A proposal to buff the activity of OSC - the VVIP

[Coin]

I read on the forums that there is a new OSC faction in the pipeline - a faction that has traditionally suffered from low activity and high turnover.

In order to boost their activity, I propose a special cargo - one that takes up 90% of a lux liner cargo hold*, and is not available to be bought or sold unless you have OSC id.

*the remainder of the space is for marines (security personnel) lux food, wine, cigars, and other 'misc. entertainments', like cardamine, or slaves.

This cargo represents the vacation of a travelling head of state or other plutocrat, as well as their entourage of masseurs, hairdressers, chefs, dog walkers, nannies, maids, butlers, etc etc. The cargo can be 'bought' on osc bases and capital planets, and sold on osc bases or other capital planets, but only if you are in possession of an osc id.

were a pirate to successfully entrap the liner in an ambuscade, he could (with a friendly pirate train nearby) 'kidnap' the entire entourage, and then arrange via in-game or forum rp the successful ransoming of the celebrity.

However, the commodity is perishable unless you have an osc id. In other words, you cannot keep your kidnap victim forever, as it wll slowly degrade until it disappears. I think a week should be a good number, giving the pirate some urgency in arranging a successful handover.

Cons- a few commodities need to be made and distributed - one for each of the osc bases, and then one for each of the houses. not sure if gallia should join in on the party, cos don't know if osc can go there without... repercussions.

cons - these commodities (8?) leads to 7x7 routes to be balanced for profit.

pros - the commodities are identical in nature, apart from the sell prices.
pros - leads to a profitable commodity for OSC
pros - leads to potential tasty and fresh RP for them
Pros - gives their faction a unique identifier, and boosts their morale by feeling wanted.

What say you? What have I missed out? I can't see an exploit on this one.

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A Day in the Life of an NPC | Coin | The Journal of Caius Oakley | Build Your Dream Boat

[Pancakes]

This is something that basically any specialized faction needs IMO.

OSC are not the sole unique faction - there's also Synth foods for example. They should have some special perks with Synth paste, and then people will pick the faction they wish to fly based on the RP they like (thus the commodity of their choice as a special one).

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BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD

[Coin]

i think it's easier to code a supercommodity rather than trying to give id-based price changes, unless the delivery of a factionalised commodity can be made into a mission, so you get the regular price of the cargo as well as a buff for being part of the faction.

however, that would require a mission plugin, and the word on the street is marginal concerning new plug-ins.

however, any lag created by supercommodity plugin would only occur at the time of purchase and selling, when the plugin checks the id&ship (to prevent the commodity being powertraded by barges), as opposed to the pobs/anticheat/etc plugins, which run all the time.

an update:

the VVIPs can be perishable all the time, no need for the perishability to start when/if a pirate gets his grubby little paws on them.

this means that any lag created will be at the purchase (need liner, and OSC id) and at the sell point (need liner and osc id).


I also forgot to mention pricing. I think a profit of 17-20m would be in the right ball-park. its enough to turn a profit, but less than mining makes.

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A Day in the Life of an NPC | Coin | The Journal of Caius Oakley | Build Your Dream Boat

[Apollon]

I like the idea, looks solid and interesting for me, it would surely buff the activity and make OSC more special.

But i agree with Pancakes, there's more than OSC that needs perks like Synth food, and Cryer.

[Curios]

OCS generally suffers because of the prices for Liners - why to bother with all the people transportation if you can just toss cargo around on cheaper ships for bigger profits. That's, basically, about it. OCS's RP is to run human cargo but Liners are basically just fat, armored transports - so they are used by other trading ID'ed shippers as regular cargo transports, just with more armor and guns. Nerf liners down, reduce their costs - make them as powerful as regular 4k'er with regular pricing for the ship - this must open up OCS a bit. Same goes for Yacht, etc. Those ships are overpriced. And nothing can stop one from tossing human cargo around inside of 5k'er cargo pods with any other ID.

As Churchill was saying: Never stand up when you can sit down. And never sit down when you can lie down.

To sum it up - the entree costs into OCS business are incredibly high w\o any visible differences and profits from any regular trading factions.

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[Coin]

i agree that factions should get their own toys. This thread is discussing the one designed to give a reason to fly the liner, without having to make any changes to them. It wont be as profitable as mining, and it is expressly created with the idea of generating RP between pirates and their fences:

• OSC gets pirated, but the pirate cannot sell the commodity "we don't want justin beiber on freeport 7, thanks, god knows what would happen if we let him out and he starts singing". the pirate requires a fence - possibly a junker, or a smuggler.
  
  
• the smuggler either buys the commodity off the pirate (simplest), or offers a guarantee that he will return with the pirates share of the money.
  
  
• the smuggler now has to arrange a meeting with osc to deliver the 'cargo' - possibly in a place where the pirate can be lurking nearby to provide cover if the deal goes sour.
  
  
• the osc then has to decide - do we pay the ransom, or do we try to entrap the pirate (cos we guess he will be close by) and the smuggler in a sneaky-beaky operation.
  
  
• perhaps the police and military and bunters would like to get involved in these non-scripted events.
  
  

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A Day in the Life of an NPC | Coin | The Journal of Caius Oakley | Build Your Dream Boat

[Coin]

Le bumpage. Treewyrm is usu all over my ideas like an itchy rash from a ten-dollar-a-time lady-of-negotiable-affection <3

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A Day in the Life of an NPC | Coin | The Journal of Caius Oakley | Build Your Dream Boat

[Highland Laddie]

I'm generally a big fan of ID-specific supercommodities, but the big points to remember, in my opinion, are:

1. They MUST be expensive to purchase
2. They MUST have good/profitable sell points, both for lawfuls AND a few for unlawfuls (gives pirates a reason to go after them)
3. They MUST take up a lot of cargo space. Coin's idea that they take up a good portion of a liner's cargo is a good start. Maybe they take up 500 cargo units, ea? This would also force pirates to go after them with non-snubs in order to effectively loot them.

[.Gypsy.]

I think its a great idea. Profit should be more then 20 mil though.. double at least to be worth the time and effort.

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[Nautilus]

In my opinion, this idea is a kind of... "MUST" but not only for OS&C., as Pancakes said.

//So, yes! +1