Base Building - based on CitCon 2953 (October 2023) info including Ships/Vehicles

[Thalstan]

Hey all,

I made this over in spectrum, but I thought this might be useful here too.

I've been looking around for a spot that lists all of the vehicles that will be used for base construction/surveying based on the video at CitizenCon 2953 and I really have not found a spot that summarizes the information on Base Building. Specifically, I had been looking for the ships they listed.

After finding the video, I decided to just to a summary post of Todd P.'s presentation on Base Building. If people have corrections/suggestions for other content, please let me know and I will either include it in my post or make a direct link to yours.

As a reminder, development starts in Q1, 2024, so most of the information we have here is initial game concept/design/theory, not implementation

These will change to links here, but for now, I will leave the spectrum links.

Table of Contents
Locations for base building - Reply 1
Base Construction and Structures Types- Reply 2
Construction Ships and Vehicles- Reply 3
Hold for Future Information - Reply 4 (empty at this time)

 

[Thalstan]

Locations (Security/Risk)
Preparation
Base building will require you to plan ahead for what you are going to do
For instance,

• Is it just to have a nice home outside a city?
• Are you planning on gathering or producing items?
• Do you want to have a trading post where people stop in and can buy/sell goods
• Are you just going to strip mine an area/extract all resources and then move on to the next area?
• Is this going to be your org's main or auxiliary base?

Everything that is fabricated from Blueprints/Recipes that must be obtained in-game

• Blueprints are found from reputation rewards, mission rewards and "rare shopkeepers", which are probably gated behind reputation/faction.
• To make an item, it will will require various things, such as unrefined materials, all the way through complex components that are either manufactured or purchased elsewhere. Some of these will be very common, others will only be available in certain locations, requiring you to either go around the universe to collect them yourself, or use your trading post to get people to bring them to you.
• Once you have a blueprint, you can also perform additional research on that blueprint to provide different variations

High Security (low risk?)
You will need to purchase the land
The base will be invulnerable due to "planetary shield tech" and security will also show up to protect it.
You will need to pay taxes and fees to maintain protection (so no building a base and then leaving it alone for the next 10 years). If you don't pay your taxes, the shields will be withdrawn and the base will become a derelict and collapse.
The resources available in these locations are not that great. (low risk, high cost, low reward)


Low Security (medium risk)
Must purchase the land from the local gang/corp/faction.
There is no planetary shield, so your base will be vulnerable
AI NPCs will show up to protect the base, and if the attack continues, that protection will increase over time. So an organized grab and go gang will face little resistance, while one or two people might end up getting caught up and overwhelmed if they get bogged down trying to get too much stuff out.
Players can build defenses to help supplement/increase protection including shield, anti-air, maybe anti personnel/vehicle defenses as well. These can be disabled/destroyed
You will need to pay taxes/fees/tribute
The return on investment will be greater than High Security due to the lower taxes.


Lawless (High Risk)
No cost for the land claim
No security - so you will need to build your own defenses and maintain them. This includes shields, anti-air, anti-ground. Like above, all of these can be disabled.
No taxes or fees. This gives you a much higher return on what you collect.

Cross shard/server meshing issues will need to be addressed in the future.

 

[Thalstan]

Initial Construction and Land Claim

Construction
Once you have established the land claim, you will launch the a drone built into the "land claim machine"/land claim tool (referred to both ways)
This allows you to access base building and land claim mode

Land Claim Mode
The player selects the size of the property they want to claim which will also show the cost and taxes associated with it, allowing you to buy it. Land claims look to be circular in nature, not square, meaning there will be areas that are not claimed between circles, OR...land claims may be dynamic and allow you to size up but it will follow previous borders. - Editors note: I am not sure how this will work with the land claims that were sold to backers for money/credits. Those are listed as specific sizes, so it might be up to a certain size, or it might be the full size of the claim and you can't shrink it. Will you have to pay for the claim in-game as well as the money you paid? (unknown) Will taxes and fees still apply? (probably). There are still lots of things that need to be figured out/reconciled with the land claim and this presentation.
Editor Question: If you buy a land claim in a high security area, but don't put buildings on it, then don't pay taxes, do you lose the land, or does something else happen? Sure, shield are withdrawn, but if there is nothing in the area, does it matter? I suspect the land is "repossessed" by the government and then sold again.



Base Building Mode
If you own the land or it's in a lawless area (maybe this refers to land claims?), it will automatically go to base building mode
In base building mode, you can see the resources that exist at specific areas

• You will place buildings down where you want
• You can place multiple buildings in a planning mode before you build to see how it "comes together", you will see the resources needed for it,
• You will have other modes to see the resource network and see connections between power generators and power consumers.
• Currently, you will be able to link or move buildings with no charge (this may change when fully implemented)

Fabrication
Buildings come unfurnished
Fabricators will range in size and will be sued to build everything, including

• Decorations
• Furniture
• Ship Components
• Weapons
• Armor
• Ships Editors note: Ship building seems to be a departure from previous statements about us not being able to build ships. It is unknown how big of a ship we can construct. For instance, just something like a Mule or Surveyor Tool, or in our space stations, will we be able to build Javelins and Bengal Carriers?
• Fabricators will need blueprints to craft the item we want

Stats and quality will depend on the quality of the materials used
Structure Types
Utility

• Garage
• Freight Elevators
• Landing Pads
• Store Houses/Store fronts

Extractors

• Mining equipment (mining laser)
• Drills and Pumps
• Water extractors

Extractors will require player engagement, nothing will be fully automated.
Pull out containers that are full, repairing wear and tear, correcting mis-fires
There will be upgrade paths to make them more resilient and more effective

Power Generators

• Geothermal
• Solar Panels
• Fuel Generator
• Windmills
• Fusion power
• Batteries

Each will have an upside and a downside, including cost effectiveness. For instance, Solar Panels work great in the daylight, not so good at night, do you might need to pair them with batteries and ensure that you generate enough to power your items in the day and be able to charge the batteries so it gets through the night too.

Producers

• These require the player to combine different resources to make new items. These include:
• Fabricators
• Hydroponics
• Refineries
• Pharmaceuticals

Defenses

• Anti-Air Turrets
• Anti-Personnel Turrets (anti ground vehicle as well?)
• Shield Generators

 

[Thalstan]

Construction Ships and Vehicles (Names/Types)

Bases can be various sizes, from a small outpost for a solo player, to a major org base.
As noted above, Structures will range from Small to Extra-Large (this is abbreviated S, M, L, XL)

• Small objects and structures will use things such as the Surveyor Tool and the Hover Trolley. In the video, they showed a Mule like vehicle that may be the Surveyor Tool, or it might just be an example of how to get around and the tool is a hand tool). The Hover Trolly is of similar size.
• Ground Vehicles will be used to create Small and medium buildings. They showed a larger vehicle that looks like an extended Atlas platform (about 1.75 times the length of the current Atlas Platform), with what looks to be a crane/tractor beam? on the back.
• The Galaxy can build Small to Large structures. Editor's Note: I am going to assume this require a new module that has yet to be sold. It is unknown if this will not contain LTI (like other stand alone modules did not when sold separate from the vehicle), or if it will contain the option of LTI when initially concepted.
• The Pioneer can build S-XL sized structres and can be used as a mobile base. It will also get other features added to it.
• Some ships may also be able to build a space station, so bases may not be entirely planet bound. I suspect you will need to pioneer for a space station, or maybe a new, bigger ship.

To date, only the Pioneer has been concepted in terms of base building. The Pioneer is Hull Limited and there are very few ways of getting LTI on the Pioneer at this time outside of large packs.
The surveying tool and Hover Trolley have not had a concept sale.
The Atlas construction platform has not had a concept sale.
The Galaxy module for base building has not been introduced/sold, but the Galaxy has had its concept sale already.

 

[Thalstan]

Reserved for Future Info

 

[Aramsolari]

Good stuff.

 

[Talonsbane]

Personally, I've been looking forward to having our own land, homes & hangars ever since I initially saw the personal hangars when that was a side thing to see our ships in game. My ewok looking self is probably part hobbit, because while I'd love to have a home with great views, I'd also love to have it be mostly concealed & blended in with the area in a hobbit hill like area overlooking a lake somewhere tranquil.