I think the game is currently in a big need of Base-Building that can occur on a smaller scale than current Stations, but also a higher one than just Lots.
Coming from games like Space Engineers, people will expect to be able to own their own base of operation, it will be where they will spend a majority of their time grinding resources for.
They also want to be able to decide where to lay down, so i do not think Lots really offer that experience.
The station building we have at the moment really is more focused on the Faction part of Starbase, you will only really enjoy and need them if you have a whole faction supporting the work on them, which is fine, its good that larger playergroups have something to work towards, but it really feels like smaller groups are ignored in this gameplay loop.
The possibility to build a lot, or slightly bigger sized Base at a decent cost, but not a faction level cost is in my opinion very important.
A lot of people leave closed alpha because they do not have anything to do, they get their first big mining ship and then loose grip on what to do.
A lot is probably to boring and hasnt much of a use (for now to be fair) but a Station is to far out of their Reach.
I do know there are some balance concerns with this, or also performance ones, as people would be able to spam Bases all over the universe.
But i think there is one simple way to counter balance this:
Do not give small Bases a Safe zone.
If small scale bases don't have a Safezone, there is still a reason for Lots and Stations to exist, as those are safe-places which locations you can make public.
It will prevent people from Spamming their Station everywhere, as pirates would just loot every station in their path.
Which i think is a positive, it gives pirates another thing to look for other than just some nooby players. Pirates likely wont ever be able to take down Station Safezones, so this is a good opportunity for them.
A small base should still be functional in a bit of industry, so that you can process Ores, Fuel and Propellant there, why else would someone build a Base, right?
You should also be able to create ships through a small SSC there, but i think for balance reasons (and to make normal stations more popular for Factions) there should be a size limit on Base-SSCs.
Coming from games like Space Engineers, people will expect to be able to own their own base of operation, it will be where they will spend a majority of their time grinding resources for.
They also want to be able to decide where to lay down, so i do not think Lots really offer that experience.
The station building we have at the moment really is more focused on the Faction part of Starbase, you will only really enjoy and need them if you have a whole faction supporting the work on them, which is fine, its good that larger playergroups have something to work towards, but it really feels like smaller groups are ignored in this gameplay loop.
The possibility to build a lot, or slightly bigger sized Base at a decent cost, but not a faction level cost is in my opinion very important.
A lot of people leave closed alpha because they do not have anything to do, they get their first big mining ship and then loose grip on what to do.
A lot is probably to boring and hasnt much of a use (for now to be fair) but a Station is to far out of their Reach.
I do know there are some balance concerns with this, or also performance ones, as people would be able to spam Bases all over the universe.
But i think there is one simple way to counter balance this:
Do not give small Bases a Safe zone.
If small scale bases don't have a Safezone, there is still a reason for Lots and Stations to exist, as those are safe-places which locations you can make public.
It will prevent people from Spamming their Station everywhere, as pirates would just loot every station in their path.
Which i think is a positive, it gives pirates another thing to look for other than just some nooby players. Pirates likely wont ever be able to take down Station Safezones, so this is a good opportunity for them.
A small base should still be functional in a bit of industry, so that you can process Ores, Fuel and Propellant there, why else would someone build a Base, right?
You should also be able to create ships through a small SSC there, but i think for balance reasons (and to make normal stations more popular for Factions) there should be a size limit on Base-SSCs.
