Will we ever see base building in Elite?

[Deleted member 182079]

It would be good to have. Yes, a Carrier is a "mobile base", but you can only have one per CMDR. Even if bases are also one per CMDR (as seems likely), that gives you two "bases", one fixed and one mobile.

My initial views after reading the OP was pretty much 100% aligned with @Agony_Aunt, but reading the above made me realise I would absolutely despise the notion of having a rather large number of systems polluted with player bases called "Basey McBaseFace", "c******************t", "FDev suxxxx", "Selling LTDs @ 950k" or "Mission XYZ cheesing for quick bucks" (assuming custom mission boards, which I would like for FCs, would be a thing), as a bonus possibly shaped based on human genitalia (and after a few weeks many of them abandoned).

Low level player content (i.e. I'm not talking about modding here but what the game allows a regular player to do) is largely overrated and tends to clash with the underlying game content more often than not. FC's (as much as I love mine) show this pretty well already. I don't want more of that in Elite.

 

[Ydiss]

Watch it, ideas don't go down well around here

I think, done right, base building could be absolutely amazing. More so now Odyssey is a thing. Contrary to what you'll probably be told here, there's a huge market for introducing giant credit sinks. But having a permanent place to literally call home that you can make unique, with lots of useful functionality along with it, could be a superb addition.

Carriers prove there's a use for this sort of thing. I disagree with the sentiment of "that's it, carriers are the end, no need for anything else".

 

[Alien]

It seems Star Citizen are going to introduce player bases. If Frontier are even considering the idea, they will almost surely sit and watch what happens in Star Citizen.

 

[Rat Catcher]

Watch it, ideas don't go down well around here

there's a huge market for introducing giant credit sinks...

Carriers prove...

Giant credit sinks go down well... apart from the 'huge credit sink' of upkeep, which so many folk loathe because everything should be 'free' once the exchange of credits has happened... Could you imagine the outrage if players were told their base would consume vast amounts of materials (for added salt perhaps even massive amounts of current 'engineering' mats) and then have regular upkeep the same as our 'mobile base'?

 

[Deleted member 182079]

Watch it, ideas don't go down well around here

I think, done right, base building could be absolutely amazing. More so now Odyssey is a thing. Contrary to what you'll probably be told here, there's a huge market for introducing giant credit sinks. But having a permanent place to literally call home that you can make unique, with lots of useful functionality along with it, could be a superb addition.

Carriers prove there's a use for this sort of thing. I disagree with the sentiment of "that's it, carriers are the end, no need for anything else".

Personally I think activity based credit sinks are much better for the longevity of a game as opposed to assets, as people will eventually get bored with the latter, but maybe not with the former (if associated gameplay is engaging enough), but each to their own.

 

[Barking_Mad]

I think a better bet would be that at some point you will be able to buy an apartment in a space station so you can watch the universe go by from your window.

 

[Ydiss]

Giant credit sinks go down well... apart from the 'huge credit sink' of upkeep, which so many folk loathe because everything should be 'free' once the exchange of credits has happened... Could you imagine the outrage if players were told their base would consume vast amounts of materials (for added salt perhaps even massive amounts of current 'engineering' mats) and then have regular upkeep the same as our 'mobile base'?

It's enough to just have lots of one off costs. Not really interested in the upkeep thing. I tolerate it (and so have banked 1.2bn and counting into mine so I can forget it).

The credit sink aspect isn't the whole picture though. Just one positive offshoot.

 

[Ydiss]

Personally I think activity based credit sinks are much better for the longevity of a game as opposed to assets, as people will eventually get bored with the latter, but maybe not with the former (if associated gameplay is engaging enough), but each to their own.

As I said just above, this is a minor aspect of why I think it'd be positive.

I've actually not gone into the reasons why it's positive, mainly because I think it's futile. Despite Fcs already existing, despite many of us owning and using one (or more), there'll be a massive controversy over stuff like base building.

I personally don't get it. Games should be about fun. Seeing others with FCs with silly names doesn't offset the fact that building your own base is likely to be a ton of fun.

Less serious, more fun. But FCs have proved the concept works well. I love my FC, it's so convenient. I see no reason why base building cannot be a thing in its own right.

Being irritated by full system maps is something that could be remedied by fdev for one thing.

 

[Taimaru]

I really hope not. The last thing I want is to see lots of bases that look like certain body parts scattered around the Galaxy ruining otherwise great looking landscapes.

 

[Lucius Confucius]

I wonder if the forum opinion is representative of the majority of Elite players. If so, it bodes ill for creativity.

Why do people immediately think that the universe will be littered with:

bases that look like certain body parts

Please don't answer, that was a rhetorical question.

 

[askavir]

One of the things "base" (or infrastructure etc) building might add is some kind of purpose all those 98% of commodities that currently have no use whatsoever, not even for trading.

 

[CMDR Yates]

Yes, though it now seems fairly likely that:

• the leaker had misunderstood something they'd heard about Fleet Carriers
• the leaker was wrong

and also possibly

• the leaker misunderstood the work they saw being done on faction-owned settlements/bases and associated proc-gen
• experimental preliminary work was done on player base building in the early stages, but then came a change of focus (remember the Elite Dangerous website code mentioning cosmetics for "buildings")

I could see personal base-building adding something if it builds on new mechanics coming in Odyssey, and maybe lets players mine, refine, manufacture and grow commodities to sell at their FC markets. With careful integration it could work.

But it's pretty low down the list of things I'm looking forward to, in all honesty.

 

[Ydiss]

I really hope not. The last thing I want is to see lots of bases that look like certain body parts scattered around the Galaxy ruining otherwise great looking landscapes.

I don't think it should be 100% freeform (like in other space games, I'm guessing?) and more about adding features just like the FC. But the customisation can be all done on the interiors.

It needn't be minecraft in space (spacecraft hah). It needn't be NMS. It can be really similar to FCs but with different utility options. Modular, yes. User specified layout, yes. But not freeform. In fact, I'd say the possibility of phallic shapes should be entirely dismissed by the design team from the offset, because the layout of the "modules" should always follow a relatively sensible set of rules.

FCs have some negatives but not that many. Needn't be any different with bases.

 

[Deleted member 182079]

As I said just above, this is a minor aspect of why I think it'd be positive.

I've actually not gone into the reasons why it's positive, mainly because I think it's futile. Despite Fcs already existing, despite many of us owning and using one (or more), there'll be a massive controversy over stuff like base building.

I personally don't get it. Games should be about fun. Seeing others with FCs with silly names doesn't offset the fact that building your own base is likely to be a ton of fun.

Less serious, more fun. But FCs have proved the concept works well. I love my FC, it's so convenient. I see no reason why base building cannot be a thing in its own right.

Being irritated by full system maps is something that could be remedied by fdev for one thing.

Not trying to be funny here but what you're describing above is No Man's Sky. Except that I'm much less likely to run into other player generated content to begin with (I believe I can actually switch it off in the options).

If I want to build a house, I play The Sims. If I want to build a city, I play Cities: Skylines.

I play Elite to fly spaceships, and unlike bases, Fleet Carriers actually support doing just that (and their impact on the overall make up of my fleet).

I realise some players really like base building, but my experience with games that shoehorned it as a feature was mixed at best (Fallout 4 being an example and that is a 100% single player game at least), so I prefer FDev not to waste development resources on this particular feature when other areas in the game (atmos, gas giants, black holes, etc.) are still unfinished.

 

[Rat Catcher]

I wonder if the forum opinion is representative of the majority of Elite players. If so, it bodes ill for creativity.

Why do people immediately think that the universe will be littered with:

bases that look like certain body parts

Please don't answer, that was a rhetorical question.

Couldn't resist...

If you look at the 'heat map' of the galaxy, very carefully, you will find someone has already drawn "body parts" on the galactic Map"

Check out NMS player bases too...

Of course they will

 

[Deleted member 182079]

Being irritated by full system maps is something that could be remedied by fdev for one thing.

And yet, it's still an issue with FCs several months after launch and four patches, despite it being called for almost immediately i.e. filter options for the sysmap (completely missing) or a more sensible filter logic in the nav panel (option hide other carriers but not my own, maybe set hiding carriers as default).

Doesn't bode too well (and I don't even want to think about the avalanche of bugs and QoL issues that Odyssey will introduce).

 

[CMDR Yates]

Wasn't base building given a 'no' from the Devs recently?
(or at least a "not at launch")
Mentioned somewhere in the 300+ page Odyssey Launch announcement if my memory serves me well...

If you go to the thread and click the little orange flair at the top left right of the first post that says "dev post", it will cycle through all the developer posts in that thread, skipping over all the player-posted dross

Discovered this recently and it's super-handy, seemingly little-known feature for finding posts where you half remember a dev saying something about that one thing...

Will there be Base Building in Elite Dangerous: Odyssey?
Base building is not currently on the roadmap for Elite Dangerous, however we have plenty of new features planned instead such as on-foot exploration, new planetary tech, social hubs, combat as well as more to be shared later on! We’re looking to put our best foot forward with Odyssey and if you’d like an overview of what to expect, you can check out the website or Steam page.

 

[Rat Catcher]

If you go to the thread and click the little orange flair at the top left of the first post that says "dev post", it will cycle through all the developer posts in that thread, skipping over all the player-posted dross

Discovered this recently and it's super-handy, seemingly little-known feature for finding posts where you half remember a dev saying something about that one thing...

Thanks! We learn something new every day

 

[Agony_Aunt]

Sure Agony. It is a complete mystery why appartments still exist now we have caravans. A static version of something we have a mobile version of. Something that takes longer to reach than what we already have. I struggle to see the point.

Instead of auto-resorting to your "if announced==1 object=best thing ever; if announced==0 object=pointless" script, why not just skip that routine and think a bit more creatively. Who knows, it might feel liberating in a way.

Ok, repeat after me, game not equal to real life.

There are reasons both caravans and apartments exist.

I'm not saying i'm against ground bases, i'm just pointing out reasons why ground bases might not be a thing.

Also, your final part is a load of tosh, because there are things i want and have asked for that are not announced and things that have been announced that I have campaigned agaist. I want NPC wings, i want NPC crew in cockpits. I was (very strongly) against fleet carriers as they were initially announced.

So, if you are trying to paint me as a white knight, you'll have a very hard job of doing that.

 

[Agony_Aunt]

I think, done right, base building could be absolutely amazing.

Oh dear.... erm....

I mean, as much as i love ED and FD, this is FD we are talking about here. Try and keep some perspective.