Xeha: I have to look, honestly, and double check. For many items, it is as you describe, it's just a given type and a quantity, and the quantity increasing has no impact on data management. But, some inventory data is a bit more complex, there are "blobs" of information that are written, or nested inventory data for ships that then contain lots of different items and addons (or even other ships, that also have inventories).. and that "tree" of data needs to be stored in a manner different from just "Widget: Quantity".

Player data is generally not compressed in the database. Some of it is encoded in various ways by the SD.

The data-retrieval issue can come up when a player flies into a new sector, and the SD takes a lengthy time getting their inventory from the database. To be clear, this is not, nor has it ever been a "problem", nothing user-noticeable. But, we do pay close enough attention to query times to be aware of the potential for future-problems. There are a lot of different solutions, everything from segmenting inventory "geographically" or across multiple servers, or simply just storing the inventory data differently.

A lot of the database-side of the game is not what I would call "great". It's ok, and it's actually pretty scalable and fast.. but it was written by people in the Mysql 3.23 era, who were mostly trying to get other stuff done. If we were to re-architect the thing, around either current SQL or some modern key/value store like AeroSpike, it would probably look a lot different. But, like everything technical about the game.. major re-writes take a lot of time, so instead we tend to find work-arounds that are "good enough" for the moment.

well, the issue with parsing blobs could just be as simple as recording a parent itemid. this way you can seperate it and keep the parsing simpler as a db is designed for such tasks and therefore may even be faster.

im happy to help out if you need help :)

Are you planning to bump it up or not?

+1 to increased storage, +10 to bigger stations in general. Personally, reckon the current "Capitol" size ought to be the "medium" size, while the actual capitol stations need a dramatic increase in size... but that's just my 0.02 credits.

So, what if station storage cost went up on a curve, or at least as a tiered thing? Are you willing to pay considerably more, or at a higher rate, for expanded storage?

I would rather offset this kind of benefit with a credit sink as well.

Ever consider a complete inventory wipe, or secondary universe?

I would pay upwards of 1m/week for each station that feature capital docks if we're talking about expanding storage.

Addition storage is already much too cheap.

Also, if you want to curb inflation consider allowing f2p light manufacturing privileges.

Blaqk, we get you are uber rich, but not every one is, nor should we need to be. 1M/week is outright ridiculous.

Sure, the cost should definatly increase, but I don't feel a curve is appropriate here, personally. A linear scale seems more fitting IMO.

And an inventory wipe would be the easiest way to kill off 90% of players.

FC but you didn't even ask how much storage we would get for 1m/week? Personally I was thinking somewhere along the lines of 200,000cu or 250,000cu.

Also, yes you SHOULD be expected to be "rich"/afford rent if you are using more than 50K cu in storage at a capdock station. When you can make nearly a million credits per haul doing basic trading as a FREE TO PLAY. No one is putting a gun to your head and telling you to rent more than you can afford.

Give us something to spend money on, give us a reason to pay people or "sink" credits into game feature. Until that happens, the economy will continue to devalue itself as people stop manufacturing due to the result of a extremely stagnant market along with the inability to rise the net worth ladder.

It's pretty simple, remove arbitrary limits on manufacturing like 10x MCA/24 hours, Lower the manufacturing requirement to 4 combat, and allow a player to "dismantle" manufactured goods such as ships(SL, TTM, Goli) for a penalty via a mission. These actions alone will spur massive player and economy growth.

I would prefer second non-test server over a reset for obvious reasons.

Fairy Nuff, I didn't ask about amount of storage, but for 1M/week, I'd want a hell of a lot. That said, just 'cos one has a lot of stock doesn't mean one is uber rich. I farm/mine a fair bit, but almost never trade (not counting proc missions for standing back in the day), and don't want to be forced to do so just to cover rental costs. I find trade the most boring (and broken) aspect of VO, even more so than mining. Forcing me to trade would kill much enthusiasm, and make me a sad Faille.

Edit to add: - 50 gazillion to an inventory wipe. I'd likely quit VO if I lost all my hard earned maguffins, and I doubt I'd be alone there. I'd certainly be very, VERY pissy about it, and complain for however long was left on my sub at the time, and on these forums for months after that! :|

Combat is better money than trade, even as a F2P.

This isn't about forcing people or restricting them, the opposite in reality.

Yes trade/mining is kinda fucky, but instead of complaining about it you should help fix it.

You said a f2p can make 1M/haul... how is combat better than that?

Incidentally, I also support your other ideas to promote manufacturing, except lowering the license cap. Non capital manu missions like SLs, and specialty weapons, sure, but Inc stated capships would remain a premium sub tier, and I reckon thats a fair call. If f2p can do everything a paying player can, people simply won't pay, and that does no-one any good.

Anyone can go to Central Hive Skirmish and farm queens/levi as a F2P and make 2-5x that per jump.

Anyone can become a bounty hunter and get 3.3m+ in a single PK.

Anyone can capture a station, defend it, and sell access.

Anyone can pirate.

The simple answer is Guild Software needs to give us LTS/Subscribers more to do, I agree F2P should not be able to pilot a capship, but they should definitely be able to manufacture one.

Oh, if we are going to talk about the economy of VO, we are going to need to think of a miracle to get it out of the shitshow it is, as well as make some of the Manu'd good worth it. A CWM is not much better than a Posi, and... Well, take a look. 1Mil and you pay for a identical weapon.

I mean, pick any item and you can work out that it's not really worth its 100 price.

Realistically, I could make a lovely rant about how the economy is like North Korea, but I don't have the time, patience, or ability to choose my words right.

Also blaqk, I see where you are coming from - if they can make them, it's another reason to sub to fly them- but no. All that will happen is complaining.

It's okay if they complain, they don't pay anything. The conversion rate will increase.

- 50 gazillion to an inventory wipe from me as well