X4 improvement suggestion

[Savory_scenario]

Player owned sectors having no fog of war, with the administrative station acting as a all seeing eye in the sector it is at.

What do you guys think?

I hope the devs could take it into consideration.

[Falcrack]

I think some station modules giving extended visibility is okay, though the entire sector might be a bit too much. Maybe admin modules could give the station twice the sensor range of an advanced satellite. No need to link it to sector ownership.

[adeine]

Bringing back the radar thing from XR as a buildable station module that acts as a (very) improved satellite would be a neat idea.

It'd cut down on the need for building a very extensive satellite network.

[Feloidea]

It'd cut down on the need for building a very extensive satellite network.

What tangible benefit is there to an extensive satellite network? I can play perfectly fine without any sort of comprehensive satellite network. Only satellites I drop are on big trading stations, EQs, wharfs, shipyards and stations I've unlocked black marketeers on. Between that and my own station subordinates' traffic I see almost everything in the more busy sectors anyway and trade informations on stations last long enough that even sporadic trade runs by station traders effectively keep those permanently updated so I've never even bothered with the trade subscriptions.

[Falcrack]

It'd cut down on the need for building a very extensive satellite network.

What tangible benefit is there to an extensive satellite network? I can play perfectly fine without any sort of comprehensive satellite network. Only satellites I drop are on big trading stations, EQs, wharfs, shipyards and stations I've unlocked black marketeers on. Between that and my own station subordinates' traffic I see almost everything in the more busy sectors anyway and trade informations on stations last long enough that even sporadic trade runs by station traders effectively keep those permanently updated so I've never even bothered with the trade subscriptions.

Speak for yourself. I find a great deal of benefit to an extensive satellite network. I end up making one in every playthrough. I find it incredibly useful for keeping tabs on what is going on in the universe, it is far cheaper early game to lay down sats to keep trade prices updated than buying a trade license, and it allows me to more easily find builders.

[adeine]

What tangible benefit is there to an extensive satellite network? I can play perfectly fine without any sort of comprehensive satellite network. Only satellites I drop are on big trading stations, EQs, wharfs, shipyards and stations I've unlocked black marketeers on. Between that and my own station subordinates' traffic I see almost everything in the more busy sectors anyway and trade informations on stations last long enough that even sporadic trade runs by station traders effectively keep those permanently updated so I've never even bothered with the trade subscriptions.

Lots of benefits that make satellites a lot better than trade subscriptions while also being cheaper:

• You get to see movement of enemy factions and can plan around this (whether by sending fleets or diverting civilian ships)
• Trade offers/storage amounts are always up to date and stations are not in fog of war, ideal for queueing up manual or repeat orders
• It makes it very easy to find NPC builders in the early game wherever you need them
• On a similar note, it makes it easy to spot pirates you can board for free ships (or other factions if that's what you want )
• Allows you to find battles between NPC factions which yield dropped wares and bailed ships (and wrecks, if you have recycling modules)

[Feloidea]

Finding builders is a good point, these buggers sometimes really like to hide. It does seem to be an awful lot of manual effort to set up a satellite network (either personally or by manually setting orders for a dedicated ship), though perhaps you guys are using a mod for that as there are a couple around to automate the setup of satellite networks.

Spotting pirates is also a point I'll concede, albeit that having subjective value as I try (and regularly fail, easy profits are hard to resist) not to cheese the game too much by just boarding SCA destroyers for quick millions. More power to everyone who wants to and in that case a satellite network does help.

I still don't think the trade information is a solid point though. It's not like offers become invisible as soon as you don't have live informations (the offers stay updated for quite some time after a visit) and I've really NEVER (!!!) had any issue with my traders finding lucrative traders. That has always been a complete nonfactor for me. I should qualify this statement with mentioning that I do manually scan almost every station in a sector I intend to do trades in (especially at the start of games to unlock black marketeers) so I have a very comprehensive list of every station in the sectors I do trades in. Like I said, I never bothered with a satellite network or with purchasing the trade subscriptions/licenses and my station happily trade away without any issues and I can say with certainty that any station that could want a ware I trade in and has good offers gets supplied, no one missing out.


All of that said, I wouldn't oppose a new station module that functions as a super satellite to give a much wider viewing radius if it were small enough to just throw on a stations' surplus hardpoint. I can always opt not to use it if I find it unnecessary as I do with satellite networks.

[adeine]

Finding builders is a good point, these buggers sometimes really like to hide. It does seem to be an awful lot of manual effort to set up a satellite network (either personally or by manually setting orders for a dedicated ship), though perhaps you guys are using a mod for that as there are a couple around to automate the setup of satellite networks.

No mod; as I explore at the beginning of a new save I queue up an S ship loaded with satellites to drop one next to each station once I'm done with each sector. It is a fair bit of hassle, especially since we don't have keyboard shortcuts on the map, but absolutely worth it in the long run.

[Falcrack]

I hate to think there is some medical supply factory way off in the corner of a sector, away from the normal flight path which might possibly have a good deal but which I am not getting since I don't have active trade data for. So if there is a single factory or trade station without a satellite next to it, I place a satellite. I don't bother with defense stations though generally.

[Darkhan]

I'd like to see a couple of mega structure buildables myself for late game projects.

Example megastructures:
1- A wormhole stabiliser (ship or station) for ToA so protectcyon gathering can be automated
(was thinking something like a giant Tide battery ship or station to stabilize it, like the ME Shadow Broker ship)
2- Since we'll see the Xenon mothership in Timelines, why not have a project to convert it to a planetary miner after a lot of effort / resources
(Think Orbital mining station, but could only be one and only usable on non-life supporting planets or planetoids)
3- Player world terraforming where we could terraform a world for ourselves instead of everyone else.. Ex: Matrix #9
(Possible production bonuses etc..)

Also, some very basic diplomacy. Nothing fancy, but if you're at war with a faction and they are losing bad. Let them sue for peace.
Perma-war with a faction is fun for a while but can be annoying as factions are currently immortal.
I get the reason for not removing factions, but at least make them dormant if they have no resources (looking at you Xenon stations that will never be built).