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Traveling City


Caprikel

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So I was looking at the thread for nomadic life in DU, and that got me thinking about what kind of potential societies could exist in a nomadic life. Then I remembered the Sandsteamer from Trigun, which is basically a huge land-ship that travels the desert, and is basically a traveling city. 

Assuming that the market unit, or whatever it's called, can be on a ship, this means that you could basically have a major economic hub traveling from planet to planet to trade goods for profit. This would create a very interesting gamestyle, where people could pay to travel with them, they could wait until this major trade hub is in their area to sell their goods, or they could live on the ship and make money simply trading. The organization that owns the ship would make lots of money from the market unit, and they would need to use that money for protection and for their crew to operate the whole thing and make it worth it for them to work on this ship rather than just mining.

People could also set up their businesses there, such as a bank, a casino, a general store or even a full blown stock exchange.

 

I'm pretty sure this is already possible in DU for what is planned, so all that would be needed is a large number of people working together to make something like this happen. I'm guessing something like this will end up popping up as people will be incentivized to make like this once DU becomes developed enough with many people on many planets.

 

 

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I am sure somebody will try, and I would love to see it work. The main issue I see is that if protection bubbles can be on moving objects/ships that could be very overpowered.

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I see no reason why a market unit couldnt be on a moveable construct. The space station in the demo video's, I thought JC said you could place a market unit on it. And the whole planets being the same as constructs game engine wise.

 

Would it connect to the data stream while moving? Who knows.

 

I would invest in some solid protection though. Big (slower) moving construct filled with traders and goods. A pirate's bounty. :P

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I am sure somebody will try, and I would love to see it work. The main issue I see is that if protection bubbles can be on moving objects/ships that could be very overpowered.

AFAIK the protection bubbles are only to static core units, that can't move.

 

About the OP, I could see it like a large capital ship with itinerant crew maybe.

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AFAIK the protection bubbles are only to static core units, that can't move.

 

About the OP, I could see it like a large capital ship with itinerant crew maybe.

AFAIK? Then is would be very hard to keep the city safe.

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Well it would break the game if every large enough construct could have those protection bubbles

 

1 ) So either only static CU can add those shields

 

or

 

2 ) maybe some kind of anchoring mechanic will be implemented for huge constructs (like such moving stations) with some sort of anchoring timer and then you could activate a protection bubble

 

 

To me (2) would make sense if that anchoring timer is long enough. (1) would lead to more interesting gameplay and would dig more into the theme of "risk vs reward" but I have a feeling that we won't see much large constructs then

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Well it would break the game if every large enough construct could have those protection bubbles

 

1 ) So either only static CU can add those shields

 

or

 

2 ) maybe some kind of anchoring mechanic will be implemented for huge constructs (like such moving stations) with some sort of anchoring timer and then you could activate a protection bubble

 

 

To me (2) would make sense if that anchoring timer is long enough. (1) would lead to more interesting gameplay and would dig more into the theme of "risk vs reward" but I have a feeling that we won't see much large constructs then

I think that could work. People would try and destroy it before the shield can go up.

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I see no reason why a market unit couldnt be on a moveable construct. The space station in the demo video's, I thought JC said you could place a market unit on it. And the whole planets being the same as constructs game engine wise.

Would it connect to the data stream while moving? Who knows.

I would invest in some solid protection though. Big (slower) moving construct filled with traders and goods. A pirate's bounty. :P

 

I imagine a traveling city would be the ultimate pirate's bounty, especially since it could have many, many ships on board since ship trading would be a really big thing with something like this. The reason being is that you could order a ship off of this traveling city, and instead of taking the huge risk of hiring some trucker, the city will on your planet in a couple days or less, and as such is the ultimate trucker in and of itself. Basically the traveling city cuts out the middleman, thus making it much cheaper than buying from other far off markets, making it even more useful.

Now that I think about it, this kind of mobile-city play-style is inevitable, since there's so much potential wealth that can be created with a marketplace that cuts out the middleman transporter. It's definitely a high-risk investment with it being the ultimate target for pirates, and as such will require lots of paid protection. Whichever organization pulls it off successfully will definitely become quite rich. Maybe one day when Dual Universe is developed enough, I'll try to organize an effort to create something like this.

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Trade routes and caravans will be a thing for sure. Hopefully the population expands enough to support something on this scale.

I would love to see a thing like this happen, moving between planetary systems. Offering exotic goods between remote locations.

 

Though the cost to set it up would be immense. The construction alone would be astronomical in scope. Perhaps it will evolve out of several trade orgs pooling their resources. Who knows but just like in the real world ships moving containers will gradually grow bigger.

 

Up until the point that the energy cost moving the goods surpasses the potential profit. And thats where I think your idea hinges on. A ship the size you envision would need a lot of energy to get from A to B.

 

It will require some serious calculations before construction is even attempted.

 

DU is going to be a very cool game. :P

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Trade routes and caravans will be a thing for sure. Hopefully the population expands enough to support something on this scale.

I would love to see a thing like this happen, moving between planetary systems. Offering exotic goods between remote locations.

 

Though the cost to set it up would be immense. The construction alone would be astronomical in scope. Perhaps it will evolve out of several trade orgs pooling their resources. Who knows but just like in the real world ships moving containers will gradually grow bigger.

 

Up until the point that the energy cost moving the goods surpasses the potential profit. And thats where I think your idea hinges on. A ship the size you envision would need a lot of energy to get from A to B.

 

It will require some serious calculations before construction is even attempted.

 

DU is going to be a very cool game. :P

 

One of the best things about a traveling city for caravans is that they can just park all of their ships inside the city-ship, so that way they don't have to drive themselves. They can basically just pay to hitch a ride and either stay to trade, or just use it for transporting their ship without having to actually drive it themselves. 

 

One solution to the extreme cost of setting it up would be to do the "Frankensteins-ship" solution, where you basically add more and more onto it as it is required. It could potentially start out as just a somewhat big trade ship that keeps getting bigger and bigger.

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One of the best things about a traveling city for caravans is that they can just park all of their ships inside the city-ship, so that way they don't have to drive themselves. They can basically just pay to hitch a ride and either stay to trade, or just use it for transporting their ship without having to actually drive it themselves. 

 

One solution to the extreme cost of setting it up would be to do the "Frankensteins-ship" solution, where you basically add more and more onto it as it is required. It could potentially start out as just a somewhat big trade ship that keeps getting bigger and bigger.

If anything like this ever does exist in DU, it will probably be very small. Just a cargo ship that sells and trades good as it travels from planet to planet. For anything large enough based on what you are all talking about, the ship would move so slow it wouldn't be worth trying to build and maintain it. Any market HUBs will probably be stationary and won't move around much. That's what makes it a HUB

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Yes perhaps the word HUB is poorly choosen in this case. And the energy cost moving this ship would be immense. It definitly wont win any races.

 

The idea of a "franken-ship" could work I think. It might not behave very well or be cost efficient but it would look pretty awesome.

 

I would say dare to dream the impossible. ;)

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So, we have discussed flying cities before. Traveling cities basically are the same thing(they could probably only exist if they are flying) and we decided the general answer would probably be no.

 

This was only really the case though for cities that could enter into a planetary atmosphere and float. The exception to this rule could be a city that was self sustaining in space. In order for that to work though, here is what you would need.

 

-A very wealthy sum of money.

-A number of basic resources

-Ability to supply city with lots of supplies via trade routes or cargo drop offs

-The best engineers to design the most self-sufficient designs

-Time and patience

 

Assuming you gain all of those, you should be good to go... except it would still probably be a multi-organization project that would take many, many months to build. It's not impossible though. In EvE, there was a massive DeathStar that was made, capable of destroying entire fleets of ships. It was destroyed in recent memory but the idea is still there.

 

It is very possible and very much a thing. There are some cons that you also need to take in.

 

1.

This wouldn't be a traveling city

 

There is no real way to create engines that could propel this thing into new sectors of the world. It likely isn't happening. The only real possibility of making it a traveling city is if you started off with momentum and built upon it(maybe, maybe not) but that's not a sure fire bet. It's going to be more stationary the larger it gets. At some point, the term city might mean a couple large structures that can support up to a thousand people(maybe more).

 

2.

It's not cost effective

 

Building a city like this would not be cost effective. Building a city on the ground is just as efficient and the cost for delivering supplies on the ground only get cheaper. While the same may be said about space travel, it is still going to be less economically viable to build it in space rather than on a planet which hosts the very resources used to build it. 

 

3.

At some point, just call it a space station

 

The whole point of things like this is for them to serve as a station in space. While I have no doubt that someone will build a massive construct that has the potential to house all of their organization and then some, it is still just a space station. The fact of the matter is, a space station is much better for the economy, it creates jobs, and it doesn't necessarily have to house respawn nodes, survival gear, shops, and more. But there is a point brought up....

 

 

Yes perhaps the word HUB is poorly choosen in this case. And the energy cost moving this ship would be immense. It definitly wont win any races.

The idea of a "franken-ship" could work I think. It might not behave very well or be cost efficient but it would look pretty awesome.

I would say dare to dream the impossible. ;)

 

This will happen. We dare to dream the impossible for a reason and this is just simply one of those times. While I do say that smaller space stations are more economically viable, that is in investment/return. If this giant construct were to actually function, then there would be great rewards to be made. I doubt you'll get a traveling city, but a death star might have to suffice.

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"

The concept of a travelling city is no way any more new than the reality of caravans and travelling circuses. As others have said before, it is not impossible - however, it is not economically viable in the short run either. 

 

  1. The cost of acquisition of any machine is just 10-15% of the lifetime operating cost. The remaining 85-90% belongs to maintenance and repair. Frankly, Lethys, Falstaf and MasteredRed are right: this shouldn't be a land based construct. It's an idea better fitted for something in space.
  2. Now, if you do build such a station, you will be faced with severe competition from smaller and larger stations that are already established in their respective regions. The idea behind profit in trade is making a better offer than your rivals (or at least lying that you can offer more than them). Bringing a moving market may serve as novelty and earn you profit for the first few rounds, yes. By the time this station is coming round by the fourth time, it may have lost all its glitter. I say "may" because there will always be new players awed by such a display...and some people just love to buy from a market with legs. In the long run, it's at risk of becoming another "Wonder" that's lost its original purpose: to make profit.
  3. You will likely never find all the traders to fill such a station from one place. The best choice would be to offer prospective traders a place to sell on your massive trade station at a price. If you hope to provide such things as accommodation, recreation, hangars, repair facilities, resource processing equipment and the likes on your station, they will come from different places and different people. As the proximity to a market or resource point drops, the price increases. Many of the traders won't be permanent residents: they'll only bunk with you when you're bunking in their territory. And I will be clear with you on this: different organisations will have varying demands for diverse products. The goods won't be at 100% demand everywhere and you will need a good strategy to bulk up on the right goods as you near the hotspot of the demand for those goods and lose the majority of the goods that the local populace won't be interested in before you get there. If you fail to do that, your travelling city will be carrying a load of junk in the long run.
  4. The cost of the goods sold on such a station will always be higher than what the local market is offering. Let's face the reality here:
  • the people behind this venture will want to make their money back. Nothing is for free: you'd better hope they want payment in Quanta than anything else! That money has to come from somewhere: the goods being sold. 
  • You have to pay for protection. A huge moving trade station is also a big juicy opportunity. Pirates will shadow its movements, mercenaries will doubtlessly accept jobs to reduce the competition this trade station will bring, and people will just be...people. For that, you will need hired or trained guns of your own to protect your investment. You might say, you would work out deals with the Authority in charge of your current territory, but bear in mind that most will impose some sort of sales tax, payment upfront, or reduced cost for goods they will purchase. Then what happens when you're in no man's sky (it's in space, no?)? You will need mobile defences such as crafts and troops. Mounted guns and launchers won't protect you against a determined band of swashbuckling, combat savvy pirates...amongst others for ever.
  • Cost of transportation is going to drive whatever you sell upwards. As Falstaf said, moving this market is going to gulp down energy like a black hole. There is a reason most sci-fi trade stations sit in one place till they are towed away, derelict or destroyed. Take a look at countries in which power generation is not stable and in most cases, supplied by private companies: the cost of production goes up, and the consumers have to put more money down. I'm a big fan of things with engines, but the number of engines you will need to move your travelling city will be a sight to see. 
  • Independence is going to be a huge bother and it really much sums up everything. The possibility of one organisation doing such a feat are few, but I won't rule it out as impossible. The fact is that, multiple organisations are going to do this thing and each one will have to shoulder one or more responsibilities for the welfare and continued success of this project from start to finish. There will always be this one person that thinks he/she deserves to get more than given. There's going to be serious hurdles to overcome in logistics, security, trade and unity. Many people will indirectly be financing this. Many people will indirectly want to make profit on their investment. 

 

 

This is looking at things from the financial perspective. I would be optimistic about the idea, where certain prerequisites fulfilled, but for now, I'm much more interested in the specifics of how you plan to make such a thing happen. Remember that it's going to take months to build if you plan to start out large and that means for months it's going to be a sitting duck for people who just like to see things blow up...unless you can provide really dangerous and convincing cover. 

 

 

Cheers.

"

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That is some really good feedback all around.

 

Caprikel if you want we can keep this thread going as a thought experiment. Overall I think we have identified some questions that need to be answered before we can even begin construction.

 

Here are a few that come to mind at this time.

 

-What can the ship provide that sets it apart, what is its niche?

 

-Bulk reduces cost but anything popular enough to be mass produced will be made locally.

 

-How would "we" off set the transportation cost so you can offer goods cheaper than local sources. The transportation energy costs are usually the biggest costs in a products lifecycle.

 

I'm sure other people can think of additional questions that need to be answered before development starts.

 

Of course you can scale it down but then we are talking about a normal container ship. Moving ore or basic elements for high end construction.

 

Just some food for thought. :)

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"

The concept of a travelling city is no way any more new than the reality of caravans and travelling circuses. As others have said before, it is not impossible - however, it is not economically viable in the short run either. 

 

  1. The cost of acquisition of any machine is just 10-15% of the lifetime operating cost. The remaining 85-90% belongs to maintenance and repair. Frankly, Lethys, Falstaf and MasteredRed are right: this shouldn't be a land based construct. It's an idea better fitted for something in space.
  2. Now, if you do build such a station, you will be faced with severe competition from smaller and larger stations that are already established in their respective regions. The idea behind profit in trade is making a better offer than your rivals (or at least lying that you can offer more than them). Bringing a moving market may serve as novelty and earn you profit for the first few rounds, yes. By the time this station is coming round by the fourth time, it may have lost all its glitter. I say "may" because there will always be new players awed by such a display...and some people just love to buy from a market with legs. In the long run, it's at risk of becoming another "Wonder" that's lost its original purpose: to make profit.
  3. You will likely never find all the traders to fill such a station from one place. The best choice would be to offer prospective traders a place to sell on your massive trade station at a price. If you hope to provide such things as accommodation, recreation, hangars, repair facilities, resource processing equipment and the likes on your station, they will come from different places and different people. As the proximity to a market or resource point drops, the price increases. Many of the traders won't be permanent residents: they'll only bunk with you when you're bunking in their territory. And I will be clear with you on this: different organisations will have varying demands for diverse products. The goods won't be at 100% demand everywhere and you will need a good strategy to bulk up on the right goods as you near the hotspot of the demand for those goods and lose the majority of the goods that the local populace won't be interested in before you get there. If you fail to do that, your travelling city will be carrying a load of junk in the long run.
  4. The cost of the goods sold on such a station will always be higher than what the local market is offering. Let's face the reality here:
  • the people behind this venture will want to make their money back. Nothing is for free: you'd better hope they want payment in Quanta than anything else! That money has to come from somewhere: the goods being sold. 
  • You have to pay for protection. A huge moving trade station is also a big juicy opportunity. Pirates will shadow its movements, mercenaries will doubtlessly accept jobs to reduce the competition this trade station will bring, and people will just be...people. For that, you will need hired or trained guns of your own to protect your investment. You might say, you would work out deals with the Authority in charge of your current territory, but bear in mind that most will impose some sort of sales tax, payment upfront, or reduced cost for goods they will purchase. Then what happens when you're in no man's sky (it's in space, no?)? You will need mobile defences such as crafts and troops. Mounted guns and launchers won't protect you against a determined band of swashbuckling, combat savvy pirates...amongst others for ever.
  • Cost of transportation is going to drive whatever you sell upwards. As Falstaf said, moving this market is going to gulp down energy like a black hole. There is a reason most sci-fi trade stations sit in one place till they are towed away, derelict or destroyed. Take a look at countries in which power generation is not stable and in most cases, supplied by private companies: the cost of production goes up, and the consumers have to put more money down. I'm a big fan of things with engines, but the number of engines you will need to move your travelling city will be a sight to see. 
  • Independence is going to be a huge bother and it really much sums up everything. The possibility of one organisation doing such a feat are few, but I won't rule it out as impossible. The fact is that, multiple organisations are going to do this thing and each one will have to shoulder one or more responsibilities for the welfare and continued success of this project from start to finish. There will always be this one person that thinks he/she deserves to get more than given. There's going to be serious hurdles to overcome in logistics, security, trade and unity. Many people will indirectly be financing this. Many people will indirectly want to make profit on their investment. 

 

 

This is looking at things from the financial perspective. I would be optimistic about the idea, where certain prerequisites fulfilled, but for now, I'm much more interested in the specifics of how you plan to make such a thing happen. Remember that it's going to take months to build if you plan to start out large and that means for months it's going to be a sitting duck for people who just like to see things blow up...unless you can provide really dangerous and convincing cover. 

 

 

Cheers.

"

 

These are some good points to consider, I'll see if I can address each one if I have anything relevant to add.

 

1. You may have got the wrong idea about what I was envisioning based on what I mentioned in my first post, I was only using the land-based sand-streamer as an inspiration rather than a literal translation. What I envision is basically a space-based super-caravan, which has many of the same functions as a city/town. The costs are definitely an issue, and a project like this might have to be made with the assumption that it might not even make a profit, like with building a death-star. 

2. Basically the point of the moving market is that you can eliminate the middleman that you would deal with when purchasing goods from far off markets, and you would have many of the goods that wouldn't be available at the local market. Also a big part about making something like this work is for it to be very well known. Since this construct would be traveling in a cycle, it would have an established schedule so that people will know when it will be at their planet or area. It would also help if the thing just looked amazing, and attracted players who just want to see what it's like. 

3. As for traders, the only permanent residents will likely be those who were part of the organization who build it, and actually live there. Most traders will only stay there while the ship is staying in the region, or go on a cycle. A trader could pay to ride on the ship for one cycle, and use this opportunity to sell to all kinds of people from different planets. This of course requires that lots of people actually want to go into the ship and look around and buy things, and as such this would require lots of people in the game of DU. So basically the trader pays for one cycle trip, in which they get the opportunity to sell to many people all around the travel course, all without needing their own ship. Some people also might just pay for a one way trip on something like this, for those who don't have a ship of their own, and with the added benefit of things to do on their ride.

4. Like I said before, it would provide goods that aren't available at local markets. This includes materials unique to different regions, actual constructs that people are selling, and whatever else DU has in store for us.

As for protection, this will definitely be one of the most difficult issues. They would need to pay for protection from the money they make from taxing transactions made on their market unit, but it's hard to guess how much protection they would need. One idea I have is that they could have this giant construct be modular, so in other words it could split into multiple moving ships, which could split up in an emergency and all fly in different directions if they face an overwhelming threat. I would like to see  what something like this looks like, personally a giant ship splitting into parts and flying in different directions sounds really cool to me. Or maybe instead of flying away it would make it more usable for battle and fight off the pirates. 

As for the cost of travel, that would also definitely be a big hurdle. For now we just need to know how expensive travel is.

 

Obviously something of this magnitude will only be possible or practical when/if Dual Universe has a huge amount of players, so we will have plenty of time to figure out the practicalities. Hopefully it does become a reality, and I'll be able to chill in a casino on a giant traveling city, making money as a trader/ship designer.

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I also like the idea of a traveling city/station/ship (whatever you want to call this)

And the game engine will defiantly allow it to build these things, as JC himself always uses the Deathstar reference and says that planets are just large ships!

But before we continue the "why" part of the discussion, I want to make some assumptions about the game mechanics. Thereby we can base our thought experiments on how things would actually be realizable.

 

The following statements are only based on my personal understanding, so obviously things might be completely different when the game launches:

 

- Protection bubbles are basically just shields. They will consume huge amounts of energy, so the bigger the bubble, the heavier the infrastructure to maintain them. (they are actually more designed to give players time to react in case of an attack)

 

- Things in space should orbit around the nearest gravity center, like shown in the following image:

ZDZA8Wb.png

Obviously this will only be a simplified "orbit".... But with this mechanic the people living on the ground can trade with the space-city, every time it traverses the area.

 

- To move these things around, they have to overcome a certain inertia that holds every object in place.

e.g. if 2 engines are needed to accelerate a small 1 ton space ship, then 20000 engines are needed to accelerate a 10000 Tons space station. (the less engines the slower the acceleration)

The easiest way to get that many engines would be if the inhabitants of the station would pull the station with their own ships that are docked inside the station, like shown in the following image:

3jFRrDW.png

This would still be a very slow, and costly way of traveling. But it could be used to relocate the station to another planet every few month.

 

 

Now back to "why" to travel with the whole city.

For me it would be the convenience to have all your stuff always with you when you travel. And to be protected by the sheer numbers of players in the city.

Space stations might be valuable targets for pirates, but are also way harder to crack, than these lonely cargo ships! ;)

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That is some really good feedback all around.

 

Caprikel if you want we can keep this thread going as a thought experiment. Overall I think we have identified some questions that need to be answered before we can even begin construction.

 

Here are a few that come to mind at this time.

 

-What can the ship provide that sets it apart, what is its niche?

 

-Bulk reduces cost but anything popular enough to be mass produced will be made locally.

 

-How would "we" off set the transportation cost so you can offer goods cheaper than local sources. The transportation energy costs are usually the biggest costs in a products lifecycle.

 

I'm sure other people can think of additional questions that need to be answered before development starts.

 

Of course you can scale it down but then we are talking about a normal container ship. Moving ore or basic elements for high end construction.

 

Just some food for thought. :)

 

If there's anything I love more than a thought experiment, I would be hard pressed to think of it. 

 

-What can the ship provide that sets it apart, what is its niche?

What I have envisioned is a giant, possibly modular, spectacle of a ship that would not only provide all the services of a city, but also function as a well-known caravan to make money in. In order to attract people to it, it would have to be iconic as a great place to spend time and make/spend money. For example, if gambling becomes a thing in DU, this construct would make a great Las Vegas as you can just let it come to your area for you to try it out. If the ship is capable of entering the planets atmosphere, you could have it land in a major city, and attract the many people who are intrigued in this wonderful super-ship. 

So basically the niche would be people who want to travel/live in a traveling city, so that they can visit many planets, and meet all sorts of new people. 

 

-Bulk reduces cost but anything popular enough to be mass produced will be made locally.

One of the main selling points of the project would be that it provides many goods that won't be available at a local market, including materials unique to other planets, unique constructs/vehicles, and whatever else DU makes available. Also JC mentioned that you can order a product from a market unit, which leaves the need to actually go get your purchase from the market unit. With this caravan-like ship, you can simply wait for the ship to arrive in your area, where you can pick it up without ever having to hire a risky middleman. So basically, if the market unit of this ship has a cool vehicle you want that isn't available locally, you can purchase it from the market unit on the ship, and wait for it to arrive and you will have saved money not hiring a middleman, who could potentially lose your ship to pirates or steal it. It basically provides what you would want from a foreign market, except without the middleman/self-traveling.

 

-How would "we" off set the transportation cost so you can offer goods cheaper than local sources. The transportation energy costs are usually the biggest costs in a products lifecycle.

I'm unsure if it will be able to compete with local markets over goods that they can produce readily. Like I said in response to the previous question, it's mainly going to be competition with foreign sources rather than local. 

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Now back to "why" to travel with the whole city.

For me it would be the convenience to have all your stuff always with you when you travel. And to be protected by the sheer numbers of players in the city.

Space stations might be valuable targets for pirates, but are also way harder to crack, than these lonely cargo ships!  ;)

 

I didn't even think about the potential protection that would be provided by all the people on board. If there's even just 50 people who have battle ready ships, or there are plenty of battle-ready ships made for this purpose, then all that is needed is plenty of people to man these ships. I'm sure any traveling merchant will be willing to help defend against the pirates when they have many of their goods on the ship, and so the number of people would make the city-ship well protected.

 

Also as for travel, when star-gates are added, a city-ship will be capable of traveling to different star systems even with it going at a slow speed. 

 

 

 

- Things in space should orbit around the nearest gravity center, like shown in the following image:

 

One thing i'm unsure about is whether there will be any kind of orbiting in the game. Currently we know that planets and asteroids won't orbit, but it would be interesting if ships could orbit around a star or planet.

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Right so lets condense that.

 

It could be an attraction so thats basicly targeting tourism.

Gambling is tourism as well.

Exotic goods not found in the local system.

Selling ships on the station.

 

I think we identified a potential niche.

Tourism. PT Barnum once said "there's a sucker born every minute." I think that could apply to the ship. What if you collect interesting constructs like a museum. These could be statues, murals etc. Basicly a museum dedicated to voxel art. I think people would pay to see that.

 

Once you got them they will want to do some side activities. You mentioned gambling. If its possible to create a random number generator with LUA you can create a casino. Or at minimum a lottery.

 

Beyond that you could sell vehicle constructs with an unique design. Something flashy that catches the eye.

Basicly you need an eye catcher in the gift shops. Capitalise on that impulse buy.

 

I dont think it would be possible to keep rigid travel times. By that I mean I think it would only be sensible to move the market when you have earned the cost of the fuel to reach your next stop. Or when the local interest has died out.

 

Just some ideas, but I see no reason why something like this couldnt expand into your vision.

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I think it is still a cool idea and I know a lot of people have been talking about it but I just remembered another problem you may encounter. In order to build something that large you need the man power. The large space station from the trailers and demos wasn't built in-game because JC said it would have taken his team forever to build. The thought of building something as large as a city could take 100 people, 10 hours a day upwards of 2-3 months if not more. You have to collect resources, haul them into space, build, then repeat over and over for weeks on end. I do wish you guys good luck though, I know this has been something a lot of people want to accomplish, guess we shall see who the top builders are.

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I do wish you guys good luck though, I know this has been something a lot of people want to accomplish, guess we shall see who the top builders are.

Me personally I have no ambition to actually build it. But its a fascinating subject, who knows maybe someone else might be sparked by the idea. Or someone searching the forum in the future might find something useful in these threads.

*shrug* :P

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Me personally I have no ambition to actually build it. But its a fascinating subject, who knows maybe someone else might be sparked by the idea. Or someone searching the forum in the future might find something useful in these threads.

*shrug* :P

 

Oh this is bound to happen, no doubt about it. Knowing the gaming community, orgs will want to own the biggest city, biggest ships, and control the biggest amount of territory. That's how an MMO with a majority male players goes xD

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