I've anticipated base building for a long time. The recently released colonization gameplay isn't the base building I had in mind, but it is still a neat feature of Elite. However, some of the costs (in time and tonnage) to complete construction projects are steep for a solo player. I assume the developers set the values for the larger starports (e.g. Coriolis) and settlements with collaborative effort in mind. This is reasonable; for a group of friends and/or a squadron, these projects are far less daunting and fun.
My suggestion is to implement a form of "goods subsidy" (I couldn't think of a better term for this) for solo players. Using this subsidy, the expanding faction contributes a certain percentage of the colonization/development efforts. For example, an outpost currently costs ~20,000 tons. After the subsidy is applied, perhaps the total supplied goods by the player is ~15,000 (25% reduction). Higher tier projects receive a larger subsidy in terms of percentage (e.g. Coriolis receives ~33% reduction, Orbis ~40%). The subsidy is applied during the claims process (for expansion) and in the "set down" phase in a newly colonized but developing system. Once the subsidy is applied, no other commander may contribute to the project. This is done to prevent abuse of the subsidy system. However, a subsidy can be removed once. Upon removal, the values to complete the project are returned to normal, and any commander can contribute. A subsidy cannot be applied twice to the same project (again, to prevent abuse).
A group of players who wish to work together to develop systems will not be affected by this change.
The subsidy achieves cheaper costs for the solo player without impacting the balance already struck by the developers. Future balancing efforts for two categories of players (solo and social) are avoided, because the modifier is a percentage of the "social" balance values.
My suggestion is to implement a form of "goods subsidy" (I couldn't think of a better term for this) for solo players. Using this subsidy, the expanding faction contributes a certain percentage of the colonization/development efforts. For example, an outpost currently costs ~20,000 tons. After the subsidy is applied, perhaps the total supplied goods by the player is ~15,000 (25% reduction). Higher tier projects receive a larger subsidy in terms of percentage (e.g. Coriolis receives ~33% reduction, Orbis ~40%). The subsidy is applied during the claims process (for expansion) and in the "set down" phase in a newly colonized but developing system. Once the subsidy is applied, no other commander may contribute to the project. This is done to prevent abuse of the subsidy system. However, a subsidy can be removed once. Upon removal, the values to complete the project are returned to normal, and any commander can contribute. A subsidy cannot be applied twice to the same project (again, to prevent abuse).
A group of players who wish to work together to develop systems will not be affected by this change.
The subsidy achieves cheaper costs for the solo player without impacting the balance already struck by the developers. Future balancing efforts for two categories of players (solo and social) are avoided, because the modifier is a percentage of the "social" balance values.
