The Merchant Steele

[Foxxling]

Bottom line... this is basically a pitch for a follower based revenue system.

You have followers who have certain skills and abilities such as Sera who sells stuff, Yammi who cooks, Shekka who breaks shit and sells it and so on and so forth. I am currently writing up a mechanic who is also a tattoo artist and does piercings (maybe just piercings since that system is in-game), an ausar masseur and a bull/twink/herm treated mechanic... all of whom could ply their various trades on... lets say... tavros, should the player need them to.

Goal: I am proposing to make a system where Steele recieves annual (weekly or monthly or whatever) revenue from followers who are not on the ship after certain conditions are met. I wouldn't do this for any of the npc's that are already available just for the ones that I am currently writing.

Steps would be

• Invest: This can be anything from purchasing a storefront, providing a lump sum of start-up money, giving the npc specific items, completing a quest... etc. The objective here is to provide the player with an incentive to invest in the form of future profits.

• Collect: A set amount of credits should automatically be dumped into the player's account after a set amount of time. I personally feel like ALL revenue should be on the same schedule to keep coding simple so once a week (every day number that is a multiple of 7), once a month (every day number that is a multiple of 30), twice a month (every day number that is a multiple of 15) or something like that.
  
  And how much you get from certain NPCs can either be static and unchanging or influenced by outside variables all up to coders and writers.

• Reacquire: Should always have the option of visiting the NPC at their place of business (be it a storefront, school or the coal mines) or contacting them in some way to put them back on your ship.

The reasoning for this is to provide one viable way to make the massive amounts of credits that would be required to buy ships.

Ok that's it lemme know what u guys think of this.

 

[flying_moustache]

That's a neat idea to give more merit to interacting with NPCs and at the same time relieve the player of grinding credits. I like the sound of it.

Would it be strictly necessary for the followers to not be on the ship though? I think I remember that sub Sera can conduct trades while traveling on your ship. I imagine that quite a few professions could be done via "home office" (at reduced efficiency maybe?)

 

[Foxxling]

It could be done case by case with different events for each npc crew member

 

[Pokemonique]

I think it'd be cool. I mean, it'd certainly make my crew still feel useful when I eventually have to boot them off the ship when ship expansions come to (ironically) stop my ship from being an infinitely huge dormitory. And they can earn some sweet credits so I can buy a bigger ship for 'em. Nice.

...Although, a good chunk of them would probably just end up working in the sex industry, lol.

 

[Foxxling]

I think it'd be cool. I mean, it'd certainly make my crew still feel useful when I eventually have to boot them off the ship when ship expansions come to (ironically) stop my ship from being an infinitely huge dormitory. And they can earn some sweet credits so I can buy a bigger ship for 'em. Nice.

...Although, a good chunk of them would probably just end up working in the sex industry, lol.

That's the beauty of it, sky's really the limit. With people like Anno who already have a storefront, you can be a little lazy and revive that. You could potentially send npc crew to slut it up for credits, run a storefront, work in some mines somewhere... and they'll still be contributing to the overall adventure.

 

[Raindrops]

this seems like it'd fit Steele's overall goal too... It just makes sense that the designer baby of an industrial emperor is good at setting up their own business

 

[Foxxling]

Implementation Idea: Instead of having each character have their own unique merchant system we could have one system that is aff

• The merchant system takes its current collection value and dumps it into the player's credits.
• The initial value is, of course, 0
• Each potential merchant npc has a value called a merchant value
• When the NPC isn't set to merchant their merchant value is inactive
• When the NPC is in merchant mode their merchant value becomes active
• All active merchant values are added into the player's collection value
• Every 15th or 30th day (determined by the number of days past) the value of the collection bank is added to the player's current credits.
• A Collection Ledger in the variables screen will let the player know how much money they'll be making the next payday.

I believe this would be an easier way to implement a merchant system instead of having each individual npc have their own. Also merchant values can be a static amount or variable, as each npc's merchant value can be

This can also be used for a non-follower npc, allowing steele to create contracts and invest in people beyond the crew members.

 

[Number13]

This actually sounds quite interesting. I have to agree Tavros would likely be the best place to do this, unless it's done for an industry that's not available on Tavros. The mining you mentioned could be done on Myrellion for example. Or one could invest into with a NPC for a fishing location on, say, Mhen'ga, which could also potentially unlock a fishing minigame for the player. There is just so much possibility with this idea, potentially expanding the richness of the TiTs universe.

And if a ship limit is ever implemented this could have the crew members that will be forced out to still contribute if they have the ability to instead of just waiting to be picked up again. Seriously this is a good idea.

 

[Holographic_Information]

I love this idea. I feel bad about sending anyone to go work in a mine or something. It sounds really harsh. Maybe instead we could build automated machinery that mines for you so that nobody actually has to go down there (not even an AI?)

 

[Foxxling]

I love this idea. I feel bad about sending anyone to go work in a mine or something. It sounds really harsh. Maybe instead we could build automated machinery that mines for you so that nobody actually has to go down there (not even an AI?)

I guess there could be some sort of automated processes but anything over complex like mining would have to at least be overseen by an AI. Which would be fine because those hazardous conditions are only hazardous to things with lungs.

Automation is an avenue I hadn't thought of... and could be a good use for an AI... idk but it sounds good

 

[Holographic_Information]

I guess there could be some sort of automated processes but anything over complex like mining would have to at least be overseen by an AI. Which would be fine because those hazardous conditions are only hazardous to things with lungs.
Automation is an avenue I hadn't thought of... and could be a good use for an AI... idk but it sounds good

Speaking of AI I think that sounds great. Would be nice to have a Ship AI too.

 

[NotYouNorI]

Speaking of AI I think that sounds great. Would be nice to have a Ship AI too.

Ship related mechanics would need to be implemented first. This is why Hand So can't be installed yet.

 

[XBoxMaster131]

Ship related mechanics would need to be implemented first. This is why Hand So can't be installed yet.

Which at this rate will happen around when CoC 2 is complete. Seriously, how long ago was thed ship revamp first announced, anyway? I'm actually becoming genuinely concerned for Gedan at this point.

 

[Foxxling]

Well for something on the ship, yes you would have to wait for the ship systems to be nailed downd, but we're talking about merchant systems.

As long as the ship's AI system isn't part of it then there really shouldn't really be a problem right? Just have the a self-contained AI whose core programming is located on a planet. Just like with Hand So you could have a quest that ends in one being able to choose the fate of an AI, and one of those choices could turn out having the AI do X which results in the character receiving Y credits within the confines of the merchant system.

Also it doesn't have to be an AI. Investing in a company on the ground level and then helping grow that company could be a thing. So could facilitating trade between planets of the rush and the core worlds... really the sky's the limit so we don't have to tie this to the ship systems in any way, shape or form.

 

[Grimoire]

Well if an author say ... the Grey Goo or Nova writer approved of it, we could have the option of having the crew of the Nova be the miners of the excavations sites. Lore wise, Grey Goo do have a centralized AI and they DO need jobs after their lives were destroyed. In service of fronting the money for them to get new bodies, they pay you back for your help in you setting them free or enslave them if you chose the other options.

Not saying we should hijack someone's work or nothing, but using something that is already in-game would advance the evolution of their story.

 

[Foxxling]

waste not want not

but as always one would have to ask the creator