Is having your own shipyard really a good idea?

[Skeeter]

Seems to me owning a shipyard can make the game a bit easy. Im sure their was valid reasons why you couldnt own your own before from egosoft and im wondering why that stance has changed.

Its a nice thought building ships yourself but i think the game would be better if that wasnt possible and it was kept a npc only thing.

Thoughts.

[birdtable]

I would rather have the option to own a Shipyard that not have the option regardless of any preference.

[carran]

Convenience of having a shipyard located where I want it

[Crimsonraziel]

Seems to me owning a shipyard can make the game a bit easy. Im sure their was valid reasons why you couldnt own your own before from egosoft and im wondering why that stance has changed.

You can own a shipyard since X3:R. And I suppose mainly because people asked for it.

But if you feel, that it makes the game to easy for you, just build none.

[ZaphodBeeblebrox]

If I own the shipyard and its not producing due to some shortage, then that really is my problem to sort out.

Also, if I do own the shipyard, will the NPCs start using it to build their ships?

Will I have to wait in line or will I be able to tell them to "go away impolitely."

[Reprisal]

I really enjoyed the Player Headquarters in X3AP, being able to reverse engineer rare ships and then build them was fun.

[spacecoyote99]

I assume the shipyard will be expensive to build and parts to make ships will not be cheap either. Meaning you'll only be able to mass-produce for free if you manage to set up the entire production chain yourself.

So yes it would be powerful but the benefits weigh against the work you put in.

[Falcrack]

From the presentation, it looked like all that is required to turn a station into a shipyard is the addition of the correct set of modules. So shipyards are really just like any other station that produces stuff, there does not have to be anything extra special about them different from other stations. Other than that they make ships, instead of meatsteak cahoonas.

[Juggernaut93]

Building ships will have a cost. It will surely be less than the price to buy the same ship on a NPC shipyard, but you'll have to build the shipyard nonetheless and amortize its cost building lots of ships I don't think it will make the game much easier, but I think it will be fun to produce our own ships.

[RAVEN.myst]

Definitely "YES" to player-owned shipyards. Besides the ability to control its production (ie. have it available to make own ships and presumably never have to wait for NPC queues to clear), it also provides an open-ended sink for player-created resources/wares. For example, imagine being able (in Rebirth) to build an outpost with a shipyard in Maelstrom - this would give meaning and purpose to setting up there.

There is one factor I would like to see introduced: selling ships ought to be more difficult. I always found the notion of always immediately having a buyer for a ship to be rather silly. Granted, shipyards may buy and sell ships - but then there ought to be some inventory to choose from for immediate purchase; furthermore, when a 'yard is stocked up, it would stop buying ships until it managed to sell some. This would tone down ship capturing/boarding from its current status as an "overpowered" income source. However, once the player has his/her own shipyard, then captured/boarded/stolen ships can then be taken there for refitting or stripping for parts ("recycling".)

[JoeVN09]

I imagine that even with shipyards, the capacity to produce your own ships will be a rather expensive late game pursuit. I hope Egosoft develops the late game in X4 to the point where it's worthwhile building our own fleets. If races like the Xenon can build and develop in the same way everyone else can, that becomes a distinct and exciting possibility.

[Dreez]

In X3:TC players could already own the PHQ which could build ships..
So i don't see the problem, just make it a longterm goal, like in X3:TC.

[sd_jasper]

I think yes, but it should either be on a (several) magnitude higher in cost than other stations, or be restricted till some other long term goal (highest faction rank maybe) is obtained.

Basically, it should be an "end game" feature.

[Kitty]

Shipyard cannot be bad. At worst, we won't use it.
So, let's listen to Egosoft version !
Let's test it !
We will be able to tune this later.

[Greenhorn]

Hi to all players,hmmm, easy answer,Yes, for late game expansion, not only too get ships for my fleets, but to also sell to races for profit too.maybe even to sell to; specific race to build up there faction, to fight against another rival faction,hmmm.and when 2 factions go to battle and factories are destrroyed ,there will be room for player too build factories in areas where that 2 faction battle ended .bye all.

[A5PECT]

Just a make ships cost resources and time to build, as large ships do in XR.

Want a lot of ships? Then you have to have a lot of resources and time.

Want a lot of ships quickly? Then you have to build multiple shipyards (which also cost resources and time).

[RAVEN.myst]

Basically, it should be an "end game" feature.

I'm not convinced this is necessarily true - arbitrary and artificial constraints only serve to limit play styles and concepts. Why not, for example, make shipyards multi-modular (similar to how they are in Rebirth, vaguely), with different facilities costing in proportion to the scale of the service they provide. In such a scenario, it could be possible for a player to set up rudimentary production facilities for small ships, perhaps at a low time-efficiency. The player could then use ships manufactured there, and/or sell them for income (ie. manufacturing/industry just like any other - adding value to materials by processing them into more a sophisticated product.) A second such module would double effective production speed (either through parallelism, or by slaving it to the first, effectively integrating with it to upgrade it), and other efficiency modules could be added, to increase either time or resource efficiency - and such modules could be "disproportionately" expensive, maybe.

I'm for options and the facilitation of different styles of play - the only proviso I would be inclined to agree with is that no single style be excessively more "powerful" than another. And even this is not essential - we're talking about a single-player game, ie. one where competitive balancing is not an issue, so who cares if some paths are easier? Those who want an easier romp can have that, while those of us who enjoy a challenge can take harder paths - it's simply that simple.

[Memnoch]

Yes, I would like to be able to make and sell my own branded ships. It would be really cool to see NPC's flying around in your ships.

[spankahontis]

Not really, it still needs a ton of resources in order to make those ships, So you'll be pumping in allot of your money to get them built before considering making your own fleet, you have to make the money first before you blow it on a new fleet.
I can't see it doing any damage as they are a bomb to afford.

Even in X3 I had to build a ton of factories to make the weapons for the Destroyers I bought from Mars Shipyards, I simply couldn't keep up with the weapons I was selling them.

[Falcrack]

Just wondering, if we own everything in the supply chain (all the base resources plus the shipyard), and we can supply everything we need to build our own ships, will we need to pay extra costs in terms of credits?