While I’m sure there have been a few topics trying to address things like overloaded planets and the general lack of accessible fertile land, my own idea for dealing with those would be the concept of off-planet bases (either orbiting a planet, or just anywhere in a system, depending on what would work better.)
The idea I have for the off-planet bases is that they would consist of four ‘quadrants’, each determining the base’s capacity in a specific way:
-Bio-Development: This quadrant is allocated for buildings that require fertile soil (FRM and ORC). Initially, it would have 30 area (enough for 1 FRM) at -33% fertility, with capacity upgrades each doubling the available area (so at upgrade level 2, you have 120 area and can have an ORC or 4 FRMs) (Lv. 1: 60, Lv. 2: 120 Lv. 3: 240) and soil quality upgrades eventually bring soil fertility up to +/- 0%. (Lv. 1: -20%, Lv. 2: -10%, Lv. 3: +/- 0%)
-Fabrication: This quadrant is for all the other production buildings, except for resource buildings (COL, EXT, RIG) as there’s no support for those. Starts at 50 area, which can be upgraded similarly to the Bio-Development quadrant (Lv. 1: 100, Lv. 2: 200, Lv. 3: 400)
–However, the idea of a ‘Debris Collector’ as a potential new resource building is also considered, either as its own building or as a built-in part of the quadrant. The Debris Collector would collect either a random selection of resources (Ores, Minerals, Gasses, Liquids, and rarely metals, alloys, and ship/building materials) or a unified ‘Debris’ resource that is to be further refined by another building (perhaps a basic and an advanced version of this ‘Debris Processor’, with different outputs for each one, and can be placed on a planet base, unlike the collector) If using a single Debris resource, then the amount of debris required to get a specific resource depends on the relative rarity of that resource. It would need a lot more to get Rhenium Ore than it would to get Iron or Silicon Ores. The effectiveness of the Debris Collector is influenced by the system’s Micrometeoroid Density, with higher-density systems yielding better collection rates. If it is a built-in part of the Fabrication Quadrant, then it can be upgraded to increase its yield as well.
-Habitation: Determines workforce capacity. It can be either be space for Habitation buildings, with an upgradeable area (Start: 25 Area, Upgrade Level 1: 50 Area, Lv. 2: 75, Lv. 3: 100) or a population limit shared by all classes of worker, with separate upgrades for the maximum population (Start: 100, Lv. 1: 200, Lv. 2: 400, Lv. 3: 750) and the types of workers supported. (Start: Pioneers and Settlers, Lv. 1: Add Technicians, Lv. 2: Add Engineers, Lv. 3: Add Scientists.)
-Storage: Fairly self-explanatory, determines the capacity to store materials and produced goods. It will start fairly small (either 500w/500v or 1000w/1000v) and has separate upgrades for weight and volume (doubling for each upgrade.)
This would likely be at least mid-game amounts of resource investment (with ship parts, building prefabs, agricultural goods such as SOI and NS, and maybe some new components being used in establishing these), but at the same time I don’t want it entirely inaccessible to those wanting to keep their Free license. The proposed requirements for placing an off-planet base will be:
-A special ‘Station License’, given every 5th HQ level
-If the base needs to be in orbit of a planet, then it counts against the ‘1 base per planet’ limitation for that planet (and there might be some form of limitation on how many orbital bases a planet can support. There needs to be room for the ships coming in and out of planetary bases to get through without having to go through a maze of orbital stations, after all.) If it can go anywhere in space, then only one is allowed per system.
As for the upgrades, it can either be:
-Potentially ‘fully’ upgraded, but upgrades get significantly more expensive with each one, like with the HQ. (Cost scaling may apply to all upgrades in the station or just for that quadrant.)
-Limited in total number across all upgrade paths or per quadrant, but with less drastic cost scaling, like with Gateways. Maybe with the option to upgrade the ‘Station Core’ to support more upgrades, potentially at the cost of another Station License along with whatever materials are needed.
The above plans are tentative and not much has been put into balance with other parts of the game, so suggestions to refine the system, if it is viable at all, would be good.