Chris Roberts · CEO / Game Director

Well, in terms of quantum, they still need to dial it in. I mean, the concept with the quantum side is that the small, sort of single-seater ships really aren't built to travel across the system just in one go. And there's a reason why you would want a bigger ship like a Freelancer, a Constellation, or go even bigger, like, okay, I want to take a bunch of cargo in a Hull C, or I want to fly in my Idris and go from one side of the system to the other side. So the concept has always been that the bigger ships, they may not be faster, but they're better at extended travel, so extended quantum travel. And this will be a reason, for instance, like, okay, I've got an Idris and I've got some Gladius. Now, I want to get from one side of the star system to the other one. Well, maybe that Idris can do that in two quantum jumps or travels or whatever you want to call them. But if I did that from one side of the star system to the other side in the Gladius, it could take me 10 or 12, right? So that's why the Gladius is on the Idris and then you do the long travel. And then when you get to where you want, the Gladius launches. It's just the same reason in the real world. It's like, yeah, that nuclear carrier can pretty much drive around forever, but the F-18s that you're launching from it certainly can't circumnavigate the globe. So that's the concept.

In terms of it being dialed in for the ships, that's an ongoing process right now. So I think right now it's not necessarily dialed in, right? The way I would sort of feel it is something like a Freelancer or Constellation really should be able to jump from one planet to another planet. It shouldn't be able to do it from one side of the star system to the other side. It would take several. But a bigger ship like an Idris or a Reclaimer could do multiple, span almost the star system or half a star system or whatever you want to take. And the limiting factor that we were considering, because we have this heat mechanic and the cooling mechanic, is that the quantum drive itself is creating this sort of magnetic field around your ship that's sort of pulling you forward. But that takes a lot of energy and generates heat and requires cooling. So the bigger ships have, first of all, the bigger power plants, but also the bigger cooling capacity, so they can really deal with it. And if you look at the Idris and you see the power plant in the Idris, I think we've showed it off, it's like submerged in it. And so that's kind of the concept, that you just don't have the room or the equipment to be able to do that on the smaller ships. But as you get bigger, you have more capacity for that. So it's kind of nice because, yes, the big ships can't fly as fast, they can't maneuver as fast, but they have the advantage of the distance.

And so I think what people have been complaining about is not that concept, but that it's not dialed in. I was talking to John Crewe this morning about it because I knew this question was coming up, and he said, well, from this planet to this planet, it's like 90% of the way you get there with the medium ship. Well, okay, if that's a Freelancer or a Connie, you should be able to get the whole way unless you're interdicted or there's some obstacle in the way. So that's a matter of dialing in the numbers. But for me, the concept that I just talked about is very important. That gives you a reason to have the bigger ships, because they're the ones that you can travel the greater distances with. And that's why you would sort of have a bigger ship that carries your smaller ones. So what we want to do is have a reason for all these different sized ships. We don't want someone to be able to just get in an Aurora and do a jump across the star system the same way that you should be able to do with a much larger ship.