A question about player owned stations.

[Hooplah]

All of these suggestions seems like someone was playing No Man's Sky and says, "Hey let's put in the multi-module designed player owned bases and cargo ships into Elite Dangerous!". Great for NMS but it has a relatively limited play style compared to the many different ways ED is played plus the never ending balance issues with all of them. This would need a lot of consideration before being implemented per effecting the BGS, whether or not it really fits in with the ED experience, the advantages as well as the possible abuse that someone would figure out.

Meanwhile we sort of have it already with being able to store ships and gear at multiple bases. Add in a nice detailed hangar graphic showing a player's fleet of ships, one-click statistics for each, and maybe a custom name player sign. Then we are pretty much there without having to reinvent the wheel or effecting another player's game play actually owning a station.

 

[GraXXoR]

Gonna side with "no" here. Not stations, not planetary cities, not even orbital outposts.

Think about this - we've had community goals to construct these - how many tons of how many materials had to be delivered?
What is the total credit cost for those materials?
Because these would cost at least that much, likely much more.
And that's just the beginning of the expenses involved. There's a reason these belong to factions and powers.

BUT...
A player-owned Hanger/Omni-sized landing pad where you never have to ask permission to land - sure, I'm down with that. Stick it on a planet, or inside a hollowed-out rock somewhere, absolutely.
A couple add-on structures to go with it - a place to sleep, spray the funk out of your RemLock suit? Change your socks? For sure. Another small structure to store materials, maybe a few tons of personal cargo so you can change ships, or keep a souvenir Ancient Relic, you bet.
A trophy wall to display your trophy achievements (that Hutton Mug you picked up, or whatever), yep, definitely - especially with a PS4 release lurking.
Perhaps your own repair and refueling bays (higher costs than at a station, but you pay for convenience).

But really, that's it, that's all they should do, all they'd really need to do.

This is exactly what I would like to see, too. Although I would like to add mini hermit asteroid bases to your list if you don't mind.

 

[Harley Quinn]

Must admit my vision would be to have my own Tracy Island setup, with similar available for different world types and in asteroids. But nothing beyond that as it would mean becoming an administrator or dictator having to run the population.

We have rock hermits in lore, FD have already talked about blow up structures (and popped them in the rift etc.) and about converting asteroids with a module so I'm hopeful we will get something alongside station legs.

It should be a credit sink though and for the hell of it I would introduce mining pods as we see at engineers sites but leave them with the need for constant attention to work so if a player wants to spend their game time running a drill rather than flying they can, although point out that retirement might be the option for that and would have to be for anything bigger.

 

[{SAS}Stalker]

I think some form of player owned base will arrive after atmospheric landings. Its the natural progression of the game and I think the devs have stated its been under discussion / desirable for a while. I also think the reason there wasn't player owned property in the previous games was more due to technical limitations.

I look forward to owning a little plot where I can store my rubbish etc, it would certainly bring more sence to the crafting side of things than engineers ever did.

 

[krylite]

I think player owned small orbitals, asteriod bases, or like the small outposts on POI would be reasonable. But not regular stations. Stations are system fixtures, massive spacedocks and should only be owned or controlled by factions or powers, at most a high ranking faction member such as a vice president of a corporation. That said, small player owned shops,stalls , repair centers, businesses etc would be fun with spacelegs on a station.

Small outposts or stations could work if they are really difficult to find , as hard as looking for a POI, so only the owner knows the minute coordinates, has a key to enter etc. For small asteroid bases or stations, it could be made so it only shows up in system scanners if the owner enters a passcode, yet still possible to find if a stalker found a close instance point i.e. not make it NMS impossible.

 

[verminstar]

I would very much love to own my own station...but it wont ever happen so I'll keep this brief.

My station would be a Freeport style base...no bgs factions allowed at all with a robotic skeleton crew much like the engineer bases. Limited facilities, no missions...basically just a resting place fer lone wolves as it would be as far away from the bubble as I could get, possible somewhere in the Jacques vicinity.

I don't like the bgs in this game...does nothing for me whatsoever and while this may well be a minority point of view, I'm fairly sure I'm not the only player who has said that. Jacques itself would have been an ideal I would have settled for in the beginning, but FD had other ideas and installed the very thing there that meant I lost all interest in it...factions and bgs nonsense.

I wanna call my station "Bob Marley" station and would be open to all with the condition that all politics and grudges are left at the door. A Freeport fer loners and those who merely want a little place away from all the other bgs nonsense.

Anyway, itll never happen because the "play your own way" mantra isn't real, its just a marketing logo. FD have point blank refused the mere idea of players having this much control and insist on their bgs being everywhere whether we like it or not. I don't and choose a different path which is not whatFD want and will never support which makes a mockery of the notion that players can choose their own destiny.

I ran and managed an entire network of player owned station in eve...best 2 years out of the 7 I played there. This game held my attention fer 9 months, now I just couldn't care less as I find my choices being dictated to me more an more ^

 

[kilvenny]

I would like to see player owned stations as a credit sink, where you build your station from a set of purchased components, ideally with some sort of research tree . I would also like to see them for player factions as a means of creating chains of supply, credit sink and for colonisation. Player faction stations would only be able to be built when the faction has system control and would be lost if the faction loses control.

 

[CMDR Corlas]

This is (imo, of course) the only way FDev should ever implement player owned bases, if they choose to:

Limit players to one ship at a time. Let you customize and decorate the crap out of the interior of your ship. That's it. Base.

You're a Commander in the Pilot's Federation, dammit, act like it. Your base has thrusters and a frame shift drive.

/Space jockeys yearning for port, what nonsense...

 

[ThomasWJames]

This is (imo, of course) the only way FDev should ever implement player owned bases, if they choose to:

Limit players to one ship at a time. Let you customize and decorate the crap out of the interior of your ship. That's it. Base.

You're a Commander in the Pilot's Federation, dammit, act like it. Your base has thrusters and a frame shift drive.

/Space jockeys yearning for port, what nonsense...

I repped you because what you said reminds me so much of this...Kirk: Well let me tell you something. Don't! Don't let them promote you. Don't let them transfer you. Don't let them do *anything* that takes you off the bridge of that ship, because while you're there... you can make a difference.

[video=youtube_share;VrJiU9BOEBI]https://youtu.be/VrJiU9BOEBI[/video]

 

[Daffan]

It would never work because how do you have a station that can be interfered from solo, that's dumb

but if you don't, then the solo people complain

 

[Jack Schitt]

I mention this every time this subject comes up, but Hardwar had a model of hangar ownership that would fit right into Elite. Little temporary homes with engineering facilities that offered ship and material storage, free repairs for the player's ships and (if enabled) a repair shop accessible by NPCs that would result in a small but steady income.

Such hangars on space stations might not make much sense in ED (why have a repair shop when the station has one already?) but with the advent of Horizons and soon 2.3, the option for surface-based or asteroid-based hangars presents itself. If they could be made persistent across clients the repair shops could even be opened to other players, providing an emergency repair service away from the mainstream stations (and where nobody cares about scanning for legal transgressions) and a naturally capped form of limited credit transfer between players in the form of repair fees.

Unless we're talking about asserting control or projecting influence (which ED already provides in a deliberately restricted way through the BGS and Powerplay) I can't imagine wanting to own anything bigger in ED any more than I would want to own an airport in X-Plane.

 

[VR Golgot]

To the guys saying 'base building isn't this game', you might want to look at these old Braben quotes:

On buying space stations, and possibly ones that generate cash:
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Q: Will I be able to buy a shop on a space station so I can get a rolling income while I explore?​

A: That is something we have thought about, including buying whole stations as well. Because obviously if you're setting out in the unknown you might be the person that arrives with that Ocellus station... That's something that I want to come with time. ^{Sept 2014 Vid - 23m18s}
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On owning planetary bases:
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Can you conquer planetary bases? Can attack, but can't have your own one. Not yet anyway. ^{Horizons 2015 Q&A} ​

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On stashing mining machines on planetary surfaces:
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You would be able to see heavy industry, craters up close, and ultimately be able to deposit things on the surface (stash cargo or mining machines). ^{June 2014 Q&A}
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On NPC-crewed ships farming for us, building bases and hiring NPCs generally:​

Q: My question is, if we can buy multiple ships - will there be any possibility of crewing those ships with computer generated people so you could send ships out to trade on their own. Additionally, if you have enough money, any chance you could actually build a base, buy ships for police duties and such?

A: This is the sort of thing we will look at down the line. We want to avoid the game feeling like 'playing a spreadsheet' though, but these features are certainly on our radar. ^{November 2014 Q&A}
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On 'plans for player created content, such as companies or galactic organisations?':
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To start with, players are just another commander, trying to make their way in what is quite a hostile galaxy. However, participants can form alliances with other players, and we do have plans down the line for building space stations and so on. ^{May 2014 Interview}
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To the OP:

I see the appeal of setting up a small planetary base somewhere. (The main thing I wouldn't be that interested in is the idea of it being raided online, but given the amount of real estate, if that was a rare thing I could actually find that appealing too - IE having to check your 6 for tails when heading back to stash some loot or whatever).

If they used some kind Planet Coaster design interface that could be cool too, as could NPC ownership to farm resources or defend it, depending on execution. Not vital for me, but could be good if done well.

The idea of actually building an orbital outpost with a small player group is also strangely appealing as a super end-game credit sink. In those cases it would need to be BGS tied though. I@d be fine with bigger groups even building a coriolis station or whatever, all though the time/resources required should be immense etc.

 

[Macy]

The X series lets you own stations. It worked well. You had ships collecting resources. You set prices n stuff.

 

[KG_Jedi]

My guess is that FD will eventually give every more-less influent player minor faction a single (maybe few) megaships, that coming in 2.3. That would be interesting, especially if these will behave like capital ships - providing ammo/repairs to allied ships and firing at enemies in instance where they are deployed by faction heaed.

 

[lenna]

The X series lets you own stations. It worked well. You had ships collecting resources. You set prices n stuff.

But they are single player games, in the MMO environment it would a magnet for poor player behaviours IMO.

 

[VR Golgot]

But they are single player games, in the MMO environment it would a magnet for poor player behaviours IMO.

What if:

• Land bases are small and near impossible to find
• Orbital outposts etc are indestructible and heavily defended as with current variants?

That might limit the gank-n-grief strands? I imagine any collective assembling a station & playing in open would want that kind of interaction though, and it would still be possible.

 

[lenna]

What if:

• Land bases are small and near impossible to find
• Orbital outposts etc are indestructible and heavily defended as with current variants?

That might limit the gank-n-grief strands? I imagine any collective assembling a station & playing in open would want that kind of interaction though, and it would still be possible.

Still think the overall concept falls into the "Bad Idea" category, if it is implemented in a similar fashion to ESO Homes it may work (fixed base sites that people can buy but have no effect other than being a place you can customise internally and call home)... if you want people to visit your instance of a base then you have to invite them.

 

[Macy]

But they are single player games, in the MMO environment it would a magnet for poor player behaviours IMO.

Yeah the children would try to ruin it.
My station had its own weapons and a couple ships patrolling it. Could have something similar in ED. Or just indestructible stations with super weapons to make griefing impossible.

 

[V'larr]

I think some form of player owned base will arrive after atmospheric landings. Its the natural progression of the game and I think the devs have stated its been under discussion / desirable for a while. I also think the reason there wasn't player owned property in the previous games was more due to technical limitations.

I look forward to owning a little plot where I can store my rubbish etc, it would certainly bring more sence to the crafting side of things than engineers ever did.

You know, I'll make the bet right now that this is what Season 3 will include: atmospheric planets, in-station content, and player bases.

 

[Elyssaen]

What I'd like to see is a more moderate twist on it: Privateers.

Each minor faction would look to promote X private citizens as official privateers. X would be small: sometimes just 1, but only ever single figures. To be invited by a faction you'd need to be Allied (and Allied with any relevant superpower), and between different Allied players invitations would go first to those who've gone furthest 'beyond' Allied reputation.

Privateers would possibly have a standing salary, and would get access to more, better paid missions, which would have significantly more influence on the BGS. Regularly, controlled systems with 'code' names (like CD-28 18350) or unnamed planets would be opened to naming suggestions from privateers of the controlling faction. (Moderated, of course.)

Landing at a station, any player could see which Commanders are considered defenders of the station's controlling faction.

Maybe there's also a future in true player-owned factions and stations, but before that it'd be great if we could really get involved with existing factions like this.