I think it could help preventing people from trading up to a couple of millions and then not trading at all.
That SHOULD result in trading going on all the time, which is good, I think.
There could be fees for docking, repairing, warping and so on.
Of course, it could cost a permanent amount of money, but then it won't prevent the trading-once-fighting-always issue (repairing did cost money long time ago. Didn't really effect anything).

I suggest a system that keeps a record of your number of docking, warping, repairing, ship buyings, ammo and so on. After either couple of days or flight hours you'll be forced to pay the fee. If you don't pay in time, there'd be an interest, and if the interest is too high you won't be able to buy some ships or weapons, be banned from stations and etc.

If such a systen is implented, fees could be dynamicly changed or added.
For example, if alot of people bring widgets from sector 7 to 2, which is Serco's terriroty, you'd have to pay a fee. When the widget's flow is lowered, the fee is autodeleted.

I agree that we need more things to spend money on. At the moment the only thing that really costs any money after you get onto your feet is death.

But I don't think there should be fees that affect the poor just as much as they affect the rich. A wh fee would destroy newbs and probably wouldn't bother people who are already rich. Instead we need things to buy that need to be bought repeatedly. Like one use expensive toys (example +5m/s max speed for 30 seconds can only equip one and it costs 5-10k once used you'd have to buy another). Obviously repairs will cost money and one would assume it'll cost a lot more than they did in 3.2. We need stuff that will constantly cost fighters money if they want to get every little edge, but will still allow others to fight successfully against them.

I think I have a solution regarding the fees towards poor and rich.
Here (Israel) in some places the fines are relative to your bank account/sallary status. We can have something like that here.
Let's say 3% of your money for 100 dockings. Docking in a bus is free (can't see a way to abuse it).

I'll work out something better tommorow (late and I can't think at such times).

What if they liquidate their assets(Buy a bunch of ships)

Maybe some fees for keeping ships in stations? IE if somebody keeps 3 valks in station (not in homesectors) it would cost him.. for example 5% of ship value per day

I wasn't saying that we should charge poor people less... just have stuff that isn't necessary but is a little helpful that ends up costing significant money if you want it around for a while. Something that interests people who have money to spend.

I think a basic set of fees would work quite well and add another dimension to the game.

Landing/docking fees for vary between different sectors. A station with heavy traffic would cost more to dock at than a light trafic station. Size of ship, or even national/guild status could also effect docking fees.

Cargo storage fees for keeping an inventory of a specific cargo at a station for more than one docking 'event'. This could be a fixed fee per unit, or a percentage of the market value of the comodity.

Keeping these things dynamic would be the key. Some kind of balance sheet in the station interface (probably in the inventory tab?) would work really well here.

To add something to Eldrads ideas: A kind of paint shop allowing you to customise the outward appearane of you various ships would be cool. Some station or sectors could specialise in different styles, think Futurist s9 ;) with different prices dynamicaly based on demand!

-ts-

I like Eldrad's idea best, but it seems too combat oriented. The final game won't be as combat focused, so we'll need mechanisms to make traders, miners, and all the other vocations have to spend on some upkeep as well. Perhaps stations should have tarriffs on trade-goods. The newbie cargo will be tax-free, but each trade-run you make with the good cargo will cost you a little. Docking fees for advanced ships would work too. 1st tier ships that newbies would bye dock for free, but once you break some threshold with your ship's quality you start paying to maintain some of its more advanced features. You could have one permanent home sector where you have your own "garage" where repairs and docking are all free, but you have to pay an upkeep each day to hold a ship in a station.
Little powerups and "nitro" for our ships would be nice too though. As would the custom paintjobs.

A) I dont like the idea of fees. It simply puts another thing on a pilots mind, and again, encourages pilots to stay outside until they are very close to death (so the dock less) and that leads to one thing, DEAD PILOTS

B) Busses could be abused by using them as trade vessels. Two pilots work together, 1 in a centuar, the other a bus. The bus ferries cargo OUT to the Centaur and then they fly to the destination. Then the Cent drops cargo and the bus carries it inside. Both the Cost and Profit are split 50-50 (or 40-60, whatever they want). Thus avoiding the tarrif.

C)Again, if fees are to be implemented, I'd suggest them being rolled into the cost of the goods in the station (perhaps widgets and weapons increase by say 2c or so to cover tax) and then pilots dont have to worry before they land "Oh can I afford the fee to land?" instead, they just buy goods as usual and get charged the amount in the price.

"A) I dont like the idea of fees. It simply puts another thing on a pilots mind, and again, encourages pilots to stay outside until they are very close to death (so the dock less) and that leads to one thing, DEAD PILOTS"

-It's cheaper to repair a ship then to replace it. So all it amounts to is reducing the amount of people that run at the first sign of someone who might actually put up a fight.

But shouldn't you be allowed to run? I mean, if the game is not only combat-based, you should be able to run if you aren't the fighting type... And noobs too, mustn't forget them.

for trading, what if we had Nation Controlled sectors, or systems, that charge taxes to other nation's pilots that drop cargo their.

So an Itani pilot trading to a Serco station would loose 10% of his profits. A NT might only loose 5%. This would obviously have to vary by any number of other factors. Such as if the 2 governments are at war.

There could be a relations variable, controlled either by AI or by some player controlled government. So Itani Nation could set their relations toward Serco to -500 for instance. This would mean Serco Pilots trading in Itani space would be taxed 25%. Then they could set NT relations to +500 which would mean NT would make 25% more profits.

This could be done with all things from that sector/system/whatever. Ships would cost more or less and weapons and ammo.
Would add to the RP anyway.

It would be interesting if factions or very rich players could buy a station, then build it up over time. So a basic station would cost 20mil(or whatever) then putting extra shields on it costs 10k per shield unit to a maximum of 500. Each shield unit would increase your shields by X. But at 50 you would run out of space, so would have to build-on to your station costing 30k per space. Each item would take up so much space, shield unit might be 5 for example.

This way you could constantly be upgrading things like docking bays, weapons, shields, stores etc.

fewes taxes whatever you call em i'm for em they are something that has been missing from this game. I'm not sure what the best way to add them would be. Perosnally i'd like to see a simple docking fee. It could vary from station to station, and be based on the size of the craft you have. A centurian takes up less space than a centaur after all. These fees could then also be said to include the cost of labor to load/unload your ship, do minor maintenance (clean the window etc) and of course, provide the means for a station to keep itself running. Then if/when we have Pc run stations, the guild or individual who owns the station sets the docking fees, which could provide another nice sourse of income for a guild, (after they pay their operating expenses for the station of course).

"But shouldn't you be allowed to run? I mean, if the game is not only combat-based, you should be able to run if you aren't the fighting type"

-You can run. You're just going to have to pay for it. It's not like it'll be some sort of back-breaking fee. It's nominal for a short stint. Only gets big if you leave a ship there for a long time. If you don't have the money to dock you get put in an EC-88 and are forced to go out and mine some widgets to repay your debt of 5c or something.

Pyroman, 'rolling' to fees into the cost of cargo is completely pointless. There may as well be no fee. I think you miss the

I like the idea of dynamic and variable fees for different station and factions/guilds. A particular station may be notorious as a market for high return sales, but the fees/taxes charged to most players would offset the gains to be made. Only by being affiliated to a specific trading guild, or with a suitable reputation with the guild, do the fees become low enough to make a decent profit. If the potential gains to be made are great, traders will seek membership with the guild, or attempt to improve their reputation. This equals more depth to gameplay.

If the whole system is dynamic, improving your reputation with one guild (or joingin said guild) would also effect other options open to you. By being a parts of a trade guild in order to gain the best possible prices and the lowest possible fees, you may well find that you are unable to aquire special weapons or fighting craft. The game is expanded...


-ts-