(Suggestion) Hiring people to build stations for us

[Raptor34]

Probably more for flavor than anything, but you see, currently to build a station you need the BPs for every single piece you put on it. But what if just like you can order ships at shipyards without owning the necessary BPs, you can also just order a station as well. So you can build a station without needing to own the BPs. Which actually gave me another idea. Like what if the rep level for buying BPs and buying equipment are different?

[adeine]

I think this could be a neat idea for ventures style multiplayer.

Request a station type/minimum requirements and budget and have someone else be able to pick it up as a mission and plan the build for you.

[Raptor34]

Well, to be clear I'm thinking SP only of course. What prompted the thought was someone else having issues adding turrets to their defense disk, because well, they didn't own any BPs.
So just as we can buy and equip ships without being able to build them ourselves, why not the same for stations. And if you implement my other idea for lowering the rep requirements to just buy the ship/station/equipment compared to purchasing the BPs, then there would be some actual use cases there.

And well, even besides that, in theory you can also get into station building earlier by being a middleman and getting the station building mission, then subcontracting out the actual construction to someone else without you yourself needing to own the actual BPs. Could actually jumpstart your income because you save the costs of needing to purchase the BPs. After all you can already do that with fleet delivery missions, so why not the same with station construction?

[ChillAsIce]

Maybe each module you have built should cost 10% more (or more). Otherwise you might not need to bother buying station modules at all.

[Raptor34]

Maybe each module you have built should cost 10% more (or more). Otherwise you might not need to bother buying station modules at all.

You mean like a surcharge or something?

[flywlyx]

Maybe each module you have built should cost 10% more (or more). Otherwise you might not need to bother buying station modules at all.

Construction missions give a 50% reward margin, so player‑offered missions should follow the same standard. There really should be faction‑wide guilds or job boards where both NPCs and players can post jobs.

[vvvvvvvv]

Probably more for flavor than anything, but you see, currently to build a station you need the BPs for every single piece you put on it.

"Here's the money, build me whatever as long as produces hull parts"?

Well, why not.

[Raptor34]

Probably more for flavor than anything, but you see, currently to build a station you need the BPs for every single piece you put on it.

"Here's the money, build me whatever as long as produces hull parts"?

Well, why not.

That's one option. Though I was thinking that you handle the design process. It's more robust that way I think. How many modules can the shuffle option handle now? I remember there used to be issues with too many modules, which iirc wasn't even that many.
Otherwise I'm thinking you say you want how many modules and it pops out something for you using the shuffle function and you pick which one you want.

[vvvvvvvv]

That's one option. Though I was thinking that you handle the design process.

That would not be interesting. I think if player wants to have control over design, he/she should buy the blueprints.

The situation with no control over station design, however, sounds like fun. Imagine that you list requirements, specify budget and get horrific connector hedgehog which fully satisfies your requirements. Just like player treats station missions, basically.

I think this would be very entertaining.

[Raptor34]

That's one option. Though I was thinking that you handle the design process.

That would not be interesting. I think if player wants to have control over design, he/she should buy the blueprints.

The situation with no control over station design, however, sounds like fun. Imagine that you list requirements, specify budget and get horrific connector hedgehog which fully satisfies your requirements. Just like player treats station missions, basically.

I think this would be very entertaining.

Sure, but that also runs into the issue of how much extra work it takes. Designing yourself already works, because for the most part that's how the game currently works.
I mean I guess shuffle would work for AI designed, and limiting how many modules you can add is a good limitation to incentivize buying the BPs yourself. But I was thinking you'll add a surcharge for hiring someone anyway so in the long term, buying your own BPs is still cheaper.

[Feloidea]

The situation with no control over station design, however, sounds like fun. Imagine that you list requirements, specify budget and get horrific connector hedgehog which fully satisfies your requirements. Just like player treats station missions, basically.

I think this would be very entertaining.

Oof. It'd be like paying to watch a train wreck. I've seen some interesting NPC stations (particularly the Split seem to have trouble with choosing their connectors and hilariusly vertical expansions). I can't imagine using such a feature myself, unless I got exceptionally bored and want to create a reason for purging the galaxy.

[vvvvvvvv]

Sure, but that also runs into the issue of how much extra work

Station generator seem to be already in the game.
So is the "shuffle" button in station builder.

Oof. It'd be like paying to watch a train wreck.

But that's the point, isn't it.

[Raptor34]

Sure, but that also runs into the issue of how much extra work

Station generator seem to be already in the game.
So is the "shuffle" button in station builder.

Oof. It'd be like paying to watch a train wreck.

But that's the point, isn't it.

I'm thinking more about how you now also need to add additional UI and other things for that, like you need to be able to tell them what you want and all.
My original suggestion would have basically been "just" adding a second option to the create a new plot screen.

[vvvvvvvv]

My original suggestion would have basically been "just" adding a second option to the create a new plot screen.

Your original suggestion would mean skipping blueprint purchase completely. Unless the idea was to hire builder from specific faction and be restricted to that faction blueprints only. It would still require UI work.

[Raptor34]

My original suggestion would have basically been "just" adding a second option to the create a new plot screen.

Your original suggestion would mean skipping blueprint purchase completely. Unless the idea was to hire builder from specific faction and be restricted to that faction blueprints only. It would still require UI work.

Well. Yes actually. I did mention like ordering from shipyards. This would be the same. You can only order an Argon station from the Argons for instance. If you want to mix and match, you need your own BPs.

[flywlyx]

Well. Yes actually. I did mention like ordering from shipyards. This would be the same. You can only order an Argon station from the Argons for instance. If you want to mix and match, you need your own BPs.

This would make the game far too easy if players could fully customize stations. Honestly, even just being able to order a specific type of station would already give players a huge advantage in jump-starting their economy. A more balanced approach might be for factions to sell only their redundant stations. That way, instead of demolishing them for resources, factions could still profit from the sale, which makes sense, and players wouldn’t be able to immediately exploit the station for profit—but they’d still gain the benefit of owning a factory.

[Raptor34]

Well. Yes actually. I did mention like ordering from shipyards. This would be the same. You can only order an Argon station from the Argons for instance. If you want to mix and match, you need your own BPs.

This would make the game far too easy if players could fully customize stations. Honestly, even just being able to order a specific type of station would already give players a huge advantage in jump-starting their economy. A more balanced approach might be for factions to sell only their redundant stations. That way, instead of demolishing them for resources, factions could still profit from the sale, which makes sense, and players wouldn’t be able to immediately exploit the station for profit—but they’d still gain the benefit of owning a factory.

And what's the issue? You can buy ships. I don't see people complaining that it "jump starts" your economy. Do we also need to only capture ships until we can buy BPs and only then can we order ships at shipyards too?

[vvvvvvvv]

And what's the issue?

It removes a huge chunk of game progression. Hunt for the blueprints is part of central game loop past the first station, and half the game revolves around blueprint hunting.

So there has to be a tradeoff. Like complete lack of control over resulting station layout. Or maybe you'll need sky high reputation requirements.

---

Basically:

* "Player should be able to order stations". Reasonable. Missions exist, why not let player issue them.
* "With full control over layout" --> definitely a very hard no.
* "Without any control" --> that could be a lot of fun.

A reasonable idea is to make this act as missions you get except you issue them to the NPC. You pay 150% of the station, specifications are vague, and subcontractor can install random stuff into it to meet the max payment target.

[flywlyx]

And what's the issue? You can buy ships. I don't see people complaining that it "jump starts" your economy. Do we also need to only capture ships until we can buy BPs and only then can we order ships at shipyards too?

Actually, capturing ships is a faster way to jump start your economy. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen people say boarding is too easy and risk-free, even though Egosoft has already increased its difficulty several times.

[jlehtone]

Sure, but that also runs into the issue of how much extra work

Station generator seem to be already in the game.
So is the "shuffle" button in station builder.

Oof. It'd be like paying to watch a train wreck.

But that's the point, isn't it.

I'm thinking more about how you now also need to add additional UI and other things for that, like you need to be able to tell them what you want and all.
My original suggestion would have basically been "just" adding a second option to the create a new plot screen.

"See that some harm comes to him."

We have already Managers on Stations. We give them heaps of cash and say: "Do something".
Similarly, for captain of miner/trader/fleet: "(auto) Do something".
Then they do -- kind of -- and we cry. We cry, for we disagree on how the delegated tasks should be fumbled.
Those are choices between throwing cash at the problem and controlling every last detail (i.e. doing self).

---

You did not bring "professional constructors" to the idea yet, did you? They are (hearsay) very good add finding additional challenges that bloat both the budget and the schedule. And still use substandard materials to save a penny.


The UI could be a simple list to add wishes on:
4x Hull Part production
7x Advanced Electronics production
The rest is left for the AI to decide ...
(Don't the online station calculators have something like that too?)