Well, it has come up on another thread, but I feel like it deserves its own thread.
First of all, I think it would add a great option to the traders' gameplay. Smugglers and Miners can also profit from it, depending on how it would be implemented.
And of course pirates and overall activity profit from traders going around, especially if they have to fly many, many times between the same location for one good mission.
Some thoughts from a chat:
[24.10.2013 12:43:37] Syrus: It'd also be nice if they were to put in those trade missions as suggested. That'd make normal trading also more interesting; though I really think it shouldn't be announced server/system wide...
[24.10.2013 12:50:53] Syrus: Imagine it like saying "New trading mission now available: Rheinbeer from Planet New Berlin, New Berlin needed on Battleship Hood, Dublin; Additional pay per unit: 5'000 cr., Amount required: 4'000 units" (with varying pays and amounts required, this being a "low unit count, very high pay" example)
[24.10.2013 12:51:49] Syrus: on console chat...
[24.10.2013 12:54:49] Syrus: And you can also use the /trades or /showtrades command and it'd show like:
- Rheinbier from Planet New Berlin, New Berlin to Battleship Hood, Dublin; 5'000 credits per unit, 4'000 units still needed.
- Ship Hull Panels from Planet Kyushu, Kyushu to Freeport 4, Magellan; 2'500 credits per unit, 38'779 units still needed.
- Human Organs from yourself to a rich person; 0 credits per unit, 1 unit still needed.
[24.10.2013 12:55:31] Syrus: You could even randomize that I guess...mh...
[24.10.2013 13:01:58 | Edited 13:04:20] Syrus: Pick random freight (with some exceptions)
-> create a route between one of the sell points and a buy point (can't lie in the same system)
-> give a max bonus of 50-100% (whatever is deemed good) of the sell price
-> add an amount between 20'000 and 200'000 or something
But there'd also be "special" manually added missions, which's factors would not be limited. For example there could be 1'000 units needed (Marines for example) or 2'000'000 units needed (Planet Stuttgart needs Fertilizers for example; food on Planet Sprague running low, Stuttgart offers help or such).
[24.10.2013 13:04:43] Syrus: Would even be fun to have a little description on those manually added missions.
[24.10.2013 13:05:55] Syrus: If possible it might even be interesting to add ID restrictions. Like ... "This mission is only available to SynthFoods."
[24.10.2013 13:11:32] Syrus: Programming wise there'd be a part needed which checks when you buy the stuff (how much, where etc), then there'd need to be a part where you sell it (how much, where etc). Of course, it'd also need to check if you lose the freight on the way there, hm...though I don't see how that could be abused if it resets the freight bought every time you buy / sell something.
Then you'd need an ID checker if that's wanted...
And of course the "interface/command" part.
And a randomizer as described above.
[24.10.2013 13:12:19] Syrus: I don't think those missions should be timed. Timed missions are sooo annoying.
The idea being, that it doesn't "increase prices on the bases", but it pays you additional money when you sell the freight from the right base on the right station. For that it needs to check how much was bought and how much is sold/and how much was required.
Is there any way to make that happen?
Is there anyone who can make it happen?
Opinions? Suggestions? Criticism? Tomatoes? Fish?
Imagine the possiblities it creates...
EDIT: Oh, oops, I think this should rather be in the Discovery General Mod Discussion subforum...
I think most of FL is C++. But I'd suggest asking one of the devs. Conrad knows a thing or two. He's also known as Moveit (with some numbers at the end I believe) But yeah, this idea rocks. I could see how it'd add some real... want to the RP/Trading over just power trading. Though of course, there'd be the people who tried to exploit it. Thus ruining it for everyone. If this was balanced well, and if the community helped bug fix it as well as help balance it.. this could be rad. But it'd seriously have to take everyone to discuss what is genuinely over powered. And I know a lot of people here want Adv. Trains to have 50,000 cargo. Not OP. Not at all. So, with that in mind.. and maybe a select group of people who really want this to be a real thing, where it'd make sense inRP to be paid that much... then yeah that would rock ALL the socks.
No likey mission cargo trading idea with system announcements? That'd bring so much activity, I like that idea.
You take 30 million credit mission from Manhattin to Leeds. You're given "Special Munitions" to aid in the ongoing conflict at Leeds. The sell price for this Mission Cargo is 20 million (for a total of 50 million profit upon completion). If you dock anywhere but Leeds, you lose it all, if you log off, you lose it (standard Mission Cago/Mission style), if you get shot down, you can try to recover the Mission Cargo so long as it's still in-game (thief hasn't landed anywhere). Hire all you can, hit squads based out of Leeds, anything! Pirates and lawfuls alike will be fighting to tractor in the 20 million credit cargo and get it to Leeds! They get 20 million for selling it, but you get 50, so hire the escorts and defence squads, you'll need them, you're mission has been made public via a mole on the Sirius Wide Broadcast System. Hurry, and good luck!
(if any of you have played Silkroad Online, this is alot like that, except that ALL trade is done this way with a triangle of chars, Traders, Thieves, and Hunters. So much fun yet so challenging.)
Here's an example of how this all could pan out.
TraderJim lands on the Gallic Brigand base in Ile-de-France.
He picks up a 75 million credit mission to bring Ancient Alien Artifacts to a freelance Researcher in Koeln.
The Mission Cargo goes into his hold (taking up 3400 cargo), and is worth 20 million upon selling in Koeln (total $ = 95Milz)
All special forms of transportation are suspended for this period of time (Cloaking/Jumping).
TraderJim undocks and a Sirius wide announcement flashes across all current players in game. "TraderJim has accepted a 75 Million Credit Trading Mission from Ile-de-France to Koeln, his hold is worth 20 Million Credits." (this can then be looked up by anyone who later logs on by typing "/activemissions")
TraderJim get's several PMs from various pirates and lawfuls alike with the general "I'm going to get you bugger!" ect.
TraderJim get's a PM from a known Freelancer group who offers to assist him with a Gunboat and a Bomber for a share of the profit.
TraderJim invites the two Freelancers into his group.
After fighting off several pirates and escaping one crazy cop in a cruiser, TraderJim and his two Freelancers make the landing in Koeln.
TraderJim get's the 20 million from his cargo +25 million from the mission, the two freelancers get 25 million each for being in the group once the mission is completed (auto distributed evenly across group members).
MISSION SUCCESS!
An alternate way of this going down would be TraderJim being destroyed and the cargo taken off to base by some scavenger pirate or cop (this mission cargo would have to NOT vanish upon Mission Failure to avoid obvious problems. This is doable.)
Right now we do have missions where a ship/dude needs to be shipped to a base to complete said mission. We also have missions that lead to other systems.
It might be somewhat "easy" to combine this to a new mission structures available at designated trade posts:
Shoot a neutral faction "object" like a buoy outside the base to activate and receive a cargo ( that could be the defining factor for the missions pay: 1000 hold size = 3 mil , 3000 size = 5 mil, 4500 space = 10 mil or whatever) - then the mission dude skips to "deliver the cargo to XY station - and here you go.....a trade mission that screws you if pirates catch you, that shares profits with grouped escorts and might not demand completely new FLhook magic!
If that is too complicated one could spawn the mission, fly to the target area and fetch the mission cargo back to the mission-giving base....so f you are alone, you have to fly empty - but in a team you could use the lives to even deliver cargo to places and gain an extra buck or two....
As others have pointed out (maybe in another thread, but along the same lines), I don't like the idea of broadcasting someone's cargo mission across an entire system. That just makes them a sitting duck in a trading vessel to any pirate in the system. In high-pirate areas like New York, this is essentially a death-knell.
Make the pirates do their bloody jobs and find their own targets of opportunity.
I like the idea of "Mission Cargo", though. It should take up a ship's entire hold, and should be able to sell for no more than about 5M on ANY base. This way, it makes a pretty profit to any pirates who DO manage to find said trader.
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait...
Missions - as in "real missions" - picked from the bar can't be modified that easily in that way - if at all.
What I meant was,...
You have a command, which just shows all available missions like:
- Freight X from base A is needed on base B, payment per unit is Y, amount needed is Z
- Freight S from base C is needed on base D, payment per unit is T, amount needed is U
etc.
and then you just fly to base A for example, buy freight X and drop it off at base B. You then get paid for the freight normally plus you get the bonus from the mission like: "You received V credits for [some text]" - if you deliver more than the required amount you just get paid a bonus for the amount that was needed, not for everything.
So you pretty much fly around freely, picking up cargo normally. No taking missions, nothing. There's no real start or end to the mission. It's just "IF" you buy it on base A and THEN sell it on base B - then you get the payment (as a bonus!).
Not fancy getting the (hardcoded?) "real" FL missions changed. Just some voodoo oogyboogy magic with the plugin, I think that should be possible.
EDIT:
Or let's say...the "mission" would say:
- Freeport 4, Magellan needs Ship Hull Panels from Planet Kyushu, Kyushu - 2'000 credits per unit - 48'500 units still needed
You read this and decide to do that so you do the follow:
Fly to Planet Kyushu and dock. (-> Maybe it tells you upon docking, that there's stuff from this base needed somewhere?)
Buy Ship Hull Panels.
Fly to Freeport 4 and dock.
Sell Ship Hull Panels. -> Now you receive the bonus and a message telling you about it.
Simple as that.
It could also be ID specific. Like...a mission for Synth Foods:
- [Synth Foods] Raubling Station, Munich needs Synth Paste from Planet Stuttgart, Stuttgart
Payment: 500$ per unit
Amount needed: 98'116 units still required
You would only get a bonus then if you have the proper ID mounted on your ship.
When the freight is bought and when it's sold it could be checked, I guess.
(10-25-2013, 08:12 PM)Syrus Wrote: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait...
Missions - as in "real missions" - picked from the bar can't be modified that easily in that way - if at all.
.
.
.
Not fancy getting the (hardcoded?) "real" FL missions changed. Just some voodoo oogyboogy magic with the plugin, I think that should be possible.
Are you -sure- about that ? I mean i have literally no clue about the filesystem and the coding - but a "real mission" mission would be a quite elegant thing to handle it...
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