I own a piece of this vision, the Genesis Starliner. I believe this will be an exciting profession and lifestyle in the Star Citizen universe. I doubt I’ll see passengers boarding dressed as elegantly as those depicted here. Even so, I’m in thrilled by the idea of playing such a role.
Based on what we know so far, after you obtain the proper license to dock and transport passengers from a particular location, there will be in-game mechanics to support NPC passengers purchasing tickets. How many and the type of accommodations purchased, will be based on your customer satisfaction rating and how YOU have configured your ship. How many economy seats vs. first class vs. suites, etc. does your ship contain, as compared to the needs of potential customers?
I was disappointed initially, that the planned ticketing system revolves around NPCs – not players. That doesn’t stop you from selling seats to other players. However, it seems that will be done much like trading in other MMOs. I suppose that’s not awful. It mirrors how Sheppard Book first met the Serenity crew in Firefly.
Similar to Trade Pack runs in ArcheAge
As a game and revenue generating mechanic, this is very similar to transporting and selling trade packs to the NPCs in ArcheAge. I did a lot of that in AA and earned a very good living. I enjoyed driving through the world itself people watching, while chatting with guild members on voice chat. I did a few runs every day like clockwork. I didn’t tire of it because the world I was driving through was gorgeous, vibrant and felt alive. I expect as much and MORE in the SC universe.
The SC transport profession sounds like it will be similar. The prices I can charge will be impacted by the competition in the region, much like the turn-in payouts in AA fluctuated based on how many other players were turning in the same product, in the same location, at the same time. This adds strategy and timing into your decision making. YOU will decide between more frequent lower payout destinations versus less frequent but higher payout. Like AA, you’ll also have to factor in the risk/reward of servicing more dangerous zones where you may encounter combat. All in all, even though it’s being built around NPC interaction, I suspect the reality will be as competitive and lively as AA trade pack runs.
This doesn’t preclude you from taking on players as passengers. You just have to make them aware of the service, agree on a price and collect the funds yourself. I can imagine hawking extra seats while waiting for NPC passengers to finish boarding, much like Mages used to sell portals to the major cities in vanilla World of Warcraft.
You can take contracts/make agreements to transport a group of players and their equipment to a new location much like players with carriers do in EVE online. Except that in this instance, it can be a combination of cargo and bodies.
It’s Big
Looking at its size, it will probably come with a new hangar. Woot! I’m all for variety in hangars. For aesthetic reasons, I don’t see it reusing the asteroid hangar from the Connie. I wouldn’t keep a luxury linear in that styled hangar. It looks too much like a ship garage and/or mining outpost.
From an appearance perspective the Revel and York would work if is it large enough. Right now I have my Freelancer MAX sitting in the central bay but am not sure there's space for a Genesis.
Concept Art
I like where they’re going with the design. Here is some of the concept art that was published to the SC Subscriber’s Vault.
YEP, I'M SOLD!
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