Architect Archive

Once a week I will post a list of my suggestions and ideas. If you have additional ideas post them. If i like them I will add them to my list. I have given serious thought to each of the ideas listed here so unless you come up with a very valid reason why something has no possibility of working (other than its too hard the devs wont do it and such) It will stay in the list. You may not like the idea or you may not think that it is feasable but unless the idea simply cannot possible work I will keep it.

Keep in mind these are not all my ideas. Just ideas I have come up with or picked up from other peoples posts. I credit the whole board with helping me create this idea list.

THIS IS NOT A BUG LIST I KEEP THOSE SEPARATE

Also all these ideas are interrelated please refrain from dismissing an idea until you have read the whole post as while there maybe an idea that sounds bad or wont work on its own, the following ideas will make it more agreeable.

DISCLAIMER:

First I am aware of how difficult these changes will be to make.

Second I am aware of how unlikely the devs are to make such sweeping changes.

Third I am aware of the importance of fixing the bugs. (I already have a large post about them.)

So please no the devs wont, or thats to hard or you should focus on bugs, etc... replies.

I will only address comments that can prove that any or all of these suggestions will not work in any realm of possibility. (It does not mean I won't respond to negative replies but I won't address them.)

END DISCLAIMER:

I. Lots

B. Limit Starting lots to 0.

C. Residential Structures ignore Lot counts. Each player may own one Residential Structure of any size.

D. Players who have used all thier skill points gain the ability to place a second Residential Structure of any size.

E. Restrict lot types to those in the proper profession.

1. Extractors(other than disposable or personal) to Mining Engineers.

2. Factories to Artisan.(And advanced crafting professions.)

3. Commercial Structures to Merchants.

4. Military Structures limited to Factionally aligned persons. Covert can only place within PA boundries. Overt can use on battlefields. Structures can be damaged(not destroyed) by opposing faction and would require repair by a Maintenance Technician.)

F. As you improve in these various professions you gain access to more and more lots of the appropriate type. There is a hard cap.

G. Limit the areas on the planet where you can place extractors. This can easily be accomplished by restricting resource deposits to certain areas. then let the players clutter them up. (there are alot of empty areas on the planet so this doesnt have to be too limited.

II. House Design.

A. Allow house interiors to be designed by the architect instead of the cookie cutter design. Require an entry hall to allow the game time to render the interior before the player can see it.

B. Create a seperate building type for businesses. Buildings range from small like a pub to large like a night club or department store.

C. More variety on the exterior. (I'm sure this is already in the works.)

D. Allow use of named deeds on similar planets. IE Corellia on Talus, Naboo on Rori etc...

III. Automation.

A. Allow Automatic Debit from bank acct option. This would place 1 days worth maintenance into Structures each day. It is up to the player to keep his bank acct full. Allow the ability to split maintenance costs when owned by multiple people so the automatic payment would take the appropriate amount out of each person acct.. I can do a bank to bank transfer from my datapad to another player who atm may not even exist yet i cant have money automatically withdrawn from my bank acct to put into structures?

B. Automatic Power distribution from power generator structures to other structures that require power. (Can setup this up so it only works on structures within a certain radius of the power source.) Havn't the devs ever heard of extension cords?

C. Automatic Email on Structure status changes. IE Resource Depletion, Maintenance Depletion etc...

D. Ability to remote operate structures such as harvestors through the data pad.

E. Allow specific line of droids to manage all structures including removing resources from full structures. (I know about the whole "if you place a harvestor in the woods and nobody is there to see it does it actually exist" thing)(these droids could be made to work with the same system ... they are not really there unless somebody is there to see them.)

F. Allow scheduled or automated shutdown at set times or on certain conditions. IE to save maintenance/decay I might run my harvestors only 16 hours a day as opposed to always on. (some think this is not necessary. Hey I might be short on cash one day and due to RL obligations will be unable to make enough credits to pay the maintenance. with this system I would be able to slow/stop the fees while I attend to the RL and then return without being penalized for having RL problems.)

IV. Administration.

A. Allow various levels of administration within a structure from general access to drop/pickup to redeed access.

B. Ability to set access levels to various levels/rooms. (IE: being able to lock the lift so only certain people can use it to get to the basement however the general public can freely access the main area.)

C. Automatically refund credits to person who for whatever reason are banned from your structure who have made a purchase but not yet retrieved it. Provide a warning message to the person doing the banning that the target has an outstanding purchase. Or if you ban them the item(s) gets sent to the nearest bazaar with an email notifying them of this.

V. Maintenance.

A. Allow the removal of power/credits from structures.

B. Allow droid engineers to create a module or line of maintenance droids that can be used to reduce maintenance costs of structures they are assigned to maintain.

C. Do not charge maintenance during server downtime, lockup or extended loading periods. (power is not charged so why is maintenance?)(I know technically why, I just think its stupid and lazy.)

D. Do not charge maintenance on extractors that are not running. (However place a time limit that extractors may be left not operating before they are removed from game. IE 3 days.) (I understand the need to prevent people abandoning extractors but with the current lot limit size how prevelant is this problem?)

E. Reduce the maintenance fees on general decay for extractors. However add fee multipliers to extractors that suffer critical failures as explained under section F.

F. Re-add the ability for extractors to function under 100% maintenance. (However not only reduce efficiency, but also allow for a chance of critical failures that increases in severity the more decayed the extractors become. Some examples of critical failures include. Permanent Breakdown, Minor breakdown requiring repairs, Destruction of the extractor with loss of all material contained within. Security failures resulting in loss to theft of material within. etc...)

VI. Payment Plan

A. Create a new trade system that allows payment systems to be setup and agreed to. The options include setting the amount of the payments, the number of payments and timetable for payment. Failure to make the proper payments at the proper time opens up an option for the seller to reclaim(foreclose) the deed from the buyer. Making this optional instead of automatic allows the players to try and work things out without uprooting a player for what may have been an honest mistake. Keep in mind the seller keeps what money was already collected. that would be too hard to try and return especially if they have none to remove. Payments can be setup for direct debit from the buyers bank acct. then all they have to do is make sur ethe payment is in there.

VII. Decay/Fees

A. Residential Structures do not decay. Ever. (This is how it currently is.) Maintenance fee changed to Property Tax. (Could also add system to where location determined the amount of tax the owner(s) must pay.) Redeed cost as normal.(maybe balanced a bit better for the various sizes.) I like the idea of your location determining your property tax rate so if you build in a nice area your rates are higher ...this would give the devs a greater degree of control as it would allow them to determine what areas are considered good and what areas are considered bad. This can even be extended to mayors of player cities to allow them to influence where structures are built.

B. Commercial Structures do not decay for a set period of time. This time as well as thier decay rate when they do start to decay can be altered through experimentation. Maintenance costs start out cheap and once decay has started begin rising until the owner must replace the decaying structures. (This system would halt the functionality of a commercial structure until the owner bought and fed a new deed of the same lot size into the old structure. The structure decay wait times/rates would be reset to those of the new deed.) (Essentially this will allow a person to replace a building without having to move everything out and destroying the old structure. The player would have the option of using the old interior or the new interior. The new would simply overwrite the old and all items currently within returned to inv or if inv full placed in open space in new interior.

C. Industrial Structures only decay when redeeded. The amount can be affected by the presence of a maintenance droid or your particular repair skill or even the presence of a Maintenance Technicion. The amount can also be reduced by paying larger and larger amounts during the redeed process. Decay can never be eliminated but by using the techniques above you can severely reduce its impact and extend the life of your structure. Functionality will decay each time it is redeeded until the owner has no choice but to replace the structure.

D. Military structures do not decay nor do they cost maintenance. They can however be damaged and possibbly destroyed by opposing factions requiring repair or replacement to become functional again. Repaired items are gradually reduced in efficiency each time they are repaired. There is a standard redeed cost associated with these items.

E. Graphics for exteriors change to match the decay of the structure.

VIII. Trading/selling.

A. Show the bloody floorplans in the details window.

C. Include decay details to prevent people from selling structures that are decaying without the buyer knowing.

D. Allow advertisements of items that sell for greater than the cap on the bazaar but not able to actually purchase the Item on the bazaar. instead clicking on details gives you location of vendor selling said item. the best bet is to make this its own catagory. This allows merchants to advertise thier wares so I don't have to run out to thier place just to find out they don't have what I'm looking for. Advertising costs 500 credits per item advertised and they are limited to 20 items total.

IX. Experimentation.

A. Overall Quality determines time before decay kicks in.

B. Unit Toughness determines maintenance costs to reduce decay or to repair.

C. Decay Resistance determines rate of decay once its begun or rate of decay on redeed repair issues.

X. Critical Failures.

A. During resource allocation = loss of resources for failed component only.

B. During Experimentation = minimum stats on finished item.

C. During Creation = Loss of One component and ability to go back and recreate lost component without having to start a new crafting session.

XI. Landscaping.

A. Allow buildings to modify slightly terrain to allow more placement of buildings. (I've found several great sites for building placement but because of some tiny ditch with water in it i couldn't place the stupid thing.) (Currenlty POI's can alter terrain as can our camps why not these larger structures?)

XII. Furniture

A. Fix the many many many bugs in this line. (See my bug list post.)

B. Balance the hide requirements.

C. Allow more controlled item placement. IE Desk Lamps On Desks and such.

D. Create more Business oriented furniture equipment. IE Cantina Furnishing. Restaraunt furnishings etc...

E. Add functionality to exisiting items. IE Droid detectors detect droids., Containers store items. etc...

XIII. Identical Components.

A. Keep the factory xp nerfed. The fact that you removed critical failure chances is good enough reason alone to use these factories. (yea yea i know it was like this in beta but i only count from day of release on ... otherwise just about every aspect of the game is considered nerfed.)

B. Remove the need to use identical components. I can see requiring similar components.

C. Speed up factory production rates. There should be no reason why an automated factory is slower than hand crafting an item. However manufactured items should be of a set quality dependant on materials used in the schematic. where as hand crafted items can be greatly improved. Schematics should be more limited the higher quality they are. (IE: Amazing success combines/experimentations should limit the item to a very small run where as plain success could have very large runs.)

XIV. Harvesting

A. Lengthen the time between resource shifts to 2 weeks.

B. Remove unnatural Alloys/composites (Steel, Aluminum etc...)from the ground and increase the base resources such as Iron, Copper, Ore etc..

C. Create a process for creating Steel, Aluminum etc... and make it part of a profession (I suggest mining.)

D. Generalize the stats on mined resources. (IE: low, medium high, super etc..)Allow *miners* to experiment on resources during the refining/processing of said resource to improve purity(grade)(Refining = improving quality)(processing = making alloys/composites)

E. Ability for well maintained structures to act as a ward for creature spawning allowing me if i keep my structures maintained at a certain level to be able to actually get to them without needing an army. Can be setup so that the amount of maintenance over the required amount improves the radius up to a maximum point. 50% over minimum = 64m 100% = 128m ... or something close to this.

Continued in reply. (20k charactor limit)

Continued from original post

XV. Skills/Professions.

I. Profession: Structural Engineer - Players pursuing this profession make various structures from houses to shops to factories and harvestors to large city/military buildings.

A. Requires: Engineering I-IV + 35k General Crafting XP.

B. Novice: Structural Engineer - Personal Extractor Deeds. Personal Factories Deeds.

Title - Novice Structural Engineer

C. Line 1: Residential Structures - Starting with Small houses, Medium houses, Large Houses, Mansions.

Title - Architect

D. Line 2: Commercial Structures - Starting with Small pubs and shops, then restraunts and taverns, then cantinas and medical centers, to department stores and arenas.

Title - Developer

E. Line 3: Industrial Structures - Starting with small extractors and factories, then medium extractors and factories, then large extractors and factories, and finally multiproduction extractors and factories.

Title - Industrialist

F. Line 4: Military- bunkers, turrets, and such.

Title - Combat Engineer

G. Master: Structural Engineer - Pa Halls, Starports and City based structures.

Title - Master Structural Engineer

H. Experimentation: Overall Quality - Maintenance Costs, Resistances - Decay Rate(natural climate of location determines which resist is needed. Generic use decay.), Unit Toughness - Storage Capacity, Conductivity - Power Consumption.

I. Skills Granted: Structural Assembly - gains bonuses to assembly attempts, Structural Experimentation - gains point to be used when experimenting with structures, Construction Times - Lessens time it takes to assemble and place a final structure.

II. Profession: Artisan - Same as before with a few minor changes.

A. Change 1 - Surveying changed to Sampling and is reduced in efficiency.

B. Change 2 - All currently available structures in this line are removed from this profession and replaced with lesser structures such as disposable extractors or portable extractors. They are not as efficient as personal extractors but they are cheaper and available to those outside the mining class. Disposables cost no maintenance however only work for a set amount of time before they must be discarded. Portables work with lesser efficiency each time they are redeeded however do not cost anything to redeed.

C. Change 3 - Reduce information provided when sampling to general densities. like low medium high.

D. Change 4 - Return action/mind costs and time delays to thier previous state(or reduce them) for sampling but also reduce the yield and the time it takes to actually perform the sampling.

E. schematics requiring advanced resources such as steel, aluminum and other processed materials should be moved to more advanced professions or setup as supplemental to the line. Ensure there is a way to advance through the artisan trade using basic resources such as iron and ore being that the processing ability to make complex resources is being restricted to the mining profession.

III. Profession: Mining Engineer - Person pursuing this profession gains the ability to locate, extract and refine raw materials into usuable resources.

A. Requirements: Engineering I-IV, Sampling I-IV and Exploration I-IV + 10k General Crafting XP, 8k Sampling XP and 5k Scouting XP

B. Novice: Mining Engineer - Ability to use all extraction related structures.

Title - Novice Mining Engineer

C. Line 1: Surveying - As you improve you can see more exact concentration percentages, See material purity and locate resources from further away.

Title - Surveyor

D. Line 2: Extraction - As you improve you can increase yields and reduce the time it takes to extract a unit of raw material.

Title - Prosepector

E. Line 3: Refine - As you improve you can improve the quality of the material removed from the ground. (increase its grade.)

Title - Refiner

F. Line 4: Process - Gives you the ability to create new composites such as steel and aluminum from the raw materials extracted from the ground.

Title - Mineral Processor

G. Master: Mining Engineer - Produces the best quality resources and advanced composites such as titanium, duraplast, duracrete etc... Ability to tie all Extractor functions together into a single interface.(basically this allows the Mining Engineer to have all harvestors excecute the same commands without having to go through each one.

Title - Master Mining Engineer

H. Skills granted: All access commands related to extraction structures. A new tool (like crafting tools) to process materials into new alloys and such. improved survey devices.

I. Other changes: Resources should be more generalized with only the basic resources available for extraction. it will fall to the Mining Engineer to take those raw materials to make non naturally occuring alloys and composites.

IV. Profession: Design Engineer - Makes items for interior/exterior structural decoration. Also provides planning and items for cities and military bases.

A. Requirements: Engineering I-IV and Exploration I-IV + 15k general crafting XP and 10k Exploration XP

B. Novice: Design Engineer - Ability to incorporate PA structures into a City or Military Base. (Requires PA's to have several required structures to determine whether they become a city or a military base.)

Title - Novice Design Engineer

C. Line 1: Interior Design - Ability to make furnishings and equipment for use in habitable structures.

Title - Interior Decorator

D. Line 2: Terrain Design - Ability to smooth rougher and rougher terrain into buildable locations.

Title - Terraformer

E. Line 3: City Planning - Ability to create exterior objects relating to cities such as streets, parks ponds fountains etc..

Title - City Planner

F. Line 4: Military Planning - Ability to create support objects for military bases such as fences, barricades, spotlighting etc... (fences and barricades would be limited to the base ZOC and can be destroyed or removed by PA leaders.)

Title - Military Planner

G. Master: Design Engineer - Ability to move PA structures around creating a city/base layout and re-placing said structures. This does require a redeeding cost per structure but allows the design engineer to redesign a city/base from the ground up. Structures that are not placed after a certain period of time return to the owner. Design engineers can also set aside the amount of land = to the number of lots the PA has so that only that PA can build on it.

Title - Master Design Engineer

H. Experimentation: Objects can be experimented on to be more durable or provide more benefit or cost less to maintain.

I. Skills Granted: Terrain Tool and Planning Tools to alter terrain and peform city layout tasks.

J. Other Changes: Add the ability to lay down on beds.

I also have some thoughts about bone/meat/hide/milk/egg farms structures to compliment the inorganic extractors we already have. it would involve creating a profession called Agricultural Engineer. the structures would be considered industrial and made in the same line but would only be usuable by the above mentioned profession.

I also am creating a maintenance technician class that would be able to repair/juryrig items like structures, weapons, armors, vehicles etc ..... hopefully i'll have it ready by next week.

I am aware that this post would have been better suited to beta but I didn't get into beta till beta 3 and by the time i had tested enough to make these suggestions the game was already released.

FYI: I will add replys to my post from time to time as I think of new things I want to keep track of.

Ummm ... wow.

Very ambitious and it sounds wonderful. I would hope that the devs take note and at least try to incorporate some of these suggestions.

The only part that I think I didn't like was this part

C. During Creation = Loss of One component and ability to go back and recreate lost component without having to start a new crafting session.

I really think that the component loss should be random. I think that the serious failures should be few and far between (few and far between the failures which should be somewhat rare to begin with for advanced professions) but I'm totallyfor them being in there.

Again, great list.

Setas

The problem currently is that they use a random number generator to determine failure .....that meanseven when you only have a small chance of failing the random number generator can reroll within that small percentage over and over. They need to come up with a system that not only reduces the chance of critical failure as you improve but also further reduces the chance of critical failure for a set period of time after you have experienced a critical failure, possibly going as far as to disable critical failure for a set period of time if youve been experiencedmore than a certain amount ofcritical failures within a predetermined number of attempts.

Another problem is due simply to the vast amount of resources we need to make our product and the price limit that has been imposed on us by the grinders. 1 critical failure costing us everything is devestating. I can't see how an entire product can be ruined by the failure of one part or how every part can fail at the same time. they need to add a system where if we suffer a critical failure we lose only the non component materials used but the premade components remain and the tool allows you to re-add the lost resources and try again. (similar to when you critically fail while placing the resources ... the tool remains open and you can re add resources.) We already chanced our critical failure on the premade components we shouldnt lose them after they have been created.

Of course all this is moot if they don't drastically change the way architects and thier structures work which is why I have this long ass post.

V. Profession:Agricultural Engineer - Players pursuing this profession can become Farmers, Loggers or ranchers. Their purpose is to harvest organic resourcees and to breed and raise animals fororganic resource use.

A. Requires: Engineering I-IV + Hunting I-IV + 20k Scouting XP

B. Novice:Agricultural Engineer - PersonalFarm, Ranch and Logging Machinery Deeds.

Title - NoviceAgricultural Engineer

C. Line 1: Farming - Ability to grow and harvest vast quantities or organic plant resources such as corn, wheat, oats, etc... Also includes moisture farming.

Title - Farmer

D. Line 2:Ranching -Ability to breed, raise and harvest organic animal resources from creatures such as bones, hide, meat, eggs and milk.

Title - Rancher

E. Line 3:Logging -Ability to grow and harvest large areas of trees.

Title - Logger

F. Line 4:open for suggestions on this line though for the time being it can be setup to provide the other three lines with enhanced harvesting abilities or at least additional lots ... similar to the business line that adds vendors.

Title -?

G. Master:Agricultural Engineer -Greatly improved methods of harvesting and such.

Title - MasterAgricultural Engineer

I. Skills Granted: Ability to use organic extraction deeds and the like.

This would require the reduction in the amount of materials that can be obtained from manual harvesting but open up the market for selling larger quantities of these types of resources. It would allow those wishing to make the items to do so without having to be a scout or pay 10c per resource for hides bones and meat.

this is first draft of this profession and will likely change.