Forums » Suggestions

making bootlegging legal / no place like home

Sep 24, 2006 drdoak007 link
it would be beneficial for the exchange of goods within the compounds of the station. now this is not a new idea.

but, if this is going to happen, we should have personal control of those spaces. "Naut's Convienience" or "Mick's Bait & Tackle" shops should be able to conduct business as they wish... anyone may come into the store, and see what is available ( a nice UI like the station stuff).

when and if in-station exchanging is implimented, there should be a cost (depending on store location) for this opportunity.

Corvus stations as of now, have their own reputation for such matters... but they dont sell everything. maybe taking a cut from each sale made, or a monthly/weekly fee to conduct business in these stations should be implimented to make this possible.

not only that, but with monthly/weekly fees, it would be then more reasonable for us to have "secure" guild home bases instead of asking for more stations.
Sep 24, 2006 SPACERANGER link
Perhaps customizable signs for these shops floating in space near the location of it. I like the idea, it would make most of our 'shops' really BE our own shops.

*APPROVED*
Sep 25, 2006 Professor Chaos link
This is a great idea. It fits into my idea of "levels" of crafting.

Say you or your guild owns a station. You can have modules built on that are "shops," and players or guilds could rent these to sell their stuff. The fees would be set by the station owner (and thus would be competitive) and rules also would be set by the owner (i.e., don't sell this illegal item at my station). Enforcement of these rules would also be up to the station owner, so a station could have very strict rules in place for good PR, but behind the scenes, illegal stuff is allowed to go on.

This would be a cooperation between station owners and shop owners. Shop owners pay rent, and attract people to the station. Shop owners would petition the station owner for use of the factories in the station, which depending on the station owner may be included with rent or paid for by use. Shop owners would be responsible for procuring their own ore/parts or buying them from the station's stores, and can post missions to the station boards if they need supplies or someone to make deliveries. This would be less for the station owner to micromanage, also.

So we would have four levels of "crafting," which mostly is just the free market economy:

1) The casual player, who goes to a station and specifies what "extras" he wants on his ship, weapons and otherwise.

2) The shop owner, who sells various products based on supply and demand.

3) The station owner, who provides a place for people to set up shop, and basically controls real estate (again based on supply and demand).

4) Inventing stuff. Like I've said, for now the best way to do this is by posting to this forum. If a dev sees something he likes, he tweaks it and puts it in the game as a prototype, with a mission tree to test and implement it universe-wide. This is really the only step that's anything like traditional "crafting," i.e., new stuff is made. No one wants a system where you click a million times and mix to random ores and get an unknown product afterword. This is more like a real process of invention.
Sep 25, 2006 drdoak007 link
i like what you have there.... but....

you cant talk about inventing, then explain metalergy.

and next, you'll see people mixing the green herb and the red herb for healing powders....
Sep 25, 2006 Professor Chaos link
No, no, no. I'm saying that this method is to PREVENT the mixing of the green and red herbs. Everyone knows what happens when you mix too much green herb with the red herb, and it's not good. Also, I don't understand what you mean by "you can't talk about inventing, then explain metalergy [sic]." I'm saying that most people don't want a system where you just mix stuff up and see what you get. I'm saying that if you have an idea for a new gadget that would fit well with the game and improve the depth and immersiveness of the game, then post it here. If it really is that good, a dev will put it in game somehow (hopefully with a mission string to "invent" it), then do the mission string to test the prototype and implement it universe wide. Kind of like, I've got this idea, now I'll patent it, then put it into production, oh, now there are generic versions of it all over, too.
Oct 01, 2006 Fnugget link
I see where your idea is coming from. Having user generated content instead of dev creating a giant table of possibilities. And hopefully every pilot in the universe isn't smart enough to build their own super lasers. So instead, how about you can think up anything you want and the amount of ores required is based on it's characteristics. Now, if you send in an idea with minimal ores, the "invention" will get to the dev or guide or whoever with a low rating. "What a cheap bastard!" they'll say. So to improve this rating, and to show you really do want to see this in the game, you sacrifice more ores. However, this is not the last step. Only a certain amount of new products will be made per month, and the dev/guides will only choose from the best inventions and highest ratings.

Example: I spend 300 Ferric and Carbonic (everything needs base material), as well as 300 Xith and 500 Helio for my invention of "micro-flares". On the other hand, Lecter spends 300 Ferric/Carbonic, 0 Xith, and 2000 Helio (which I'm sure Lecter has) for "Superconductor Rails". Who will get their item approved?

The big idea here is that the market for crafting will be a competition amongst us. And maybe we don't have to mine all of this stuff. Maybe I could catch Lecter's moth while he's sending his ores to the dev gods, then use it to support my item.

And to throw in an extra bit of fun, Serco will give a rating bonus to missiles/rockets, Itani will give a rating bonus for energy weaps, and UIT will give a rating bonus for ships or something.
Oct 01, 2006 Professor Chaos link
I'd rather see the initial "invention" be a competition of ideas and creativity on these boards. Then a dev approves an item, tweaks its properties, and decides what ores/components will be required to build it.

Step two would be implementing it on the game server. It would be cool if each nation were simultaneously (or slightly not simultaneously, depending on circumstances) given a mission string to build and test the item. I'll give an example, and in my example Serco get the blueprint for the item first.

Step 1: Professor Chaos, in a typical display of brilliance, invents the Ooh Ray, capable of melting cities, or capital ships. Devs say, "Wow, what a surprise, another amazing invention from Professor Chaos! We will implement this immedeately, and pay the good Professor $1000000 in real money!"

Step 2: The Devs put the blueprint in game, and station owners bid for it. The arms race begins. (Yes, I know this rewards rich guilds who own stations, but that's why they had the foresight to save all that money, right?)* Winning bidder gets the blueprint, and can begin research. At the same time, a mission becomes available to all other factions to steal the blueprint, for a very nice reward. The more factions steal the blueprint, the more factions you can steal it from.

Step 3: Anyone who has the blueprint knows how to make the prototype. A station with the blueprint can gather the proper materials and begin production.

Step 4: When the Ooh Ray prototype is complete, the station owner can offer a mission to test it. The mission would mean owning/buying a ship that can equip it, and taking it to a test site and using it, in this case firing it on an asteroid or a hive bot. There is a random element in all inventing, so here's where it comes in gamewise. Depending on how cool the Ooh Ray is, there is a certain probability it will or won't work. Ooh Ray is very cool, so it is only 20% likely to work the first time. If it works, skip to Step 6.

Step 5: Build and test Ooh Ray Prototype II. Each time you test it, it is 50% more likely to succeed. So Ooh Ray is 20% likely to work the first time, 30% the second time, 45% the third time, 67.5% the fourth time, then fixed at 90% each successive time. This way, there is an advantage to being first, but there are setbacks. Repeat Step 5 as necessary.

Step 6: Begin full production. The item is now a normal item in the game. If you got to this step first, make a lot of them. If you are the only station in your faction who has the blueprint, then decide whether you value your monopoly or your faction. Sell the rights to other stations, so your faction can have more of this item, because the Ooh Ray is especially good at melting Itani. Also keep in mind that (if industrial espionage missions are possible, and I think they should be, something to do with reverse engineering an item) other stations might reverse engineer your item anyway, so it's better to just sell them the blueprint now and make an extra buck. Now go melt the Itani!
Oct 02, 2006 SuperMegaMynt link
I can imagine a more interesting method of inventing weapons and ships, atleast.

Howsy 'bout creating ships and junk from all the random commodoties in the universe? That's right... I'm going to have a Behemoth made of Sedina Chocolate! But seriously, imagine a weapon that's the mix of a plasma cannon, and a neutron blaster, or anything in between. Call it, a pluestron blannon. So check it out, I'll do one for weapons, so that one day I can load my Atlas up with a... well, don't make me say that name again.

These are the things that many, if not all weapons have in common.

Barrel
Some form of Propellant (I hope we're not still not using gunpowder)
Samoflange
Device to quickly feed ammo into the clip
Ammo
Some sciency thing that charges the shot, since all weapons use energy.
Samoflange
Swivel, or turret
Automated targeting device that provides auto-aim
Magnetic rail (for gauss cannon and railgun)
More Samoflange!
Wiring for everything
Additional random sciency crap...

The possibilities are almost endless, but at the same time it'd be quite easy to write up a list of 100 or so nifty gadgets that can be made from commodities in the game, and then put the limits so that no matter what combination you put together, you'd only come up with weapons similar and equal to what we currently have, or less potent. Maybe when I'm bored one day, I'll write up a huge stocky equation for it.

How's it we always end up on the subject of player crafting, anyways?
Oct 03, 2006 Professor Chaos link
'Cause that's what we all want. :)

Your idea works fine to a point, but taken too far it becomes more "mix the green herb with the red herb." In real life, trial and error is most of invention, but that works because nature has its own laws built in, and they are so many and so complex that we're still figuring them out. If everything that can be invented is on a table in the server (even if it's huge), then there's no chance that we can invent anything the devs haven't thought of. Some experimentation and variation would be cool, but the "invention" of real new stuff can only realistically happen by players and devs talking to each other in real life.
Oct 03, 2006 SuperMegaMynt link
True.