A take on gathering interaction

[Dreamstar]

Hello, I have a idea proposal for some economic interaction.

 

I suggest a semi automated method for farming and or resource extraction.

 

The method in mind would tie into other commodities increasing player to player economics.

 

The nature of mining ore gathering, or mass producing items is usually fairly tedious and not much fun after you've harvested your 10,000th row of corn or zapped your 1,000,000th chunk of iron.

 

So as a side career path to you being the biggest baddest space pirate you also want to grow asparagus, but you dont actually

 want to get dirt on your hands what you actually want is to market asparagus. What if you could hire workers controlled by a

 basic artificial intelligence to do menial labor such as this. 

If the resources couldnt be spared for processing hordes of 3d models then perhaps the calculations for growing and harvesting ect. could just be crunched at specific tics - with just a handful of models for representation

 

I was thinking of a tiered system each with its own advantages to suit player's tastes, interest's, roleplay factors, maybe even correlate to missions.

 

Thus you will acquire some types of labor below, give an interface a command and some resources and allow it to start doing its thing. Maybe you tell it to automatically pull a certain resource from a specified container or your pack - or not. 

 

The most basic of the base to the most advanced.

 

Lowest

Slave Economy      - Cheap cost-effective results

• Forced Labor       - These guys dont work too hard, but you also dont pay them. Upkeep Costs Basic Foodstuff; Output Yields 75%
• Slaves             - People that have no chance of escaping their bonds, they work hard because the alternatives are unpleasant.Upkeep Costs Basic Foodstuff, Wooden Housing 100%
• Indentured Slaves  - They may not like it, however, for one reason or another they have signed or waived their rights to you and therefor they WILL like it . Upkeep Basic Foodstuff, Basic Housing 125% - 50% Chance 25%Boost

 

Labor economy      - Workers of the world, a chance for something better

• Entry Worker       - Poor and unhappy these guys have little chance of advancing in society. Upkeep Low Wages, Basic Housing 100%
• Educated Worker    - Unions and Educated workers, these guys have earned their due. Upkeep Medium Wage Apartment/Medium Housing 150% - 50% chance to produce and additional 25% yield.
• Superior Worker    - Any number of men and women could apply to this field be they Genetically modified, Cybernetically Enhanced, or just a plain Genius. High Pay, Deluxe Housing 200% Yield 50% Chance of 50% bonus

 

Digital Econ  - Producing according the the \program\

• Robotics  - Programmed Machinery to perform labor. Energy, Machine Parts, 125%
• Autonomous Robotics- Machinery capable of re-configuring itself for greater task efficiency. Energy, Machine Parts, Computer Components 175%
• Sentient Nano-robotics  - Machines networked and calculating, they live to work, just a grade below artificial intelligence they are aware of their own existence though they cannot fathom independent thinking rendering them unable to revolt against society. Energy, Machine Parts, Computer Components, Bio-Processors 225% Efficiency

 

Slaves and robotics could be items placeable on the open market. whereas Workers from the labor type economy could possibly be hired from staff agencies / receptacles / or an Employment Agent NPC.

 

 

To reiterate the effectiveness of the tiers if it is confusing posted the other way.

  Inputs/Needs                                                                            Outputs/Efficiency

1 Food                                                                                75%

2 Food, Primitive Housing                                                          100%

3 Food, Basic Housing, Clothing                                                     125% 50% Chance of 25% increase 

 

1 Low Wage, Basic Housing                                                        100%

2 Medium Wage, Medium Housing                                                    150% 50% chance of 25% increase

3 High Pay, Expensive housing                                                              200% 50% chance of 50% increase

 

1 Energy, Machine Parts                                                              125%

2 Energy, Machine Parts, Computer Components                                  175%

3 Energy, Machine Parts, Computer Components, Bio-Processors                 225%

 

The point to the Economy types, is that certain player or computer organisations might impose rules or regulations over an entire group.

 

Thanks for reading, this idea is a bit rough, I hope you can see potential of it though; please feel free to expose any flaws you see in this concept.

[NQ-Nyzaltar]

Hi Kongou,

 

Several interesting ideas in your topic:

• Yes, we are currently discussing about the possibility of having scripted droids (obtainable by crafting) to do some automated work (but not everything).
   
• Slavery won't be a "hardcoded" game mechanic, for a few reasons:

1) While this can be a logical concept in some SciFi games due to the background storyline, it's not really the case in Dual Universe: before Mankind leave Earth, some concepts like Slavery were considered barbaric and therefore, wasn't something brought along on new planets. However, nothing prevent that, at some point, slavery start to reappear.

2) With the technology available in Dual Universe, slavery will most probably seen as some archaic and inefficient concept. Mechanical AIs will look like the ideal manual workers: never tired, never bored of repetitive tasks, never complaining, no need to eat or to be paid, etc... Why bother with slaves in this situation?

3) To see any kind of slavery in game, it will only be up to players (some taking the role of masters and others taking the role of slaves willingly). This will be part of the emergent gameplay we're talking about. But this will be more about roleplay than efficiency purpose.

• Having an evolving system, especially for industry, is something we are thinking about

First your character will start with a simple tool (the nanoformer) to do the manual work, then you will be able to build semi-automated elements (3D Printer, Assembly Unit), then you will be able to craft mechanical workers programmed to bring resources to these semi-automated elements and activate them, etc... So yes, at some point, we plan to automatize at least a part of the repetitive work. But that won't be something available from the start.

[Dreamstar]

 

Thanks for the response.

 

The initial thought I had, had, was something like the robotic 'Turtles' from minecraft. You give them a fuel source. and some basic command's and they go and do some basic things for you. like dig a mineshaft.

 

I mostly had thought to expand the idea to suit some varying sci-fi tastes. such as Imperials, Democratic idealism, and Techo-Commune. Though it was largely flavor Ill admit.

 

 

And really I have a better understanding now of the level of sophistication that is being driven here now. I had read the devblogs, though it descript's the concept well. I couldnt fully get a handle on the direction society was going past the Ark Ship bubble(s).

 

Though assuming now that everyone coming off the ships has long dropped the barbaric notions of the most dire forms of capitalism, the barbarism of serdom, slavery, minimum wage trap jobs, and the like; its hopeful. Nataurally players will do what-ever players will do though.

[NQ-Nyzaltar]

 

 

Thanks for the response.

 

The initial thought I had, had, was something like the robotic 'Turtles' from minecraft. You give them a fuel source. and some basic command's and they go and do some basic things for you. like dig a mineshaft.

 

I mostly had thought to expand the idea to suit some varying sci-fi tastes. such as Imperials, Democratic idealism, and Techo-Commune. Though it was largely flavor Ill admit.

 

 

And really I have a better understanding now of the level of sophistication that is being driven here now. I had read the devblogs, though it descript's the concept well. I couldnt fully get a handle on the direction society was going past the Ark Ship bubble(s).

 

Though assuming now that everyone coming off the ships has long dropped the barbaric notions of the most dire forms of capitalism, the barbarism of serdom, slavery, minimum wage trap jobs, and the like; its hopeful. Nataurally players will do what-ever players will do though.

 

 

Yes, you can expect something like the "robotic turtles" in Minecraft for the mechanical workers

 

However, it's a bit soon to assume what has been "dropped" and what's not:

I just mentioned that, before the Grand Exodus where Arkships left the Earth, Slavery wasn't considered as something valid in modern society.

However, nothing has been said about other harmful/nefarious concepts. And on the other hand, it has been also said that slavery could reappear: because some players might want to simulate this social system, and also because some elements storyline can favorize social regressions in some way. Weither the players decide to have social evolutions or regressions, it will be consistent with the storyline. I can't give more details why at the moment, but it will should be clear quite soon: the novelist Alain Damasio is currently working on a short story explaining many things in the world of Dual Universe. We have recently received a first draft. We are exciting to share this with the community as soon as possible, but there's still work to do