Elite Dangerous | System Colonisation Beta Details & Feedback

[hangfireflip]

I don't have time to read all comments made so far, so here's my feedback.

For me, thus far the colonization experience has been positive. I am using a carrier and a T9 (724T Capacity) to haul the necessary goods to my system. Apart from the early lack of CMM Composites, I have found sufficent qualities and regeneration the commodities needed.

I have completed an Outpost and a Refinery hub, with a orbital mining installation and planetary settlement in progress.

I consider the 28 days need to build an orbitial station sufficent. (Granted I have not tried to build a top end orbital yet in that time frame, but my experience thus far suggests I could do it solo if required).

I have seen how others have been able to nudge their economies to get refineries (and thus necessary commodities ) out of the new stations. So I feel that the concept of daisy chaining systems well beyond the bubble of Sol to be feasible.

However, there is one Commodity that I believe needs to be addressed - Emergency Power Cells (EPCs).

This commodity is location limited to High Tech, 30ly around Akhenaten (sp?). If this remains the case, it will create a significant logistics tail for systems that are beyond 500ly of Akhenaten space. This limit is caused by the maximum single jump range of a Fleet Carrier.

Further, ( and I acknowledge for the Beta this is not yet a problem) when Colonina and other bubbles are given System Colonization Contacts, EPCs (which are needed for almost all Planet/Moon based construction) will be several carrier jumps away as it appear to be a Sol Bubble only commodity.

I believe to make System Colonization workable beyond 500 ly from Akhenaten, EPCs need to become available to be produced at any suitable High Tech station (I would accept limiting them to surface or space based platforms if you wish).

TLR- Emergency Powers Cells being location limited to the Akhenaten region of te SOL Bubble makes expansion of the Sol Bubble beyond 500 Ly of Akhenaten problematic and unfeasible for the non Sol bubbles. EPCs should have the location restriction on their production removed.

 

[Xenia_K]

There already is an acceptable barrier to entry, namely the logistical strain that a lot of fresh CMDRs are going to have to wrestle with, even at the outpost level. Not everyone has a fully kitted out type 9 to support colonization, and 25M credits is plenty steep for a new player, let alone the initial cost of materials. (CMM Composites and insulating membranes alone... shudder)

Sure, outposts might be attainable for mid-game players that have large ships, but by the time you get access to those kinds of freighters, you're already nearly at Elite rank for trading to begin with, assuming you've gone the route of trade to begin with.

i guess because the construction destinations are generated procedurely and have no input by stellarforge besides how much bodies are available/landable and their size? Idunno...

 

[Keiji_Hiro]

thus far is there anyone who successfully build a ground outpost that sells CMM?

 

[madmongoose]

Well, call me crazy but i believe the term "Open BETA" means we, the umm "customer$" , are meant to assist with testing. ( on a larger more comprehensive scale than small QA Team could do )

I hope you're being sarcastic as I definitely would expect "extremely basic tech tree works as expected" to be within the scope of a small QA of a feature rather than "comprehensive testing"

 

[Xenia_K]

Why bother with the Asteroid + Coriolis stations giving PLUS ONE T3 construction point, when this doubling mechanic means the second Coriolis/Asteroid built effectively grants NEGATIVE FIVE T3 construction points? Instead of building these to work towards building a large station, they detract from it.

I don't fundamentally mind the idea of limiting how many large ports can be built in a system, but this is just not a good way to achieve that.

from Market-Logic the construction points requirements should increase gradually only (as more consumers for markets in competition are needed) AND the amount of Mats required should decrease, as some of the goods would be produced locally! Maybe the decrease only in goods which connect to the systems economy?

 

[shylph]

OK, so this is getting super-annoying... I heard reports this was fixed, but it doesn't seem to be? Just finished building this today:


Have now built both types of Relay Station, only to get a Comms Installation at the end, and so still unable to build a Security Installation. Not really fun to just spam the same building which I don't want repeatedly while trying to "guess" what the right one is.

That is odd and very unfortunate. I built a rely station over the weekend (I don't remember which flavor) and started my Security Installation yesterday. I'm playing now so I flew by it to take a look at the relay. It's listed as a "Comms Installation" on screen but didn't block me from building a Security Installation. Maybe I just got lucky. I assume you tried to build in case it's a display bug and were blocked?

Hopefully it gets resolved for you so you can continue your system as you prefer.

The Security Installation that I was lucky enough to build in this process is labeled as a Scientific Installation. Therefore, it is unclear which one is capable of being an Installation.

 

[Neestar]

I hope you're being sarcastic as I definitely would expect "extremely basic tech tree works as expected" to be within the scope of a small QA of a feature rather than "comprehensive testing"

Not sure i'm understanding you here CMDR . My previous post wasn't sarcasm, sorry to disappoint ya! -- All's i meant was: When they said "open BETA" , i took them at their word and therefore presumed this particular type of update/feature wouldn't be anything remotely close to "well polished" or smooth or whatever.
Consequently, i don't have any disgust nor any expectations toward 'FDev' ... yet!

 

[cidiantoby]

from Market-Logic the construction points requirements should increase gradually only (as more consumers for markets in competition are needed) AND the amount of Mats required should decrease, as some of the goods would be produced locally! Maybe the decrease only in goods which connect to the systems economy?

Why would construction point requirements increase? Who is the competition in the system you're the architect of?

That doesn't make sense logically to me in this games system or I'm not seeing your point.

I do see how needed commodities would decrease because "there's more NPC activity in the system" theory. However, logically speaking, it's always easier and cheaper to build in bigger cities due to the availability of materials. So therefore build point costs should logically decrease too if the materials required decreases.

This isn't a real estate you can run out of space with. If you can't build anything else. Start a new system. No sense to make the first one harder "just because".

 

[Paul Shroom]

Unfortunately it doesn't create a new minor faction based on your squadron. When you created the squadron the game asked you to align with a preexisting minor faction and that's what is what is supposed to be inserted as the 3rd one in the list.

My squadron is aligned with my player faction as it is the same as a minor faction in that respect and in my first system I colonised my faction was 3rd as expected but not in the second system I colonised.

 

[Xenia_K]

well, nice that you brought up that analogy - building in cities is cheaper because you don´t need long hauls of mats?
Yep, but the prices for land/ground are exponentially higher.
So far your analogy hits the mark (and what I tried to express, sorry no native speaker),
to support stable economy of multiple markets you need larger consumer groups (industry, settlements etc.) as consumption does not grow linear and proportional to number of markets. So far a gradual increrase of construction points makes sense (pure doubbling them not).
But we can agree to disagree, FDev anyway stated clearly that they will not change the feature at all (only balancing like with CMM supplies)....

 

[Jmanis]

I built an Enodia and got a comms installation, but the option to build a security installation still appeared - but not until after I'd left the system and come back.

How bizzarre, that did it... still saying Comms installation so at the very least that's confusing...

 

[Jmanis]

The Security Installation that I was lucky enough to build in this process is labeled as a Scientific Installation. Therefore, it is unclear which one is capable of being an Installation.

View attachment 420552View attachment 420553

Yeah interesting... the "Rename Facility" is a good way to check that... the one in my first system is still a comms installation (I read this wasn't fixed retroactively though), but the comms installation comes up as a relay installation in the icon.

Thanks all!

 

[cidiantoby]

well, nice that you brought up that analogy - building in cities is cheaper because you don´t need long hauls of mats?
Yep, but the prices for land/ground are exponentially higher.
So far your analogy hits the mark (and what I tried to express, sorry no native speaker),
to support stable economy of multiple markets you need larger consumer groups (industry, settlements etc.) as consumption does not grow linear and proportional to number of markets. So far a gradual increrase of construction points makes sense (pure doubbling them not).
But we can agree to disagree, FDev anyway stated clearly that they will not change the feature at all (only balancing like with CMM supplies)....

Reading though this thread I forgot English wasn't your native.

If that's the case then it could be different than you and I based on location on shipping. Here there is logistics companies everywhere to transport materials. Warehouses to store those materials to be shipped out same day. I lived on a small town (population less than 3,500 and 15,000 in the county). It was way more expensive to live in a small remote rural town than it was in a large 135,000+ population city due to logistics. The real estate was more expensive too. Not only because the cost of living was higher, but you got paid less compared to those in a similar field.

I think where we both definitely disagree is that construction cost points should be excluded from the discussion of balancing. It is not a feature itself being changed. The metrics for CMM has been changed without changing the features. The point costs can be too by decreasing, reducing to the normal numbers, or made null.

Edit: Hopefully this deeper explanation helps you understand my reasoning. Even though we are in agreement about the logistics part.

 

[Neestar]

*NVM, double posted

 

[Jmanis]

Not sure who told it was "fixed" but at least they ( FDev ) are aware & acknowledged it here--> https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threa...on-beta-details-feedback.634055/post-10570937

My read on that was more it was cosmetic effects (i.e the base layouts mismatched the pictures), rather than actual facility mix-ups... as i built a large military settlement and can see its got a different layout, but still is a military settlement.

My reference to it being "fixed" came from here (and the comment after)... there's a few different threads about this it seems (annoyingly...)

How to build a tourists settlement or a Security station in Trailblazer - Edited

Only use the Hermes satellite installation The other satellite installations will not allow you to build a tourist settlement They are not marked as a satellite after completing Here the issue to vote for: https://issues.frontierstore.net/issue-detail/72902

forums.frontier.co.uk

I think the takeaway is just "things are still hinky"

 

[Tifu]

It'd be nice to get a confirmation of that. I for one won't be building a second starport until I've got my settlements and installations built, as it's pretty daft to have the total cost of a system depend upon the order in which you built it.

Same. Got one outpost active and another under construction. Will hold off building the large orbital station till everything else is in place and this issue fully clarified.

 

[Screemonster]

Same. Got one outpost active and another under construction. Will hold off building the large orbital station till everything else is in place and this issue fully clarified.

If nothing else it seems a bit off that the order you build your things in can have a more dramatic effect than specifically what you built.

It's not the increase on T3 structures I'm worried about, those can really only be spent on starports, but if T2 costs are affected for non-starport projects but only after you build your starports, that makes a massive difference.

 

[Jmanis]

It'd be nice to get a confirmation of that. I for one won't be building a second starport until I've got my settlements and installations built, as it's pretty daft to have the total cost of a system depend upon the order in which you built it.

Yeah this one... like... i don't mind costs increasing based off some metric... but if that metric is a particular type of facility, which results in a global increase... that seems a bit dumb. It should just be that particular facility type if it only triggers for that.

 

[Tifu]

I was thinking as follows, 10k storage,1x large, medium, small landing pad, 10-20 ship allowance for owner. Also it would make amid way point while grinding for a full size carrier.

I like the specs listed. And I can also live with less laser weaponry as long as we have gunners who can shoot straight.

The aim of the current FC's gunnery crew is worse than the stormtroopers in Star Wars

 

[cidiantoby]

I was thinking as follows, 10k storage,1x large, medium, small landing pad, 10-20 ship allowance for owner. Also it would make amid way point while grinding for a full size carrier.

With colonization being a thing. I just hope we get capital freighters. Something that is a dedicated hauler unlike the Fleet Carrier. For when colonization opens up for the explorers out there.