Regarding the faction base issue.

[Sha3es]

Being able to buy local navigational data from Trading Guild NPCs would be a nice touch. Great idea!

Additionally, this would also go a long way to hide and conceal home base locations, because we could assume that the trading guild does not know all of the system points of interest. This means that the only way to find a factions actual location would be to buy it at a very very very high price, or just buy the general system location for a very very high price.

Along with this we should perhaps consider that the trading guild should not occupy every system at once... kind of limiting/ strange that every system in the galaxy is worth inhabiting.

Also, previously mentioned, warp gates should not show the end destination or the route it might take... or pop up right away on the map unless you know the gate is there.

So this nets us
1. well defined maps of all friendly trader/npc faction controlled systems with active settlements/ decent trading areas
2. a largely unexplored universe with large empty spaces that give a faction base plenty of room to hide in
3. maybe the ability to help expand the trading guild/ npc factions into larger or smaller empires based on levels of expansion.
4. the need for scout ships, and a way to profit from them.
5. the need for a minor/serious rework of how the scanning system works... aka scans to reveal a whole system should be next to/ if not impossible.
6. possible navigation/ deep space listening/ sensor posts for observation or early detection.

 

[Ithirahad]

Additionally, this would also go a long way to hide and conceal home base locations, because we could assume that the trading guild does not know all of the system points of interest. This means that the only way to find a factions actual location would be to buy it at a very very very high price, or just buy the general system location for a very very high price.

...Or just scan the base down yourself...

Along with this we should perhaps consider that the trading guild should not occupy every system at once... kind of limiting/ strange that every system in the galaxy is worth inhabiting.

Agreed; the Trading Guild should really only have a lot of stations inside its own territory at the center of the galaxy. Beyond that it should only have scattered posts.

Also, previously mentioned, warp gates should not show the end destination or the route it might take... or pop up right away on the map unless you know the gate is there.

Yep. You should have to actually go through the warpgate, or scan both ends, for the warpgate to be visible on the map. However scanning and finding a station that has a warpgate should maybe give you a notification that says "Warpgate signature detected on scanner! Location: (x, y, z)"... at least as a server option.

So this nets us
1. well defined maps of all friendly trader/npc faction controlled systems with active settlements/ decent trading areas
2. a largely unexplored universe with large empty spaces that give a faction base plenty of room to hide in
3. maybe the ability to help expand the trading guild/ npc factions into larger or smaller empires based on levels of expansion.
4. the need for scout ships, and a way to profit from them.
5. the need for a minor/serious rework of how the scanning system works... aka scans to reveal a whole system should be next to/ if not impossible.
6. possible navigation/ deep space listening/ sensor posts for observation or early detection.

Yeah, except the last two. A dedicated scanning ship should be able to reveal a good half a system, but also not be able to support much other equipment. Also, navigation and listening posts wouldn't really be necessary under this system... I have an idea for those as well, but it has more to do with monitoring captured territory for enemy movements.

 

[MacThule]

Yeah - I think in parallel they could work. I wouldn't want the guild to be the only source of map info though. Then there would be no role for exploration.

 

[Ithirahad]

Yes. It wouldn't make sense, at any rate; why would you have a huge map file and not be able to record anything to it :P

 

[MacThule]

I understand why we're relating the map issue to faction home bases, but it kind of deserves its own thread. Both because the map issue is broader, and I feel like discussion of how to safely move faction homes away from invulnerability (while keeping them tank-diesel hard as hell to kill) is being focused mostly on the map thing, when it is much broader as well.

 

[Sha3es]

My reasoning for focusing on mapping is simply for the fact that the universe is quite big. So with so many stars to explore, it would make hiding a home base easier. Of course, I did forget to mention that the guild would be a place to get general information for explored star systems, or you can also ask other players how much they want to sell their data for.

 

[Mr.Steam]

A couple thoughts on balancing home base invulnerability.

1) Factions have greater buffs to their defenses/armor depending on the number of faction members online. If a faction has a lot of members online at one time their homebase is more vulnerable. If there are no members online it is very difficult to attack the homebase.

2) Factions have a "mercenary" account. You can put X credits into this account. Each time your home base is attacked mercenaries will jump in and defend and automatically deduct a certain amount from your "mercenary" account depending on the quality of mercenaries that participate.