Elite Dangerous | System Colonisation Beta Details & Feedback

[EliteTribes]

Are you really like that or are you pretending? We built a path from two completely uninteresting systems on our own, dumped resources there with our carriers, and this guy you're defending just caught us sitting around in the place where the station was supposed to appear and was lucky that he didn't have an NPC on the dock. Do you consider this to be equivalent to the efforts invested in colonizing the target system? (I am assuming the last 1 Tone of resources is locked to the architect, so only the architect can supply it to the construction)

Edit: Reading some of the later comments I think you are saying someone playing in solo mode claimed your system, you were making in open or a private session. If that is the case agree this, the different instances should have a delay between them on station completion, I will suggest 1 hour as a mechanic to prevent this. To be clear the mode the station was completed in gets a live completion time and the other two modes are delayed (I am assuming here that the Architect would be the only person able to submit the last 1 tone of materials to make my suggestion work as intended).

If this is what happened I would say this is a very bad oversight as it negatively affects all modes since they are not able to interact normally and why they exist separately. I would actually go so far as to call this an exploit and not PvP.

Original post assuming a slightly different situation I think:
My only question is, if this person was a random player, they cannot have completed their claim yet. So you could simply camp the system and PVP every attempt to take resources to the claim. If enough resources are not taken the 400ly distance in 1 months time then you can simply claim the system (or systems).

I should point out I agree it should be 'fixed' somehow (I have suggested a solution I prefer previously) however, as I see it you have two choices at present.
1) Move onto another system.
2) PVP for the system to stop the claim.

Also if this solo player managed to instantly build a station, they are not a random solo player. I've been building a system solo myself and I have progressed from a type-7, type-8 and now a type-9 and I doubt I could build one of the small stations in 1 day in the bubble, never mind 400ly worth of jumps out.

 

[Born Free]

if someone builds where i was planning, i'll just go around.
not sure what the big problem is lol.
you snooze you lose.
if a special spot is that important, dont go to sleep.

 

[EliteTribes]

I think it would be a great option to be able to trade construction points for deliveries of commodities.

I’ve got 8 t3 points and I’ve no intention of soloing an Orbis/Ocellus.

I’d like to trade each of those points for like 1,000 tonnes insta-delivery of steel somewhere.

Or trade down t3 points as I might do another Coriolis. So like a material trader but for construction. 2 t2 points per t3 converted or something.

I don't know, I think I'd rather be able to downgrade them to lower tier points or even trade them in for station bonuses. However, there is no reason they could not give people the choice of what to do with them and simply have all the options people can think of as a selection each costing a 'balanced' amount of various construction points.

 

[_Flin_]

There is clearly a close link between FCs and Colonization. The quality and character of the Colonization game experience is significantly different between those with and without FCs. I don't really see FCs as pay to win, more like old guard vs. new player in game advantages.

As an honest request from a player wanting to engage with Colonization, I would like access to a stripped down version of an FC that has only the capacity to haul, and fuel and repair, my cargo carrier ship.

What would be the minimum cost to secure such a tool?

Should FDEV offer a less costly FC alternative to increase accessibility to Colonization for newer players?

TBH, the only thing that makes the colonization haul even more mind-numbingly boring is using a Fleet Carrier.

So instead of one 10-15 minute loop you have two 4-5 minute loops. That broke me, using a friend's FC. Because there was really nothing left that in any way resembled a game. Plus the "take care of the load bug, or you need to relog" part.

At least with the haul you can go to different systems, maybe stop for some scanning along the way, visit different stations.
All gone with the Fleet Carrier. It optimizes the hauling down to the bear minimum, but when you are there, there isn't much left.

 

[Born Free]

TBH, the only thing that makes the colonization haul even more mind-numbingly boring is using a Fleet Carrier.

So instead of one 10-15 minute loop you have two 4-5 minute loops. That broke me, using a friend's FC. Because there was really nothing left that in any way resembled a game. Plus the "take care of the load bug, or you need to relog" part.

At least with the haul you can go to different systems, maybe stop for some scanning along the way, visit different stations.
All gone with the Fleet Carrier. It optimizes the hauling down to the bear minimum, but when you are there, there isn't much left.

great theory. in my case my primary port was ocellus (i didnt know when i chose what that meant) and it was on a secondary star 267,000 LS from the main star.
try to do that without a fleet carrier just using a T9 or cutter. rofl.

 

[Cmdr Sylveste]

There is clearly a close link between FCs and Colonization. The quality and character of the Colonization game experience is significantly different between those with and without FCs. I don't really see FCs as pay to win, more like old guard vs. new player in game advantages.

As an honest request from a player wanting to engage with Colonization, I would like access to a stripped down version of an FC that has only the capacity to haul, and fuel and repair, my cargo carrier ship.

What would be the minimum cost to secure such a tool?

Should FDEV offer a less costly FC alternative to increase accessibility to Colonization for newer players?

Mine only has refuel, rearm, repair, plus the non-optional stuff like the commodity market. I don't use it to stockpile stuff like Tritium, so I can get 23k+ materials in it. Certainly enough for an outpost in one load.
How much more do you want it stripped down?

 

[_Flin_]

great theory. in my case my primary port was ocellus (i didnt know when i chose what that meant) and it was on a secondary star 267,000 LS from the main star.
try to do that without a fleet carrier just using a T9 or cutter. rofl.

Mine is 45k Ls from system entry. Did it without FC. The 45k Ls flight was actually in retrospect the most interesting part of the endeavour. Because it was a racing track that you could really optimize with good flying.

 

[EliteTribes]

Two more suggestions / feedback:
I know you said you were looking at opening up supply to the entire system and not just around land able planets, if possible I think it would be nice if:
1) Stations / orbitals shared their products with each other, I am mainly thinking of the farms I have sharing their farms with all my stations in my gas giant system.
2) Also, if we could choose what % of a resource when to each station, we don't need to be able to adjust how much is produced just how much of a share each station receives, that way we could have little control of the system markets.

Last thing is I see people have mentioned a bug for only 3 resources for planetary settlements etc. and this being a bug. It made me wonder if we could have the ability to choose product to be made / resources to be gathered from these facilities and that would affect the yield of those resources (In addition to other factors). So you produce one item you get loads but if you produce every item you get considerably less.

 

[mtfatboy3006]

great theory. in my case my primary port was ocellus (i didnt know when i chose what that meant) and it was on a secondary star 267,000 LS from the main star.
try to do that without a fleet carrier just using a T9 or cutter. rofl.

Mine is 45k Ls from system entry. Did it without FC. The 45k Ls flight was actually in retrospect the most interesting part of the endeavour. Because it was a racing track that you could really optimize with good flying.

In my cutter, 78kls was an experience similer to @_Flin_ 's: It became a minigame to optimize the overdrive button and heat sink deployment to make the flight as fast as possible without overshooting. Depending on how wild the overdrive burn went, though, I could arrive with less than 5% fuel remaining. Any further than about 100kls, I would have resorted to the carrier, which was so much less fun when I used it to start with that it drove me to despair.

 

[Ladiesknight]

In a thread on Reddit, Daftmav (of well-deserved Colonisation spreadsheet fame) said this:

"btw I think FDev did that because the research structures increases the Tech level quite a bit. Which determines what services are available at stations like universal carthographics and shipyard etc. so Tech is worth stacking up on. (FDev support has mentioned this in support tickets, apparently it's around 35~40 tech level to get all services unlocked)."

Can anyone confirm what tech level they have in a system with a shipyard in it please?

I can only confirm that in a primary Ocellus/Orbis you'll find a shipyard, Universal Cartographics etc. from the start - they have 6 TechLvl-Points.

 

[Macros Black]

Hi FDev, please accept my feedback for this Beta for your pleasure:

• Amount of resources required
  • The required resources seemed fine, even for the Orbis and Ocellus starports.
  • I commend you for the quick response and resolvement of the reported resource scarcities.
• Amount of time/distance taken to complete tasks
  • Equipped with a Fleet Carrier, distance is not so relevant, although you now have to transport the resources twice

My additional feedback:

• Please consider to send the Advanced Docking Computer back to flight school, especially when trying to land on a Brewer Planetary Construction Site
• Please consider to make a list of materials required available as wing missions?
• Please consider making the book "Colonisation for dummies: My Primary facility is now complete, now what?" available.
  • I built a Coriolis starport and an Ocellus starport; but they are really just glorified shipyards for now. I naively thought that placing a Coriolis right next to an ELW, the market would be ripe all the fruits of the ELW. Clearly, I'm missing something.
• Please explain the rationale for the construction points and their workings. (maybe in the book?)
• Please consider for allowing the System Architect/Squadron a short grace period once the Primary Facility has been built, time to claim the next system(s).
• Please consider to allow the System Architect to chose the location of the Primary Facility.
  • I was a bit surprised that the Primary Facility (Coriolis) was placed under the ELW, which was not my choice.

I must admit that working on my system as System Architect has me hooked; normally I put in 2-4 hrs/day, but Trailblazer switched my supercharge on.
Thanks very much for reading my feedback.

My first system:

Spoiler: HIP 50874

 

[Dekim]

This is absolutely outrageous!

My squadron and I spent days coordinating, planning, and building stations to expand into a specific systems as part of our long-term colonization effort. We strategized, worked hard and followed your new Trailblazer colonization mechanics as intended.

Then what happens?

Some rat in Solo Mode was lurking and waiting for the moment to snipe the system from us at the last second.

No PvP. No diplomacy. No challenge. Just an invisible exploit that allows a single player to invalidate the work of dozens of others—all while being 100% unaccountable and untouchable.

This is not "shared gameplay." This is an illusion.
You're trying to sell us the idea of a living, breathing galaxy while simultaneously allowing this kind of solo-mode abuse to ruin everything meaningful in player-driven efforts.

If I wanted to play a colony builder by myself, I’d launch a different game.
Instead, we're stuck in a “multiplayer” game where our biggest threat isn't pirates or enemy factions—it’s ghost players hiding in solo mode, waiting to steal the results of our real work.

This system is broken.
It’s demoralizing.
And unless you fix it or introduce real limits to solo mode in shared BGS and colonization mechanics, this will continue to drive away dedicated players who are trying to actually play the damn game as a community.

Fix your game. Or stop pretending it’s a multiplayer galaxy!!!

– A very ed-off commander on behalf of an entire betrayed squadron.

You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words!!

I am wondering though if maybe - just maybe - some solo (or not) player has wanted to expand further from the bubble, used in-game maps and inara/spansh etc and discovered that there are indeed some pockets of systems a fair way out, and decided to make a home in one of THE MANY systems that is colonisable from one of these newly colonised systems. And it just happened to be "the one" that you had your eye on.

You couldn't go over it, you couldn't go under it, you couldn't go around it....but you found time to come whine at us all here for 3 days straight, mansplaining that we "just don't understand" and are "missing the point". I think YOU are missing the point - this is a sandbox, everyone is trying to forge there own way here, and I am 99% certain there is no malevolence here, no lurking and sniping, just someone else who has a plan to make his mark in the game and to have some fun. It is a big universe, but it's not YOUR universe, it really is multiplayer, so please just let it go.

 

[blastard]

I've had a right blast building up COL 285 SECTOR RF-R B20-2 over the last week or so (since new claims were unlocked). It's a lovely system with some wicked sunsets from my planet bases on planet 4 (why not come visit for a relaxing view).
I'm a solo player running my supplies with a mix of my T9 (unshielded with 790 cargo - named 'bullseye') and fast T8 unshielded (with 404 tons capacity) - for the more distant pickups. Mostly found all needed commodities within 1-2 jumps.
I have built 9 settlements\installations so far (4 x T1 and 5 x T2) and held off on any large stations (for now). 121,898 tons of commodities in total (I use XL spreadsheets to plan the pickups to ensure full cargo hold each time).
Just finished a large hi-tech planetary base and used commodities from one of my finished orbital outposts to supply all the machinery needed. Installations are starting to supply some useful supplies.
As a DayZ fan too - I watch their daily livestream while haulin.
I'm a happy blastard

 

[Cosmo]

So currently I have 2 planets with surface facilities. 1 with 4 slots & no orbital slot and on that one I have
-T2 refinery hub
-T1 industrial outpost , this one has nerve agents (chem), cmm composite (industrial mats) , aluminum (metal )
-T2 science outpost , this one had HN shock mount on the market last tick but now gone
-T2 agriculture settlement, no market output

The other planet only has 2 slots
-T2 refinery hub
-T2 colony outpost , this one has nerve agents (chem) , polymers (industrial mats), bismuth (metal)

why the different in the output goods ?? Is there any way to determine which goods is produced ?
for ex : to get steel/titanium need 1 extraction hub 2 refinery hubs on same planet & with the system total point of x tech y development z wealth ???

It would be good to mention the planet type. Maybe that is a factor too.

 

[Cmdr Walt71]

o7 FDev, o7 Cmdrs

Système : HIP 59455

Cela fait 15 jours (2 semaines) que les stations ne sont toujours pas en service dans le système que je développe (Hip 59455). J'ai notamment deux stations (Hip 59455 2) en construction qui n'apparaissent pas comme sites en construction.
Je pense donc qu'il y a un petit problème avec ce système, d'où un blocage des validations.
À suivre, cordialement !

 

[Savage Chaos]

From reading the posts from today, it seems I am not alone. My finished orbital facility did not come online and still has a construction site next to it. I did not receive my Architect payment either (that is not going to bankrupt me, though ). Since FDev decided to stop maintenance and bring the servers back online this morning, I hope they have a way to restart it next week from where it left off. If maintenance restarts at the same point every week, it may take a long time for those farther down in the sequence, like me, to see its effects.

o7

 

[Tifu]

Mine is 45k Ls from system entry. Did it without FC. The 45k Ls flight was actually in retrospect the most interesting part of the endeavour. Because it was a racing track that you could really optimize with good flying.

In my cutter, 78kls was an experience similer to @_Flin_ 's: It became a minigame to optimize the overdrive button and heat sink deployment to make the flight as fast as possible without overshooting.

Yup, I'd say that the mind-numbing FC grind isn't a theory anymore. Doing without one can make for a slower,heavy grind but the need to make frequent tactical decisions breaks the monotony.

I'm worried that all this hauling (1.5 billion tons according to the recent FU) is burning out people not just from Trailblazers but from ED too

 

[Freyar]

Overview of Trailblazers Experience


Current Progress and Objectives
To better contextualize where I am.


After deploying my first beacon within 30 minutes of the release of this feature, I have completed two primary ports, a number of ground settlements to help support the first system I have claimed and am currently building a third primary port. My objectives have shifted to claiming as much space as possible and trying to figure out how to make the economies work in the absence of any reasonable documentation.


Ground and Orbital Support Settlements, Infrastructure and Economies

The cost of these infrastructure pieces are inexpensive enough to be able to get these done at about one-a-day as a solo player. Not bad. I am in love with the settlements and desperately wanted to start engaging in Frontline combat on them, but unfortunately the conflict that is pending for my first system is an Election instead.

I find myself slowing down on infrastructure because there's just not enough information on how these systems are going to work, and I am afraid that my first primary port has been rendered unusable. Recently there was a Twitter post that indicated how starport economies are impacted by the ground facilities they orbit. This is both different from what the in-game documentation said and not fully true.

Right now, my first primary port is an Orbis station. This station has an economy type of Colony. It is in orbit around a body with two surface slots, one of which is taken up by a military settlement. The tweet from Frontier indicates this should be enough to change the economy of this station to Military and have it start producing more than just hydrogen and biowaste. This isn't true, which means there's more to it than what was shared.

I'm finding my honeymoon period starting to end with this feature. I'm still having fun trying to build things as this scratches an itch I haven't had scratched in a long time, I am becoming much more frustrated with these missteps on my part that could have been resolved simply by doing business due diligence before using ink, time, money, and people for these projects.

I think FDEV needs to sit back a second and really think on the approach here. Why would a HUGE business undertaking be done with so little pre-planning? Without the idea of a return (and in this specific case, the return is a functioning economy in a system I built, not credits sent by the System Architect Payment) and how to get to it, no business would spend their time on it.


Bugs, But Not The Flower Kind

The bugs are being worked on, but I'd be lying if I didn't say they're dragging down this whole system. Between the issues with buying and selling cargo on carriers, the disconnects (which have improved, so thank you), the temporary unannounced plug from the Architect database causing a game-wide heart attack from everyone (and your support staff), I'm finding this also to be very frustrating.

• Ports and Infrastructure not getting placed in the selected slot. (Much more important given the notice via Twitter earlier.)
• BGS States are getting stuck. Election has been pending for 3 days now.
• Buying cargo from carriers results in the cargo status not updating. (Not an issue if the SCS's had a commodity market to force the game to recheck.)

Despite All That, Thank You

I do want to offer words of encouragement here. If I were apathetic to this update, I'd not care about what's happening, but that I'm frustrated is a good sign in a roundabout way. I want Trailblazers to work and I want future colonies to be a good addition to the bubble. I like the audio that has been created for this, I like the presentation for the SCS, I like being able to see my ground settlements appearing and being able to rename them. I stand in them and can't help but think "I made this" which is 100% a feeling I want to hold on to.

Suggestions

FDEV has to really get some proper documentation out here. You're asking a "business venture" (in-universe) to build up colonies for a return, and the due diligence of how shouldn't be a mystery because no business would do that. From a player's perspective, it feels like our time isn't being valued and for a system that permanently changes the game, these kinds of scenarios are terrible and will leave a scar on the bubble in perpetuity as well as turn people off to the colonization system (I see a lot of posts from people saying "I'll just wait" or are exiting the gameplay loop.)

Do not change haulage amounts. I've heard rumblings from some people that it's just "too much hauling". But that's.. kind of the point?

A way to effect payments to the public from wealthy commanders would be great, but that is an additional feature.

Keep chipping away at the bugs and performance issues. The less uncertainty for players with this system, the better.

Overview of Trailblazers Experience
(Week 4)

Current Progress and Objectives
To better contextualize where I am.


This week has been incredibly slow. I have an outstanding build to complete for a new primary port, which I can normally finish in 3-4 days but I've been finding my enthusiasm starting to drain. Having come to find out my primary port and primary ports on secondary systems are entirely useless in the current state of things has really put a damper on wanting to do more and the only thing I can do is grab more space to hopefully have usable configurations later.


Ground and Orbital Support Settlements, Infrastructure and Economies (Pt. 2)

After being told time and time again that ground facilities and "immediate locale" were supposed to influence my primary ports, finding out today that my primary port was built in SLOT1 rather than SLOT0 has been devastating to my morale with colonization. The lack of documentation was bad enough, but now that I'm finding out that two of my 2.8 ports are useless is infuriating and draining.


Bugs, But Not The Flower Kind (Pt. 2)

These bugs have got to get sorted out now. With fundamental breakages in the system there's zero reason outside of making it a simple land grab to go out and build these ports.

• Stations are not deployed in selected slots.
  • This is critical since stations must be in SLOT0 in orbit around a body that has ground slots.
• BGS Continues to Halt
  • I still can't get my PMF to take control of my system. The BGS has been stalled for over 11 days now.
• Station build requirements when on the SCS does NOT match the amount reported in the system map.
• Stations do not get economy influence unless they are built in SLOT0.
  • Two of my primary ports, that I didn't get to select where they are built, are impacted by this.
• Stations are not being online'd as expected due to extended maintenance time.

I have much less to say this week. I am a little frustrated with the declaration that this beta was "complete" and that the only thing to be tweaked was the balance/numbers. Don't get me wrong, I thought it was silly to believe that since it was a brand new system, but this is what FDEV had said was happening.

Additionally, I am seriously concerned about data cleanliness. If this stuff doesn't work and we are writing permanent changes to the galaxy, then we're writing bad data to production. There's a youtube video about deploying to production.. it was supposed to be a meme, not a suggestion.

 

[Ralph Vargr]

I'm worried that all this hauling (1.5 billion tons according to the recent FU) is burning out people not just from Trailblazers but from ED too

Think of the server hamsters!

 

[Tyrrel]

I'm worried that all this hauling (1.5 billion tons according to the recent FU) is burning out people not just from Trailblazers but from ED too

I'm getting burnt out by FDev not telling us how to properly build a system out, it's not like our mistakes are permanent right?