System architect needs more control

[Frode8228]

The system architect needs more control over the construction process, and especially completion of the primary port.

Sometimes you have to create a bridge of colonized systems to reach a target system. And there's nothing more frustrating than having another CMDR swoop in last minute to complete the construction and claim the target system!

This could be prevented if for instance the system architect can limit access to the colonisation ship in the same way as with carriers. Or maybe by having a confirmation mechanics that lets the architect decide when the primary port goes online, similar to when handing in wing missions.

 

[Greasetrap42]

Or maybe by having a confirmation mechanics that lets the architect decide when the primary port goes online, similar to when handing in wing missions.

I am curious if anybody knows. Is it only the System Architect that gets to press this button, or whoever delivers the last load of commodities?

Edit: And what happens if cmdr doesn't press the button? There is no Yes/No/Later option. I suppose relogging is the only way to escape the message? Has anybody tried this?

 

[aRJay]

I am curious if anybody knows. Is it only the System Architect that gets to press this button, or whoever delivers the last load of commodities?

The one who delivers the last load, I am not yet an architect but have pressed the button twice, the first time with some trepidation as I didn’t want to mess things up for the architect.

Edit: And what happens if cmdr doesn't press the button? There is no Yes/No/Later option. I suppose relogging is the only way to escape the message? Has anybody tried this?

I didn’t try but did wonder if hitting escape would work, relogging didn’t occur to me.

View attachment 427231

 

[Greasetrap42]

The one who delivers the last load

Well that sucks. I assumed the architect gets to do the ribbon cutting ceremony. But any homeless hobo can show up, deliver the last couple loads of aluminum and get the glory of activating a station?

That's really poor. For the primary station... and any station really. If I just spent the last 4 weeks building an Orbis station, I should definitely be the one to activate it.



Edit:
The System Architect should definitely be the person that activates any new facility. Not some rando. And the System Archetect should be given the opportunity to be the first to access the Colonization Contact.

 

[SteveWW57]

Not a new suggestion. Been fairly well hashed out, and part of the rationale put forward is to allow "first dibs" on a system that the architect wants.

 

[aRJay]

Well that sucks. I assumed the architect gets to do the ribbon cutting ceremony. But any homeless hobo can show up, deliver the last couple loads of aluminum and get the glory of activating a station.

That's really poor. For the primary station... and any station really. If I just spent the last 4 weeks building an Orbis station, I should definitely be the one to activate it.

Which was why I was feeling trepidation the first time and that image from your screenshot appeared, both occasions were primary stations.
However as that screenshot and a few messages about the colonisation ship preparing to depart are all the celebration provided for the event, the architect doesn’t miss much.

 

[Greasetrap42]

Which was why I was feeling trepidation the first time and that image from your screenshot appeared, both occasions were primary stations.
However as that screenshot and a few messages about the colonisation ship preparing to depart are all the celebration provided for the event, the architect doesn’t miss much.

A few days ago I finished my Ocellus, solo. It is the 19th facility in my system. It took me 4 weeks to build the Ocellus. If I showed up and found it activated by some rando I would have been really ticked off.

I am also really surprised the game doesn't handle this better. This is a video game. Accomplishments are part of video games. Players like me aren't asking for rewards for everything, but we should at least have the opportunity to see the final moment of a goal being accomplished.

 

[SteveWW57]

I think that we get a bit too attached to things in the game. Some achievements are more notable than others. Solo building a station is not comparable to, say, soloing some kind of thargoid. Some things fade in memory as time passes. As to building stations, there is a record of who has contributed.

 

[Greasetrap42]

I think that we get a bit too attached to things in the game. Some achievements are more notable than others. Solo building a station is not comparable to, say, soloing some kind of thargoid. Some things fade in memory as time passes. As to building stations, there is a record of who has contributed.

Your sentiment is reinforcing the idea that putting the time and effort into building a colony really is a worthless endeavor. If a cmdr not only fails to get any decent reward, but miss out on even witnessing the completion of several weeks of effort... that's pretty bad for a video game.

Regardless of the activity. It was player time and effort invested in a large activity. That I suppose is really a silly waste of time. Now you got me depressed.

 

[Doctor Dread]

But any homeless hobo can show up, deliver the last couple loads of aluminum and get the glory of activating a station?

Not only the glory of activation.
The station gets activated, so that homeless hobo can then snipe any system in it's range.

 

[Number7_menon]

A system in which the most contributed commander's effort and time is completely wasted is clearly a failure of design, and it is difficult to understand why it is left in place.

 

[Tifu]

A few days ago I finished my Ocellus, solo. It is the 19th facility in my system. It took me 4 weeks to build the Ocellus. If I showed up and found it activated by some rando I would have been really ticked off.

So would I

 

[metatheurgist]

Not your colony, not your carrier. Sometimes things don’t go your way.

But I'm the hero of the story!

 

[Raedawn]

Sometimes you have to create a bridge of colonized systems to reach a target system. And there's nothing more frustrating than having another CMDR swoop in last minute to complete the construction and claim the target system!

There is something VASTLY more insufferable. Someone chain spamming garbage systems they don't care about that another person might have put real effort into it but some garbage-dumper took if first.

 

[SteveWW57]

Your sentiment is reinforcing the idea that putting the time and effort into building a colony really is a worthless endeavor. If a cmdr not only fails to get any decent reward, but miss out on even witnessing the completion of several weeks of effort... that's pretty bad for a video game.

Regardless of the activity. It was player time and effort invested in a large activity. That I suppose is really a silly waste of time. Now you got me depressed.

I did not mean to suggest that putting time and effort into colonisation was worthless. On the contrary, I believe that it is worthwhile. I recognised that I need to step well back with regards to BGS and PP and remember that I am the architect and to avoid getting involved in the system/station control aspects. That is not to say that one day I might not dabble. With the explosion of new systems, especially out from the original bubble frontier, I suspect that there will be less BGS/PP activity. Some may like to colonise and play the BGS/PP once a system is colonised, and there is nothing wrong with that. They now have the ability to create and manage their own little "kingdom".

Haul, haul, and then haul some more.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

Frontier seem to have designed things specifically to make it hard for players to block others from making onward colonisations: you've got a very strict time limit on getting the first construction started with the beacon, and then one that it's possible to wait out (or potentially, haul to complete) if the Architect then doesn't finish it after that. Being able to collaborate on finishing a project is the point; they've said that they don't see this as a competitive feature, and players trying to build a competitive overlay on that isn't likely to be supported.

For any chain of a non-trivial size, there isn't any plausible level of protection that would stop someone even moderately organised branching off a system or two further back and still beating you to the final destination, if it was really that obvious a target.

If a cmdr not only fails to get any decent reward, but miss out on even witnessing the completion of several weeks of effort... that's pretty bad for a video game.

Though different people will have different views on that. If someone decides to finish off my half-done asteroid base while I'm not around, I'll be extremely surprised but I'm going to think "hey, half-price asteroid base" not "that's unfair, I was going to do that hauling", since I'll still get to see and use the end result.

A player group constructing things together isn't likely to find "the specific architect has to come back and press a button" all that helpful either: that just slows them down, especially if the architect for that system happens to be unavailable for a week or two unexpectedly.

 

[aRJay]

A system in which the most contributed commander's effort and time is completely wasted is clearly a failure of design, and it is difficult to understand why it is left in place.

And if the Architect’s biggest contribution to the system is placing the beacon after buying the license?
There are groups that have built primary ports where it is doubtful that anybody delivered more than one haul.
It can be complicated.

 

[Greasetrap42]

A player group constructing things together isn't likely to find "the specific architect has to come back and press a button" all that helpful either:

And if the Architect’s biggest contribution to the system is placing the beacon after buying the license?

The game is clearly designed for one System Architect per system. It is definitely implied that the player designated as the System Architect is the main controlling entity for the development of a colony.This Marketing Page for Colonization clearly states "how to build your own new colony and establish your place in Elite Dangerous’ galactic legacy". This page definitely implies a level of player agency.

Certainly the role of the System Architect is flaky. There are certain basic things as architect they don't have 'architect' control over[1].

It appears the only role the System Architect has is:
1) Be the lucky one to reserve a system and deploy a beacon.
2) Responsible for ensuring the first facility gets built in 4 weeks.
3) Ability to initiate the build of additional prefabbed facilities (not necessarily in the intended location)
4) Ability to name stations.

Anything else is loosey-goosey. So are they the System Architect or not? Does a player have the implied agency?



[1] Examples:

• Specific placement location of facilities. Primary outpost, ringed planets and asteroid fields.
• Intended economy of various facilities.
• Intended services provided at facilities.
• Factions that are initially invited into the system.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

The game is clearly designed for one System Architect per system.

It's designed to support solo architects, yes - multiplayer and especially organised multiplayer remains optional, the galaxy remains far larger than the active player base can fill, so requiring colonisation to be tied to a group either formally or through much higher tonnage requirements wouldn't have been popular. On the other hand, the T3 constructions (and to an extent the T2 ports) certainly have tonnages which expect group completion even if there are a few individuals capable of doing them solo in a reasonable timescale, and many of the more interesting projects so far have only been possible as group work.

That you can't share the architect role even if you want to, sure, that's a mild inconvenience - though since 99% of the work is the hauling itself which anyone can do, and clicking the "set up new project" button on an established colony doesn't even require you to be in-system for orbitals, only a mild one.

Examples:

• Specific placement location of facilities around ringed planets and asteroids.
• Intended economy of various facilities.
• Intended services provided at facilities.

Sure - there's certainly a bunch of stuff which is either undocumented or broken or both at the moment, especially on the "what do all these system variables mean?" and "will this facility actually activate properly on completion?" sides. But that's just as undocumented and broken whether you're building solo or putting together a system as a group.

 

[Greasetrap42]

Sure - there's certainly a bunch of stuff which is either undocumented or broken or both at the moment, especially on the "what do all these system variables mean?" and "will this facility actually activate properly on completion?" sides. But that's just as undocumented and broken whether you're building solo or putting together a system as a group.

No, not bugs or poor documentation. Some are exasperated by bugs, but programming (or lack of programming) intention is obvious.

That you can't share the architect role even if you want to, sure, that's a mild inconvenience

No. This isn't to be waved off as a mild inconvenience. It is a core design element of the Colonization update. Please review This Marketing Page for Colonization. This absolutely implies repeatedly that the individual player takes on the role of System Architect and given the agency to create a colony. It is absolutely an intended core idea.

Edit: That other players can assist - yes. But absolutely. But nothing coming close to sharing System Architect roles. And IMO activating a new facility is definitly a System Architect role.