Colonisation Needs Upkeep, Here's How and Why

[Cmdr Travers]

My main Cmdr is currently sat down at the Heart and Soul nebulae, a few thousand light years south of which are the abandoned settlements of the Formidine Rift. These bases are pretty spooky and in my mind is the very best reason why colonisation should require some kind of regular upkeep, either in the form of monies, or in the form of commodity and materials deliveries (food etc.)

Why? When a player decommissions a fleet carrier, it sits in the game dormant for a few weeks before vanishing. Colonies are different though. Imagine coming across a system with settlements, or even an abandoned Coriolis starport to explore. That would be really spooky and would genuinely add something interesting to the game.

I personally would love to see failed colonies scattered across the galaxy.

 

[Shir]

Definitely the worst idea ever. The one thing I dislike in Elite is carrier upkeep.

 

[tomalus]

The worst idea in the world.
The systems are not abandoned, they are part of the BGS. And I bet plenty of players are waiting for vanguards and panther clipper to build more.

 

[Shir]

Right now there are abandoned colonies in the Witch Head nebula. Semi functioning, "under evacuation" cause of Thargoid attack. So one may visit to get the feel of failed colonies.

 

[Doctor Dread]

My main Cmdr is currently sat down at the Heart and Soul nebulae, a few thousand light years south of which are the abandoned settlements of the Formidine Rift. These bases are pretty spooky and in my mind is the very best reason why colonisation should require some kind of regular upkeep, either in the form of monies, or in the form of commodity and materials deliveries (food etc.)

Why? When a player decommissions a fleet carrier, it sits in the game dormant for a few weeks before vanishing. Colonies are different though. Imagine coming across a system with settlements, or even an abandoned Coriolis starport to explore. That would be really spooky and would genuinely add something interesting to the game.

I personally would love to see failed colonies scattered across the galaxy.

Great idea, has to be Open Only!

 

[CMDR GFJake]

this idea is absolutely terrible, Brewer Corp is already canonically upkeeping all systems, made even more apparent when your earnings are taxed after 5million credits for "upkeep".

this idea is how you kill the trailblazers update for good.

 

[Doctor Dread]

Brewer Corp is already canonically upkeeping all systems, made even more apparent when your earnings are taxed after 5million credits for "upkeep".

How much is it?
Is it in percentages, or fixed per grades of earnings? (5-10 mill taxed this much, then for 10-15 etc)

 

[Screemonster]

So in other words, in addition to the absolute pile of hauling required to build these things in the first place, you think players should have to do more grind and have their work undone just so you can run around exploring and marvelling at some empty base for all of five minutes to take some screenshots of the abandoned station assets that would need to be created and then never bother exploring an abandoned base again because once you've seen one you've seen them all?

Hard pass.

 

[CMDR GFJake]

How much is it?
Is it in percentages, or fixed per grades of earnings? (5-10 mill taxed this much, then for 10-15 etc)

fdev havent graced us with this knowledge, just told us we would be taxed after 5M, its probably a % base though.

 

[Kira Goto]

Hard pass.

And the Formidine Rift bases (plus a couple other related ones in other nearby-ish regions to the Bubble) are also lore locations for a secret program to scout for and prepare terraformable/Earth-like worlds for human habitation in the 3270s, in case of a Thargoid attack overrunning the Bubble. It was always only going to be a temporary setup, regardless of the fate of its occupants (spoiler - none made it back because it was that kind of "keep it secret").

Very different to the colonies we have now and Frontier have sort of 'embraced' the chain outposts as transit points to more distant regions/claims, as well. The main way I see any of them getting "abandoned" is if they happen to be on the unlucky end of some unhappy Thargoids. Which achieves the same effect with more gameplay potential [as you have to mind them coming by, and also could have some function in hypothetical station interiors beyond the concourse, which I will make it very clear I'm not expecting we will get].

 

[aRJay]

fdev havent graced us with this knowledge, just told us we would be taxed after 5M, its probably a % base though.

I thought it was a cap at 5m.

 

[CMDR GFJake]

I thought it was a cap at 5m.

nope, once we hit 5m a portion is taxed for upkeep

 

[Ian Doncaster]

There are ways Frontier could have done a colonisation feature where "upkeep" of systems - including pre-colonisation systems - was a requirement, but it would have required much more indirect control over the colonisation process than we have:
- particular activities within a system cause it to place nearby colonies, or expand its own stations if it doesn't have many already
- lack of those activities cause the system to shut down stations and eventually collapse
- both colonisation and decay are aggregated processes which proceed generally fairly gradually and are difficult to target (in much the same way that BGS expansions and retreats can be)

That's not what Frontier went for at all. Upkeep doesn't make sense in the current design.

But it's not the only way in which abandoned facilities could be added - they could be added as specific building options. Give them a negative security effect, contraband economies, maybe a few other "you wouldn't want this in a normal system, but it lets you build a 'failed' system that's now a criminal hideout" effects like gifting 0.1% INF a day to every Anarchy faction present. Most people won't use them for min-maxing but if you want that type of system you can build it.