https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-tppamktUo
Two-year old video, but it's stunning. The base-building is about as complex as an RTS's! I had thought you'd only be able to build a habitat for yourself (and that was indeed their earlier plan), but they've switched to full-blown bases now.
More images:
Vault Gallery - Colonial Homestead 3D Explorations WIP I: https://imgur.com/a/acPZ5Dh
Vault Gallery - Colonial Homestead 3D Explorations WIP II: https://imgur.com/a/VX5DSKE
Way more images and stunning video clips in the video I linked above!
I also love the ship that will deploy parts of these bases. Gorgeous design.
Commercial: Meet the Consolidated Outland Pioneer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olxI7X7eac8
The above video is INSANE. First of all, as a commercial it is incredible. It's a whole fuckin' tech keynote speech, and so much more engrossing than the iPhone's or whatever. But moreover, IT TEASES TERRAFORMING. It's also from 2017, so who knows when we'll see this stuff in the game.
Back to the previous video, it says there will be land claims with laws involved. Like LiF and Atlas and such. More reasons to do prison time! Those games didn't have prisons.
Land claims will be 4x4 or 8x8 km, which is damn sweet. And you can have as many as you want, but there will be costs. This is bordering on FP4X! FP4X is survival-building with land ownership.
In lawless lands like the upcoming Pyro system, they say you'll be able to place buildings anywhere, so basically like survival-builders. And they have mentioned wanting to evolve the bases towards manufacturing, which sounds a lot like Satisfactory. Starbase was going to have that too, but that game looks like it's finished.
So that was two years ago. And this is from about six months ago:
Star Citizen Base Building & Player Habs - What Do We Know?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfNc3IQu9C8
This video shows an "RTS-style tool" with which players will be able to lay down bases as in an RTS! Go to 9:56! PA2 incoming!!! This is just an early version the devs are using to build NPC settlements:
But to make base-building happen properly, they need advanced technologies like icashing and server meshing, which they're working on now.
Until those come online, they'll start with low-hanging-fruit features such as persistent hangars and habitats. Still instanced, but you can customize them. And they might be coming before the end of the year, or beginning of the next one, because they will be used in the Pyro system, and that's when that's coming.
Towards the end of the video he speaks about a whole new mechanics loop, surveying. You'll be able to travel the galaxy in search of resource-rich spots, then claim them, and then sell them on to interested parties. I have never heard of a game with a whole surveying loop. The most I've seen is basic surveying in games like Rust. Just a few minutes' of work before you place down your quarry; nothing that can be spun out for dozens of hours.
