Larry_Tincreek

Some scammers might plan to not have a very long career in that specific field. I think that's fairly common for scammers. Also, not all orgs will have the caution to check the naughty list every time they trade with someone new. Some of them will have to learn the hard way, and that's an opening for the scammer. - And a bounty hunter can be averted. Overall I think a function to tamper with scan results would be used now and then. Not very often, but enough to give it some merit. I'm not really sure why you bring up safe zones. I imagine trading scan data would mostly be used for finds on more or less freshly discovered planets. Maybe I'm just a bit old fashioned, but I prefer that game content generally stay inside the game and don't require external web pages. I see your point though. Time not spent by NQ on something the players could make, is time spent on something with more actual gameplay in it. So I guess a system like this is one of those things that would be 'neat to have' but ultimately not necessary and thus pretty far down the priority list. Like several years after launch if ever :/

I might have come off as more negative than I really meant in my first post. It should be perfectly possible to be a freelance prospector, I just don't think it should be as convenient as what your suggestion would make it. Before reading your idea I had imagined something with bookmarks and a manually written description, but a standardized data item like you're suggesting would probably work better. I actually like the concept, but I think it should be possible to tamper with the result using a "data manipulation" skill, or whatever kind of skill could be relevant. The buyers on the other hand should be able to detect the tampering by using a "data analysation" or "deciphering" or whatever skill. With a high enough skill (and especially if the scammer used a rather low level of "data manipulation") there should even be a decent chance at detecting it without buying the item, but the chance would increase after the purchase. Now, I assume the majority of freelance prospectors would refrain from tampering with their scanning results. They have a reputation to build and uphold. Blatant scammers on the other hand would soon enough end up blacklisted by more and more mining companies and possibly get a bounty hunter chasing them. I guess there wouldn't be a problem as such with untamperable data items as you suggest, but I think the trade would be more interesting and and more "part of a living breathing world" if unaffiliated prospectors had to build up a reputation because they 'might be scammers'.

Nice idea. It would certainly make prospector a more viable career. I can see one argument against it though. NQ generally wants the game to encourage teamwork, so that players (well, at least the majority of them) have to find their place in a society with people depending on each other. These trade-able data items may make it too easy for a prospector to operate as a "lone wolf" and just sell to whomever will pay the best price. Without them a prospector will have to either be part of a society or establish a certain degree of trust from his/her customers, which would require some more engaging interaction than through a market-unit. Still a good idea though. I'm not completely against it.

I actually hope industry in safe zones will be somewhat gimped. For example only the most basic forms of production could be enabled, and/or there could be a significant waste of resources in the production. If not something like that is implemented industrialists in the safe zones would have an unfair advantage over those in the "wild", because they don't risk being raided and don't have to spend time and money on security. Outside of safe zones I think facilities might predominantly be under ground for protection, like Lethys also mentioned. I wonder how common and how large cave systems will be. If they are large it may be easier to build in natural caves rather than having to dig out thousands (maybe even millions for the really big complexes?) of tons of rock. On the other hand making a base and industry in a natural cave system would almost certainly make for rather awkward logistics. Of course you could dig some extra tunnels to help on that.

"Dualeers" perhaps? I was thinking "Dualists" first, but that sounds more like a political or philosophical affiliation. "Dualeer" sounds more practical.