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Intermediary Components in Crafting


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From following forum posts and monthly dev blogs, it seems that NQ has the different levels of crafting planned as follows:

1. Mining raw resources
2. Refining resources
3. Crafting components
4. Crafting items (elements, consumables, etc.)
I think that having components as an intermediary step between refining resources and crafting is not a game mechanic beneficial to the game. It would only convolute the crafting process, dilute the market for resources, and it would not be emergent gameplay. I have a biased few on this, since I come from Albion Online, a game that has embraced this idea and eliminated components in the crafting process, so I would like to hear the opinion of others as well.

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The more complex the crafting process becomes, the greater the need for trade and logistics, and the greater the opportunity for additional players to enter the production chain.

 

All those sub-assemblies have to be manufactured, stored, bought and sold and ultimately moved around in the world (logistics).

The various tiers of manufacturing may require varied skill specialisations and industrial elements, which will stimulate the need for interaction and co-operation between players.

A wide variety of traded goods stimulates the economy and spreads money around.

The more players involved in the production chain, the greater the competition, which inevitably leads to lower prices for everything (EVE is a fine example in this regard).

 

A deep crafting process also allows for richer game play, as each step in the process can possibly be used to influence the quality and volume of the eventual end product. 

A deep crafting process also paves the way for a substantial R&D system.

 

As a player that loves the crafting and industrial side of games, I would be hoping for MORE complexity in this area, not less ! :D

 

 

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1 hour ago, seennotheard said:

I think that having components as an intermediary step between refining resources and crafting is not a game mechanic beneficial to the game. It would only convolute the crafting process, dilute the market for resources, and it would not be emergent gameplay. I have a biased few on this, since I come from Albion Online, a game that has embraced this idea and eliminated components in the crafting process, so I would like to hear the opinion of others as well.

how wouldn't this be emergent gameplay?

 

As nano already said: you need logistics for production, you can't do big projects alone (as you need help from others to mine different resources, produce different subsystems and THEN assembling the finished element).

I come from eve and I hated every bit of production there - research blueprint, buy resources, ship resources there (your outpost, POS, station), press start. Yeah. Boring AF.

Then I got into the production of T3 cruisers and this was way more interesting:

- buy resources from moons (or get a moon yourself)

- buy resources from wormhole space (or get them yourself)

- buy normal resources (ores)

- buy special reverse engineering artifacts for each of the 4 subsystems + the hull

- combine moongoo+normal resources to get hybrid components

- combine hybrid components + wormhole resources to get T3-subsystems

- reverse engineer the hull

- assemble the ship

 

This was very interesting (and after a time even that was a little boring, because you got better in it) as it demands your full attention while doing stuff. Moreover it was emergent gameplay as there are more than 50 resources involved - and when you know (intel!) that certain alliances will change their stock doctrine to T3 cruisers....well then you better get some moons. Or buy bulk materials of other stuff.

 

I'm all in for even more complicated systems as it makes gameplay more deep. JC put it this way: "DU is easy to learn, but hard to master" - and that's what I want to see.

 

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6 hours ago, NanoDot said:

A wide variety of traded goods stimulates the economy and spreads money around.

My concern with this is that having a larger variety of goods would reduce the market of each individual good. While I do agree with you that using components in the crafting process could stimulate player interactions if skill specializations are involved, components that are easily craftable won't bring anything to the game.  For example, if you need a component called copper wire to create most elements, and it can be created with copper alone and an easily attainable skill, then it would only dilute the market for refined resources. Especially in a situation like this, I think that the game would be better off if uninvolving components were to be replaced with their refined resource equivalents.

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17 minutes ago, seennotheard said:

For example, if you need a component called copper wire to create most elements, and it can be created with copper alone and an easily attainable skill, then it would only dilute the market for refined resources.

Not really a problem if copper is one of the most abundant resources in the galaxy, and not used for too many different purposes.

 

There need to be entry level items that novice crafters can make and sell. I'd expect hovercaft parts to largely fall into that category, for instance.

 

A well-balanced crafting system takes into account which resources are common and which are rare, so that recipes for common things don't end up needing rare resources, for instance. And components that are widely used in many recipes will only require resources that are abundantly available in the world. That can be taken a step further, where recipes might only call for a certain class of resources, therefore allowing substitution depending on local availability of certain things (SWG did that in many recipes, because the resource classifications were quite deep).

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