Forums » Suggestions
Ships Like Cars
Below I will attempt to describe what I would consider both a lore, immersion, and gameplay improvement. The concept is to make the vehicles we fly in, feel more like the vehicles we drive in normally.
(1) Car manufacturers have models they like to stick to, say a Camry from Toyota. It then iterates this model every year. The major design only changes every few years while things like gas milage, capacity, or features can vary slightly each year and between different variations on the same year model. These models are also, often, country dependent. (As many ships in game currently are.)
(2) These manufacturers have to also transport these vehicles to their point of sale locations.
(3) Volumes available at specific dealerships can vary depending on demand.
(4) Car manufacturers need advertising to sell their vehicles.
(5) Not all car dealerships carry all brands, even if those brands are sold in the same country.
(6) Sometimes a specifically liked older model may sell for higher after it's been discontinued and the amount of that vehicle on the market has begun to dwindle.
Things I'd like to see implemented:
-(*) Specific models from specific companies with constant iterations each year with mostly minor differences.
-(*) Manufacturing plants that require mined or sourced resources to build ships.
---(^) 1 to 3 plants per manufacturer, per country.
---(^) Number of plants will vary depending on demand for vehicles from said manufacturer.
-(*) Manufacturing plants that can be destroyed or taken over.
---(^) Plants taken over or destroyed lose ability to produce and ship vehicles.
---(^) When plants are taken over or destroyed, the cost of vehicles produced at said plants will increase
at all locations it's sold in, increasing with time and demand. If no demand, the cost would eventually decrease.
---(^) Companies who have had their plants destroyed or taken over will post bounties on the perpetrators.
-(*) Any time a plant is destroyed, if the demand is available for the manufacturer, the plant will be rebuilt.
---(^) Rebuilding plants requires lots of resources and resource gathering missions will be more plentiful and worth more credits.
---(^) Plants will be rebuilt in a different location.
---(^) Plants will temporarily have extra guards supplied by the residing country.
-(*) Manufacturing plants constantly require supplies to produce vehicles.
---(^) NPCs and bots will be used to mine the local area for supplies to produce the vehicles.
---(^) Additional missions will be available for players to add additional resources.
-(*) Inventory variety based on demand and supply line.
---(^) If demand for a small or frequently shipped vehicle is increased, price may not increase too much.
---(^) If demand for a large or infrequently shipped vehicle is increased, price may increase by a significant
amount as stations learn of demand for the vehicle.
-(*) Vehicle shipping convoys can be encountered and battled with.
---(^) Successfully destroying a convoy will lead to a decrease in vehicle availability in markets serviced by said route.
---(^) Battling convoys frequently will increase price for vehicles as the need for greater protection is required.
---(^) Convoy escort missions will also generate after attacks happen.
---(^) If convoy attacks happen more frequently the credit value of escort missions will increase.
-(*) Vehicles can be sold second hand.
---(^) Number of times vehicles have been in accidents and have been repaired will eventually lower the
armour value and second hand value of the ships.
---(^) Number of times a ship has been repaired can also affect overall efficiency of the drives
and therefore top speed may be reduced.
-(*) Vehicles of previous generations are discontinued when new ones come out
---(^) Old inventory is still available till sold out and sold at discounted prices.
---(^) Old inventory will also consume space new inventory would take up.
---(^) If demand decreases too much and too many slots are filled at a given station, price of old vehicles may
be lowered dramatically in week long or week end sales to free up space for newer vehicles.
-(*) Players could be drafted once a year to submit new vehicle designs or specs.
---(^) The players whose ideas make it into the game would get that vehicle and a one year warranty for
free repairs on said vehicle(s), but not free replacements.
I googled as hard as I could before posting this, but there's no way I could manually sort through all the posts to make 100% sure this is a new idea for this game, so please let me know if you've seen this idea before. I'd love to hear what everyone thinks about this, questions, appreciation for the idea, hate of the idea, whatever.
I understand this a LOT of stuff to implement and might simply be impractical or not the direction Guild wants to take with this game. I can understand that. I just wanted to share an idea I had for some neat gameplay changes. It doesn't add too much complication to the game for users, but it does add a new element to the game which should make it feel more like a real world experience.
[EDIT] Formatting.
(1) Car manufacturers have models they like to stick to, say a Camry from Toyota. It then iterates this model every year. The major design only changes every few years while things like gas milage, capacity, or features can vary slightly each year and between different variations on the same year model. These models are also, often, country dependent. (As many ships in game currently are.)
(2) These manufacturers have to also transport these vehicles to their point of sale locations.
(3) Volumes available at specific dealerships can vary depending on demand.
(4) Car manufacturers need advertising to sell their vehicles.
(5) Not all car dealerships carry all brands, even if those brands are sold in the same country.
(6) Sometimes a specifically liked older model may sell for higher after it's been discontinued and the amount of that vehicle on the market has begun to dwindle.
Things I'd like to see implemented:
-(*) Specific models from specific companies with constant iterations each year with mostly minor differences.
-(*) Manufacturing plants that require mined or sourced resources to build ships.
---(^) 1 to 3 plants per manufacturer, per country.
---(^) Number of plants will vary depending on demand for vehicles from said manufacturer.
-(*) Manufacturing plants that can be destroyed or taken over.
---(^) Plants taken over or destroyed lose ability to produce and ship vehicles.
---(^) When plants are taken over or destroyed, the cost of vehicles produced at said plants will increase
at all locations it's sold in, increasing with time and demand. If no demand, the cost would eventually decrease.
---(^) Companies who have had their plants destroyed or taken over will post bounties on the perpetrators.
-(*) Any time a plant is destroyed, if the demand is available for the manufacturer, the plant will be rebuilt.
---(^) Rebuilding plants requires lots of resources and resource gathering missions will be more plentiful and worth more credits.
---(^) Plants will be rebuilt in a different location.
---(^) Plants will temporarily have extra guards supplied by the residing country.
-(*) Manufacturing plants constantly require supplies to produce vehicles.
---(^) NPCs and bots will be used to mine the local area for supplies to produce the vehicles.
---(^) Additional missions will be available for players to add additional resources.
-(*) Inventory variety based on demand and supply line.
---(^) If demand for a small or frequently shipped vehicle is increased, price may not increase too much.
---(^) If demand for a large or infrequently shipped vehicle is increased, price may increase by a significant
amount as stations learn of demand for the vehicle.
-(*) Vehicle shipping convoys can be encountered and battled with.
---(^) Successfully destroying a convoy will lead to a decrease in vehicle availability in markets serviced by said route.
---(^) Battling convoys frequently will increase price for vehicles as the need for greater protection is required.
---(^) Convoy escort missions will also generate after attacks happen.
---(^) If convoy attacks happen more frequently the credit value of escort missions will increase.
-(*) Vehicles can be sold second hand.
---(^) Number of times vehicles have been in accidents and have been repaired will eventually lower the
armour value and second hand value of the ships.
---(^) Number of times a ship has been repaired can also affect overall efficiency of the drives
and therefore top speed may be reduced.
-(*) Vehicles of previous generations are discontinued when new ones come out
---(^) Old inventory is still available till sold out and sold at discounted prices.
---(^) Old inventory will also consume space new inventory would take up.
---(^) If demand decreases too much and too many slots are filled at a given station, price of old vehicles may
be lowered dramatically in week long or week end sales to free up space for newer vehicles.
-(*) Players could be drafted once a year to submit new vehicle designs or specs.
---(^) The players whose ideas make it into the game would get that vehicle and a one year warranty for
free repairs on said vehicle(s), but not free replacements.
I googled as hard as I could before posting this, but there's no way I could manually sort through all the posts to make 100% sure this is a new idea for this game, so please let me know if you've seen this idea before. I'd love to hear what everyone thinks about this, questions, appreciation for the idea, hate of the idea, whatever.
I understand this a LOT of stuff to implement and might simply be impractical or not the direction Guild wants to take with this game. I can understand that. I just wanted to share an idea I had for some neat gameplay changes. It doesn't add too much complication to the game for users, but it does add a new element to the game which should make it feel more like a real world experience.
[EDIT] Formatting.
Some of these seem like nice immersion changes, but there are simply waaaaay too many to comment on :P
Would you believe this is only the tip of the iceberg? If I spent a few days I could write a book on my ideal space sim. The problem is the balance between complication, immersion, and what's actually possible in a timely manner at cost. Which is why I'll be happy if even just a small amount of this is accepted by the community.