[Stormkeeper]

don't forget the civie Orion from Derelict.....

You mean the one with the hole in its side ?

[blowfish]

No.  The Auriga.  There was no Orion in Derelict with a hole in its side.

[Stormkeeper]

Oh. Right. THAT Orion. The one I was remembering was from Transcend.

[colecampbell666]

don't forget the civie Orion from Derelict.....

That wasn't really civilian, more a corporation trying to take over the galaxy.

[Stormkeeper]

It had the gay white beam of long range doom, right ? And you had to surgically remove the front beam turret with trebuchets ?

[Retsof]

I think, for the most part, it'd be "buy a ticket". Mostly so that the GTVA wouldn't have to deal with very many private owners buying their own spaceships and causing havoc (either intentionally, i.e. piracy, or as a result of not knowing how to pilot very well).

However, I do think it'd be quite feasible for families or small groups to rent or buy small or smallish vehicles, perhaps refurb Centaurs. Albeit a bit of a rare arrangement, but possible.

There may be small personal craft for in-system use, and, depending on how much jump-drives cost, they may not even be subspace capable.  I think travel between systems would be the "buy a ticket" kind.

[Droid803]

Buy a ticket...on what?
In BP, civies buy a ticket out in an Elysium, but you'd have to pay me to shove me into that tiny brick of death. Trashman's civillian liners do fit in well here though. Those things at least have some armor.

[Retsof]

The Elysium incidents are all in wartime, while the civvies are being evacuated.  What I'm talking about is more like a cruise ship or a 747.

[blowfish]

It had the gay white beam of long range doom, right ? And you had to surgically remove the front beam turret with trebuchets ?

No, that was an LRBGreen

[Solatar]

I'm starting to imagine the situation sort of like boats in today's world. Large freighters, etc. with a few very rich people owning larger craft.

[Stormkeeper]

I seem to recall some one in London owning a Sherman tank and using it as daily transport.

[Droid803]

I seem to recall some one in London owning a Sherman tank and using it as daily transport.

O_o. Must get a some gas guzzler lol. And I doubt the military let him buy/keep/use shells.

So, yea, sure, make a Fenris your private liner, but don't expect to get to keep the LTerSlash (or Fusion Mortar for that matter. Be happy if you got to keep blobs).

[Stormkeeper]

I seem to recall some one in London owning a Sherman tank and using it as daily transport.

O_o. Must get a some gas guzzler lol. And I doubt the military let him buy/keep/use shells.

So, yea, sure, make a Fenris your private liner, but don't expect to get to keep the LTerSlash (or Fusion Mortar for that matter. Be happy if you got to keep blobs).

Yea, but you can always load them up with paint.

[Droid803]

Fun, but doesn't solve the gas guzzling issue though.

[Thor]

yes someone does own a tank in london, i remember the news story on it.

and a corporation is still a civilian entity, unless it is owned by a government.  which if they're taking over the galaxy, they aren't likely to be.  i think its a matter of finances.  just like now, someone could by their own interstellar ship if they have the money (ie:john travolta and his jumbo jet), but tis not common.  likely more small craft for personal in system use, and then booked passage on larger ships.  corporations of a sizeable nature are likely to have a variety of their own ships. 

that said.  their should be more civilian ships running around... The FS games always felt like it was just the military running around blasting things.  Freelancer was better at showing a living universe.  I'd love to see that addressed in FS_Open....but i imagine its not a huge priority.

[Stormkeeper]

IMO, as long as the models are spicy, the only problem would be processing and lag issues from so many dang ships on screen at a time.

Assuming its a normal day at a space station, there would be as many as 100~ civilian ships coming and going, excluding patrols and military ships.

=edit=

The most ships I ever put up on screen iirc, is about 18 capital ships, and roughly 12 wings of 4 fighters, excluding Alpha and Beta. So its a grand total of ... 73 ... ? ... ships. I don't recall much lag issues, although there was minor when I was watching the capital ships duke it out.

[colecampbell666]

Go watch a BP cutscene.

And what mission/game was that? I assume Derelict, when they bring the Nyarlotothep through the node.

[Solatar]

It's entirely possible that we don't see many civvy ships in the main campaign because we're fighting in battles. If I had my own cruiser liner/yacht, I wouldn't be very prudent to sail it in the middle of a naval battle.

[Titan]

back on hades, there was a small ship, the iron hawk 2, that was supposed to be simply an engine with a cockpit. IIRC, it never actually came with the right model, but just used the Loki model instead.

[colecampbell666]

What?