Colonia Expansion Initiative II

[Ian Doncaster]

In the last year, there’s been relatively little development in the Colonia region – the engineers were added in August last year, with Kinesi system, and that’s been it other than the recent high-tech enhancements to Colonia itself. It’s also been two years since the Colonia Expansion Initiative CGs ended. Many of the player groups around back then have disappeared, while new ones have been formed (and the entire PS4 platform was introduced!) - "can I get a PMF in Colonia?" is a regular question on these forums.

There should be a way – not an easy one, of course – for the newer groups to also get a place in the region, and for the existing groups to build up their systems and perhaps also colonise new ones. Frontier have expressed an interest in providing alternative ways to CGs for the player-driven development of Colonia (of which the Engineers are an excellent example, but restricted to just one area of development)

The new Squadrons feature gives one way this could be done mostly using existing tools

• Introduce a “Colonia Expansion Initiative” leaderboard based on activities carried out to support Colonia. (e.g. points for mission completions in the Colonia region, or some other local metric)
• Each season, Squadrons above a particular threshold get to direct – within Frontier’s constraints – some sort of improvement to the region, similar to those allowed for player CGs [1] … or if they’re new to the region, establish a new CEI-style system.
• The squadron leader is an obvious point of contact for Frontier, which should avoid some of the problems with the original CEI when groups weren’t possible to contact.

This keeps Colonia’s dynamic and player-driven development steadily continuing, allows newer players to take part in it directly, but by careful setting of the thresholds, not too fast and at a pace which can be controlled by Frontier for the amount of work they want to do on implementing new stations, etc.

Possibility, though not one which works completely straightforwardly with the existing squadron leaderboards: as with the original CEI, rollover the points for non-winners to the next season, so that it’s less likely to just be the biggest groups getting a development a season, and even small groups can save up over several seasons. This may of course make the number of developments per season less predictable, and depending on how competitive the boards are (I would expect them to be very competitive!) might not be necessary to give variety.

[1] If new assets are always given to a native faction to the system, it shouldn’t matter too much who currently owns the system, and winning squadrons might well want to “gift” a development they earn to their allies in exchange for something else, for example, or boost a central valuable system as a gift to the region as a whole.

 

[Fake_target]

Well written, thanks for that Ian.

 

[don carnage1]

I really like this idea.

I don’t think that “expansion” should necessarily mean colonizing new star systems, though. The 80 or so systems already in Colonia seem like more than enough. I like the quaint edge-of-civilization vibe to it. I’m also wary of wasting FDev’s resources just to make some PMF systems that are “more of the same” and will be eventually abandoned like the old ones.

But I’d definitely like to see the existing systems get further developed. More stations, bigger stations, higher population, ELW’s with small cities growing on them, better outfitting, more “lore” sites.

Signs of “progress.”

Maybe introduce a Colonia Nationalist organization on Galnet to drive a clash of ideals in Interstellar Initiatives?

With better developed systems there would be room to insert a new PMF here and there, particularly in areas where the existing factions appear abandoned.

 

[Colonia Jesus]

As always Ian you make a very good argument for improvements.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

I don’t think that “expansion” should necessarily mean colonizing new star systems, though. The 80 or so systems already in Colonia seem like more than enough. I like the quaint edge-of-civilization vibe to it. I’m also wary of wasting FDev’s resources just to make some PMF systems that are “more of the same” and will be eventually abandoned like the old ones.

My personal preference would also be for keeping Colonia relatively small in terms of systems, and focus on developing the ones we've got further - but I know that quite a few PMFs would like an extra system or two to spread into. If Frontier can make it a directly player-driven mechanism for choice (this way, or another), then I think that's better than them listening to my case for consolidation and someone else's case for expansion and going from there.

At the moment there aren't really any completely abandoned systems in Colonia - most places seem to get at least a little traffic each day, and I'd guess probably about 2/3 of PMFs have regular supporters. Personally, I like that and wouldn't like to see Colonia expand beyond its ability to attract players - on the other hand, if something like this attracted more player activity to the region, then it might also expand to make room for them.

The way I've suggested it, a new group coming in - like in the days of the original CEI - would need to be competitive with the existing ones (some of which are pretty big), and doing things in the region, so I think on balance that would reduce the chance of abandoned factions, because the group would already have had to make an extended commitment to the region to get its system. It certainly wouldn't be easy - but I'd much rather be saying "you need to do X, which isn't easy but can be done" rather than "you can't" to people asking about getting factions in Colonia.

 

[BinakAlgo]

Sounds great, perfect for a long Interstellar Initiative.

 

[sandkid]

As someone who has waffled on going to Colonia since Elite launched on PS4 (and when I started), I wholly endorse an initiative or some other event in Colonia that would make the trip a little more exciting.

Personally, I'd love to see a 'marching' CG towards Colonia - GalNet talked about mass exodus towards Colonia when thargoids starting attacking last year...but then that was it. Given Thargoid action this last week, maybe it's time a 'real' story event occurred with a multi-week initiative as a large colonial fleet embarks towards Colonia.

Stage 1: Preparing the Fleet - Trade & Exploration Data CG in Designated Launch System

Stage 2: Fleet Departure - Combat CG as Local Faction Tries to Stop Exodus and Force Citizens to Stay

• If Local Faction Succeeds, Fleet leaves with 50% less colonists (impacts final development on Colonia side, boosts development in that system)
• If Fleet Successeds, Fleet continues on unhindered, local system goes into Bust

Stage 3: Fleet Encounters Navigation Error from Lead Ship, Incurs Damage - Materials CG in Deep Space (~1/3 of the way to Colonia)

• If no support, Fleet loses 50% of existing colonists (potentially 25% if stage 2 failed)
• Tier 1 to Tier 6, Fleet continues unhindered, planets in system seeded with salvage signals for future explorers and tourist beacon
• Tier 7 and 8, Fleet continues unhindered and arrives in Colonia - skipping Stage 4

Stage 4: THARGOIDS! Fleet Encounters Thargoids (~2/3 to Colonia)

• If Thargoids aren't repelled...Stage 5 gets interesting...Fleet loses 50% of existing colonists (12.5% potentially)
• If Thargoids are repelled, Fleet continues unhindered but GalNet pontificates on Thargoids so close to Colonia...

Stage 5: Arrival at Jaques Station to inform of Thargoids

• If Thargoids weren't repelled in Stage 4, Jacques Station is attacked and goes into emergency (then repair later)
• If Thargoids were repelled in Stage 4, NHSSs begin to show up in the Colonia region...but no stations are attacked

If Stage 4 was skipped altogether, Fleet arrives at destination but comes under attack by <fill in the blank>: Combat CG

• Success sees fleet deploy colonists successfully, initiative concludes and new planetary colonies are founded across Colonia
• Initiative concludes but no new colonies

Colonist Count: A Tourist Beacon Detailing the Fleet's Journey at Jacques Station, then...

• If 100% of colonists arrive, new planetary colonies and numerous stations are upgraded, as well as a new engineer to mimic one in the bubble
• If 50% of colonists arrive, "..." but no engineer
• If 25% of colonists arrive, stations are upgraded but no new colonies or engineer
• If 12.5% of colonists arrive, only a tourist beacon telling the hard tale of the fleet and its many losses!

You don't have to do Thargoids...could be anything, or just pirates (or some new pirate faction for Colonia - being frontier and all), but I think the idea of goids following a fleet out there could liven up Colonia and give it another activity in the area. Might encourage more traffic out there, too. My two credits!

 

[Ian Doncaster]

You don't have to do Thargoids...could be anything, or just pirates (or some new pirate faction for Colonia - being frontier and all), but I think the idea of goids following a fleet out there could liven up Colonia and give it another activity in the area. Might encourage more traffic out there, too. My two credits!

This too - I'm mainly focusing on ideas for slow-burn sustainable activity (as the engineers have been: they'll probably last us at least another year before they're "finished") - but it would be nice to have some one-off events like CGs too.

Our last CG was 11 months ago, and the rules for player-submitted CGs (specifically, the one that the host system can contain at most one PMF) make them almost unusable out here - there is exactly one system with only one PMF present, so it'd be nice for Frontier to put some in from time to time: they were always, relative to the population of the region, well-attended.

 

[sandkid]

This too - I'm mainly focusing on ideas for slow-burn sustainable activity (as the engineers have been: they'll probably last us at least another year before they're "finished") - but it would be nice to have some one-off events like CGs too.

Our last CG was 11 months ago, and the rules for player-submitted CGs (specifically, the one that the host system can contain at most one PMF) make them almost unusable out here - there is exactly one system with only one PMF present, so it'd be nice for Frontier to put some in from time to time: they were always, relative to the population of the region, well-attended.

I think part of the issue is that CGs offer very little in general - the new 'AX' weapon being a prime example (what a waste of development). I think the OP suggestion for 'development' of Colonia in the form of higher populations in systems, more built-out stations, and other tangible 'accessible-to-all' assets would make CGs more relevant and worthwhile to pursue.

Ironically...Colonia is the ideal environment for a CG that has varying levels of 'change' with each tier of success because it's a fairly small population that's insulated from most of the game world. Where CGs in the bubble either finish in two days or never break tier 3, Colonia's population is much more representative of how a CG ought flow - it helps that literally the entire player population is mere minutes from any given populated system.

Anyways...slow-burn ideas...

I really wish Frontier would allow colonization efforts (with great effort and time, mind you) for PMFs and minor factions alike. I really, really wanted to shack up in one of those Asteroid stations out in the middle of nowhere and just help that faction expand...only to discover it can't. I really think Frontier missed the mark on not giving players the ability to 'be a patron' for these lonely places, even if it took months to just get a new system or even a planetary base in the same system.

I think a lot of squadron and PMFs would pursue such action vigorously if it were available, and that would benefit you guys out there as much as the bubble or anywhere else.