Will we ever see base building in Elite?

[Old Duck]

Do not kill me, please.

I actually agree with you. I'd much rather have a small base that I design myself than I would a fleet carrier. Base-building is probably my favorite part of NMS, whereas owning a freighter actually takes something away from that game IMO. If Frontier were to add this, I would expect it to be very modular, like Subnautica. We're never going to get Space Engineers or even NMS base-building, but I could see us having a variety of prefabbed buildings and compartments to choose from and interconnect and lay out to our preference, allowing us to build small planetary outposts and perhaps even asteroid bases.

To be honest, I'm surprised this isn't on Frontier's list, seeing that so many of their titles are base-building in essence. Perhaps someday, since Odyssey is just the beginning of this "new era".

 

[Stigbob]

Being irritated by full system maps is something that could be remedied by fdev for one thing.

Nope. The sort of person who gets annoyed by a full system map will just latch onto something else, it's not really an issue with the game.

 

[Ydiss]

And yet, it's still an issue with FCs several months after launch and four patches, despite it being called for almost immediately i.e. filter options for the sysmap (completely missing) or a more sensible filter logic in the nav panel (option hide other carriers but not my own, maybe set hiding carriers as default).

Doesn't bode too well (and I don't even want to think about the avalanche of bugs and QoL issues that Odyssey will introduce).

But we both own one.

Still don't think this is a strong argument against the idea, rather just a parallel issue.

 

[CardioTherapy]

Do not kill me, please.

It would be a great money sink! Better than carriers, because it would be more modular. Don't have a lot of credits? Smaller base for you!

Could perhaps work together with fleet carriers, in that the carriers would be the delivery platform. And those who do not have carriers of their own could either contract another player or an NPC carrier to deliver base parts?

Imagine flying several thousand light years outside the bubble and finding a small player outpost.
Fear that it might clutter up space? Limit base ownership to one per player. Want to move to another place? Then you would need to dismantle your base.
Upkeep should be similar to NPC crew, in that the base takes a cut of all your profits as upkeep, instead of weekly or monthly upkeep.

Uses?
-Storage.
-RP
-A home.
-Personal mission board where the base owner selects what types of missions should be offered.
-Can be attacked and looted by pirates/other factions at random. Storage remains intact(?), but buildings may be damaged and in need of repair.
-Could help populate the bubble and beyond without the need for Frontier to place bases themselves.
-Cost could also be calculated by distance from the bubble.

So what do you think? Will we ever see base building in Elite Dangerous?

Agree, only if the bases are planetary and not orbital. And also connect to the new on foot gameplay. might be a platform for a new planetary mining, excavation, exploration and so on.

 

[Deleted member 182079]

But we both own one.

Still don't think this is a strong argument against the idea, rather just a parallel issue.

I just don't see the USP for bases - what would they offer in terms of gameplay that FC's couldn't already?

And in the context of what Frontier would actually be able to deliver based on their existing track record when it comes to their existing games, and any limitations the Cobra engine has. I mean, look how rigid and inflexible FCs have become since the original announcement - support ships anyone?

 

[Old Duck]

I just don't see the USP for bases - what would they offer in terms of gameplay that FC's couldn't already?

Just because you don't see something doesn't mean it doesn't exist. The fact that people want this as a feature is evidence enough that there is gameplay available for those of us who see it. Or should we remove every feature in ED that I currently see no value in?

 

[Deleted member 182079]

Just because you don't see something doesn't mean it doesn't exist. The fact that people want this as a feature is evidence enough that there is gameplay available for those of us who see it. Or should we remove every feature in ED that I currently see no value in?

It was a genuine question.

 

[Agony_Aunt]

Aside from them being a place to part up and store stuff (basically duplicate Fleet Carrier stuff or stuff FC's could also do if FD implemented), i can only think of things like maybe making a mining facility or other land based operations.

But this would mean FD would be spending effort on things that relate less to being some sort of space cowboy and more on being a.... citzen of the stars. And i'd rather FD didn't go down that particular road.

I mean, once you start down that road you get people asking for farming, drilling, playing doctors and nurse in hospitals, and ultimately, Second Life.

Planets and planetary activities definitely have a place in ED, but I think they should avoid things that go down the path of players setting up life on planets. Leave that to other games.

 

[Ydiss]

It was a genuine question.

The use would be disparate to carriers, which are mobile bases of operation.

I think the answer to this question might be easier once we know more about what Odyssey is going to offer (after all, this could very well be the carriers for surface content in many ways).

But, ignoring that, don't underestimate the desire for a "home". An actual home that's yours, complete with your chosen vistas, interior options and local to the system you feel most comfortable in. I'd suggest basic benefits such as additional module storage, commodity storage, shipyard, outfitting (perhaps outfitting could be much easier/cheaper to stock on inhabited planets, too, due to lower logistical costs), apex, depot. Perhaps more, linked to whatever new stuff we get to do on the planet surface in Odyssey. An additional perk can be reduced or no costs for some stuff. And your friends can use that too.

Ultimately, carriers only serve one purpose yet they're used for more than that. So even just "a place to keep my stuff" is enough of a reason.

Single cost, plus cost of additional services and "rooms", no upkeep but if you want to move house, there's a big cost involved. And it takes a week.

Just spitting out ideas. But I'd want one if they existed and more so if there's enough Odyssey content on surfaces to make having that base worth while. To a certain extent, this all depends a lot on that.

 

[Alien]

What if ... and bear with me here .... you could land your fleet carrier on a planetary body? Yes I know you can't fly them like you can normal ships, but you could select a landing spot for it and it go there and land.
This would provide surface landing pads using existing in-game assets, and may only require added gameplay mechanic and possibly cut-scene akin to a hyperspace jump (it should be noted here, I know nothing about game development). When you select the option to jump your carrier, predetermined landing spots are shown for you to select from.

The advantage of this is you could move your fleet carrier from planetary body to planetary body.

 

[Deleted member 182079]

The use would be disparate to carriers, which are mobile bases of operation.

I think the answer to this question might be easier once we know more about what Odyssey is going to offer (after all, this could very well be the carriers for surface content in many ways).

But, ignoring that, don't underestimate the desire for a "home". An actual home that's yours, complete with your chosen vistas, interior options and local to the system you feel most comfortable in. I'd suggest basic benefits such as additional module storage, commodity storage, shipyard, outfitting (perhaps outfitting could be much easier/cheaper to stock on inhabited planets, too, due to lower logistical costs), apex, depot. Perhaps more, linked to whatever new stuff we get to do on the planet surface in Odyssey. An additional perk can be reduced or no costs for some stuff. And your friends can use that too.

Ultimately, carriers only serve one purpose yet they're used for more than that. So even just "a place to keep my stuff" is enough of a reason.

Single cost, plus cost of additional services and "rooms", no upkeep but if you want to move house, there's a big cost involved. And it takes a week.

Just spitting out ideas. But I'd want one if they existed and more so if there's enough Odyssey content on surfaces to make having that base worth while. To a certain extent, this all depends a lot on that.

Thing is, to me, all that is already in the game in the shape of my carrier - it's my home, it's where I store all my stuff (including all sorts of cargo), it provides a vista (ever-changing, unlike a fixed base on a barren planet), I can make it a shop-front if I want to. The bit that isn't covered currently is indoor space, and that could in theory become part of a FC if and when ship interiors get added (though we don't even get a lousy bridge view while all ships have at least a cockpit, so I'm not overly hopeful on this).

A base would need to offer me unique gameplay that other assets in the game don't offer.

Let's just run with the idea of a custom mission board. I personally would really like one, but even those are much more suited to FC's - why? Because presumably NPCs can't interact with your mission board (just like they can't with your FC in general), so it'd likely be limited to other players, and it's just easier to bring the mission board to players (in the form of a mobile base) as opposed to the other way around. Imagine having a base in some backwater system with no traffic - what use is a mission board there?

And it's unlikely that I will run my own missions as I want to be surprised by the game in terms of what tasks it wants me to perform. YMMV of course.

It does remind me a lot about the Hearthfire DLC of Skyrim, i.e. the family home content. I own it only because it was part of the Legendary Edition, and I wouldn't have bought it on its own, because that's basically playing The Sims in a game that's not really made for that (you may disagree on this of course which is fine).

I still fail to see what bases could add in terms of engaging gameplay that FCs don't already provide, besides it being fixed to a given location (which is a downgrade in my view and I wouldn't bother unless I was utterly bored with the rest of the game, and I certainly wouldn't pay for it if it was a standalone DLC).

EDIT - if bases would allow for the creation of self-sufficient mini-bubbles, now that could possibly win me over if I were interested in creating a little hippy community with other players in the middle of nowhere.

 

[Ydiss]

What if ... and bear with me here .... you could land your fleet carrier on a planetary body? Yes I know you can't fly them like you can normal ships, but you could select a landing spot for it and it go there and land.
This would provide surface landing pads using existing in-game assets, and may only require added gameplay mechanic and possibly cut-scene akin to a hyperspace jump (it should be noted here, I know nothing about game development).

The advantage of this is you could move your fleet carrier from planetary body to planetary body.

I thought about this and initially thought it's got potential. More so if there were "retractable" services and modules that could be deployed after landing.

I feel that it'd be better kept separate though, better if the two were combined (land your carrier at your base...). I'm of the mind that there should be more options for carriers at varied price points (as in the initial price), such as exploration focused, combat focused, trader focused or just smaller options.

I think half of the fun of base "building" is to have that building element, within reason (as mentioned above, unlimited building wouldn't fit right in my opinion).

The imaginative part of me starts thinking about setting up a base on a planet with lots of surface trade routes and then offering your services to escort, steal from or smuggle illegal goods through your base, where you store said goods for further removal using your trade focused carrier... And you'd need to buy the carrier landing port for that of course...

 

[Ydiss]

Thing is, to me, all that is already in the game in the shape of my carrier - it's my home, it's where I store all my stuff (including all sorts of cargo), it provides a vista (ever-changing, unlike a fixed base on a barren planet), I can make it a shop-front if I want to. The bit that isn't covered currently is indoor space, and that could in theory become part of a FC if and when ship interiors get added (though we don't even get a lousy bridge view while all ships have at least a cockpit, so I'm not overly hopeful on this).

A base would need to offer me unique gameplay that other assets in the game don't offer.

Let's just run with the idea of a custom mission board. I personally would really like one, but even those are much more suited to FC's - why? Because presumably NPCs can't interact with your mission board (just like they can't with your FC in general), so it'd likely be limited to other players, and it's just easier to bring the mission board to players (in the form of a mobile base) as opposed to the other way around. Imagine having a base in some backwater system with no traffic - what use is a mission board there?

And it's unlikely that I will run my own missions as I want to be surprised by the game in terms of what tasks it wants me to perform. YMMV of course.

It does remind me a lot about the Hearthfire DLC of Skyrim, i.e. the family home content. I own it only because it was part of the Legendary Edition, and I wouldn't have bought it on its own, because that's basically playing The Sims in a game that's not really made for that (you may disagree on this of course which is fine).

I still fail to see what bases could add in terms of engaging gameplay that FCs don't already provide, besides it being fixed to a given location (which is a downgrade in my view and I wouldn't bother unless I was utterly bored with the rest of the game, and I certainly wouldn't pay for it if it was a standalone DLC).

Everything my carrier has can be found at a station already in game... Literally everything. The only difference is it's mine.

I'd say it's fair enough you can't imagine any reason for this. But your approval isn't required

There's an entire thread dedicated to why people don't own a carrier. Quite a lot of them see no reason for them. And that's just fine.

 

[Deleted member 182079]

Everything my carrier has can be found at a station already in game... Literally everything. The only difference is it's mine.

I'd say it's fair enough you can't imagine any reason for this. But your approval isn't required

There's an entire thread dedicated to why people don't own a carrier. Quite a lot of them see no reason for them. And that's just fine.

Stations don't have cargo storage, or can be customised to align with the needs of the carrier owner in terms of services it may offer, or player driven markets (as limited as they are). Or travel 500ly at a time. While people can choose to ignore these benefits, they're clearly there.

Player-owned planetary bases (or orbitals) are pretty much a downgrade to FCs unless I'm missing something here. Which is why I keep asking what that could be, other than a raison-d'etre for ARX funded cosmetics.

Also, it's really not about my (or anyone else's) approval, it's about trying to work out why Frontier would want to spend any dev time on a game feature that is at worst largely overlapping with existing features.

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

My initial views after reading the OP was pretty much 100% aligned with @Agony_Aunt, but reading the above made me realise I would absolutely despise the notion of having a rather large number of systems polluted with player bases called "Basey McBaseFace", "c******************t", "FDev suxxxx", "Selling LTDs @ 950k" or "Mission XYZ cheesing for quick bucks" (assuming custom mission boards, which I would like for FCs, would be a thing), as a bonus possibly shaped based on human genitalia (and after a few weeks many of them abandoned).

Low level player content (i.e. I'm not talking about modding here but what the game allows a regular player to do) is largely overrated and tends to clash with the underlying game content more often than not. FC's (as much as I love mine) show this pretty well already. I don't want more of that in Elite.

Pretty much. Now imagine you need to calculate the server cost for storage of these dead assets in and for a game that has never core-featured building it's not a very convincing proposition.

 

[Ydiss]

Pretty much. Now imagine you need to calculate the server cost for storage of these dead assets in and for a game that has never core-featured building it's not a very convincing proposition.

I'm wondering how on earth fdev managed to get green lit for carriers in the first instance with all this negativity

"Here's an idea that some players might find fun -"

"NO! Servers, grumble, silly names, costs, never had it before, I don't need it so the game doesn't need it!"

"- ook..."

As I said, OP... Not popular round these parts.

 

[Old Duck]

It was a genuine question.

Uh hu..

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

I'm wondering how on earth fdev managed to get green lit for carriers in the first instance with all this negativity

"Here's an idea that some players might find fun -"

"NO! Servers, grumble, silly names, costs, never had it before, I don't need it so the game doesn't need it!"

"- ook..."

As I said, OP... Not popular round these parts.

You may recall that they encountered some problems with their persistent carrier approach.

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

Uh hu..

"Uhu" is literally the word for lage owls here.

 

[Ydiss]

You may recall that they encountered some problems with their persistent carrier approach.

Indeed.

And if encountering problems was the primary driver behind not doing anything then we'd still be in beta.

Get it though. Not everyone's cup of tea. Like a lot of stuff in this game.