Outposts are legion planets, which give other small bonuses. These would generally take the co-ordination of multiple members of a legion to capture, and capturing is a hybrid between base and planetary combat.
1) Finding OutpostsFinding outposts would work similarly to planet scanning. Ships would use their scanning power to find an outpost. You would need to be loyal to do so. The more outposts your legion has scanned, the tougher scanning becomes, but also the higher level your base the easier it is. A variant of the Star Chart Purger could be found through a daily mission allowing you to purge outposts from your database.
2) Building OutpostsAs an alternative to scanning for outposts, your legion may choose to build their own, allowing them to choose the boosts and production received. This would cost Energy, Complex Tech and Exotic Matter. You may also upgrade any that you have captured using the same materials. As they level up, you could allocate production points similar to the base (although these shall not produce as much, and will likewise have lower costs) and bonus points.
Outpost levels would run from 1 to 10, and would require the same upgrade technology as bases, however, they can be levelled up with any combination of exotic matter, complex tech parts and energy, which would effect what bonuses were available depending on what spread you were to use. For obvious reasons, the resources would be weighted differently. Different images would also be available depending on what "type" of outpost it is. This would be as simple as "Exotic", "Technological" and "Energised" bases for the 3 resources.
3) Outpost ModulesMuch of the base equipment would be available to you to place upon your outposts, this being the production modules and the standard combat modules. Base Comm interlinks and other GP items would not be compatible, but other, new GP items may be created. These would all share one set of space, so strategy would be required to bridge the gap.
4) ProductionWhilst there would be no outpost abilities to buff production, the standard production modules can be built, and production points will allow you to enhance the richness of the outpost. Each outpost would also gain a 10% bonus each day that you own it, with a 1000% cap for holding it 100 days. Also, outposts would only generate 3 production points upon leveling up, and would gain just a 300% production bonus per level.
5) BonusesBonuses would be small perks available from levelling up the base. As mentioned in 2), the bonuses available would be dependent on what resources were used to level up the base. These boosts would be 1 or 2%, applied to every member of the legion, or would have some kind of special effect. Some examples:
Exotic (EM) Bases:
Code:
All members +1% mining per level
All members +2% shield per level
All members +1% cloaking per level
All members +1% scanning per level
All outposts +5% shield per level
All planets +1% cloaking per level
Legion Base +3% production per level
Passive Ability - Sentry: Prevents legion base being attacked within the first 10 minutes.
Active Ability - Abundance (All members): Allows you to repair for free every 20 minutes, ignoring your repair timer.
Technological (CTP) bases:
Code:
All members +1% research per level
All members +2% hull per level
All members +1% attack per level
All members +2% defence when attacked per level
All outposts +5% hull per level
All planets +1% attack per level
Legion Base: +3% production per level
Passive Ability - First Response: Automatically adds a 30% buff to the legion's base's attack when locked. Lasts 20 minutes.
Active Ability - Overdrive: Increase your attack by 10% for 20 minutes. CD: 8 hours.
Energised (Energy) bases:
Code:
All members +1% artifact per level
All members +1% attack per level
All members +1% energy per level
All members +1% cloak per level
All outposts +1% defence per level
All planets +1% defence per level
Legion Base: +3% production per level
Passive Ability - ???: ???
Active Ability - Surge: +40% shield for 20 minutes. CD: 2 hours.
Abilities would cost 2 points, boosts would cost 1 point. Obviously, those are my extremely unimaginative examples.
EDIT: It's been mentioned that the boosts could get way out of hand (Potentially an 80% attack boost for every Dysonian. You guys up for having all your planets stolen?).
My improvement on this idea, is that as your boost reaches a higher level it costs more points to upgrade, going across all of the outposts your legion owns. This would result in a 10% cap, only achievable at level 6 or above base, as it requires 6 outposts. Due to leftover points, you would likely be able to receive 2 10% boosts at a quite a high level base. That's alot more balanced, although still worthwhile, than 80%. It is also worth mentioning that you could spread out boosts for a much large buff. I also reduced the multiplier to legion base production.6) NPC OutpostsOutposts owned by NPCs would have stats based around the speciality of the NPC Faction. These could can be captured like any enemy outposts.
6a) NPC InvasionsNPCs may choose to attack an outpost you own, attempting to capture it. This would cause the legion that owns the outpost to defend it like they would in the event of a player invasion.
7) Capturing OutpostsTo capture a scanned outpost, you would have to "launch an attack" from the outpost database. This would work like target locking the outpost, and would mean that you cannot lock another outpost for the next week. Locks last 1 hour.
Outposts would have stats not dissimilar to a legion base, albeit weaker. In order to capture the outpost, the legion must first disable the outpost, then attempt the capture from the action tab. This would be your crew versus the stationed defender's crew. More on that in 8).
7a) SaboteursZolazin Saboteurs would be able to use their ability on an enemy outpost, disabling a module for a short period of time. The module would not be able to be removed, and would provide no bonus, however, the shields must have been destroyed for the ability to be able to be used.
7b) Attack StrategyBy targeting certain parts of the outpost, you would be able to inflict debuffs upon destroying it. These would have fixed stats based on level, and would be irreparable whilst the outpost is under attack. This could vary from shield generators (reduce shield recharge), turret bays (attack debuff) to crew stations (capture chance up).
8) Defending OutpostsWhen you defend an outpost, you can do one of two things, but never both. You can choose to:
A) Guard the base, causing your ship to be disabled before a capture can take place. After being disabled, you cannot return for 1 hour.
B) Station your crew, decreasing enemy capture chance. This would increase in effectiveness with an increased crew.
There would be no repairs, buffs, or other abilities whilst the outpost is under attack. You may repair afterwards. Also, all bonuses applied by the outpost are nullified during the attack.
And I think that is just-a-bout everything! Throw your thoughts, insults, suggestions, hookers my way.