Cautionary Praise
I want to open by saying the graphics, flight dynamics, and combat mechanics of Elite Dangerous are fantastic. The game definitely satisfies on that front. The game’s open world simulation of a 1:1 scale galaxy with Newtonian physics is breathtaking. The potential of this game is both broad and deep. However, potential - by itself - does not make a game.
History Repeats Itself
There was another game that offered similar potential for its time; 2003’s X2:The Threat. It was an open world sandbox space combat simulator and trading game. Given the technological limits of the time, it was not of the same scale as Elite Dangerous. Regardless, it was almost identical in concept; fly a space ship, gather resources, trade them at space ports, purchase new ships, upgrade those ships, and…not much else. The developers made promises of future expansions which never materialized. The game died a quick and quiet death, another casualty of great concept/failed execution.
Granted, X2:The Threat was single-player; but as I’ll explain in a moment, Elite Dangerous’s multi-player capability isn’t being leveraged anywhere near to its fullest.
Now we come to Elite Dangerous where we fly a space ship, gather resources, trade them at space ports, purchase new ships, upgrade those ships, and…not much else. Yes, promises are being made of new gaming mechanics with future releases that will greatly expand and enhance the range of activities in which players can engage.
Unfortunately, those new mechanics are being rolled out at a snail’s pace in terms of what gamers expect these days (and at price points that are giving players pause; but that’s another discussion). With other space sims on the horizon, I fear Elite Dangerous will be eclipsed by them if it doesn’t take the initiative to become the modern space sim classic it deserves to be. Sadly, it may turn into a situation of too little, too late; and that would be a shame.
In addition to the slow feature roll-out, the other shortcoming of Elite Dangerous is its failure to make use of its status as an MMO. There exists this vast space in which real players reside. As faithful as the recreation of the galaxy may be, it is that vastness which undermines the elements of a good MMO; interaction with those other players. With 400 billion star systems to choose from, the concept of fighting over resources is ridiculous. There’s no reason to fight, no incentive to interact; just simply find an uninhabited corner of the galaxy, far from other players, and grind away in peace.
Interaction with real people is what makes an MMO worthwhile. Remove the motivations and incentives for interaction, and the game becomes almost indistinguishable from a single-player game. With the exception of a few niche markets, though, most players don’t want single-player anymore; they want the interactivity of an MMO. Elite Dangerous is failing to provide that experience at present.
High-Level Goals for an Engaging MMO
My suggestions for improving this situation are not to remove anything that currently exists. Quite the contrary, I think the concept of providing a 1:1 scale galaxy is daring, innovative, and worthwhile; it can even be leveraged to the game’s advantage from an MMO perspective as I will detail shortly.
For there to be interaction between players in an MMO there must exist two inseparable elements: interdependency and limited resources. I’ll start by addressing the limited resources, first.
In a galaxy of 400 billion star systems, functionally there is no such thing as a limited resource in the classic sense. For example, you could play this game for a lifetime and never run out of asteroids and planets to mine; there will always be raw materials to find. With the game as it currently exists, this situation can not be remedied; nor should it.
However, resources do not have to be limited to raw materials. A resource can also be human constructs and those constructs do not have to be material; they can, instead, be social constructs. In a vast galaxy inhabited by various factions, the limited resource is the ability to expand one’s influence throughout that galaxy. As players align themselves with those factions, they can be brought into conflict with one another as their respective empires seek to enlarge their spheres of influence.
Why bother, though? Because of the incentives empire-building brings: more faction-aligned star bases to trade at, easier access to raw materials and markets within the empire’s sphere of influence, the security of having allied NPCs patrolling your faction’s controlled space, and rewards for players who aid their faction’s expansionist vision (said aid taking many forms; charting new territory, defending that new territory, bringing raw materials to market, etc.).
That covers the high-level overview of creating a limited resource for factions - and, by extension, the players - to fight over. This is only one half of the equation, though; creating a limited resource for players to interact over in an antagonistic way. If this was the only element introduced to incentivize interaction, it wouldn’t fully satisfy. Those interactions would be brief as they would take the form of combat between players along the borders of their respective empires’ territories. The second half of the equation is long-term interaction; the cooperation with allies born of interdependency.
In the game’s current form, there’s little incentive to cooperate among players. This is because we’re cast in the role of the rugged, loner space rogue plying the star lanes for fame and fortune. Our motto: “I don’t need anyone!”. That plays to a desire for independence, the freedom to choose our own path without being influenced nor controlled by others. It’s a welcome escapist fantasy from a real world where all too often our choices are constrained by others. Unfortunately, it doesn’t make for a very engaging MMO experience nor successful community building; the keys to long-term success of a game.
If I, as a player, can get everything I need to be successful in the game (the measure of success, of course, being a very fluid and personal metric) without relying on another player, then why would I bother engaging with them? I’m not looking to eliminate that option from the game; there’s plenty of room out there among those 400 billion star systems for the Han Solos among us. What I AM attempting to do is add the elements of interdependency and cooperation into the game to increase interaction among players.
That’s the high-level overview of cooperation and interdependency. Next, I will make specific suggestions of new game mechanics which I believe will achieve the high-level goals previously stated. Throughout, I am remaining cognizant of programming time and release cycles of future expansions while remaining one step ahead of competitors’ pending titles.
Specific Suggestions for Achieving High-Level Goals: Interdependency and Cooperation
In this section, I’ll reverse course; I’ll speak to the interdependency and cooperation first, followed by the how these naturally lead to creating a limited resource.
With the upcoming release of Elite Dangerous: Horizons, we’re being introduced to the ability to land on and move around the surface of asteroids and planets. Though accomplished with SRVs and limited to airless worlds for the time being, this demonstrates the potential for players to have both a ship AND a SRV simultaneously active/tracked in game on a planetary surface. You may only be piloting/interacting with one at a time, but they both exist in the game as models and their associated data. In other words, it doesn’t appear to be taxing the game engine to allow for the existence of both.
This opens the door for my suggestion of how to introduce interdependency and cooperation into the game: the Resource Module.
Resource Modules will be an item that can be purchased from the faction with which the player is aligned; there will be no other method by which it can be attained. A Resource Module allows a player to construct a self-contained habitat and resource-gathering structure on an asteroid’s or planet’s surface (or, in some specialized cases, perhaps even drifting in a gas giant’s atmosphere or floating on a liquid planet’s ocean).
If it makes it easier, you can think of it as the player’s “home”; though it will have much more significance in the game than simply a place to decorate and show off your trophies (which is something that can be added later).
The attributes of Resource Modules are as follows:
With the Resource Module system, the following is accomplished:
Specific Suggestions for Achieving High-Level Goals: Conflict Over a Limited Resource
That covers the method by which interdependency between players and - to a lesser extent - cooperation is introduced into the game. Now let’s delve into how this can be leveraged to further increase cooperation and bring about conflict over a limited resource.
Of course, for this to work, we need a conflict. As stated earlier, in a galaxy of 400 billion star systems, resources are so abundant and space so available, there’s no real reason to fight over anything. Fortunately for us, a contrived conflict already exists; the various in-game factions’ expansionist designs. Furthermore, the groundwork for my following suggestions has already been laid with the Powerplay aspect of the game. This reduces the programming overhead to implement the ideas.
As players build Resource Modules on planets, they are also expanding their chosen faction’s sphere of influence in the galaxy (for those who elect to align with a faction, of course). Once enough players of a particular faction have built enough of the right type of Resource Modules on a planet, that planet is then eligible for inclusion within their faction’s sphere of influence.
These are the particulars of how this works:
* A functioning Resource Module is one whose health is greater than 0%. For example, let’s say there’s ten Resource Modules on an asteroid; five are owned by players aligned with faction A and five are owned by players aligned with faction B. Faction A mounts an attack on faction B, reducing two of their Resource Modules to 0% health. For the purposes of determining whether or not this asteroid is eligible for classification as an Outpost of Faction A, Faction A now has five functioning Resource Modules while Faction B has only three functioning Resource Modules. Faction A has a 62.5% ownership of the Resource Modules on the asteroid; they are now eligible for Outpost status (provided their five Resource Modules are of the correct type and number to satisfy the additional requirements of being declared an Outpost).
** Ownership is defined as having functioning Resource Modules on the planet, planetoid, or asteroid. If all of the planet’s, planetoid’s, or asteroid’s NPC defenses (ships, turrets, and/or planetary shields) are destroyed and all of the Resource Modules on the planet are reduced to 0% health, the planet, planetoid, or asteroid is returned to neutral status and any player aligned with any faction or any neutral player may build Resource Modules there.
With the colonization system, the following is accomplished:
In Closing
This concludes my suggestions for moving Elite Dangerous from a one-dimensional (but, oh, what a dimension!) space flight sim and trading grind to a robust, fully-realized, epic, space-based MMO. This is accomplished with the addition of two fairly-minor-to-program changes: the ability to build Resource Modules and the use of those Resource Modules as the driver of colonization and expansion of the factions’ spheres of influence. This subtracts nothing from the current space sim and trading mechanics while adding substantially to the game’s breadth, depth, appeal, and longevity.
I realize that many of the suggestions made in this post are ones you've probably considered and may already be in development. However, a having a good idea is not enough; you need to actually deliver the idea to the world. Time is ticking with No Man's Sky, Star Citizen, and others on the horizon. Elite Dangerous is ideally positioned to grab a decent share of the space sim gaming market; but only if you act quickly and with an eye towards leveraging the MMO aspects of your game.
Frontier Developments, please don’t let Elite Dangerous become this decade’s X2:The Threat. Instead, reach for the stars and realize the full potential this game possesses; but do it in a timely manner.
~ Signed, a 45 year old gamer who’s seen too many great game concepts fail due to poor and/or delayed execution
I want to open by saying the graphics, flight dynamics, and combat mechanics of Elite Dangerous are fantastic. The game definitely satisfies on that front. The game’s open world simulation of a 1:1 scale galaxy with Newtonian physics is breathtaking. The potential of this game is both broad and deep. However, potential - by itself - does not make a game.
History Repeats Itself
There was another game that offered similar potential for its time; 2003’s X2:The Threat. It was an open world sandbox space combat simulator and trading game. Given the technological limits of the time, it was not of the same scale as Elite Dangerous. Regardless, it was almost identical in concept; fly a space ship, gather resources, trade them at space ports, purchase new ships, upgrade those ships, and…not much else. The developers made promises of future expansions which never materialized. The game died a quick and quiet death, another casualty of great concept/failed execution.
Granted, X2:The Threat was single-player; but as I’ll explain in a moment, Elite Dangerous’s multi-player capability isn’t being leveraged anywhere near to its fullest.
Now we come to Elite Dangerous where we fly a space ship, gather resources, trade them at space ports, purchase new ships, upgrade those ships, and…not much else. Yes, promises are being made of new gaming mechanics with future releases that will greatly expand and enhance the range of activities in which players can engage.
Unfortunately, those new mechanics are being rolled out at a snail’s pace in terms of what gamers expect these days (and at price points that are giving players pause; but that’s another discussion). With other space sims on the horizon, I fear Elite Dangerous will be eclipsed by them if it doesn’t take the initiative to become the modern space sim classic it deserves to be. Sadly, it may turn into a situation of too little, too late; and that would be a shame.
In addition to the slow feature roll-out, the other shortcoming of Elite Dangerous is its failure to make use of its status as an MMO. There exists this vast space in which real players reside. As faithful as the recreation of the galaxy may be, it is that vastness which undermines the elements of a good MMO; interaction with those other players. With 400 billion star systems to choose from, the concept of fighting over resources is ridiculous. There’s no reason to fight, no incentive to interact; just simply find an uninhabited corner of the galaxy, far from other players, and grind away in peace.
Interaction with real people is what makes an MMO worthwhile. Remove the motivations and incentives for interaction, and the game becomes almost indistinguishable from a single-player game. With the exception of a few niche markets, though, most players don’t want single-player anymore; they want the interactivity of an MMO. Elite Dangerous is failing to provide that experience at present.
High-Level Goals for an Engaging MMO
My suggestions for improving this situation are not to remove anything that currently exists. Quite the contrary, I think the concept of providing a 1:1 scale galaxy is daring, innovative, and worthwhile; it can even be leveraged to the game’s advantage from an MMO perspective as I will detail shortly.
For there to be interaction between players in an MMO there must exist two inseparable elements: interdependency and limited resources. I’ll start by addressing the limited resources, first.
In a galaxy of 400 billion star systems, functionally there is no such thing as a limited resource in the classic sense. For example, you could play this game for a lifetime and never run out of asteroids and planets to mine; there will always be raw materials to find. With the game as it currently exists, this situation can not be remedied; nor should it.
However, resources do not have to be limited to raw materials. A resource can also be human constructs and those constructs do not have to be material; they can, instead, be social constructs. In a vast galaxy inhabited by various factions, the limited resource is the ability to expand one’s influence throughout that galaxy. As players align themselves with those factions, they can be brought into conflict with one another as their respective empires seek to enlarge their spheres of influence.
Why bother, though? Because of the incentives empire-building brings: more faction-aligned star bases to trade at, easier access to raw materials and markets within the empire’s sphere of influence, the security of having allied NPCs patrolling your faction’s controlled space, and rewards for players who aid their faction’s expansionist vision (said aid taking many forms; charting new territory, defending that new territory, bringing raw materials to market, etc.).
That covers the high-level overview of creating a limited resource for factions - and, by extension, the players - to fight over. This is only one half of the equation, though; creating a limited resource for players to interact over in an antagonistic way. If this was the only element introduced to incentivize interaction, it wouldn’t fully satisfy. Those interactions would be brief as they would take the form of combat between players along the borders of their respective empires’ territories. The second half of the equation is long-term interaction; the cooperation with allies born of interdependency.
In the game’s current form, there’s little incentive to cooperate among players. This is because we’re cast in the role of the rugged, loner space rogue plying the star lanes for fame and fortune. Our motto: “I don’t need anyone!”. That plays to a desire for independence, the freedom to choose our own path without being influenced nor controlled by others. It’s a welcome escapist fantasy from a real world where all too often our choices are constrained by others. Unfortunately, it doesn’t make for a very engaging MMO experience nor successful community building; the keys to long-term success of a game.
If I, as a player, can get everything I need to be successful in the game (the measure of success, of course, being a very fluid and personal metric) without relying on another player, then why would I bother engaging with them? I’m not looking to eliminate that option from the game; there’s plenty of room out there among those 400 billion star systems for the Han Solos among us. What I AM attempting to do is add the elements of interdependency and cooperation into the game to increase interaction among players.
That’s the high-level overview of cooperation and interdependency. Next, I will make specific suggestions of new game mechanics which I believe will achieve the high-level goals previously stated. Throughout, I am remaining cognizant of programming time and release cycles of future expansions while remaining one step ahead of competitors’ pending titles.
Specific Suggestions for Achieving High-Level Goals: Interdependency and Cooperation
In this section, I’ll reverse course; I’ll speak to the interdependency and cooperation first, followed by the how these naturally lead to creating a limited resource.
With the upcoming release of Elite Dangerous: Horizons, we’re being introduced to the ability to land on and move around the surface of asteroids and planets. Though accomplished with SRVs and limited to airless worlds for the time being, this demonstrates the potential for players to have both a ship AND a SRV simultaneously active/tracked in game on a planetary surface. You may only be piloting/interacting with one at a time, but they both exist in the game as models and their associated data. In other words, it doesn’t appear to be taxing the game engine to allow for the existence of both.
This opens the door for my suggestion of how to introduce interdependency and cooperation into the game: the Resource Module.
Resource Modules will be an item that can be purchased from the faction with which the player is aligned; there will be no other method by which it can be attained. A Resource Module allows a player to construct a self-contained habitat and resource-gathering structure on an asteroid’s or planet’s surface (or, in some specialized cases, perhaps even drifting in a gas giant’s atmosphere or floating on a liquid planet’s ocean).
If it makes it easier, you can think of it as the player’s “home”; though it will have much more significance in the game than simply a place to decorate and show off your trophies (which is something that can be added later).
The attributes of Resource Modules are as follows:
1) In the beginning, a player is limited to a single Resource Module. Functionally, this is to prevent players from building economy-breaking financial empires if they were permitted to build an unlimited number of Resource Modules. It also prevents players from creating vertically integrated monopolies wherein they own the entire supply chain; thus breaking their interdependency on other players.
The in-game continuity explanation for this is each faction is seeking to expand its empire. The players, as representatives of their faction, are tasked with helping grow its borders. The faction wants to ensure the player is successful in this endeavor; thus it limits them to a single Resource Module so as not to spread themselves too thin in the beginning.
2) Resource Modules are fully automated, robotocized resource gathering constructs. Though there will be a small habitat area suitable for sustaining human life (the player’s “home”), the facility’s primary purpose is resource gathering.
3) Resource Modules are limited to gathering or producing a single resource or class of resources. A mining module or a farming module would be some examples. The developers can get as granular or not as they like. We could go the simple route of “Resource Module - Low-Grade Metals Mining” which would mine a variety of common ores, or something as specific as “Resource Module - Iron Ore Mining” which produces only iron ore if they prefer.
4) Resource Modules have a footprint. I envision this being a square or hexagon grid. The base Resource Module takes up a few squares of the grid, with the rest being empty. Even so, there must be unobstructed space in which to place the entirety of the grid (no overlapping with other players’ modules or extreme variations in terrain). Once placed in a suitable location, the Resource Module unpacks and starts production.
5) Resource Modules can be re-packed up into the cargo hold of the owning player’s ship and relocated to another planet if they choose. This would likely incur a small cost of credits and/or resources to restart operations elsewhere.
6) The empty blocks in a Resource Module’s grid can have additional units built on them. For example, a player may choose to build laser turrets in some of the empty grid squares for defense or some extra solar panels for power generation. This would be akin to customizing one’s spaceship. In other words, the programming for this already exists; just treat it as a planet-bound spaceship.
7) Each Resource Module has everything it needs to begin gathering or producing its resource upon being built. Initially, nothing more is needed other than to find suitable space to place it on a planet. However, over time, it may be the case the Resource Module will require infusions of additional raw materials to keep it operational.
A farm module, for example, may require periodic restocking of seeds, water, fertilizer, etc. This opens up the potential for interdependency and a second-tier player-driven economy; for example, the player with a farming module may barter with the player with a hydrocarbon refining module to obtain needed fertilizer for their plants.
8) Resource Modules are subject to damage but NOT complete elimination from the game (with two exceptions, noted later). Natural disasters, persistent environmental effects, and attacks by other players and/or NPCs will damage Resource Modules. The more damage taken, the less resource it produces until it reaches zero productivity at 0% health. Despite this, the Resource Module is not removed from the game at 0% health; it persists and can be repaired by the owning player. Of course, the player may choose to relocate to a more hospitable and/or less contested planet.
9) Resources Modules do NOT automatically transfer their products to market. Each Resource Module will have a storage capacity (which can be increased by adding more warehouses, storage tanks, etc. to the empty grid squares) which - once reached - will cause operations to cease until the owning player transfers the products to the cargo hold of their ship.
It is up to the owning player to transport these products to market; such as a NPC space station or to trade with other players. This keeps players engaged with the game and flying their ships rather than just earning income while AFK or logged out (as this IS a space flight simulator, first and foremost).
10) There will be NO taxation of Resource Modules (à la ArcheAge’s housing model). There will only be the one-time purchase price (in-game credits; not real world money) and that’s it. Of course, there will be plenty of other in-game costs associated with operating, maintaining, and repairing Resource Modules.
In ArcheAge, taxation is necessary as a limiter to unchecked growth because space on which to build is a limited resource. As there’s 400 billion star systems in Elite Dangerous, no such practical limit exists; thus no need for a taxation scheme.
11) It may be the case that different tiers of Resource Modules exist for different environments. The same class of module may produce the same product (iron ore, for example), but there are three variants: one for planets with oxygen atmospheres and normal pressure, ones for planets with normal atmospheric pressure but no oxygen, and ones for low pressure/vacuum environments. This, again, offers another opportunity for players to be dependent on one another. For example, the pressurized modules may need periodic restocking of liquid O2 tanks; a resource produced by players who operate O2 concentrator modules.
12) The hardier the Resource Module (as per the previous point), the more expensive it is to purchase. A module meant to operate in the vacuum of space on the surface of an asteroid will cost more to reinforce and pressurize than a module designed to operate on an idyllic planet with an oxygen atmosphere.
The trade-off is the more expensive module may have a bonus to its resource generation; the tried-and-true high risk:high reward paradigm. An expensive, reinforced, pressurized mining module built on an asteroid of pure iron will mine much more of the metal in a given time period than a mining module on the surface of a planet which must drill into the surface through bedrock to reach the unrefined ore. It will also receive much greater solar radiation, unfiltered by an atmosphere, to better power its solar cells.
The trade-off to the trade-off is the asteroid mining player will likely have much more frequent maintenance and repair costs as their module is exposed to meteor impacts and the solar wind and radiation of the local star without the benefit of a protective Van Allen belt nor atmospheric blanket.
These are just examples to demonstrate how the Resource Module system has the potential for great variety as well as introducing high risk:high reward and low risk:low reward game elements.
13) Other players can raid Resource Modules. If they manage to bring down the shields, destroy the defensive turrets, punch through the armor (if the owner of the module was wise enough to install any of these defensive components), and finally crack open the module’s storage units, they’re free to collect any raw materials that spill forth; just as if they were salvaging the spilt cargo of a ship in space.
14) Resource Modules are persistent within the game; even when reduced to 0% health. However, a Resource Module that is abandoned by a player who is no longer actively playing the game will eventually be removed. There’s various ways to accomplish this.
Of course, we don’t want to discourage exploration, so we wouldn’t want to impose a requirement that a player must visit their module on a regular basis (daily, weekly, or whatever). On the other hand, it’s not really in keeping with the spirit of the game if a player can keep their module extant by simply logging into the game and then immediately logging back out again. A middle ground will have to be found; which I leave to the developer.
Regardless, I see this as being a gradual decay of the module over time rather than an it’s-at-full-health-today-and-disappears-tomorrow implementation. This would be in addition to whatever damage it may take from natural disasters, environmental effects, or attacks from players/NPCs.
Within whatever time period the developer settles on as reasonable, the module would enter a state of disrepair, then decay, followed by abandonment, and concluding with condemned. Shortly thereafter, the module would be removed from the game entirely. Each stage would show visible signs of damage to the module while it’s statistical health is being reduced by a set percentage until it reaches 0%.
This is one example of how Resource Modules are permanently removed from the game as an exception to point #8.
15) Once a player has proven themselves to their respective faction, they will be permitted to upgrade to the next level of Resource Module. This proof could come in the form of the player selling X amount of a resource to their faction’s trading posts (e.g. 1,000,000 metric tons of iron ore).
Trade between players wouldn’t count. The player has to weigh the trade-offs of selling to real players for a potentially higher profit versus trading to their faction’s trading posts at a potentially lower profit but with the advantage of earning its favor. The burgeoning empire needs resources put into circulation in its economy and rewards players who do so with permission to build upgraded Resource Modules.
16) Resource Module upgrades would permit players to produce higher quality resources and maybe even manufacture some goods. The next tier up from Resource Module might be Refining Module and the final tier could be Manufacturing Module.
For example, there may be a Resource Module that mines sand. The next level up, the Refining Module processes the sand into silicon. At the top tier, a Manufacturing Module may use the silicon (and other resources) to build solar panels or processors.
It’s open to debate whether the upgrade replaces the player’s existing Resource Module (with an attendant increase in the number of grid blocks available for placing additional components) or if the player keeps their original Resource Module while gaining the ability to place a completely new Refining Module (and, eventually, a third Manufacturing Module).
I lean towards the existing module being upgraded to the new module. This prevents a single player from achieving vertical integration; they remain dependent on other players for the raw materials needed for refinement or the refined materials needed for manufacture. Which is the whole point; interdependency in order to foster interaction within an MMO.
17) A player who has earned the right to upgrade a Resource Module must upgrade it within the same resource category. Using the previous example, a sand miner can’t upgrade to an oil refinery; they must upgrade to a silicon refinery.
If they want to become an oil refiner, they would have to disassemble their sand mining Resource Module (possibly being permitted to sell it back to their faction for a percentage of the original purchase price or salvage it for raw materials), purchase an oil drilling Resource Module, extract enough oil to sell to their faction to earn the required favor, and THEN upgrade to an oil refinery.
Favor earned in a tier is saved. For example, our silicon miner who decides to become an oil refiner would still keep the favor he earned towards upgrading to a silicon refinery, should he ever decide to switch back.
The in-game continuity explanation for this is each faction is seeking to expand its empire. The players, as representatives of their faction, are tasked with helping grow its borders. The faction wants to ensure the player is successful in this endeavor; thus it limits them to a single Resource Module so as not to spread themselves too thin in the beginning.
2) Resource Modules are fully automated, robotocized resource gathering constructs. Though there will be a small habitat area suitable for sustaining human life (the player’s “home”), the facility’s primary purpose is resource gathering.
3) Resource Modules are limited to gathering or producing a single resource or class of resources. A mining module or a farming module would be some examples. The developers can get as granular or not as they like. We could go the simple route of “Resource Module - Low-Grade Metals Mining” which would mine a variety of common ores, or something as specific as “Resource Module - Iron Ore Mining” which produces only iron ore if they prefer.
4) Resource Modules have a footprint. I envision this being a square or hexagon grid. The base Resource Module takes up a few squares of the grid, with the rest being empty. Even so, there must be unobstructed space in which to place the entirety of the grid (no overlapping with other players’ modules or extreme variations in terrain). Once placed in a suitable location, the Resource Module unpacks and starts production.
5) Resource Modules can be re-packed up into the cargo hold of the owning player’s ship and relocated to another planet if they choose. This would likely incur a small cost of credits and/or resources to restart operations elsewhere.
6) The empty blocks in a Resource Module’s grid can have additional units built on them. For example, a player may choose to build laser turrets in some of the empty grid squares for defense or some extra solar panels for power generation. This would be akin to customizing one’s spaceship. In other words, the programming for this already exists; just treat it as a planet-bound spaceship.
7) Each Resource Module has everything it needs to begin gathering or producing its resource upon being built. Initially, nothing more is needed other than to find suitable space to place it on a planet. However, over time, it may be the case the Resource Module will require infusions of additional raw materials to keep it operational.
A farm module, for example, may require periodic restocking of seeds, water, fertilizer, etc. This opens up the potential for interdependency and a second-tier player-driven economy; for example, the player with a farming module may barter with the player with a hydrocarbon refining module to obtain needed fertilizer for their plants.
8) Resource Modules are subject to damage but NOT complete elimination from the game (with two exceptions, noted later). Natural disasters, persistent environmental effects, and attacks by other players and/or NPCs will damage Resource Modules. The more damage taken, the less resource it produces until it reaches zero productivity at 0% health. Despite this, the Resource Module is not removed from the game at 0% health; it persists and can be repaired by the owning player. Of course, the player may choose to relocate to a more hospitable and/or less contested planet.
9) Resources Modules do NOT automatically transfer their products to market. Each Resource Module will have a storage capacity (which can be increased by adding more warehouses, storage tanks, etc. to the empty grid squares) which - once reached - will cause operations to cease until the owning player transfers the products to the cargo hold of their ship.
It is up to the owning player to transport these products to market; such as a NPC space station or to trade with other players. This keeps players engaged with the game and flying their ships rather than just earning income while AFK or logged out (as this IS a space flight simulator, first and foremost).
10) There will be NO taxation of Resource Modules (à la ArcheAge’s housing model). There will only be the one-time purchase price (in-game credits; not real world money) and that’s it. Of course, there will be plenty of other in-game costs associated with operating, maintaining, and repairing Resource Modules.
In ArcheAge, taxation is necessary as a limiter to unchecked growth because space on which to build is a limited resource. As there’s 400 billion star systems in Elite Dangerous, no such practical limit exists; thus no need for a taxation scheme.
11) It may be the case that different tiers of Resource Modules exist for different environments. The same class of module may produce the same product (iron ore, for example), but there are three variants: one for planets with oxygen atmospheres and normal pressure, ones for planets with normal atmospheric pressure but no oxygen, and ones for low pressure/vacuum environments. This, again, offers another opportunity for players to be dependent on one another. For example, the pressurized modules may need periodic restocking of liquid O2 tanks; a resource produced by players who operate O2 concentrator modules.
12) The hardier the Resource Module (as per the previous point), the more expensive it is to purchase. A module meant to operate in the vacuum of space on the surface of an asteroid will cost more to reinforce and pressurize than a module designed to operate on an idyllic planet with an oxygen atmosphere.
The trade-off is the more expensive module may have a bonus to its resource generation; the tried-and-true high risk:high reward paradigm. An expensive, reinforced, pressurized mining module built on an asteroid of pure iron will mine much more of the metal in a given time period than a mining module on the surface of a planet which must drill into the surface through bedrock to reach the unrefined ore. It will also receive much greater solar radiation, unfiltered by an atmosphere, to better power its solar cells.
The trade-off to the trade-off is the asteroid mining player will likely have much more frequent maintenance and repair costs as their module is exposed to meteor impacts and the solar wind and radiation of the local star without the benefit of a protective Van Allen belt nor atmospheric blanket.
These are just examples to demonstrate how the Resource Module system has the potential for great variety as well as introducing high risk:high reward and low risk:low reward game elements.
13) Other players can raid Resource Modules. If they manage to bring down the shields, destroy the defensive turrets, punch through the armor (if the owner of the module was wise enough to install any of these defensive components), and finally crack open the module’s storage units, they’re free to collect any raw materials that spill forth; just as if they were salvaging the spilt cargo of a ship in space.
14) Resource Modules are persistent within the game; even when reduced to 0% health. However, a Resource Module that is abandoned by a player who is no longer actively playing the game will eventually be removed. There’s various ways to accomplish this.
Of course, we don’t want to discourage exploration, so we wouldn’t want to impose a requirement that a player must visit their module on a regular basis (daily, weekly, or whatever). On the other hand, it’s not really in keeping with the spirit of the game if a player can keep their module extant by simply logging into the game and then immediately logging back out again. A middle ground will have to be found; which I leave to the developer.
Regardless, I see this as being a gradual decay of the module over time rather than an it’s-at-full-health-today-and-disappears-tomorrow implementation. This would be in addition to whatever damage it may take from natural disasters, environmental effects, or attacks from players/NPCs.
Within whatever time period the developer settles on as reasonable, the module would enter a state of disrepair, then decay, followed by abandonment, and concluding with condemned. Shortly thereafter, the module would be removed from the game entirely. Each stage would show visible signs of damage to the module while it’s statistical health is being reduced by a set percentage until it reaches 0%.
This is one example of how Resource Modules are permanently removed from the game as an exception to point #8.
15) Once a player has proven themselves to their respective faction, they will be permitted to upgrade to the next level of Resource Module. This proof could come in the form of the player selling X amount of a resource to their faction’s trading posts (e.g. 1,000,000 metric tons of iron ore).
Trade between players wouldn’t count. The player has to weigh the trade-offs of selling to real players for a potentially higher profit versus trading to their faction’s trading posts at a potentially lower profit but with the advantage of earning its favor. The burgeoning empire needs resources put into circulation in its economy and rewards players who do so with permission to build upgraded Resource Modules.
16) Resource Module upgrades would permit players to produce higher quality resources and maybe even manufacture some goods. The next tier up from Resource Module might be Refining Module and the final tier could be Manufacturing Module.
For example, there may be a Resource Module that mines sand. The next level up, the Refining Module processes the sand into silicon. At the top tier, a Manufacturing Module may use the silicon (and other resources) to build solar panels or processors.
It’s open to debate whether the upgrade replaces the player’s existing Resource Module (with an attendant increase in the number of grid blocks available for placing additional components) or if the player keeps their original Resource Module while gaining the ability to place a completely new Refining Module (and, eventually, a third Manufacturing Module).
I lean towards the existing module being upgraded to the new module. This prevents a single player from achieving vertical integration; they remain dependent on other players for the raw materials needed for refinement or the refined materials needed for manufacture. Which is the whole point; interdependency in order to foster interaction within an MMO.
17) A player who has earned the right to upgrade a Resource Module must upgrade it within the same resource category. Using the previous example, a sand miner can’t upgrade to an oil refinery; they must upgrade to a silicon refinery.
If they want to become an oil refiner, they would have to disassemble their sand mining Resource Module (possibly being permitted to sell it back to their faction for a percentage of the original purchase price or salvage it for raw materials), purchase an oil drilling Resource Module, extract enough oil to sell to their faction to earn the required favor, and THEN upgrade to an oil refinery.
Favor earned in a tier is saved. For example, our silicon miner who decides to become an oil refiner would still keep the favor he earned towards upgrading to a silicon refinery, should he ever decide to switch back.
With the Resource Module system, the following is accomplished:
1) Players are given a “home” to defend and customize. They now “own” a piece of the game that is personal to them, giving them greater investment and motivation to continue playing.
2) Players have a dedicated source of resource/income generation that doesn’t require micromanagement nor grinding. They won’t get rich relying on their Resource Module alone, but it frees them to “play” the game more rather than “grind” the game. This theoretically increases the fun-factor, aiding retention.
3) Interdependency and a player-run economy is created. Resource Modules will use consumables which can only be obtained from other players, not from NPC trading posts. For those who build Resource Modules this fosters interaction with other players, supporting the MMO aspect of the game.
4) Players may cooperate to build communities on planets wherein self-sustaining local economies are built. Instead of everyone building a mining Resource Module on the same planet, they may choose to diversify by building different modules in a network of mutual support. A simplified example would be an oil drilling module provides fuel to power their neighbor’s mining module. The mining module provides the metal for making drill bits for the first player’s oil module.
2) Players have a dedicated source of resource/income generation that doesn’t require micromanagement nor grinding. They won’t get rich relying on their Resource Module alone, but it frees them to “play” the game more rather than “grind” the game. This theoretically increases the fun-factor, aiding retention.
3) Interdependency and a player-run economy is created. Resource Modules will use consumables which can only be obtained from other players, not from NPC trading posts. For those who build Resource Modules this fosters interaction with other players, supporting the MMO aspect of the game.
4) Players may cooperate to build communities on planets wherein self-sustaining local economies are built. Instead of everyone building a mining Resource Module on the same planet, they may choose to diversify by building different modules in a network of mutual support. A simplified example would be an oil drilling module provides fuel to power their neighbor’s mining module. The mining module provides the metal for making drill bits for the first player’s oil module.
Specific Suggestions for Achieving High-Level Goals: Conflict Over a Limited Resource
That covers the method by which interdependency between players and - to a lesser extent - cooperation is introduced into the game. Now let’s delve into how this can be leveraged to further increase cooperation and bring about conflict over a limited resource.
Of course, for this to work, we need a conflict. As stated earlier, in a galaxy of 400 billion star systems, resources are so abundant and space so available, there’s no real reason to fight over anything. Fortunately for us, a contrived conflict already exists; the various in-game factions’ expansionist designs. Furthermore, the groundwork for my following suggestions has already been laid with the Powerplay aspect of the game. This reduces the programming overhead to implement the ideas.
As players build Resource Modules on planets, they are also expanding their chosen faction’s sphere of influence in the galaxy (for those who elect to align with a faction, of course). Once enough players of a particular faction have built enough of the right type of Resource Modules on a planet, that planet is then eligible for inclusion within their faction’s sphere of influence.
These are the particulars of how this works:
1) There will be three tiers: Outpost, Settlement, and Colony.
2) No planet on which players of a particular faction have built Resource Modules will be considered for inclusion into their respective faction’s sphere of influence if that planet is within the sphere of influence of another empire.
3) To be declared an Outpost will require a specific number and type of Resource Modules be built on any planet, planetoid, or asteroid in neutral space. The overriding expectation here is that the Resource Modules requirement creates the semblance of a functioning, self-sufficient, interdependent local economy (which I leave to the developer to sort out).
Sixty percent of the functioning Resource Modules* (more on this later) on that planet, planetoid, or asteroid must be owned by players aligned with the same faction. Once these requirements are met, the planet, planetoid, or asteroid will be declared an Outpost of the majority faction.
Minority players (either neutral or who are aligned with another faction) who own Resource Modules on the planet, planetoid, or asteroid will be given two weeks to either declare allegiance to the conquering faction or vacate the planet, planetoid, or asteroid. Those who fail to do either will have their Resource Modules reduced to 0% health, disassembled, and returned to them in a manner similar to eminent domain (with the cost of repairing the Resource Module to be borne by the owning player).
Once the planet, planetoid, or asteroid is officially inducted into the conquering faction’s sphere of influence, it will be patrolled by X number of NPC-controlled fighters and Y number of NPC-controlled defensive turrets will be built planet-side.
4) The establishment of a Settlement and a Colony will follow the same pattern as an Outpost with the following notable differences:
Settlements can only be established on planets and planetoids either in neutral space or in the majority faction’s sphere of influence. They will require a greater number and diversity of established Resource Modules as well as Refinery Modules compared to Outposts. They will also require a 75% majority of faction-aligned Resource Module representation. Settlements gain the defensive advantages of an Outpost plus more of them and an orbiting space station.
Colonies can only be established on planets either in the majority faction’s sphere of influence or star systems adjacent to the majority faction’s sphere of influence (I’ll leave it to the developer to define “adjacent” in the context of a galaxy of 400 billion star systems). They will require a greater number and diversity of established Resource Modules and Refinery Modules as well as Manufacturing Modules compared to Settlements. They will also require a 90% majority of faction-aligned Resource Module representation. Colonies gain the defensive advantages of a Settlement plus more of them (including the orbiting space station) and a planet-side capital building/fortress to include a planetary shield generator.
5) Once an Outpost, Settlement, or Colony is established, it gains passive benefits/bonuses similar to the existing benefits/bonuses of the Powerplay aspect of the game. The bonuses increase and are cumulative as the level of colonization increases; a Colony will have substantially superior benefits/bonuses compared to an Outpost.
6) Once an Outpost, Settlement, or Colony is established, no player not aligned with the controlling faction may build a Resource Module on that planet, planetoid, or asteroid while the controlling faction retains ownership**.
7) Settlements will require that the planent or planetoid was first designated an Outpost before it will be considered for Settlement status. Colonies will require that the planent or planetoid was first designated a Settlement before it will be considered for Colony status. It won't be the case that a previously uninhabitated planet or planetoid can instantaneously become a Colony; it must progress through the previous designations first. Given my previous suggestion in point #3 of a two week period from the point at which the requirements are met for an Outpost, Settlement, and Colony to the time it is officially inducted into the owning faction's sphere of influence, it would take 6 weeks under optimal conditions to progress from neutral planet or planetoid through Outpost, Settlement, and, finally, Colony.
8) During the two week period during which the asteroid, planet, or planetoid is being integrated into the claiming faction's sphere of influence, other players not aligned with that faction may still place Resource Modules on the asteroid, planet, or planetoid. If doing so tips the ratio of Resource Modules such that the faction attempting to lay claim to the asteroid, planet, or planetoid no longer has the minimum majority percentage of Resource Modules required for Outpost, Settlement, or Colony status, then that asteroid, planet, or planetoid is considered contested. The establishment of the asteroid, planet, or planetoid as an Outpost, Settlement, or Colony is put on hold until the required majority percentage of Resource Modules is re-achieved. Time elapsed in the establishing of the Outpost, Settlement, or Colony is not reset; it's simply put on hold until the asteroid, planet, or planetoid is no longer contested. An example to illustrate:
Players belonging to Faction A are attempting to establish an Outpost on Asteroid Potato31. They build enough Resource Modules to reach the 60% majority on the asteroid (along with the required diversity of modules; they aren't all miners, for example). This triggers the Establishing-an-Outpost-on-Asteroid-Potato31 timer; in two weeks time it will be formally declared an Outpost of Faction A.
One week passes when players beloning to Faction B land and build enough Resource Modules on Asteroid Potato31 that the players from Faction A no longer populate a 60% majority of the asteroid with their Resource Modules. Asteroid Potato31 is now contested with different possible outcomes:
The original players of Faction A may manage to destroy (bring the health to 0%) enough of Faction B's Resource Modules that Faction A regains their 60% majority. At this point the timer for establishing the asteroid as an Outpost of Faction A resumes its countdown from the 1 week elapsed time mark; NOT from the zero/2 week mark (the 1 week of previously elapsed time is credited).
Alternately, the players from Faction B could build enough Resource Modules and/or destroy enough of Faction A's modules that now THEY have the 60% majority Resource Module population, triggering FACTION B's Establishment-of-an-Outpost timer (and resetting Faction A's timer to zero/the 2 week mark).
This ability to contest another faction's attempts at establishing Outposts, Settlements, and Colonies further brings players into conflict (interaction) with one another and will contribute to a much more dynamic ebb and flow of the spheres of influence of the various factions.
2) No planet on which players of a particular faction have built Resource Modules will be considered for inclusion into their respective faction’s sphere of influence if that planet is within the sphere of influence of another empire.
3) To be declared an Outpost will require a specific number and type of Resource Modules be built on any planet, planetoid, or asteroid in neutral space. The overriding expectation here is that the Resource Modules requirement creates the semblance of a functioning, self-sufficient, interdependent local economy (which I leave to the developer to sort out).
Sixty percent of the functioning Resource Modules* (more on this later) on that planet, planetoid, or asteroid must be owned by players aligned with the same faction. Once these requirements are met, the planet, planetoid, or asteroid will be declared an Outpost of the majority faction.
Minority players (either neutral or who are aligned with another faction) who own Resource Modules on the planet, planetoid, or asteroid will be given two weeks to either declare allegiance to the conquering faction or vacate the planet, planetoid, or asteroid. Those who fail to do either will have their Resource Modules reduced to 0% health, disassembled, and returned to them in a manner similar to eminent domain (with the cost of repairing the Resource Module to be borne by the owning player).
Once the planet, planetoid, or asteroid is officially inducted into the conquering faction’s sphere of influence, it will be patrolled by X number of NPC-controlled fighters and Y number of NPC-controlled defensive turrets will be built planet-side.
4) The establishment of a Settlement and a Colony will follow the same pattern as an Outpost with the following notable differences:
Settlements can only be established on planets and planetoids either in neutral space or in the majority faction’s sphere of influence. They will require a greater number and diversity of established Resource Modules as well as Refinery Modules compared to Outposts. They will also require a 75% majority of faction-aligned Resource Module representation. Settlements gain the defensive advantages of an Outpost plus more of them and an orbiting space station.
Colonies can only be established on planets either in the majority faction’s sphere of influence or star systems adjacent to the majority faction’s sphere of influence (I’ll leave it to the developer to define “adjacent” in the context of a galaxy of 400 billion star systems). They will require a greater number and diversity of established Resource Modules and Refinery Modules as well as Manufacturing Modules compared to Settlements. They will also require a 90% majority of faction-aligned Resource Module representation. Colonies gain the defensive advantages of a Settlement plus more of them (including the orbiting space station) and a planet-side capital building/fortress to include a planetary shield generator.
5) Once an Outpost, Settlement, or Colony is established, it gains passive benefits/bonuses similar to the existing benefits/bonuses of the Powerplay aspect of the game. The bonuses increase and are cumulative as the level of colonization increases; a Colony will have substantially superior benefits/bonuses compared to an Outpost.
6) Once an Outpost, Settlement, or Colony is established, no player not aligned with the controlling faction may build a Resource Module on that planet, planetoid, or asteroid while the controlling faction retains ownership**.
7) Settlements will require that the planent or planetoid was first designated an Outpost before it will be considered for Settlement status. Colonies will require that the planent or planetoid was first designated a Settlement before it will be considered for Colony status. It won't be the case that a previously uninhabitated planet or planetoid can instantaneously become a Colony; it must progress through the previous designations first. Given my previous suggestion in point #3 of a two week period from the point at which the requirements are met for an Outpost, Settlement, and Colony to the time it is officially inducted into the owning faction's sphere of influence, it would take 6 weeks under optimal conditions to progress from neutral planet or planetoid through Outpost, Settlement, and, finally, Colony.
8) During the two week period during which the asteroid, planet, or planetoid is being integrated into the claiming faction's sphere of influence, other players not aligned with that faction may still place Resource Modules on the asteroid, planet, or planetoid. If doing so tips the ratio of Resource Modules such that the faction attempting to lay claim to the asteroid, planet, or planetoid no longer has the minimum majority percentage of Resource Modules required for Outpost, Settlement, or Colony status, then that asteroid, planet, or planetoid is considered contested. The establishment of the asteroid, planet, or planetoid as an Outpost, Settlement, or Colony is put on hold until the required majority percentage of Resource Modules is re-achieved. Time elapsed in the establishing of the Outpost, Settlement, or Colony is not reset; it's simply put on hold until the asteroid, planet, or planetoid is no longer contested. An example to illustrate:
Players belonging to Faction A are attempting to establish an Outpost on Asteroid Potato31. They build enough Resource Modules to reach the 60% majority on the asteroid (along with the required diversity of modules; they aren't all miners, for example). This triggers the Establishing-an-Outpost-on-Asteroid-Potato31 timer; in two weeks time it will be formally declared an Outpost of Faction A.
One week passes when players beloning to Faction B land and build enough Resource Modules on Asteroid Potato31 that the players from Faction A no longer populate a 60% majority of the asteroid with their Resource Modules. Asteroid Potato31 is now contested with different possible outcomes:
The original players of Faction A may manage to destroy (bring the health to 0%) enough of Faction B's Resource Modules that Faction A regains their 60% majority. At this point the timer for establishing the asteroid as an Outpost of Faction A resumes its countdown from the 1 week elapsed time mark; NOT from the zero/2 week mark (the 1 week of previously elapsed time is credited).
Alternately, the players from Faction B could build enough Resource Modules and/or destroy enough of Faction A's modules that now THEY have the 60% majority Resource Module population, triggering FACTION B's Establishment-of-an-Outpost timer (and resetting Faction A's timer to zero/the 2 week mark).
This ability to contest another faction's attempts at establishing Outposts, Settlements, and Colonies further brings players into conflict (interaction) with one another and will contribute to a much more dynamic ebb and flow of the spheres of influence of the various factions.
* A functioning Resource Module is one whose health is greater than 0%. For example, let’s say there’s ten Resource Modules on an asteroid; five are owned by players aligned with faction A and five are owned by players aligned with faction B. Faction A mounts an attack on faction B, reducing two of their Resource Modules to 0% health. For the purposes of determining whether or not this asteroid is eligible for classification as an Outpost of Faction A, Faction A now has five functioning Resource Modules while Faction B has only three functioning Resource Modules. Faction A has a 62.5% ownership of the Resource Modules on the asteroid; they are now eligible for Outpost status (provided their five Resource Modules are of the correct type and number to satisfy the additional requirements of being declared an Outpost).
** Ownership is defined as having functioning Resource Modules on the planet, planetoid, or asteroid. If all of the planet’s, planetoid’s, or asteroid’s NPC defenses (ships, turrets, and/or planetary shields) are destroyed and all of the Resource Modules on the planet are reduced to 0% health, the planet, planetoid, or asteroid is returned to neutral status and any player aligned with any faction or any neutral player may build Resource Modules there.
With the colonization system, the following is accomplished:
1) Players are brought into conflict with one another, fighting over planets, planetoids, and asteroids, as their respective factions’ spheres of influence collide. This furthers one of the goals of an MMO; player interaction.
2) Players are given incentive to cooperate with one another in mutually beneficial pacts to both defend existing Outposts, Settlements, and Colonies or go on the offensive in attempting to establish a new Outpost, Settlement, or Colony or destroy an enemy Outpost, Settlement, or Colony.
3) Players are given incentive to communicate and cooperate with one another when building Resource Modules in an effort to create diverse, self-sufficient, functioning local economies in an effort to be declared an Outpost, Settlement, or Colony by their respective faction, gaining the attendant defensive and passive bonuses. This furthers another of the goals of an MMO; community building.
2) Players are given incentive to cooperate with one another in mutually beneficial pacts to both defend existing Outposts, Settlements, and Colonies or go on the offensive in attempting to establish a new Outpost, Settlement, or Colony or destroy an enemy Outpost, Settlement, or Colony.
3) Players are given incentive to communicate and cooperate with one another when building Resource Modules in an effort to create diverse, self-sufficient, functioning local economies in an effort to be declared an Outpost, Settlement, or Colony by their respective faction, gaining the attendant defensive and passive bonuses. This furthers another of the goals of an MMO; community building.
In Closing
This concludes my suggestions for moving Elite Dangerous from a one-dimensional (but, oh, what a dimension!) space flight sim and trading grind to a robust, fully-realized, epic, space-based MMO. This is accomplished with the addition of two fairly-minor-to-program changes: the ability to build Resource Modules and the use of those Resource Modules as the driver of colonization and expansion of the factions’ spheres of influence. This subtracts nothing from the current space sim and trading mechanics while adding substantially to the game’s breadth, depth, appeal, and longevity.
I realize that many of the suggestions made in this post are ones you've probably considered and may already be in development. However, a having a good idea is not enough; you need to actually deliver the idea to the world. Time is ticking with No Man's Sky, Star Citizen, and others on the horizon. Elite Dangerous is ideally positioned to grab a decent share of the space sim gaming market; but only if you act quickly and with an eye towards leveraging the MMO aspects of your game.
Frontier Developments, please don’t let Elite Dangerous become this decade’s X2:The Threat. Instead, reach for the stars and realize the full potential this game possesses; but do it in a timely manner.
~ Signed, a 45 year old gamer who’s seen too many great game concepts fail due to poor and/or delayed execution
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