I am wondering if anyone knows the game balance consequences that would be caused by obliterating some of the stations in high-sec systems. Some systems have as many as 8 NPC stations in them. Some have no traffic at all. Others seem to serve as the hub.
I get that they are racially aligned, and that some have markets, others industry support, others research support… but is this a useful feature in the game, and why? My sense of tidiness says make no more than one NPC station in every high sec system, and give it all of the capabilities of the others. Mash all of the agents into it, and have everyone live out of it.
the reason of many NPC corps have their own station ! and why they shouldnt ? you can also spam your citadels in space as you want and you can even say that nobody can dock at this …
I dont see the problem, but one benefit of many stations is that there is more real estate for player corp offices. The difference in rent can be significant between stations in the same system
If we really wanted to declutter i think there are better places to start?
I’m not convinced we should be solving the first problem. The second problem is easily solved by adjusting rent so that it is low in stations with low demand and high in stations with high demand.
Lots of things. Systems with multiple NPC stations allow one to store doctrine ships in one station and one’s own fits in another station. I do that myself. That is my version of ‘tidiness’.
And NPC stations are not just places to store stuff but also excellent ‘warp to’ points, and places where combat can occur…via baiting, ganking, catching people one has wardec with, and so on. They also make great places for scouts to hang out while keeping an eye on Local.
It would be nice if all highsec systems had at least one NPC station, but on the other hand the fact that they don’t adds to the danger and risk as you have nowhere to run to and dock.
So really there is nothing wrong with the game as it is. The imbalance is precisely what keeps the game interesting.
Each station only has 1 corporation (and therefore 1 faction) kind of missions
Therefore only one LP store per station
Stations offer different station services
In the long ago, Manufacturing, Research, and Invention slots were not infinite. There were only a finite number per station. You had to wait for someone else’s job to finish and set an alarm so you could start yours right afterwards. Or later put yours into a queue. So more stations meant more slots available which meant they were the high sec production powerhouses. When slots were rendered infinite, the number of stations didn’t change.
It seems like a lot of these benefits are just CCP choices. Take Tash-Murkon Prime. There are 8 NPC stations in that system. Why not just boil it down to one, allow multiple NPC corps to operate from there, consolidate all of the agents there, and allow all activities there?
Wouldn’t that create more content by pushing people in that system all to one undock and make things a little more spicy?
I would rather ccp not touch it without doing extensive work on the test server. Missions are some of the oldest content, and the most spaghetti code entanglement. While its easier to add new missions, until they can mess with the old ones without melting a server, leave em alone
I also think there is way too many of them, but you won’t find any supporters for removal of anything be it whole systems or stations. A status quo has to be defended.
Also those stations usually have some purpose, although there are cases of a two same stations of same corporation in same system which is in my opinion absolutely needless.
And I would argue with others that lack of the NPC stations gives meaning and motivation to set up citadels.
In my opinion the stations as they are were not strategically handplaced, but are result of a random generator. Whatever, it is as it is. Rule number one for developers - you must never take peoples’ stuff.
That is already the case. Rent is entirely dependent on the number of free office slots per station. Welcome to 2005 when CCP still created good gameplay features.
Why should people not have a choice to evade potential camps and campers need to be vigilant and good to camp the right stations with the right equipment?
Your sense of tidiness misleads in multiple ways. In addition to the above, several stations also make sense from a plain realistic point of view. More stations simply foster competition in a system and give redundancy for important facilities and they give options for holders and interested parties to chose between stations based on location (near to the star, near to gates, close to certain planets, etc). and so on.
NPC stations don’t compete against one another, and if they did, what good would it do the game?
Redundancy for important facilities is a potential negative, allowing people to avoid conflict and confrontation in a game based on PVP and the threat of PVP.
I see the benefit to a player to put themselves near a resource, but I don’t think I care if they have a longer warp of 10 seconds instead of 8 seconds.
That’s changed by moving all services offered to a single, central station.
That is a thing that exists which isn’t of particular benefit to the game. Originally the central market in the game was at a station in Yulai. It was literally the market for the whole game. Players put it there and it stayed there until CCP made it unworkable by breaking the connections to that system. The only reason they did it was to relieve the load on the server.
We still have Jita, despite the low sec Ahbazon in between Amarr and Caldari space. People don’t want a variety of markets. They want everything to be available and everything to sell as fast as possible in one place.
Indeed. Perhaps are you a fan of Larman’s Laws of Organizational Change? People will defend the status quo because they are terrified of something changing. Then after the change has settled, they will defend the change as though it was a thousands year old tradition handed down by God himself.
…what? You make it sound like fact, but this is in fact incredibly debatable:
There’s literally a forum thread right now going on about how “Rens is dying” (amongst other trade hubs) and how they want it to be a trade hub (plus other places).
Oz (the market CSM guy) just put out a poll within the past month to figure out how to better decentralize the marketplace so Jita doesn’t have a stranglehold on the whole economy.
I don’t think you can safely “speak for” what the whole community wants. Maybe just for the people in your bubble.
People for sure want:
An active market with high trade volume
A comprehensive buy/sell order list of most items
The prices to be reasonably determined by market forces (as opposed to speculators / price gougers / monopolists)
Whether it is 1 or multiple hubs, I believe people generally prefer multiple – less hauling travel! But this is just a belief of mine.
I am just observing what happens in game. There was a Yulai. There is a Jita. Players did it. While some minority of players go to regional hubs, most will take incredible risks to get to a central hub. Seems pretty cut and dry that what people want is what is happening and what has always happened - at least a majority of them.
