Elite Dangerous | System Colonisation Beta Details & Feedback

Hi All :)

A question (probably a dumb one) about the Colonisation ships placement.
I was under the impression Colonisation ships will only appear in the uninhabited systems you want to build stations in etc.... is that correct?
I was just looking at the galaxy map and noticed for example that in the Exphiay system there's at the moment 7 colonisation ships. The system is one that's been inhabited by the Federation since the game was first released.
So why are there Colonisation ships there?....can anybody explain? :unsure:

Jack :)
Waiting for their next assignment ?
 
For system names, i completely understand that you don't want to give to players the possibility to rename them - it would be a pain to moderate and contrary to station names, system names are very visible and even without abuses, it could be very immersion-breaking if you have names that are "off-universe", if you see what i mean. But at the same time, these procedurally-generated names are not very aesthetic : while i would be ok if it stays like that, i suggest a random name generator similar to what is done for stations, with an additional security to avoid duplicate names (so, of course, this generator should be able to generate at least few millions different possibles names... that's not impossible i guess).
I hope they never give us the chance to do them without moderation, that said if enough folks wanted to do it and the price was not trivial (say 50quid) maybe that would pay for a moderator to go through system name requests.

O7
 
So I have now built a small outpost in my first system and am now trying to set up a ground station and an orbital installation.

I have a few suggestions for improvement.

1. How about a bulletin board where you can process the goods you need as missions. This would give you a good overview, outside of the station you are supplying, of what materials you are looking for and how much you still need.

At the moment I am using an Excel spreadsheet.

2. Couldn't you provide a financial quota. How can the missions be paid for?

Or similar to the carrier, where you can set the prices for the goods you need or are selling yourself.

3. If you want to settle a new system, you have to pay a fee. Could you perhaps provide several quotas?

E.g. 25,000,000 Cr. basic fee, 50,000,000 Cr. additional delivery missions are generated on the bulletin board where you can deliver to the system to be settled, 75,000,000 Cr. NPCs also help with the settlement and deliver the required materials.
4. How about a central warehouse for system settlement?
This could be connected to the main station in the system.
That way you wouldn't have to fly to the individual construction sites and you could also supply the systems more quickly.
Of course, the warehouse should then also have appropriate landing sites.
Once the system is fully settled, the warehouse can be dismantled and the excess materials are either offered for sale or end up in the individual stations for further use.

Sorry if my English is not that good, I had my text translated with Google.

So hab jetzt in meinem ersten Systen einen kleinen Außenposten aufgebaut und versuche mich jetzt an eine Bodenstation und einer orbitalen Installation.
Dazu hätte ich ein paar Verbesserungsvorschläge.

1. Wie wäre es mit einem Schwarzen Brett, wo man dann die benötigten Waren als Missionen abarbeiten kann. So hätte man auch einen guten Überblick, außerhalb der zu beliefernden Station, welche Materialien man sucht und auch welche Menge man noch benötigt.
Zur Zeit helfe ich mir mit einer Exceltabelle.
2. Könnte man nicht ein finanzielles Kontinggent zur Verfügungstellen. Worüber dann die Missionen entlohnt werden können?
Oder ähnlich wie beim Carrier, wo man die Preise, für die benötigten oder zum Verkauf stehenden Waren, selbst bestimmen kann.
3. Wenn man ein neues System besiedeln will, muss man ja eine Gebühr bezahlen. Könnte man da vielleicht mehrere Kontingente zur Verfügung stellen?
z.B. 25.000.000 Cr. Grundgebühr, 50.000.000 Cr. es werden zusätzlich Liefermissionen am Schwarzen Brett generiert, wo man dann in das zu besiedelne System liefern kann, 75.000.000 Cr. auch NPCs helfen bei der Besiedelung mit und liefern benötigte Materialien.
4. Wie wäre es mit einem zentralem Lager, zur Systembesiedelung?
Dieses könnte ja an die Hauptstation im System angebunden sein.
So müsste man nicht extra zu den einzelnen Baustellen hin fliegen und könnte auch schneller die Systeme beliefern.
Natürlich sollte das Lager dann auch über entsprechende Landeplätze verfügen.
Wenn das System dann voll besiedelt ist, kann das Lager ja abgebaut werden und die überschüssigen Materialien werden entweder zum Verkauf angeboten oder landen in den einzelnen Stationen, zur Weiterverwendung.
 
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Absolutely. Tucanae Sector WO-A c13 doesn't trip off the tongue.
This will not happen as the names are generated by the stellar forge and have a specific reason behind them, read this wiki for a little bit more about them and why they are important to explorers and folks doing boxel surveys.
 
So after a couple of days here's my take from a sceptic:

I'm mainly an explorer and my initial worry was the impact that this would have on the areas surrounding the bubble (those still locked) and the wider galaxy.
The thought of thousands of ports now strewn across space with stupid, childish names filled me with Dredd.
I am happy at the 15LY limit (not that it will help much) but i will come back to that.
The other thing i like is planning, goals, spread sheets, logistics and i love space trucking, gotta say im loving it and i have a years plan of what i want to achieve.

But here's where ive changed my mind on something.
I believe there are two types of folks doing this, those who are looking at the BGS/PP2 aspect expanding their power and those who want a dream system to live in and call home.
The thought of folks setting up systems way out of the bubble for an explorer was horrifying due to the trail of debris getting there would leave in its wake, yet what am i doing? Exactly that.

Many of us on our journeys discovered some truly remarkable systems that would make a great home (mine is 700Lys away) and yes i will get there one day, but at what cost?
I am now of the opinion that letting us place a beacon anywhere (some systems excluded) would actually stop the industrial spider web that is now being created, yes logistically it would be a nightmare but setting up a small outpost 10K out in 3weeks even solo is doable and for me that system would be all i want.

Its just a thought because this is going to get messy, we are ending up with hundreds of systems with just a single outpost.

O7
 
This will not happen as the names are generated by the stellar forge and have a specific reason behind them, read this wiki for a little bit more about them and why they are important to explorers and folks doing boxel surveys.
This is ED: never say anything is impossible.
 
Its just a thought because this is going to get messy, we are ending up with hundreds of systems with just a single outpost.
I think there's part of this where, A) Because this is Beta, and B) Because this is early days, a lot of people are comfortable and safe in the idea that once they have the system architect role by kicking off that system, they can then take their time with it, but also people are just playing around, making their mistakes in a meaningless few systems before potentially tarnishing their real target.

A lot of people likely want particular areas or systems, but the ones needing to go further out are going to have to stop and consolidate at some point, lest they create more busywork for themselves.
 
I got fined around the colonisation ship for loitering, so I had anonymous access, but there is no way to pay for the fine there, so I had to go to another system. One is still able to deliver materials in anonymous mode, though, so it's not a showstopper, but rather an inconvenience.
 
Hi :)
I hope they never give us the chance to do them without moderation, that said if enough folks wanted to do it and the price was not trivial (say 50quid) maybe that would pay for a moderator to go through system name requests.

O7
Actually this is a bit ironic I thought. If we look back on some of the tiered Kickstarter contributions wasn't there quite a high monetary contribution for player named stations back then....or was it just the system?
I can't remember the tier structure without a search so I'm not sure🤷‍♂️....The 6000? Arx to name a station seems very reasonable if compared to the kickstarter price tier, so the present price for a station name which is between £3 -£5 mark?...perhaps (dare I say it!) this figure could be doubled, though I wouldn't think this would solve the real issue.

I must agree though, some form of tighter control by Frontier would be welcome, I dislike and like the naming system generally at the same time as we all know how it's been used in some cases, some names make me smile, the game should reflect some humour, just so long as they're not obnoxious, though what that is depends on...I've said it before, Frontier control the game so it's up to them how they accept or reject player owned names, for commanders as well as stations. 🤷‍♂️ We don't control it, Frontier does.

I took some time thinking of my in game Cmdr's name for example, a name that would fit in with the perceived game background in general, and roughly in the spirit of names given to npc's in the original Frontier Elite 2 as a rough guide. I submitted it and it was accepted.
I've no argument with names in a humorous theme for example, or even slightly peculiar ones for want of a better word, but I wish....Ah, ok never mind! 🫡

Edit... just thought to add, I personally have not come across any NPC's names that I found 'distasteful' for example, quite the opposite usually, so I would presume that Frontier had / have some more control there?

Jack :)
 
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Since the update I've been able to solo build an outpost, 2 middle planetary settlements, 1 planetary hub and a satellite instalation in space. Skipping over the issue with CMM spawn rates I belive that construction costs are pretty well balanced, I would love to see bigger stations a bit cheaper, but I understand the reasoning.

I took a few years brake from ED and came back just at the conclusion of Thargoid War. I was amazed on how many quality of life changes were implemented and would like to give my feedback partly in that tone - colonizing is fun, making 100 runs between station and FC is not.

My biggest feedback would be - this update should've dropped with Panther Clipper :D
  1. Colonization area is to small, what we are currently doing is expanding human bubble, not colonizing the galaxy. Let us start colonization from our FCs wherever we want - we can already see this service on our FCs in system map.
  2. We should be able to buy and deliver materials directly to and from our FCs, that would actually make them worth having. Make us pay for it or take some time, but the fun of the new features is in building, not in hauling. Let me schedule unloading of 30 000t of steel while I'm flying around collecting specilized materials.
  3. If I build up economy producing materials needed for expanding the system, local colonists should contribute to building sites.
  4. There is a single line in Codex on how influance of facilites on stations and system works. This should be visualized on the architect view.
  5. Menus and UIs - pictures of facilites should be larger or expandable. The cost in tier 2 and 3 tokens should be visible earlier, probably on the list of facilites. List of materials on system map have mistakes, wrong names and no spaces. It would be great if building visualization on planet actually show the facility we chose, not the construciton site.
  6. We need an update on speed of transfering items from FC to the ship. It should scale similar to how it does when trading, not with constant speed as it is currently.
Generally, it's another great addition, but needs some de-grinding treatment.
 
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I would like a short cut. Mentioned this in another thread. To get to the architect screen you have to tunnel through the galaxy map. In the dashboard on the ship screen there is a training tab, that I wager very few people use. That could be a colonization tab!!
 
So after a couple of days here's my take from a sceptic:

I'm mainly an explorer and my initial worry was the impact that this would have on the areas surrounding the bubble (those still locked) and the wider galaxy.
The thought of thousands of ports now strewn across space with stupid, childish names filled me with Dredd.
I am happy at the 15LY limit (not that it will help much) but i will come back to that.
The other thing i like is planning, goals, spread sheets, logistics and i love space trucking, gotta say im loving it and i have a years plan of what i want to achieve.

But here's where ive changed my mind on something.
I believe there are two types of folks doing this, those who are looking at the BGS/PP2 aspect expanding their power and those who want a dream system to live in and call home.
The thought of folks setting up systems way out of the bubble for an explorer was horrifying due to the trail of debris getting there would leave in its wake, yet what am i doing? Exactly that.

Many of us on our journeys discovered some truly remarkable systems that would make a great home (mine is 700Lys away) and yes i will get there one day, but at what cost?
I am now of the opinion that letting us place a beacon anywhere (some systems excluded) would actually stop the industrial spider web that is now being created, yes logistically it would be a nightmare but setting up a small outpost 10K out in 3weeks even solo is doable and for me that system would be all i want.

Its just a thought because this is going to get messy, we are ending up with hundreds of systems with just a single outpost.

O7
Exactly this.
 
Actually this is a bit ironic I thought. If we look back on some of the tiered Kickstarter contributions wasn't there quite a high monetary contribution for player named stations back then....or was it just the system?
Kickstarter prices were £500 for a station, £750 for a planet, £3000 for a frontier system, £5000 for a central system or the Founder’s system 👍

I doubt modern players paying a few quid’s worth of Arx would put as much thought into naming a system as did the five grand backer who named Shinrarta Dezhra.
 
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Yesterday I tried to place a settlement, but hours later no building site appeared. I then placed another one in the same location, hoping it would work, and logged out as it did not work either. Today I logged in and both sites appeared in the same place. Now one is hovering over the other and I haven't found a way to cancel the construction.
View attachment 418879

Bugs aside, i wonder how many settlements you could place in close proximity to each other and how close you can place them? Could you create a mega city?
 
I envy your first world problems, guys (like the low colonization range, the scarcity of CMMs, non-selectable first station position, etc. etc.). :)
Poor plebeian me cannot even seem to claim a system.
The system is uninhabited, colonizable, unclaimed, it's within range, the UI allows me to click the "Configure Primary Port" button, I can select station type and layout, I can push the "Confirm Claim 25000000 Cr" button, but after a couple of seconds of "Processing Request, Please Wait" notification it always ends up with the following stupid error message saying "System Claim U" (actually it's only a half-U, since the message box pops up in the lower right corner of the screen so I can only assume it means "Unsuccessful" or something like that).

It has happened like 50 times now...
Everything is fine that way. The claiming process is finished after paying the fee. UI switches back to the beginning, and the system is in fact at that point in time unclaimable (as you have claimed it). Just continue with the process (fly to the system ....) Maybe a bit irritating / misleading somehow I admit.
 
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