Forums » Suggestions
Economy idea for miners and traders
Each station could have a few raw ore requirements for the given items that it locally produces. These required ores are consumed at a daily rate if available and the produced goods are generated to be purchasable.
For the initial step, this is limited to commodities, not weapons or ships, but since commodities rely on missions to make use of, to get large participation, certain locally produced weapons would need to be included eventually.
Other ores traded to the station remain in the station until sold. The sell rate can be explained as NPC traders buying the ore but in reality it doesn't need to be tied 1:1 to actual npc docking and leaving etc. It just needs to be some number dependent on the value of the ore. The station naturally limits what it purchases from miners by reducing the price it's willing to pay as the station reaches a set maximum stock it wants to keep for any given ore or item. In other words, stations are no longer limitless pits to sell your ore to or guns etc. They will stop buying after a stock limit is reached.
The consumable ores behave the same way but attract a higher price because they're something the station actually uses to create it's goods. Locally produced goods are thus limited to supply of these ores and the price fluctuates depending on current availability and production rate of the past 24 hours as a way of forecasting future availability.
That math isn't complicated or hard. It's just a matter of getting players used to having to supply stations with certain raw materials to get locally produced goods. Basically, bringing the manufacturing world down to the ground level of the economy but simplifying it out, since the station is pseudo-manufacturing goods not doing it on a 1:1 level that players do for tridents etc.
The idea is not without it's concerns. The magic numbers for auto-consuming and "selling to npcs" and such will need to be tweaked to game population so that it keeps miners and traders active but still behave meaningfully. The other thing that would need to be addressed are people or bots that would sit in the station and auto-purchase the locally produced items and store them in it's own inventory. One way to combat campers from cornering the market is by limiting purchases per time frame. This isn't to say that monopolies on items may not occur, but it would have to occur in the normal course of trading and not by automatable means.
I think VO is ready for some economic improvement and some supply and demand imposed on certain choice items as it will allow miners and traders to be legitimate roles in the game and a force on their own worth pursuing to new players.
For the initial step, this is limited to commodities, not weapons or ships, but since commodities rely on missions to make use of, to get large participation, certain locally produced weapons would need to be included eventually.
Other ores traded to the station remain in the station until sold. The sell rate can be explained as NPC traders buying the ore but in reality it doesn't need to be tied 1:1 to actual npc docking and leaving etc. It just needs to be some number dependent on the value of the ore. The station naturally limits what it purchases from miners by reducing the price it's willing to pay as the station reaches a set maximum stock it wants to keep for any given ore or item. In other words, stations are no longer limitless pits to sell your ore to or guns etc. They will stop buying after a stock limit is reached.
The consumable ores behave the same way but attract a higher price because they're something the station actually uses to create it's goods. Locally produced goods are thus limited to supply of these ores and the price fluctuates depending on current availability and production rate of the past 24 hours as a way of forecasting future availability.
That math isn't complicated or hard. It's just a matter of getting players used to having to supply stations with certain raw materials to get locally produced goods. Basically, bringing the manufacturing world down to the ground level of the economy but simplifying it out, since the station is pseudo-manufacturing goods not doing it on a 1:1 level that players do for tridents etc.
The idea is not without it's concerns. The magic numbers for auto-consuming and "selling to npcs" and such will need to be tweaked to game population so that it keeps miners and traders active but still behave meaningfully. The other thing that would need to be addressed are people or bots that would sit in the station and auto-purchase the locally produced items and store them in it's own inventory. One way to combat campers from cornering the market is by limiting purchases per time frame. This isn't to say that monopolies on items may not occur, but it would have to occur in the normal course of trading and not by automatable means.
I think VO is ready for some economic improvement and some supply and demand imposed on certain choice items as it will allow miners and traders to be legitimate roles in the game and a force on their own worth pursuing to new players.
A dynamic economy where all aspects of the game affect each other to a certain degree has been requested multilple times. There is no argument that the current state of trade and the economy need work. The first step of an economic redux occured several years ago in the form of rapidly declining profit margins on widgets.
Unfortunately, the much needed economic redesign has been caught up ever sense in what we occasionally hear about as 'parallel development' which seems to have gone off on multiple tangents.
The idea that the op should only affect commodities at first does not seem to understand that commodities are a joke. Commodities only affect players at two stages of their game play currently. 1) When building up faction standing and 2) building a trident. To require delivery of certain items or ores would only serve to make those grinds less enjoyable.
The sad fact is that there are better and more enjoyable ways to make credits in the game than by trade currently. And if one is going to trade, one is better off trading the few price stable weapons, or farming others that offer huge profits but quick declines over time- which is still best done in the same system.
While I'm all for a dynamic economy where all aspects of the game are interwoven ,I don't see thishappening even in 2.0.
The way I see it is that the escort system is there to supply stations with most or all of the resources that they need. Destroying enough escorts to a given faction should result in a reduction in that faction or stations capacity. This could be made up by players delivering items to that faction or station- or it could be improved at another faction / station by taking them the liberated goods.
I would like to see player manufacturing implemented in a way that allows players to actually make the best profits in the game by doing so with a reasonable amount of work. Right now, there is precious little incentive towards manufacture. Most meaningful manufactured items are set up to deter players.
Unfortunately, the much needed economic redesign has been caught up ever sense in what we occasionally hear about as 'parallel development' which seems to have gone off on multiple tangents.
The idea that the op should only affect commodities at first does not seem to understand that commodities are a joke. Commodities only affect players at two stages of their game play currently. 1) When building up faction standing and 2) building a trident. To require delivery of certain items or ores would only serve to make those grinds less enjoyable.
The sad fact is that there are better and more enjoyable ways to make credits in the game than by trade currently. And if one is going to trade, one is better off trading the few price stable weapons, or farming others that offer huge profits but quick declines over time- which is still best done in the same system.
While I'm all for a dynamic economy where all aspects of the game are interwoven ,I don't see thishappening even in 2.0.
The way I see it is that the escort system is there to supply stations with most or all of the resources that they need. Destroying enough escorts to a given faction should result in a reduction in that faction or stations capacity. This could be made up by players delivering items to that faction or station- or it could be improved at another faction / station by taking them the liberated goods.
I would like to see player manufacturing implemented in a way that allows players to actually make the best profits in the game by doing so with a reasonable amount of work. Right now, there is precious little incentive towards manufacture. Most meaningful manufactured items are set up to deter players.