Right now, Stations don't do too much in space. I would like to propose an idea that allows for players to become traders, mercenaries, pirates, or station administrators by creating stations that expand over time and respond to events in the galaxy.
To get things started, I propose that any station that is active and doing things will generate taxes for the faction controlling the sector it is located in. I would also like to propose that all factions have a new faction account that is only usable by the faction leader. Half of the tax revenue from stations goes to the faction members and half goes to the faction account (this amount is adjustable but half seems like a good start). I also propose that every sector claimed by a faction has an actual monetary cost that will be paid for automatically from the faction account. If the faction cant pay for every sector, then the farthest sector from home base is lost.
How do I interact with these new stations? Each station has a station module that serves as a building. inside of this is a Command Block. Go to this block and press 'R'. This will bring up the interface for the station. From here you can do several things. The first is buy module. This will level up the station and let you attach a module to any valid connection on the station. If you own the station, you can sell it. This tags the station as available and lets other players buy it for however much you listed it for. There is also an option to aces the station inventory if you own the station. The Last option for the station owner is to scuttle the station, setting a timer and blowing it up after that.
It should also be noted that these stations will auto repair at 1% of their blocks every half hour at level one, and an addition .1% for every extra level. There are modules that boost this rate or you can pay to have it refurbished by 1, 5, 10, and 100%. Destroying 80% of the blocks on a station will cause it request surrender, meaning it gives you money and you cant damage it for an hour. You can refuse surrenders, but it makes you look bad and may cause bad things to happen. Dealing 50% damage lets you access the station inventory and pull all the funds and goods from it. Killing a station means destroying 60% of its blocks, after which a dialog box is brought up letting you self destruct the base or turn it into a decayed station and kill the NPCs on board.
The first new type of station I will be suggesting is the Buoy Station. These stations are what actually gives a faction ownership over a sector. When a sector is claimed, 10,000*(number of other sectors claimed) credits are deducted from the faction account and a buoy station is spawned somewhere in the sector. This is a level one station and it cant be modified directly by players, but it can be leveled up and prefabricated modules attached. Destroying a Buoy will forcibly un-claim a sector for a faction.
This Station can be leveled up by paying 25,000*(LVL) credits up to maximum of four times. Each level lets you place a module on the station. This is the list of modules you can attach, and yes you can have multiple of one type and the effects stack.
Structural Stabilizer: This module provides lots of blocks so as to increase the health of the station and let it regen 2% more health per income cycle.
Defensive Platform: This module has a turret and a small drone to protect the station. If either are destroyed, they re-spawn next income cycle.
Tax Office: This module boosts the tax income of the sector by 25%.
Armageddon Protocol: If the Buoy is destroyed, it will self destruct and most likely take out anyone near by.
The next type of station I will suggest is the Mercenary Haven. This station starts out as a station core. It can be upgraded with Mercenary Hangers, a Canteen, and Gun Emplacements. This station will use the income generated by mercenary hangers to fund its expansion. Note that while upgrading it with hangers may seem like a good idea, the ships that it spawns will go out seeking bounties. This means bounties on you or bounties on ships you may be hunting.
The Canteen can only be placed once and is special in that it lets you place bounties or pay off ones on yourself. To place a bounty, simply find the guy named Merk in the canteen and press R on him. This brings up a screen with two options. You can see who has put bounties on you, if any, in one and pay them off from that screen as well. The second option lets you see available bounties and create one yourself. To make a bounty, click "Create New Bounty", fill in the name of the player who ticked you off, and then set the amount of money. You can only dedicate up to 100,000 funds to a bounty but there is no limit to how much bounty can be placed on you.
To collect on a bounty, simply deal damage to things that that person owns or is affiliated with. If Bob has 2,000 on his head and I deal 100 credits worth of damage to Bob`s Brotherhud, then I am paid 100 credits and Bob now only has 1,900 on his head. Bob can then go and pay Merk 1,900 credits to get rid of his bounty.
NPC ships may also spawn at random with a bounty of various proportions on their head. Just be sure its worth the trouble as some of these ships can be well armed for a small bounty.
The next Station type is a Mining Station. This station can be founded by a player at the cost of 50,000 credits. It can be leveled up for 30,000*(LVL). This station should be built in a sector where you do lots of mining or a sector where you don't want to do much mining by hand. This station will NOT self fund expansion because it costs 1000 credits every income cycle to operate. If you are in faction then half of the stations upkeep is covered by the faction account. if you are in a faction and in your faction`s territory, then the upkeep is all on the faction. If you or your faction cant pay upkeep for two consecutive income cycles, then the station stops production. If production is stopped for two consecutive income cycles, then the station becomes decayed and can be salvaged normally. This station can build the following modules.
Mining Drone Bay; Spawns a small mining drone that will harvest asteroids for a small return in resources.
Planetary Mining Drone Bay: spawns a drone that mines planets for a larger return. Only one may be built per planet and can be toggled off by admins who don't want worlds mined.
Sector Refinery; Boosts resource collection by .5 for players and drones. Note that it increases the station upkeep by 10,000.
The next station I suggest is known as an Industrial Station. This Station can be built by players for 20,000 credits and can be upgraded for 10,000*(LVL) or can spawn naturally and will self fund expansion by selling its goods. This is a simple station that can be good for creating a small trickle of income. It can build the following modules.
Factory: Produces trade goods, which can be bought from the station cheaply or left for the station to sell automatically.
Cargo Bay: Lets the factory store more trade goods.
Cargo Hanger: When the station fills up on trade goods, a cargo ship will spawn and take half of the current cargo load to a store. Every trade good sold to a store generates 5 credits for the factory minus the percent tax set by a faction, if any.
The next station I suggest is the Hydroponics Station. This station can spawn naturally or be created by a player for 30,000 credits. This station will self fund its expansion by selling its trade goods. This station is some what more costly to run that the basic industrial station as for the fact that it actually needs an input resource to make anything. This station can build the following modules.
Water Silo: Lets the station store more water. The station can also buy ice from players to create water.
Water Collector: Spawns a mining drone that searches for ice. Every ice block collected becomes 10 unites of water. The drone will always prioritize collecting ice from Mining station inventories.
Farming Bay: Consumes 15 water every income cycle to produce food.
Cargo Bay: Allows the station to store more food.
Freighter Bay: When the station is filled up on goods, a freighter is spawned and will haul half the station inventory to a store. Every Unit of food sold at the store generates 10 credits for the station minus the percent tax set by a faction, if any.
The next station type I suggest is the Science Station. This station can spawn naturally or be created by a player for 100,000 credits. This station produces "Progress". when it has 100 units of progress, it "Patents" it and generates 50,000 credits for the station minus the percent tax set by a faction, if any. It will level up every time it produces a "Patent". The player can pay the station 75,000 credits to make it patent something immediately. It builds the following modules in this order.
Sensor Array: The Sensor Array lets the station give players missions. The missions all revolve around flying to a spot in space and then returning with sensor data. Every successful mission will pay your 10,000 credits and create 5 progress.
Combat Science Lab: Every 10,000 credits worth of damage created in the sector provides 1 progress.
Science Lab: This module will be built up to three times. It produces .5 progress every income cycle
The next station I suggest is the Civilian Station. This Station only will spawn naturally and can self fund expansion through tax revenue. This station will generate the most money consistently and serves the purpose of being a high value target for expansion of factions and as a strategic weakness for factions with large borders. It levels up whenever it gets 100,000*(LVL) credits and build the following modules.
Residence: This building has several NPCs walking around and generates 150 credits for the station minus the percent tax set by the faction, if any.
Trade Hub: If the station runs out of food or trade goods, a shuttle is sent to collect half of the inventory of an appropriate station and returns. Every trade good returned generates 10 credits for the Industrial Station minus the percent tax set by the faction, if any. Every food item returned generates 20 credits for Hydroponics Station minus the percent tax set by the faction, if any.
The next station I suggest is known as a private ship yard. It comes in small, medium, large, huge, and "why is this a thing?". It can be built by a player for 50,000, 75,000, 100,000, 250,000, and 1,000,000 credits. The ship yard will occasionally spawn friendly NPC freighters that go between station conducting (taxable). They may also be used by any player to repair their ship so long as they have money to pay for all the lost or damaged blocks and can actually fit the ship in side of it.
The next station is the pirate base. This base spawns naturally and will level up with time. higher level bases will get more guns and can spawn more and bigger ships. these pirate fleets will attack stations and get them to surrender. The money gained from this is used by the station to keep it from becoming decayed. Destroying the pirate base consists of either actually destroying it, or starving it of money by killing its raiding fleets and forcing it to surrender. Pirates bases self destruct if the cant pay upkeep for two consecutive income cycles.
The final type of Station I suggest is a military station. These may be created by factions only and will cost upkeep depending on how many ships are docked at them. Building the station will cost a faction 50,000 from the faction account and 500 credits base upkeep. an additional 25,000 credits may be paid to add docks. Only four docks can be added to the station. The station and each dock can support up to 350 additional blocks worth of ships. yes, that was blocks, this means that you can dock 30 20 block fighters the station or 1 1750 ship. each block the station has in docked ships costs the faction 1 credit in upkeep. The purpose of these station is to defend a factions territory OR to go on automated raiding trips against enemy factions. To dock a ship to the platform, either physical dock a ship to the platform and leave or buy the ship from the catalog at the station.
In order to build any non faction related station, you need to buy a permit for 500,000 credits at an advanced shop. Press M where you want to build the station and select if its going to be one of these independent station or your own personal station. This should balance out the cost of setting up station better and prevent spamming. also note that advanced shops only hold 3-5 station permits and there is no way to get a permit back if you lost it.
Please not that these are only the rough ideas behind NPC stations and as such are somewhat rough. These ideas are here to be critiqued and would only ever see the light of day should the developers think that it is A. a good idea and B. worth their time. It is their final say on DEFAULT prices and YOUR ADMIN`S final say on the server side prices. If you don't enjoy the feature then simply disable or ignore it.
Feel free to post you opinion or ideas for new station types. Remember this is a suggestion and not all suggested station or even this concept may make it into the game.
[doublepost=1467494353,1467494288][/doublepost]TLDR: stations that generate money and resources that you can trade. things to make the universe a little less depressingly empty.
To get things started, I propose that any station that is active and doing things will generate taxes for the faction controlling the sector it is located in. I would also like to propose that all factions have a new faction account that is only usable by the faction leader. Half of the tax revenue from stations goes to the faction members and half goes to the faction account (this amount is adjustable but half seems like a good start). I also propose that every sector claimed by a faction has an actual monetary cost that will be paid for automatically from the faction account. If the faction cant pay for every sector, then the farthest sector from home base is lost.
How do I interact with these new stations? Each station has a station module that serves as a building. inside of this is a Command Block. Go to this block and press 'R'. This will bring up the interface for the station. From here you can do several things. The first is buy module. This will level up the station and let you attach a module to any valid connection on the station. If you own the station, you can sell it. This tags the station as available and lets other players buy it for however much you listed it for. There is also an option to aces the station inventory if you own the station. The Last option for the station owner is to scuttle the station, setting a timer and blowing it up after that.
It should also be noted that these stations will auto repair at 1% of their blocks every half hour at level one, and an addition .1% for every extra level. There are modules that boost this rate or you can pay to have it refurbished by 1, 5, 10, and 100%. Destroying 80% of the blocks on a station will cause it request surrender, meaning it gives you money and you cant damage it for an hour. You can refuse surrenders, but it makes you look bad and may cause bad things to happen. Dealing 50% damage lets you access the station inventory and pull all the funds and goods from it. Killing a station means destroying 60% of its blocks, after which a dialog box is brought up letting you self destruct the base or turn it into a decayed station and kill the NPCs on board.
The first new type of station I will be suggesting is the Buoy Station. These stations are what actually gives a faction ownership over a sector. When a sector is claimed, 10,000*(number of other sectors claimed) credits are deducted from the faction account and a buoy station is spawned somewhere in the sector. This is a level one station and it cant be modified directly by players, but it can be leveled up and prefabricated modules attached. Destroying a Buoy will forcibly un-claim a sector for a faction.
This Station can be leveled up by paying 25,000*(LVL) credits up to maximum of four times. Each level lets you place a module on the station. This is the list of modules you can attach, and yes you can have multiple of one type and the effects stack.
Structural Stabilizer: This module provides lots of blocks so as to increase the health of the station and let it regen 2% more health per income cycle.
Defensive Platform: This module has a turret and a small drone to protect the station. If either are destroyed, they re-spawn next income cycle.
Tax Office: This module boosts the tax income of the sector by 25%.
Armageddon Protocol: If the Buoy is destroyed, it will self destruct and most likely take out anyone near by.
The next type of station I will suggest is the Mercenary Haven. This station starts out as a station core. It can be upgraded with Mercenary Hangers, a Canteen, and Gun Emplacements. This station will use the income generated by mercenary hangers to fund its expansion. Note that while upgrading it with hangers may seem like a good idea, the ships that it spawns will go out seeking bounties. This means bounties on you or bounties on ships you may be hunting.
The Canteen can only be placed once and is special in that it lets you place bounties or pay off ones on yourself. To place a bounty, simply find the guy named Merk in the canteen and press R on him. This brings up a screen with two options. You can see who has put bounties on you, if any, in one and pay them off from that screen as well. The second option lets you see available bounties and create one yourself. To make a bounty, click "Create New Bounty", fill in the name of the player who ticked you off, and then set the amount of money. You can only dedicate up to 100,000 funds to a bounty but there is no limit to how much bounty can be placed on you.
To collect on a bounty, simply deal damage to things that that person owns or is affiliated with. If Bob has 2,000 on his head and I deal 100 credits worth of damage to Bob`s Brotherhud, then I am paid 100 credits and Bob now only has 1,900 on his head. Bob can then go and pay Merk 1,900 credits to get rid of his bounty.
NPC ships may also spawn at random with a bounty of various proportions on their head. Just be sure its worth the trouble as some of these ships can be well armed for a small bounty.
The next Station type is a Mining Station. This station can be founded by a player at the cost of 50,000 credits. It can be leveled up for 30,000*(LVL). This station should be built in a sector where you do lots of mining or a sector where you don't want to do much mining by hand. This station will NOT self fund expansion because it costs 1000 credits every income cycle to operate. If you are in faction then half of the stations upkeep is covered by the faction account. if you are in a faction and in your faction`s territory, then the upkeep is all on the faction. If you or your faction cant pay upkeep for two consecutive income cycles, then the station stops production. If production is stopped for two consecutive income cycles, then the station becomes decayed and can be salvaged normally. This station can build the following modules.
Mining Drone Bay; Spawns a small mining drone that will harvest asteroids for a small return in resources.
Planetary Mining Drone Bay: spawns a drone that mines planets for a larger return. Only one may be built per planet and can be toggled off by admins who don't want worlds mined.
Sector Refinery; Boosts resource collection by .5 for players and drones. Note that it increases the station upkeep by 10,000.
The next station I suggest is known as an Industrial Station. This Station can be built by players for 20,000 credits and can be upgraded for 10,000*(LVL) or can spawn naturally and will self fund expansion by selling its goods. This is a simple station that can be good for creating a small trickle of income. It can build the following modules.
Factory: Produces trade goods, which can be bought from the station cheaply or left for the station to sell automatically.
Cargo Bay: Lets the factory store more trade goods.
Cargo Hanger: When the station fills up on trade goods, a cargo ship will spawn and take half of the current cargo load to a store. Every trade good sold to a store generates 5 credits for the factory minus the percent tax set by a faction, if any.
The next station I suggest is the Hydroponics Station. This station can spawn naturally or be created by a player for 30,000 credits. This station will self fund its expansion by selling its trade goods. This station is some what more costly to run that the basic industrial station as for the fact that it actually needs an input resource to make anything. This station can build the following modules.
Water Silo: Lets the station store more water. The station can also buy ice from players to create water.
Water Collector: Spawns a mining drone that searches for ice. Every ice block collected becomes 10 unites of water. The drone will always prioritize collecting ice from Mining station inventories.
Farming Bay: Consumes 15 water every income cycle to produce food.
Cargo Bay: Allows the station to store more food.
Freighter Bay: When the station is filled up on goods, a freighter is spawned and will haul half the station inventory to a store. Every Unit of food sold at the store generates 10 credits for the station minus the percent tax set by a faction, if any.
The next station type I suggest is the Science Station. This station can spawn naturally or be created by a player for 100,000 credits. This station produces "Progress". when it has 100 units of progress, it "Patents" it and generates 50,000 credits for the station minus the percent tax set by a faction, if any. It will level up every time it produces a "Patent". The player can pay the station 75,000 credits to make it patent something immediately. It builds the following modules in this order.
Sensor Array: The Sensor Array lets the station give players missions. The missions all revolve around flying to a spot in space and then returning with sensor data. Every successful mission will pay your 10,000 credits and create 5 progress.
Combat Science Lab: Every 10,000 credits worth of damage created in the sector provides 1 progress.
Science Lab: This module will be built up to three times. It produces .5 progress every income cycle
The next station I suggest is the Civilian Station. This Station only will spawn naturally and can self fund expansion through tax revenue. This station will generate the most money consistently and serves the purpose of being a high value target for expansion of factions and as a strategic weakness for factions with large borders. It levels up whenever it gets 100,000*(LVL) credits and build the following modules.
Residence: This building has several NPCs walking around and generates 150 credits for the station minus the percent tax set by the faction, if any.
Trade Hub: If the station runs out of food or trade goods, a shuttle is sent to collect half of the inventory of an appropriate station and returns. Every trade good returned generates 10 credits for the Industrial Station minus the percent tax set by the faction, if any. Every food item returned generates 20 credits for Hydroponics Station minus the percent tax set by the faction, if any.
The next station I suggest is known as a private ship yard. It comes in small, medium, large, huge, and "why is this a thing?". It can be built by a player for 50,000, 75,000, 100,000, 250,000, and 1,000,000 credits. The ship yard will occasionally spawn friendly NPC freighters that go between station conducting (taxable). They may also be used by any player to repair their ship so long as they have money to pay for all the lost or damaged blocks and can actually fit the ship in side of it.
The next station is the pirate base. This base spawns naturally and will level up with time. higher level bases will get more guns and can spawn more and bigger ships. these pirate fleets will attack stations and get them to surrender. The money gained from this is used by the station to keep it from becoming decayed. Destroying the pirate base consists of either actually destroying it, or starving it of money by killing its raiding fleets and forcing it to surrender. Pirates bases self destruct if the cant pay upkeep for two consecutive income cycles.
The final type of Station I suggest is a military station. These may be created by factions only and will cost upkeep depending on how many ships are docked at them. Building the station will cost a faction 50,000 from the faction account and 500 credits base upkeep. an additional 25,000 credits may be paid to add docks. Only four docks can be added to the station. The station and each dock can support up to 350 additional blocks worth of ships. yes, that was blocks, this means that you can dock 30 20 block fighters the station or 1 1750 ship. each block the station has in docked ships costs the faction 1 credit in upkeep. The purpose of these station is to defend a factions territory OR to go on automated raiding trips against enemy factions. To dock a ship to the platform, either physical dock a ship to the platform and leave or buy the ship from the catalog at the station.
In order to build any non faction related station, you need to buy a permit for 500,000 credits at an advanced shop. Press M where you want to build the station and select if its going to be one of these independent station or your own personal station. This should balance out the cost of setting up station better and prevent spamming. also note that advanced shops only hold 3-5 station permits and there is no way to get a permit back if you lost it.
Please not that these are only the rough ideas behind NPC stations and as such are somewhat rough. These ideas are here to be critiqued and would only ever see the light of day should the developers think that it is A. a good idea and B. worth their time. It is their final say on DEFAULT prices and YOUR ADMIN`S final say on the server side prices. If you don't enjoy the feature then simply disable or ignore it.
Feel free to post you opinion or ideas for new station types. Remember this is a suggestion and not all suggested station or even this concept may make it into the game.
[doublepost=1467494353,1467494288][/doublepost]TLDR: stations that generate money and resources that you can trade. things to make the universe a little less depressingly empty.
