Ok so, as of right now there is a big movement going on with people and admins trying to figure out how to get trading factions more active. Of course there always has been debates and such regarding limiting capships.
Now... what if traders had more to do with Capships then to simply grind for the cash?
Firstly, I propose the price of capships be reduced. (By 100 to 200 million for a battleship as an example)
Secondly, we change how one can purchase a capship. As it is right now, it is too easy to get one. Guard IDs have done nothing.
To get a capship, one will have to collect the parts and materials needed to construct it before they can get it. By this I mean, there will be a "shopping list" of commodity items that need to be brought to the shipyard constructing the ship.
This is where the the reduced price and trading factions come into play. The list would likely be huge for the larger ships, so one would want to likely contract out the job to traders.
Example:
Bill wants to buy a Liberty Dreadnought, so he begins to prepare.
First thing he sees is that he needs to bring 50,000 hull panels to Norfolk Shipyard. He doesn't have the time to do this, so he seeks out a trading faction, DSE and Universal both bid on the contract, but DSE wins and Bill pays them 150 million to haul all of these hull panels (and screenshot the evidence!)
Now that Bill has supplied the needed supplies, he can freely purchase his Dreadnought (at the reduced price to compensate for paying DSE)
Now of course, the "shopping" list would be more comprehensive and could be made more realistic, but that can come later.
Benefits?
Firstly we give Trading factions something to do. They get paid to do something, instead of mindless trading for no real reason. They also get cash from the contract + what they make selling the goods.
Second, any capships created, will require some RP to start up.
Third, pirates/rivals can intercept such shipments and delay the construction of enemy capships
Forth, Escorts, Mercs, Freelancers can get jobs protecting these important shipments.
As for a downside, really there is none besides having to deal with more players before you get your ship. There would also need to be some sort of system set up like SRPs or a FLhook command to control this.
Thoughts? Opinions?
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