Discovery 5.1 Dev Diary #2
Freeports And Other Fluff
Welcome to Barrier Gate 5.1!
You probably expect to hear more about this Rheinland Update? Well, not today! After punching some sense into Sigma-15, I left the focus on Rheinland to @Antonio and @jammi , went on a bugfixing spree and somehow ended up working on freeports we tend to forget about: The non-Zoner ones!.
Overview
My primary goal with this update (and probably at least one of the following) is to make freeports a bit more exciting to hang out at. They are the ideal meeting locations of various factions that are often hostile to each other, but at freeports, people feel more inclined to give talking a chance instead of the average /1 /2 rightclick. There are obviously some freeports that have the ideal positioning in systems, like Freeport 11, but some others that some people might not even know about.
In any case, can't hurt to make some locations in the game a bit more visually interesting to look at, right?
Barrier Gate
Sirius' Largest Freeport
We have the technology to make asteroid bases look fun now
Barrier Gate never seemed like it, but with a population of over 4.000 people, the station is by far THE freeport. No Zoner drama, no players to try and administrate it - just a station with three docking points, open to anyone (no, not you, aliens!), in the center of the Independent Worlds. However, the way the station looked, so far, didn't really make that apparent. I was mostly just playing around with lights and did an asteroid base for that matter. Then I started to like it, and figured, well, why not use that as Barrier Gate? The proposal was accepted, and now we can look forward to a little asteroid city in the depths of the Barrier.
Freeports, Exploration and Fluff
Don't worry, unlike Antonio I didn't add any instakill hazards. Almost.
Initially, I just wanted to help visualize which Barrier Gate Station sells what ships, since all three stations essentially looked the same but offered different assortments of ships. I put the ship models right outside at mooring points and gave them all the name "Ship for Sale". If you click one of those ships and then press F9 to see more information, you get the ship's infocard, so people know what the name of the ship model is.
And then I figured: Why not do that with just every freeport in general? Well, as you can see in the video, I did that. Right now, the following stations display their sold ships:
Freeport 1
Freeport 5
Freeport 6
Freeport 8
Freeport 10
Freeport 11
Freeport 14
Barrier Gate Station A, B and C
Noshima Freeport
Newport Station
Heisenberg Research Station
Halifax Freeport
Ames Research Station
Ithaca Base
These stations generally sell only ships Freelancers can use, with the exception of Freeport 6 selling the Border Worlds Train, which has more cargo than FL IDs can use. Another thing to note is that despite the stations selling those ships, it doesn't mean they are produced there. No worry, Kusarians, Freeport 6 is not a shipyard for Bustard-class Battlecruisers. Or Carriers. Or Liners. Whatever the Bustard is now, it is not produced there, just sold!
Noshima Freeport
Lawfuls go to the Golden Dragon. Cool people come to Noshima!
Gambling, trading, or just living in style
Noshima Freeport has something for you!
Yeah, the Hogosha have the Golden Dragon and this cool race track out there, with a pretty panorama of the Shikoku system. But who wants to have their tax money wander into the pockets of an organisation that names their Light Fighter after, you know, the process of cutting off your little finger? Gross! Ew!
Kazuki Watanabe, aka. "The Peddler", had the right idea: Japanese Las Vegas, but in space! I figured the station design should reflect that to a degree, and with the station having been required to get edited because of ship launching bugs, we now have this cool space casino. Come here and have your chance at winning an Ahoudori-class Kusari Explorer!
Newport Station
Just behind that field of explosive oxygen!
Newport Radio
Your #1 radio in the Sigmas!
CrestFM might be popular among Liberty space truckers, but Newport Radio is what your average gas miner operator listens to when everything you can see outside the cockpit is blue nebula. You might remember Newport Station as the petty little remains of Yanagi, but while the GMG doesn't like the Junkers at all, some of the higher-ups seem to have a heart for the people running Newport. Is it the radio? Is it the funny little Plovers or the reliable Dunlins workshopped at the freeport?
Whatever it is, it's good for the people on Newport and allowed them to turn the former ruins into a pretty place to stay for a while. That's what you should do on your next journey between Rheinland and Kusari, or after successfully venturing through Copernicus. Have a little detour to Newport Station and vibe to the radio!
Ithaca Underworld Freeport
No lawfuls allowed!
Home of the Ithaca Council
Black Sails in Discovery, bois!
Right now, Ithaca is the last reminder of the Reapers of Sirius having been a thing in the past. But that is, uhm, past! A loose group of skilled and powerful pirates established the Ithaca Council based on Ithaca Base in Omega-7, and they welcome anyone who wants to contribute to Ithaca and her guests. Just plundered a Synth Food transport filled with alcohol? You know where to go, pirate!
At Ithaca, you will find a bunch of battle-hardened criminals who enjoy the somewhat safe harbor among the rocks. Find out about the Siren, a Serenity-class transport that lures naive people with fake distress calls into ambushes; about the GS Halligan, a Galatine-class gunship that has some suspiciously juicy insights in the weaknesses of the Bretonian Police; or find out about the Grand Serpent, a Judicator-class cruiser that found, uhm, new management, after the final weeks of the Liberty Insurgency.
Quite a bunch of ships with history, all armed to the teeth. You really don't want to start a fight here.
Seriously.
What else is new?
We're trying to find a good balance between fixing broken things and giving systems the story progression they need with each patch. It is no secret that Update 5.0 changed a lot of things, and not all of them for the better, meaning there is a LOT that needs fixing. While that sounds bad, it is also an opportunity to rise the level of quality all across the board, as Antonio indirectly hinted in the previous dev diary entry.
For space stations, this means we ask the following four questions when we look at them:
1. Does this station design fit the function?
2. Does this station design fit the faction?
3. Does this station design fit the lore?
4. Does this station design, uh, work?
A shipyard should always look like a shipyard, a shipping station should look like a shipping station.
And a Gammu AI outpost should look like a Gammu AI outpost. So, instead of a Rochester-type station inside a... rock of molten lava... I figured Primus Outpost could use a little editing.
You guys know this base exists, right?
Right?
As some of you have noticed, there are a bunch of stations that, uh, need a little bit of attention to get a "yes" for the fourth question. It is a tedious and draining process to fix them, but we are working on it. 5.1 will allow you to enjoy Lichtenfelde Complex without ships clipping through the giant rocks. We're trying to keep affected stations in the spirit of their initial designs, but some changes will be unavoidable.
Wow, it's not a Baxter!
Right?
In other news, scientist roleplayers will be delighted to be able to stumble over new anomalies. Suspicious crystals? Small asteroid caves? Strange ice formations? Wait, a cargo container, out here!?
As someone who liked the idea of having discovery in, uh, Discovery, I am trying to cater a little to the people who don't just see the game purely as an oversized PvP platform. 5.1 is hopefully starting the trent-
...the trend of adding the kind of fluff. And the good thing is, @jammi and @Antonio see things the same way. So, while Antonio enjoys to punish people with environmental hazards and Jammi places realistic patrol paths that lead to points of interest in systems, I am happy to announce that I put more rocks into the game!
That sounded better in my head. Okay, strange rocks! And... stuff that isn't Baxter objects! You get the idea, exploration can often be rewarding. Could be. Maybe. Look, we're working on it.
Conclusion
5.1 will hopefully provide some cool places to hang out for people who enjoy lengthy roleplay conversations at freeports, a little bit more exploration content and hopefully fix a lot of broken stuff like stations without hitboxes or turrets inside the station geometry. Not necessarily exciting for our resident right-clickers, but I am sure @Haste and @pillow have some cool news for you for PvP!
This is a segway.
Anyway, I hope you'll get to enjoy the update and are going to hang out at the meeting areas!
wuau this looks awesome, I can't wait for the new freeports! Noshima, Newport, and Ithaca in particular I'm super hyped to see the changes of, and of course Primus! (please god let there be an ai faction)
New science/exploration content without surprise instakill zones also has me big hype.
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Threads: 103
Joined: May 2012
Staff roles: Balance Dev
Oh sorry that's an oversight I've already asked Antonio to add some proper challenge (instakill zones) to all Freeports for added fun and to discourage PvP around them!!
(03-11-2024, 01:31 AM)Haste Wrote: Oh sorry that's an oversight I've already asked Antonio to add some proper challenge (instakill zones) to all Freeports for added fun and to discourage PvP around them!!
finally, proper balance that's much more skill-based than snacs ever were
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