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Astrophil

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    Losing Money/Quanta Upon Death: A Proposal

    in The Gameplay Mechanics Assembly

    Posted

    This will be a proposed solution to a problem that NovaQuark has thus far decided not to create: losing money (that is, in-game currency: Quanta) upon death of a player. Let's dive into it.

     

    Related image

     

    The Problem

    If my sources are correct, NovaQuark has stated before that such items as DACs, Blueprints, Territory Control Units, Resurrection Nodes, and Quanta will not be lost upon death. Most of these items I have listed are justifiably non-lose-able; they are highly rare and valuable or, in some cases, unique items that would dramatically affect the total universal supply of these items. However, that last one, Quanta, seems not to belong on that list. Quanta will be as common as dirt, and the entire economy of DU will circulate around it. It is not rare, and it useful purely as a medium of exchange. So it seems to me that, like any other item, at least some percentage of Quanta should be lost by a player if he/she dies/is killed. A further incentive to encourage safe civilization building practices, of course. And a mechanic to facilitate looting of money, which is really the end goal of most looters. After all, in real life, should you be killed or rendered unconscious, any cash you may be carrying is easy pickings.

     

    However, you might say, if a player dies of non-PVP causes, doesn't that create a currency sink? If a player were particularly deep-pocketed, it could even have a significant impact on the universal economy. Surely, this is a problem that we are better off avoiding?

     

    The Attempt at a Solution

    Allow me the privilege of tickling your economic fancies. We all know, of course, that NQ plans on implementing market bots/non-player-buy-orders initially, in order to inject some currency into the infant economy of the early game. Now let's take that a step further.

     

    A player dies, drops random x% of Quanta. First, to facilitate looting, most of his inventory (including that Quanta) will have dropped. In most looting cases, looters will immediately snatch up these items and continue along their merry ways. If it is a non-PVP death (ex. taking too high of a fall, crashing a spaceship), presumably those items will just disappear after x amount of time. But wait! We can't just have Quanta dropping through a wormhole into another (triple?) universe. Oh the humanity economy! 

     

    So here is what I propose: instead of vanishing like those other inventory contents, Quanta will be whisked away into one of those nifty market bots that will be present at the beginning of the game to inject currency. These bots will purchase items from sellers on the universal market, thus recirculating the money back into the economy. 

     

    Extension

    Of course, this all hinges on NQ's willingness to spend development time on this feature, and how to manage the balance between immersion and practicality (there are no market bots in the real world, but there are institutions installed to regulate the economy). This competes against the benefits of such a feature to the game: reality (it makes sense that you should lose money upon a death, even if temporary), the ability to loot money (for all the pirates and scavengers and outlaws), and indeed, the possibility of banking (who would bank money that is perfectly safe in a wallet, save for interest on deposits?)

     

     

    Therefore, discuss.

    Feature Idea: "Television" Networks

    in Idea Box

    Posted

    6 minutes ago, Atmosph3rik said:

    I think it's not exactly known whether video will be supported on the in game screens yet.  Plus NDA and all.

     

    But it would be really cool if someone curated some kind of news feed.

     

    Even if it had to be more of a slideshow of current events.  Like the front page of a news site.

     

    People could subscribe to it simply by linking to it with html on their own screens.  And if it was popular enough people might even be willing to pay to advertise on it.

    Ikr, or like some kind of monthly news broadcast ;) *cough*

    Organization currency

    in General Discussions

    Posted

    This is going to be a hot topic. Take a leaf from EVE's book and implement Loyalty Points, for example (I learned a bit of this from @CaptainTwerkmotor ). Organizations reward x number of LPs to a player for doing an organizational mission/quest/task. These Points can be exchanged for items or services that the organization offers (maybe they have a specific LP store for Corporation A, or Nation B controls a market in which Nation B's LPs are accepted by sellers and buyers), while garnering favor with those organizations at the same time. 

     

    These can't practically be used on a widespread, international scale though. Otherwise, anyone could undermine the Quanta currency. It's more of a way to facilitate intra-organizational trade with a currency that's insulated from the natural rise and fall of the universal economy.

     

    Using naturally found resources isn't a very stable currency. They're subject to physical storage and transport, influx and outflow of resources from the market, discovery of deposits, currency sinks (when used up in constructs), etc. Just some of the reasons why IRL countries have abandoned the gold standard.

    City building Guild

    in General Discussions

    Posted

    Hey and welcome!

     

    There's a few going on around the community in addition to the previously mentioned Tortgua:

    • Project Collective from GLSU - a city (neutral I believe) sponsored by the GLSU alliance. I would go on to their Discord to find out more.
    • Project Emberstone from the Aeonian Federation - also neutral, and sponsored by the AFED alliance.
    • The Terran Union also has their various capital and regional city projects in the works - Neutral, although it is sponsored by a nation and the capital obviously functions as a national capital - I would recommend hopping on to TU's Discord to find out more.

    Good luck! I hope to see you around!

    Poll: Space Narcotics

    in Idea Box

    Posted

    Although why would it be made illegal? It's more likely that a legitimate trade for boosters and enhancers would develop instead.

     

    EDIT: Did not see that this topic has already been addressed earlier.

    Regarding economy, currency and NPCs

    in Idea Box

    Posted

    29 minutes ago, Lethys said:

    Problem though: if it's mineable and used in certain elements too, ppl will seize control of deposits asap, control the market (sit on that element, make it even rarer), and may form cartels. See eves moongoo cartel - that didn't turn out so well

    Then set conditions so that no more than x amount of Rare Element X is concentrated within an area of y cubic meters in any given location. It should be very rare after all. Also allow people to deconstruct constructs into raw resources, then make resources nonregenerating, or very slowly regenerating - so that it won’t be that profitable to control deposits.

    Regarding economy, currency and NPCs

    in Idea Box

    Posted

    58 minutes ago, CaptainTwerkmotor said:

    the problem of inflation arises if NQ adds more money into circulation so new people have a way to earn some revnue.

    Problem with that, is that Gold Farmers will exploit it - big time.

    So then dev-injected money is still problematic. (Also have no idea what "that" you're referring to when you say "problem with that") :huh:

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