How could player-owned outposts / bases work?

[Cmdr Travers]

Like many players I'd love to buy able to buy and build my own outposts and bases? I've often thought though how this might work, so thought I'd open a thread on it to see what your ideas are?

I think before you start there would be factors such as...

• Finding the right planet / moon, especially if you'll be setting up a mining colony or wanting to attract an Engineer
• Choosing the right system, where factors such as superpower, factions, overall stability etc. come into play, especially as you can't move the base afterwards
• Obtaining the necessary permits from controlling system powers

Then when you have your base or outpost set up there are plenty of other considerations...

• Do you need to stick around the area to defend it from attack?
• Can you employ guards / pilots (both NPC and player) to keep the place safe, and what restrictions would there be?
• How do you attract the right types of traders to build a profit on commodities?
• What other facilities might you be able to offer for pilots and visitors?
• What would the situation be regards takeovers, both political and military?

The more I think about player bases the more I want one, but this feature (if ever implemented) could end up being a full game in itself.

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

All Your Base Are Belong To Us!



I can imagine it being a collosal nightmare, logistically.

Can someone attack your base in a different mode?
How do you defend against that if they do?
Can they even be destroyed, or are the like the current stations?
Is the cake truly a lie?

SO MANY QUESTIONS!

 

[Flavourless]

I don't want to see player property ownership in Elite. Its not an Empire building game.

The instancing makes it difficult too, as we have a shared galaxy.
If your base is destroyed in my instance, what happens to it in another instance (where it might not even be under attack)?

 

[Crank Larson]

How could player-owned outposts / bases work?

Badly. While I do think that we need to be able to store stuff somewhere (primarily materials and mission cargo), I don't think that player owned major assets will add anything to this game, and are more likely to cause aggravation.

 

[Cmdr Travers]

Can someone attack your base in a different mode?

That's a very good question!

I don't want to see player property ownership in Elite. Its not an Empire building game.

The instancing makes it difficult too, as we have a shared galaxy.
If your base is destroyed in my instance, what happens to it in another instance (where it might not even be under attack)?

Well a system in lockdown, is in lockdown in Open, Solo and all player groups, so there's the answer to that. Regards empire building, we might not be able to fly more than one at a time, but we can build fleets, and ownership of Capital Ships is acknowledged as being on the roadmap... so...

 

[Jaffz]

I want to see player property ownership in Elite.

Me too! The game needs to be fleshed out, everyone knows this. Imagine the possibilities

 

[Cmdr Travers]

Me too! The game needs to be fleshed out, everyone knows this. Imagine the possibilities

Stop misquoting people

 

[Hellakitty]

Ownership of Capital Ships? I thought executive control was planned? Big difference there. The top dog at the helm of an aircraft carrier doesn't actually own the ship now, does he?

 

[Cmdr Travers]

Ownership of Capital Ships? I thought executive control was planned? Big difference there. The top dog at the helm of an aircraft carrier doesn't actually own the ship now, does he?

Maybe I misunderstood that bit then

 

[masCh]

I would definitely love this.

Let's say you can invest in patrol ships and maybe even station turrets. They're controlled by NPC. But they can defend your outpost while you're not there.. Buy 3-4 corvettes/cutters, FdL & pythons and a few light fighters to patrol. You'll have to have a lot of money to buy these ships, and you'll have to spare some for their insurances.

 

[Cmdr Travers]

I would definitely love this.

Let's say you can invest in patrol ships and maybe even station turrets. They're controlled by NPC. But they can defend your outpost while you're not there.. Buy 3-4 corvettes/cutters, FdL & pythons and a few light fighters to patrol. You'll have to have a lot of money to buy these ships, and you'll have to spare some for their insurances.

I suppose the idea would be you could start with a very small base, and a few skimmers, and expand both the base and its defences over time. That would be tremendous fun

 

[askavir]

All Your Base Are Belong To Us!



I can imagine it being a collosal nightmare, logistically.

Can someone attack your base in a different mode?
How do you defend against that if they do?
Can they even be destroyed, or are the like the current stations?
Is the cake truly a lie?

SO MANY QUESTIONS!

But the ultimate question is: what would be the point?

 

[Blackcompany]

Or...You know...Jus don't make bases something you can attack and destroy. I mean, seriously, what purpose would it serve to destroy a player base, that would make the logistical nightmare of facilitating it worth the time?

You're talking Open/PG/Solo, multiple instance presence, matching the owner to attackers if the owner is online regardless of their game mode because anything else isn't fair while attackers whine about being in solo and owners claim (rightly) their bases shouldn't show in others solo modes while those solo player say "much immershun" or its equivalent...

What could you gain from attacks on player bases, that you'd be willing to see FDEV put aside other dev stuff, to slog through THAT nightmare for probably months to a year or more?

Think about it REAL hard.

 

[Cmdr Travers]

Or...You know...Jus don't make bases something you can attack and destroy. I mean, seriously, what purpose would it serve to destroy a player base, that would make the logistical nightmare of facilitating it worth the time?

You're talking Open/PG/Solo, multiple instance presence, matching the owner to attackers if the owner is online regardless of their game mode because anything else isn't fair while attackers whine about being in solo and owners claim (rightly) their bases shouldn't show in others solo modes while those solo player say "much immershun" or its equivalent...

What could you gain from attacks on player bases, that you'd be willing to see FDEV put aside other dev stuff, to slog through THAT nightmare for probably months to a year or more?

Think about it REAL hard.

If we look at it logically though, how would a Cmdr in game know a base was player-owned? We don't have to advertise the fact in the details. It's also possible that a player could ally his base with a faction and have them help protect the place.

Currently though it's just not possible to destroy a base, and this shouldn't change. You can damage them though, by attacking the power generator or by firing dumbfire missiles. This would require repair costs that would eat into any profit made. There has to be risk to appreciate reward.

To be honest though, I can't remember the last time I attacked a base. Given how infrequently you run into another player, even in Open, it's very unlikely a player would launch a devastating attack on another player base in any event.

 

[Mengy]

I think it could be implemented fairly well honestly, as long as player owned bases and outposts were very small ragtag operations compared to the fixed Frontier placed locations. Allowing a base building and business operation dynamic to Elite could really add some incredible flavor to the game IMHO, while also giving the rich players things to spend their money on. No players should outright own Coriolis stations though, that would just be ridiculous.

Now, do I have confidence that Frontier could implement this in a positive way with interactive, engaging, and rewarding game mechanics? Um, lately, yeah I'm not so sure anymore....[blah]

 

[Cmdr Travers]

Eh, I think it could be implemented fairly well honestly, as long as player owned bases and outposts were very small ragtag operations compared to the fixed Frontier placed locations. Allowing a base building and business operation dynamic to Elite could really add some incredible flavor to the game IMHO, while also giving the rich players things to spend their money on. No players should outright own Coriolis stations though, that would just be ridiculous.

Now, do I have confidence that Frontier could implement this in a positive way with interactive, engaging, and rewarding game mechanics? Um, lately, yeah I'm not so sure anymore....[blah]

Start small, maybe in the future build on it slowly over the years by adding a little more here and there...

Horizons anybody?

 

[Blackcompany]

Start small, maybe in the future build on it slowly over the years by adding a little more here and there...

Horizons anybody?

But would it be worth it? This is a game about flying ships in space. Something we do Little enough of already. Why spend months on yet another feature that downplays that?

 

[Cmdr Travers]

But would it be worth it? This is a game about flying ships in space. Something we do Little enough of already. Why spend months on yet another feature that downplays that?

...to give players more choice, and more to do? Just throwing this out there

 

[Blackcompany]

...to give players more choice, and more to do? Just throwing this out there

But how does owning a stationary base give us something more to do?

I built a base in NMS. A half hour later, I left the planet. Haven't seen that base since, got no use for it ever again. So again...Why bother?

Just like asteroid bases, megaships, etc...It's fluff. Stuff to look at. It doesn't affect the game we play in any way. It's just dev time spent on things to look at.

We need game play, not eye candy.

 

[Cmdr Travers]

But how does owning a stationary base give us something more to do?

I built a base in NMS. A half hour later, I left the planet. Haven't seen that base since, got no use for it ever again. So again...Why bother?

Just like asteroid bases, megaships, etc...It's fluff. Stuff to look at. It doesn't affect the game we play in any way. It's just dev time spent on things to look at.

We need game play, not eye candy.

There are various reasons for players to own their own base(s), but how these work would depend on how such a feature would be implemented into the game.

It could be just to make money, it could be to support a faction, or to support colonisation outside the bubble. It could be as a staging post between bubbles, or maybe just the most basic reason... because you can!?