I felt much the same way. There isn't enough to do on the surface right now. I think Odyssey has changed things though.I can see no need, personally, for building a base somewhere (I do have a FC, so my 'base' is wherever my CMDR is) in ED - I do have NMS and heaps of bases there becaue of telportation and several galaxies - but can see that others feel the need...
We have been told, by the Devs, that base-building isn't on the roadmap - but that doesn't exclude talking about them
Will we ever see base building in Elite?
- Thread starter Lucius Confucius
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You've seen nothing yet... Just wait until we actually start seeing FPS stuff and how it works when we actually shoot something.
Brace yourself. Winter is coming.
I'm quite looking forward to seeing Odyssey arrive, even more so in the remaining Dev Diaries where we'll find out more of what & how...
I don't dislike chugging around planets in my SRV, even have one tiny HMC body bookmarked for a circumnavigation soon
But the option to walk around, go in bases etc. will change the game, particularly if Frontier pays good attention to the gameplay created with these options.
I don’t currently own a carrier but I did quite enjoy the one I had in the beta, just not enough to turn the game into a chore to get the funds for one fast.
The location is an issue when what I am doing is a long way from where the asset is.
Of course I don’t want FDev to spend time adding stuff to the game that I am not interested in or that changes the nature of the game in ways that don’t appeal to me, I am as selfish and human as anyone.
Will I rage quit in a public tantrum on the forum if FDev do it anyway of course not, but the accumulation of such changes will quite possibly reduce my love of the only game I play.
I'm still here - I was opposed to it ...... I think.Every time people shoot down ideas based on "I don't like [insert optional gameplay], therefore nobody should have it" arguments, I'm reminded of one of my early suggestions to this forum, a supercruise autopilot:
FDev, I want Autopilot
I've posted this to so many threads that I think it deserves its own. Dear FDev, please consider giving us an autopilot for supercruise. Please, please, please, please. Here's how it should work: I arrive into a system, and I have to select my target station and point at it like always. I then...forums.frontier.co.uk
Notice all the similar arguments against this idea, made mostly by people who are now long gone, and more importantly, notice the "Supercruise Assist Module" in Outfitting the next time you play Elite - proof that just because naysayers say nay, this doesn't mean good ideas won't eventually make it into the game. Every good idea ever imagined has met resistance from those who lack vision.
Source: https://youtu.be/Wr0fAa6dgrI?t=25
Supercruise asist seems utterly pointless to me, it will not avoid a planet (note in the tutorial, FD are very careful to automatically do just that) so maybe I was wrong. Now,then .... I said maybe.
Simon
The way I look at things, if we can't write about stuff we'd like to see or are excited about, why are we even here?I'm quite looking forward to seeing Odyssey arrive, even more so in the remaining Dev Diaries where we'll find out more of what & how...
I don't dislike chugging around planets in my SRV, even have one tiny HMC body bookmarked for a circumnavigation soon
Base building (or more specifically, base ownership, still not convinced we need space lego) is low on that list for me but so are ship interiors. I'd still love to see all the things merge into a seamless world where each "stage" adds compounded game play with everything else.
The blurb for "The sphere of combat" strongly suggests we might get something along those lines. Can't wait for these two dev diaries and I don't feel much but pity if someone doesn't remotely share that.
I agree with this in regards to poorly-implemented features like fleet carriers, where ownership is optional but interaction is not, thanks to the way fleet carriers take over nav panels, system maps, our HUD, etc. And I can even understand the "Don't give us A if that means we won't get B", because while multicrew doesn't ruin my game, the idea that we could have had proper NPC crews had Frontier not wasted time on a half-baked multicrew feature, that does bother me a bit...
I hear you.
As I said to Rat Catcher, at this moment I see no reason for player owned bases. Odyssey might change that. Potentially in ways that might be compelling enough to argue against the "I don't need it and don't like it" crowd but then again maybe not.
I mean, I love FPS games. I can imagine all sorts of utility around surface base ownership tied to fps activities. Doesn't mean it'll be relevant to Odyssey or interesting to everyone.
This is why I feel this topic is tied to interiors. It's the same thing... A feature many say they don't need or wouldn't like. Yet many others would. But I want fdev to work on other stuff more despite wanting both things if they work right.
Game breaking. A compromise would be a warehouse you could rent, maybe even an apartment somewhere. The question of storage is dragged up again.
Maybe some players could complete some oddysey to run and modify an existing settlement.
Maybe some players could complete some oddysey to run and modify an existing settlement.
My FC is my base. It's persistent in game and other players "know where I am" by finding it, it houses my fleet and my stockpile of spare modules, it mounts only the services I need to use it as I intend and is not a trading post for other cmdrs, the most they get out of it is a safe place to dock, refuel, repair and rearm - a service I am happy to provide to my brethren in the pilots federation even if we might have opposing contracts at present, the carrier is neutral territory. Also the very occasional taxi trip if they happen to be wanting to go where I'm heading. Hitchhikers are always welcome. It's funded for 5 years and before Odyssey drops* I'll be able to fund it for another 5 without any problem so lets not bother with the horsecrap about "credit sinks" ok?
Rather than putting any effort into "bases" that would effectively be static versions of FCs I'd prefer to see FD turn the creative geniuses loose on customisations for FCs. Mostly cosmetic, they wouldn't have any different characteristics but changing their appearance, modular bolt-ons that let your carrier look truly unique, paint schemes that are customisable by user settings (can we have those for other ships too please? you know you CAN do it if the beancounters only let you...) Interior environments for Odyssey, multiple options of these so we can alter our carriers interior appearance from industrial punk to decadent luxury to clean scifi utilitarian... There's HUGE opportunities here that while they do not introduce any extra gameplay per se, they will add so much to the "sense of ones own presence" in the game
* Odyssey - now there's the ONE place I think "bases" would be worthwhile developing. Something in Odyssey that is the planetary equivalent of a FC in space. Instead of "buy a FC", "Establish a settlement" that could be reached by the Odyssey-specific travel methods and could have landing pads for ships too. Similar in credit cost - and upkeep - to buying a FC but with minor tweaks to fit it specifically into the Odyssey environment. Social zone as standard the way marketplace is on FCs. Suit and gear storage available to the owner always but purchases available to others by buying in the service and stock the same way as shipyard and outfitting are on carriers. Same rules and prices for ship-oriented services as for a FC (If you've paid for landing pad construction, otherwise no ship services at all because they can't land there directly, the pilot has to make a rough-field landing and walk in or drive in using his SRV)
Rather than putting any effort into "bases" that would effectively be static versions of FCs I'd prefer to see FD turn the creative geniuses loose on customisations for FCs. Mostly cosmetic, they wouldn't have any different characteristics but changing their appearance, modular bolt-ons that let your carrier look truly unique, paint schemes that are customisable by user settings (can we have those for other ships too please? you know you CAN do it if the beancounters only let you...) Interior environments for Odyssey, multiple options of these so we can alter our carriers interior appearance from industrial punk to decadent luxury to clean scifi utilitarian... There's HUGE opportunities here that while they do not introduce any extra gameplay per se, they will add so much to the "sense of ones own presence" in the game
* Odyssey - now there's the ONE place I think "bases" would be worthwhile developing. Something in Odyssey that is the planetary equivalent of a FC in space. Instead of "buy a FC", "Establish a settlement" that could be reached by the Odyssey-specific travel methods and could have landing pads for ships too. Similar in credit cost - and upkeep - to buying a FC but with minor tweaks to fit it specifically into the Odyssey environment. Social zone as standard the way marketplace is on FCs. Suit and gear storage available to the owner always but purchases available to others by buying in the service and stock the same way as shipyard and outfitting are on carriers. Same rules and prices for ship-oriented services as for a FC (If you've paid for landing pad construction, otherwise no ship services at all because they can't land there directly, the pilot has to make a rough-field landing and walk in or drive in using his SRV)
Great idea, though you're not the first to mention it (ahem). I'd say the chances of it ever happening are remote were it not for the fact that FD surprised me with fleet carriers: so it, perhaps, might happen. Add player-owned long-range jumpgates to the mix and you could have your own hidey-hole somewhere and yet stay in touch with the bubble. Even better, the very idea will give certain people thrombosis. Perfect.
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I hope not... FPS awkwardly strapped to space flight game would be enough, I presume.
I'd love them to put in base-building as it would give you an endless stream of new goals, and is something they could expand in all sorts of interesting ways. Also Frontier are great at that sort of gameplay.
I suspect Fleet Carriers was a first step towards this sort of thing, testing the water for connectivity issues.
I suspect Fleet Carriers was a first step towards this sort of thing, testing the water for connectivity issues.
Every time people shoot down ideas based on "I don't like [insert optional gameplay], therefore nobody should have it" arguments, I'm reminded of one of my early suggestions to this forum, a supercruise autopilot:
FDev, I want Autopilot
I've posted this to so many threads that I think it deserves its own. Dear FDev, please consider giving us an autopilot for supercruise. Please, please, please, please. Here's how it should work: I arrive into a system, and I have to select my target station and point at it like always. I then...
Notice all the similar arguments against this idea, made mostly by people who are now long gone, and more importantly, notice the "Supercruise Assist Module" in Outfitting the next time you play Elite - proof that just because naysayers say nay, this doesn't mean good ideas won't eventually make it into the game. Every good idea ever imagined has met resistance from those who lack vision.
Source: https://youtu.be/Wr0fAa6dgrI?t=25
Nollocks. The supercruise autocruise supports a core feature of ED and is feasible. Base building is in no way a feature of any part, not even remotestly and thus is quite unfeasible.
Stop dreaming games-that-do-everything and get down to earth with reasonable expectations.
Well, the notion that ED is "only about flying spaceships" will soon be defunct due to Odyssey.
Not sure what Odyssey will bring with regards to gameplay, but I think we'll soon have a clearer idea of what bases might bring to the game that Carriers don't. I can think of one possibility already: Apex taxi terminals. Carriers move, so it would make sense to restrict those to immobile bases only, your taxi driver needs to know where his destination is going to be.
As for being stuck with a base where you don't want one: I once suggested that building a second base elsewhere should initially be half the cost because you're cannibalising the first one (which becomes a "derelict" until construction of the new one reaches the same level, then it disappears).
Not sure what Odyssey will bring with regards to gameplay, but I think we'll soon have a clearer idea of what bases might bring to the game that Carriers don't. I can think of one possibility already: Apex taxi terminals. Carriers move, so it would make sense to restrict those to immobile bases only, your taxi driver needs to know where his destination is going to be.
As for being stuck with a base where you don't want one: I once suggested that building a second base elsewhere should initially be half the cost because you're cannibalising the first one (which becomes a "derelict" until construction of the new one reaches the same level, then it disappears).
We've also had land vehicles for 5 years now...
In fairness that "ED is just a spaceship game" notion was always an urban myth, a wive's tale. FD always said from the very beginning, and again along the years, they intended to go beyond just flying spaceships.
It seems the purpose of base building in many games, as I assume it would be in this game, is primarily a cosmetic feature. People absolutely love to 'make their mark' on things. If you could claim a planet or a system and build a base, then perhaps build your own space port or mining facility, it would really improve the immersion aspect of the game.