During the stream they said "we'll stick with the bubble for now, and we'll see how it goes." I take that to mean no colonization from Colonia, at least initially anyway.
Colonisation - new feature, and I love it!
- Thread starter Michael Ryan
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About beta... even if in beta it will be 10Ly it is just beta... worth to check how it will work with smaller distance... it is easier to raise the distance than make it shorter.
Based on that logic there would be no further advancement either, but I thought I heard about long spurs.
After watching the stream, it's clear to me that the new feature, as it's planned now, won't be for me. I had hoped that exploration would become a more integral part of the gameplay mechanics, with better integration overall. You know, finding a place out there that fulfills some important requirements and checks all the boxes (resources?). I hoped to colonize a place I discovered myself – basically, my own personal Leif Erikson moment.
you can build it as long as you like, 10ly at a time
I know what you mean, but the 2 will not come from the bubble, but from the 1. If there will be no possibility to build from Colony, it will only indicate bad design, convention.
Same here. I have first discovery on a very cool system not far from the bubble I found years ago, when I heard about colonization all I wanted to do was plant my flag there. 10ly at a time, I'll have to colonize a minimum of 45 systems to reach it.
Ditto, I have first discovery on an Earth-like world within 600 LY of Sol. It'll be a while before I can colonize that system, indeed.
I think that's a generous/hopeful interpretation.
What was said is that it would make it easier to colonise future systems... but that would be true just by you generating resources in the system for sale at the edge of the bubble, rather than having to do extra jumps to load up with cargo from the middle of the bubble. I don't think profit was implied anywhere in the stream, because I was specifically listening out for that.
(I do still think/hope there will be some system of financial/resource reward of direct benefit to the owner. I just don't think it was mentioned today as that's one of the things that will require careful balancing, and they're probably worried about that, along with the numbers of resources required, etc.)
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I watched the stream and I'm very very happy about how the whole colonization thing is shaping up. I am stoked that you can choose the exact spot to put down surface ports and settlements. I foresee lots of surface construction around the edges of epic craters 
I'm not concerned about it being next year as long as it's sooner rather than later, especially with there being a beta period, which I'm assuming will be on its own beta server.. let us at it already!
I think 10lyr expansion radius is too low; there has to be a good balance between accessibility and expansion rates which makes it a bit tricky depending on the focus. ie; for Fleet Carrier owners anywhere up to 500lyr radius will work, but for normal ships I'd say the max you'd want has to be within a fully laden T9 jump range, which would put it around 20-30lyrs. There might even be an argument for no limit as the initial time limit to establish the claim and first starport is going to be the hard cut off point, and given the determination of some who try to speed run Sol to Colonia or Sag A, then having a distance limit might not really be necessary at all as I'm sure some would relish the challenge. However, I could see that the limit might be needed for the Power Play system to keep up, and also manage the expansion.
Honestly, this whole thing is insanely massive in scope and is one of the first features that I've seen really match the scale of the tapestry the game has. Hats off to Frontier, this could seal the future of the game for literally decades to come. I personally think it is this big.
The only request to Frontier I have in regards to it is that it is established in a way that allows for more features to be added iteratively and in a relatively sustained way. Obviously the dreams.txt comes into play here but having seen some of the fantastic features that come with Planet Coaster 2 in regards to laying down paths etc.. that would be a great vision to strive for to really allow for those to leave a personal mark on the galaxy.
I'm not concerned about it being next year as long as it's sooner rather than later, especially with there being a beta period, which I'm assuming will be on its own beta server.. let us at it already!
I think 10lyr expansion radius is too low; there has to be a good balance between accessibility and expansion rates which makes it a bit tricky depending on the focus. ie; for Fleet Carrier owners anywhere up to 500lyr radius will work, but for normal ships I'd say the max you'd want has to be within a fully laden T9 jump range, which would put it around 20-30lyrs. There might even be an argument for no limit as the initial time limit to establish the claim and first starport is going to be the hard cut off point, and given the determination of some who try to speed run Sol to Colonia or Sag A, then having a distance limit might not really be necessary at all as I'm sure some would relish the challenge. However, I could see that the limit might be needed for the Power Play system to keep up, and also manage the expansion.
Honestly, this whole thing is insanely massive in scope and is one of the first features that I've seen really match the scale of the tapestry the game has. Hats off to Frontier, this could seal the future of the game for literally decades to come. I personally think it is this big.
The only request to Frontier I have in regards to it is that it is established in a way that allows for more features to be added iteratively and in a relatively sustained way. Obviously the dreams.txt comes into play here but having seen some of the fantastic features that come with Planet Coaster 2 in regards to laying down paths etc.. that would be a great vision to strive for to really allow for those to leave a personal mark on the galaxy.
By profits I mean like produced goods too, not only cash.
I really hope for more... the distance would be great challenge so it should "destroy" the void. And I think about players withot big squadrons and own factions.
Looks like I wasn't too far off in the end, although 10LY at a time... and the grind does seem like it's going to be epic alright.
I think it would have to be within BGS expansion range (20LY iirc) because they said the controlling faction where you staked the colonisation claim will expand into the new system.
My main hope in respect of this would be that colony contacts are available at far flung systems like the asteroid bases, or outposts in the Pleiades, etc. A 10-20 LY range seems reasonable in terms of leaving much of The Black still black.
Going by how Arf was about it on the stream, I think he already knew its going to be too small and he did indicate a few times that it was yet to fully set in stone. I don't know if there are technical limitations that would require an upper limit, I'd say so, but no doubt the chat reaction to it will be cause for discussion for the developers, and hopefully whatever the technical limit is will leave enough headroom for a reasonably managed rate of expansion.
I understand that, and I'm hopeful that will be a thing. However, in the context of what was said in the stream, it was only about making hauling goods to the next system in the daisy-chain easier, which could equally mean them being on sale in your system at full market prices.
Yes and this direction is the only way to balance it, so of course I don't complain, just think if my idea to colonise particular system would be even possible.
That was what I was wondering though I'd also wonder if that's a hard limit or something they have room to work with without upsetting the other Powerplay parts.
Well that would suck for PMF's and squadrons no where near the fringe, basically limiting expansion to those factions on the bubble's edge.
I agree, though I think it's worth considering that with the other players all doing it there may be an exponential aspect to the expansion, so I think it's entirely plausible that some main trunks of expansion will develop more quickly than some might think, and that branching off of that to reach your preferred system might the way to go. I can totally imagine some are already considering the possibilities of a structured expansion push.
Such is the problem that developers/companies face when trying to expand operations in a city vs a rural area.