Basically I thought of this-

Basic Idea

Players may build orbital facilities/stationary facilities. They are half drone half base and as such take 50% of the required slots from each pool. Each facility either produces commodities or manufactures more expensive commodities/items/ships from them. Their products are then consumed by either colonies, passing AI merchants or other facilities.

The direct earnings from colonies will be decreased and this system will supplement them. It's meant to add a layered system where colonies are the basic source of revenue (farms) whilst the level of development a player can invest builds on that.


If your structures are destroyed during pvb and such your economy will (of course) be harmed- AI traders won't feel as comfortable investing in your galaxy.
Things such as the galactic hub will also drop a significant portion of the AI's savings, this must come out of the player's 'economy' as a whole and as such causes 10 days worth of economic damage (the actual drop is 10% less than this to prevent exploits). During this 10 day period the cash lost + some extra is recovered and the player earns very little.

During the 10 days running up to the reset AI are busy taking out life insurance and drop nothing.

Extras*

*The more forges/orbital manufacturing facilities your galaxy has the quicker AI are constructed. The maximum number of AI produced depends upon your economy (demand and supply- how much stuff needs to be moved around.*

In terms of the supply and demand this function could probably be carried out by slaves, but it would feel nice if real AI traders did this and slaves were left to raw transport (obviously they would be stronger than the normal roaming ones- at least GB/wattage strength in more highly developed galaxies with a larger production chain).

Originally I intended these to drop credits, but to prevent bored seers from destroying them all I'd like them to drop nothing and merely require resources (supplied by the player) to produce. All their credits are stored in a special AI team fund/the galactic trade hub and can be remotely accessed for purchases. With this destroying AI in the players galaxies doesn't earn you anything, but harms him (and possibly you if the bases get you).

Obviously we'd need balance between what AI are allowed to put down and the player's installations. It could be fun to have different systems- free market, regulated and player controlled. From left to right the player can build more 'infrastructure' type facilities (such as a trade hub) but AI are less likely to supply their own (AI versions are more profitable).

Afterthoughts:


I should clarify here- All installations (base-drone things) should count as a squad/team member- your bases will heal them (I'd go for shoot enemies as well, but if not that just adds an incentive to protect your gals).

I'd like the same thing for the trader AI (if they are implemented) as well.

The galactic hub (centre of your galaxy in this system) keeps a running record of who killed what (facilities/AI) and drops these reports as black boxes if destroyed.

Once AI get bored they become intergalactic merchants and roam the universe in convoys (think convoy of GBs with Hawk escorts at the top tier). These would actually drop something, but they'd also help any galaxies they come across (buying/selling stuff).

I'm not sure if the player should get a direct % taxation on all purchases/sales (the AI get to grab his commods for a very low price in this case) or simply benefit from suppling the resources... I'd go for the former.

The BPs (perhaps basic ones are available in the lyceum) for these facilities are DG drops- this would help redistribute some player credits and what not.

The gist of it:
Nerf colonies, add a more fragile system with more moving parts.

Very interesting. But this means no more marking Picks in my gal.

Anyway, this gets my stamp of approval.

I assume it would be easier to mark your galaxies "protected" in order to keep AI convoys operational. 15b pop would be a bit too high for this system, I think.

I should clarify here- All stationary installations (base-drone things) should count as a squad/team member- your bases will heal them (I'd go for shoot enemies as well, but if not that just adds an incentive to protect your gals).

I'd like the same thing for AI as well.

At your 'galaxy hub' there should also be a running record of WHO/what killed 'your' trader AI.

After all, you are the farmer and they're your crops

REALLY like this idea, but it should be as profitable as colonies for sure.
also, a unique addition would be the AI in the galaxies "evolve" into different things (E.G. you could make the ai inhabiting the gal as valuable as the commods in it, for instance, the goldenboy pyrites would evolve into meager GB bars(or whatever) whereas if you have bulk traders in your gal they would evolve into massif 3's)
/signed
and +1 internetz.

No to being as profitable as colonies. Yes to the idea.

The most lucrative ways of making money should not be tied down to a galaxy. I'm not saying they should be worthless. I'm saying that it should not power the economy like how colonies does today.

I am sorry but the initial set-up is an ongoing thing for around a month~ unless you are making a small amount. I am on 10 active and 5 TFed and already want to blow my brains out.

Before folks can comment on colos they need to try them first.

Also, beyond being very difficult to code (my uneducated guess) this also sounds like it can be 100% killed by 1 jerk with a Seer and no issue with repairing his gear over and over. Heck, anyone can just wipe out a gal no matter what the defenses are considering what most AI use for shields.

I bet there's AI that seers can't oneshot, if there ain't then 4 sup shield augs will do(on AIs).

EFC ai. Owie.

Considering these are 'special' AI I'd hope that they be given a very large shield bank and resistance boost. Perhaps have 'galaxy hubs' give a 95% resistance boost to simplify matters of defence.

I'll admit that the AI could prove to be rather tricky... how would the suggestion sound without them? I think it still adds some more depth and player slaves could probably fill in somewhere.

Another thought to cross my mind was tie them in with some kind of faction-based missions (like viewtopic.php?f=103&t=49268)

Correct me if I have read this wrong but this sounds as if it's going to benefit colony makers ~ a lot.

And colony makers already make a fuck tonne.

Edited in an attempt to streamline the idea and prevent some of the potential abuse...