(Steam)
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1343010/view/3953664641967738246Despite the relative calm, things have been productive for the past months. My initial plan to make a video devlog was aborted at Christmas due to real-life issues. As always, I (for now) prioritize productive development over communication when available time tightens.
I will instead post some devlogs spread for the coming weeks of all the recent progress because a lot has been done.
Antimatter is now being polished as I have ceased creating additional major core features for the past 3 weeks. This is excellent news.
An outpost can be created anywhere on a planet or asteroid's surface. Employees and slaves can be housed here, and the local population can also be employed. It functions as a production complex where a range of buildings, including mines, factories, and farms, can be built. An outpost also has a trade node module, which means that commercial exchanges can be made here. Finally, terraforming can be performed from here.
The first thing to do is to reach a viable planet.
Preparation is important; a spacecraft should be loaded with construction materials as its buildings require a lot of resources. Food is also important to support a land expedition.
Surveying the planet from its orbit for a few days can help in localizing a landing area.
The tile where the spacecraft will land is revealed, but it is worth exploring the vicinity to find the best region to settle.
There is at least one gold deposit in this region (Vafir). An outpost's range of activity extends to the entire region of multiple tiles.
Founding an outpost requires a minimum of 10 settlers; it can have multiple statuses that will determine the diplomatic relation to its founding organization.
The outpost is physically present on the planet. Outposts from other organizations can be found too.
Outposts, just like colonies, can be visited with a party or a spacecraft. This is also an entry point to the native population market. If a local uncivilized population is present in the region, they will make part of their subsistence production (which depends on local factors) available to the market where the owner of the outpost gets a cut on each transaction.
Managing an outpost is much less complex than a colony.
The region of Isflen has good mining potential.
Trading can be automated to keep stock high on certain products or to resell production. Price, stock, and trade actions can all be automated.
Buildings/Upgrades are the main components of an outpost. Naturally, the available mines and crops are dependent on the natural resources and the climate of the region. Alternatively, hydroponic farms can be built.
The first initial building to be constructed is a habitat, which requires resources, creating a demand at the local trade node.
An outpost doesn't require food, and its population never starves (no need to micro-manage this), as I assume that any built outpost is self-sufficient in food and water. The whole life support challenge is also abstracted away. Of course, all of this comes at a cost; a proportion of workers will always be allocated to sustain the outpost. The habitability of the planet will reduce maintenance for life support; available water and lush wilderness will help for self-sufficient food production. It is therefore key to establish an outpost in a viable location as it ultimately affects the efficiency of the entire complex.
