Space Stations

[QuQuasar]

Wondering if anyone else would get into building and maintaining space stations if that was a feature? 

Conceptually the idea is simple enough: launch a rocket with a 'Space Station Core' module instead of a cockpit. Once the rocket is launched and the core is deployed it can no longer be relocated on the star map, but in exchange the restrictions on building in space are removed, so you can expand it into a moderately-sized space base.

I love the idea from a sandbox perspective, though I'm not sure what functional use this would have in the game as it currently stands. If docking was possible and the fuel costs of take-off and landing were taken into account, though, a shuttle system to ferry crew members and fuel up to a station where your long distance spacefaring rockets were located could be an extremely viable strategy.
 

[Sasza22]

IMO easier would be to have a special module for that. Deploying it would create a small world around a landing pad (basically a landing pad floating in space with maybe an enclosed room connected) that you could expand freely. You could then land there and bring resources to expand the station.

[JaxckLl]

We already have too many tiny exploitable maps. More is not a good solution.

[beowulf2010]

20 hours ago, QuQuasar said:

I love the idea from a sandbox perspective, though I'm not sure what functional use this would have in the game as it currently stands. If docking was possible and the fuel costs of take-off and landing were taken into account, though, a shuttle system to ferry crew members and fuel up to a station where your long distance spacefaring rockets were located could be an extremely viable strategy.

I would love this. The "challenge" of an all vacuum map combined with having to ship all resources to it would be fun. Especially if you can use it as a storage/transfer facility for individual asteroid's rockets. 

[QuQuasar]

5 hours ago, Sasza22 said:

IMO easier would be to have a special module for that. Deploying it would create a small world around a landing pad (basically a landing pad floating in space with maybe an enclosed room connected) that you could expand freely. You could then land there and bring resources to expand the station.

Okay yeah that's a more streamlined version of the idea than trying to dismantle and expand some sort of pressurized station-core/cockpit module. It also rather elegantly solves the docking problem.

6 hours ago, JaxckLl said:

We already have too many tiny exploitable maps. More is not a good solution.

Not sure I follow your logic. What's wrong with having lots of tiny maps if entirely the players choice to create them? 

And as for exploitable, the only resource in space is solar power. Building a space station is not going to make sustainability or survival any easier to achieve.

1 hour ago, beowulf2010 said:

I would love this. The "challenge" of an all vacuum map combined with having to ship all resources to it would be fun. Especially if you can use it as a storage/transfer facility for individual asteroid's rockets. 

My thoughts exactly. I'd love it if take-off and landing were worth 1 hex of fuel each, so launching a fully-fueled rocket from a station in orbit rather than from an asteroid's surface would increase your travel range by 2 hexes.

[ghkbrew]

8 minutes ago, QuQuasar said:

I'd love it if take-off and landing were worth 1 hex of fuel each, so launching a fully-fueled rocket from a station in orbit rather than from an asteroid's surface would increase your travel range by 2 hexes.

I vote for some sort of star map destination that is beyond the 1 way range of any rocket. So you have to build a refueling station to get there.

[JaxckLl]

2 hours ago, QuQuasar said:

Not sure I follow your logic. What's wrong with having lots of tiny maps if entirely the players choice to create them? 

And as for exploitable, the only resource in space is solar power. Building a space station is not going to make sustainability or survival any easier to achieve.

That is a very toxic attitude right there. "It's okay for Amazon to exploit the tax code because that's how the tax code is written". Exploits are not okay, regardless of how often they get used. Especially in the context of otherwise well balanced games, exploits have the bad habit of spoiling the entire experience. Just a few things you can do with rockets because they are separate maps.

* Excessive Solar Power, which can be converted into a transportable form with super-heated liquids.

* Climate controlled farming by effectively expanding the map size.

* Extraordinary heat deletion. Dump super heated materials into a rocket then delete the rocket. Poof! Map instantly cooler.

* Infinite Steel by deconstructing the walls of the module.

Rockets being separate maps is a total gimmick. It doesn't add to the overall experience, instead it makes rockets clunky & annoying to manage. It's additionally highly exploitative, and it's not clear that the main exploits (separated heating/cooling cycle) can be properly addressed at all.

See Brothgar's most recent video for some of this jank in action.

[QuQuasar]

1 hour ago, JaxckLl said:

That is a very toxic attitude right there. "It's okay for Amazon to exploit the tax code because that's how the tax code is written". Exploits are not okay, regardless of how often they get used.

Or at least it would be a very toxic attitude, if you were responding to something I ever actually said or implied. Of course exploits are not okay. They should be fixed by Klei. And I have zero doubt they will be, because the DLC is in early access. Fixing exploits is what early access is *for*.

 

1 hour ago, JaxckLl said:

It's additionally highly exploitative, and it's not clear that the main exploits (separated heating/cooling cycle) can be properly addressed at all.

Wouldn't the obvious thing be to normalize the temperature of the module walls with that of the cockpit they correspond to? I don't see the problem, this is an easy fix. Combine that with making the cockpit tiles invulnerable and dumping the contents of a rocket out on the ground when it's deconstructed, and the system instantly becomes a ton less janky.

[Sasza22]

16 hours ago, JaxckLl said:

* Excessive Solar Power, which can be converted into a transportable form with super-heated liquids.

We already have tons of free solar in our regular planetoids. Putting it on a space station would require rockets to harness the energy somehow. We are talking about a static space base not an exploited rocket.

16 hours ago, JaxckLl said:

* Climate controlled farming by effectively expanding the map size.

I don`t see how foarming in space would be more effective than on the planetoid. Especially when you have to ship the resources to space.

16 hours ago, JaxckLl said:

* Extraordinary heat deletion. Dump super heated materials into a rocket then delete the rocket. Poof! Map instantly cooler.

You can already do that. Just pump super hot gas or liquid into space where it gets deleted in the void. It`s easier than using a rocket.