Elite Dangerous | System Colonisation Beta Details & Feedback

[Ameeleean2]

you do know that FC Management has an option to setup zhe market ? Or do I understand you completly wrong?

In my post I was referring to direct cargo transfer between ship and fleet carrier. In this case amount goes in fixed steady pace and it takes a while to transfer cargo back to ship.
FC market setup takes longer than writing simple checklist on my cellphone not to mention latter one can be accessed faster and I do not have to go through menus, submenus etc to see what I need to deliver.
It would be very helpfull to see construction progress in simmilar way as shown below:

 

[GraphicEqualizer]

In my post I was referring to direct cargo transfer between ship and fleet carrier. In this case amount goes in fixed steady pace and it takes a while to transfer cargo back to ship.
FC market setup takes longer than writing simple checklist on my cellphone not to mention latter one can be accessed faster and I do not have to go through menus, submenus etc to see what I need to deliver.
It would be very helpfull to see construction progress in simmilar way as shown below:

I totally agree that colonisation needs a powerplay assignments sort of list which:

• shows a running tally of each commodity needed (rather than need to reopen the system map of your colony system to ferret out those details)
• also has a diverse set of assignments you can take to be rewarded with some of those commodities (and delivered direct to construction ship)

The Powerplay assignments list was one of the best recent moves in years to highlight and introduce a wide range of game loops to players who might otherwise never have learned of their existence. Colonisation construction should offer more of this, not just rely on trucking only.

Also I think colonisation should use the same stepping stone distance rules of powerplay - keep things consistent. If you have built up your system to a certain threshold -- then it would be like a PP stronghold system, allowing greater stepping stone distance opportunity.

 

[M_72]

@Paul_Crowther

My feedback.

• I think 20 light years range would be the sweet spot.
• The amount of materials and the time taken to haul stuff seemed daunting at first, but after doing it for some time and getting used to it, it actually feels about right.
• For those building chains I think its important that until the station comes online only the system architect can use the services. This allows people to chain systems without being sniped and blocked by someone dropping an Orbis in their path. This has happened, and its not a fun experience.
• I agree with others who say there should be a way to have NPCs help deliver materials. Station building should require player hauling stuff, but maybe 20% of materials can be hauled by hiring NPCs at very high credit cost. (this is mainly to help solo players)
• Don't allow system naming. We know what will happen if you do.. but if you must, then please add a toggle on the map UI to turn off player-named systems and leave the procedural name visible (same as on the cockpit UI). I don't want stupid names ruining my i-mer-shun.
• Preventing iconic systems and ones with Tourist beacons in them from being colonized was a good move. Some places of lore and historical significance should remain off limits.
• If nothing can be done about increased Carrier jump times, you really need to get the Panther Clipper out soon rather than later!

 

[Damgalnuna]

My feedback: I love the update and I think that the materials needed and timeframe given to complete the first station to finalize your claim are reasonable. However, as many have mentioned im afraid that the requirements to create additional stations and settlements will disincentivize fleshing out systems in favor of gobbling up more. The FOMO effect will likely result in a lot of mostly empty systems with 1 station at the sometimes furthest body in the system.

My suggestion as of now is this: keep the first station costs roughly as they are but decrease subsequent station costs to encourage and reward commanders putting in the effort to flesh out their systems. Perhaps a bonus for each subsequent station, you could make the explanation of that more stations improves logistics and worker populations so expansion should get easier the more populous your system becomes.

I will wait to see more data about expansion rate and how many claimed systems are actually completed but my feeling is the rate of expansion might need to be throttled in some way to keep mega-expanders from gobbling up large swaths but I don't know if the data would support this yet.

 

[Vashtabula]

Overall, I think the resource requirements are reasonable for starting a new system & completing a primary port. Sure, it's an absolute ton of work if a solo commander wants to start with a T3 station but... I don't think it's the intent that a solo commander start with a T3 station, and it's possible to do, just a ton of work. I think "only the most dedicated will start with a T3 unless they're with a group" is appropriate.

The thing I don't like is that all of colonization is all hauling, all the time. I think FDev should take inspiration from their own PP 2.0 mechanics -- where many different kinds of play activities can all contribute, so no matter what kind of gameplay you like to do, you can still participate. Imagine this: Primary Port construction stays exactly as it is. However, once a Primary Port is established, missions would be offered that had "construction progress" as a reward. Taking this reward would contribute 500 random resources to a random station in the system under construction by that faction.

If you want to just haul cargo, go ahead, you'll get 788-792 for every T9/Cutter you deliver. Don't want to haul cargo? The station could have colonization-themed missions of all types. "Protect cargo convoy" bounty-hunting missions that send you out to a signal source to fight a target. "Scout systems for colonization" missions for collecting exploration/exobio data, or just sending you somewhere courier-mission-style. "Massacre xx pirates to improve system security." You could do any number of things just like PP 2.0. As a result, if a commander gets sick of hauling cargo and wants to do some other kind of gameplay, their colony still offers choices, but they aren't any faster/less work than hauling. They're just not hauling.

 

[Eldr Reign]

My suggestions as of now are this: keep the first station costs roughly as they are but decrease subsequent station costs to encourage and reward commanders putting in the effort to flesh out their systems.

The only Cost I am aware of is the cost of claiming a new system & the Creation of the first station. Any subsequent structures are all free. Unless i am completely missing some critical information. Instead the "Cost" is the materials we haul. but lets be real that is more like another venue for Profit. Since the cost is only associated with the Claim of a System The commanders are already encouraged to flesh out each of their systems. But there are things I don't understand and have missed. So not sure.

I have yet to expand beyond 1 system. So I wounder if the credit price for claiming a new system increases the further away from the bubble you go, or further away from sol you travel? If claiming a new system does not increase in price, then the game system doesn't discourage expanding indefinitely. which disincentivize fleshing out systems in favor of gobbling up more.

I very much want a Increased price on claiming a star system. Preferably a Dynamic system that reads the star system data, and something more such as distance from Sol, to create a price for the star system claim.

EDIT: In system costs are the new Tokens that looks like 2 Blocks, or 3 Blocks. But those are gained in the system for the system. you can not use them in any other systems then the one you got it in.

 

[DeadlyEagle917]

I have a question regarding the construction point cost increase for T2/3 ports. Am I understanding correctly that for the 1st and 2nd T2/3 port the costs are the normal amounts and then for the 3rd one onwards they double. No matter how many other things I build? It always increases for the 3rd T2/3 port?

 

[KKomrade Sylas]

My main point of feedback for now is that there is a distinct lack of documentation as to how things work and how they affect each other. Frontier loves, absolutely loves and adores to just "leave it to the players to discover".

Please don't do that again for this lol. Works for other things but PLEASE give us all the information for this. It takes so long to test things, it's so much work. Just tell me what things do, tell me how exactly the mechanism for changing a station's economy works, tell me why the costs of assets seem random and vary. Tell me what "development level" "technology level" "standard of living" do. Don't be vague, you're always vague and cryptic.

Wish I could just look it up in a Wiki with all the things I need to know in deep rich detail rather than this being yet another "mysterious thing the players can unravel by themselves!" because that is not actually a cool player engagement thing, it's just an excuse to not write and type in the documentation from the developer's part.

It doesn't help that the elite community seems unique in spreading misinformation at every step of the way

 

[DazeDreamer]

Paul -- I'm not surprised if you can't or won't tell us when colonization will be turned back on. But could you let us know if there will be advanced warning before it it turned back on?

This definitely got quite a few potential systems lined up and am poised for the starting whistle lol. It is likely though their either unable or unwilling to give any further progress or reasoning by the continued "Pause"

 

[Keiji_Hiro]

Feedback:

Can we at least get clarity on what kind of economy or combinations of installations/port/facilities we need to build to produce certain resource in our station/ground ports? the lack of information and the sheer amount of things to haull for "trial and error" is kinda off putting when u dont even know if it will work.

We need more information on how to further our system to aid in future colonisation effort by being a resupply point midway, not just a 1 outpost and forget about it gameplay loop i hope

 

[Ian Fleming]

So my industrial settlement seems to produce CMM's.. which is strange cause those are meant to be refinery only. All i have built is a space industrial outpost and the medium industrial settlement.

 

[Jmanis]

So my industrial settlement seems to produce CMM's.. which is strange cause those are meant to be refinery only. All i have built is a space industrial outpost and the medium industrial settlement.

That's interesting....

 

[BDelacroix]

So my industrial settlement seems to produce CMM's.. which is strange cause those are meant to be refinery only. All i have built is a space industrial outpost and the medium industrial settlement.

My industrial settlement is not. So I wonder what the difference is. Hope it isn't random.

 

[Darkcyde]

I have a question regarding the construction point cost increase for T2/3 ports. Am I understanding correctly that for the 1st and 2nd T2/3 port the costs are the normal amounts and then for the 3rd one onwards they double. No matter how many other things I build? It always increases for the 3rd T2/3 port?

Yes, that is how it seems to be at the moment. I'm not aware of any reports of it increasing further after, say, 4 ports, but that's not outside the realms of possibility.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

Can we at least get clarity on what kind of economy or combinations of installations/port/facilities we need to build to produce certain resource in our station/ground ports? the lack of information and the sheer amount of things to haull for "trial and error" is kinda off putting when u dont even know if it will work.

You can read on the market screen what economy types (and whether they need to be orbital or surface, if it matters for that commodity) produce and consume each commodity, and the "System Economy Influence" property on the stations seems accurate so far.

So my industrial settlement seems to produce CMM's.. which is strange cause those are meant to be refinery only. All i have built is a space industrial outpost and the medium industrial settlement.

Odyssey settlements have always been a bit weird in this respect - there isn't (and never has been, it's not just that you can't build them yourself) a Refinery type, so both the Extraction and the Industrial settlements can produce refined goods on occasion.

Their production is always restricted to a fairly small subset of all possible commodities for their economy, so you probably just got lucky here (combined with the recent massive boosts in CMM market capacity, which meant that probably previously if an Odyssey settlement was going to produce CMM, it didn't get enough to put a tonne on the market)

 

[CMDR Ecaep]

I have a question regarding the construction point cost increase for T2/3 ports. Am I understanding correctly that for the 1st and 2nd T2/3 port the costs are the normal amounts and then for the 3rd one onwards they double. No matter how many other things I build? It always increases for the 3rd T2/3 port?

Various groups have been testing how the doubling works. The data so far seems to indicate (and this really should all be in the codex):

The initial station is ignored when counting stations for the doubling.
The "ports" that cause doubling are:
-Tier 2 starports (Coriolis and Asteroid Base)
-Tier 3 starports (Ocellus and Orbis)
-Tier 3 ground bases
All other buildings in the system are ignored, both in that their building points don't change, and building them doesn't trigger the doubling.

My main issue is that the number of build points to build a tier 2 port is significantly less than the build points to build a tier 3, yet both seem to be doubled.

A tier 2 starport requires 3 tier 2 build points. Tier 2 build points are earned by building tier 1 facilities. Thus, to build a tier 2 starport I only have to build 3 total tier 1 facilities.

A tier 3 starport or ground base requires 6 tier 3 build points. Tier 3 build points are earned by building tier 2 facilities. Most tier 2 facilities require one tier 2 build point, so to earn a tier 3 build point, two facilities must be built, a tier 1 facility and a tier 2 facility. Thus, to construct a tier 3 facility, a total of 12 facilities must be built, 6 tier 1 facilities and 6 tier 2 facilities.

Lets say I have a total of 30 build slots in my system, and I want to build 2 tier 2 starports and 1 tier 3 ground base. If I build the 2 tier 2 starports first, this only costs me 8 total building slots, leaving 22 slots. However, now that the tier 3 cost has doubled to 12 build points, I can never build a tier 3, because to do so would require a total of 25 more build slots, I can never earn the required tier 3 points, because it would require a total of 33 build slots in the system, and I only have 30.

Now take the same system, but this time I build the tier 3 planetary port first, by building 12 facilities to earn the 6 tier 3 build points. I've filled 13 build slots so far. Now I build a tier 2 starport, filling 4 more build slots, raising the total to 17. Now the doubling kicks in, and the next tier 2 starport costs 6 (or maybe 5, since the tier 2 doesn't double based on those who tested?) Either way, this new station requires either 10 or 12 facilities, but I can actually finish my third port, because my total build slots needed is either 28 or 30.

Thus because any tier 2 or tier 3 "port" causes the double/increase, this system is very unintuitive, and the order in which you build matters. If you want both tier 2 and tier 3 ports, to maximize the number of "ports" you must build the tier 3 ports first. But since we need tier 2 facilities just to earn tier 3 build points, it makes no sense that building tier 2 facilities can actually cause the cost of tier 3 facilities to increase.

My primary recomendation is to remove the cost increase entirely. We already have to build 12 prerequisites before building a tier 3 planetary port. Increasing that to 24 prerequisites arbitrarily just feels disheartening, and makes me not want to try the mechanic at all.

However, if FDev really feels that a cost increase is required, then separate the cost increase for tier 2 ports from the cost increase of tier 3 ports. After I build two tier 2 starports, the next tier 2 starport would increase in cost, but the tier 3 cost should stay the same, at 6 build points. Then, once I build two tier 3 ports, the third tier 3 port can increase in cost, but not double, maybe only go to 9 build points. This system would not penalize a player for building their ports in the non-optimal order.

 

[cidiantoby]

EDIT: In system costs are the new Tokens that looks like 2 Blocks, or 3 Blocks. But those are gained in the system for the system. you can not use them in any other systems then the one you got it in.

Its been found out recently that after meeting certain criteria. For example 2 t2 orbitals or 1 T3 planet port. It will cost double those build points you are calling blocks. That is the "costs" people are usually talking about. Construction point costs.

Turns out it was mistakenly missed being put in the Help or Tutorial screens on deployment of the Trailblazers update.

 

[Ian Fleming]

You can read on the market screen what economy types (and whether they need to be orbital or surface, if it matters for that commodity) produce and consume each commodity, and the "System Economy Influence" property on the stations seems accurate so far.


Odyssey settlements have always been a bit weird in this respect - there isn't (and never has been, it's not just that you can't build them yourself) a Refinery type, so both the Extraction and the Industrial settlements can produce refined goods on occasion.

Their production is always restricted to a fairly small subset of all possible commodities for their economy, so you probably just got lucky here (combined with the recent massive boosts in CMM market capacity, which meant that probably previously if an Odyssey settlement was going to produce CMM, it didn't get enough to put a tonne on the market)

Yeah it seems like its sitting at 266 CMM supply with the 3 green bars. its also the only thing it produces currently but ill keep an eye out after maintenence to see what else it makes

 

[Keiji_Hiro]

You can read on the market screen what economy types (and whether they need to be orbital or surface, if it matters for that commodity) produce and consume each commodity, and the "System Economy Influence" property on the stations seems accurate so far.


Odyssey settlements have always been a bit weird in this respect - there isn't (and never has been, it's not just that you can't build them yourself) a Refinery type, so both the Extraction and the Industrial settlements can produce refined goods on occasion.

Their production is always restricted to a fairly small subset of all possible commodities for their economy, so you probably just got lucky here (combined with the recent massive boosts in CMM market capacity, which meant that probably previously if an Odyssey settlement was going to produce CMM, it didn't get enough to put a tonne on the market)

what we read and what it actually does when we do it is another diff ball game though, people have replicated what npc system has. and no cmm in sight, or the station do not produce items at all, or totally random results. example The guy above has his industrial settlement producing cmm, the other guy do not, mine do not also. (assuming they all built it on HMCW like i did.)

i do not think asking for some clarification on information from fdev is too far a stretch to accommodate?

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

sorry stupid question. the increase in cost of T2/T3 installations... is that within the same system or does that pass onto the next system as well?