ID-Based Cargo Discounts

[Sprolf]

Seeing the ALG thread brought to mind a discussion I had a Skype a while ago.
Well, I'm also in the revolutionary posting mood today, so...

Anyways. Skype.
I came up with an interesting idea in that conversation.

There's all sorts of "throwaway" commodities out there that no one ever ships.
Food, Water, Oxygen, (wait, I'm seeing a problem here) scrap metal, basic alloy, hull panels, et cetera.
There's more, I'm just giving a general idea here.

Some factions have to ships these things (and indeed, most do) to stay in RP.
But they don't really make a lot of money, do they?
To actually make a profit with a non-freelance trader, one has to ship goods one isn't really supposed to ship, or one has to ship low-paying goods.

In some cases this doesn't apply.

But many factions suffer from this.



My idea is quite simple enough.

Would it be possible for certain IDs to make certain cargoes take up less space, in the same way that it affects the amount you can mine? (Maybe this is possible with ships, too... that could solve the liner problem with human cargo and nonhuman cargo. Give them 500 space and make people take up .25 space on a liner or something.)

If so, we could make each ID able to ship more of a substance that relates to its RP, and thus give it a profitable traderoute.

Zoners could get food, water, and oxygen space discounts.
ALG could get *major* scrap and toxic waste, and so on.
PFI could get large space discounts on terraforming gasses and maybe smaller ones on silver or organisms.
Cryer could get pharmaceutical discounts.
IMG could get mining machinery space discounts.
OSC could get passenger discounts!
Ageira could get a small Gate/Lane Parts space discount.
Mollies could get some gold space reductions!!!
Et cetera.

Some commodities like food, water, and oxygen might just get a general discount, for everyone.


This would take a lot of work and balancing, yes.
Maybe even another overhaul of the system.
But, in the long run... it would open up the chance for in-RP traderoutes to be as profitable as Counterfeit Software or Nukes and Tobacco.

It would eliminate the "highest paying item" route and give a chance for paying routes that make sense.
No longer would one route reign supreme.
No longer would we have to have ridiculously weird routes to make money.

Finally, Ventana could make some good cash shipping toxic waste.
Junkers could make money on mining scrap!

It would give each faction a unique chance to make money, in RP.


Tell me what you think.
I hope this is possible, at least.

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