[Distant Stars] Base/colonization idea

[Andrew Gaspurr]

Hey folks!

I recently had an idea about the Cancri Cluster and fleshed it out a little. It may be a dumb idea or a good one, I dunno. But I wanted to share it anyway.

The fleet roster has become pretty big and a majority of ships will be Cancricondas with a jump range in excess of 55 ly. This could be used to the benefit of taking stuff with us that will be left there for good. Then we all go boom, that's more or less for sure.

Now, what if those high end ships were equipped with a passenger cabin. Each Annie could take, say, 4 or 8 scientists/colonists with it. Other ships could load some cargo with colonization/landfall and most importantly FTL comms equipment. It is essential that for the individual ship the payload would be neglectable in terms of jump range, but for the whole fleet the total amount would be quite a lot. Say, 30 Condas with 4 passengers each, and you have 120 scientists or colonists.

Once the base would have been 'dropped' the space is free again and would not impede jump range for future exploration of the cluster.

The goal would be to find a suitable planet in the Cancri cluster and erect a science base there. These scientists would become first generation colonists and of course they would know that most likely they would stay there. Hopefully, the base would sustain itself for more than a generation and maybe in 50 to 60 years FSD technology would be advanced enough to get a two-way route to the cluster going.

If we could get all the preps right and take the scientists and their equipment with us, wouldn't it be a nice reward for the expedition to "see" an outpost - albeit unreachable - on the GalMap and - due to FTL comms - get a good GalNet update every now and then?

The concept is nearly infinitely expandable. There could even be things like 'regular suicide trains' to have a look up there if everything's in order.

Considerations/Prerequisites

1. Publish a GalNet article and call for volunteers
2. Make a kickoff CG in the line of 'deliver colonization equipment' to xyz
3. Load 'dummy' passengers and said equipment
4. Go there
5. Construct the base
6. Explore
7. Explode (or rather dismantle for construction purposes)

These are the rough ideas. Of course I am aware that it could draw away efforts and/or resources from the Colonia project but then again, the opportunity is too tempting to get a base going there, because of the size and scope this expedition is mounting.

What say you?

[Edit] Since it was mentioned/asked in Discord, an outpost with docking facilities for ships is not on my mind. It was mentioned, because of self-destructing in the Cancri Cluster AFTER having docked at Cancri Prime (working title) would make you respawn exactly there. What I have in mind is a scientific outpost like those in planetside missions.

 

[Yanick]

I like that you're being bold, and expansive with this. But overall I think it might be a bridge too far.
In RP terms, a crazed group of explorers going on a one way mission is one thing.
Unless in RP the Commanders could be "rescued" by a Capital Ship, that say has much longer range than us.
Also, who will pay for all the rebuys? Condas don't come cheap.
So all in all, it's not impossible, but I'm a bit sceptical.

 

[Erimus Kamzel]

Great idea. The original idea we were going to pitch to FD was to create a persistent POI called the Anaconda's Graveyard, and ask FD to fill a crater with derelict ships... The final resting place of the expedition, so anyone who is crazy enough to suicide jump to the cluster in years to come will at least have an interesting POI to visit before they hit self destruct.

But your idea could make for a great CG. I'm sure Dr Kaii will talk with FD closer to the expedition departure time and see if some sort of official event can come if it [up]

 

[Andrew Gaspurr]

I thought about a passenger CG like 'deliver scientists to Maia' but if you then look at the figures after a week you'd get 486,342 scientists delivered, which would void the bubble of academics I guess. So sadly, a passenger CG may not be what we would be looking at, lest FD come up with an idea of their own on how it could be done.

 

[Yanick]

Great idea. The original idea we were going to pitch to FD was to create a persistent POI called the Anaconda's Graveyard, and ask FD to fill a crater with derelict ships... The final resting place of the expedition, so anyone who is crazy enough to suicide jump to the cluster in years to come will at least have an interesting POI to visit before they hit self destruct.
[up]

I like this idea better.

Part of what makes Distant Stars interesting, is we're going to somewhere that there won't be a perminant human presence.
It's just a one off run. To start talking about colonising it, long before we've even been there, makes at a whole lot less intreguing.
Taking a bit of the mysique surrounding the whole Cancri Cluster. Since it's supposed to be remote, and uncharted.
I could be in a minority here, but that's my 5 cents.

 

[dynamicbob]

The stellar forge engine makes it difficult for frontier to add new space based colonies, and colonia is doing the whole group submission, dangerous games hand crafted CG stuff again, good idea but for now you might be better off with a toursit destination with delirict ships

 

[duckofdeath]

An even better idea, that would work with the development of the game and new outfitting options.
We build a science station there, get a series of CG's that will result in us hopefully inventing an FSD capable of making the jump back! \o/

 

[Andrew Gaspurr]

The stellar forge engine makes it difficult for frontier to add new space based colonies, and colonia is doing the whole group submission, dangerous games hand crafted CG stuff again, good idea but for now you might be better off with a toursit destination with delirict ships

Why would the forge make it difficult to place planetary outposts? It worked fine for all those bases in the Bubble and also along the Colonia highway. I don't see any imminent problems with placing a few buildings on a planet as my idea does not involve direct interaction with any services like docking, refuel, missions etc.

Plus, all CGs are hand crafted in some way, wouldn't you think?

Tourist destinations are fine but tourists tend to like a way back to civilisation, their loved ones and their workplace. The Cancri Cluster will most likely be a one-way trip until FSD technology has advanced considerably.