0 - Preamble
Hey guys, this is a thread that provides a shortlist of candidate worlds with planetary ports on which to "settle". Read the full post for my reasoning, or if you just want to skip to the good stuff, go to section 1 and skip section 2.
A screenshot album of all ports is available here.
1 - The List
Scenic Planetary Port Shortlist
The candidates in this list all have these properties in common (i.e. they were searched by scrutiny of these properties ONLY)
2- Further detail
A little while ago, I started looking for a little corner of the galaxy to settle on. Not necessarily to work at - Elite is about ships, really, and since most all of us are fairly itinerant due to the nature of...well, flying around the galaxy I realized that a "home" system shouldn't really have to contain a lot of things I would normally look for in a place of "work".
For example, the bounty hunters among you will be looking for RES's, the traders by default have trade routes, explorers don't have a choice about staying in-system, and Mercs tend to go where the CZs are. Even in the case of outfitting or buying new ships, I almost expect to have to travel to get what I need.
Additionally, I myself have a policy of "don't s*** where you eat." By which I mean I try to avoid RES hunting in one place for long, given that eventually, a faction will turn hostile and attack on sight, losing me that valuable element of surprise that is so often relied on by RES hunters, especially if you're flying a ship that is under-powered compared to some of your opponents.
So, I realized I had only a few requirements. To accommodate the new ship/module storage and transfer options available in 2.2, the stations should, at minimum contain outfitting and shipyard facilities. Obviously refuel, restock, repair are definitely required. A Large landing pad too, since I needed to park the corvette somewhere. But most importantly, the place I had to have needed to be somewhat *interesting*. A place that, in a galaxy full of wonders, was beautiful and where launching didn't get old. And for that, I needed scenery.
Now at the time, 2.2 hadn't dropped, so I couldn't use the new planetary map functionality to see if the ports I found were near surface features of interest, like mountains or canyons.
On the other hand, I could use galaxy map information, coupled with an exploration ship to determine points of interest - looking at a planetary map can tell you a LOT about whether a planet, and therefore a port, is likely to have something interesting in the sky.
So, first I used eddb.io to generate a list of all available ports that matched those criteria, as well as being no more than 10,000 ls (about 5 min flight time) from their system arrival point. This yielded 471 candidates, which I have, through both remote and direct exploration, narrowed to 18 potential candidates. The stations are scattered throughout the bubble, and contain ports underneath planetary ring systems, ports with tidally locked gas giants nearby, and even a couple with tidally locked earthlikes.
Now, for my next trick...low orbit Orbis stations!
Hey guys, this is a thread that provides a shortlist of candidate worlds with planetary ports on which to "settle". Read the full post for my reasoning, or if you just want to skip to the good stuff, go to section 1 and skip section 2.
A screenshot album of all ports is available here.
1 - The List
Scenic Planetary Port Shortlist
The candidates in this list all have these properties in common (i.e. they were searched by scrutiny of these properties ONLY)
- Must be "scenic", needing some PERMANENTLY visible sky feature - rings, or a BIG tidally locked body IN orbit or BEING orbited.
- Must be type "Planetary Port", these are the big ringed surface ports that are the largest ground cities in the game.
- Must be able to accommodate all ships (i.e. largest pad size must be L)
- Must contain the following facilities:
- Outfitting (Module storage/transfer)
- Shipyard (ship storage/transfer)
- Refuel
- Restock
- Repair
- Must be WITHIN 10,000 ls flight time from arrival point (no more than about 5 min from entry)
2- Further detail
A little while ago, I started looking for a little corner of the galaxy to settle on. Not necessarily to work at - Elite is about ships, really, and since most all of us are fairly itinerant due to the nature of...well, flying around the galaxy I realized that a "home" system shouldn't really have to contain a lot of things I would normally look for in a place of "work".
For example, the bounty hunters among you will be looking for RES's, the traders by default have trade routes, explorers don't have a choice about staying in-system, and Mercs tend to go where the CZs are. Even in the case of outfitting or buying new ships, I almost expect to have to travel to get what I need.
Additionally, I myself have a policy of "don't s*** where you eat." By which I mean I try to avoid RES hunting in one place for long, given that eventually, a faction will turn hostile and attack on sight, losing me that valuable element of surprise that is so often relied on by RES hunters, especially if you're flying a ship that is under-powered compared to some of your opponents.
So, I realized I had only a few requirements. To accommodate the new ship/module storage and transfer options available in 2.2, the stations should, at minimum contain outfitting and shipyard facilities. Obviously refuel, restock, repair are definitely required. A Large landing pad too, since I needed to park the corvette somewhere. But most importantly, the place I had to have needed to be somewhat *interesting*. A place that, in a galaxy full of wonders, was beautiful and where launching didn't get old. And for that, I needed scenery.
Now at the time, 2.2 hadn't dropped, so I couldn't use the new planetary map functionality to see if the ports I found were near surface features of interest, like mountains or canyons.
On the other hand, I could use galaxy map information, coupled with an exploration ship to determine points of interest - looking at a planetary map can tell you a LOT about whether a planet, and therefore a port, is likely to have something interesting in the sky.
So, first I used eddb.io to generate a list of all available ports that matched those criteria, as well as being no more than 10,000 ls (about 5 min flight time) from their system arrival point. This yielded 471 candidates, which I have, through both remote and direct exploration, narrowed to 18 potential candidates. The stations are scattered throughout the bubble, and contain ports underneath planetary ring systems, ports with tidally locked gas giants nearby, and even a couple with tidally locked earthlikes.
Now, for my next trick...low orbit Orbis stations!
