Space trade

theseer · Post by **theseer** » Sat Oct 15, 2005 11:35 am

Anything that cuts down the initial "dull" period of hours before making a decent enough profit for infimp's and what not is good, cause that period is evil.

theseer · Post by **theseer** » Sat Oct 15, 2005 11:35 am

Anything that cuts down the initial "dull" period of hours before making a decent enough profit for infimp's and what not is good, cause that period is evil.

Damon · Post by **Damon** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 5:49 am

First off, let me say that I'm a newb and all that. So take my words with whatever grains of salt you are used to when reading something written by said newb.

I have to say that I am really enjoying this game. I've been looking for something like this for a long, long time and I found some that were similar but this is as close to "the game I'd write if I could" game as I've found. So, kudos to those in design, development, coding, and staffing. Wonderful.

I'm heavily involved with the trade aspect of the game. I haven't really gotten into exploring planets and such. Someday I might, but right now it's been a blast figuring things out. Some people spoke earlier that the only people commenting were the three top traders, so I'd thought I'd put in my small little voice in with the group in giving some ideas and suggestions.

Before I get into any of that, I have to admit I am not a coder or scripter or programmer. If any of these things are impossible or just aren't in the scope of the game, my apologies. Also, I've only scratched the surface of what the game holds. If any of these following ideas are in the game but further along, pat my head, call me a silly newb, and send me on my way. Ahem.

- I love the idea of the pirates vs. traders. I was actually attacked on one of my very first cargo runs. Quite the thrill, but I don't see any kind of improvement to basic cargo ships (or any ships for that matter) when it comes to shields or hull strengthening. It'd be more interesting if the pirates didn't automatically know the specs of a cargo ship when they come swooping in at you.

- When the pirates vs. traders starts to heat up, I think it'd be rather interesting to have more space "junk" within the star systems. I'm meaning asteroids, planetoids, comets, etc. Nothing that could really be used in the game per se, but places for pirates to "hide" behind or things the traders have to navigate around so the pirates don't "mine" the straight lines between planets.

- Specific trade runs. Perhaps in the Lounges of the space stations, one has a chance to run into a merchant or smuggler that requests a 10 ton cargo be taken from point A to point B. If the run is completed, a profit is made, but these cargos could be something the pirates are more interested in? If they succeed in obtaining the special cargo, they receive some special bonus?

- This might seem like a small thing, but I think it might add to the gameplay and roleplay aspect. Allow the player to "name" their ship. The ship's name would appear instead of the player's name in the space background.

If it's welcomed, when I come up with other thoughts (however insane or impossible) I will post them.

Sonro · Post by **Sonro** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 7:38 am

Damon wrote:First off, let me say that I'm a newb and all that. So take my words with whatever grains of salt you are used to when reading something written by said newb.

welcome new trader! good to see other newb's are enjoying this aspect of the game (being relatively new myself). stick at it

Damon wrote: So, kudos to those in design, development, coding, and staffing. Wonderful.

I quite agree - the team do a fantastic job despite all the crud they get from players occasionally.

Damon wrote: Some people spoke earlier that the only people commenting were the three top traders, so I'd thought I'd put in my small little voice in with the group in giving some ideas and suggestions.

er, yeah, that was me. Was in response to one particular question by Mit and seeming lack of interest by other players. Not intended to put newb's off posting, just an observation at the time.

I like your ideas Damon,have been hoping that some of the things you have suggested are in the pipeline when piracy takes off - especially ship defence/offence capabilities.

As for your other ideas, I dunno what's planned, or how difficult they would be to code (not being in any way techie minded), but they look reasonable suggestions to me. keep posting other ideas when they crop up - thats what we all do when we're not whinging or comparing prices. no doubt, if they're good suggestions and codeable, they'll be included at somepoint. if htey're bad ideas, or too hard to code, the monkeys behind this game will roll their eyes, have a whisky and come up with something else.

Final thought - if you see Sonro pottering about in space and need any help/tips, feel free to say hi - I'm always happy to give a little assistance to newb's finding their spacefeet.

theseer · Post by **theseer** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 8:23 am

Uh ohes.. the tdl just hit the circle around the world twice mark

Chezzie · Post by **Chezzie** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 2:42 pm

Uh ohes.. the tdl just hit the circle around the world twice mark

What does this mean?

Post by **Magicfinger** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 4:07 pm

i think hes trying to say that the to do list is long enough to go round the world twice

Post by **Mit** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 10:32 am

thanks for the nice words, damon :] - Glad we're hitting the mark. All excellent suggestions too - i particularly like the 'naming your ship' idea.. the sorta thing i'd never normally think of but which i agree would add that lil extra special bit of character.

but I don't see any kind of improvement to basic cargo ships (or any ships for that matter) when it comes to shields or hull strengthening.

There is differences between the ships in terms of their armour, but none of it is really particularly balanced or set up correctly atm - certainly does need extending and refinining. The intention is also to have extra shield & defense items etc that can be used only on certain ships.

It'd be more interesting if the pirates didn't automatically know the specs of a cargo ship when they come swooping in at you.

yeh, the items will help that. I've also got some stuff in the pipeline that allow people to buy different levels of scanners and 'anti-scanner' systems, that'll allow you to hide or find info about what stuff ppl are carrying and what systems are installed.

I'm meaning asteroids, planetoids, comets,

Yup , agree there too.. Asteroids certainly high on the list... not only to hide behind but also as a method for allowing 'mining'.. which'd provide a possible extra, reliable (if small) income for players starting up. That should be coming soon.

Specific trade runs.

Another good un

. Hadnt made any definite plans for that so far, but something i definitely want to add in, and i like that method of making it a target for pirates. On my list.

I hope you continue enjoying the game, but its probably worth a warning or two - as seer has highlighted, our To-do-list is rather huge, and we are but a tiny group of part-time developers.. so it might be a while before all the space stuff grows to the point where it really matches the expectations. Hopefully by december we'll have a version that does all the basics pretty much right and then more will get added in the new year.

Damon · Post by **Damon** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 1:33 pm

Glad you like the ideas and if I come up with anything else, I'll post them. I can understand the To Do List is extensive. Gives me time to build up enough credits to buy all the things I'm going to need.

Another thing I've noticed is that after using the stardrive, I seem to come into near the same spot of a system each time. Is this based on actual trajectory of the route the ship takes in stardrive, a set "point" that is different for each player, or a set "point" for everyone?

If it's the same for everyone, you might have a problem with pirates mining those particular spots for traders coming through stardrive.

Damon · Post by **Damon** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 5:57 pm

Does (or will) reputation/prestige have any bearing on trading? Would having a higher prestige mean stations would sell goods at a lower price and buy at a higher one?

Or, possibly, would there be a "trader prestige", seperate from the regular prestige that is gained by doing certain trade runs (perhaps the specific runs I mentioned earlier) that would raise/lower prices as mentioned above?

Just some more random trading thoughts from the newbie trader.

Post by **Mit** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 7:54 pm

Prestige, at the moment, is just an indication of how well you've done on the worlds - and currently doesnt have any effect on the game. It is the intention to have 'special items' available to those with higher prestige.
Perfectly possible for an extra 'score' factor to be added that reflects trading ability, though for now i think just keeping it simply prestige and gal creds is probably best - at least until all that stuff is fully refined and balanced.

Sonro · Post by **Sonro** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 8:28 am

Mit - what happened to your idea of ranking traders by ship type? or is that still in the pipeline for a later release?

Post by **Mit** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 10:05 am

the data is exported to the website now, just needs a bit of php coding done to sort it out. will have a look today

(Edit - Done now)

morbydvisns · Post by **morbydvisns** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 2:03 pm

nice

Sonro · Post by **Sonro** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 2:05 pm

FUNKY

morbydvisns · Post by **morbydvisns** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 2:16 pm

ouch... doesnt work ingame... just displays lines of code

theseer · Post by **theseer** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 9:24 pm

that is partially fixed, and will properly fix itself within the next hour

Damon · Post by **Damon** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 1:05 am

While chatting with Chezzie and Sonro in game, I heard about the "reset" that is coming in December... or maybe earlier. Checked out this thread here for mention of it and was wondering what this reset was actually going to clear. I figured it would clear credits and such, but would our ships and ship improvements bite the dust as well?

Also, the suggestion of a competition... I like the idea (now that I'm in the top 5

) but agree that a free hosted planet might deter some people that aren't really interested in coding planets (like myself). Since I read else-post that "buying" a planet would be a monthly fee and naming a star would come from one time $10 donations, I'd suggest the naming of a star as a prize for any competition. Just my thoughts.

zaroba · Post by **zaroba** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 2:20 am

yes, a reset typically means that everything would be...well...reset.

ships, money, items, everything.
it'd be as if starting for the first time again.

Damon · Post by **Damon** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 2:09 pm

Then I guess I'll see you guys in December then, after the reset. Take care.