I was in New York today, and I happened to be wandering by Ithaca Research Station, or, more accurately, the ruins of the station.
I am wondering if it would be possible, with the appropriate RP and in game/on forum activities, to salvage and resurrect the station. I was thinking that it would be ideal to have it be the Researcher equivalent of a Freeport. This would be more of an RP edifice than anything trade or PvP related.
I would appreciate hearing, in a civil fashion, from both the management and from players.
I believe it is a possibility, I would like to point out there is a Freelancer research station Heisenberg Research Station in Koeln. One issue I could see is that even though it is abandoned, it was originally a government research facility and Liberty might have some issues with that. Another option for rebuilding a station inRP was the Junction Wreck in Kansas which has the bonus of being out in the middle of nowhere as well as in a cool system.(I was in a group way back that was trying to RP rebuilding junction but the group eventually died off)
Honestly, I don't really see it as a big problem of rebuilding a base. Work with the Liberty government, make a RP line which makes sense regarding the rebuilding, and i'm sure the Devs can slip that in for a microupdate.
Sounds interesting. Good luck! You have my support.
Only issue I see with possibly rebuilding it (and for the record, I think it's an awesome idea in general) would be the IFF given to it. If you give it any IFF other than a lawful one, it will simply turn into another unlawful hide-away that is much closer to the JG there than Buffalo. However, a lawful IFF might cause a few problems with some people's researcher RP if they happen to have a no-dock rep sheet or similar with said lawful faction.
In regard to Ithaca, I was thinking of its proximity to the local Baxter Anomaly as a renewed research draw. Alternatively, and thank you for the suggestion, Loki, Junction has a lot to recommend it.
Regarding affiliation, that is something I am still trying to work out. What I do NOT want is a research station that is rebuilt by individuals, and claimed by the local government.
What I meant by the Freeport reference was more along the lines that the base would be generally neutral, allowing researchers from otherwise hostile groups to interact; lab space for hire.