Elite Dangerous | System Colonisation Beta Details & Feedback

[Ian Doncaster]

Is the Tier 1 an outpost? Please tell me what I'd need to craft.

Tier 1 Planetary Ports (Planetary Outposts) are the dockable planetary settlements not in a giant ring layout.
Fly down to a planet surface and fire off the colonisation suite to get the construction menu up for those.
There are three types - Civilian, Industrial and Scientific - each of which has a few layout options.

Tier 1 installations are undockable themselves but a cheap way to get Tier 2 points and give other benefits to the system properties. Some of them are also prerequisites for more advanced construction. They take up a bit of orbital space but unless you have a tiny system there's probably space for a few.

DaftMav's spreadsheet is a good summary of the options https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...b3a8dmqVqq2o/edit?gid=294937936#gid=294937936

 

[Guatnao]

1- After a long grind, being attacked by my own settlement for wanting to visit it on foot took away all the fun and feeling of ownership.

2-The construction mechanics are ONLY going more than 30 times with the cutter from point A to B... once it can be fun, but after that it IS NOT! When they enable the stations with missions, they should add missions in the stations to complete the construction and not be an infinite round trip of grinding only carrying materials that are also few like cmm.

 

[thistle]

sure.... but my thinking for now is, right now there is a gold rush everyone and their dog seems to be grabbing systems.... presumably once they come on line the bubble will expand and THOSE new systems will have a colonisation contact and what are currently just out of range systems will be in range.

my hope is a lot of players will be burned out at that point allowing me to come in in a 2nd wave of colonisation and be able to find a decent system.

last night i spent a short while looking (out of curiosity) and any interesting systems i found had already been claimed.

Imagine everyone doing colonisation now carries on at this rate. That will expand the size of the bubble, considerably, making the number of systems available also increase considerably. I wouldnt worry about not being able to find systems in a week or two, and certainly wont be a problem in a month or two when the bubble is much larger and the number of players still expanding it will be dropping off.

 

[Cosmo]

Hmmm...
View attachment 419384

Well in real life the USA copied European city names thousands of times. So why should station names be unique?

3) Recommended Improvements. So there ae some recommendations to improve the experience and reduce the grind without breaking the immersion too much.

The first is putting in the undo function, especially for planetary settlements. You should have until the Thursday update to undo your decisions if you decided to go in a different direction.

Seconded.

The second is a "quick transfer" option from FC to Colonization ship or Orbital/Planetary construction. You can lock out additional supplies until the wait period is over (so if some does a partial delivery, they won't be able to make any more deliveries to the goal until that cooldown is over.)

It shouldn't instantly transfer those resources. More immersive would be if NPCs haul that for a fee to the construction site.

The third is.. why not make an Elite Badge for Architects? Start at "Homeless", then once you colonize your first system, go to "Homesteader", then proceed to other ranks.. Like the following:
Homeless --> Homesteader --> Pioneer--> Generator--> Developer --> Designer --> Architect --> Mastermind

Then base each of those ranks off of total number of build points. Each step also opens up new tiers of planetary outposts and other bonuses? Homeless starts at tier 1 and then you can get to tier 3 for Homesteader up to tier 15 planetary outposts at Mastermind. As you increase in rank, you need 5% less materials for each type of base. Also, each tier increases the Colonization range from a colonized system. So 16 ly for Homeless, 32 for ly for Homesteader, 48 at Pioneer, 64 at Generator, 80 at Developer, 96 at Designer, 112 at Architect and 130 ly at Mastermind.

Architect ranks yes, not sure about limiting colonization range based on ranks.

Also, your planetary outposts should have the option for the commodities generated. If you build a refinery, you can chose Market, Intrasystem Focus, and Intersystem Focus. Market is a standard market that can generate credits. Intrasystem will generate materials needed for outposts in-system. And Intersystem focus will generate materials needed for outposts out of system. The system state will affect the materials generated (due to piracy, civil unrest, disease, famine, natural disaster, etc.) so rectifying that state would be important in getting the system producing at top efficiency. But for Intrasystems/Intersystem Focus, those materials will be applied to the construction needs of that base. As the outpost tier increases, it generates more materials that can be used for system construction.

This could reduce the hauling grind which is good.

Also, there should be some specialty buildings at higher tiers. For example, at Developer, a tier 9 Research Outpost can be developed for specialty goods in the system. Or at Designer, a system can construct a Colony Support Facility (non-dockable orbital) that can increase the maximum colony range of that Architect. The more CSFs one Architect has, the longer the Colony range. In addition, there can be an Intersystem Transit Authority (non-dockable orbital) that can increase the range and materials of Intersystem Focused outposts.

Speciality buildings could be unlocked if a colony has a specific combination of facilities. Not sure if it should be locked behind an Architect rank. It would be cool if the facilities grow bigger overtime under certain conditions.

Finally, and this has always been a personal want of mine, is to build a Terraforming Station over a terraformable planet. It needs tons of commodities too (a huge amount, 100x that of an orbital), that will start the Terraforming process. Ultimately, having Intersystem ports that support such a huge project will be necessary to see it done.

This is a cool long-term goal. Terraforming a rocky / barren planet into an Earth-like world could take months (in real-life this takes millenia). However, I'm unsure whether Fdev could automatically update the planet models to ELW when it's completed.

 

[grue2u]

Seems water and insulating membranes may be the next CMM composites. Getting hard to find these two resources. On the positive side, the galactic economy is getting a great stress test.

 

[Jmanis]

Seems water and insulating membranes may be the next CMM composites. Getting hard to find these two resources. On the positive side, the galactic economy is getting a great stress test.

OK, see my last post re: membranes and the guide for finding scarce things (Membranes are in a far better state than CMMs ever were)
... but seriously.... water?!?

 

[Marcus Sirrah Of Hyperion]

We have completed the material haul and handed all the materials needed for the starport this morning so is now showing 100%. We have to wait for a certain period of time for the star power to appear or will it be there on the next server tick on Thursday morning?

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

Seems water and insulating membranes may be the next CMM composites. Getting hard to find these two resources. On the positive side, the galactic economy is getting a great stress test.

i guess we can mine water, not that i have ever tried but there should be loads of it in the ice rings..... with a bonus of getting some tritium as well.

edit i just saw the inara link above..... so plenty of water without mining it then and its bordering on free as well

 

[grue2u]

OK, see my last post re: membranes and the guide for finding scarce things (Membranes are in a far better state than CMMs ever were)
... but seriously.... water?!?
View attachment 419389

Yeah, something went odd on my Inara search. I ran it again and there's water everywhere. The first search really worried me... not sure what happened. It's just membranes. Water is a false alarm.

 

[Kzak]

We have completed the material haul and handed all the materials needed for the starport this morning so is now showing 100%. We have to wait for a certain period of time for the star power to appear or will it be there on the next server tick on Thursday morning?

The answer is a definitive 'maybe'. My Coriolis took almost a day to come online, evident by the system now having a population more than 0, I presume the same holds true for the starport.

 

[Jmanis]

Yeah, something went odd on my Inara search. I ran it again and there's water everywhere. The first search really worried me... not sure what happened. It's just membranes. Water is a false alarm.

But insulating membranes aren't in a bad state either. You need to make sure you're checking high pop refinery systems, there's thousands out there.

 

[grue2u]

But insulating membranes aren't in a bad state either. You need to make sure you're checking high pop refinery systems, there's thousands out there.

I found them, but nearest appreciable supply was 100 Ly away. Not awful, but it does indicate they are depleting. As you say though, not nearly the issue CMMs were... yet.

 

[Sighman]

Yeah, something went odd on my Inara search. I ran it again and there's water everywhere. The first search really worried me... not sure what happened. It's just membranes. Water is a false alarm.

Membranes are in plentiful supply at small platforms. Take a T8 and load up.

 

[Torrle]

So far, my feedback is that it's a pretty solid update. Frontier made hauling more meaningful, and claiming a system is like a CG you make for yourself.

Despite the scarcity of some materials, I do think it's a bit on the easy side. If I can solo an orbital outpost in a day, I feel like a coordinated group of a dozen or so commanders could make 150Ly progress in any given direction per day. That could reach Colonia during the summer, at that rate. And I know that the speed of getting materials out there would greatly slow progress, but I wouldn't underestimate the player base. I mean, look at how many systems have been claimed in the first week alone.

That said, I wouldn't mind a bit more transparency on what Wealth/Security/Tech/LivingStandard/DevelopmentLevel actually affect. That would make it a lot easier to plan a system out.

And also, I'll echo the same feedback as others that it would be VERY helpful to view what materials are remaining to be delivered in the mission panel.

 

[aRJay]

First we need to know what the hubs actually do regardless of economy. Some more detail on all the buildings and orbital structures would be good.

That is what the early adopters are supposed to be finding/working out for the rest of us, so that when we start after at least one full cycle of the process we will know what is what.

O7 the pioneers.

Hmmm...
View attachment 419384

Well he was a very prolific author.

 

[Jmanis]

I found them, but nearest appreciable supply was 100 Ly away. Not awful, but it does indicate they are depleting. As you say though, not nearly the issue CMMs were... yet.

Are you far out from the bubble? 100Ly to the nearest sounds really, really wrong for any appreciable proximity to the bubble.

They won't get anywhere near the state CMMs were because they're consumed a whole order of magnitude less, and available an order of magnitude more than their pre-buff volumes.

Where are you trying to get them to?

 

[CMDR Vhi]

That is what the early adopters are supposed to be finding/working out for the rest of us, so that when we start after at least one full cycle of the process we will know what is what.

I kind of disagree here. Presumably FDev knows exactly what those facilities do and what effect they have-- there's no reason for anyone to have to figure it out-- it's just that FDev knows that players will figure it out, so they don't really bother with documentation.

So, you're correct that it falls on the early adopters, but I don't agree that it's what we're "supposed to be" doing.

 

[dAlexis]

Dear Frontier,
my intention with colonisation was, to support my faction and make it grow. Thats why i started colonisation from a system, where 'my' faction is leading and yes - it worked with the primary station and i could expand the faction system list.
Now i build a second station in that system and was underwhelmingly surprised that this station was handed over to an NPC faction, that expanded into my system. I built this station with ownership of 'my' faction in mind and put all that grindy work for them into it. And now an (from me) unwanted faction got it.
That is unsatisfying.
I am part of the squadron that 'created' the faction i want to support.

If this situation will not be fixed - just a huge pile of one outpost systems will be. Building large staions 4 somebody? - sorry, mates. The same will be, after system architect faction retreat - for what should I continue building? The system architect should select the faction for tthe station. If FD wants 2 see ruins in abandoned systems - no problem, it's their choice. Our bubble faction stopped 2 construct two larger stations until the situation will be clear enough

 

[NethicusPrimus]

Speciality buildings could be unlocked if a colony has a specific combination of facilities. Not sure if it should be locked behind an Architect rank. It would be cool if the facilities could grow bigger overtime under certain conditions.

I like it. More of a build tree to get to different colony perks. Build X Y and then build Z, and get a +5% boost in Food Commodity generation or something like that. So not rank limited, but instead construction enabled. It gives an Architect the option of expanding with minimally colonized systems or finding one system and developing the heck out of it. Makes those 58 body systems far more appealing.

This is a cool long-term goal. Terraforming a rocky / barren planet into an Earth-like world could take months (in real-life this takes millenia). However, I'm unsure whether Fdev could automatically update the planet models to ELW when it's completed.

We can't even land on ELWs right now, so I'm guessing baby steps?

 

[Ian Doncaster]

I found them, but nearest appreciable supply was 100 Ly away. Not awful, but it does indicate they are depleting

They've just always been relatively low supply (hundreds of times rarer than Copper or Titanium). I don't think there's much less now than there's ever been.

You need a big orbital Refinery station to make them in appreciable quantities, and those are generally only found closer to the centre of the bubble rather than out on the fringes. I needed to go about 80 LY to find a decently large supply for mine - but you don't need anywhere near as many of them as you need CMM Composites or most of the Metals, so a one-off trip like that isn't a big deal.

The system architect should select the faction for tthe station.

I think Frontier have very carefully designed the colonisation process to stop BGS factions pre-building the most boring systems imaginable so that they're really easy to maintain without effort (because no-one wants to visit them anyway).

- you have to have diversified asset ownership, or at least put in some effort to make it "one faction owns absolutely everything" if that's what you want
- there's a big incentive (and sometimes a hard requirement) to build Odyssey settlements, surface hubs, installations, and other things which are mainly a BGS liability from the influence point of view
- a lot of the more attractive economy types take a bit of obtaining

Since the other factions are also non-native, you can always retreat them later if they end up with a bunch of assets you really want on the controlling faction.