Every module of the station would be the end product of a tree from the Conq Stations. These modules can be added to the body of the station, (which must be built first), and add Extra function to the station, i.e. a factory module, extra storage, more fighter docks/exit ports, trident docks/exit ports, etc. They can be deployed anywhere except wormhole sectors, nation space, and other station sectors, but only by a trident (which is the only thing that can haul the modules).

These stations will be destructable, (each module adding to the base total HP of 2 million)

This was planned at one point...

Then let's do it!

Only function I see for player owned stations would be to allow players to sell items in the station storage to those who have access to dock. I do not know who will place any amount of valuable items in a station that can only be deployed in gray space and is destroyable. Seems like a huge grind to provide players with something to attack.

Of course it needs to be fleshed out more, I only give my idea of the base framework of the idea as a whole.

+1

But what's the incentive? What's the benefit to having one? Anything to increase interaction but there has to be a bonus to building a station

The bonuses are whatever you make of it. For example, pirates could build a hideout deep in sedina. Nationalists can build a beachhead at the nation wormholes. Traders can build a trade hub along trade routes. The benefits are as limitless as your creativity for the purpose of the station.

When you pop player built stations the salvage should be substantial to encourage conflict. Ship discounts, weapon manufacturing discounts, etc at the player built station

-1 Currently player built tridents are replaceable with insurance for a few thousand credits. I think this very resourceful insurance company should be able to replace player built stations as well.

-1 right now.

+1 to that once the VO playerbase has grown by atleast 500%. I only see this being any useful when space is much more populated. Maybe a while after the iPhone release and very shortly after the Steam release would be a great time to do this.

Sieger, I'm not sure the game can handle 5 million players a month.

Savet, I don't see where that post had anything to do with the game's limitations...

It's a tongue-in-cheek criticism of the need for more players where Inc likes to point out that we get 10k+ new users every month, while we consistently complain of user activity levels. So Sieger's suggestion would equate to 5 million new players every month. You can take it in support of your suggestion independent of the need for additional players to make station manufacture an in-game activity.

^^^^^^^^this

I'm sorry Inc but new players don't matter if the game's retention rate is 1%

Heh... I do believe the numbers incarnate posted. You really see a lot of new names on the chat every day. But the problem is that those new players don't seem to stick around.
Only 10.000 logins per day with an average online time of 30 minutes would make VO a whole different gaming experience. That's why I put as much faith into the iPhone/Steam release as the developers. It may change something. Especially the Steam audience may be a promising factor that can largely increase the amount of players in space.

Setting aside the fact this won't happen even in another 10 years because VO is VO, there's no need to tie this kind of extreme end-game shit to massive influxes of new people. None of them will have any access to dents, much less this kind of thing, or any conception of the grind involved beyond 'Sounds awesome, when can I get it? Oh, basically never? kthxbai'

1) I've talked about player station construction being part of VO 2.0, with an expanded universe, when they tie directly into conquerable territory. It's been planned a long time. I actually mentioned it very recently in another suggestions thread. I only talked about player-ownership, but some type of "manufacturing" should be expected. I also touched on it in that giant podcast.

2) It's way off topic to a suggestion about people building stations, but if you actually read the thread linked above, I was responding to Savet's criticism of the value of the mobile release. Most "popular" mobile games do paid user acquisition, which runs between $1.50-$15 per player, and is a very complex economics balance to make sure they're generating more revenue per-user than they're spending. We pull in 10k or more for free, every month, thanks to the mobile version. We even convert some of those to PC. So, I wasn't claiming our retention rate is anything wonderful, I was saying we get a constant stream of new people from mobile, and that's a good thing. Hopefully we can improve the retention rate as time goes on, but it's $15,000+ I'm not spending on marketing per month? Also, be aware that mobile retention rates are very low in general, even for the most successful mobile games. We'll continue to improve ours, but just "being there" so Sony, or Samsung, or whatever partner can blast us with another 500k users during a promo, is a good thing.

3) Please keep in mind, people, that the Suggestions forum is basically the "Hope Forum". If you don't have Hope for the game, don't post here. It's fine to discuss things in terms of what's more realistic in the long versus short term, or what has more merit/value for immediate developer time, but know that I am still specifically working on a lot of this stuff. I'm just trying to also pay for it in the short term, with things like VR development.

4) ANYway, I do not think this kind of endgame feature requires some particular player count to be relevant. Especially if it adds greater meaning and value to existing content like Tridents. High-level guilds will only become more engaged, it furthers the endgame, and adds value to the entire game world, creates areas of potential contention, intrigue, and conflict. But, it has to be tied into economics (which is explicitly why I started testing the Latos N2 economy, and then ran out of devtime to work on it), manufacturing, scarcity and value of manufactured goods coming from the "outer rim", player created missions, etc. It can't just be "player-owned stations for their own sake".

I like point 4.

The idea of player or guild owned stations that are the end result of conq. station missions is a sound one and would add an entirely new dimension to gameplay. The downside to that would be if those stations were made conquerable or even destructible. Why would a player or a guild put so much effort into helping manufacture a base of operations when they are no more safe from being taken away, even temporarily, than a conq station is.

+1

I love this idea.

1. Make them destructible but expandable, and require guild level efforts.
A. Expansion missions from the central "hub" would be available to guild CO, but progress from delivery of supplies could be contributed by any guild members.
B. To improve defense, have buildable turrets as one of the available options. After all, a large active guild would have the money and available manpower to run a powerful station.
C. The hitpoints of the station/station modules excluding turrets would be enormous to keep a lone idiot from middle spamming it to death in an hour or two, but destructible by a large effort in a few hours.
2. Make all manu missions available after construction of certain modules/facilities.
A. Set of 3 buildable hubs from current conq stations.
-2 slot hub
-4 slot hub
-8 slot hub
Each hub type would have relative difficulty to build factored in.
B. Various modules buildable at current conq stations to facilitate various activities at POS.
-Storage module (10,000cu)
-Market Module (10,000cu)
-Shield Module (400,000hp shield)
-Capitol Docks (Holds up to 4 Tridents)
-Defensive Module (Allows building of defense turrets)
-Tier 1 Factory Module (Allows building of basic capitol components)
-Tier 2 Factory Module (Allows building of 2nd tier capitol components)
-Capitol Shipyard (Allows construction of capitol ships)
3. No key system.
A. CO would set more broad term allowances.
-Guild Only. (All without guild tag would be flagged hostile)
-Alliance Only (Would allow guild tag list to be flagged friendly)
-Public (Hostile only if agressing. Basically makes entire area NFZ)

I feel this system would fit very well. I know it would be a lot of dev work, but then, as inc said, this is a hope forum. The building process would be massive. Im talking a 2 slot hub would be about equal to the effort to produce a current dent. An 8 slot hub closer to 10 dents. Each module about the effort of a dent. Each turret similar to a tier 2 dent component. So yeah, if someone were to put the effort in to build a POS worth a total of 20ish Tridents, then they sure deserve the right to have a very large well defended ability to produce as they wish. Its still attackable so if IE TGFT built one but everyone hates them, then a massive raid could be planned to kill it. However, everything but defense turrets would be insured to the guild CO. Say a fully tricked out 8 slot could be replaced for a mere 5 billion credits. After all, the price of said station construction would far far exceed that. A smaller 2 slot trade outpost would come far cheaper.

More to come.