Frontline Solutions desk is missing on all small outpost spacestations - the consequences

StefanOS · Apr 27, 2022

I know some did already wrote about this but I think its worth pointing it out again

All small outpost spacestations dont have a Frontline Solutions desk - despide some of them showing the Frontline Solutions service as ACTIVE in the system map.
Consequences
1. if you are in a system that has active warzones and ONLY small outpost spacestations you are unable to join and fight from the station and you must fly there in your own ship, no transport by Frontline Sollutions.
2. if you traveled to this system with APEX you are UNABLE TO get to the COMBAT ZONE as APEX cant bring you there. Without an own ship you cannot reach the warzone at all - GAME OVER on foot Commander

It looks like a oversight of the DEV's.
Have fun.

St0rmFury · Apr 27, 2022

Yeah, this is an annoyance whenever I want to do my weekly ARX farming. I only look for small settlements with high intensity CZ so any system without a large port is out.

Frop · Apr 27, 2022

St0rmFury said:
Yeah, this is an annoyance whenever I want to do my weekly ARX farming. I only look for small settlements with high intensity CZ so any system without a large port is out.

As a workaround, a lot of systems with outposts still have at least one surface port with Frontline.

Factabulous · Apr 27, 2022

Looks like around 2.7k systems out of 20k don't have FS, so ~13%. Variety is fine. Some places you can frontline, some you can't. Though I would have liked FS added to FC, then we could have had an option that involved gameplay.

Scarlet Viper · May 17, 2022

StefanOS said:
All small outpost spacestations dont have a Frontline Solutions desk

I've been pulling my hair out all night trying to figure out what I was doing wrong after the system I was in stopped showing conflict zones...

Are they so rare? They seem really hard to find near where I am in the bubble.. Even using EDDB to search for Civil War systems.. Thanks for posting this!

rOmiLaYu · May 17, 2022

This annoyed me, as well...until I thought about it a bit. A small outpost only has three landing pads. It isn't really feasible that a taxi ship company could operate in such confines. In a Coriolis station, sure. 40ish pads almost...but three? Nah...it makes sense.

Agony_Aunt · May 17, 2022

Just land at the combat zone in your own ship and join the fight. You don't have to take Frontline.

Frop · May 17, 2022

rOmiLaYu said:
This annoyed me, as well...until I thought about it a bit. A small outpost only has three landing pads. It isn't really feasible that a taxi ship company could operate in such confines. In a Coriolis station, sure. 40ish pads almost...but three? Nah...it makes sense.

They got Apex, don't they? And a medium landing pad for a Vulture dropship.

Agony_Aunt said:
Just land at the combat zone in your own ship and join the fight. You don't have to take Frontline.

Dunno about you, but visiting each and every CZ to figure out if there are any High Intensity ones is a bit of a chore in bigger systems.

Agony_Aunt · May 17, 2022

Frop said:
Dunno about you, but visiting each and every CZ to figure out if there are any High Intensity ones is a bit of a chore in bigger systems.

On the one hand yes. On the other hand, you want to hit every single settlement at least once anyway, since during wars it doesn't matter who wins the war overall to determine who gets the settlements, but how many CZs were won at each settlement.

You want to win all the settlements, so win at each one regardless of level.

Frop · May 17, 2022

Agony_Aunt said:
You want to win all the settlements, so win at each one regardless of level.

In case of anarchies, not really. Also, would be nice if you could see which settlements are going to which faction during the war.

Edit: And why would you with other government types anyway? They're just mission targets which in most cases only have negative BGS effects.

rOmiLaYu · May 17, 2022

Frop said:
They got Apex, don't they? And a medium landing pad for a Vulture dropship.

Eh...you got me there. Fair point.

Agony_Aunt · May 18, 2022

Frop said:
In case of anarchies, not really. Also, would be nice if you could see which settlements are going to which faction during the war.

Edit: And why would you with other government types anyway? They're just mission targets which in most cases only have negative BGS effects.

OP said nothing about being an anarchy faction.

As for the second part, ownership. The point of the BGS is control and ownership. Of course, if you play the BGS different, then you might not want all settlements, or any of them, you might even want to fight for the other side to ensure they are owned by someone else... in which case, you're still going to visit them

But it seems like you are arguing for argument's sake now.

The point is, in response to OPs question, you don't need Frontline to do ground CZ. Everything you've responded with so far has been a case of "But what about..."

Screemonster · May 18, 2022

Factabulous said:
Looks like around 2.7k systems out of 20k don't have FS, so ~13%. Variety is fine. Some places you can frontline, some you can't. Though I would have liked FS added to FC, then we could have had an option that involved gameplay.

I think the reason they don't have frontline (or apex) is due to the problems that could arise if the carrier were to move between the trip being booked and the taxi/shuttle landing.

metatheurgist · May 18, 2022

Frop said:
Dunno about you, but visiting each and every CZ to figure out if there are any High Intensity ones is a bit of a chore in bigger systems.

Seems the answer is for the Sysmap to show the intensity in that situation. Which would be a welcome addition.

Northpin · May 18, 2022

I dont think it's necessarily an oversight.
Ody is a DLC to Elite, not a standalone game where ships are not needed anymore.

StefanOS said:
2. if you traveled to this system with APEX you are UNABLE TO get to the COMBAT ZONE as APEX cant bring you there. Without an own ship you cannot reach the warzone at all - GAME OVER on foot Commander

Playing with no ship is possible, but it's limited in scope - as it should be.
In that system you mention, without a ship you cannot do any mission to planetary POIs since Apex will transport you only to settlements.

StefanOS said:
All small outpost spacestations dont have a Frontline Solutions desk - despide some of them showing the Frontline Solutions service as ACTIVE in the system map.
Consequences

Outposts are missing a lot of facilities. They dont have Starports
They dont have InterAstra nor Frontline Solutions nor Vista Genomics.
And it's OK (IMO)

StefanOS · May 18, 2022

Northpin said:
I dont think it's necessarily an oversight.
Ody is a DLC to Elite, not a standalone game where ships are not needed anymore.

Playing with no ship is possible, but it's limited in scope - as it should be.
In that system you mention, without a ship you cannot do any mission to planetary POIs since Apex will transport you only to settlements.

Outposts are missing a lot of facilities. They dont have Starports
They dont have InterAstra nor Frontline Solutions nor Vista Genomics.
And it's OK (IMO)

FD must decide what they want
a) add frontline solutions to outposts stations with CZ
or
b) dont add them - but then DONT show frontline solutions active on outposts stations in the system map

I guess b) is the solution with less work for FD, and therefore I expect this to be done.

Northpin · May 18, 2022

StefanOS said:
FD must decide what they want
a) add frontline solutions to outposts stations with CZ
or
b) dont add them - but then DONT show frontline solutions active on outposts stations in the system map

I guess b) is the solution with less work for FD, and therefore I expect this to be done.

I would say b) it's a bug, and we all know how fast minor bugs are fixed in ED.
Hint, usually they're not fixed. Not unless someone makes a big fuss about them and/or a gaming outlet like Polygon publishes an article about the said bugs.

However, this issue derives from a simple misunderstanding.
Apex is not a full replacement for player ships.

Apex has some advantages, but also a lot of limitations.
Whoever decides to use an Apex should at least make an effort and learn the said limitations.

Pretty much like learning that Outposts have some limitations (they lack large pads and they do lack a certain number of facilities present on Starports)

StefanOS · May 18, 2022

Northpin said:
However, this issue derives from a simple misunderstanding.
Apex is not a full replacement for player ships.

The issue did acure for me because frontline solutions is shown as active in the active service tab - and AFAIR it shows more non existand services as active on outpost stations.
I understand that this is a BUG and it can be corrected in the system map.
Outposts have limited services, but I dont see a logic reason why it can have a bartender, APEX, missionboards, missiongivers, gunsales and other but no FS.
In systems whithout a spacestation it would be helpfull to have an active FS desk.
I dont think it helps to argue that FS is not existand because outpost stations must have some limitations - following this logic we could disable other services too as not essential or needed.
I prefer to add options and possibilities and not to remove or prevent them.

Factabulous · May 18, 2022

StefanOS said:
The issue did acure for me because frontline solutions is shown as active in the active service tab - and AFAIR it shows more non existand services as active on outpost stations.
I understand that this is a BUG and it can be corrected in the system map.
Outposts have limited services, but I dont see a logic reason why it can have a bartender, APEX, missionboards, missiongivers, gunsales and other but no FS.
In systems whithout a spacestation it would be helpfull to have an active FS desk.
I dont think it helps to argue that FS is not existand because outpost stations must have some limitations - following this logic we could disable other services too as not essential or needed.
I prefer to add options and possibilities and not to remove or prevent them.

Wouldn't the galaxy be a more boring place if the same services were everywhere? Following your logic then why not have prisons on every outpost, and all the tech brokers, and traders, and interstellar factors, and black markets, even the Founders discount, etc etc.

Both extremes are absurd, all combinations are arguable. Sure, the list of services should reflect what is present, but there is no logical objective 'Frontline should be here' - it's all just opinions.

Personally I'm ok with how it is - means that I have to think for a few seconds when there is no Starport in the system. But there are the surface bases that also have FS. Or as others have said, just visit the CZ. Or just go somewhere else, plenty of conflicts.

Frop · May 18, 2022

Agony_Aunt said:
But it seems like you are arguing for argument's sake now.

(...) Everything you've responded with so far has been a case of "But what about..."

Not sure what warranted this as you replied to me in the first place, but sure.