Outpost

Outposts, sometimes called Orbital Outposts to distinguish them from ground-based facilities like Surface Ports and Settlements, are relatively small and modular space stations. They differ significantly from the vastly larger Starports and Asteroid Bases, which are usually the major hubs within a system. Outposts have between three and five Landing Pads, no docking support for large ships, and minimal security emplacements and patrols. They also lack any rotating habitation structures to simulate gravity for occupants, and docked ships are held in place magnetically.

Outpost Types[]

There are seven Outpost variants, each built to serve a specific economic role: Civilian, Commercial, Industrial, Military, Mining, Scientific, and Unsanctioned.

Name	Example	Image
Commercial Outpost
Civilian Outpost
Scientific Outpost	Canonn Institute, Col 285 Sector IX-T d3-43
Mining Outpost	Robigo Mines, Robigo
Industrial Outpost	al-Din Prospect, Alpha Centauri
Military Outpost
Unsanctioned Outpost

Colonisation[]

Main article: System Colonisation

Outposts are Tier 1 in Colonisation. If selected as the main (first) station, it can be constructed with the following resources delivered to the colony ship within 4 weeks. Each outpost type (as listed above) requires a slightly different amount of materials in order to be constructed.

Material	Commercial	Civilian	Scientific	Industrial	Military
Water	706	621	769	771	761
Copper	234	218	240	251	245
Food Cartridges	94	94	92	91	98
Semiconductors	65	56	70	68	67
Power Generators	20	19	18	19	19
Computer Components	50	50	65	60	62
Ceramic Composites	504	497	500	502	531
Insulating Membrane	357	311	345	349	358
Medical Diagnostic Equipment	13	13	13	13	14
Titanium	5579	4843	5603	5317	5264
Fruit and Vegetables	50	50	51	49	49
Polymers	545	497	498	543	497
Superconductors	107	100	109	114	112
Water Purifiers	39	38	37	38	36
Non-Lethal Weapons	13	13	12	13	14
Liquid Oxygen	1721	1553	1759	1769	1703
CMM Composite	4539	3912	4584	4680	4646
Steel	6936	5588	6473	6619	6605
Aluminium	513	0	477	517	520

From a solo player POV, it takes 28 to 35 travels with an Imperial Cutter (728u of cargo [outfit]) to complete the commercial outpost. With a Fleet-Carrier, you can speed up these travels but putting the FC in front of the planet which holds the mining facility which produces CMM composites, titanium and steel. Getting 250 to 500 CMM C. one travel every two or three, the FC gets filled smoothly if you haul the three merchandises in parallel (when the FC is full you have what you need for the outpost in good proportions). But then count on 35x2 travels.

While trying to optimize everything and fly as fast as possible it took approximately 8 to 10h of play to complete the outpost, in the best conditions (FC in front of mining facility and near colonization ship).

Variations[]

Important note: There are variations between the commodities requirements. The amounts required for a specific structure is not fixed. Primary ports cost more resources than subsequent ports of the same type. Each construction also has a fuzzy variance by a small percentage.

Primary Port[]

Primary ports have an increased cost. The Primary Port is the initial port built after a claim. For Outposts, this increase is approximately 16% compared to building a port as a supporting structure to an existing colony.

Here are some screenshots with an extract of the commodities requirements in different cases.

Fuzz Amounts[]

Additionally, all constructions have "fuzzy" amounts. There is a plus/minus randomization of small amounts for each construction. This compounds with the primary port "tax" above.

Research[]

The differences between requirements determine how much cargo a player has to haul. The amount of commodities can range between >18.000 and <22.000. Making the difference of the commodities you need to haul of about 3000 tons. Generally, it seems that primary ports are more expensive (about 21,800 tons) than a non primary (about 18,400 tons).

After constructing and documenting the requirements for multiple outposts constructions here are some findings:

(Note that these findings only apply to primary ports - outposts)

Constructing a primary port (Outpost) requires more commodities (about 16% more, or 22,000) than constructing a new outpost in an already colonized system.
The list of commodities required to construct the primary outpost is identical, regardless of the type of outpost
The quantity of commodities required is randomly rolled each time a new claim is made. Otherwise, the commodities required will be the same no matter where the claim is made in the galaxy. Example: suppose you make a claim and check the requirements for the outpost cost. The quantity of commodities required will be the same, no matter where you'll make the claim. Now, suppose you completed the previous claim, and check the cost for the outpost for another claim: the quantity of commodities required have changed.
The quantity of commodities when constructing a primary outpost will always be around >21,000 to about 22,000 tons.
Each and all commodities quantities in the list are randomly rolled with "clamped" values. This means that the quantities will always be of similar magnitude, no matter the roll.

Example:

Your Aluminum required will be in the range of 500 tons. It could be as low as 485 tons, or even 522 tons (data from records). But it will never be much higher or lower.

Your Power Generators required will be in the range of 20 tons. It could be 18 tons or 20 (data from records). But it will never be a requirement that will go in the hundreds.

Empirical Records
Commodity	Min recorded	Max recorded	Estimated range
Aluminum	485	522	450 - 550
Ceramic Composites	517	544	500 - 550
CMM Composite	4321	4644	4000 - 5000
Computer Components	60	64	60 - 70
Copper	231	253	225 - 260
Food Cartridges	90	99	90 - 100
Fruit and vegetables	50	51	50 - 55
Insulating Membrane	336	359	300- 400
Liquid Oxygen	1747	1813	1700 - 1900
Medical Diagnostic Equipment	12	14	12 - 15
Non lethal weapons	13	14	12 - 15
Polymers	504	530	500 - 550
Power generators	18	20	17 - 20
Semiconductors	65	71	65 - 75
Steel	6331	6978	6250 - 7000
Superconductors	108	117	100 - 120
Titanium	5283	5564	5250- 5750
Water	713	748	700 - 750
Water Purifiers	36	39	35 - 40

Notes[]

Based on the population data of systems that contain one Outpost and no other habitable structures, Outposts have an estimated population capacity ranging from as low as 10 to as high as 150,000, depending on their size and configuration.
Unsanctioned Outposts are usually run by Anarchy minor factions and almost always have an active black market. Coupled with Outposts' bare-bones security, they make ideal hubs for Smugglers looking to sell illegal goods or take on missions that involve retrieving illegal salvage. It is also one of the few places that sells E-Breaches.