The idea is mostly that the shipping companies ship everything (excepting contraband) while the mining factions will mostly ship ore, mining machinery ,supplies for their bases and the stuff they manufacture from what they mine , while the shipping companies have less restrictions inRP and will mostly choose what they carry by what makes the most profit.
The problem that I've seen, as Osama has touched on, is that mining factions (IMG especially, although I'm not really trying to pick on them, but they serve as the best example) seem to have too broad of access to everything so as to make shipping companies essentially useless outside of someone who deliberately chooses to RP with them.
Let me break down how I imagine this should work in terms of faction balance:
-Mining companies should benefit MAINLY from mining bonuses.
-Militaries should benefit MAINLY from high tech and capship access.
-Quasi-lawfuls should benefit MAINLY from having a broad ZOI and fairly neutral diplomacy (as well as ability to commit unlawful acts)
-Shipping companies should benefit MAINLY from having access to the 5kers, as their primary purpose is to maximize moving cargo. (An alternative solution would be to create an ID based bonus on buying/selling of certain commodities).
The exemption to this would be corporations like Samura and Kishiro, which are RP developed as integrated mining and shipping companies.
Without this added "perk", there really doesn't seem like there's much draw to being in a shipping company at all that you couldn't be more easily obtained in a mining faction.
Minning Companies have the ability to mine & transport too, but I suppose RP wise, they are more into mining and are the ones capable of hauling ores when needed and necessary equipments related to the ores.
While RP wise, Shipping companies deal with contracts of supplying any other base and with variety of commodities to choose.
If at all you are expecting more reality than it is now, then we should probably never have started playing this game, as we still havent even explored all the planets of sol.
There are more things in Disco that are absurd than a mining company hauling themselves. Chuck it and play instead, you RP elitist.
@ Singularity - the problem is that I've seen groups go to factions like IMG for base supplying because IMG can muster a crap ton of members in a convoy (many of which I would assume are drawn to play in the faction because of their broad access to both transports, caps, fairly broad ZOI, AND fairly neutral diplomacy). Full disclosure: I even used them to help build/upgrade my own Shipping Company base!
And I suppose I would have less problem with this if it were the odd convoy of smaller transports taking goods from ore fields to storage depots, but that's not the case. You see big convoys of Shires and Collossus (sp?) going all over Sirius. Maybe I'm biased, but that just seems wrong. I'd say let the miners mine, and the shippers ship.
Otherwise, how could any shipping company really be expected to compete with that, either inRP or ooRP?
@ Moriarity - that's just a cop out to actually having a discussion. And it isn't so much about reality as faction/ID balancing.
Sure, maybe we could eliminate the problem altogether by making a 5k mining ship and open it up for Freelancers to use.....then we can eliminate mining and shipping companies in one fell swoop.
IMG| , well, they are in Gaul infested areas, and they arent exactly welcomed in the omegas by Kruger and Daumann, so where do you expect them to get supplies?
and, they also have a contract with Sirius Robotics, so its perfectly fine hauling any hardware/supplies.
DSE
they have Agiera contract to maintain tradelanes, Jumpgates. they have mining contracts, building contracts etc
(04-09-2014, 02:58 PM)Highland Laddie Wrote: The exemption to this would be corporations like Samura and Kishiro, which are RP developed as integrated mining and shipping companies.
They all are more or less. The problem is that in Disco's story and lore, they've developed to a point where they are indeed hybrid shipping and mining companies.
so that begs the ultimate question: what can any shipping company offer, either in game or in RP, that couldn't be offered even better from an integrated mining company? why even have shipping companies at all (aside from those masochists who actually enjoys supplying PoBs all day long) ?