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WARNING, this guide isn’t up to date, read it [here] in English!
Fleet Carriers are massive ships used as a mobile base of operations, offering multiple hangar 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!
We will call the Fleet Carriers “FC” for ease of use.
- The Fleet Carrier and how to obtain it
- Services and Features
- Debt and Decommissioning
- FAQ Fleet Carrier
The Fleet Carrier and how to obtain it
Let’s dive dive directly into it: wat iz it and ow do I get it? Right?
Informations
- A Fleet Carrier will cost 5,000,000,000 credits.
- 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 have a variety of services that can be tailored to the playstyle of the owners choosing.
Moving your Fleet Carrier
With a jump range of 500LY, the Fleet Carrier can in theory allow you to jump farther than you could with a standard ship; But a few constraints apply.
For the FC to jump that far, the gigantic FSD Drive will need a new fuel called “Tritium”.
The latter can be acquired by Mining in icy asteroids, or by buying the Tritium directly from the starports’ markets with the economy “Refinery”.
For a Fleet Carrier to move to a new system, the owner must first plot the destination via the Galaxy Map. It is mandatory for a FC to orbit around a body within a system.
Note that FCs will not be able to enter any Permit Systems, even if the owner holds a permit for that region of space, which means for example Shinrarta Dezhra, Sol, Achenar, Alioth, …
You can plot a destination at any time, however:
- For a Fleet Carrier to jump, it will need one hour preparation for the crew to ready.
- Once the jump is over, it will need one hour to cooldown the FC.
- Each jumps will incur Wear and Tear costs.
/!\ Which means, for 1,000 LY route:
► With your Fleet Carrier: 3h total with Tritium
► With your ship jumping at 50LY without boosters: 40 minutes.
Purchasing 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.
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 by using the filters.
Once purchased, you will find it in the nearest available system orbiting a body.
Managing your 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:
- Commodity Market – Market for supply/demand and buying/selling
- Tritium Depot – To store your FSD fuel
- Deck Officer – To manage your Fleet Carrier
The Carrier Management Service allows you 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 the new contact/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
Services and Features
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 with Core 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 as explained earlier, these 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!
Each Additional Service has an installation and a weekly running cost.
The Carrier Administration Service allows you to sell any installed services at a reduced cost.
When disabling a service, the crew will remain onboard the Fleet Carrier, and will be charged a retainer fee.
A list of additional services:
- 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 Codex 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
- 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.
- 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.
The Fleet Carrier has several interfaces that help you to manage your FC.
You are free to choose a Play style Focus, which will change your interface’s visual.
You can also drop off your cargo in the Fleet Carrier.
You will find your crew, navigation, budget, and other services available.
Customization is also available, because just like your ships, Fleet Carriers can receive special paints!
Security will patrol your Fleet Carrier to protect it. It is the local police.
Your Security level will determine whether more or less police ships are patrolling to counter possible illegal actions around your FC.
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 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.
Mise Hors-Service
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.
In this case, you can then decommission (deactivate) your FC.
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.
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.
The owner of the Fleet Carrier can cancel the Carrier from pending decommission, if they change their mind.
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
FAQ Fleet Carrier
Q. Why are Fleet Carriers such a large investment?
A. Fleet Carriers are massive vessels, which have crew and services with the ability to impact the owner’s experience, but also the experience of other commanders from across the galaxy. It’s a huge responsibility aimed at experienced commanders with the time and credits to maintain and manage these mammoth vessels, offering potential services to many different players.
Q. Other than Fleet Carriers, what else will be included in this update?
A. Fleet Carriers are of course taking the main stage for this update, but it will also include several fixes from the Issue Tracker. Keep an eye on our forums as we will be publishing the Fleet Carrier Update – Beta 1 – Patch Notes in the coming days.
Q. How will Fleet Carriers interact with Powerplay, and the BGS?
A. Fleet Carriers won’t directly affect Powerplay or the BGS and therefore won’t include a Power Contact. However, the owner can still use their Fleet Carrier to benefit players coordinating to change the state of given systems. For example, if a system needs certain commodities, Fleet Carriers can load up on supplies and transport them to the system in question. Fleet Carriers provide new opportunities to interact with existing systems and we’re excited to see what you achieve with them!
Q. How might an explorer fund their Fleet Carrier’s upkeep costs?
A. Whilst Elite Dangerous’ top traders might want to turn their Fleet Carrier into a trading post that turns a profit, we expect most Fleet Carriers to be fitted in ways that help players do what they enjoy in the game. For example, explorers who have accrued large sums of cash, they’ll be able to take a Fleet Carrier and ferry it out to the remote regions of the galaxy and explore never-before seen locations. Equally, explorers could set their Fleet Carrier up as a trading post in a convenient location to turn a profit while they engage in other activities.
Q. What will happen if you are unable to access the game, and your Fleet Carrier gets decommissioned?
A. Fleet Carriers come with a lot of responsibility and maintenance, and if for some reason the owner can not access the game for a period of time, they can set in place several ways to stop their Fleet Carrier being decommissioned. As it will take a lot of debt for a Fleet Carrier to be decommissioned, the owner can make sure there is enough funds in the bank to cover costs over a lengthy period of time. The owner can also reduce costs by suspending or completely deactivating services entirely, minimising the outgoings. Certain services can also be set up to generate income in a system with a high traffic for supplies, generating income for the Fleet Carrier over time.
If these options fail and the Fleet Carrier gets decommissioned, the owner will still receive a ‘salavage cost’ for the Fleet Carrier. If a Fleet Carrier is decommissioned, the owner will receive a salvage cost equal to a portion of the purchase price plus any additions such as modules or other items stored on it.
Q. Will any in-game discounts be applied when purchasing a Fleet Carrier?
A. Only Commanders with ‘Kickstarter Outfitting’ or with the Founder Tier (and higher) discount will receive a discount when they purchase a Fleet Carrier. Fleet Carriers cannot enter or be bought from permit-locked systems (including Shinrarta Dezhra).
Q. How do you obtain Tritium?
A. Tritium cannot be refined from other minerals and is instead obtained from directly mining ice asteroids, or being purchased from some starports. Be warned, Tritium is a commodity and therefore can be stolen or lost like any other commodity!
Q. What happens if your Fleet Carrier jumps into a system and runs out of fuel?
A. Fleet Carrier owners will need to plan their trips carefully as there are high risks in being stranded, especially with a vessel that can jump 500ly away. Tritium can also be stored on the Fleet Carrier. Visiting commanders may also stop by to donate fuel or sell it to the Fleet Carrier, providing more fuel for jumps!
Q. Will Fleet Carriers be persistent in the universe? Even if you are offline or play in Solo Mode?
A. Fleet Carriers themselves are persistent in the galaxy across all game modes, whether you are online or not, and player ships docked at one are subject to the usual normal game mode and matchmaking rules. If a Commander docks on a Fleet Carrier in Solo which then decides to jump to a new system, the commander who is docked will jump with the Fleet Carrier, even though they are in Solo.
Q. Can Fleet Carriers be stolen by other Players?
A. No, other players cannot steal a Commander’s Fleet Carrier.
Q. How many landing pads are there, and will it be possible to store ships on Fleet Carriers?
A. Fleet Carriers have 16 landing pads for the owner and fellow commanders to use. If the Fleet Carrier has the Shipyard Service, commanders will also be able to store their ships onboard (these ships do not use up any additional capacity, the Shipyard handles this for you). The landing and storage of ships acts in the same way as regular starports.
Q. Can Thargoids attack Fleet Carriers?
A. No, Fleet Carriers do not attack Thargoids, and Thargoids do not attack Fleet Carriers.
Q. What is the Fleet Carrier jump process?
A. Fleet Carriers and their crew need to make preparations before the vessel begins its Hyperspace Jump. The preparations will take one hour to complete, and whilst this is happening, all Commanders in the vicinity will receive several alerts throughout the countdown, warning them of the time left until the jump commences. When the Fleet Carrier arrives at its destination, there will be a one hour cooldown before it can begin preparations to jump again. We’d love to hear your feedback on these timescales during the betas!
Q. Can anyone store commodities in a Fleet Carrier?
A. Only the Fleet Carrier owner can transfer commodities into the Fleet Carrier’s personal storage and back again, similar to how cargo transfer works between SRV’s and ships.
Q. Are Fleet Carrier names unique?
A. Fleet Carrier names are not unique across the galaxy and can be changed by the owner. However, each Fleet Carrier has a unique callsign that appears on the Navigation Panel which cannot be changed.
Q. Are Fleet Carriers manually controlled from a bridge?
A. No, Fleet Carriers are not manually piloted by the player and instead, manned by a Deck Officer who helps oversee the operations and running of the Fleet Carrier crew and services.
Q. Can a Fleet Carrier go into Supercruise?
A. Fleet Carriers do not use Supercruise to travel, and instead use Hyperspace Jumps to navigate through the galaxy.
Q. Can you sell Guardian Weapons or Modules from a Fleet Carrier?
A. No, it will not be possible to sell materials, Rare Goods or modules that need unlocking from Fleet Carriers.
Q. Does the Fleet Carrier’s economy affect the surrounding system’s economy?
A. The Fleet Carrier is an independent vessel and will not affect any system’s economy.
Q. What happens if a Commander attacks a Fleet Carrier?
A. Fleet Carriers act in the same way as stations, outposts and planet ports, if they are attacked they will fire back to eliminate the threat with onboard turrets.
Q. Can you buy multiple Fleet Carriers?
A. A Commander can only own one Fleet Carrier at a time, however, if the owner decides to decommission their Fleet Carrier they can purchase another one.
Q. What happened to the support vessels?
A. We examined the concept of predefined load-outs through the use of support vessels, but they restricted the level of customisation that we wanted Fleet Carriers to have. We removed the support vessels and changed it so that Fleet Carrier owners had more control of the Fleet Carriers’ customisation.
Q. Can a Fleet Carrier and a Capital Ship jump alongside each other?
A. No, Fleet Carriers and Capital Ships will not be able to jump alongside each other.
Q. How much control does a Fleet Carrier owner have over a Fleet Carrier’s destination?
A. If a location is selected directly from the Galaxy Map, the Fleet Carrier will orbit the first available interstellar body. If a location is selected from the System Map, the Fleet Carrier owner can specify which body they want the Fleet Carrier to orbit, providing there are not too many other Fleet Carriers orbiting the same location.
Q. Can the owners remotely manage their Fleet Carrier?
A. Fleet Carrier owners can use the Remote Fleet Carrier Management option in the Internal Panel on their ship to access Fleet Carrier Management Services.
Q. Can we visually customize our Fleet Carrier?
A. Similarly to other ships in the game, you will be able to customise your Fleet Carrier through the onboard Livery.
Q. Can Fleet Carriers land on planets?
A. No, Fleet Carriers cannot land on planets.
Q. Will Carriers have the same gameplay interactions as Megaships? ie Turrets, Data Terminals, Comms Array, and Cargo Bay
A. No, most of the interactions will happen once a Commander has docked on a Fleet Carrier.
Q. Can Fleet Carriers be used in conjunction with Rescue Vessels at damaged starports?
A. Fleet Carriers can support Commanders as they go to help damaged starports, but they can not directly aid Rescue Vessels at these damaged starports.
Q. Can I manufacture commodities for trading on a Fleet Carrier?
A. Fleet Carriers only deal with trading commodities and do not have the facilities to make, grow or manufacture any goods.
Q. If the market onboard can be set by the player, what happens if the player decides to sell narcotics etc. and then jumps to a system where they are illegal?
A. It is up to the Fleet Carrier owner if they would like to sell and buy goods that are illegal in that system. Although the Fleet Carrier itself will not get into trouble for selling illegal goods, any ships caught carrying illegal goods can be caught by the System Authority surrounding the Fleet Carrier
Q. Can Fleet Carriers be ordered to jump into unexplored systems?
A. Yes! If a Fleet Carrier jumps to an unexplored system it will target the primary star as its destination.
Q. Will a log of Fleet Carrier actions be kept, similar to the CMDR journal for player actions?
A. There will not be a dedicated Fleet Carrier Journal, but a Commander’s Journal will include some of the transactions that they might have with a Fleet Carrier.
Q. Can players steal from Fleet Carriers in the same way goods can be stolen from Megaships and Installations?
A. No, Fleet Carriers do not have any external cargo bays.
Q. Can I open a Black Market on my Fleet Carrier?
A. Yes, Fleet Carriers have an additional service that allows Commanders to trade stolen goods.
Q. Can Squadrons pool money to purchase a Fleet Carrier (with the squadron creator being the owner of the carrier)?
A. It is not possible to donate credits to a specific Commander.
Q. Which aspects of Fleet Carriers are subject to feedback and suggested changes during the beta?
A. Similar to our previous beta, we appreciate every piece of feedback that you contribute to the development of the Fleet Carrier Update. We need Commanders to come together and test both the durability and functionality of Fleet Carriers as both owners and visitors to ensure a successful launch.
