ED Galaxy always has been cutthroat, never fair and always will be.
Elite Dangerous | System Colonisation Beta Details & Feedback
- Thread starter Paul_Crowther
- Start date
You’re missing the context.so you say that you spend days to build the route to your desired target system?
Despite knowing the game mechanics that allows at the moment the initial port is finished ANYBODY can claim a System in its vincinity?
What are you complaining about?
Was your decision to do so and others decision to take advantage of that.
BTW the same way you took advantage of existing (colonized or generic) system(s) to start your daisy-chain.
Or did you start at Sol?
I get that its frustrating to put in effort to a self-set target only to have that target disappear on the last stretch, but your goal isn´t the goal of colonization but (as I read it here) of posession. Nobody posesses a system in ED - not even the PMF´s (besides of their ome-system).
The goal is to colonize our galaxy and by chaining out you added some 35+ Systems to that aim.
Great achivement!
Do you plan to develope that chaining systems or are they just tools to get to your target?
If the latter, mate, you blocked a lot of systems other players might have had fun developing
Yes, I understand the current mechanics allow anyone to claim a system after the first station is complete. That’s exactly the problem.
We’re not complaining about the rules as they are — we’re pointing out that those rules are flawed. They encourage sniping from Solo Mode rather than rewarding cooperation, planning, and effort.
We didn’t block any systems — we expanded methodically, filling out empty space toward a destination. Every system in the chain was built with effort, logistics, and intent — not just to “grab territory,” but to connect regions and establish a community presence.
This isn’t about “owning” a system. It’s about asking for a fair and balanced mechanic that values participation over opportunism. If someone wants to challenge a group’s expansion, they should do it visibly, in the open — not by exploiting Solo Mode to bypass everything.
Cutthroat is fine — as long as both blades are drawn in the open.
Elite Dangerous can be ruthless, and that’s okay — but the issue here is not about who’s tougher. It’s about how a supposedly multiplayer feature like colonization can be undermined without interaction, visibility, or response.
That’s not “cutthroat.” That’s being mugged in the dark, while the mugger’s invisible.
I signed up for space politics, diplomacy, sabotage, wars — not ghost-sniping from Solo Mode where no one can challenge or even detect it. There’s a huge difference between fair competition and invisible exploitation of mechanics.
i think the mechanic of colonization relying solely on space trucking is far far more of a problem hurting the integrity of the game mechanic, than someone expanding off another players colony.
power play would like to speak to anyone thinking colonization isn't fair due to modes or what the mechanic allows.
this is elite. if you invest a lot of time into the game and it gets undermined or goes nowhere and that bothers you, that's on you. that's what we tell all the players crying about anything they don't enjoy.
take a page from the book of people trying to defend colonization and do other things other than colonization, colonize other places, play other games.... if you aren't finding colonization very rewarding.
power play would like to speak to anyone thinking colonization isn't fair due to modes or what the mechanic allows.
this is elite. if you invest a lot of time into the game and it gets undermined or goes nowhere and that bothers you, that's on you. that's what we tell all the players crying about anything they don't enjoy.
take a page from the book of people trying to defend colonization and do other things other than colonization, colonize other places, play other games.... if you aren't finding colonization very rewarding.
Apologies for interrupting the circular arguing, but there appears to be a bug: certain systems have no slot assigned for the primary port. Perhaps this is contributing to the "Claim Unsuccesful" errors?
So your solution to players being punished for engaging with a brand-new gameplay mechanic is… “just go do something else”?
We’re not crying over setbacks. We’re pointing out that the design itself encourages bypassing effort and coordination through invisible actions. That’s not challenge — that’s imbalance.
Colonization should be intense, strategic, and rewarding. Instead, we have Solo Mode allowing players to ghost their way in and override others’ efforts with zero risk, zero interaction, and zero consequence.
If you’re okay with that, then you’re not defending a game feature — you’re defending an exploit disguised as a feature.
There is an issue tracker for this issue. Please add your contribution so that FDev sees more players requesting this fix. https://issues.frontierstore.net/issue-detail/73857
Imagine all the "bonding" time you will have going back and fleshing out all those systems that "was built with effort, logistics, and intent — not just to “grab territory,” but to connect regions and establish a community presence."
I have the hunch that Fdev is not going to fix the problem of system sniping unless there's an absolutely massive petition for them to do so.
I don't think people arguing about it in this thread is going to cut it. I know that Fdev reads this thread at least to some extent, and are likely to be aware of the complaints about this, but I have the hunch that they have no intent in doing anything about it. More is needed than just back-and-forth arguing here. I don't know what that would be, but I fear that without such a thing nothing will be done.
I don't think people arguing about it in this thread is going to cut it. I know that Fdev reads this thread at least to some extent, and are likely to be aware of the complaints about this, but I have the hunch that they have no intent in doing anything about it. More is needed than just back-and-forth arguing here. I don't know what that would be, but I fear that without such a thing nothing will be done.
and why should they? The feature/tool they supplied (you can claim a system) is working as intended (and most time bug-free laugh)- what the people playing in their sand-box do with that tool is up to them.
These are sand-box rules - if the owner of the sand-box deploys a shovel you can use it to build your sand-castle, dig someone elses grave or just plainly hit one with it. The shovel still is fine with either. The owner apparently too.
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Just because something is "working as intended" doesn't somehow automatically make it good and desirable.
But yes, in the exact same way that Fdev quite deliberately and purposefully refuses to do anything about gankers (who are extremely likely making many new players stop playing the game before they could even fully get into it, thus decreasing player numbers, thus decreasing engagement, thus decreasing sales), I fear that they are set on not doing anything about this either. If they prove me wrong I will be the first to stand up and give them a standing ovation, but I fear I'm not wrong.
the problem is that people seem to think they are entitled to systems. you are entitled to exactly the system you have put a colonisation beacon on. No more, no less. the galaxy isn't yours to carve up into your personal kingdoms (a squadron isn't a superpower. at least not yet). it's about expanding the bubble, system by system, and enjoying the accomplishment of doing so.
the problem isn't sniping, it's small squadrons thinking they own something they clearly don't, and then throwing a hissy when they don't get it. will this discourage squadrons building space-highways out to places? sure. but so be it. there are plenty of Open Community Highway projects underway you could take part in, for no more reward than the feel-good factor of taking part. if everyone taking part in building a road to Beagle Point complained that they, personally, didn't get to claim Beagle point, this forum would melt down. As long as someone claimed it, that's mission accomplished.
No offence to the pilots complaining, but it seems like we're playing two different games here. Can we move this topic on now please mods? or else this thread will turn into an endless stream of people complaining that they wanted a system but didn't get it. (just my 2p)
the problem isn't sniping, it's small squadrons thinking they own something they clearly don't, and then throwing a hissy when they don't get it. will this discourage squadrons building space-highways out to places? sure. but so be it. there are plenty of Open Community Highway projects underway you could take part in, for no more reward than the feel-good factor of taking part. if everyone taking part in building a road to Beagle Point complained that they, personally, didn't get to claim Beagle point, this forum would melt down. As long as someone claimed it, that's mission accomplished.
No offence to the pilots complaining, but it seems like we're playing two different games here. Can we move this topic on now please mods? or else this thread will turn into an endless stream of people complaining that they wanted a system but didn't get it. (just my 2p)
There were always "bonanza" systems that would become prime targets. Feed any desired parameters into EDSM, Spansh, etc, and they will attract vultures.
Mine are thousands of light-years out, quelling any desire to haul that far as a solo player.
Mine are thousands of light-years out, quelling any desire to haul that far as a solo player.
I suggest that just before completion, you ask N number of your squadron to switch to solo. Then you'll have N chances in separate instances to claim the next system.
^--^ exactly THIS, I second that
[OT] interesting point though - our PMF governs/rules/is present in equal amounts to some of the lesser PP Superpowers and I am sure some other PMFs like CANONN, AXI and others have similar stats.
Until now no independent superpower is in game - maybe we should join forces - also to counter the rapid expansion of those established superpowers
OK, [/OT]
BTW what nobody (until now) complains about is the possibility of subversion of other Superpower-Territory using Colonization mechanics.....
Do you blame them? Imagine spending a thousand hours of endless back-and-forth hauling in order to reach a system you like, only for someone to snatch it from you, from a system you reached and colonized through that thousands hours of work, with literally zero contribution and zero effort.
It would be less objectionable if two people/groups worked their way separately to a particular system, via independent chains of systems, and the one who advances the faster gets the prize. That would be a real race.
It's completely different if you do all the work only for someone to just snatch the prize from you at the last second with literally zero effort.
Do you really blame people for not liking that?
This disincentivizes people from even trying. Why even bother? (It really does disincentivize me from even trying.)
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