ED needs more populated systems

[Chrystoph]

Whilst that is true, as medical advances lead to a longer lived population, the birth rate decreases.

Selective reporting here; while this is true in first world populations, second and third world populations continue to expand because of the continued use of manual labor as a primary methodology.

The factlet of longer age is itself pendent on automation, sufficient, and proper, nutrition, and many other factors. Until a post scarcity economy is entered, population growth is the most common method of increased productivity.

All of that leaves out the human factor of political function. People that are struggling for survival tend not to get into the political fray unless there is no other option, so strong man methodologies of governance often involve Not providing the things I mentioned.

 

[Chrystoph]

Copied from: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/space-house.253634/post-3943170

My recommendation from previous threads along the station/base discussion:

First Quote

I would recommend that the resource gathering be limited to one or a couple of relatively generic commodities. For discussion's sake, call them "station components". These should only be available from High Tech localities. That way, you are bringing in pre-built modular components. This lends itself to group effort without requiring that a build plan be custom designed by FD every time someone submits for a facility.

To clarify, the facility creator would take components to the desired location, via haulage, and create a foundation.

If you add a banking system to the facility, other players can sell components to the facility to complete whatever the current task is (see below for specifics), thereby creating inclusion.

Second Quote

Emplacing the station would get you a facility to land on which would be a respawn location, with the ability to add modules for additional capability.

Modules would include:

Black Market
Refuel
Repair
Restock
Security Hangar - Provides Station Security patrols
Others possible - Crafting, Engineering, etc

It would NOT have Bulletin Board, Commodities, Outfitting, Shipyard and Universal Cartography.

It would have the standard No-Fire zone.

It would not have a faction affiliation, and, as a result, it would not affect the BGS.

With the proposed banking system, the base can have an economy, providing repair, refueling and restock, presuming it has those modules. Black market recommended removed.

Third Quote

Building your own base on a planet, and making a SRV racetrack would be pretty cool.

Would require metals for delivery for upkeep and maintenance, and food deliveries for staff, and paying staff wages, to make it expensive enough to not spam them everywhere.

Seen this in other games, and it is not a good thing. You end up spending all your time husbanding the base, and the game becomes a chore. If you want expense, then make the base Cost to assemble, but the quoted proposal hasn't worked in any game I have seen where the environment is even close to as large as here. Edit: This approach was implemented for Fleet Carriers.

Making the base so expensive to maintain that it becomes tedious will just end up being a waste of the developers' efforts since most people will have to spend a significant amount of time feeding the installation. If you must have a maintenance cost, make it credits, not something that players have to ship in.

Fourth Quote

Lastly, in order to combat the "build and forget" mentality, require "rent" be paid for the facility. DO NOT make this a resource farming exercise since it again prevents anyone without a massive player support or lots of time from having a facility. It should have a Credit cost which can interpreted as wages for station staff, budget for purchasing supplies, etc. A popup once per rent period asking if the player is willing to pay their rent, and 3 refusals in a row equals no more base.

Again, if the base has a bank, then the rent comes from the bank. If the bank cannot pay, the creator is contacted.

 

[Khunvyel]

Just a quick message in regards to human population in the galaxy of ED:
It only takes a few minutes to go to eddb, sort by population and copy the highest 1350 entries (27 pages on eddb) into a spreadsheet and add up. The very last entries are just shy of under 1 billion (( 965,583,014 to be exact )). The total amount of these 1350 systems is: 5,811,648,873,213 which makes the original 6+ trillion on the 2nd page sound like an accurate assessment.

Also, to think that birthrates would decline overall in a galaxy is basically totally free to colonize (no need for planets, just build a station) is very limited, terrestrial thinking. It's not a far stretch to say that you want to make as many offspring as you can to strengthen your claim and proliferation on many a station. This is not me justifying BGS logic onto the fictional world logic, this is just mere assessment of our own history. When lands are for the taking, there is always a boom in birthrates, because workers and soldiers were needed. 1300 years from now with medicine where it is and the upper echelons of society live northwards of 150 years, that could mean (I'm taking wild guesses here, the lore experts should please correct me on that) that you can do your job for longer. I wouldn't be surprised if the average lifespan is about 100, making your average retirement age 85. If such a thing as retirmenet still exists in the far future.

With all the hazards of space, sun radiation poisoning of prolongued flights, living in inhospicable stations or planetary settlements and outposts without a breathable atmosphere, plus the constant warmachine and the countless death toll it takes, it's almost ridiculous to insinuate that there is any incentive to curb birthrates. Especially if it is so easy to just travel to the next system. Making colonies and stations is no longer a matter of "if" and "how". It's a matter of "when". If a suitable claim that is profitable can be staked, it will be done.

 

[Starshot_Jigawatts]

My only hope for Odyssey is that it will allow players to populate these systems. I don't mind there being so many systems full of nothing in the game as it adds to the sense of scale. But I guess I do mind that right now the only thing I can do with them is look at them, explore/map them, or at best mine them if they have good planetary rings.

 

[Tryst]

There would be more popoulated systems if players could build their own stations in barely or non populated systems.

You could go out way into the void and find a station somewhere all on its own, peacefully minding it's own business. The player using it as a way station for mining or such and hauling loads to the colonies to sell once it gets full. Pretty much like a non-moveable carrier with a lot more cargo space.