Encourage expansion towards the galaxy rim

Feedback
1

I’ve read lots of comments and suggestions about how there isn’t enough in-game incentive to expand out to the outer systems. The central area has too many good planets to choose from. Add the benefits from being near the CX and other players, it’s difficult to leave the core. Even the top players with 25+ bases can find core planets to build a base on.

A couple ideas that I won’t address here:

  • Higher productivity at the rim
  • Rare materials at the rim
  • Artificial restrictions on building on certain planets

My idea is to adjust permits. Keep the core planets at 500/250/250 land area per permit. But allow bigger bases farther from the core. Let’s make the rim planets 1000/500/500 per permit. Find some values to expand it based on distance, say 50 per jump. System HP-242, being 16 jumps from Moria, would have 1300 (16*50+500) area per permit. System UP-170, being 11 jumps would have 1050 area per permit. The actual numbers should be tweaked.

This would give the established players a good reason to close out a base on a core planet and rebuild it farther out.

Thoughts?

4 Likes
2

So what happens when all core bases close down and “rim” becomes “core”?

3

Then reverse the ratios. Make the core great again! :sweat_smile:

4 Likes
4

they could make it where if a planet is eg 30% full you only get say 1400 area and if its 60% 1000 area

2 Likes
5

How about instead of a bonus per permit, adding the ability to use a 4th permit on frontier planets (based on the infrastructure and population of the area) which grants the extra area. The 4th permit granting the said variation based on distance from core but can only be added while the system is below a certain industrial limit, after that new bases are limited to 3 permits but existing bases retain their 4th permit and all bonuses.

This gives people an incentive to expand early into a region before there is an established colony there.

6

Further suggestion:

Make the outer planets highly attractive for “first n players”. Not dependent on %, but a fixed number of bases that get a very high bonus on area.

Maybe even:
“As long as there is only 1 player (or a very limited number) on a planet, area is not limited”. Maybe with a “local HQ” on that planet required, that does not take base-permits for area-expand but a similar increasing requirement for expansion?

That would make “non perfect” planets viable for much bigger bases and might lead to some “races” to planets.