When Outposts / Colonies Are Built - THEN This Game Will Have a Point

[Wicz]

When people can plant a flag somewhere, and develop a planetary outpost - the game will have a point.

I don't agree.

It WILL matter which political affiliation controls the system and you'll have to work to preserve it or you may incur fines or attacks from rivals.

I get more than enough politics in real life thanks.

It WILL matter which major faction is in control or you'll get caught up in a war.

It may matter to you, but I'm just not interested in anything like this.

It WILL matter how much money you have because you WILL need it to defend and supply your outposts.

I log in and play to relax, not for more stress.

It WILL be fun to manage and upgrade your station. You'll need to earn cash to keep the outpost going until it can provide for itself.

I don't want a station, there are plenty to choose from already.

YOU WILL have a goal of growing an empire and forming alliances with players.

I don't want to build an empire. If I did I would play a game that was based around building an empire, and I can form alliances by talking to people.

You CAN set up farms to produce foodstuff for nearby planets that are starving.

Farmville sucks!

You CAN provide ore and other vital resources needed in the production of war material.

You can do this now.

You CAN set up contracts to provide certain amounts of goods to be delivered to certain factories and stations / outposts. If you do not deliver your reputation will suffer.

In a similiar way to the current missions?

Exploration will have a purpose.

I can't really comment on this as I haven't done any yet.

So much will have a purpose if they can just set up some sort of ground based outpost system, even if it is a mini game of building structures with its own interface and does not involved planetary landings. I mean this could be developed as an entirely separate module.

I genuinely have no interest at all in any of this, but apparently small asteroid bases are planned/being discussed.

But nope... WINGS are more important than adding depth, and purpose to the game.

Wings was clearly next on the list and it will add depth, not that I'm particularly interested in it myself.

 

[Colonel Kenney]

Owning a small outpost would be nice, yes. As outposts have limited docking capacity; it could- among other things- serve as a sort of home-base for wings.

Not to mention the whole PIRATE thing is a complete joke - we went from hidden asteroid pirate bases in the middle of nowhere with debris all over to a regular outpost with a silly red skull attached to it.

Being able to prop up your own mini-outposts would be great place to store all your stolen cargo and a safe place to dock and will be difficult for people to discover without being within a close proximity or if its position is sold and given away.

 

[Protoplasmic traveler]

The point is to have fun - I am having a lot of fun

 

[iain666]

If you own something.. you become invested.

I own a Cobra Mk III.

I'm not sure I want to manage a station, however much you tell me that it WILL be fun, whether I like it or not.

 

[ape808]

Can't be done in an instanced game. Your outpost would only exist for you.

 

[OamodSias]

When people can plant a flag somewhere, and develop a planetary outpost - the game will have a point. If you own something.. you become invested.

You mean people don't own their multi-million-credit ships?

In ED you set your own purpose, not have it given to you. No disrespect, but if you're expecting FD to give you a purpose in this game, then it's probably best to uninstall and move on.

 

[Colonel Kenney]

What point is there to a sandbox if you don't have any tools to shape the sand? Right now we are in the sahara and without even a bottle of water.

 

[Armour]

I like the idea of being able to own a piece of the mining rights for your discoveries - that would provide a real incentive to explore.

Also, it might be nice to buy into a new station, or one that has recently been taken over by a new faction. You could get some kind of shareholder discount for the duration of your ownership, coupled with a slice of the various rental fees accrued. Outright ownership wouldn't be possible (and would be insanely expensive anyway), but being one of many investors seems like it should work. Of course, if the station switched owners, you would almost certainly lose your shareholding, but them's the breaks - risk vs reward.

 

[Danube]

The point is - the game will have a point. Political affiliations don't mean anything. Flipping systems to different factions don't mean anything. There is no profit no real gain from any of it. There is no point. There is no desire or emotional investment into anything in this game.

If you own something.. you become invested. Especially if something you own is related to a particular faction.

The game HAS a point, and it has done so since the game's release in 1984. I do own something - my ship. It is my home, my business and my means of defence... and offense. It is my mobile outpost, you could say. I am emotionally attached to it and so are all the other players who have posted stories of success and disaster, both epic and mundane.

What YOU want in an an Elite game isn't always what anyone else wants. What you want would be found in Eve Online, which I also play. I like Elite because of the adrenalin rush and fast-paced gameplay and I don't want another game along the lines of Eve.

 

[bamber]

Given that a well armed anaconda will cost you the wrong side of 500,000,000CR what would you put the cost of a basic outpost at? 5,000,000,000,000 seems fair

Good luck with that and the insurance

 

[OamodSias]

I like the idea of being able to own a piece of the mining rights for your discoveries - that would provide a real incentive to explore.

Also, it might be nice to buy into a new station, or one that has recently been taken over by a new faction. You could get some kind of shareholder discount for the duration of your ownership, coupled with a slice of the various rental fees accrued. Outright ownership wouldn't be possible (and would be insanely expensive anyway), but being one of many investors seems like it should work. Of course, if the station switched owners, you would almost certainly lose your shareholding, but them's the breaks - risk vs reward.

I like the ideas. FD don't want stations and the like, but I can't see why a wealthy pilot couldn't invest in outposts and such; with a chance to lose massive amounts of credits if something happens, or, on the flip-side to earn massive amounts of credits; or sell his stock on a stock market. You never own a station, but you can buy up to say 49% of the shares (the price varying on location, profitability, system safety etc).

 

[Tod]

Will your outpost be able to play in SOLO mode so that no one can interact with it in case they damage it or trade something and make your figures change in a way you don't like?

 

[Colonel Kenney]

The game HAS a point, and it has done so since the game's release in 1984. I do own something - my ship. It is my home, my business and my means of defence... and offense. It is my mobile outpost, you could say. I am emotionally attached to it and so are all the other players who have posted stories of success and disaster, both epic and mundane.

What YOU want in an an Elite game isn't always what anyone else wants. What you want would be found in Eve Online, which I also play. I like Elite because of the adrenalin rush and fast-paced gameplay and I don't want another game along the lines of Eve.

Your ship is not invested in any political party or faction. It can move about freely. A station/outpost cannot. It forces you to choose a side and stick by it.

 

[atak2]

Totally up for anything that gives the player more interaction with the universe - multicrewed ships, player factions, player outposts, player stations, player systems and even player planets.

 

[Daud]

"I don't want to manage an outpost!!"

Okay. Even if this feature was implemented; no one would force you to do anything. You'd have still have the freedom to stay in your ship- most of which are large enough to be considered homes in their own respect.

 

[Armour]

Your ship is not invested in any political party or faction. It can move about freely. A station/outpost cannot. It forces you to choose a side and stick by it.

Why would anyone want to be forced to choose a side? Sounds very much like sneaking in clans/guilds via the back door to me. Besides, you are a pilot, that's the game. Travelling about is kind of the point. Tying the player to a specific anchor point (or set of them) goes against the stated gameplay IMO.

Also, it won't work, because instancing. (Eventually this fact will sink in hopefully, and these kinds of threads will die down a bit.)

 

[Deleted member 38366]

Except its already been decided that there will not be player-owned stations or outposts.

So the Galaxy will remain a 99.9999% empty void with no purpose outside of filling up the Galaxy Map with dots. Got that.

At the current level and speed of "Central Planning" controlled expansion - we'll see very valuable Systems explored by Players 500LY away being occupied... sometime around the turn of this century I guess.
Oh wait! The Game will be long-forgotten and dead by that time... cancel that statement.

 

[Colonel Kenney]

So the Galaxy will remain a 99.9999% empty void with no purpose outside of filling up the Galaxy Map with dots. Got that.

Understood.

 

[atak2]

So the Galaxy will remain a 99.9999% empty void with no purpose outside of filling up the Galaxy Map with dots. Got that.

Thats my take on it too.

More npc stuff can go some way to filling up the galaxy with scripted encounters but in order for the universe to truly feel alive the players are needed to create the unexpected.

 

[Duckfather]

I'd be happy buying / renting a condo on an orbital. One of those new fangled Orbis ones, so I could look out of my bedroom window at the view out of the habitat ring and welcome the new dawn