Artisan Archive

In this doctor's humble opinion, the random explosion and dissapearance of resources is not a fair, economical, or fun way to handle resource management in SWG. I propose the following, and would ask for feedback. I think itis more realistic and intuitive for both new users and existing industrialists.

1 - Renewable

Concentrations of resource fluctuating constantly. Harvesting this resource would not cause depletion of concentration in an area, making its presence in an area predictable but its concentration is unreliable. Fusion could be more reliable but more expensive and/or have chance of catastrophic failure.

Main advantage: easy to locate, manage

Main disadvantage:volatile concentrations. Any given day does not guarantee a given output.

Applies to: wind, solar, moisture, fusion

2 - Non-Renewable

Concentration of resource starts at a fixed point on discovery/"blooming" and lowers (depletion) over time until it's no longer economical or itdisappears at a critical point. Depletion most likely based on amount being extracted in the area.

Main advantage: more reliable short-term concentrations for strip-mining and fast resource grabs.

Main disadvantage: more difficult to find since they're "mobile". Also succeptible to "land-grabs" and industrial sprawl.

Applies to: mineral, chemical, gas, floral

IMHO this would alleviate frustration as engineers spend an afternoon funding and powering mining projects only to have the resource spontaneously disappear and allow industrialists to better predict and manage their mining operations.

What think you?

Ghilker, Intrepid

I think the current system isn't working as its supposed to work. Resources aren't supposed to change every day. They are supposed to be around a min of 4 days. I think a little bit longer amount of time would be better. Maybe a week min. Let a little sub economy begin to work.

There does need to be something in place that the casual gamer who can't follow all the names of all the resources gets a bit of warning that the resource he picked is going to run out or is running low. I set up a harvester to run for a day and the resource shifted within 2 hours of me putting it there.

I think this may be somewhat server dependent. As I have read the forum, I've seem comments from servers that haven't changes much at all, those that rotate resources in and out one-by-one, and those that rotate en masse.

I'm on Bloodfin and our chems and mins rotate en masse. We get a new set for about 5-6 days, then they start dropping one by one over the next 4-5 days. Then a new group rotates in. I actually like our format. Here's why:

1) There are many subtle aspects of crafting that are affected by resources. I learn a tonabout crafting on each rotation. I am aware of the attribute component of the item I make (e.g. conductivity, shock resistance, etc.), but when I insert new metals, I start to get different types of products.

2) It helps the small time crafter keep an edge. Study your resources carefully and look at combinations. For example: gun barrels. It might be tempting to just hump in the same metal for all the metal slots out of one stockpile. I've actually improved my barrels by different combinations focusing on the core attributes. I wouldn't have stumbled on this without the rotation.

3) Our last rotation of resources on Bloodfin wasn't much to crow about. I'll be looking forward to a new set. If resources were fixed and certain planets had the best, that's where people would go. Some planets and cities might get pretty stagnant.

4) Forces good planning. Crafting is a hard profession. If everyone could make master crafter of whatever in two weeks, then the economy of this game would collapse. Its on shaky ground as it is. I have to read the resources, plan for them coming and going; and make sure I have reserves to craft. With shifting resources there is no way around harvestors.

That being said, there does need to be some predictability. Resources should have a half-life on the planet. And we should see them coming and going. Doing something other than that would make the game too frustrating.

I have read alot of people upset over changing resources but I think ist good and keeps resource value in a better position. Heck, If the folks that could afford medium harvesters could plant and milk Extrusive Ore for 2 weeks the value of that would be low. One cost associated with selling resouces is the time it takes to manage the haresters and the time it takes to adjust to changing veins.......

Heck, the fun of it is seeing the changes and rushing from planet to planet to tap a tough vein with the changes.

SOE keep 'em moving!

lol.

Manwolf

Mining Quality Materials

Coronet

Gorath

I'm not saying don't have them shift - I'm saying have them do it "reasonably" predictably. Of course, "reasonably" could be debated for months...

In its current state, resource harvesting (and crafting) is very frustrating for the new or casual player and imo only appealing to the "hardcore" gamers who spend hours chasing rare resources and building up their harvester empire. Casual players tend to "settle" for survey/macro-harvesting in small doses. I believe industry should be made accessible to all.

Ghilker - Intrepid

I agree that resources shifting twice or more in 24 hours is excessive. But I believe this results from technicalproblems with the game or the servers, not by design. I presume this behavior will be temporary.

....in the same day, they just come back under new names. I was better prepared this Saturday for rotating resources. What I wasn't prepared to see was only 4 resources in my Survey Device. There was no Aluminum, no Steel, no Iron and no Ore on the planet. I contacted a big corporation to ask if this meant that these resources had truly disppeared from Naboo and was told yes. They had just moved a bunch of their mining facilities to Corellia where the above minerals were still there. I was utterly dismayed and was starting to feel disillusional about the entire game. How was I ever going to feel like I was getting a handle on this game if stuff like this was going to continue. My group is just too small to be able to afford to go off world with its mining facilities. Then surprise, surprise! A couple hours later, minerals started showing up in my Survey Device. There was Aluminum, then Steel started showing up and more resources kept coming. They showed up all day long! I could almost taste the relief that I felt and I even took back a few of the choice words I had been calling the SOE staff in my mind.

So, I am going to trust FOR NOW, that when SOE says a resource will disappear from a planet and never return, I will enterpret that as that named resource will never return. So next Saturday (if the rotation holds) morning, I will just pull up my Harvesters and just wait a few hours to see what appears than seek them out. Instead of spending an entire day on resource nightmares like I have for the past two Saturdays, I am going to enjoy life in the real world and in SWG and just work on resource relocation later in the day when they have all reappeared under new names.

I agree that the resource model needs to be kept dynamic in order to keep things lively and prevent urban sprawl. A static model would be boring and lead to heavily industrialized zones, not to mention too easy to accomplish. But what's the best way to accomplish this?

Ghilker - Intrepid

Couldn't agree more, Manwolf. Shifting resources adds risk and challenge. Harvesters are such cash cows as it is that we need some risk in the game. The resource shifting model may not be perfect, but it works pretty well.