Anything I should know about Colonia bubble BGS?

[Deleted member 110222]

I should arrive there by Friday at the current rate.

I'm there for the long term, with all my modules already moving towards Colonia by way of shipping to highway stops as I move forward.

Colonia obviously has a unique flavour... Does the BGS work differently there? And aren't all the factions player-made?

 

[Sapyx]

All of the factions are hand-crafted (no procedurally-generated ones), but not all are "player-made"; the original Colonia factions were made by and for FD, not a player group.

The BGS in Colonia is much harder to control. The mechanics are the same, but the situation on the ground is different. The lack of room to expand into is one factor. The player groups may have alliances and treaties to try not to step on each other's toes, but with so many non-aligned explorers visiting and hopping about selling off explo data and running missions, conflicts can happen anyway.

There are no "small, out-of-the-way systems nobody cares about". Most people running the BGS in Colonia care about what happens in every system in Colonia. Which does tend to mean that your actions won't go unnoticed and unopposed. Best to make yourself known to the Colonia player groups and work with them, rather than against them.

Another thing to consider is, when conflicts do arise, the usual "rules" about ethos and Elections vs Wars do not apply. Player groups were allowed to pick their own ethos as well as the government type, so you have some really odd situations cropping up in Colonia, like a Corporate having an Election with a Cooperative, while two other Cooperatives might go to War instead of Election because one of them picked a Corporate ethos. Most Colonia factions are Social ethos and have Elections rather than Wars with each other.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

All of what Sapyx said. Additional differences you might find relevant...

All factions have independent alignment.

The number of native factions per system is considerably lower. There is one system with three native factions, a few with two, and most only have one. This makes it harder to use factions as "padding" because they're likely to retreat if you do. The expansion patterns this causes mean that for almost all factions the lower-priority states are very short-lived, as factions end up in Expansion, Retreat, War or Election very often.

Populated system density is low - though overall system density is of course much higher. Colonia has 8 inhabited systems within 15 LY (plus a detention centre) ... Sol has 32. This causes some of the outlying systems to have relatively poor mission choice (though there were big improvements made in the 2.3 and 2.4 releases). As a fallback to this, four systems - Colonia, Ratraii, Ogmar and Tenjin - are recipients for mid-range missions. Pretty much wherever you are you're likely to see some missions to those four. All systems have populations under 500k, so small actions have large BGS effects.

Colonia and Ratraii have BGS protection - no expansions into those systems, no conflicts in those systems between factions already there.

Other than the locked Colonia and Ratraii there are only a few systems not yet under PMF control
- Trakath (taken by Jaques early on, would need a Retreat to open up space or an Invasion to bypass that). There is one player faction present but they're not expansionist.
- Tir (had lots of NPC factions expand into it early on). One player faction has got in, but is not yet going for control.
- Einheriar (position made it hard to expand into). An expansionist faction has recently reached it and will probably obtain control soon.
- Farwell (originally PMF-controlled, they lost control to an NPC faction). They appear to be trying to take it back at the moment.
- Pekoe (position made it hard to expand into). Two PMFs have now expanded into this system and one of them is likely to eventually control it.

We are expecting some additional "outposts" to appear soon as a result of the Colonia Exodus CG - it's not clear whether this represents more outpost-class stations in existing systems, or new systems.

On ethos: a lot of the NPC factions have government-ethos combinations copied from the PMFs, so they won't necessarily be what you expect either.

Full current information and history for the past year is available from the Colonia Census - https://cdb.sotl.org.uk/

 

[Ryan Murdoc]

After reading this I'm very glad not to have moved to Colonia, let alone attempt to have a MF there.

Perfect example if you have too many Players on too little room trying to carve out their Claim (Gold Rush 1848 style).

Here in the bubble you have the means to avoid PMF and go separate ways to a degree.

 

[Valen Zendaris]

There are no "small, out-of-the-way systems nobody cares about". Most people running the BGS in Colonia care about what happens in every system in Colonia. Which does tend to mean that your actions won't go unnoticed and unopposed. Best to make yourself known to the Colonia player groups and work with them, rather than against them.

This makes me feel really guilty for all those missions I ran on my previous CMDR while in Colonia last October... "I didn't know delivering medicines might cause a war. Was trying to help people. I swear!"

As I'm currently in the process of migrating to Colonia with my alt account, this is an interesting topic for me too. Is the best way to communicate with folks from Colonia through the FleetComm Discord? Would like to be running data delivery missions in Colonia once I get there.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

After reading this I'm very glad not to have moved to Colonia, let alone attempt to have a MF there.

Perfect example if you have too many Players on too little room trying to carve out their Claim (Gold Rush 1848 style).

Yes - it's very interesting to watch, but I certainly don't have any inclination to pick any particular side to support.

Lots of factors - not just the PMF density - make it much harder to manage than normal, and capable of surprising people who thought they knew what was going on.

But there wouldn't be any point if it was exactly the same as the bubble

As I'm currently in the process of migrating to Colonia with my alt account, this is an interesting topic for me too. Is the best way to communicate with folks from Colonia through the FleetComm Discord? Would like to be running data delivery missions in Colonia once I get there.

It depends who you want to talk to.

FleetComm is probably pretty good for finding independent explorers around the region. But most of the people doing BGS work out there don't fall into that category.

There's a diplomacy Discord for the various factions ... but you won't get an invite as an independent pilot.

The various groups out there all have their own comms channels, of course. Some of these are more public and advertised than others ... and it depends what language you're searching in, of course - I can think of at least 10 in use and there may be more.

If you fly about in Open *most* of the BGS-active groups have at least some players who also do. So that can be a good way to find them as well ... though whether you realise you've met them is another question. Waiting for a nice sociable trade CG can be a good way to meet new people, too.

Quite a few faction members can be found on the Census discord, especially from the bigger groups. If you're looking for someone specific, you might find them - or someone who can point you in the right direction.



In practice, while the BGS-active groups set a lot of the political background, they probably make up under half of the total player population - they'll be used (especially nearer the centre of the region, which is busier) to independent pilots flying around doing their own thing, so you're unlikely to accidentally disturb things with a bit of mission running.

 

[dAlexis]

I should arrive there by Friday at the current rate.

I'm there for the long term, with all my modules already moving towards Colonia by way of shipping to highway stops as I move forward.

Colonia obviously has a unique flavour... Does the BGS work differently there? And aren't all the factions player-made?

I completely agree with previous speakers, but want 2 make very short conclusion:

Men are really everywhere in Colonia.

It was said by our bubble BGS manager, travelled 2 Colonia to smell the "unique flavour". He smelled and quickly retreated By the way, Colonia itself have uniquie flavour too. 4 me, is something like 19th century faraway village. Alone, far from the city, aside from many activities, etc... However, the place is not empty, local traffic in several systems is more, than 100 ships. Here is Ratrai traffic 2-3 days ago (parsed by my BGS parser, OCRing from screensots)

Python - 54
|трегіа| Cutter - 9
Anaconda - 59
Orca - 8
Туре—7 Transporter - 20
Asp Explorer - 33
Type-6 Transporter - 9
Dolphin - 2
Cobra Mklll -1
Diamondback Explorer - 12
Beluga Liner - 15
Vulture - 3
Type-10 Defender - 5
Sidewinder - 2
Eagle - 3
Federal Corvette - 5
Fer-de—Lance - 4
Imperial Clipper - 1
Viper MkIV - 2
Keelback - 3
Type-9 Heavy - 14
Diamondback Scout - 1
Hauler - 4
Imperial Courier - 4
Alliance Chieftain - 4
Federal Gunship - 1
Adder - 1
Asp Scout - 2
Imperial Eagle - 2

 

[Valen Zendaris]

In practice, while the BGS-active groups set a lot of the political background, they probably make up under half of the total player population - they'll be used (especially nearer the centre of the region, which is busier) to independent pilots flying around doing their own thing, so you're unlikely to accidentally disturb things with a bit of mission running.

First off, thanks for the in-depth reply.

Secondly, I hope this isn't derailing or hijacking this thread too much:

Just joined the CCN discord today and have already been invited to their faction in case I want to take up missions for them. Valuing my independence and neutrality as largely the reason I'm entrusted with sensitive information, I'm afraid I can't officially join, as that would be bad for business. In case you haven't guessed by now, I'm roleplaying the CMDR in question. I'll drop in a few more specifics so you understand what I'm actually planning upon arrival:

No rank progression with the Pilots Federation (or superpowers, but that's not possible in Colonia anyhow), plus there is no engineering done on this ship either (sidewinder ). The only thing I can do to make money is data delivery and planetary scan missions.

My point: I will be doing these missions quite regularly. Also not really interested in the credits, more the impact/narrative (if any) I can attain through successful completion. Thus I would have no problem choosing influence as the reward. That could cause a bit of a stir in the outer regions from my understanding.

Bottom line/questions: would you recommend playing in open only, so I might encounter players of various factions, or is there a PvE PG that allows the same? Not too keen on open considering I'm RPing in a non-engineered sidey, but if there isn't too much ganking going on, I'd give it a go.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

That could cause a bit of a stir in the outer regions from my understanding.

If you actively tried to push a particular faction you might be able to alter the local balance of power. If you just run the missions where and when you see them from systems all over the region ... probably no-one will even notice.

(The outer regions are also often less good for those mission types anyway, due to the sparseness of the settlement)

Bottom line/questions: would you recommend playing in open only, so I might encounter players of various factions, or is there a PvE PG that allows the same? Not too keen on open considering I'm RPing in a non-engineered sidey, but if there isn't too much ganking going on, I'd give it a go.

I've flown in Open pretty much constantly since I arrived in Colonia 18 months ago and been attacked by players (excluding arranged fights) ... four times, I think. And none in the last six months, including four CGs. Obviously depending on timezone and which systems you visit, your experience may vary.

The only PGs that could potentially match Open for numbers are the Mobius ones ... I'm not in them, so I don't know how busy they are.

 

[Valen Zendaris]

If you actively tried to push a particular faction you might be able to alter the local balance of power. If you just run the missions where and when you see them from systems all over the region ... probably no-one will even notice.

(The outer regions are also often less good for those mission types anyway, due to the sparseness of the settlement)

That's good to know. What missions I take will likely depend quite heavily on what's offered, especially considering the restrictions I've set myself, never mind the sparseness of those outer regions. So unless there's only one faction with available missions during my session, it sounds like I needn't worry too much.

I've flown in Open pretty much constantly since I arrived in Colonia 18 months ago and been attacked by players (excluding arranged fights) ... four times, I think. And none in the last six months, including four CGs. Obviously depending on timezone and which systems you visit, your experience may vary.

The only PGs that could potentially match Open for numbers are the Mobius ones ... I'm not in them, so I don't know how busy they are.

Sounds similar to my previous experience in open (which isn't a lot to be honest, hence the question). Once in Colonia, I'll definitely give it a go. Thanks again!

 

[Deleted member 110222]

All of what Sapyx said. Additional differences you might find relevant...

All factions have independent alignment.

The number of native factions per system is considerably lower. There is one system with three native factions, a few with two, and most only have one. This makes it harder to use factions as "padding" because they're likely to retreat if you do. The expansion patterns this causes mean that for almost all factions the lower-priority states are very short-lived, as factions end up in Expansion, Retreat, War or Election very often.

Populated system density is low - though overall system density is of course much higher. Colonia has 8 inhabited systems within 15 LY (plus a detention centre) ... Sol has 32. This causes some of the outlying systems to have relatively poor mission choice (though there were big improvements made in the 2.3 and 2.4 releases). As a fallback to this, four systems - Colonia, Ratraii, Ogmar and Tenjin - are recipients for mid-range missions. Pretty much wherever you are you're likely to see some missions to those four. All systems have populations under 500k, so small actions have large BGS effects.

Colonia and Ratraii have BGS protection - no expansions into those systems, no conflicts in those systems between factions already there.

Other than the locked Colonia and Ratraii there are only a few systems not yet under PMF control
- Trakath (taken by Jaques early on, would need a Retreat to open up space or an Invasion to bypass that). There is one player faction present but they're not expansionist.
- Tir (had lots of NPC factions expand into it early on). One player faction has got in, but is not yet going for control.
- Einheriar (position made it hard to expand into). An expansionist faction has recently reached it and will probably obtain control soon.
- Farwell (originally PMF-controlled, they lost control to an NPC faction). They appear to be trying to take it back at the moment.
- Pekoe (position made it hard to expand into). Two PMFs have now expanded into this system and one of them is likely to eventually control it.

We are expecting some additional "outposts" to appear soon as a result of the Colonia Exodus CG - it's not clear whether this represents more outpost-class stations in existing systems, or new systems.

On ethos: a lot of the NPC factions have government-ethos combinations copied from the PMFs, so they won't necessarily be what you expect either.

Full current information and history for the past year is available from the Colonia Census - https://cdb.sotl.org.uk/

A question about the BGS protection on those two aforementioned systems.

Because of the protection, is it possible for those two systems to enter lockdown? I ask because obviously I need to store my modules somewhere, and if they're immune to lockdown, then they're the perfect place to put my gear.

 

[dAlexis]

A question about the BGS protection on those two aforementioned systems.

Because of the protection, is it possible for those two systems to enter lockdown? I ask because obviously I need to store my modules somewhere, and if they're immune to lockdown, then they're the perfect place to put my gear.

Take a look here https://cdb.sotl.org.uk/factions/4
and here https://cdb.sotl.org.uk/factions/1

Lockdown is exactly present 4 both factions. However, it may be caused by situation in other systems, where two factions from Ratraii are present.
Addition - Lockdown time 4 Colonia Co-operative was always short - do not find longer 1 day in influence history. Seems 2 me, that 1 day is not too critical.
By the way, I have no experience of transferring modules from lockdowned station. There are many suitable stations in Colonia, if it's possible, and transfer price is tiny, comparing to 2.5 days transfer from old bubble.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

Because of the protection, is it possible for those two systems to enter lockdown? I ask because obviously I need to store my modules somewhere, and if they're immune to lockdown, then they're the perfect place to put my gear.

As dAlexis says, it's possible but rare and short-lived, and you can cheaply transfer your gear to a neighbouring system if you need it right now.

If you want to be absolutely sure, though, the Detention Centre has storage facilities, is nicely central, and should be completely immune to all BGS states.

 

[Deleted member 110222]

As dAlexis says, it's possible but rare and short-lived, and you can cheaply transfer your gear to a neighbouring system if you need it right now.

If you want to be absolutely sure, though, the Detention Centre has storage facilities, is nicely central, and should be completely immune to all BGS states.

Detention centre would do just fine. I'll check it out. Do you recall what system it is in?

 

[Ian Doncaster]

Detention centre would do just fine. I'll check it out. Do you recall what system it is in?

Eol Prou LW-L c8-127 (between Colonia and Ratraii)