A possible fix to Zorg economics
Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 5:31 pm
I do apologize about the title as it sounds like I am running in politics but I find it easiest if one thinks in an economical mindset for my purposes here. Over my time playing I find that the game is less and less enjoyable to play the more time a server runs, this can be due to the fact that few continue on with the game from the start but those who do rise to be "supers" (the name is just for reference and isn't meant to be condescending). So say a player joins they build and build then they build a fleet, and get raided or crashed (it always happens soon enough) usually by a super. Therefor, almost all economic flow is pouring in to the super's control, much like a monopoly, and they make a larger and larger fleet that will soon be crashed by another super (usually). Now this leave those lessers in a "gyre" of sorts. It's just a cycle that is hard to break out of, and not that may people are that dedicated. So the above leaves super receiving most of the growth in the game... as the millions of resources being poured into the game by inactives and actives alike give it a exponential growth economic to the game. So the fix would be to shift the focus of growth not on those supers but rather those newer players.
Here begins my proposal, but I would like to mention it will not be easy add-in to the game it would be more focused on a new sever *Cough*. Adding a building that's function is to act as a market place and it would sell ships. Now there's a catch, anyone can produce ships but they may not use them.** They can be produced at 60% the real cost, and sold at a regular price. Now for the buyers this would be the same as making them but what if those ships produced would have a advantage of say... 75 or 50 percent of the original deuterium consumption. Simple, no?
Now in hopes that the supers will see that production is instant and deuterium consumption is, say, 75%... they buy giving those lowers profit to make more ships or to build faster. Please note that this is a crude thought of this building and idea and will need to be evolved but it would hopefully give the game more depth and keep the resources flowing to all so please don't cast it away.
** To the Devs. I know this would be a daunting task, seemingly endless coding and bugs but here's what I was thinking. Essentially the lowers would produce a totally different ship (as far as coding goes) but that has all of the base stats of the regular ship (a doppelganger) except for the deuterium consumption (or what ever else is desired). Ship number will be calculated by adding ship "215" (215 = A regular battlecruiser) + "218" (230 = A modified battlecruiser) then that is the value that players see under "Battlecruisers". When sending fleets out, the 230 (Or any Modified ship) get priority over the regulars and set first with the regulars filling what the Modified couldn't. As for the not being able to use ships you produced but when sold to someone else they can use them... well my amateur skills draw a blank but I am sure you could figure it out.
Here begins my proposal, but I would like to mention it will not be easy add-in to the game it would be more focused on a new sever *Cough*. Adding a building that's function is to act as a market place and it would sell ships. Now there's a catch, anyone can produce ships but they may not use them.** They can be produced at 60% the real cost, and sold at a regular price. Now for the buyers this would be the same as making them but what if those ships produced would have a advantage of say... 75 or 50 percent of the original deuterium consumption. Simple, no?
Now in hopes that the supers will see that production is instant and deuterium consumption is, say, 75%... they buy giving those lowers profit to make more ships or to build faster. Please note that this is a crude thought of this building and idea and will need to be evolved but it would hopefully give the game more depth and keep the resources flowing to all so please don't cast it away.
** To the Devs. I know this would be a daunting task, seemingly endless coding and bugs but here's what I was thinking. Essentially the lowers would produce a totally different ship (as far as coding goes) but that has all of the base stats of the regular ship (a doppelganger) except for the deuterium consumption (or what ever else is desired). Ship number will be calculated by adding ship "215" (215 = A regular battlecruiser) + "218" (230 = A modified battlecruiser) then that is the value that players see under "Battlecruisers". When sending fleets out, the 230 (Or any Modified ship) get priority over the regulars and set first with the regulars filling what the Modified couldn't. As for the not being able to use ships you produced but when sold to someone else they can use them... well my amateur skills draw a blank but I am sure you could figure it out.