We make money in this game. This is something that goes on constantly. Unfortunately, this money is not spent constantly. As a result, we pile up loads of excess capital to the point where the money ceases to be of value.

To remedy this, I suggest that the player be able to 'subscribe' to certain services for the news panel at a recurring cost. At launch, the only info that would appear there is patch stuff and a welcome message. Players would then subscribe to services as they saw fit, and pay accordingly.

Example services:

General

- The Space Farmer's Almanac
In business since 3283, the SFA has a proven track record predicting the location of ion storms, which are automatically downloaded into your navicomp as an hourly-updated overlay.
Price: 1000c/day

Trade

- Trade Wings - The Trader's Companion
For all of you owner-operators out there, do we have news for you! Find out where the day's big hauls are, keep up with supply and demand, learn all about the newest rigs and outfits! The Captains of Industry read Trade Wings, and you should, too!
Price: 2500c/day

Uhm... Alternative Businessmen

-The Black Standard Weekly
Avast, Matey, Ye've subscribed to the right magazine for swash-bucklin', cannon-firin', grog-chuggin' Pirates! Let them sissies keep their own rankings, and we'll keep ours! Who be the meanest pegleg to ever roam the spaceways? Find out in our weekly updates, ranked by number of crates delivered! Plus, since we know doubloons aren't always easy to come by, The Black Standard be but 500c/issue

"We make money in this game. This is something that goes on constantly. Unfortunately, this money is not spent constantly. As a result, we pile up loads of excess capital to the point where the money ceases to be of value. "

You should hang out more in Sedina B8 :D
...but, I like this idea.

Millions were spent last night in b8.

There are definetely already things to spend money on. But I like ctishman's idea of special news sections & Ion Storm reports that would have a "subscription" cost. Another one that might be nice would be "Ship Insurance" - for X credits a week/month, every time you get destroyed, you get a certain percentage of what you paid for your ship. And the more times your ship was destroyed, the more your insurance rate would be. Insurance policies could also discourage /explode: the fine print says that they won't pay for ships destroyed by /explode, but that they will consider you a more at risk pilot, and thus raise your rates. So there'd be benefits for both having or not having the insurance policy, and each player could choose which would be best for him/her.

Those're the two big things that I think should apply to anything & everything that's implemented from this idea: they should be optional, and should usually have something to balance out the benefits they give. For some things the balance could just be maintaned by the cost of the service, but some things should have additional factors.

i like the idea of information.......... at a price, very cool.

thumbs up