Users Flocking to Daedalus Are Something Else
[jpg: Roughly two thousand player fleets gathered at strongholds near Daedalus, slipping inside one or two ships at a time after securing permission.]
They didn't rush in as a mob. They only started inching their way in once the defenses were more or less repaired.
Why wait a whole four days before asking to be let in?
If they were going to do it like this, why not just swarm the place the second Icarus took Daedalus and pull a free-docking stunt?
[Image of a toad looking smug]
Everyone already knew the place was at capacity, so the outer settlement players couldn't get in.
Then Icarus took Daedalus, the territory ballooned overnight, and now the refugee types are pouring into his domain lmao
Surprisingly enough, it turned out our clown-car of a player base had actually been showing a measure of consideration for our side.
My, what splendid users.
Faced with a take I genuinely had not seen coming, I found myself swimming in a complicated, hard-to-name feeling. Of course that mood only lasted a moment. The second the comments under those gallery posts made it clear why the players had waited instead of coming, my already tangled mood went tumbling into an even deeper pit of confusion.
Anyway, while we were more or less letting players into the territory and relocating the ones who had been living like squatters in the outer settlements of the Tannhauser sector—unable to dock at any stronghold—I suddenly realized one tiny little fact.
As that delightfully efficient chat window made clear, the fact in question was simply this: the docking capacity of the Daedalus Research Fortress I was currently berthed at was absurdly generous. Even with the recent influx of people and the mass docking of the old settlement players, there was still more than enough to go around.
"Commander, about the commanders currently docked at Daedalus."
"What is it, Jessica?"
"Even with most of those commanders already docked here, we're still swimming in spare docking points."
"Spare docking points?"
"Yes. At least around seven or eight thousand? Maybe more."
"…That's more than I expected."
Daedalus had so many docking points that for someone who'd been fretting over how to screen applicants, the news landed like rain on cracked earth. When I roughly tallied the remaining points and estimated how many players the fortress could actually house at maximum, the number that came out was—
"…Twelve thousand?"
"It's an approximation, so we'd have to count carefully for a hard number, but that's roughly where it lands."
"That's enormous."
A full twelve thousand docking points. Compared to Tannhauser, which until now had been the largest stronghold in my territory, that was more than five times the capacity.
Holy crap, that's insane!
Jessica and I both stared at the figure, practically jumping out of our skins. The awe didn't last long, though. Just as I was about to post the whole thing to the gallery and gloat—right as I was halfway through an internal whooooa—a thought slid neatly across my brain.
Hold on. What if every place is like this and I just look like an idiot?
Thanks to that little spark of common sense, I ran a search on the gallery before uploading anything. And sure enough…
[jpg: A toad in a tuxedo staring at a screen with a deeply complicated expression.]
How many docking points does that even have?
Like, over fifty thousand or what?
If so, all the fence-sitters are going to pour in and dock the place into the ground.
There was plenty of other noise besides those threads, but the bottom line was that our twelve thousand points were a thoroughly average figure for the tier. My excitement cooled on the spot, and something far calmer settled over the room in its place.
The event was over. Time to enjoy a little peace.
One week after the refugees flooded into Daedalus.
Unfortunately, the Leviathan Fleet and the gentlemen of the Earth Federation provisional government still hadn't been able to make the trip—apparently stronghold relocation functions were not among the amenities on offer.
"It's a shame the Leviathan Fleet and the provisional government can't come here."
"Well, it's only the provisional government and the home port that can't make it. The fleet itself can still show up if we need it."
"But that still burns a use of the authorization, doesn't it?"
"Thanks to that, the players in the Tannhauser sector aren't peeling off. In a way, maybe that's for the best?"