First off, forgive me if this has been suggested before. I've been out of the loop for a loooooong time.
I've been thinking for awhile about what could really set this game apart, make it a really unique experience. Then it hit me: an alliance-based stock exchange.
Now, I realize this is probably a hard thing to visualize, so I'll try to explain it as best as I can. In real life and most fictional worlds, economics play a large role. I realize there is a bustling trade scene, and that one can make trades between individuals. However, I am proposing a way to make economic blocs as well as military ones in the shape of alliances. Basically, there would be some sort of menu in-game that would track the various 'share prices' of alliances and allow them to trade resources for shares in an alliance. Each 'share' would represent a fraction of a percent of an economic ownership in an alliance's GDP (One share equals .1% ownership or some arbitrary fraction). GDP would be defined as the total amount of resources controlled in liquid assets (resources) at the end of a week. When you buy a share with res, it is noted that you have such and ownership of the alliance's GDP, and under the menu one could buy and sell these shares for res, and perhaps rubies. The market could be updated daily, weekly, whenever. The crux of this is, of course, that if someone sells their share back, they must be given whatever fraction of GDP the owned at that time, in res.
Of course, this idea will need some work. I admit the definition of GDP may need to change, soas to be more accommodating to playstyles. This new addition could also simulate economic warfare, with two alliances trying to buy each other out as well as destroying each other. Larger empires could invest in smaller islands, and players focused on trade could build fortunes as well as military might.
Thoughts?
ZE Stock Exchange?
#1"Steal from one and you are a thief. Steal from all and you are the government"