Horizons Would you like to build your own base in Elite Dangerous?

[Rowander]

In the long term, base building should serve a purpose. It's fancy having a place to call home where you can invest your hard earned cash and store your ships, bit it also needs a gameplay reason to exist. I would like them to be modular and have a meaningful reason to exist. They should also allow player-driven facilities and trade (not between players, mind you). Just an example of how I'd like base building should be structured:

1 - Choose base location:
a - Space, orbiting a valid celestial object. This would allow for limitless expansion and specialized facilities only available in space.
b - Planet. Ground base, cheaper to build but limited in size and facilities available.

2 - Choose starting module/base purpose:
a - Living quarters (only a landing pad + building)
b - Hangar bay (Proper hangar, with platform, doors and elevator)
c - Factory (commodities, mineral processing, food processing, weapons factory, etc.) (players would have to bring raw materials and energy for production)(Production would be sold in two ways: manually by the owner, or it would add to the nearest orbital base/platform, at a lower income.)
d - Research. This one would produce materials, at a low rate. The ones we currently scavenge in the scarab.

Additional modules should be available and, with enough money, you should be able to build a decent base, akin to what we have now in the game. If we can buy Anacondas for 100 million, I think it's perfectly valid to think of a huge base for around 5.000 million (and a smallish one, a couple hangars+living quarters for 1.000)

Just dreaming...

 

[lifeschool-amiga]

^ I was just going to say, a capitol ship would cost a 100 billion credits realistically (in todays money). A planetary base for 5 billion and a small one for 1 billion would seem reasonable. Perhaps an orbiting station would be 500 million for the square-type one, 700M for a long-type one (400M for the hub and 100M each for the photon processor facility to provide power, the holding bays for ships, commodities and trade, and the living quarters). And that means a small outpost could be bought for around 250M. Not bad. If this was available as 5 for 6 bits to be put together, I could start to save up for it right now.

I think the skill would be placing your base somewhere where there are other things of interest, valuable assets, or high targets like vv cephei and Betelgeuse, so commandars on a long voyage can mine and bring back materials (instead of just scanning everything) and this trade would give you profit, we are talking 100s of millions, and so you can build a new base. Just because players are hidden in solo mode doesnt mean their bases have to be.

edit: gaining billions might seem impossible, but dealing in ships and station parts is really where the big money is, so a fleet of stations will soon be yours.

 

[joshman72nd]

^ I was just going to say, a capitol ship would cost a 100 billion credits realistically (in todays money). A planetary base for 5 billion and a small one for 1 billion would seem reasonable. Perhaps an orbiting station would be 500 million for the square-type one, 700M for a long-type one (400M for the hub and 100M each for the photon processor facility to provide power, the holding bays for ships, commodities and trade, and the living quarters). And that means a small outpost could be bought for around 250M. Not bad. If this was available as 5 for 6 bits to be put together, I could start to save up for it right now.

I think the skill would be placing your base somewhere where there are other things of interest, valuable assets, or high targets like vv cephei and Betelgeuse, so commandars on a long voyage can mine and bring back materials (instead of just scanning everything) and this trade would give you profit, we are talking 100s of millions, and so you can build a new base. Just because players are hidden in solo mode doesnt mean their bases have to be.

edit: gaining billions might seem impossible, but dealing in ships and station parts is really where the big money is, so a fleet of stations will soon be yours.

there are quiet a few commanders who have a couple thousand billion laying around. a 5 mil a day for a year will give you enough to buy one.

 

[lysan]

A private small outpost was / is already in the plan (long term). If i remember correct it was some kind of inflammable type of construction.
I like the idea, there are enough space to build it. Some interesting gameplay could come out of it. I really don't see why this should not be done.

In GTA V you can rent apartments and garages. It's also planned in other games, in DayZ you can build bases too. It would make the galaxy more interesting for sure.

 

[W4rSkuLL]

Building bases would be a huge credit sink for those that feel they are at the end game, and thus create vitalization to the game and more playtime. A base makes you stick around. On ARK I have to look after my base and feed the dinosaurs, fertilize my plants and fill fuel on the generator to have electricity, maintain the defenses and keep the animals alive. It feels like a job sometimes but it creates seamless game play and cohesion. You come back to something you have built and feel comfortable with.
Im looking forward to how 2.1 will refresh the game, it should be a quality release with all the time gone into it.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

I can see a planetary base (or asteroid base) for personal and wing-member's use only working.

As long as it isn't a mining base where you put some machines to work for you and collect stuff while doing sweet all yourself.

 

[tomalus]

How about a storage in existing stations? I think that would be much easier to create.

 

[dannysquid]

I don't want to own any space or ground installations. For "housing" purposes, I want to see ship interior customization when we get to leave our seats (and by that I mean more than just changing the colours). The ship is my home.

This is what I think too.

 

[jmp470]

Yes it would be cool to hav,but, I have so many others wants first.
1) let me tailor my ship module sizes
2) let me walk around my ship
3) put bars, shops, etc, on stations I can go to

once those are done, then go big, like owning a station.

 

[NeilF]

Yes it would be cool to hav,but, I have so many others wants first.
1) let me tailor my ship module sizes
2) let me walk around my ship
3) put bars, shops, etc, on stations I can go to

once those are done, then go big, like owning a station.

What exactly would you do... What entertainment would walking around actually offer? I've never understood the panacea people seem to think walking around a ship or a station offers?

 

[PiLhEaD]

I'm also not sold on the walking about aspects tbh. Elite for me is all about being in and flying around in, a space-ship. That said I do enjoy whizzing around in a buggy, but here again, I'm in a 'space vehicle'.

Getting bogged down building/maintaining/defending a base does not appeal to me one single jot, and I would resent any dev effort spent on it as I just don't see it as part of the Elite experience.

Perhaps Empyrion is a better fit for those who want this aspect in gameplay, as base-building seems to be right at its very heart.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

What exactly would you do... What entertainment would walking around actually offer? I've never understood the panacea people seem to think walking around a ship or a station offers?

You could very easily say the same about flying a ship. What exactly would you do when flying your ship. All you do is just sit there. I don't mind if space legs/EVA get implemented or not, but there are a ton of gameplay element that can be used to enjoy the game that bit more. Just having the variety for a start would be good.

Infiltrating bases to get the documents needed for your mission, getting spotted, having to leg it to your SRV or ship, then getting persued and having to dodge interdictions, just that sounds good. Courier missions, instead of just docking and pressing a button, having to find you contact within the station without certain people seeing you as its sensitive information, all adds to the immersion if done right.

How about a civil war going on in a station and having war zones within the station, you choose your side and help out whether its combat or running supplies.

Doing ship repairs, your powerplant has been severly damaged, having to go to engineering to do repairs.

Doing EVA to do repairs to your hull, canopy, or other parts of the ship.

These are just what I have thought of in the last five minutes.

Getting missions from other areas instead of the mission board.

 

[jmp470]

What exactly would you do... What entertainment would walking around actually offer? I've never understood the panacea people seem to think walking around a ship or a station offers?

1) Instead of a BB on your ship. I would like to walk into each companies area and see what they have to offer (this would be akin to Mass effect).
2) I would like to see a bar / club, etc set up where you get your smuggling mission, assassination missions, etc. (akin to smugglers moon, aka star wars)
3) Once you get to your location (job site), you had to EV to your objective. This is where I really enjoy SC. The private investigator or reactive mission are a blast. Think base attack in ED. Once you destroy the defenses, you use your SRV to get to the main building and then you have to go into the building to activate the scanners, etc.... (also, it is akin to Mass effect mission). Or you get to your location and you have to clear the building your pirate lord is in. Getting a bounty for each pirate you shoot.
4) As for the ship modules, give me a hull size (my favorite looking ship is the FDL, so 250T Hull) and tell me how much I can put in it. But, allow me to change how I put things. For instance, say I'm OK with a size smaller thruster, allow me to up-size my FSD to size 5. Allow me to customize my ship to my taste, not be forced to use the same ship as everyone else for the mission set.
5) I'm tired of the fact that my commander just sits there... This is also a weakness in other simulators, but, ED is more than just a simulator to me.
6) think of a conflict zone inside a station... each side fighting room by room to clear the building.... and it is in space.... AWESOME!!!!

 

[NeilF]

You could very easily say the same about flying a ship. What exactly would you do when flying your ship. All you do is just sit there. I don't mind if space legs/EVA get implemented or not, but there are a ton of gameplay element that can be used to enjoy the game that bit more. Just having the variety for a start would be good.

Infiltrating bases to get the documents needed for your mission, getting spotted, having to leg it to your SRV or ship, then getting persued and having to dodge interdictions, just that sounds good. Courier missions, instead of just docking and pressing a button, having to find you contact within the station without certain people seeing you as its sensitive information, all adds to the immersion if done right.

How about a civil war going on in a station and having war zones within the station, you choose your side and help out whether its combat or running supplies.

You're suggesting adding a depth of gameplay/mechanics/missions to first person, that aren't even in the core game... eg: I'd much rather see mission to go into asteroid fields to spy on enemy locations/bases/ships, trying to use stealth mechanics (which the game seems to have forgotten about). Imagine if CQC's line of sight scanner was employed for example!

Doing ship repairs, your powerplant has been severly damaged, having to go to engineering to do repairs.

Doing EVA to do repairs to your hull, canopy, or other parts of the ship.

How would this gameplay work? Point a dot at a location/module and hold down a button? Would you want to do that over and over?

Getting missions from other areas instead of the mission board.

Again, that's all well and good... But let's get missions that are more interesting and worth getting, before simply adding more of them (from yet more places)?



I'm not against first person, and walking around stations and bases, but (1), the core game is paper thin at the moment, so IMHO it needs all the attention it can get at the moment, (2) we need to ensure any first person elements provide depth/interest and not just a sales pitch.

 

[Marcus Tullius]

No, Elite Dangerous is about being a lone pilot finding your way in a massive galaxy. The day they allow player bases is the day I stop playing.

.
May be they should rename the game from *Elite Dangerous* to *Space gypsies*

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

You're suggesting adding a depth of gameplay/mechanics/missions to first person, that aren't even in the core game... eg: I'd much rather see mission to go into asteroid fields to spy on enemy locations/bases/ships, trying to use stealth mechanics (which the game seems to have forgotten about). Imagine if CQC's line of sight scanner was employed for example!

How would this gameplay work? Point a dot at a location/module and hold down a button? Would you want to do that over and over?

Again, that's all well and good... But let's get missions that are more interesting and worth getting, before simply adding more of them (from yet more places)?



I'm not against first person, and walking around stations and bases, but (1), the core game is paper thin at the moment, so IMHO it needs all the attention it can get at the moment, (2) we need to ensure any first person elements provide depth/interest and not just a sales pitch.

As I said that was the first things that came into my head in the first five minutes, which I also think are prefectly valid. I haven't really gone into too much thought of it, but I am sure it can be interesting and in depth.

I agree that we need more missions like you have said. I'm sure they will come in time.

I really hope 2.1 adds extra spice to the missions.