Elite Dangerous | System Colonisation Beta Details & Feedback

[yianniv]

But that's how you blaze a trail! One stepping stone every 15Ly. You gotta place outpost "breadcrumbs" on your trail for people to follow! This way nobody gets lost in the deep black of space. To visit your final system cmdrs must travel one system outpost at a time. You don't want people getting lost do you?

Edit: What would be better is if we had to build a physical road through space to the final destination. Then cmdrs can drive their SRV 1800Ly to your fancy location.

 

[GALDART]

First point, large quantities of materials are needed, requiring the help of other players, but to see the list of materials it is necessary to go to the system, requiring frequent screenshots to coordinate the colonization effort, I suggest the ability to “subscribe” to the colonization of the system, as if it were a community goal, where it would be possible to access the subscription page and see the information of missing materials and remaining time directly from the ship's panel.

Secondly, more options for exchanging materials or contributing to construction, for example, building a military installation, providing reward vouchers in exchange for the materials needed or deducting a little from the materials needed for construction. Biological samples for a biological research facility, etc...

Goods, Components and Data, from odyssey would also be used. For example, Cat Media for a tourist facility, Geological Data for an extraction facility, Agricultural Process Sample for an agricultural facility, etc...

 

[Calteru]

But isn't this update about expansion of the bubble? All the new systems have to be connected to the background simulation which entails traderoutes and commerce between systems. It's not about claiming some isolated system in the middle of nowhere cut off from everything.

No they don't! They've never been dependent on each other. Unity and Sag A* function perfectly fine in isolation, presumably surviving off the traffic random commanders and other visitors bring. And that's just two that I can think of off the top of my head.

(EDIT: It also ignores the game problem of creating many, many, many more populated systems than anyone wants or needs. We already have a ton that no one uses. We're gonna build three tons more? Why?)

 

[athulin]

[ cleared -- already trashed out I see ]

 

[Zador]

so crunched the numbers abit.

you need to build 3 Tier 1 structures for a single Tier 2 structure
you need 6 Tier 2 structures to get a T3 Port of any kind

Tier 2 star ports need 3 tier 1 structures, Tier 2 installations only need 1 tier 1 structure.
So with 6 tier 1 and 6 tier 2 installations you can build a tier 3 star port if you wanted.

 

[Torelm]

my suggestion, to improve trailblazers is to limit the trucking aspect and instead allow "npc" contributions from the BGS, for example:
i completed my outpost, and i have a population of 16000, in system, earning me some passive income, i want to reinvest that income into the system, or as a system architect i want to take 10% of my earning from all other activities to invest into the system, allowing npc purchasing of building materials to complete my desired structures, as well as not being forced into building 6 lower tier infrastructure just to place an orbis or other large structure; we are not colonizing Sol for the first time, there is an entire bubble of citizens to fill systems with.

i feel this would improve the longevity, and reach of the colonisation system, as well as allow the BGS, which i have heard so many good and bad stories about, improve the way the game as a whole works.

suggestions, improvements and input are welcome; i personally see this update as a great initial idea that has so much potential but it needs to be ironed out into less of a grind and more into a synthetic evolution of space

as a further note systems further from resource caches, should take longer to complete as even npc' pilots need to sleep, take more jumps to reach further out, and potentially cost more to acquire and deliver goods.

 

[Coolgroove]

To finalize my initial feedback:

99% of current "feature complete" is hauling. The only way to access actual Colonisation feature is to haul. Then more hauling for every tiny bit of the feature.

I did the grind, claim completed, the gameplay of hauling is even more boring than regular trading as there is no need to engage with anything (markets, states), and it's very mind-numbing for me, after a few deliveries everything in the game no longer matters except for two things - pad to pad.

Yes, the problem is that I really don't enjoy hauling, no questions about it, and after all the hauling for that initial claim I never want to do it again.

Unfortunately, that means with current design, there is no way for me to access the Colonisation gameplay, so I consider it 100% complete and done with.

Maybe in Colonisation 2.0 there would be other ways to access Colonisation gameplay, maybe in a form of NPC deliveries for constructions after the initial claim, so player has two options:

• Get it as fast as you can deliver, make profit from deliveries and progress with a trade rank
• Hire NPCs to deliver, Slower, pay for it (no profit from deliveries + extra expenses), no rank progress

Since the main resource that this feature taps into is time - seems fair.

UI improvement:
- Make materials lists available in ships mission panel.

Useful tip:
- Doesn't matter how far from the Colonised system your supported Minor Faction is, as long as your squadron has it setup in squadron management - it'll be the third Minor Faction after initial claim is completed.

 

[Greasetrap42]

I need to build 221 outposts to get to the ONE star I want, 1800ly away. The tether concept altogether is less than ideal. I'd much rather have a per-commander or per-squadron (scaling based on size -- incentive to recruit more) cap than a tether because I don't want 221 additional land claims and 2.42 years of work (averaging 4 days per outpost here) just to get to the one star I want.

I just realized in another thread - Colonization in deep space would have been disastrous because Fleet Carriers would have been the primary method for transporting material. It would have broken the game because Frontier can't come up with a fix for widespread fleet carrier usage.

If the Colonization update had been about making colonies in deep space (as many people wished), the game would have become completely, broken. Fleet Carriers would become non functional and the update a complete waste that would need to be rolled back.

 

[Calteru]

I just realized in another thread - Colonization in deep space would have been disastrous because Fleet Carriers would have been the primary method for transporting material. It would have broken the game because Frontier can't come up with a fix for widespread fleet carrier usage.

Sell me a module for the FC that enables the deep space colonization. There. Now I need it.

(Like I didn't need it anyway -- you think I'm hauling all that crap one 3600ly trip at a time?! GOD no XD)

 

[Greasetrap42]

I did the grind, claim completed, the gameplay of hauling is even more boring than regular trading as there is no need to engage with anything (markets, states), and it's very mind-numbing for me, after a few deliveries everything in the game no longer matters except for two things - pad to pad.

Kinda reminds me of mining for Powerplay 2.0. - Don't consider your mining location or markets. Just blindly mine in the specific Powerplay system over-and-over-and-over. Similarity?

 

[STRONTIUM DOG]

i just completed the mat required for my outpost construction the colonization ship said it was departing the system for inara
so i took off and it departed wasnt it suppose to buld an outpost or something
i now have no record that i even took part.................
i am more than a little confused at this point?

 

[Darrack]

i have a carrier, i don't need a colonization carrier to hold the goods. it doesn't make sense to move the goods from one megaship to another

Its a group task mate, that's why there is an independent carrier/builder.

O7

 

[Coolgroove]

Kinda reminds me of mining for Powerplay 2.0. - Don't consider your mining location or markets. Just blindly mine in the specific Powerplay system over-and-over-and-over. Similarity?

Yep, similar, but with PP it's more about how disconnected these systems are (PP/BGS), with Colonisation - it's just a mindless grind for the sake of spending time, could be something better if player enjoys hauling, but with such amounts I doubt it.

 

[Darth Ender]

Its a group task mate, that's why there is an independent carrier/builder.

O7

no, it's got the option of being a group task. It doesn't need to be. There's nothing about this that requires multiple players to participate.

If you want that, then that should be your option. For everyone else who feels like playing alone and has already gone thru the trouble of getting their own carrier, we shouldn't need a second one to just shift cargo. There's nothing about the game mechanic that makes sense for that or improves the gameplay by existing like that.

edit: it should be one of the benefits of having a 5 billion credit carrier that you dont actually even own and since it's the same company involved in colonization megaships, I should be able to just have a colonization contact on my carrier (or a module...whatever) that lets me use my own in place of having one jump in. once i have all the materials and all i can jump it to the target system it needs to be in to complete the build task. It's not complicated. You miss out on recouping all the costs of materials but you gain the sanity of not having to space truck all that crap from one megaship to another. Win in my book.

 

[Darrack]

There's nothing about this that requires multiple players to participate.

Try making a starport on your own in 3 weeks with a job and family

O7

 

[yianniv]

Try making a starport on your own in 3 weeks with a job and family

O7

I wouldn't.
I'm 2/3rds filling up my FC with the materials for my first outpost. Luckily, I found a ground station that offered 730tonnes of CMM phantoms and I managed to get twice the required quantity. But I can see this getting old very fast, and I don't think I'm the only one. There's a finite amount of enthusiasm after each update, and it's getting lower as we speak. I think the designers have to get back to the drawing board soon.

 

[Darth Ender]

Try making a starport on your own in 3 weeks with a job and family

O7

Do you think i'm arguing that the current mechanic is fun to solo?

Plus, who picks a star port as their time-limited initial station? That sounds like a really dumb way to do this whole thing. Pick the station type that requires the least effort and then build whatever you want without time limits.

but yea, the point is not that this should be something you can solo in a couple sessions. It's that it doesn't need to be completely balanced by the punishment of repetition for repetition's sake. There are ways to do things better without even inventing new game mechanics.

 

[Greasetrap42]

I am very surprised that the colony-making process doesn't make the colony more self-sufficient for growth.

Why can't we make facilities that produce resources for when we decide to make bigger facilities? Bigger facilities should become easier-and-easier as we build smaller facilities. And as the colony grows we have more equipment and manpower for large mega-constructions. There doesn't seem to be any strategy in building a successful colony. Instead... we gotta truck everything in.

 

[Vashtabula]

Honestly, I think the amount of materials/work involved is pretty good. It's supposed to take months for one person to build up a big colony! It shouldn't be possible to do it in a week, it taking 20+ hours of effort to build a T2-T3 station seems right to me and balanced with other grindy things in the game.

The only thing I don't like is that 100% of that effort has to be hauling. I don't dislike hauling -- I actually enjoy that the game has zen activities like hauling & laser mining that you can do while watching a show or talking to friends. But I like some variety -- if I'm going to spend the 200 hours it'll take to build a big, bustling colony, I'd rather it not be 200 hours of all the same activity. The way PP 2.0 was designed, so you can contribute by hauling or mining or combat or exploration or missions, etc. should be the inspiration here! Sure, make setting up the initial port all hauling. But expanding and adding new ports should be something you can get progress on by doing other activities in your colony, rather than it having to be all hauling all the time.

 

[Taledo]

I just finished my asteroid station and my system has gone from my colonies. System is now invalid, and I'm not the architect anymore.

Tried :
restarting the game, launcher

Fdev please fix