

As much as I'd love to see some form of player-controlled cappies as soon as possible, a limit on docking bay size needs to be implemented first.

While I hate to be the one defending trader swine, isn't that the whole point of a cap ship? What's badly needed before this is implemented isn't a limit on how many moth-driving curs can dock at a time - it's the return of avalons.

[edit]Gav, go choke on a poutine curd[/edit]

Doc: I didn't say that docking should be prevented, just that the number of ships that can fit on to a cappie must be reasonable. Let's, for the sake of the argument, assume that at some point this game becomes remotely popular, and at a given time there are 20 traders who want to exploit a certain static weapons route. Should they really be able to fit all of their ships into a single Trident (which, mind you, is physically about as tall as a single XC and as long as maybe 5).

Anyway, tridents aren't designed to act as protective shells for XC's; they are military combat support vessels which are also put to civilian use as bulk freighters.

But yes, we do also need a reasonable method of attacking capital ships before they are given to the playerbase. Some form of anti-capital torpedo is probably the best way of going about this.

im actually fine with them using tridents as xc carriers. they are relitivly easy targets for three people. a rag with swarms and whatever energy weapons can take it down. and three people, even with neutrons can pour a real hurt on it fast. If the xc's try and flee, well then its a damn turkey shoot. every pilot they have fly an xc is one that isnt gaurding the carrier.

EDIT if you kill the ship leading the trident, then it's dead in the water, dunno if the follow me thing will make it go to the guy's home station. It should just sit there till the renter arrives in the same sector or maybe it just despawns when the renter is killed. That would make using tridents as xc carriers exorbinatly risky, pop the leader, the xc get shat out the back of the trident all nice and exposed. as the trident high tails it out of there.

...if you kill the ship leading the trident, then it's dead in the water....That would make using tridents as xc carriers exorbinatly risky, pop the leader...

Except for the fact that nobody will lead a cap ship in anything that is at a relatively high risk of being popped (Greyhound/Hog II/Valk/etc).

I think it would be perfectly acceptable to prohibit the docking of, or limit the number of XC's allowed in a Trident. Especially if the size comparison is at all close to what Ladron specified.

That of course is slightly out of the OP's hands I would imagine, and probably more likely a suggestion for proper capship implementation.