Colonization Feedback.
- Poor information on who will Govern the new station.
I made the assumption that I will be the governor of the system. Or At least name the Governing body, Deciding their governing type etc. Not that the new Colony will take the Governing body of the Station I requested the Build at. I also made the assumption i asked some Builder to build it. Not that the Government to claim the system for themselves. These wrong assumptions come from poor explanation on what is going to happen. a Simple Popup to confirm the Colony Claim could help avoid such confusion. Saying Something like:
"[PLAYERNAME] are hereby acknowledging and Certifying [GOVERNOR] Claim of [STAR SYSTEM] and Requesting a Base to be built With Themselves as the Architect."
could work both Lore wise and help inform the players of what is going to happen.
- I Believe that reserving a star system for your colony is way to cheap. Increase the cost through a Server Backend system to evaluate a systems Value/cost.
Reserving, and starting your colony need to have a Higher upfront cost. In my opinion it might be worth making a backend system to measure the value of a system based on the celestial bodies inside it. "Size 1 planet: 1m, Size 8 planet: 5m. Ring: 1m. Earth-Like: 5m etc etc." Totaling them to provide a cost for the system. Once a player starts building they will comfortably be able to earn the money back from Income and from selling the Materials to the Builder.
currently You Pay 25m. Then you Buy and Sell Materials to the Colonization Ship allowing the player to make back More then what they paid to start the Base. When the Colony is complete you Earn more money passively. This means there is effectively no cost to it. Allowing a player to infinitely Expand while turning a profit & enriching themselves.
After Taking into account the Cost of the material & how much I sell Back to the Colonization ship I earned about 31m. Remove the 25m as the initial upfront cost & I have Earned 6m in overall profit from Building something more Advanced then the International Space Station. I can also continue to do so indefinitely until there are no more Stars & Planets in our Galaxy. Not to mention that any future buildings I buy in the system is 100% free.
This to me is a Problem. Because we are getting them for free and Actively continue to earn a Passive income. There is no investment & only a Reward. There is no Achievement of being able to Own a Colony unlike having a Carrier. Which is a Momentous achievement. I am able to Buy and Create a Colony for Millions of people to live and prosper in for less then the Value of a Sidewinder. (Sidewinders are Free, and building a Industry Outpost nets me a profit of 6m.) As players expand some players will start to feel left behind. As there is no incentive for players to slow down their expansion only a win situation for keeping up with it. I doubt we will see all stars in the galaxy colonized. But when new players are joining and see that players have expanded the bobble 1000Ly, and humanity spread out, they will have to work harder to reach areas untouched.
By having the initial price of the system be based on the Celestial bodies inside we increase the importance of developing the system and not simply using it as a steppingstone to reach further into the black.
The intent with this is to make owning a Colony a Achievement of its own, and to elevate the importance of the income each building provide. Do I sell my Escape pods to my Colony to increase the pop, netting me more income? do I Buy from them to sell elsewhere to increase the income of my colony? and more. there are More things I don't know about that could help influence my colony and the Income I gain. It would also limit the expansion to a degree that could allow new-ish players a chance to create their own Colony. Without doing too much to hurt a player that wants to string many Colonies together. Nor do I want it blocking new players from gaining access to Colonization.
- Docking on the Construction carrier seems to always choose a slot on the opposite side then where I am approaching. add some way for the game to know which side i am closer to and prioritize those slots.
UI/UX Colonization Feedback.
- add a easy to access "Currently Building" section under some menu of the ship. That Displays the Required Materials to construct.
This can be added in many different locations. ex1. "Transactions > New Menu: Colonization."
"Universal Cartographic > My Colonies" add Category that say "Under Construction." which has the name, Location and Structure being built. as interactable objects. Clicking on 1 brings up the Structure you are building and it's requirements. Or Allow us to Click the "Under Construction" icons after you've selected a Colony you are currently constructing. To view the "construction Site menu"
I made a Quick mockup to how it can be displayed in the game. Check the attached images.
- base location UI hidden until After you Start building Within a Star System.
- Unable to Select First Colony location within a Star System.
Those 2 can be considered a symptom of the same problem. They Can be fixed simply by allowing the Player to view the star System and any potential locations As the player chose their first Location. After they start to talk to the "Colonization Contact" when they get the new menu and get to select the star system. If the player has explored the system they can gain access to the deeper menu Showcasing the new UI for Colonization & allow the player to use that menu to select Where their first Colony will be. Instead of placing it on the Furthest Body in the Star system.
- Colony "statistics view" in the System "construction view".
a way to see what might be missing to get a better understanding on what the colony might be missing. Such as Security is low, and Anarchy is high.
Made a Quick & Simple Mockup as to how it could look. Please use your own parameters for what players may need to look out for, and to influence, as they construct new facilities. Some of the stats would be best displayed as a Number instead of the arbitrary [+1] arrow icons.
- Show Construction order in "Transactions".
You can either create a entirely new menu in there. or allow players to select a construct to add to the mission tracker.
Below you can find That I've attached few examples.
- Add a way to share your construction orders with friends, Squads or Guilds. Much like you can with missions. Added to Mission tracker.
There are multiple places that can incorporate the sharing. Chose one of the new menu's I've highlighted that I would like to be in the game.
Below you can find That I've attached few examples.
- Buying a lot of material is Tedious and needs improvement. Check attached images for potential alternative improvements.
Non-Colony specific Feedback.
- Add a SCO specific Experimental mod in Engineering to stabilize the Boost in Super cruise on old-Gen spacecrafts.
I find that I am using the Super Cruise on my type-9 a lot to transport material to my colony/station builder. but with it's horrible handling and the shaky nature of the Super Cruise boost on Old-gen ships it quickly becomes hard to control. I would like to see a Experimental effect that enables similar control as new-gen ships. I would place it on the FSD (SCO) module, but if the world/lore/Setting fits it can be placed on another Internal module as a Experimental effect. Alternatively a Utility Mount, "SCO Stabilizers".
Disclaimer:
None of the numbers i use in my examples are "Balanced" for the game, Therfore shouldn't be used as exact for the game. Fdev need to evaluate those numbers themselves. Much like all the Feedback needs to be considered alongside all systems in the game and planned for the game.
Disclaimer:
I am not a Professional UI/UX designer. Fdev needs to consider my feedback and how it could be done properly for their game. I am mainly using the attached images as a way to highlight what I want without using convoluted & Strenuous language or sentences. I do know There is loads I didn't do properly, and that can be improved upon.
Final Words:
Overall I am very much enjoying Colonization. I love the amount of added content to the game, even if some can be considered "Same". Still Trucking in space. I mentioned to the Friend that got me into the game that I would love the be able to colonize my own system eventually. Now Current Colonization is not what I then wanted or Idealized. But It is still something I very much enjoy.
What the System Colonisation Beta is
What the System Colonisation Beta is not
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