Colonization Bloat
- Thread starter CMBDI
- Start date
We have several "it's not FOR you" threads...
I think they are, and that's why our own list of required cargo is so small next to the mass of the completed structures
The list is still large for a solo player, but much much less than what has been required by lore/story construction in the past
You seem to fail to understand the enormity of the galaxy. Even if we colonized 1 system per second it would take well over anyone's lifetime to get them all.
I've not had any trouble loading up Steel+Titanium+Aluminium+CMM locally.
(If I was focusing solely on one, then yes, but combining the four and hopping around the few closest refinery ports tends to work okay)
Still, this is certainly a situation where Inara is likely to be inaccurate at times, yes.
- a million-population Refinery might stock around 30,000 tonnes of Steel when full
- which means it regenerates very roughly around 500t of Steel an hour (lots of station-specific factors involved here)
- which means a single T-9 visiting an hour to buy Steel makes it empty faster than it fills
- and if it's on Inara with a high stock level and is in a convenient location, it'll probably be getting that
"Hours old" is plenty of time for it to be emptied by someone not updating Inara themselves
You'll probably find that it gets a little easier now that the weekend is over - weekends tend to be about 50% higher traffic than weekdays, so that's 50% more cargo use too, which can certainly make the difference between "gradually increasing supply" and "gradually decreasing supply".
There is another option, which is to buy up Haematite - huge quantities available everywhere - and take that across to a Refinery station (or an Odyssey Industrial settlement) to convert it into Steel at 2:1. Needs somewhat specific circumstances to be efficient but if you're really having trouble finding Steel, making your own might be quicker.
Lol. Exactly what I was thinking as I watched several NPC ships land then take off from my planetary construction site
Boy, you weren't kidding about the huge quantities thing. Definitely an option if things get desperate with the steel supply.
I did this for all commodities until I was a 0 requirement. I'm 92% done and gathering the last few resources has me running all over the galaxy.
In my mind this means anyone that builds a ORBIS station will have to coordinate their efforts by timing visits as I think require 40000 steel. They should honestly give longer time to build bigger stations. Like 2 to 3 months.
Then placing an Orbis becomes a handy extended 'placeholder'. Why limit your hold to 3 weeks when you can make it 3 months?
The only way time to build is a factor is if you start with the Orbis so it's a bit of a self-own time limit. But I understand that it's the only time you can do it without needing the points.
Build your bigger station after the initial one.
Especially those bloody Type-9s!!!Lol. Exactly what I was thinking as I watched several NPC ships land then take off from my planetary construction site
No. I mean, Yes! Also.
As I’m sure you’re aware, there’s unlimited time to build everything except for that starting port.
I think it’s a very good idea to keep the time the same for everything. It’s a good idea from the standpoint of keeping the turnover the same across the board, for everyone NOT building in that particular system. We don’t need people parking a system and then bailing on it for three months keeping it locked down while they do nothing.
It’s also, in my opinion, a good idea from a game design perspective for the person doing the colonization.
Building a tier 3 station as your opening move is -and I think this how it should be- a Bold Move and a choice which absolutely should be regrettable if you go into it without thought out intentions and a plan.
The current build requirements for a Tier3 as an opening move are juuuust in the sweet spot where it’s doable solo if that’s something you really care about AND you are dead set on doing it solo, but daunting enough that it’s going to encourage otherwise solo only players to possibly reach out to other CMDRs for help when they otherwise would never participate in the multiplayer aspects of the game or otherwise acknowledge the existence of the larger community.
I think that’s genuinely interesting and I think these colonization efforts are already bringing the player base together in a collaborative way that I haven’t seen with any of the other additions to the game.
It SEEMS like this is an intentional part of the design choices being made, although I suppose it could be a mere happy accident. Either way I wouldn’t want it removed, and making greater accommodations to isolationist players would erode that dynamic.
I would love for the factions to start offering cargo rewards that worked for building. Then at the least there would be some other gameplay that contributed to the effort beyond just point-A to B hauling.Lol. Exactly what I was thinking as I watched several NPC ships land then take off from my planetary construction site
I doubt the NPCs will EVER deliver anything in this game. There is no code for that. They are just window dressing.
Coming late to this discussion and will give me my 2 cents.
Claim price is indeed too low. A more reasonable way would be it to be either raised to about 100-200 mil or for the system require that the commander have a given rank of reputation with the NATION and FACTION from which he is getting a beacon from.
Another problem is distance. 15-16 ly is too short a distance and lead to complains from people that after the launch of trailblazers all that is left are brown dwarfs or systems with no planets. Range to colonize should be in the 100-150ly or even better unlimited. That way the player can search for his own place without being restricted to a given region where the policy of "first come first serve" can make players lose opportunities.
Other problem is that the current system dont help new nor casual players since right now it became a "Land Rush" and details like time zones or real life prevent players that dont or cant be on every day to claim a given system they set their eyes on and I am not even talking about dream systems.
Claim price is indeed too low. A more reasonable way would be it to be either raised to about 100-200 mil or for the system require that the commander have a given rank of reputation with the NATION and FACTION from which he is getting a beacon from.
Another problem is distance. 15-16 ly is too short a distance and lead to complains from people that after the launch of trailblazers all that is left are brown dwarfs or systems with no planets. Range to colonize should be in the 100-150ly or even better unlimited. That way the player can search for his own place without being restricted to a given region where the policy of "first come first serve" can make players lose opportunities.
Other problem is that the current system dont help new nor casual players since right now it became a "Land Rush" and details like time zones or real life prevent players that dont or cant be on every day to claim a given system they set their eyes on and I am not even talking about dream systems.
There is this much available from an Inara search less than a minute ago.
Those are all Large landing pad sources
Some people when they first start to read a thread reply to things as they read through from the first post to the current one, I do it myself but often have to edit my post out of embarrassment later.
You are likely to hit depleted stations if you use Inara like that, as it tends to funnel the players to the same locations, which depletes them. Use the in-game tools instead to find your own supply, or use Inara to find suitable installations rather than using it to search for commodities.
If there are a lot of busy system-architects working in your neighbor systems and active at the same time of day as you then the nearby stations might be getting hit pretty hard but materials will still be plentiful a little further away; there are better supplies deeper in the bubble because colonizable systems are more rare there and highly populated systems are more plentiful.
Another option is to pick slightly less desirable stations; something 30k Ls from the arrival point is a bit less likely to be visited as often, and eg. my T-9 is fairly heavily engineered for SCO heat so it's not a big deal to cross that distance.
(When I was working in a busy area out on the frontier, I also slapped a FSD booster and Titan/pre-engineered FSD in the T-9 to give it extended jump range to reach outside the neighborhood.)
Last edited: