Elite Dangerous | System Colonisation Beta Details & Feedback

Absolutely find the numbers to haul enticing and fair. I can imagine a balance later on for whatever reason but as mainly solo player I'm having the time of my life with the hauls. Spread-sheets are back. Inara finesse and chill space-trucking.
So many positive side-effects of being engaged with the colonization gameplay.
Years of joy.
 
So you want the thing, but not prepared to do the thing to get it. "It's too difficult, I don't like it"
Galvanises my point tbh.
You do realise that it is completely possible to add alternative gameplay mechanics to a gameplay loop to make more than one group of niche/elitist players happy, right?

If you want to attract bigger playerbase it is absolutely necessary and from what we see, Fdevs want bigger playerbase.
 
I agree with you. And there are still many more questions than answers.
If we cannot manage the economy of colonized systems to move further in the galaxy, then the potential for colonization will eventually end. And there will be a small number of players left for this activity with their own goals.

Literally you can plan economy in your system by build instalations, settlements and stations, but... for now it seems like you need to haul like 500k+ T to build economy for an example - Industrial resources produced in good amount to use it for colonisation of next systems. That's what about I am thining right now. Building around the bubble and making good systems are great as it is tbh, maybe a bit grindy, but still fine.

But I thinka bout daisy-chains, it is pretty different thing, so I wonder how Frontier will balance everything.

But I am really surprised how good is balance at the begining, even if I suspect some nerf here and there.
 
Literally you can plan economy in your system by build instalations, settlements and stations, but... for now it seems like you need to haul like 500k+ T to build economy for an example - Industrial resources produced in good amount to use it for colonisation of next systems. That's what about I am thining right now. Building around the bubble and making good systems are great as it is tbh, maybe a bit grindy, but still fine.

But I thinka bout daisy-chains, it is pretty different thing, so I wonder how Frontier will balance everything.

But I am really surprised how good is balance at the begining, even if I suspect some nerf here and there.
I think that many (including me) will stop at one system for tests. Maybe two. Hardly any more. There is virtually no purpose for continued and increased colonization systems. Neither for the player, nor for the BGS factions, nor for the PP.
Systems management crisis. Number of trips required. That's a big negative.
My main idea is that Colonization systems should have uniqueness.
It can be some part with unique improved characteristics, which is produced only in this system. It could be something else. I see no other reasons for mass colonization, to be honest.
As for the economy. She is more complex here than 99% of the players think.
I am just from that 1% who understand the local economy, understand the chains of goods, triggers for production and some other nuances.
Perhaps colonization will increase the number of such players:)
 
How soon do you think the problem with missing architect status will be fixed? Very eager to develop my colony, I managed to set up a planetary mining station only yesterday, left the game, and went to bed.... In the morning I go to hoba but I can't build anything(
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The explorers would never stop at 2 systems. I'm personally at my 3rd already (although I kinda lost the first 2 with this bug).

Most people have a far-away destination in mind, and there would be a daisy-chain of outposts, every 15 ly to that final destination.

"The bubble" is hatching, and it's about to become "the spider".
 
Either FDev comes up with a way to do some sort of contract to make people not steal, or NPC haulers. No, I don't care about the whole player economy anymore. Or FDev should do the alternative of other ways to progress on the construction than space trucking.

FCs should have a mission board full of source & fetch missions with cash rewards funded by the FC owner. The code is already there.
 
Paul has announced a complete pause in Colonisation in a new thread. YOU WILL NOT LOSE PROGRESS.

But there are no timelines for a resume. The Megaships from the CG are also paused, given nobody could use them anyway whilst Colonisation is paused.

 
I think that many (including me) will stop at one system for tests. Maybe two. Hardly any more. There is virtually no purpose for continued and increased colonization systems. Neither for the player, nor for the BGS factions, nor for the PP.
Systems management crisis. Number of trips required. That's a big negative.

And here is some place to think about balancing, because 12 or even 30 hrs for first station could be fine, but what aboout 10 times more.

My main idea is that Colonization systems should have uniqueness.
It can be some part with unique improved characteristics, which is produced only in this system. It could be something else. I see no other reasons for mass colonization, to be honest.

That's why I am a fan of big jumps, to focus on less systems and better quality of them. Now if you want to reach some place you need to build a lot of daisy-chain systems with cheapest outposts... what if we could do really big jump, but daisy chain would be more like complex steps with economy and production of resources in some nearby systems to do next big jump and eventually reach some really distant place. It should be even less crap-system that with idea like now.

Except it is more about BGS/PP, and develop the bubble, but... it is not in opposite with that

As for the economy. She is more complex here than 99% of the players think.
I am just from that 1% who understand the local economy, understand the chains of goods, triggers for production and some other nuances.
Perhaps colonization will increase the number of such players:)

I am not sure if you are talking about in-game economy :)
In fact if someone don't do a lot of trading it doesn't matter for most of players.

But if you are 1% of the best informed players... what do I need to create a system with a lot of tritium in markets??
 
And here is some place to think about balancing, because 12 or even 30 hrs for first station could be fine, but what aboout 10 times more.



That's why I am a fan of big jumps, to focus on less systems and better quality of them. Now if you want to reach some place you need to build a lot of daisy-chain systems with cheapest outposts... what if we could do really big jump, but daisy chain would be more like complex steps with economy and production of resources in some nearby systems to do next big jump and eventually reach some really distant place. It should be even less crap-system that with idea like now.

Except it is more about BGS/PP, and develop the bubble, but... it is not in opposite with that



I am not sure if you are talking about in-game economy :)
In fact if someone don't do a lot of trading it doesn't matter for most of players.

But if you are 1% of the best informed players... what do I need to create a system with a lot of tritium in markets??
We will get tired in this conversation. We just talk about different things. I am making a system that will participate in both BGS and PP within the radius of my own stronghold.
You say that someone will do the same number of trips with or without a carrier to bring themselves to some distant point.
I immediately said that there will be small groups of players with similar goals.

Regarding Tritium, this is obviously not a matter of economics!!! This is a mining issue.
stations with Tritium is Extraction/Refinery
 
We will get tired in this conversation. We just talk about different things. I am making a system that will participate in both BGS and PP within the radius of my own stronghold.
You say that someone will do the same number of trips with or without a carrier to bring themselves to some distant point.
I immediately said that there will be small groups of players with similar goals.

Regarding Tritium, this is obviously not a matter of economics!!! This is a mining issue.
stations with Tritium is Extraction/Refinery

No I just see wider view I think.

Extraction/Refinery?
Just like that? So, no... doesn't work just like that. There is more than that. Thank you for your effort.
 
I do wonder if the gameplay loop for colonization can be modified to allow for more than one type of activity. Rather than just hauling, why not open up "missions" on the colonization ship/under construction ports that will allow you to take on bounty hunting or protection roles for NPC pilots that do hauling for you? These missions can be for individual cargo loads of supplies where the NPC will fly to a nearby station or settlement where the actual supplies are stocked, load up, and fly back, and your job would be to protect the pilot from pirates or enemy factions that may try to interrupt your colonization effort. If the NPC pilot successfully returns you'll get the supplies they hauled added to the construction. This would allow for CMDRs to take a break from hauling for a bit while still getting some progress done, and without making the colonization effort itself passive because you would need to actively escort any NPC contributions.

Another twist on this may be a mission to protect under construction ports for a wave of NPC pilots delivering goods. Rather than escorting, you essentially take on the role of station security - since the port is under construction it would not have security and pirates or enemy factions could try to shoot down ships as they attempt to dock. For X minutes in the mission, your role would be to engage and eliminate enemy ships. Inaction would lead to all NPC haulers getting shot down, whereas complete success would result in roughly the same amount of cargo being added to the construction as you'd be able to do in the same amount of time hauling yourself. You could also award bounties to pilots for a little extra incentive. Add wing missions and you could essentially have a mini conflict zone around the port. Could make for some very interesting gameplay.

Both of these types of missions could allow for greater variety in the construction efforts without actually changing the amount of time required to complete a construction in any significant manner. You could also limit the contributions from these types of missions to the common, high volume supplies like titanium and steel, so CMDRs still need to go source the less common stuff themselves. Threat levels of the missions could also influence the amount of supplies earned, with level 0 being small hauler ships and easy NPC enemies, and threat level 8 being for protecting T9 and Cutter ships from heavily equipped enemies in a higher risk/higher reward mission. This would allow the missions to scale to the player's combat skill level while keeping the end contributions realistic for the time played.

EDIT: One more option, for surface settlements specifically, maybe add an option to map a planet ahead of time with the DSS for a modest reduction in material costs on metallic and rocky bodies? The idea is that mapping the body could identify strategic raw resources already available that could be used as part of the construction process, so if you map first then go in with your SC suite, you can get a 1-5% reduction in material cost for the common items like steel/aluminium depending on the resources and the concentrations available on the planet. Enough to make it worth a CMDRs time to map the planets as part of their planning process, but not so much that it significantly alters the construction time.
 
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Good morning everyone, I've been quite busy with colonization these past few days. I've almost finished a very small system (just 6 orbital constructions) where I tested a few things, and last night I claimed a new system. While I was amazed by the sheer number of colonized systems, I also have concerns about their actual sustainability. If these systems are not developed by their architects, they will remain empty systems with just an outpost, and absolutely useless from a background simulation (BGS) or future colonization perspective. I think FDev should pay attention to this, "punishing" players who don't develop their systems by taxing them instead of generating credits. This way, it will always be possible to create outpost systems to reach distant parts of the galaxy, but architects will have to better consider their expansion moves, instead of expanding indiscriminately everywhere.
 
(We're not completely sure what the Hubs are for at the moment - they're a very cheap way in terms of commodities to get T3 construction points and boost a lot of system properties, but what that then does is unclear)
I think we have 3 generations of structures to deal with here: Original, Horizons and Odyssey.

I have built 2 mining settlements (both are Odyssey settlements, and show up as such in the system POI menu). I was about to embark on building a Refinery hub (Horizons structure) to see if I could get a source of CMM Composites up and running. I haven't found a refinery in the Odyssey set of structures.

I'm still not sure at the moment if the Odyssey mining settlements will contribute to the Horizon's refinery (or if I need Horizon's extraction hubs). My economy has moved to extraction however, so we'll see.

The great experiment continues!
 
Good morning everyone, I've been quite busy with colonization these past few days. I've almost finished a very small system (just 6 orbital constructions) where I tested a few things, and last night I claimed a new system. While I was amazed by the sheer number of colonized systems, I also have concerns about their actual sustainability. If these systems are not developed by their architects, they will remain empty systems with just an outpost, and absolutely useless from a background simulation (BGS) or future colonization perspective. I think FDev should pay attention to this, "punishing" players who don't develop their systems by taxing them instead of generating credits. This way, it will always be possible to create outpost systems to reach distant parts of the galaxy, but architects will have to better consider their expansion moves, instead of expanding indiscriminately everywhere.
To begin with, can raise the cost of an application for colonization by 100-200 times.
This will already reduce the number of claims to an acceptable number.:)
We buy a carrier for 5 billion.
Do we buy the system 200 times cheaper?
 
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