Potential new player here (it’s on my wish list). From lurking on social media, I gather that the devs have released several significant updates recently, among them an overhaul of space stations (“Orbital”). I get that they are procedurally generated, which means that no two should be alike, but… how different are they?
I ask b/c, while this might sound silly, during my time in Elite Dangerous, one of my favorite things was approaching stations, lining up my ship with the entrance, avoiding collisions, dealing with all the different axes & what not, and then setting her down on the landing pads. (and then I wish I could get out of my ship and explore on foot)
With space stations being procedurally generated, do they still feel pretty same-y or are they unique enough to keep someone like myself entertained? The wiki page for the Orbital update promises a variety of space station interiors, just wondering if actual players would agree.
Also, does NMS have any sort of “advanced flight mode” where I can enjoy the challenge of steering my ship through the obstacles or is it basically fly within the vicinity of a space station and press X to auto dock?
Sorry for the barrage of questions. Thanks in advance!
There’s no functional difference in space stations, the procedural generation is pretty limited to the general appearance, and honestly besides the color inside I rarely even notice a difference. There’s no skill involved with flying either, when you get close to the entrance, you get sucked right in by an autopilot.
There’s very little opportunity for skilled flying unfortunately, though it can be fun to fly around floating islands and crazy land formations on planets.
If the on foot stuff sounds appealing to you as well, the game might be worth it, but if your only interest is in flying I would give this one a pass.
Technically there’s like 3 unique classes of station. The regular station that has one of 3 guild seats and one of 3 main races. This is most of the stations.Then the Outlaws stations, they might be some variation but it’s trivial. And the abandoned stations. Some of the more difficult planetary systems don’t have a space station.
And then there’s the Atlas stations and the Anomaly Station. The Atlas stations are generally the same but the Atlas usually looks different and the word gifts can make the white lights spread out differently.
The interior of normal stations are identical. Ditto pirate stations. Ditto abandoned stations.
The exterior of standard, pirate, and abandoned vary considerably.
The space anomaly is unique.
Atlas stations are identical.
The significant variation in the game is planet side and your base/freighter building.
Varied exteriors might be enough to keep my inner space station hunter entertained for a while anyway. Thanks for the intel.
I have to say, the exteriors are amazing. Not quite to the same degree as Elite Dangerous, but still gorgeous.
You can get out of your ship in Elite now.
I do not have the Odyssey DLC, but fair point nonetheless. That said, while I can’t put my finger on it, something draws me to NMS. Maybe it’s the community, I don’t know.
Thanks for weighing in.
When you get close to the entrance of a space station the game takes over and lands for you
Good to know, thanks for the info.
The outside they are pretty different, but the inside, as far as I have seen, is the same. There are three dominant species across the galaxy and each station is inhabited by that system’s species. And there are also pirate stations. Those are different than the others. There used to be abandoned stations in abandon systems, but I have not yet played enough (I mostly play during expeditions currently) to comment on those. Lastly there is the anomaly, I will not go into detail about that because of spoilers. But it is different than the others.
One thing I will tell you is once you get close enough to a station’s entrance you are put onto autopilot for landing.
but the inside, as far as I have seen, is the same.
Gotcha. This seems to contradict the marketing materials on the NMS website, but is in line with other commenters—thanks for confirming that.
From the website:
Space Station interiors are now procedurally generated and vary dramatically from station to station. A huge range of different designs are waiting to be found, as well as a wide array of atmospheric and lighting arrangements.
I gather there’s some variety depending on the system’s economy type (e.g. high tech vs mining), just not as “dramatic” as the devs promise. And honestly, this isn’t my only reason for enjoying space games, so I’ll probably scoop up NMS during the next sale anyway and then see for myself. Thanks again.
