Hoping for a better sector ownership

[Barbosa706]

I own a sector and noticed the lack of ability to customize it or even control over it. Will we have a DLC or some sort of update to allow us the ability to control who comes and goes and who is allowed to build build in our sector? I don't want anyone else building in my sector. yet these factions that I am friends with are all building in my sector....what gives?!

[Fenris321]

Yeah that would be nice. You have to pay to build in someone else's sector, but the NPC don't even have to ask for permission.

I've read that making everything illegal then using a large police force will eventually drive the other stations out since they can't make a profit. The police should ignore your ships and stations. I'm also wondering if you can then sell everything the police pick up. Then the NPCs are in a way working for you until they close down their stations. I really haven't played around with sector ownership though since I really dont see any benefit of owning one , so not 100% sure.

[al_dude]

As suggested, making every ware illegal is a pretty nasty way to enforce your ownership over a sector.

Just be prepared for an all-out war with a faction in question.

You can also take a Xenon sector. It gives less of a headache later. Savage Spur for an example. You will never have SCA/FAF pirates in there. There will be Yaki but, if you finish Yaki plot, they will not harass your ships.

[Midnitewolf]

Yeah the lack of meaningful sector ownership is one the the major flaws in this game. I mean one way I sort of made sector ownership meaningful is by making all raw materials illegal that way, no one can come in and mine resources in any of the sectors I own. I guess this can be important because from what I understand, raw resources, ore, silicon, hydrogen, helium and methane, are finite and will eventually run out. The thing is, I have no idea how long that will take nor if I will still be playing the same game save long enough for that the matter.

I also used the "Cheat Menu" mod to transfer ownership of every station, not a defense platform or admin, that survived my conquest of the sector. Now that was interesting and meaningful and a big challenging to be honest. Took all 7 sectors from the Godrealm and inherited 161 factories this way. It took me quite a bit of time to figure out how to get their economy working since it was spread out over those 161 factories but when I did, I realized that the issues with the economy we see in game fairly often, where everything stalls, has nothing to do with production but rather all to do with having enough miners and transports to support production.

Personally what I would like to see is the following added to really make territory ownership meaningful:

- Ability to board and capture stations.
- Ability to restrict travel at the gates.
- Ability to collect tolls at the gates.
- Ability to tax foreign stations in your territory.
- Ability to enforce the peace in your territory.

Also and this is a unpopular idea but I would really like to see sector control be tied into some sort of upkeep system where the more territory you control, the more ships you can build or something. I would also like to see dynamic wars where the NPC factions can declare war on the player faction. I mean I sure as hell wouldn't be sending my entire fleet of 80+ cap ships off to invade Xenon territory if there was the possibility that a NPC faction or two might declare war because I have my gate tolls set so high that I am squeezing their trade to death or even because they want my territory and resources. That being a possible scenario would definitely make me hold significant resources in reserve just in case.

Honestly the three things that hold this game back from being great are the missing features of meaningful territory control, diplomacy and dynamic wars.

[al_dude]

If the player faction can be given that much control, NPC factions should have the same.

I don't see that happening.

[Nort The Fragrent]

I have 22 green sectors in my long game, not a shot fired to get them !
But I could not see the point in owning them!
In my latest game, I am not even bothering to go green, as there is no point.
There needs to be better Green advantages, or it's just a waist of time .

[Midnitewolf]

If the player faction can be given that much control, NPC factions should have the same.

I don't see that happening.

You are correct sir.....on both accounts unfortunately. The game would have to be revised/added to include a robust diplomacy system that takes into account such things as NPC's restricting traffic, charging tolls, maybe to high to bear, enforcing the peace at the expense of your ships being killed and dynamically interact with one another and the player AND there is absolutely no way in hell Egosoft will ever do this despite how great this would make their game. It is just too hard and too costly, not to mention to0 risky for a developer like Egosoft to engage in a project like this. Hell, if I was the director over there and someone brought up this idea, I would advise against adopting it for those same reasons. Still, it is what this game needs to take it to the next level.

On the other hand they could do a lot of what I suggested. For example, it would be pretty easy to make stations capturable using the same mechanism they already do for ships. Also adding a tax to foreign stations would be pretty damn easy to implement as well, even if it was just a token. Also token fees for any ship entering and existing a gate is pretty simple as well. None of this requires any sort of diplomatic integrating as it is more of a ship enters gate = pay sector owner 1000 credits or if foreign station exist, pay sector owner 5000 credits sort of thing. Pretty trivial amounts in the grand scheme, but at least some reason to want to have control over sectors other than a green boundary.

[Midnitewolf]

I have 22 green sectors in my long game, not a shot fired to get them !
But I could not see the point in owning them!
In my latest game, I am not even bothering to go green, as there is no point.
There needs to be better Green advantages, or it's just a waist of time .

Yeah this is kind of my issue. The Xenon have taken almost the entire northern and Southeastern sides of the map and I while I couldn't necessarily take them without a shot being fired, I can easily take them without suffering any sort of relationship loss but its not like I need these sectors for anything. I mean I have plenty of room in Nopileos' Fortune VI and II to build as many stations as I could ever want/need, plus have 100% free access to rich resources areas such as Grand Exchange, Pious Mists XI, Second Contact II, etc., not to mention it does cost more than a few million at most to put stations nearly anywhere I like in any factions territory except Xenon. This leaves zero reason to own or control territory.

Though I think I have come up with a plan that will make sector ownership actually meaningful for me. I already took over all of the Godrealm and am in the process of "liberating" the 5 Hewa's Twin Sectors, Company Regard, Turquoise Sea and Scale Plate Green sectors from the Xenon. Once that is done, I will have a lovely little self-contained and fully self-sufficient territory with all the raw materials I need to produce everything I need. At the point I am going to quite literally declare war on every faction in the game and because I will be at war with everyone, I will need to hold my territory and/or take enemy territory to sustain my ability to produce ships to purse my war against the Galaxy.

[al_dude]

As far as I know, in X universe, one cannot stop others from entering a gate.

So, traffic restriction is done by sheer force or you destroy a gate or an accelerator in question. Both done by the Terrans I believe.

Most of suggestions for better sector ownership cannot be implemented since those don't make sense within X universe history. Besides, a border of a nation is always enforced by force.

The only suggestion I have for a better sector ownership is that, if a faction does not pay a price for its plot, it should turn red.

[Fenris321]

The only suggestion I have for a better sector ownership is that, if a faction does not pay a price for its plot, it should turn red.

And that is the main reason I never really bothered with sector ownership. I don't want to do anything that the NPCs can't or don't do. I don't believe taxing NPCs for living there is a good idea since the NPCs don't tax you. But you do have to pay for a plot in an NPC owned sector and the NPCs get a free ride in yours. I do think if NPCs want a plot in your territory they should have to first receive permission. I've never tried building a plot in hostile NPC space, but I assume they wouldn't like it.

[Midnitewolf]

As far as I know, in X universe, one cannot stop others from entering a gate.

So, traffic restriction is done by sheer force or you destroy a gate or an accelerator in question. Both done by the Terrans I believe.

Most of suggestions for better sector ownership cannot be implemented since those don't make sense within X universe history. Besides, a border of a nation is always enforced by force.

The only suggestion I have for a better sector ownership is that, if a faction does not pay a price for its plot, it should turn red.

Yes exactly. You place a defense platform at the gate, maybe a fleet. You then "restrict" access to Faction A by advertising you will blow them up if they come though the gate. Faction A can then decide to NOT travel through gate or travel through gate, risk destruction and possibly a war. Same with gate tolls. If the ship doesn't pay a gate toll, it risks be marked hostile and destroyed.

If you actually think about it, it isn't hard and it isn't unfriendly to the lore either because Lore can't cover every little thing that goes on in the Galaxy. I mean if X4 was a living, breathing world, you don't think that these factions would control the flow of commerce with taxes, restrictions and regulations?

Also lore is about the past, what "has" happened. It is not a prediction of the future where anything "can" happen. Even if it was written in lore some where that in the past the gates and space travel was never regulated by the factions control them, it doesn't mean it never will happen. In fact I could guarantee you it would happen if I had the capability to do it. I mean as soon as I do anything in game, it becomes Lore, the past, a thing that has happened and it is canon at least in my play through.

Anyway, my point is you really can't use "Lore" as an excuse for not making a change in the game because the Terran Protectorate, as it is in COH wasn't "Lore" until the devs added it. They can do the same for pretty much anything they want to do it for. All you need is a plausible story to explain it.

[spankahontis]

Yeah that would be nice. You have to pay to build in someone else's sector, but the NPC don't even have to ask for permission.

I've read that making everything illegal then using a large police force will eventually drive the other stations out since they can't make a profit. The police should ignore your ships and stations. I'm also wondering if you can then sell everything the police pick up. Then the NPCs are in a way working for you until they close down their stations. I really haven't played around with sector ownership though since I really dont see any benefit of owning one , so not 100% sure.

Be interesting if you're doing a Pirate Playthrough? Claim the Territory, Get tons of Ships to police the Space, make everything illegal and they just fly around extorting ships.
Just wish Egosoft added a Pirate Version of Police, where instead of the "Please Hold we will be scanning your cargo hold" Followed by either, "You're Clean, move along!" or "You've made a big mistake!". Instead it had the Pirates voice files? Be your own Pirate Boss.
Though I think that might be difficult as Terrans I think don't have pirate voice overs?

It could probably be modded, they pretty much have the scripts and code there to create their own Pirate Mode?

[Fenris321]

Yeah that would be nice. You have to pay to build in someone else's sector, but the NPC don't even have to ask for permission.

I've read that making everything illegal then using a large police force will eventually drive the other stations out since they can't make a profit. The police should ignore your ships and stations. I'm also wondering if you can then sell everything the police pick up. Then the NPCs are in a way working for you until they close down their stations. I really haven't played around with sector ownership though since I really dont see any benefit of owning one , so not 100% sure.

Be interesting if you're doing a Pirate Playthrough? Claim the Territory, Get tons of Ships to police the Space, make everything illegal and they just fly around extorting ships.

I've been thinking about that with my pirate playthrough. Putting a small defense station in an unclaimed sector then making a trade station and selling everything in the sector next to it. I just need to board and claim more ships first in case a faction gets mad enough to send a fleet in

[spankahontis]

Yeah that would be nice. You have to pay to build in someone else's sector, but the NPC don't even have to ask for permission.

I've read that making everything illegal then using a large police force will eventually drive the other stations out since they can't make a profit. The police should ignore your ships and stations. I'm also wondering if you can then sell everything the police pick up. Then the NPCs are in a way working for you until they close down their stations. I really haven't played around with sector ownership though since I really dont see any benefit of owning one , so not 100% sure.

Be interesting if you're doing a Pirate Playthrough? Claim the Territory, Get tons of Ships to police the Space, make everything illegal and they just fly around extorting ships.

I've been thinking about that with my pirate playthrough. Putting a small defense station in an unclaimed sector then making a trade station and selling everything in the sector next to it. I just need to board and claim more ships first in case a faction gets mad enough to send a fleet in

Do let us know if it works out? I think a "gentleman pirate" playthrough is in the cards at a later date.