Player Features and Ideas Discussion

This is especially needed now that all customs offices are player owned and destructible.

As of now, we can choose to launch the mined materiel's into space with the command center if for some reason the owner of the customs office places a ridiculous tax rate on the service or if the customs office is destroyed and there just is not one. This is a good thing, it keeps PI from breaking and keeps the owners of the offices in check.

The problem is that the only way to send materials to a planet is by using a customs office to transfer the mats to a launch pad. Some of us have some pretty complex PI setups that require us to send mats to a dedicated final production planet for processing. While during most circumstances this is not a problem, it easily can be under certain circumstances.

Right now the "check valve" that balances the whole PI sandbox only works one way. It really needs to work both ways.

What I am proposing is that we should have the ability to send mats from our ships cargo hold to a command center. Granted it should be limited. I propose that the quantity you can send, and how often you can send it, should be the same as planetary launches from the command center to space. Obviously the use of an office should be more useful under all circumstances. This way we will have a work around if the office is destroyed or if the owner of the office places an abnormally high tax rate for the service thus keeping the sandbox in full check where it is not at the moment in all areas.

We can already install command centers and all other units sans customs office so this does make sense.

I do want to point out this this idea came up from a logical stand point. I have not had a problem yet and am happy to pay a fee to the owners of a customs office to move my stuff assuming it is on par with the areas tax rates and assuming there is an office to begin with. However I have realized the lack of being able to send things to a planet without a customs office can be a problem at times.

It would not be hard to do. If you select the command center you already have the storehouse and payload windows to launch into space. The game already automatically scans your cargo hold for applicable command centers in your cargo hold when you go to place one in planetary view. You would only have the change the game so your cargo hold is also selectable instead of just the store house, have it scan your cargo for applicable PI materials like it does for command centers, and if you do that, have the payload window automatically switch the "launch" buttons for "import" buttons or the equivalent.

I really do feel that this should be implemented and hope others feel the same way.

Thank you.

In before people directing OP to the Features and Ideas forum section.

even if you could send materials to a planet, why would you even bother?

Thread has been moved to Features & Ideas Discussion.

orbital bombardment?

I would much rather see a deployable item that's basically a covert drop pod to land materials on planet (A must if you build up to the top level PI goods). If you deploy the drop-ship in sight of the owning POCO corps POCO or ships you become suspect.

ur own deployable has a higher tax rate than someone elses customs office? the ungreatful little ****

i can kinda see the merits of ur idea. if a POCO is not there though, then it shouldnt be too difficult to put ur own there, or have a friend whos into that stuff put his there and lets u use it for cheap.

If ur high tech PI set-up ends up on a high taxed planet you have four options:
1) Pay the taxes
2) Move ur set-up to a different planet (not as costly as ppl might at first think)
3) Declare war on the POCO owners and takeover
4) Befriend the POCO owners and ask for cheap taxes (maybe u can offer helping them defend against wardecs since they have such a horrible tax rate)

So although the current state of high taxed POCOs is a bit 'ugh'. u do have options, and u have to admit, it encourages player interaction.

You want to be able to launch directly from your cargohold to a command center. I get it, but the command center holds so little that it wouldn't be viable.

heh there was a simpler idea I thought about, but I fear automation might make it a bit bad.

If you own two customs office on two plantes in the same system, they could launch back and forth between themselves rockets filled with PI goods. So if you have a gatherer planet, and a production planet, you can launch stuff from your gatherer planet, to the poco then from the poco to the next poco, then back down to the planet.

Right now, people have to warp from poco to poco to pickup/drop off materials inbetween themselves.

It'd be a little too automated though, and we want people to risk their ships to gain more profit by combining pi materials.

To the op's post though, the command center's hold is too small for this to work on any consistent or sane basis.