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Post by johndramey on Feb 17, 2017 0:54:14 GMT -5
fallen and grävling, thanks! For some reason we've gotten a spike in the amount of documents were translating and a huge dive in the quality of said documents. It's causing me a huge headache. This is something that I'm starting to notice and I'm wondering if it is actually true or if I'm just getting confirmation bias, but is water-fuel generally cheaper at refineries and orbital habitats? That kind of makes sense, since wf could be easily produced by a refinery and actually porting it to your ship would be way easier at an orbital. I've been routinely finding $3-7/WF prices at those two, whereas even an economy 10 industrial/high-tech/mining/etc. colony will generally give me around $10/WF
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Post by johndramey on Feb 16, 2017 21:25:55 GMT -5
Moving on to another ship design question, what exactly does upgraded your engine do? I upgraded my mass 5000 engine to a mass 6000 engine thinking that it would a) increase fuel efficiency (running the bigger engine at less capacity) and b) increase the amount of mass my ship can use.
It doesn't appear to have done either.
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Post by johndramey on Feb 16, 2017 21:03:36 GMT -5
fallen, nice! Glad you like it. I think it would be fun to work with more slang in the ST universe. We have lots of stuff where you guys have already done as much (Spice, vudka, etc.), so why not do a little more?
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Post by johndramey on Feb 16, 2017 20:30:48 GMT -5
You could have a little fun with it and name them something not traditionally nautical. After all, this is an entirely different universe and culture.
How about:
Jockey - Like a horse jockey, they ride and control the ship, but don't actually do any of the nuts and bolts stuff Spacer - We already have Graver for planet-folk, so why not just give them the general term for a person who lives in space?
Alternatively, current nautical terms could be fun:
Deck Ape - used in the navy today, basically dudes who work above decks. Dangerous work, so they are very much "work hard, play hard" types Snipe - used in the navy, basically below-decks types. Think of 'em as engineers. Rating - The navy doesn't actually have ranks, they have ratings. As far as I know, this is commonly used to refer to masses of men/women on a ship.
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Post by johndramey on Feb 16, 2017 19:27:57 GMT -5
tenbsmith, I actually already wrote up a section on legality, so check that out and let me know if you have any questions about it. Trade permits is on the way, I've just had an absolutely miserable week at work and haven't really had the time or energy to write much. I'll get on updating this as soon as I recharge a bit.
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Post by johndramey on Feb 15, 2017 3:41:54 GMT -5
I've definitely noticed that, barring rumors, worlds have pretty the same demand and supply for items. Having some random fluctuations in that would be interesting, but too much would run the risk of crapping out on the player.
Would "break up the table" have something to do with inter-faction trading? I could see that being a huge thing. Have a trade war between factions considerably lower the prices that the factions pay for each other's goods, while a trade alliance does the opposite?
Would it be possible to link prices to trade bans? So if, say, I'm trading Javat goods to Thulun, Thulun is an ally of Cadar, and Cadar has a trade ban on Javatian goods, Thulun only offers to buy goods at ~66% price? Or if, I'm a Javatian merchant trying to buy goods from Rychart while there is a trade war going on between Rychart and Javat, they will a) not sell to me or b) sell at 150% the price?
These systems would all make the quadrant's economy much more variable, haha.
For the record, I'm having an absolute blast playing as a merchant in ST2. I see it as both a)easier to manage and b)more nuanced than ST's economy was, but maybe I'm in the minority?
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Post by johndramey on Feb 15, 2017 1:34:05 GMT -5
So will the system be such that, when we get our allotment of ship buying money during template creation, we can take an off-the-shelf ship for $X or take a hull for $Y and customize with the left overs?
Either way, I'm very excited for the ship designing aspect. I think it's the second-most-exciting feature for me. First is most definitely smuggling, by the way.
Curious about the base design trade offs, then. Will there be a reason to select ships that don't have the most HP/deflection in their class? Will less HP/deflection/etc. translate to a faster ship or a ship with more components? I guess I could see armor plating taking up space that could otherwise be set aside for an extra compartment.
Similarly, how does deflection compare to the armor and shield rating of our ship? Exactly what does the armor and shield rating do?
So many questions about ship design, so excuse me for spewing a bunch out here.
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Post by johndramey on Feb 15, 2017 0:15:43 GMT -5
That's basically my wild west settlement! My settlement is named "Scottsbluff," though.
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Post by johndramey on Feb 14, 2017 22:19:13 GMT -5
To be honest, I have way too much fun thinking up goofy backstories on why X product is illegal on Y world. Conversely, making up backstories on why X product is legal on Y world.
Like I said, my 0 law planet is totally the wild west. The Javatian mob took over and bribed everyone in power, then once they got what they wanted... BAM! Everyone in a position of power was executed. Now, the government is just a puppet for the Javatian mob.
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Post by johndramey on Feb 14, 2017 22:05:29 GMT -5
Certain basic staples, especially if they are staples in fostering the local economy should either be exempted or regulated in some other manner than simply declairing them illegal. Go to a Farming Zone and worst they say you need a certain level faction trade permit to sell Fertiliser and Pesticides...they have to get those things in if they want to continue having stuff to export, they are vital to the economy. Similar vein of reasoning for raw ores going to Refinery zones or basic processed resources going to industrial Zones. Now Population Zones that have no real export can declair anything illegal to trade, no problem, they are strictly consumer economies and if they want everyone wearing local manufactored grass skirts and banana leaves for clothes that's legitimate. I'd respectfully disagree. Like I said, governments do all kinds of wonky things all the time. While you and I think that pesticides and the like are necessary for the economy to function, maybe they aren't (local flora/fauna react poorly? No GMO folks own the senate? No local pests so no need?). It's the same argument for medicines, vudka, luxury rations, or personal weapons. It's not a huge deal regardless, as you can (almost always) find another planet to sell them at. I'd imagine once the smuggling system gets put into place, you'll also have the option of getting on the black market and offloading those goods.
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Post by johndramey on Feb 14, 2017 21:49:53 GMT -5
Exactly. I personally find those planets to be fun little gems. In my current game I have a high population/economy/starport Javat population planet with a prince on it that I basically love. Why? It has 0 law! I picture it as the wild west of Clan Javat. I finish every mission by bringing in a huge load of refined spice. Before I found this planet, my hard merchant was scraping an existence with basically no surplus in cash. Now, sitting on almost $100k of filthy drug money.
Those low/high law planets are kind of like chunks of spice in a soup. Sometimes you get a good spice (like a hot pepper, yum!), sometimes you get a bad spice (hunk of salt, ewwww!), but you always remember them!
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Post by johndramey on Feb 14, 2017 21:40:28 GMT -5
I didn't mean to come off as not agreeing with you, I agree with the choice. It is totally possible that a government would ban that kind of stuff even though it makes no sense to us. Hawaii recently passed legislation making GMO papayas illegal in the islands even though over 90% of the papayas grown in Hawaii are GMO and a vast, vast majority of farmers were outspokenly opposed to the legislation. Governments do weird stuff all the time.
Is it a huge pain in the ass for me as a trader? Sure, but them's the breaks man.
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Post by johndramey on Feb 14, 2017 21:28:36 GMT -5
Sounds interesting!
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Post by johndramey on Feb 14, 2017 21:06:15 GMT -5
Cory recently mentioned how he and fallen want to tier the crew amounts in ships to encourage the players to upgrade into bigger ships rather than just stack the same components on a ship, and that got me curious.
What are your general ideas behind designing the ships? With the current system, it seems like the player has nearly unlimited freedom in designing his or her ship. Sure, I've been using the frontier liner like a merchant vessel, but the only thing keeping me from kitting it out like a war ship is money.
So, what all goes into your base designs for the ships? Does it mostly come down to the number of small/medium/large slots?
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Post by johndramey on Feb 14, 2017 21:02:09 GMT -5
Yeah, that's caught me out a few times. One of the reasons why I stuck a legality explanation in my trading thread, haha.
I picture it like how Sudafed is treated in Hawaii. Sure, Sudafed is a good anti-histamine that helps people, but because it can be used to make meth it is treated like a controlled substance.
Fertilizer and Pesticides are probably similar.
That planet didn't want you dumping a huge amount of AnFo onto the market because, well by golly that's a big 'old bomb. Maybe they had some issues with eco-terrorism a while back?
Similarly, with the recent election of the green party, the government wants to "go organic." Pesticides aren't natural, maaaaaaaaaan.
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