5,000,000,000 credits. This is the price you can pay for one of the eponymous carrier ships in the upcoming "Fleet Carriers" addon for Elite: Dangerous. Not exactly cheap. But the new steel giants can do a lot.
What exactly, the developers explained in an almost one-hour introductory stream on April 2, 2020. In this news we summarize the most important information from this for you. If you want to watch the video yourself, you will find it at the beginning of the article.
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Elite players will find a mysterious ship with its own civilization
Mobile space station
The giant carrier ships of the Drake Class act as a mobile station. Not only can smaller ships be repaired on the, but also refueled. There is also a marketplace where you can trade various goods. Every player can own only one of the giants, but has full control over it.
- Costs: The basic version of the ships with a tritum depot and marketplace costs five billion ingame credits.
- Landing places: Each of the new carrier ships has 16 landing sites. These are divided into four for small ships, another four for medium-sized and eight for large ships.
- Jump range: The fleet carrier can jump 500 light years. It also carries a total of 1,000 tons of tritum as fuel.
- Maintenance costs: They need to be serviced regularly, which incurs weekly costs. At least ten million credits are due weekly. If you ignore them for too long, the fleet carrier will be taken out of service and scrapped.
- Management: The owner of the ship can set tariffs and thus generate income with the services of the mobile station. These include the refueling of smaller ships.
- Upgrade option: You can add more services to the carrier. These include a market for smaller ships or the opportunity to trade illegal goods.
The Alpha tests of the addon will start on April 7, 2020. A beta phase should follow in May. The release is still a bit further in the future: If there is no delay, the developer should release it in June this year.
