Trading - Brainstorming Changes

[Eppy]

Step 1: Make Everything More Profitable by 20%

Stuff costs too much. Money takes too long to get. Make money easier to get.

Step 2: Make Transports (ESPECIALLY LINERS) Uber Again.

I am sick and tired of being meat for pirates. I deserve respect for taking the time to RP a trader, and for respect I need guns. I can buy a battlecruiser for what my liner costs. Money's Worth Plox?

Step 3: Spastic Economy. If you're going to make those godawful loop runs, you'd better make DOZENS more of them. If not, just deunify the loops into profitable one-way runs or back-and-forths and make it so that a trader can formulate his own route going in whatever general direction he wants and still make a profit. Eliminate choke points like California.

Step 4: MAKE HUMAN CARGO DIVERSE AND PROFITABLE. Xoria told me he was going to do this, and we get...two...runs? Excusemwa. We need passengers, VIPs, Vacationers, Scientists, and various other LEGAL human commodities specific to each house or parts of each house. We need people going out from legal space to Corsair or Outcast space, all kinds of funky routes going all over the place.

Step 5: Give House Traders more than one or two viable runs. See Step 3.

Step 6: Re-empower independent traders again. Gutting the independent trader ID of its cargo status just generated dozens of Zoner Guard transports and failed to generate significant numbers of Corporate traders. Let's give the Zoner Guard a break.

Step 7: FLHook bonuses for just about everything. Liners get a big-ass bonus for carrying human cargo, traders with certain IDs get bonuses for carrying cargo affiliated with their faction, etc, etc, list goes on. Little ships, Yacht size and under, get HUGE bonuses for smuggling, which is what they're supposed to be good for.

Eppy for President.

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Quick comment - we thought that Panzer was the Leader, Swift. -Agmen

Which Dreadnought was that?

One of your nine.

[Benjamin]

Step 6: Re-empower independent traders again.

Literally worst idea ever.

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Join Cryer Pharmaceuticals

[Eppy]

Literally worst idea ever.

Well, I don't know about you but Independent loltrader makes more sense than Zoner Guard loltrader. If it's going to be somebody's problem it ought to be all of our problem, not the Zoners' problem.

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Quick comment - we thought that Panzer was the Leader, Swift. -Agmen

Which Dreadnought was that?

One of your nine.

[Benjamin]

Well, I don't know about you but Independent loltrader makes more sense than Zoner Guard loltrader. If it's going to be somebody's problem it ought to be all of our problem, not the Zoners' problem.

For me, neither of them make sense. I'm not sure that a dislike of zoner tard traders is a good basis for promoting independent traders, who are essentially the most worthless and irritating part of the 198/200 that stops me having a good time.

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[Janus]

Only commenting on some of Eppy's points, others don't worry me so much

EDIT: Quotes fixed now.

Step 3: Spastic Economy. If you're going to make those godawful loop runs, you'd better make DOZENS more of them. If not, just deunify the loops into profitable one-way runs or back-and-forths and make it so that a trader can formulate his own route going in whatever general direction he wants and still make a profit. Eliminate choke points like California.

While I'm not terribly keen on straight back and forwards, I agree there should be more of them. At least then you can pick and chose which one-way you run. After all, how much Gold does Fort Bush need?

As to California, I have a 19 stop route that goes through Cali 6 times. Colorado isn't so bad, you can take two routes from the NY-Colo JG. Cali, as we all know, the pirates just camp the lane out to Mojave.

Step 4: MAKE HUMAN CARGO DIVERSE AND PROFITABLE. Xoria told me he was going to do this, and we get...two...runs? Excusemwa. We need passengers, VIPs, Vacationers, Scientists, and various other LEGAL human commodities specific to each house or parts of each house. We need people going out from legal space to Corsair or Outcast space, all kinds of funky routes going all over the place.

I've tried, and failed, to make a viable refugee route that only involves human cargo. I'd really like to be able to do this.

Step 5: Give House Traders more than one or two viable runs. See Step 3.

Not something I have a problem with as I play an indy and my routes go all over. It cuts profit that way but suits me better. My boy's BMM trader however, has one run. There were two, but he dropped one of them to avoid Cali. Sensibly, in my view.

Step 6: Re-empower independent traders again. Gutting the independent trader ID of its cargo status just generated dozens of Zoner Guard transports and failed to generate significant numbers of Corporate traders. Let's give the Zoner Guard a break.

/signed. I have a Liberty based trader so I know those corp IDs better. Largely they have their own unique benefits, giving the indy access to a 5k trans wouldn't hurt anything in my view.

[quote]Step 7: FLHook bonuses for just about everything. Liners get a big-ass bonus for carrying human cargo, traders with certain IDs get bonuses for carrying cargo affiliated with their faction, etc, etc, list goes on. Little ships, Yacht size and under, get HUGE bonuses for smuggling, which is what they're supposed to be good for. [/qupte]

You'd also get those Whales running Zoner routes.

[farmerman]

Well, I don't know about you but Independent loltrader makes more sense than Zoner Guard loltrader. If it's going to be somebody's problem it ought to be all of our problem, not the Zoners' problem.

How about we find a solution that deals with both groups of loltraders? At least if they are corporate loltraders, it helps the RP of multiple factions.

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Faction info links: Samura Heavy Industries : LWB : Watchers

[Sprolf]

I simply have one thing to say.

This.

I'm just going to bump this again, in reference to the corporate traders...

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[Quorg]

For me, neither of them make sense. I'm not sure that a dislike of zoner tard traders is a good basis for promoting independent traders, who are essentially the most worthless and irritating part of the 198/200 that stops me having a good time.

I take offense to that, sir.

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ATTENTION SMUGGLERS
The Midnight Express: A Slaver <strike>who doesn't completely realize what he's doing.</strike> (video)

Quorg, you're officially a moron.

...mongs like Quorg being like a malignant little cancer...

Way to be useless, Quorg.

[Benjamin]

And I take offense to your advanced train that runs cardi/slaves, so we're even?

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Join Cryer Pharmaceuticals

[Shazbot11]

This is a step into making the Freelancer economy a bit more complex:

Taking an earlier stated idea of having commodities run out after a while, what if we were to implement something of a "tiered" commodity system. 'Low-tier' Commodities are basic items that are easy/readily found and can be bought in bulk. 'Medium-tier' Commodities are those that go through a slightly more advanced manufacturing process, resulting in a better product. 'High-tier' Commodities are those that require several manufacturing processes, and tend to be the high-ticket/bulky items that fetch a high price per unit.

Now, taking this idea and combining it with the exhaustible commodity idea, we have 'commodity manufacturing'. By this I mean that each higher-tier commodity requires an influx of lower-tier commodities in order to be produced. For example:

-A station has just run out of Engine Components (High-tier). In order to manufacture more it needs High Temp Alloys (Mid-Tier) and Superconductors (Mid-tier)

-These Mid-tier commodities are manufactured in one or more other stations, and require Niobium and Boron (Low-tier, for the High Temp Alloy), and Niobium and Copper (low-tier, for the superconductors).

-These Low-tier commodities can be bought from stations close to mining fields, or mined directly. This in essence would act as the manufacturing base, which will eventually lead all the way back up to replacing the quantity of Engine Components.

Unfortunately, this is assuming that the majority of commodities can be made from raw materials such as elements. Commodities like fertilizers or H-Fuel would have to come from a station with an infinite supply, unless someone is willing to spend more time fleshing this out.

Addendum: There would also have to be some sort of 'final' trade location for the high-tier products. Engine Components could be sold off to shipyards, planets, or any other location that sells ships. Hmm, maybe make ship vendor inventories run out? *Duck and cover*

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Maybe some day, they'll see a hero is just a man who knows he's free.