Outposts: Difference between revisions

The careful consideration and placement of hab units, extractors, decorations, power generators, and the numerous other items can become daunting when first starting out in building your footholds in the Settled Systems.  

No matter where you're building, from a lifeless moon with no atmosphere to a flourishing forest planet, it is key to start with the understanding that you should save before making serious edits to your Outpost.  

You can build in most places that you land your ship on. Before placing your Outpost, scan a planet from Space and see what is available. Land on the planet where the resources look the most prevalent and aim to place your Outpost where the resources are most abundant. In general, planets that have an abundance of flora and fauna will typically have a fair number of resources. Aim for key resources such as Aluminum, Lead, Iron and Nickel.

One of the important parts of an Outpost is the beacon that is placed as the very first step of the whole process. This beacon outlines the far edges of the Outpost you're forming from the raw materials you've brought to the far away part of the Settled Systems. The beacon, while at first being the center of your new domain, is also where you will spawn into the Outpost when your ship returns from the stars. This item can be moved anywhere once the Outpost has been created.

*You can place the Outpost Beacon next to the airlocked entrance to your structures is a good suggestion.

*You can even place it near your ship landing pad to maximize your immersion of landing and visiting your home away from all other worlds.

No matter where you find the most intriguing place, you can always return to the Outpost Beacon to delete or rename your Outpost. Be sure to place it right where you would find traveling there most useful when returning home.

While you can land your Starship at various locations on a planet, an Outpost will allow you to build a Landing Pad and provide a targeted landing spot. The Landing Pad will allow you to land directly at your Outpost instead of possibly landing near the settlement which may mean a run to the ship is longer than expected.

Some of these landing pads have benefits and restrictions so be sure to build what suits your needs. Some of these enable the ability to transfer your ship's inventory straight to your Outpost storage.

There are a great many resources that are needed to build an outpost. The resources can be from the raw materials you've found along your journey or specially tailored materials made at the Industrial Workbench. There are some specific resources that will be used quite a lot more, especially at the start of your Outpost. Some of these resources to keep an eye out for are:

*'''[[Aluminum]]''': This resource is going to be used for everything from the living habs you place down to decorate to the airlock that gets you into the outpost. You should have a lot of it on hand.

*'''[[Lead]]''': This resource becomes a little more specialized but can be found as a key ingredient in turrets and other living hab units.

*'''[[Iron]]''': This resource is used in workbenches and weapon related objects.

*'''[[Nickel]]''': This resource is used for adding crew stations to your outpost and setting up extractors for more resource gathering. You can also find it at use in wind turbines.

Most of these are easily found on planets by traversing the planetary surfaces where these resources are flagged as available. When creating an outpost, you are going to have to fill your pockets with minerals.

One of the best reasons to place an Outpost is not just for the possible scenic sunrises and tropical breezes, but so you can take advantage of the natural resources of the planet you've settled.  With the correct type of extractor, you can pull resources from the Settled Systems and fill your storage with valuable resources which can be used to enhance weapons, spacesuits, and expanding your Outpost.

There are three different kinds of extractors that can be built at your outpost. If you've set up on a vein of minerals that you want to exploit, you can put down a solid, liquid, or gas extractor depending upon what you're trying to produce.   

...and everything is best when its in its place. One of the things a traveler of the Settled Systems is going to note is that you will pick up a gargantuan amount of objects. From resources like aluminum and iron to the guns you shoot lead from, there is going to be a lot of mass being moved from planet to planet. Whether you have a sandwich stack or prefer to have a fridge to place items of note, there are several different kinds of containers that can be placed and used to hold those valuable and not so valuable items that you cannot pass along to the Trade Authority.

Weapon Racks can be placed to hold weapons of all kinds.

Mannequins can be placed to show off the most fetching outfits you've cobbled together from Spacer pillaging.

Standard chests and crates of a wide variety can be placed to just dump everything into.

Make yourself some storage spaces.

Display Cases can be set up to show of truly treasure objects that are worthy of being locked behind a glass wall.

With the storage capabilities of an Outpost (or many), you don't have to carry everything around with you all the time... even if your starship's cargo hold is big enough.

If you are looking to maximize the effectiveness and really build up the capabilities of your Outpost, one of the most important things to spend your hard-earned Skill Points in Outpost Engineering. This skill category is found under the Advanced Science Skills which does require some investment but will expand the number of items used to furnish your Outpost. To make full use of those skill points, you will need to make use of the Research Station to explore and discover the various uses of the learned knowledge from Outpost Engineering. Stations to add to your Outpost to improve your gameplay:

Research Lab: This will aid you in obtaining new prefabricated builds, improving selection of crafting items like Robotics and Hydroponics.

Work Benches: Allows you to make adjusts to weapons, spacesuits, cook, and other important skills you will use in your journey through the Settled Systems.

Crew Station: Grants you the abilty to assign crew members to Outposts and help in your respective area of expertise.

*Outpost Crew: These crew members have specialized areas of expertise ranging from Defensive measures to Basic Management of operations.

*Outpost Robots: Whether to help with production of goods, tend plants, or just keep the place clean, you can also build robots to aid in the sustainability of the outpost.

You can also expand the Crew options available at an outpost by spending skill points in the Outpost Management which can be found under the Social category.

Objects that require power, like lights, defensive weaponry, and other items are going to need to be connected to a power generator. While there are several different options for generating power (be it from using the natural light of a sun, the fierce winds of your world, or even burning abundant fuels), it can be concerning about placing items carefully when trying to setup lights in just the right way. Thankfully with the wondrous sciences of the Settled Systems, all outputs that require power are wireless and just need to be connected directly to the power generator to be given electrical life.

*Solar Array: Best used on planets with a lot of light exposure (planets with little to no atmosphere are amoung these)

*Wind Turbine: Best used on planets with a thick atmosphere or planets that have little light exposure/ longer night cycle.

*Fuel Generator: Best used for planets with extreme conditions that may not have an abundance of light, lack of atmosphere or a combination of both, while it puts out the most power you will want to be sure not to run out of fuel to power it.