Thoughts on Improving Stations

[DefiantMars]

I don't care for Stations in Vanilla BE, and I'm sure many of you can relate. They have limited dimensions and can frequently be a pain to deal with especially in the early game.

Stations...

• Provide yields to Sponsor Colonies via Trade Routes that stacks up to three times.
• Frequently spawn in areas that a Sponsor wants to settle. This can be a good or bad thing.
• Will only go away if Sponsors leave them alone for an extended period of time OR declare war and wipe the station out.

As of now stations serve only to block Sponsor expansion, provide external trade routes, and occasionally serve as points of diplomatic contention with other Sponsors. Again rather 2 Dimensional. And so, I was thinking about how to improve Stations. I was looking for some mechanic that would allow players to have secondary means of interacting with the Stations and thus I turned to the upcoming feature in Rising Tide: Diplomatic Capital. We don't know too much about how Diplomatic Capital will work with Rising Tide's release, but we do have some basic info:

Diplomatic Capital...

• Is replacing Favors.
• Is gained through diplomatic interactions with other Sponsors. exact mechanisms are currently unknown.
• Can be used to "rent" traits from other Sponsors.

I thought that it would be interesting if this Diplomatic Capital (DC) could also be used to interact with Stations as well, paying them in order to get various effects. Not all of these ideas are mine alone. Ryika and Lord Tirian suggested ideas that I thought were interesting, they are credited below. Here are some basic ideas of potential things you can spend diplomatic capital.

General Station Options:

• Make a station discontinue trade and embargo another Sponsor X for t-Turns. [Credit to Ryika]
• Make a station disband, providing a unique building, and ending all trade routes with other Sponsors. [Credit to Ryika]
• Pay n-DC to make Station move reappearing in a new location a few turns later.

Station Type Specific Actions

Militaristic Stations - ex. Fort Barca

• Recruit units from the station, they appear at your capital
• Increased experience gain/give your units a flat experience boost
• New Units produced by your Colonies start with +X xp. (Like Civ V Barracks)
• Increased city defense

Research Stations - ex. Banu Musa

• Flat science bonus from a Scientific station.
• Acquire Patent: Pay for a flat bonus towards a specific technology
• Invest Diplomatic Capital every turn, gaining a large sum of science towards your current research later.
• Bonus Affinity XP [Credit to Lord Tirian]

Industrial Stations - ex. Stet Mining/Red Sun

• Bonus strategic resources (Geothermal/Petroleum/Titanium) [Credit to Lord Tirian]
• Specialized Equipment: Increases production of certain improvements: Mines, Generators, Petroleum Wells, Geothermal Wells, Titanium Mines, and Manufactories. (Depends on Station)
• Hire Workers from the station, they appear at your capital

Religious Stations - ex. Golden Bell Temple

• Reduced Policy Cost [Credit to Lord Tirian]
• Special "buy-out" option that removes the station, but provides population to 1 or more of your Colonies.

Prison Facilities - ex. ??? [Credit to Lord Tirian]

• Increased Global Health
• Reduced unrest timer when conquering enemy Colonies
• Increased Outpost growth rate (Think Penal Colony)

Everything you see here are just ideas to provide more use to stations; offering options for diplomatic interaction, some intrigue, and ways to improve your Colonies. If you have any comments, suggestions, or ideas of your own; I’m eager to hear them.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

Perhaps "Absorb a Station" (change the station into an Outpost for you..possibly with a 'relocate within 2 tiles option)

... would be very expensive ... possibly not allowed if anyone else is trading with it.

Also I could see stations providing diplomatic capital in unique cases (if you successfully defend them against a sponsor at war with them)

As for intrigue... perhaps gain vision around the station (could also be through diplomatic capital... establish a 'liason' with the station)

 

[HorseshoeHermit]

Pay energy to obtain the Station plot , speed up outpost growth if you put one there. Allow a payment to acquire a Station into city territory if it's nearby, or change the reward mechanics, or something. They have no reason to make the territory situation hard, make that factor go away by basically any means.

Cost proportional to remaining turns before disbandment - they have no incentive to go away if players are trading with them.

---
Station Blue (or that one that everyone myself included keeps remembering as Deep Blue but isn't Deep Blue) was fine for balance... if it appeared where it was an option for everyone. But that's not what stations are, they appear on the map, essentially independent of other causes, in range of some but not others (or no one, trololo). Can we get some consistent balance and pacing controls on stations for what they actually do?

 

[DefiantMars]

Perhaps "Absorb a Station" (change the station into an Outpost for you..possibly with a 'relocate within 2 tiles option)

... would be very expensive ... possibly not allowed if anyone else is trading with it.

So if you like the placement of the Station but wanted the territory over the trade options, you could turn them into an outpost for yourself instead of disbanding them via the "disband" method? I like that idea a lot. As for the "no other trades" part, I think this would be rather do-able especially if you used the "embargo" option. "Forcibly" preventing trade and allowing you to freely integrate them into your empire.

Also I could see stations providing diplomatic capital in unique cases (if you successfully defend them against a sponsor at war with them)

This would provide another means to gain capital without getting it from other Sponsors directly.

As for intrigue... perhaps gain vision around the station (could also be through diplomatic capital... establish a 'liason' with the station)

I was thinking about intrigue in denying other Sponsors resources and outplaying their opponents via relationships, but I like your do like your idea. Maybe establishing a liason might even provide a meager amount of Capital.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

Actually another one...perhaps Diplomatic Capital is required to 'level up' a station ie Diplo capital+time.

 

[Kutuzov]

First, three things I LIKE better about Civ BE's trading stations than Civ V city states.

Dealing with the placement of trading stations, I used to find Civ V city states where I would like to expand and build a new city too. They were a real cramp on my development in many games and so stations turning up in places where I'd like to settle doesn't bother me nearly as much as it does to others. The major difference in Civ BE is that I'm the first to arrive on the planet and everyone/thing arrives after me and so these starting positions can potentially cause more stress than discovering something that was there right at the start of the game. Unless we have the trading stations arrive on the planet first, or have me turn up later after other sponsors, it has to happen like this. I like the fact that I get to chose what kind of station settles near me too. I couldn't do that in Civ V.

Research stations do offer increasingly attractive bonuses to long-term trading partners which is akin to them prospering and building new facilities so that's fine by me too. Civ V CS didn't do this so this is an improvement. Later in the game, I find myself doing more trade with the trading stations than I am with other factions because the other factions get nothing from me while I get what I want from the stations.

I also do not want to see a return to Civ V-like city states as they were pretty horrible in vanilla. The Diplomatic victory could be renamed an economic victory because it was it was just a matter of throwing great wodges of cash to them before a UN vote and they'd vote for you. Even when G&K brought along the quests to encourage more interaction, I still ended up throwing wodges of cash at them for the win. Whereas, in Civ BE it is not possible to manipulate trading stations in this fashion and that's an improvement IMO. If I don't set up a trade route to them, I get nothing from them unlike with CS where I could gift them some surplus cash and they'd give me some of what they had to offer.

I also don't care about trading stations having more land as they grow or having military units. No thanks. They couldn't use those military units to save their lives (quite literally) so instead, what I'd like to see happen is as follows:

First up, I'd increase the cost of all Tier 2 techs by as much as 50% and double the cost of all Tier 3 techs. Than I would divide them into four different categories, Military, Cultural, Science and Economic and have four types of stations to match with these. They would still have their present bonuses to economy, science, culture etc but I'd add on top of this. If you trade with a military station you would receive a bonus of 10% to all research on military techs only. This bonus could stack, the more military trading stations you trade with, the bigger the bonus. This would give us good game-play reasons to trade with as many stations as possible and to protect them.

I'm more than open to any diplomatic improvements to player interaction in the game but otherwise I'm happy having the trading stations behave like cats like they are just now. I just don't have any ideas for them that others haven't already suggested. I'd also have one of the new factions come in and actively hunt down and destroy all trading stations.

 

[Galgus]

So Diplomatic Capital would be somewhat like Gold that buys favors and bonuses from colonies and stations?

If so, I love that idea.

I have ideas for the Diplomatic Capital system, and ideas for Stations specifically.

I like the idea of sorting
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Diplomatic Capital
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Generation
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I think it would be interesting if Diplomatic Capital was generated as a yield of sorts, which could be exchanged between colonies and rewarded from some quests.

While there would be no tile improvement for it, it could be generated in a variety of ways.

Players would gain Diplomatic Capital from:

1. External Trade Routes with Stations.

2. Each colony they own a trade route with.

3. Completing quests.

4. Clearing Aliens if the colony hasn't denounced the process recently.

5. Denouncing players for clearing Aliens.

6. Gradual income from how dominant the colony's affinity is across colonies.

7. Every Spy in another colony's Capital.

8. Spies assigned to a Diplomacy National Security Project.

9. Percent penalty to generation while at war.

10. Percent penalty or bonus based on Health level.

11. Percent bonus for being Feared, dominant militarily.

12. Percent bonus for being Respected, dominant culturally.
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Stations
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Aside the generic bonuses well described in the OP, each Station has unique bonuses that can be purchased with high levels of Diplomatic Capital.

These are split between permanent, once a game boosts to specific buildings and powerful temporary, but repeatable bonuses.

Both would be very expensive to purchase.

They also have relations that improve with Trade Routes, declarations of protection, and defending them and nosedive when war is declared on them which provide a discount on those purchases.

(Turn times are based on Marathon mode.)

This is my attempt to make the Stations somewhat unique.

Adept Blue

A. +2 Science and +10% Population Growth from Laboratories.

B. +20% Science and Food in all cities for 40 turns.

Banu Masa

A. Scientist specialists grant +5% Science in the city.

B. Gain 50% research progress on two random technologies.

Camp Cascade

A. +2 Food and +2 Energy per city.

B. Gain a large Food boost in the Capital and a lump sum of Energy.

Church of Dawn's Light

A. +.5 Culture per population in all cities.

B. +1 Population in all cities. Adopt a free Virtue.

Far Base One

A. Maximum Experience level for units increased by one. Newly trained units start with experience.

B. A free Soldier, Combat Rover, and Missile Rover appear near the Capital.

Fort Barca

A. +20% Energy and Production from Defensive Perimeters.

B. Gain a lump sum of your choice of Affinity progress.

Golden Bell Temple

A. +15% Energy, Food, and Culture from Old Earth Relics.

B. Two free Colonists and Workers appear near the Capital. Border growth tripled for 40 turns.

Hekima Station

A. +2 Culture and +2 Food from Vivariums.

B. +30% Culture and Food for 40 turns.

Jinsoku Labs

A. +50% Production when constructing a building present in the Capital.

B. +200% production towards Wonders and +100% Science in cities that have a Wonder for 20 turns.

Keagungan

A. +1 Science for each Virtue unlocked. +1 Culture for each Technology unlocked.

B. Gain a large lump sum of Science and Culture.

Lalibela

A. Artist specialists grant +10% Culture in the city.

B. Adopt two free Virtues.

New Babylonian

A. Cities gain 50% of their Energy output as Culture.

B. All tiles that generate Energy generate one additional Energy for 40 turns.

Omoikane

A. Grower specialists grant +5% Food in the city.

B. All tiles that grant Food grant one additional Food for 40 turns.

Palatine

A. -15% Negative Health. Earn Culture equal to 50% of excess health.

B. Health is doubled for 40 turns.

Red Sun

A. Trader specialists grant +10% Energy in the city.

B. Energy purchase costs halved for 5 turns.

Shackleton

A. +2 Science, Culture, and Production from Strategic Resources. +50% Strategic Resource quantity.

B. City Production to Yield conversion processes are three times more effective for 40 turns.

Stet Mining

A. Engineer specialists grant +10% Production in the city.

B. Gain a large lump sum Production boost in all cities.

 

[DefiantMars]

Dealing with the placement of trading stations, I used to find Civ V city states where I would like to expand and build a new city too. They were a real cramp on my development in many games and so stations turning up in places where I'd like to settle doesn't bother me nearly as much as it does to others. The major difference in Civ BE is that I'm the first to arrive on the planet and everyone/thing arrives after me and so these starting positions can potentially cause more stress than discovering something that was there right at the start of the game. Unless we have the trading stations arrive on the planet first, or have me turn up later after other sponsors, it has to happen like this.

I like the fact that I get to chose what kind of station settles near me too. I couldn't do that in Civ V.

I agree this is nice. Being able to say what kinds of early stations that you would like to trade with is nice. The issues that I was drawing on were the interaction. Hence why I included a few options on "removing" them, at the same time proving another way to get things from them outside of just trade routes. The only other form of interaction you have with them.

I also do not want to see a return to Civ V-like city states as they were pretty horrible in vanilla...I also don't care about trading stations having more land as they grow or having military units. No thanks. They couldn't use those military units to save their lives (quite literally)[...]

I read that message loud and clear in the other thread, that's why there is nothing here about that idea.

First up, I'd increase the cost of all Tier 2 techs by as much as 50% and double the cost of all Tier 3 techs. Than I would divide them into four different categories, Military, Cultural, Science and Economic and have four types of stations to match with these. They would still have their present bonuses to economy, science, culture etc but I'd add on top of this. If you trade with a military station you would receive a bonus of 10% to all research on military techs only. This bonus could stack, the more military trading stations you trade with, the bigger the bonus. This would give us good game-play reasons to trade with as many stations as possible and to protect them.

While interesting, I have reservations about this idea. The way that the tech web is set up has the technologies branching from each other in a progressive manner (thematically speaking). Needing Engineering to access Fabrication and Robotics, which leads to Mechatronics, and so on. Don't get me wrong, its certainly something to consider. But that requires a total overhaul of the tech web which goes beyond the scope of this thread.

I'm more than open to any diplomatic improvements to player interaction in the game but otherwise I'm happy having the trading stations behave like cats like they are just now. I just don't have any ideas for them that others haven't already suggested. I'd also have one of the new factions come in and actively hunt down and destroy all trading stations.

Like I've said the only thing that bugs me is the lack of options in dealing with the Stations. Using Diplomatic Capital to get them to provide more bonuses and ways to remove them was the simplest concept I could think of that preserves what they are thematically.

Thanks for you thoughts.

 

[Lord Tirian]

I quite like the idea of using stations as a market, where you can trade energy for certain units, culture, science and maybe even food (depending on the station), with higher tier stations giving you better rates.

Then station levels should depend on the number of (completed) trade routes and the energy income through market trades, giving the station an "economic health" that determines their tier. If this health decays over time, that also provides a mechanism for "withering" stations through embargoes.

This way, you get an interesting market mechanic, where stations could disappear, stagnate or go into economic booms, depending on the global needs.

 

[DefiantMars]

So Diplomatic Capital would be somewhat like Gold that buys favors and bonuses from colonies and stations?

Diplomatic Capital is a new feature that is going to be replacing favors in the Rising Tide expansion. I figured it would make sense if it could be used to persuade and influence Stations to listen to and aid you.

I think it would be interesting if Diplomatic Capital was generated as a yield of sorts, which could be exchanged between colonies and rewarded from some quests.

The exact means its created are unclear but it is a yield. If you recall this image:

Spoiler :

In the very upper left of the screen, you see a blue globe icon. That is the diplomatic capital. Though I do like sources you proposed. I wonder if there could be a sponsor that gains more Diplomatic Capital than the others, letting them thrive better in diplomatic relations.

Aside the generic bonuses well described in the OP, each Station has unique bonuses that can be purchased with high levels of Diplomatic Capital.

These are split between permanent, once a game boosts to specific buildings and powerful temporary, but repeatable bonuses.

Both would be very expensive to purchase.

I appreciate this idea, it provides 3 echelons of options: Interactions you can perform with all stations, interactions you can perform with a type of station, and interactions you can perform with a specific station.

There are a ton of possibilities for what each station could give. I like what i see here. And I do support giving each station more individualism. They don't even have a list of names in the Civilopedia.

 

[DefiantMars]

I quite like the idea of using stations as a market, where you can trade energy for certain units, culture, science and maybe even food (depending on the station), with higher tier stations giving you better rates.

This almost makes me think of the market in Starships (though I haven't played it).

Then station levels should depend on the number of (completed) trade routes and the energy income through market trades, giving the station an "economic health" that determines their tier. If this health decays over time, that also provides a mechanism for "withering" stations through embargoes.This way, you get an interesting market mechanic, where stations could disappear, stagnate or go into economic booms, depending on the global needs.

The first part is how the current system works. Though perhaps the number of completed routes before a station upgrades could be increased. I do like this idea of an economic landscape integrated with stations. I'm trying to figure out how it could fit with the ideas I had, making the economic intersect with the diplomatic.

At the moment I was just throwing something out, but my hope is to eventually arrive at something engaging as well as intuitive as possible.

 

[Galgus]

@DefiantMars

I like the idea of it as a sort of alternate Energy, or perhaps something that Energy could also do at less efficiency, to get bonuses from stations and colonies.
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It's hard to think of exactly how it should be generated, but I tried to focus my ideas on external interactions over internal generation.

A diplomatic sponsor could be fun, though I'm not sure what it would be.
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I those three categories of station bonuses, and having both a type and unique bonuses to individual stations would really help their individuality.

I'd also like their background to be easier to see/ present in the game.

In addition to making things more immersive, it would be fun to see strategies change based on nearby stations - and potential expansion and conflict to get the bonuses of other stations.

 

[kipwheeler]

Fascinating discussion above. Some really neat ideas.

Elaborating on the idea of Militaristic, Research, Industrial, Religious, and Incarceration Facilities (Tip-o-the-hat to DefiantMars and Lord Tirian), some themed missions might be as follows--either as one-time mission offerings or recurring mission offerings that appear once every 60 turns or so.

Militaristic Mission 1: "Commander, we are in the process of training new recruits, and we'd like to invite your forces to join ours in military exercises at these hex coordinates." [Send one of your troops to "attack" a troop unit or units generated by the station. If you "kill" their units, your own units involved in the exercise gain a set number of experience points and level up and you gain three new military units.]

Militaristic Mission 2: "Commander, our soldiers of the future will need a technological edge over the enemy. If you supply us with laboratory research, we can share the resulting technological advances with your own military." [Send one of the your workers into the Hex with the Military station. Once inside it, you have the option to construct over 10 turns a military research facility, which appears on the corners of the hex intersections sort of like how wonders appear on the corners of the hex intersections on a city, altering the graphic of the station slightly.

After the research facility is complete, you can move a single soldier unit at a time over to the research station and park it there. Over 10 turns of remaining fortified at the station, the soldier unit then gains the option of a tech upgrade; this upgrade affects only that unit that visited the facility--not all your units of that type.

Sample ideas of upgrades:
(a) [For Purity] Jetpack commando -- unit can now move over one hex of impassable terrain like a crater or mountain as long as there is passable terrain on the next hex over.)
(b) [For Supremacy] Direct-Neural Interface Targeting Implant-- the unit does +10% damage on each attack.
(c) [For Harmony] Environmental Camouflage-- the unit can "cloak" itself while Fortified and remain invisible to other players/factions as long as it stands on an unimproved "natural" tile.​

More individual units can get the same upgrades if they also park at a hex adjacent to the station and remain fortified for 10 turns. If they exit fortification mode for any reason, the process must start over with a different unit.

Industrial Mission: "We have a deal we'd like to offer you -- an economic arrangement we may both find profitable."

Mission A: Industrial Espionage. The station would like you to send a spy -- not to another Faction City, but into the heart of a station they compete with. There, the spy can undertake a mission to extract their top-secret design blueprints. If your spy fails, he or she may be killed (see Mission B, below). If your spy succeeds, you gain the ability to create a new building in one city, the "Industrial Spy Network." As long as you assign one of your spies to work in the Spy Network Building, you gain a set amount of science each turn. However, the hostile station that you are supposed to be targeting is offering another mission to other Factions/Players to protect themselves from you (see Mission B, below):​

Mission B: Industrial Espionage Defense. The station is worried about hostile spies stealing their trade secrets! They have region to believe one of their competitors is cooperating with one of the major factions in a heist. They would like you to assign one of your spies to defend their installations and review their security procedures. If you assign one of your spies this task, and your spy has a higher skillset / experience level than the one the other faction has assigned to Mission A, you can kill that faction's spy. Your spy that succeeds in this gains the "License to Kill" ability afterward, and any time he is defending one of your cities with counter-espionage, he has a +50% chance to kill hostile spies in your own cities, and a -50 chance of being killed himself.​

Mission C: Investment Landsharing: The station would like you to invest in a land-development project. If you pay them a certain amount of cash each term, you can buy hex-tiles immediately adjacent to the station which come under your cultural influence--even if they normally would be too far away. You can send a worker out to them and develop them normally. You can complete this multiple times until you have bought every hex adjacent to them. However, the NPC station may offer the same deal to other Factions. If you aren't the first to buy all the hexes, other players may buy some or all of them first.​

Religious Mission: "Enlightened one! A group of raptor bugs is attacking our station! Please send troops to destroy them or an explorer to lasso them!" (Or alternatively, an NPC-controlled trade convoy unit belonging to the Station appears and the Station would like you to escort it on its journey to a different Station and fight off aliens/bandits, etc.)

If you succeed, you gain access to a unique building that you can construct in any one of your cities as a one-time deal: "Temple of Reflection," and you can choose one of three types:

[Purity]: "Temple of Reflection: Hall of the Ancestors" -- Purity Units in adjacent hexes to this city heal at +15 per turn.

[Supremacy]: "Temple of Reflection: Cybermonastery" --Supremacy Units in adjacent hexes to this city do an extra 10% damage on both ranged and melee attacks when attacking or extra 20% damage on both ranged and melee attacks when defending." ["I know kung-fu!" in a Keanu Reeves voice]

[Harmony]: "Temple of Reflection: Miasmic Cathedral" -- All adjacent hexes in this city that have miasma have their miasma benefits or penalties doubled.​

Incarceration Mission 1: "Commander, a number of deviants have departed from the true route of our affinity and have tried to foment rebellion in X area. Please defeat them militarily and then escort them to Station [insert station name] for incarceration and re-education training." An NPC-controlled hostile military unit appears randomly in your territory and begins destroying improvements. You must send a military unit to defeat it, at which point the hostile military unit transforms into a specially marked Worker unit that you must escort safely back to the Prison Station. You are awarded with a set amount of energy as a bounty and gain access to Community Service labor--a free worker unit every 30 turns or a set amount of energy income every 30 turns

Jailbreak: "Commander, an important Psycho-engineer who is a vital contributor to our affinity has been unjustly imprisoned on trumped up charges by a neighboring station. Our people are demanding his release! Can you help us?" The player must mount a military expedition to attack the Station. If successful, they have the option of destroying the Incarceration Station (which pleases their people and grants them +1 Health) or they can convert the Station into a Re-Education Center (it turns the station into an Academy that grants +4 science and the hex it sits on becomes part of their cultural territory.)

Just throwing out some ideas here.

 

[Lord Tirian]

This almost makes me think of the market in Starships (though I haven't played it).

I was more thinking of Sins of a Solar Empire's black market, but Starships pretty much works the same way, I guess that's just a common theme (and makes sense in a futuristic context that trading is more ubiquitous).

The first part is how the current system works. Though perhaps the number of completed routes before a station upgrades could be increased.

Part of that "economic health" idea is to make the current system more transparent, I like the idea behind the current system, just want to make it better (instead of reverting to city-state mechanics).

 

[DefiantMars]

Doing a bit of research, I rediscovered this list of Stations including descriptions. So it would seem that they had plans to make them have backgrounds and everything, but they probably ran out of time.

Spoiler :

• Palatine is an elite resort and retreat operation specializing in holistic cogno-emotional renewal. Our top officials and executives could benefit from the invigoration their treatments promise. Trade with Palatine provides 4 Culture per turn at Tier 1, 6 Culture per turn at Tier 2, and 10 Culture per turn at Tier 3.
  
• New Babylon seeks to develop self-sustaining biospheres for consumer use. They are a leader in closed energy systems and luxury habitation. Trade with New Babylon provides 4 Culture per turn.
  
• Adept Blue has established a revolutionary, vertically-integrated laboratory. Their unorthodox process could yield new breakthroughs our scientists might never have considered. Trade with Adept Blue provides +2 Food and +2 Science per turn at Tier 1. (Previously provided a random Technology from among those available to you when the Trade Route is complete.)
  
• Hekima Station provides biomedical enhancements to domesticated livestock. Their compounds contribute to the growth of healthy food animals, not just for consumption but for conversion to highly-desirable leathers, textiles, and jewelry. Provides 3 Food and 1 Culture to any city that establishes a Trade Route. This improves by +1 Food and +1 Culture at Tier 2.
  
• Far Base One provides full-spectrum individual and squad-level tactical combat training. Their elite trainers claim they can turn any ordinary citizen into an elite soldier. Provides 2 Energy and 2 Science for Trade Route at Tier 1, and 5 Energy and 5 Science at Tier 3. (Previously provided soldier units)
  
• Camp Cascade is an elite survival and deep-field operations school. Their instruction could assist our military with long-term independent operations, including incursion tactics and hit-and-run warfare. Provides 2x Combat Rover Units at the trade route origin city when the trade route is complete.
  
• Jinsoku Labs is a cutting-edge player in biomechanical research. Their procedures could help us make real breakthroughs in human-machine systems development. Provides 2 Science and 2 Production to any city that establishes a Trade Route.
  
• Red Sun is an energy operations specializing in high-density, high-output power generation. Their power cells could literally jump-start our civil infrastructure. Provides +3 Energy to the city that established a Trade Route.
  
• Stet Mining is a leader in heavy metal extraction. Their deep-core drilling rigs are some of the safest and most productive in operation. Trade provides +4 Production per turn at Tier 1.
  
• Banu Musa is a theoretical sciences think tank. Their theories on research practices and methods could lead to profound advances in our technological development. Trade provides 4 Science per turn at Tier 1, 6 Science per turn at Tier 2, and 10 science per turn at Tier 3.
  
• Shackleton is a survey and geological mapping enterprise. Their reports on the alien landscape and ecosystems could lead to progress in a variety of fields, from scientific research to nature tourism. Provides 1 Culture, 1 Production and 2 Science to any city that establishes a Trade Route.
  
• Fort Barca is an advanced ballistics and targeting workshop. Their proving grounds and battlefield simulations could give us an edge in long-range remote warfare.trade provides 2 Energy and 2 Production per turn at Tier 1; 3 Energy and 4 Production at Tier 2. (Previously provided rover units)
  
• Keagungan is an applied sciences skunkworks. They specialize in converting military tech to civilian use, and are known as pioneers of autonomous domestic systems. Provides 2 Culture and 2 Science to any city that establishes a trade route.
  
• Church of Dawn's Light: Trade Route provides +4 Food and +6 culture per turn at Tier 3.
  
• Golden Bell Temple: Trade provides 1 Food, 1 Energy, and 2 Culture at Tier 1, 2 Food, 2 Energy, and 3 Culture at Tier 2.
  
• Omoikane has developed techniques for ultra-dense agriculture. Their patented layer farms could lead to an explosion in food production output. Trade Route provides 4 Food per turn at Tier 1.
  
• Lalibela provides 4 Culture per turn at Tier 1.

Pe-release Stations not in game:
Fort Miller (Will Miller)
McDonough Labs (Dave Mc Donough)
Scyon Group Labs
Aspera Station

Sneaky Firaxians

 

[Galgus]

@kipwheeler

Personally I'm not a big fan of incarceration stations, and I'd rather relabel the Religious type to Cultural for a broader category.

That said I really like quests for different stations.

I had some ideas for such a system awhile back in a Reddit thread, focused on downside categories and options to help or conquer stations.
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@DefiantMars

I remember those, but I haven't seen the list in awhile.

I'd love to see their character mentioned in game, with mechanics molded to them.

My old favorite was Camp Cascade for how unique it is.

 

[DefiantMars]

Personally I'm not a big fan of incarceration stations, and I'd rather relabel the Religious type to Cultural for a broader category.

I'm torn on this. On one hand it doesn't fit the optimistic tone of Beyond Earth but at the same time it offers some interesting bonuses and storytelling options.

That said I really like quests for different stations.

I had some ideas for such a system awhile back in a Reddit thread, focused on downside categories and options to help or conquer stations.

I remember that post. It would be nice to roll that into an improved Quest system and even have it intersect with the Artifact/Artefact system as well as the proposed diplomacy changes.

I remember those, but I haven't seen the list in awhile.

I'd love to see their character mentioned in game, with mechanics molded to them.

My old favorite was Camp Cascade for how unique it is.

Agreed.

 

[Galgus]

Aside not fitting the optimistic tone, I'd think most colonies would want to handle their own prison system.
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That makes me think of another idea - would it make sense to get Artifacts from stations?

Perhaps they either brought an artifact or discovered one, and there could be a bidding war over it with gold and diplomatic capital.

Conquering them could also work, with ramifications.

Perhaps there could even be a benefit in donating artifacts to stations to upgrade the station in exchange for a boost from them.

I don't want a return to city-states where most diplomacy involves massive bribes, but it would be fun to be able to invest in stations more.

 

[DefiantMars]

I was think that it might make more sense as a quest reward and less so something you can buy.

 

[Galgus]

That sounds right, so as not to cheapen artifacts.