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

[medwyn]

I'm just wondering where the devil lies in these arguments.
I see that the main philosophy behind ED is being a lonely pilot in a vast universe. It's easy to understand. And if I read it in a book it may be well enough for a tale.
But being part of a game which requires the pilot be passive like reading a book is different. Because this is a game where effect and counter effect gives the play.

I see this argument returning saying "In Elite you as a pilot should not have any influence on the galaxy" which then leads to EVE and classic MMO comparisons. And it's fine. As a pilot I don't want to be in a power to influence anything galaxywide, it's not a hero-game.
But as a game it may be relevant to expect some sort of content which puts the play in perspective. Something pilots can influence on their level and can do interactions for it or against it. To be able to shape and manage a resourceful chunk of something worth playing for. In other successful games (MMOs too) there are multiple layers of tools and aims/goals a player can take and that keep them coming back to do the same over and over again. It's all repetitive and grindful but as the environment, the possibilities and the aims are adjusted with every action, replayability is there with passion.

In ED the tool and the aim is only the ship. I still understand that this is a space game and the player is not a hero but even then it's not going to be enough. If we want to call it a game genuinely it'll need multiple layers of contents which reflects to the status of the pilot and has a coherence behind: that's needed to set up a meaningful goal. An new ship may be a goal and then another one. But if I can only do the same with them, the motivation to get the next is significantly low. That's why people here are trying to bring ideas ED could implement to fill up that huge gap. May it be a player owned base or a clan or whatever - all because without properly scaled contents players can influence, ED is not more a game than a wooden peg. Of course it's beautiful but still a peg.

I know I can not prevent anyone not to consider this and go on with the "this is not X or Y game"-kind of approach. They are right actually because ED is not a game at all. I would like to see ED as a game.

 

[atak2]

atak2; thank you for bringing up one of my bugaboos with 'player factions';-your post: "If solo players in open/solo/group were unhappy with a trade route cut off by a player/npc faction they could lobby (with credits) one of the big AI factions to retake the system(s)."...This is certainly where (for the rest of us) this 'empire building' breaks down; It was always my concern...

In my opinion this solution is not adequate....The size of the ED galaxy will not prevent the damage to general ED play style. At some point in "Eve" type player faction buildup, large swaths of Solo and group play in the galaxy will not be available because free trade will virtually disappear. There should not be this block ("could lobby of a big AI faction") to regain control of my kind of game; ED game players should not have to arbitrate to play their game...Why is your kind of game more important than mine?

I know (you people) have this aching desire for "Eve" play in this game; But when it damages other play styles, FD will hear from us loudly and strongly...

I totally respect that - my ideas are not fleshed out enough to encompass all scenarios.

My perspective of these dreams is not actually from a large guild/station creator point of view.

The reason I would like to see these kind of things is to make the universe alive for me as a solitary player flying round the universe. I would like to see areas blockaded (temporarily otherwise the blockaded systems would become starved of funds from no trade and fall out of player hands into anarchy) because I would like things that cause me to pick a different trade route and explore other places than comfortable zones. For example if players or a hostile AI took over Eravate and other starter systems it would force me and other traders to move to a new section of the universe. This would make a whole new area player populated rather than just a limited area around the starter systems and change the scenery often for the player population.

My kind of game is not more important than yours but neither is yours more than mine. I advocate more player control but I seriously doubt I will get all or any of my dream ideas into the game.

So I suggest that Frontier will try to compromise and add some player stuff but not all.

 

[Skuli]

Yup, and people keep bringing up the "issue" of player control of space/systems, but this goes against the entire lore of the "Pilot's Federation" lore

"The Pilots Federation has eschewed being tied to any particular system in favour of roaming the stars. With one exception – the Founders World. "

Ergo, a Commander might want to assist/coordinate in building an outpost, but it, by definition, will be for the good of all commanders.

So... STOP WITH THE "EVE" COMPARISONS!

It could be simply that the player-built stations will be game-generated based on the background simulation, also, we've already seen the rudimentary beginnings of this type of system.

A player/groups of players might simply be able to ally with one of the hundreds of miscellaneous factions, work to expand THEIR influence, and then help expand into a nearby star system or attack a nearby populated system.

 

[Lazerus Artificial]

Also: before i would want to own a station, i would want to own a Capital ship where my friends can dock at.

 

[Jex =TE=]

Pointless to you, so why not find a game that appeals to you more? That's what I would do. anyway, I mix it up, ED and X3TC. It's not pointless to many others inlcuding myself. I have plenty to do with all my ships, but I come from a flightsim crowd, am more than happy cruising around in the DK2, I'd never get bored of this.

It's sounds like you really don't enjoy the game, so stop torturing yourself. Btw, I have nothing against empire building, but that is not what this game is about. If the devs decided to add it in the future, I definitely wouldn't complain. If you want to grind 10 trillion credits for your own starport, go right ahead

LOL I'm not torturing myself and I barely play it these days but then I've only played it a little so I'm not burned out on it quite yet but I know that's just around the corner.

The relevance to all this of course is what? The point here is the masses of people complaining that they are getting bored or have already left. How much cognitive dissonance do you need to show to ignore the fact that a massive proportion of the player base is leaving and taking their wallets with them? You do realise what that means for the future of this game right?

I don't want to grind a trillion credits for a starport - I'm not interested in running one. All of my posts on the subject have been about what gameplay opportunity that offers.

I come from a flight sim background too. I wouldn't play a flight sim that used the same ground texture everywhere you went and had only 20 city designs it just repeated all over the place as well as only 5 different airport designs. On top of that there would be no aerodynamics, it would be like flying in space and you land like a helicopter in a 747. I prefer more depth and detail to my games as do a lot of other people and if you want a secure future for the game then I would be jumping on the wagon and calling for changes because come DLC time, there's a lot of people who will be holding onto their wallets this time since things from the KS were dropped and USS are still in the game - people are going to wait to see the reviews of what's to come before they buy.

 

[Jex =TE=]

Just because people don't agree with you doesn't mean they lack imagination. It's just that they disagree with you about what the game should or could be.
.


Putting aside the question over the "correct" vision for the game, there are practical implications for the game if FD go down the route you suggest. The first of which is that developing an entirely new meta-game system to allow directly player-owned will take resources away from the development of other aspects which also need attention. Speaking for myself, I'd rather they improved the core of the game before turning their attention to elements like this.
.
I have no objection to something like your suggestion being introduced as part of a future expansion - but not at the expense of core development. (Plus, other posters have already commented on the technical limitations introduced by the instancing model - you should consider those.)
.
As for your "engaging brain" comment - let's keep the tone higher. Good ideas can come out of threads like this - don't let it degenerate into name calling.

So you agree with those people when they're telling everyone else they lack imagination because we're not enjoying the game as much as them? That's basically what they've been saying on the forums so if they have so much imagination, how come it falls short here (but yes, the brains comment was uncalled for, sorry everyone! )

Do I expect FD to make space stations we can own, no, not at all. My posts are offering ideas in an attempt to show people what is possible from a world where players can own stations and that it won't be that scary.

What FD need to do is go back to the beginning and make the game we have more meaningful and challenging. Each element in the game is so basic and simplistic it's a joke. I don't think you could make the game any easier to play when you look at the 4 core elements to the game and then when you hear the Galnet reports reporting community events that aren't even in existence or they show how sloppy their writer is who can't even grasp basic English, you have to wander at the professionalism of the dev team, don't you? USS's were only meant to be a placeholder and like Nav Points must be one of the laziest event generators you can put into a game. I just fly around randomly until I find the data for this mission and scoop it up - that's it? The night sky is pretty but I don't notice it anymore I'm afraid. Nav points, ok fighting is fun if somewhat ridiculously easy but surely there's a better and more fun way to get a glass of water than just walking to the tap (faucet for our friends across the pond) and turning it on?

 

[Jex =TE=]

That's the best idea I heard all day.

This is the worst idea I've read on these forums to date but sure, let thousands of people just walk away and watch ED's development cease. Unless you have the player base to keep it going, which you don't and which is shrinking, apparently. All my friends have stopped playing it and won't be buying anything further if it's not going to add anymore depth to the game and that is true for a lot of people here. Notice how there aren't as many negative posts on the forums in each thread now - that's because people have left the forums too - that's a great sales model to use, they should put you in charge of things.

- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -

'Empire building' matters in this game because it closes down free trade to large swaths of the most player active parts of the galaxy; those players who do not want to be bothered with your 'Eve' style empire/faction...even in Solo.

Point out any thread that I've ever said anything about Eve. I've never even played the game! But keep your mind closed, it's going to do wonders for keeping ED alive

 

[777Driver]

LOL I'm not torturing myself and I barely play it these days but then I've only played it a little so I'm not burned out on it quite yet but I know that's just around the corner.

The relevance to all this of course is what? The point here is the masses of people complaining that they are getting bored or have already left. How much cognitive dissonance do you need to show to ignore the fact that a massive proportion of the player base is leaving and taking their wallets with them? You do realise what that means for the future of this game right?

I don't want to grind a trillion credits for a starport - I'm not interested in running one. All of my posts on the subject have been about what gameplay opportunity that offers.

I come from a flight sim background too. I wouldn't play a flight sim that used the same ground texture everywhere you went and had only 20 city designs it just repeated all over the place as well as only 5 different airport designs. On top of that there would be no aerodynamics, it would be like flying in space and you land like a helicopter in a 747. I prefer more depth and detail to my games as do a lot of other people and if you want a secure future for the game then I would be jumping on the wagon and calling for changes because come DLC time, there's a lot of people who will be holding onto their wallets this time since things from the KS were dropped and USS are still in the game - people are going to wait to see the reviews of what's to come before they buy.

What masses, you mean the same 20 people that come on here to complain? Sorry, I need some hard facts before I start believing your statement about masses. Look, people complain on forums, it's just like customer service, you tend to hear more from the people that are unhappy. I used to run a flight sim company, on the forum I would see plenty of complaints just like this forum, it in no way reflected the sales figures or bulk of thank you's I would receive via PM, those that where happy just got on with using the sim. We would go through the more constructive complaints and see how we could improve.

This game has only just been released, so we only have a handful of outposts and station designs (although a lot of variation exists) Come back in 6 months to a year, or at least wait for planetary landings and see what they have laid out.

I have always looked at this game as a very long term project, if I still have my health I expect to be playing this and seeing new additions/versions 5 maybe 10 years down the line. If the dev community throw in the towel, I expect a vibrant modding community to take over.

But the bottom line is many of us are happy with what we have, perhaps I am easily pleased, I spent 3 hours just flying around the outpost Azaban orbital in the DK2, FA OFF practicing docking and undocking in a Asp, complete immersion. I can jump back to homebase any time and pick up a multitude of ships and go where I want, in an open galaxy, complete freedom, for me at least..

 

[Deleted member 38366]

What masses, you mean the same 20 poeple that come on here to complain? Sorry I but I need hard facts before I start believing your statement about masses. Look peolple complain on forums, it's just customer service, you tend to hear more from the people that are unhappy. I used to run a flight sim company, on the forum I would see plenty of complaints, it in no way reflected the sales figures, those that where happy just got on with using the sim.

This game has only just been released, so we only have a handful of outposts and station designs (although a lot of variation exists) Come back in 6 months to a year, or at least wait for planetary landings and see what they have laid out.

I have always looked at this game as a very long term project, if I still have my health I expect to be playing this and seeing new additions/versions 5 maybe 10 years down the line. If the dev community throw in the towel, I expect a vibrent modding community to take over.

Having nothing meaningful to do myself since several weeks now, I hope you're correct.

After I get my collection of all Ships complete (was the only thing left to do really) and cause an Expansion of a Faction all on my own, I'll be one of "those 20".
Just waiting for stuff to do to get added - since I've done everything countless times already.

Right now not few Players are at a stage of the game where new Features added are coming in slow, while we're still sitting on tons of bugs or issues.
And those features that came in i.e. 1.1 weren't all smashing successes either (*cough* Community Goals, might need some intense polishing).
I just hope I don't have to wait 6 months to log back in to see that cool, new stuff has been added worth exploring

------------------------------------------------------------------

For the time being, I just live with the existing mantra of the Game :
See Factions blast their trail - feel free to visit and admire them! Blast your own trail anytime you like! *

...

* Permit Required. Release of System-affecting actions subject to indivual approval on FDev discretion.
Note - to observe your own trail blasted, accelerate and reverse ship to see its visual representation. Visual effect is of limited duration, intensity may vary.

 

[Tryst]

I think you could go further than that. FD have said that this is not the direction they want to take the game. Most of the things the OP asks for have been explicitly excluded ages ago.

No democracy here then?

I am sure that it will never become like Eve since there are no choke points and it's going to take a tiny bit more than the entire lifespan of a human for a few groups of players to gain total control of the best resources if that's what they are worried about. Also, getting to the furthest systems is going to take a lot longer in hyperjump than most people are prepared to invest in the game. Seriously, what's the point in having so many empty systems if we can't do anything with them except explore and mine?

I'd plump for building a station and handing it to your intended faction for a modest fee and a great deal of rep. You no longer control it or profit from it but possibly have the distinction of having your own pilots name on it, CMDR Jamesons Landing for example. But you can only have one. The CMDR before the stations name shows it was a player built one. Without this ability, those with a billion credits or more and triple Elite status have nothing further to aim for. What's the point in playing any more if you have enough credits to buy every ship in the game and fit it to A class and still have more credits left over than you know what to do with?

This is often why you get game wreckers, they are bored and want to do something different so they end up griefing other players, they don't care if they get their account banned, they've done everything the game offers already. It only results in putting off newer players because of all the griefing that goes on.

 

[777Driver]

@ Falcon - Well since the game is pretty open , isn't having nothing to do partly down to your mindset? Am not making exuces for FD, anyway, they seem to have a clear direction of where they want to take the game.

I'll give you an example - Like you I have a pretty big fleet, around 52 ships, but only 6 are considered my main ships. I could easily say well I've done it all, have a Conda, Cobra, Clipper, T9, Asp, Viper, Eagle bunch of Adders etc.

I took my T9 on a long range exploration trip, was a huge challenge and great fun. Took me around a week, did the same with my Anaconda last week, I have to disagree with Jex's comment about the same scenery, I have barely got further than 8000LY out, just the main Nebulae nearby, the scenery is breathtaking in the Rift, so must be stunning if I went back to my 4K screen.

Flying with FA OFF, took me two months to master..By master I mean I can leave it off if required 100% of the time, during docking/combat and normal flight, takes a few days to a week to master the T9 & Conda for pure FA off flying.

Those are just a few small challenges I set for myself to keep interested. I don't need talking NPC's, Cheesy story lines or my own giant Starbase to help me find way's to have fun. But that's just me

 

[Jex =TE=]

What masses, you mean the same 20 people that come on here to complain? Sorry, I need some hard facts before I start believing your statement about masses. Look, people complain on forums, it's just like customer service, you tend to hear more from the people that are unhappy. I used to run a flight sim company, on the forum I would see plenty of complaints just like this forum, it in no way reflected the sales figures or bulk of thank you's I would receive via PM, those that where happy just got on with using the sim. We would go through the more constructive complaints and see how we could improve.

This game has only just been released, so we only have a handful of outposts and station designs (although a lot of variation exists) Come back in 6 months to a year, or at least wait for planetary landings and see what they have laid out.

I have always looked at this game as a very long term project, if I still have my health I expect to be playing this and seeing new additions/versions 5 maybe 10 years down the line. If the dev community throw in the towel, I expect a vibrant modding community to take over.

But the bottom line is many of us are happy with what we have, perhaps I am easily pleased, I spent 3 hours just flying around the outpost Azaban orbital in the DK2, FA OFF practicing docking and undocking in a Asp, completet immersion. I can jump back to homebase any time and pick up a multitude of ships and go where I want, in an open galaxy, complete freedom, for me at least..

They didn't complain in the PS2 forums either and they didn't shutdown over half the servers. By your reckoning there's only a handful of people that post that like the game too - forums are a representative of your community (and it's not just on the forums people are saying it's boring) but lets not listen to the people that have left who's friends aren't playing the game any longer and we can pretend that USS's and Nav Points are fun as is mining and endless trade runs.

You can pick up any other ship yes, to do what with? The open galaxy looks pretty much the same any point within 200ly's from where you are now and the planet textures all look the same after a while. If FD don't do something in the next DLC that gets players back into the game, I don't think it's going to last 3 years - 5 -10 as it is right now? How is landing on aplanet going to help or another 100 space station designs that I can't interact with at all going to help?

 

[777Driver]

They didn't complain in the PS2 forums either and they didn't shutdown over half the servers. By your reckoning there's only a handful of people that post that like the game too - forums are a representative of your community (and it's not just on the forums people are saying it's boring) but lets not listen to the people that have left who's friends aren't playing the game any longer and we can pretend that USS's and Nav Points are fun as is mining and endless trade runs.

You can pick up any other ship yes, to do what with? The open galaxy looks pretty much the same any point within 200ly's from where you are now and the planet textures all look the same after a while. If FD don't do something in the next DLC that gets players back into the game, I don't think it's going to last 3 years - 5 -10 as it is right now? How is landing on aplanet going to help or another 100 space station designs that I can't interact with at all going to help?

Forums are a tiny fraction of the player base, don't kid yourself, we have negative and positive threads on this forum. Pick up a ship and do what? Do whatever I want, you say you don't play much, so it's obvious you have never explored the galaxy, yet you complain that everything looks the same, 200Ly's? That's a rare goods trip for me, you need to get out there my friend. There is a lot to see, just open the gal map and look at the thousands of Nebulae, go see VY Canis (recommend you use a rift)

I got back from Barnard's loop last week, I was blown away by that area. I have seen many amazing sights, and I don't consider myself a true explorer in this game. have about 20000LY under my belt.

Since you say you come from a Flightsim background, I would definitely suggest picking up a CV1. trust me, just flying from one outpost to another will totally change your view on this game.

But in the mean time, just play something else buddy, its just a game after all, see what they have on the table down the line. Am sure they are taking all the constructive feedback onboard, they would be foolish not to. I normally don't touch a game until a year or so after release. GTAV online is only now really turning into what people asked for.

- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -

How is landing on aplanet going to help or another 100 space station designs that I can't interact with at all going to help?

And once again, dude, if it's not for you then it's not for you. I can assure you many are looking forward to atmospheric flight. It would be crazy to think everyone likes and want's the same thing, unfortunately you are part of the group that this game doesn't appeal to, nothing new there, I see that in every game or sim I play. Hopefully in the future they will add stuff you like after they have completed what they and many others want completed.

Kinda reminds of Flight sims, first question many ask me, umm where are the guns?? Huh, no guns? why are you even playing this game, what is the point!!

 

[Deleted member 38366]

@ Falcon - Well since the game is pretty open , isn't having nothing to do partly down to your mindset? Am not making exuces for FD, anyway, they seem to have a clear direction of where they want to take the game.

I'll give you an example - Like you I have a pretty big fleet, around 52 ships, but only 6 are considered my main ships. I could easily say well I've done it all, have a Conda, Cobra, Clipper, T9, Asp, Viper, Eagle bunch of Adders etc.

I took my T9 on a long range exploration trip, was a huge challenge and great fun. Took me around a week, did the same with my Anaconda last week, I have to disagree with Jex's comment about the same scenery, I have barely got further than 8000LY out, just the main Nebulae nearby, the scenery is breathtaking in the Rift, so must be stunning if I went back to my 4K screen.

Flying with FA OFF, took me two months to master..By master I mean I can leave it off if required 100% of the time, during docking/combat and normal flight, takes a few days to a week to master the T9 & Conda for pure FA off flying.

Those are just a few small challenges I set for myself to keep interested. I don't need talking NPC's, Cheesy story lines or my own giant Starbase to help me find way's to have fun. But that's just me

Been there, done similar things, got the T-Shirt
What I mean is : I'm post that stage for the most part, some tiny stuff left I can do of course.

Small challenges long stopped being interesting for me and the big ones as well.
So I'm just chugging along... Slowly doing my thing. And wait.

I guess that's the big thing. I'm waiting it all out, nothing else left.
But then (and I'm honest about that) after >30 years of gaming, I'm not easy to entertain to say the least.

 

[Kramster]

I am totally behind the direction FD have indicated ED will go, I get the much stated 'one man, one ship in a huge galaxy' idea but I also see that long term goals are lacking and I feel something is needed to give the game some longevity beyond making credits and buying bigger ships.

Player owned stations might be doable outside of the persistent galaxy via something like the USS system, basically think instanced housing. Guilds/clans/gangs could work together to build/buy a station but it would not impact on the persistent galaxy and the other players inhabiting it. The station could maybe provide benefits such as, free refuelling, ammo and repairs, to members of the controlling group. None of this would impact on anyone else's game while giving group goals for those that want them.
The system could also include a siege system where other guilds can challenge for ownership via battles, withing the instance, where the two sides field a number of wings each in an arena style battle. Stations would be attackable during the 'siege' times and guilds would need to work together to repair and rebuild damaged caused after the battle giving further incentive to work together.
(all of this is just an example and I am not saying FD have to add this stuff)

None of this would exist outside of the instance and therefore would have no impact on the gameplay of others.

 

[Jex =TE=]

Forums are a tiny fraction of the player base, don't kid yourself, we have negative and positive threads on this forum. Pick up a ship and do what? Do whatever I want, you say you don't play much, so it's obvious you have never explored the galaxy, yet you complain that everything looks the same, 200Ly's? That's a rare goods trip for me, you need to get out there my friend. There is a lot to see, just open the gal map and look at the thousands of Nebulae, go see VY Canis (recommend you use a rift)

I got back from Barnard's loop last week, I was blown away by that area. I have seen many amazing sights, and I don't consider myself a true explorer in this game. have about 20000LY under my belt.

Since you say you come from a Flightsim background, I would definitely suggest picking up a CV1. trust me, just flying from one outpost to another will totally change your view on this game.

But in the mean time, just play something else buddy, its just a game after all, see what they have on the table down the line. Am sure they are taking all the constructive feedback onboard, they would be foolish not to. I normally don't touch a game until a year or so after release. GTAV online is only now really turning into what people asked for.

- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -



And once again, dude, if it's not for you then it's not for you. I can assure you many are looking forward to atmospheric flight. It would be crazy to think everyone likes and want's the same thing, unfortunately you are part of the group that this game doesn't appeal to, nothing new there, I see that in every game or sim I play. Hopefully in the future they will add stuff you like after they have completed what they and many others want completed.

Kinda reminds of Flight sims, first question many ask me, umm where are the guns?? Huh, no guns? why are you even playing this game, what is the point!!

And how many people do you think are going to "get out there" exactly? I'm guessing a tiny proportion of the player base so most people won't even get to see it. Whilst I would appreciate the views, it's the monotonous way of getting out there that puts me off. Can I plot my own route in the map, as in select each star I want to warp to. Even if I can or can't, I know that nothing is going to happen. I'm not going to run into any anomalies, never going to experience anything different apart from things to look at. My ship requires zero maintenance because there's really no systems there at all or components. I might jump in too close to a star, but other than that, there's nothing in the entire galaxy except stars and planets - I need a little bit more of a reason to go exploring

- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -

Been there, done similar things, got the T-Shirt
What I mean is : I'm post that stage for the most part, some tiny stuff left I can do of course.

Small challenges long stopped being interesting for me and the big ones as well.
So I'm just chugging along... Slowly doing my thing. And wait.

I guess that's the big thing. I'm waiting it all out, nothing else left.
But then (and I'm honest about that) after >30 years of gaming, I'm not easy to entertain to say the least.

Bet you're still not bored of Falcon 4 though, right?

 

[TheEponymousBob]

What FD need to do is go back to the beginning and make the game we have more meaningful and challenging.

Then you ought to be happy, since that appears to be exactly what FD are doing.

 

[Talarin]

So you agree with those people when they're telling everyone else they lack imagination because we're not enjoying the game as much as them? That's basically what they've been saying on the forums so if they have so much imagination, how come it falls short here (but yes, the brains comment was uncalled for, sorry everyone! )

That's a strawman argument. I'm not arguing that people who find the game unsatisfactory have no imagination. Some people do, but generally I don't agree with them. Good on you for the apology though.

Do I expect FD to make space stations we can own, no, not at all. My posts are offering ideas in an attempt to show people what is possible from a world where players can own stations and that it won't be that scary.

I get that. I understand that the idea of player-owned facilities is appealing to a number of people. I'm saying that not all users will agree with you on the idea and their viewpoint is equally valid as yours.

What FD need to do is go back to the beginning and make the game we have more meaningful and challenging. Each element in the game is so basic and simplistic it's a joke.

Truth be told, the only area in which it feels that Elite excels is in the flight model, the galaxy map and the generation of planetary systems on the fly (which is actually a very impressive technical achievement). I think anyone would be hard pressed to say that the game is as it should be. There's a lot of scope for improvement and we know we'll see that improvement as time goes by.
.
Will that be quick enough for some people? No - obviously not. Your points about dwindling player numbers are valid (although you'd expect player numbers to drop off irrespective of how good the game is - so it's not necessarily the doom and gloom that it's occasionally portrayed as) and more to do in the game would slow that attrition rate down.
.
It is a shame that the game wasn't released with more in - but it could never wait until it was perfect and it's not fundamentally broken.

 

[orfeboy]

I kind of agree with the OP. Well kinda. I don't think we should be able to own stations etc. But I do think we should be able to back factions and those factions should have different personalities. By doing so you help grow or destroy other factions. For example, by backing a particular faction expansion should not be the only outcome. There should be invasions and liberations etc. there should be building of new stations and mining colonies and these should not be community goals. They should be built into the game itself where the game spawns things like a mining collony set up eleswhere. Now the players have to go and support that and help it flourish.

Factions can grow and become more important. These colonies need to be supported or they will fail. Players would flock to causes etc. Nobody would actually own anything themselves, but they could be part of something...

Some factions can be more aggressive or less so. Some could be downright ruthless. Different players would back those that suit their playstyle. This cwould create good/evil dynamics in the game. Could be interesting.

 

[Talarin]

I don't think we should be able to own stations etc. But I do think we should be able to back factions and those factions should have different personalities. By doing so you help grow or destroy other factions.
.
For example, by backing a particular faction expansion should not be the only outcome. There should be invasions and liberations etc. there should be building of new stations and mining colonies and these should not be community goals. They should be built into the game itself where the game spawns things like a mining collony set up eleswhere. Now the players have to go and support that and help it flourish.

Factions can grow and become more important. These colonies need to be supported or they will fail. Players would flock to causes etc. Nobody would actually own anything themselves, but they could be part of something...

Some factions can be more aggressive or less so. Some could be downright ruthless. Different players would back those that suit their playstyle. This cwould create good/evil dynamics in the game. Could be interesting.

This. I think this is very close to my own vision of the game's future. "Indirect player control."
.
I disagree with the community goal bit - I think that all factions should have a live community goal which will lead to a benefit or protection of the faction and a benefit to the player with that faction.