I've been playing a huge amount of Stellaris, more than any man should, and one thing I like about their pirates is that they attack and destroy mining stations rather than trade ships. I'm certainly not asking for FD to take away trade ships and I know they would never do that, but the idea of stationary targets sounds nice.
Currently, however, the equivalent to a Stellaris mining station is an Elite: Dangerous outpost, which is a static object in the game world that cannot be destroyed. And, of course, it shouldn't be without at the very least massive effort - they're expensive and strategic, and we don't have centuries to build the Human Empire as we do in Stellaris.
What if we could find stockpiles of resources and pirate outposts, similar to planetary outposts, in space? Defeat the defenses, land, take any cargo and/or stored credits, and be on your way. Or, perhaps, these stockpiles could be heavily guarded, defended by groups of hostile pirates or a bounty hunter hideout, with larger payouts, rare items and more held within? or, on the lower end, these resources could be a few turret mounts stuck to a bundle of cargo containers that you'd have to blow apart to get at the meager scraps within.
Not only would these stationary locations add flavor and backstory to the star systems and regions they grace, but they would open up new venues for missions (for the very largest pirate outposts and most heavily defended stockpiles), and they'd enable easy, plannable goals to achieve with some friends. Right now, piracy is a bit of a chancey profession (and I'm not arguing that that's a bad thing), which makes it difficult for a group of friends to plan ahead for it - I like to hop onto ED for a half hour at a time here or there, and organizing a group to go pirating takes longer than that.
A stationary object that can be raided would be a very fresh new gameplay option. New connections to factions, backstories for regions, plentiful rewards, et cetera.
Currently, however, the equivalent to a Stellaris mining station is an Elite: Dangerous outpost, which is a static object in the game world that cannot be destroyed. And, of course, it shouldn't be without at the very least massive effort - they're expensive and strategic, and we don't have centuries to build the Human Empire as we do in Stellaris.
What if we could find stockpiles of resources and pirate outposts, similar to planetary outposts, in space? Defeat the defenses, land, take any cargo and/or stored credits, and be on your way. Or, perhaps, these stockpiles could be heavily guarded, defended by groups of hostile pirates or a bounty hunter hideout, with larger payouts, rare items and more held within? or, on the lower end, these resources could be a few turret mounts stuck to a bundle of cargo containers that you'd have to blow apart to get at the meager scraps within.
Not only would these stationary locations add flavor and backstory to the star systems and regions they grace, but they would open up new venues for missions (for the very largest pirate outposts and most heavily defended stockpiles), and they'd enable easy, plannable goals to achieve with some friends. Right now, piracy is a bit of a chancey profession (and I'm not arguing that that's a bad thing), which makes it difficult for a group of friends to plan ahead for it - I like to hop onto ED for a half hour at a time here or there, and organizing a group to go pirating takes longer than that.
A stationary object that can be raided would be a very fresh new gameplay option. New connections to factions, backstories for regions, plentiful rewards, et cetera.
