Jump to content

Hey, an idea, maybe naive, but still an idea


Guest --John Crichton--
 Share

Recommended Posts

Guest --John Crichton--

Since this is the misc. caste room, i decided to propose an idea.

While the big guns in galcom and insurgent hq duke it out, what are the traders of the galaxy doing? If galcom online gets released, wouldn't it be possible to start a career as part of the trader caste? I am sorta clueless on the options of the online game due to come out later in the year, but if it were possible, here's my idea, i know that previous threads have briefly touched on trader castes, but i feel like elaborating an idea. A trader's guild is created by players affiliated with the trader caste. From this guild, guidelines are offered on trading with other players affiliated with other castes. Each player has his ship, but instead of carrying all those interceptors and spare parts for them, not to mention all the missles that one would stock up on, you could carry mega-radine and other fuels, spare parts for other ships, and basically, your all round supply ship for the fighting. Depending on a players need for these materials, and if his predicament inhibits the access of these "goods" on his own, the price of these "goods" would go up considerably. Kinda making you a life-saver of sorts, or just a resupply ship for a fleet that would be cheaper than flying to a station to get. Perhaps the guild could enter into contracts with fleets with flat rates on these supplies. True, the guild would lose money on this but would increase in power over time by being a life source for large fleets if the fleets grow reliant on this system.

Im excluding a great many other possiblities that the guild could make money on other than supplying, but i can delve into those if ppl are at all interested .

The guild would be a neutral entity and therefore could theoretically enter into these contracts with every caste and nation. Since the guild is not a combative element, and only has defenses, it would be likely that the other combatants would not be likely to attack a ship affiliated with the guild, since that very same guild supplies them. Each trader would be the benefactor of such agreements and the guild as a single entity would not make any profit, only power. If the guild could enter into many contracts with different castes, the traders would know fleet positions of two warring nations. This info, along with other similar intelligence, could be sold "under the table" to the opposing nation. Again increasing the wealth and power of the guild that could not be attained if there were no such "guild".

After time, this guild could gain so much power that, if profitable, could "revoke the trading franchise" of a nation that did not see things as clearly as the guild did and effectivly being the real power, or at least a major one, in the world of galcom online.

I didn't reinvent anything new in this brief idea, if you have read the book "dune" then you'll know where i got it from.

Comments, please. [email protected]

------------------

Have you ever noticed that most ppl walk with their head to the ground? Maybe if ppl were to just look at their fellow man more often, ppl would stop shooting everyone out of self-pity.

[This message has been edited by --John Crichton-- (edited 01-05-2001).]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sounds like more of personal dream than an idea wink.gif Just kidding, it sounds like a great idea. Maybe we should just keep this quiet so no one will suspect it until it is too late, heh heh heh. Your good at ranting you know, I got caught up in that thing. The thing is though, there would need to be a way to tranfer fuel and cargo from one ship to another. I suppose you could eject the cargo, as for the fuel... I guess it all depends on just how realistic Battlecruiser Online is going to be eh? Keep the ideas coming...

------------------

Commander Zeke Stone

Mercenary

UCV-Susceptor - "Never Give Up, Never Surrender"

**Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job** -- Douglas Adams

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest --John Crichton--

Ahh yes, secrecy is the key. It would be cool if it wasn't a band wagon type of thing even though it's still totally hypothetical. Maybe a secret society of sorts that would appear out of the shadows at the most crucial time j/k. Kinda like making all those cool movies and books i grew up with a reality.

In the future ill probably delve further into it and maybe make a half @$$ed website for it just for info purposes. If your interested, you could email me and talk about the ideas more. Just because your reminder of secrecy was a good idea. Who knows, if my little capitalistic mind of mine gets really hooked on this idea i might make a site dedicated to the"Hypothetical existence of Galcom online and the possibilities there of". I would if ppl took interest.

My email is [email protected]

And another thing, that's pretty cool that you write books for a living. I have always wanted to pursue a career where most of my creativity was my job.

[This message has been edited by --John Crichton-- (edited 01-04-2001).]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Xenios

I haven't signed up with a fleet yet since I'm not sure how the various castes will work in multiplayer. But I definitely like the freedom of being a mercenary commander. I'd like to hear how trading and free enterprise is going to work, because this appeals more to me than a rigid military hierarchy.

This all theoritical now, but I'm assuming the traders would want to hire mercenary escorts to protect their cargo from raiders and unfriendly fleets. I'd like to hear what trader players think about this, as well what regular fleet commanders think about hiring mercenaries to flesh out their fleets.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest --John Crichton--

Well, i guess hiring mercenaries could be an option for traders. It's just the issue of trust that makes me think twice about this proposition. I guess i would personally hire someone i knew well enough and had the money, which brings me to another point. I think early on in the BC universe, traders will be very poor, and are only trying to make ends meet. This is another reason for a guild....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, I don't know too much about Galcom online and I'm not affiliated to any RPG, but being a trader can be very lucrative. If you downloaded the files in mission control, you can play as a trader. Since you are a trader, no military caste of any race will attack you. When you buy a load of AD items at 0% inflation and sell them at a AG station with 40% inflation, it gives A LOT of money, unless you don't have the money to start.

The best tihng to do is to rush your cash to the best engine and reactor, so travelling cost you much less.

Is my UBB coding alright?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Regarding this: Fleets have their own supplies done internally. Second, to create a "guild" as you call it is not allowed with permission of the SC.

The way I picture it, I just don't see major nations using traders for their complete aquisition of goods. I would think that nations would have somewhat of an output for themselves. In fact, for a trader to be successful in dealing with an alliance, he'll either have to have rock-bottom pricing or hard to aquire goods. The way you can accomplish this is by purchasing items from distant stations in (possible) dangerous territory with low inflation rates then bringing that stuff back to the bidder. But, it has to be cheaper than what the alliance can purchase on its own, or I doubt they'll be buying from you any time soon.

But to create an all-powerful trader guild would totally upset play-balancing. Say the guild decides not to sell to a certain alliance, and that alliance had no other efficient method of attaining supplies. Might make for a great book but would make for a pretty dull and one-sided game.

------------------

Vice Admiral Michael Kristophers

ICV-Intrepid, Spectre (Antis)

Fleet Leader

Spectre Fleet

"You can only love or hate something you truly understand."

Official Tester, Battlecruiser Series

Leader, Team 1

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest --John Crichton--

I can see your point aramike. But it would be possible to sell fuel at lower prices than any starstation if it were subsidized by say, mining. Here's the situation: A trader buys a whole bunch of fuel at an average price. He then procedes to sell his quota at 25% less the rock-bottom price to a fleet that enters into one of the before-mentioned contracts. You've just made a whole bunch of friends with this premium quality fuel being sold at a killer deal. But it doesn't put the trader in the financial whole because he has a whole bunch of mining drones on planets(assuming traders can have mining drones). Not a good way to make profit, but a really good way to make power. Over time, the buyers budget their money on this fuel source because they cannot(hopefully) forsee any problems with being reliant on this supplier. If you see a flaw with this idea, please tell me. But, if you wish to burst my bubble about the mining drones, and how they are not available for traders, this will be my response..."Out of necessity, the human mind will prevail." Meaning we traders will find a way to subsidize the fuel.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Aramike, if I rely on what you say, traders can't make money more than for the living. If a trader lives in fear cause he can't defend himself, or that he is forced to be defended by mercs (in BCM, if you play trader, you can't play anything else than an unarmed transport) and that can't rely on mass buyers (fleets) (so to rely on station-to-station and UCV crafts), how can he, let's say, have fun?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh boy, a lot to respond to...

quote:


But it would be possible to sell fuel at lower prices than any starstation if it were subsidized by say, mining.

Have you ever tried mining for a specific mineral? It's almost impossible. Plus, you'd have more time with drones on a planet than it would be worth - they don't fill quickly.

quote:


Here's the situation: A trader buys a whole bunch of fuel at an average price. He then procedes to sell his quota at 25% less the rock-bottom price to a fleet that enters into one of the before-mentioned contracts. You've just made a whole bunch of friends with this premium quality fuel being sold at a killer deal. But it doesn't put the trader in the financial whole because he has a whole bunch of mining drones on planets(assuming traders can have mining drones). Not a good way to make profit, but a really good way to make power.

Well, why wouldn't you go somewhere and buy the fuel at the cheapest price and make a profit? Btw, you wouldn't have ANY power because the buyer can go anywhere when you're not convieniant. Second, I'd like to see you keep that power when you don't have money because you're blowing it all on fuel and selling it a lower than you paid. To put it simply, traders will NEVER be the only source for ANYTHING. They may be a more convieniant source for certain things, maybe cheaper, but not the only.

quote:


Aramike, if I rely on what you say, traders can't make money more than for the living. If a trader lives in fear cause he can't defend himself, or that he is forced to be defended by mercs (in BCM, if you play trader, you can't play anything else than an unarmed transport) and that can't rely on mass buyers (fleets) (so to rely on station-to-station and UCV crafts), how can he, let's say, have fun?

First off, if you won't have fun playing as a trader under the set guidelines, let me recommend that you don't play as a trader. wink.gif Second, a trader relies on no one. A trader must aquire goods cheaply and sell them for a higher price to whatever buyer comes along. I think you are just getting a little upset at the idea that traders won't have any power over anything other than trading. It would DESTROY playbalancing to allow traders to attain ANY power over fleets, and frankly, it would not be realistic. Not to mention, if you try to pull a fast one or take power over Spector fleet, I'll just disable your ship and TAKE your goods. Or, if I don't need your goods, I'll just destroy your ship. It seems as though you really can't have power, as I can guarantee you that any fleet would do the same.

To break it down, if you're a trader, you trade. A trader's goal is NOT to aquire power, but to aquire wealth. If you don't like that goal, then don't be a trader.

------------------

Vice Admiral Michael Kristophers

ICV-Intrepid, Spectre (Antis)

Fleet Leader

Spectre Fleet

"You can only love or hate something you truly understand."

Official Tester, Battlecruiser Series

Leader, Team 1

[This message has been edited by aramike (edited 01-12-2001).]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest --John Crichton--

Aramike, i have a few things to respond to:

1) When i said subsidize by miining, i didn't mean mining radine, i meant making money off of mining in general so that the trader doesn't go broke. That is the very essence of the word subsidize.

2) When you said, "I'll just shoot you if you black mail me," you failed to see my point that i wouldn't black mail you until i was powerful enough. Meaning that i had enough backing of other nations that would deter the thought of hostility towards the "guild". True, you could shoot me down, but then the other nations and castes would retaliate against you because i am also their supplier and friend. And i'm not stupid. I wouldn't black mail anyone unless i had the backing that i previously mentioned.

3) I didn't say that i wanted to make profit, i wanted power. I know that this selling of fuel at the lowest price would make me lose money, but then again, my subsidy theory would negate or at least hinder that. I also never said that the traders could be the only supply of a material, just the cheapest. And, as to your "traders would only be a convenience" thing, i believe that if there are enough traders involved in this guild idea, then they would be much more readily available, plus, trading ships search for ships to trade with,patrol high traffic regions, and can follow fleets, unlike starstations And, traders could be by every starstation for a specific nation. Would you go to 2000credits(trader) or 2500(station) (excluding inflation)?

This idea can work just because it really has less to do with gameplay and more to do with personal interactions with people. It all depends on people and if they want something cheaper or not. And really, it couldn't upset the gameplay balance because all it would take to destroy this guild would be an organized boycott or blockades, only adding to the enjoyment of fleets as they blast away little trading ships making a run for that jump to Procyon. Plus, things like this happen in the real world, and they get taken down too, all it takes is a battle of intelligence.

[This message has been edited by --John Crichton-- (edited 01-13-2001).]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You missed something, and I'll let Derek intervene here anytime he wants to back me up on this:

quote:


I didn't say that i wanted to make profit, i wanted power.

And I said:

quote:


A trader's goal is NOT to aquire power, but to aquire wealth. If you don't like that goal, then don't be a trader.

I guarantee you that's what the boss envisions for his game.

If you want power, play as a merc.

And btw, I think Uncle Rattler will back me up on you trying to get nations against us. We (the Insurgency) don't care. Everyone is ALREADY against us. So, I'm still going to blow up your ship and take your goods. Also, I doubt that GALCOM would EVER allow the trader caste to gain that much power, and you still fail to address how you could even get that power, when everything you sell is available and any starstation in the galaxy. Plus, it wouldn't be consistant with the story line. If you read the story on ANY of the nations, I doubt that they would be very happy with your aquisition of power. It may turn out to be a galaxy-wide trader hunt, because all your goods can be found on our own territory. That's just the way the game works.

If you want power, join a fleet or play as a merc. If you want wealth, be a trader. That's what a trader does.

Besides, the SC has already stifled the creation of any organizations other than the Fleets and small squadrons.

So the point is moot.

------------------

Vice Admiral Michael Kristophers

ICV-Intrepid, Spectre (Antis)

Fleet Leader

Spectre Fleet

"You can only love or hate something you truly understand."

Official Tester, Battlecruiser Series

Leader, Team 1

[This message has been edited by aramike (edited 01-14-2001).]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

The way I see it is that trading will be alot like in Elite. You're a loner. You go from station to station buying low and selling high, and using your wits to keep out of trouble. Your goal is to amass enough wealth to someday retire in luxury, while having a bit of an adventure in the process. It would probably be possible to make special deals with other players on the spot, but these deals wouldn't be worked out ahead of time with contracts and negotiations and all that corporate crap.

If you want to mess around with contracts and negotiations and power, I'd suggest you choose the commercial caste.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...