Architect Archive

Hi. I'm not an architect, I'm a resource harvester--but I wanted to bring up a concern that I have that I've seen talked about on my server.

The problem is that the supply/demand dynamics for architecture are creating some serious problems for architects. Most of the architects I know that are able to get the amounts of low-grade ore they need to work do it by having a reasonably large guild, with plots from many members of that guild going to harvest the ore. Even people in this favorable situation usually don't have as much as they need, however.

As a miner, I often get request for low-grade ore in high quantities at low prices--on my server, I've seen a reasonable request lately for bulk ore in the 2-4 credit range. Now, the problem is that while ore covers areas the size of a small South American country, it also comes in low concentrations (as I'm sure you've noticed.) It is possible, with a lot of hunting around, to get above 60%, which is a reasonably good concentration.

Now, from my point of view as a supplier of resources, I would *very much* like to be able to sell ore to architects. But, I can't find a good economic reason to do so. If I harvest a material which I am able to produce more cheaply (higher concentrations), which has a *lower* demand, I am able to sell it for around 6 credits per unit consistently. If I harvest ore, on the other hand, I need to use practically *all* of my harvesting space to bring up ore in the quantities that architects are looking for, at a higher cost per unit of material, at a higher cost in time to find a good location... to sell for a lower amount of money per unit.

Now, if I could be guaranteed to sell every scrap of ore I produce, but didn't sell all of other things I produce, it might motivate me to switch over. But unfortunately, I *do* sell the majority of the other things I produce--and what I don't sell, I can save against future rainy days while still making a larger profit than I would on ore.

Now--what's the real economic problem here, from the point of view of a resource harvester trying to provide to an architect? In essence, the problem is that while the supply of ore in terms of worldwide availability is *very* high (it can be found nearly everywhere), the supply of *plots* is low. The high prices of resources on the market have a variety of causes, but one of the components is a sort of unconscious valuation of production ability. because of this, those nation-sized ore deposits don't get built all over by independent miners, since those miners don't want to spend all of their production on such a low profit margin item.

In short, because the demand is so high, there ought to be economies of scale in producing and selling ore. But unfortunately, no *single* person can really make a reasonable profit, because the plot limit prevents us from reaching a large enough production capacity that the economy of scale makes it work out.

Anyway, that was long and sort of meandering. I just wanted to bring this issue up here, in the hope that you can point it to the devs. It's possible that the economy is working fine from their point of view. It's also possible that they intended for these economies of scale to exist, but didn't factor in the plot limit constraint. If the latter is the case, they may be able to tune the system to improve the supply somewhat, allowing independent resource dealers like myself to sell ore, and allowing architects who aren't backed by a guild to be in less dire straits.

Hehe the fellow does have a very interesting point though why shoule "low quality ore" be available in lower densities than high grade steel, aluminum, copper, iron, gemstones, wood, berries, wheat, potatoes, water, wind, air, monkey farts.... Oh wait sorry those last few seem to have some how been added to the list accidentally but i'm sure you get the drift. Perhaps a name change from LQ ore to magically rare building material stuff? or perhaps just an adjustment to the deposit %???

why even bother...have they ever responded to you?.....

wake up you are just pissing in the wind...your reporfts dont matter

Zarcath make sure they know this situation....

PA halls should count as cities. It would suck if the leader of a PA was a master architect and he had to decided whether to build his guild their structures or be forced to pick up politician.

Being a pa leader gives the same rights as a mayor spot seems to do. rather redundant and i hope u let them konw that for my sake. Im 2 tiers from master architect and i built my pa hall. but i wont be able to go both routes. worse is i dont want to have to be politician just so i can lead my pa. i know this is iffy but heres how it deals wit all architects.

find out if elite elite profs will have a different set of skill points. if they just add more skill points that'll make for some crazy combos like Master BH/Commando. Since were the first prof to get an elite we should set the standard for the rest of them.

i think they will need to create new skill point levels for elite elite profs. that is all please find out. i dont wanna get stuck crafting for the whole game or have a redundant politician just so i can run my own clan.

Hey Zarcath this is isop/cai. It would be really nice if you could get more specifics on the upcoming urban planner profession so we can start to use our architects skill points wisely.

Thanks again for attending our architects meeting on Intrepid it was nice to have you there.

Hey everyone. As I said we're going to continue these reports on schedule. Here is the pre-liminary list of 5 issues for this week.

---

• Hopper-style Power System


• Fixing Input Hopper on Crafting Stations


• Increased UXP from Deeds and Furniture


• Chairs and Couches additional sitting spots


• More user friendly furniture placement system

---

I have gotten word from Xahn that we will get Architect specific information within the next week. If you had not heard, all reports have been asked to be gathered but put on hold until further notice.

Please read the other sticky threads to find out what the prior topics have been.

Thanks,

Mitsudo

Preliminary is one word.

Here is what I would like to see (some of this may have been in your other top 5's):

1. Make structure research / qualitymean something (lowered maintenance fees / more harvesting efficiency etc)

2. Add some kind of decay system (for all durable goods even). One Idea I liked was have house's rent start to increase over time, (maybe doubling every 90 hours of time the owner is in-game / PA halls exempted).People would have strong incentives to by a new structure every now and then. (Or maybe add some kind of repair only performable by architects?) Without structure decay the market will flatten (It allready has with small houses). The same holds true for tailors, and droid engineers (Non-combat droids).

3. Fix the broken items like medium flora farms

4. Fix all of the factory issues (buggy crates etc)

5. Add more things to build (for all proffessions). Commit to doing this monthly. The only way our profession will stay fresh / fun is if there are new things to build and sell. If there were a few new things to sell every month: we would have more sales every month, and people who like to buy things / go shopping / collect thingswould have something new to do too.

Tsang

Achitect on Chilastra

Player Association does NOT equal (!=) City.

PA Leader != Mayor

PA Hall != Town Hall (or whatever the seat of government building will be called.)

Yes. You *should* have to pick one or the other. Simply being a PA leader doesn't automatically make you the political head of a civilian settlement by default. You can think of it in terms of PA's being military organizations and player cities being civilian entities.

There's no reason that a PA can't be a part of a larger player city structure, with neutral, non-PA people living in that community supplying the various non-military economy needs, hunting for resources, mining, or what have you.

If you have a PA leader who's ego is so huge that he/she can't envision a player society with anyone else having any measure of authority as far as his/her eye's can see, I would suggest that you need a new PA leader.

We have a PA smack dab in the middle of our community who we get along with great. However, there's no way that the PA leader is going to wind up being the mayor, because it's really two different groups working towards different type goals, while co-existing peacefully and mutually benefitting from each other.

If it isn't already, IMO, the system needs to be structured in such a way as to *prevent* PA leaders from being Mayors as well.

What i dont understand is why we are doing the 5 issues a week, when none of them are being addressed.

What kind of marketing gimmic is this where we all get to vent our problems and somehow we go away knowing they now know of the issue.

in the past month an a half, i have seen 4 Top 5 issues posted, zero fixed.

The top 5 Issues SHOULD NOT Change. they should represent what we see as show stopers, and when they are fixed, we can update the list.

My point is this, now with this list, i see that some items can only have one person sitting on it.

WHO CARES!!!, I cant acceess some admin functions in my house, factories, pick up stuff from the floor.

Top 5 means top 5!

I am not targeting my frustrations at any one user, but come on guys, lets work out what we absolutly need fixed. I personally dont want them spending time re-designing couches when they should be fixing the admin issues. so why waiste our time talking about it.

they have absolutely, positively need to fix the admin/vendor permissions for every structure. Obviously the system is already in place, it's a hour fix by a coder. And it would change the way business is done by an extraordinary amount.

Second declaring as residence also has got to be fixed. Theres no reason why your house needs to take up lots. My old house used to declare ok, but those days are number with my new house which is hogging 6 lots. Again another very small bug that could be fixed easily.

Could you please ask for the following commands

/depositpower xxxx This one should be super easy for them to implement

Now these two would take some work, so probably will not happen anytime soon.

/changeresource

/emptyhopper

The first and second week's top five were pretty good, but now Zarcath is grabbing at straws. These five things here I've never cared about myself, and we can see that furniture has again taken a front stage. I agree with the other people around that say the top five need not change. Don't send them things in that will distrack the devs from the really top five, sent in four weeks ago. I say you re-word the first report a little bit and send it in again. Maybe put more thought into solutions and the problems, but send in the same five again. We're going to have an hundred "top" fives before we get one fixed, and that one is going to be that "Two people can now sit on the couch. There,be happy now youarchitects,and leave us alone so we can work on other stuff that we need to finish before release."