09-23-2015, 07:24 PM
Even if folks don't admit it.
I come at this from a Pirates of the Burning Sea (PotBS) perspective (big surprise, lol).
Labor is the only feature in the PotBS economy that is fixed. Most players bypass this by creating multiple accounts and this is made even easier with a Free-to-Play game that provides so much for free.
My thoughts on the matter are:
What if the labor "cost" was tied to the number of accounts active in the game? Say the population activity was measured and averaged every month. The number of active accounts would directly impact the labor cost. In reverse to what one would expect, though. More players would raise the labor cost, while less players would lower the labor cost.
So, if a particular item requires five raw structures to fully operate a processing structure. It would require ten raw goods structures to produce for one processing structure when player population was up, but maybe require only three when player population was down.
Sort of an overflow gate feature to minimize the ability of solo players to vertically integrate their operations when there are ample players provide the supply, but also to allow solo players to supply more when population is down. The month to month adjustment would ensure a certain consistency to pricing schemes for players, while also adding another element to the economy so folks will need to pay attention to labor costs/hours.
I suspect this will only be appreciated by those who have played PotBS and its sole player crafting monopolies.
Just brainstormed this up this afternoon. Please provide the Purge treatment, 8).
I come at this from a Pirates of the Burning Sea (PotBS) perspective (big surprise, lol).
Labor is the only feature in the PotBS economy that is fixed. Most players bypass this by creating multiple accounts and this is made even easier with a Free-to-Play game that provides so much for free.
My thoughts on the matter are:
What if the labor "cost" was tied to the number of accounts active in the game? Say the population activity was measured and averaged every month. The number of active accounts would directly impact the labor cost. In reverse to what one would expect, though. More players would raise the labor cost, while less players would lower the labor cost.
So, if a particular item requires five raw structures to fully operate a processing structure. It would require ten raw goods structures to produce for one processing structure when player population was up, but maybe require only three when player population was down.
Sort of an overflow gate feature to minimize the ability of solo players to vertically integrate their operations when there are ample players provide the supply, but also to allow solo players to supply more when population is down. The month to month adjustment would ensure a certain consistency to pricing schemes for players, while also adding another element to the economy so folks will need to pay attention to labor costs/hours.
I suspect this will only be appreciated by those who have played PotBS and its sole player crafting monopolies.
Just brainstormed this up this afternoon. Please provide the Purge treatment, 8).