Random thought, but...
Was thinking about some kind of shipyard design feature for stations, which lead to "Well, we couldn't really do an actual shipyard to build stations with, because they're stuck wherever they spawn, so how would you automate building a station from a blueprint?" and it hit me.
Construction drones?
We have talks about the weapons update containing the Mine Layer again, where the system is going to be basically some kind of mini-factory that uses materials to create the mines that float in space, what if we based some construction drones off of that?
As in, we make ships with some sort of construction modules, and give them a cargo hold full of raw materials. You could then issue a fleet command along the lines of "Build this station in this sector" and have them go out with the materials to start constructing your outpost for you, instead of having to fly out there personally to spawn from a filled blueprint (which the devs have said they're trying to move away from).
I rather like the idea of construction bots and a heavy duty cargo ship moving into position and setting up shop for you.
Was thinking about some kind of shipyard design feature for stations, which lead to "Well, we couldn't really do an actual shipyard to build stations with, because they're stuck wherever they spawn, so how would you automate building a station from a blueprint?" and it hit me.
Construction drones?
We have talks about the weapons update containing the Mine Layer again, where the system is going to be basically some kind of mini-factory that uses materials to create the mines that float in space, what if we based some construction drones off of that?
As in, we make ships with some sort of construction modules, and give them a cargo hold full of raw materials. You could then issue a fleet command along the lines of "Build this station in this sector" and have them go out with the materials to start constructing your outpost for you, instead of having to fly out there personally to spawn from a filled blueprint (which the devs have said they're trying to move away from).
I rather like the idea of construction bots and a heavy duty cargo ship moving into position and setting up shop for you.