How essential is base building to you?

[Bruttle]

No matter how I look at it, I just can't imagine this game feeling complete without a robust base building element. I know they have talked about building some structures. They've even talked about player owned asteroids, but I want to see more. I want to see more than just a glorified storage crate with stairs.

I want to be able to eventually buy a moon. The whole moon. I want to build a very small and sensible base on the surface. I then want that base to be located cleverly on top of the also sensible but equally sized opening to the massive ten square mile underground base that I have dug out on that planet. Yes, I want a decoy base.

I don't want to just have it though. I want to build it. I want to spend a month just digging it out with my prospector. I want to refine the ore needed to build the walls, the floors, the airlocks, and even the tables in the grossly oversized bar. I want to spend way too much UEC on the tech in the command center and the 10 foot diameter disco bar over the hanger large enough to hold an entire fleet complete with room for 10 idriss (idri, idrises, idris', idresi).

I want to spend years working slowly on my base, but I don't just want it to be me. I want others to be able to build amazing things too. I want to see the entire surface of a planet covered in a massive org base. I want to see player designed and built space stations. I want to see a massive space port located in the middle of nowhere. I want to see it located so far away from a solar system, that you wouldn't be able to find it without access to the locator beacon.

My whole point is, people need to be time invested in their game. They need to earn and work for what they have. They need to be proud of it. Pay to win games are a great example of the complete opposite of this. Those games allow players to pop in, spend a handful of cash, get everything there is to earn, get bored, and leave inside a month or two. It's great for short term developer income, but bad for both the player base and the longevity of the game. For a game to stand the test of time, players need to be able to become more than just financially invested.

So for me, a robust base building system is absolutely essential to the long term success of the game. What do you think?

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

I love the scope of your vision, I wish you luck.

Myself, a base is not important to me. My largest ship right now is a Connie Taurus. That is going to be all things to me - transport, a business, a base of operations and a home. It will grow as I grow.

If you have not checked out the lore behind the Millennium Falcon and just how different a ship it is to other examples of its model YT1300 there is such scope for what you want just in the craft you fly it could be almost unrecognisable to its sisters, and why tie myself down to one square of pixels on one part of one hemisphere of one moon in one planetary orbit around one star in one system when we are going to have a universe of a hundred systems? Bases in the Outlands systems makes more sense as civilization and amenities will be a bit harder to come by like water and air meaning you'd have to produce your own, but around, say, Terra? Not for me...

The only benefit of a base that I can see is if I can make one in every system and spawn at them. If that is the case, logging off and logging back in on the other side of the 'Verse is going to be a lot easier and faster than flying there. All I'd have to do is fly there once first to set up the base.

 

[DirectorGunner]

Right there with you bro! Let's build all the bases! <3

 

[marcsand2]

Like the Rebel Base on Rogue One, a ship hangar and staging point. I think that it is a very good addition, but will delay the completion of SC for another few years. Everybody will want to have such a base. With 1.8? Million registered players and a limited amount of planets, moons and big space objects this could be crowded.

 

[DirectorGunner]

With 1.8? Million registered players and a limited amount of planets, moons and big space objects this could be crowded.

For 3.0 only if a large percentage of citizens actually build a base in 3.x and if those bases are persistent. But the celestial bodies are so massive, I think a planet could easily host 1+ million bases... the servers... eh.. maybe not so much lol

Really curious what the limits will be for SC concerning hosting all these player bases and satellites.

 

[Bruttle]

The only benefit of a base that I can see is if I can make one in every system and spawn at them. If that is the case, logging off and logging back in on the other side of the 'Verse is going to be a lot easier and faster than flying there. All I'd have to do is fly there once first to set up the base.

I hear you. There is usually a huge difference between possible options and optimal decisions. You can make a game with infinite possibilities, but over time the players will discover the optimal decisions and that will become standard. Hence, the meta. If it is more beneficial to make 100 small bases instead of one huge base, that's exactly what the players will do.

That doesn't inspire ownership though. That's what I think is essential. I think it's important for a player to be able to develop a sense of ownership. There needs to be something there to foster the feeling that the player owns something rare and unobtainable. That can be accomplished by allowing players to develop something over a long period of time, or allowing them to purchase something that is only available once. The concept of founders packs are built on this feeling.

Players need to feel prestige. They need to feel like there is a reason to play for years. Players need to feel the envy of new players when they first start. This also needs to be purchased with time and effort, not just real money. Players need a history, a story that is more long winded and complex than "I logged in and got into a dogfight".

Like the Rebel Base on Rogue One, a ship hangar and staging point. I think that it is a very good addition, but will delay the completion of SC for another few years. Everybody will want to have such a base. With 1.8? Million registered players and a limited amount of planets, moons and big space objects this could be crowded.

I firmly believe that limited availability is key to fostering that feeling of value with the players. If everyone can own a moon, that moon has no value. If that moon has no value, nobody cares about it. If there is limited quantity, players that have it will stay to keep it. Other players will stay to earn it from someone that has it. Limitations foster that feeling that you have something that others can't have.

Lets face it. That's why many players are here now. They want something that other players can't have later. Whether it be deals, ship skins, titles, or even early access, most players are here for reasons that can be filed under the "prestige" category. We all want to be special. So how can players achieve that after the game releases? They can achieve a reputation through combat. They can achieve notoriety through org drama. They should also be able to achieve fame though ownership of items/ships/skins/bases that are unobtainable by immediate means.

We should be able to have badges of honor for time spent. We should be able to work towards something that only time can buy. This makes long term players. This helps keep games online for decades.

 

[Michael]

To me player created bases is something i would like to see but i would like to see it implemented in Beta or even later.
I would love to have a giant Test base where we can meet up and stuff like that. But as i said bring the game into a state where the most promised feature are realized and we can come back to polishing.

Also i want it to be expensive, i mean really expensive so that not a 10 people org can maintain a whole base on their own.

....

So you want to play Space Engineers? :)

 

[CosmicTrader]

I like your idea and wish you luck.

For me, although I like & will have a module base, it will be several years after launch.
It will take lots of money & time and there is so much more to explore & do first.

Beside, I can visit you. Ha. Ha.
See you in the 'Verse.

 

[Mich Angel]

This is not that kind of game since there is no voxel based object planets or surfaces, but there are other game that have exactly this function..

But a little story of a happening that was very interesting..

There is one thing I ask all who have this great plans of owning, taking over a moon or planet...
Are you aware the shear size of planets an moons..

One example of that was given in concierge chat to a user that was hellbent he could take over a planet..
a dev. explained it and that put it all in some perspective... that for me was a WOW that is BIG...

If you take all users account in star citizen 1800000+ users and put them on the surface of one of the bigger moons or smaller planets like Crusader, far enough from each other so the one user can't see the next user.
Now we have all users on one planet/moon surface with a couple hundred meters apart so they can't see anyone around them.
Together now all user put out like that would not take up more than a couple % of the total surface area of the planet/moon that is how big it is..
So please enlighten us how you alone or a org is going to control something that big...


I though it gave some real perspective to what they are doing and how damn big planets and moon really are.
Well I decided to try and fly around Crusader planet following the center where it is as biggest with a 350r using max cruse speed, after 5 hours I gave up I had not even got past one third of the distance around the equator.. maybe just past a quarter of the distance...

Shore hope we get to put together our own buildings or build as you say small or bigger bases, even if it is module built and there are hundred of variations how to put it together and using crashed old ship part too if available.. that would be so cool. I love to see that.

So when it come to a hole planet/moon I come to realise that not even a org big as TEST could have full control even over a small planet or moon, not even if all user in the org was online 24/7 it would still not be enough people to pull it of and have full contorl.

But Having control over a smaller area as around a base or space station I can see that happen and that would be cool, probably it will cause some conflicts I guess ha ha...

Damn it shore would be cool to be able to do build in caves too... or build our own org space stations and truck stops.. humm... lot of cool ideas :beers:

 

[marcsand2]

I firmly believe that limited availability is key to fostering that feeling of value with the players. If everyone can own a moon, that moon has no value. If that moon has no value, nobody cares about it. If there is limited quantity, players that have it will stay to keep it. Other players will stay to earn it from someone that has it. Limitations foster that feeling that you have something that others can't have.

Or conquer / raid it, but that will be a hard task to implement in gameplay. Nobody is online all the time and even if somebody is online, a raiding party can form up in big numbers at a set time while the defenders can't stay on alert 24/7, allowing raiders to "farm" resources and leaving owners / defenders helpless, hiding their resources and let their base open.

 

[Esh]

Id build if it was an option but I'd be more interested in a Test Squadron base. Somewhere to meet and drink between operations

 

[Black Sunder]

Base Building is important to my own plans but not completely essential. Its more of a convenience I'd like to see if said base can be constructed and taken down relatively quickly.

 

[Toihva]

I like the idea, but any complex base type of thing we are wanting will add a year or two to development. From my own gut feeling after playing 2.6.3 and watching 3.0, this game is still another 1.5-2 yrs out from final release given that they really want to release a pretty polished product.

I think if they do add buildable bases it would be added in an expansion. I could envision a 'breath through in quantum travel' that opens up some newer systems to explore, and with these systems being farther out than normal, they could very well be more player/org run be controlled by UEE in any form.

This really could fall in line with Risk vs. Reward, the risk is losing a ship increases as well as decreased insurance. Since I am assuming insurance is a flag, write it so LTI is invalid in this new area and as such not covered by it. Normal insurance yes, but player will have a higher % to replace ship, and wont cover modules.

And again, this wouldn't be a future expansion and my rumblings.

 

[Printimus]

Personally it depends on the game being played. Sure its fun for RPGs and progress style games, but does base building belong in FPS games? I dont think it would.

 

[Black Sunder]

Personally it depends on the game being played. Sure its fun for RPGs and progress style games, but does base building belong in FPS games? I dont think it would.

 

[Printimus]

I can never get back that 3 minutes and 47 seconds of my life......

 

[Shadow Reaper]

IIUC, the whole point behind the VFG Industrial Hangar, or more commonly known as the "Asteroid Hangar" is that indeed, you can place a hangar wherever you like, within reason. Whether you will have a real secret base is questionable because I think the plan is to pay in game money to have it built, so you will probably not be able to do that in places like the Oso and Osiris systems, which are protected as "developing", and you will probably have trouble having them constructed in Banu, Krell and especially Vanduul space. I have never heard of any plan to allow players to construct their own bases, and that does not seem realistic to me. Realistically, were you to make your own base you would spend all your waking hours and have a tiny hole in the ground as result. Instead, I think CIG's plan is a team of experienced construction workers come in and build quickly.

I certainly want my base secret, and I have to wonder whether there will be a criminal construction option, where you can build in places no one will know about. Also, I would like to know just how much design space there is. I look forward to owning an entire wing of various Vanguard. Can I have a base built that has room for a dozen of them all along a single flight line? How can I plan to bring in fuel, and can I somehow get the benefits of a repair base--what in aviation is called a "fixed base operator"? How do we handle munitions deliveries if the base is kept secret? Can I automate deliveries using my own NPC's? I have a thousand questions, but more than any other I want to know how do I share that base with friends so it feels like home to all of us?

 

[BluePilote]

24/7 to guard them...

View: https://youtu.be/UsRP9EUrXjo

 

[Bruttle]

I like the idea, but any complex base type of thing we are wanting will add a year or two to development. From my own gut feeling after playing 2.6.3 and watching 3.0, this game is still another 1.5-2 yrs out from final release given that they really want to release a pretty polished product.

I'm right there with you. I don't know if it would add an entire year or two to the development, but I don't think their release schedule can afford any additions. I really want to see this game release. More to the point, I really want to see this game release before it is obsolete.

From what I understand, they plan on allowing the players to build using the compartmentalized base system that they're working on now. They might also allow for players to purchase space stations. That's good enough for me at release. Later on though, I would like to see a more robust system in place. I want to see this game appeal to the widest and most diverse player base possible. If someone only wants to play space trucker, I want them to have a home here. If someone just wants to race, they should have a home here. If someone hates flying but loves FPS, I want to see enough gameplay to keep them entertained without having to own a ship.

So for me, base building is an important piece of the puzzle. Does the success of the game depend on it? No, but I'd like to see the base building crowd find a home here too.

 

[CrudeSasquatch]

You build big base. I steal the beer kegs to fill it. Is good