What good is an Outpost?

[Jodet]

It doesn't repair your ships. You can't build anything there.

Why would you build one?

[silverkitty23]

it's significantly cheaper than a colony, so you can use it to claim planets until you can afford colony ships (or to claim planets you can't colonize yet because you need technology to settle there, such as barren worlds)

it extends your 'range', so you can put an outpost in a system with no viable planets (all gas giants or tiny planets) and still get the expansion of your range as if you had a colony in that system

[bjg]

It can expand your ship's range. I personally don't find it useful. Haven't played with the "sparse" map option though.

[Chasm]

Adds to max trade potential (+3 per), and are usable in orbital slots around gas giants and tiny worlds. With improved solar panels can mount a science station in place of the reactor, giving each deployed outpost + 3 trade potential and + 2 science per turn. Good for light colonization of unusable systems and worlds.

[nathanebht]

Adds to max trade potential (+3 per), and are usable in orbital slots around gas giants and tiny worlds. With improved solar panels can mount a science station in place of the reactor, giving each deployed outpost + 3 trade potential and + 2 science per turn. Good for light colonization of unusable systems and worlds.

Thats clever! A use for the solar panels.

I just use them to extend ship range which is really critical sometimes.

[zolobolo]

Nice,

I have only been using them to expand range of my exploration and colonization ships in early game

Didn't think about using them as science+trade stations + placeholders for plants - great ideas
Will not be using it though until the AI starts to do the same as all of these would give an unfair advantage over them

[Nerdchieftain]

I think it is a good tip to "claim" a solar system.

AI won't settle where you have control of the system. Unless you are at war, or have Alliance. Alliance is a free license to colonize wherever you want.

[akkamaddi]

Hopefully, outposts will be able to use the population module in the future. This ccould be used to seed a star system without terrestrial planets with a working population unit, and then utilize the Artificial Planet tech.

[Hans_Lemurson]

They add Trade Potential?!! They're even better than I thought!
I like to use them to expand my range when I'm too impatient to wait for propulsion or colonization techs to let me expand it normally. They're a little bit metal-hungry in the beginning, but it's a lot cheaper than a colony ship!

[fonzosh]

How can you see what they add?

Also, I have a problem getting people into my module. I have built some differnt types of space stations with habitat modules and I really cant get people inte them.

[Chasm]

You see trade potential by looking at your trade potential (top mid of screen). You will see a yellow rocket (at the start of a game it is 0 / 0, if you set your 1st freighter to trading it will jump to 5/0). The number on the right of the slash is how much trade potential you have (it effectively caps your freighter income). Deploy an outpost and you it jump by 3.

[Arioch]

Also, I have a problem getting people into my module. I have built some differnt types of space stations with habitat modules and I really cant get people inte them.

If you bring up the ship information screen for a station with a habitat module (click the "?" icon on the unit in the fleet panel), there is a button to "Load Habitat." Click this button and then select the planet to draw population from.

[wminsing]

I'm a long-time player and some of these tricks are new to me! I will be trying them out in my next game.

I do hope that for future expansion we'll see more modules or variants for outposts. A repair outpost would be a handy thing to have in a war, as would a module that gave the outpost wider-than-normal sensor coverage (a 'listening post').

-Will