Business And Economy Archive
Thread: My big fat Vendor Idea... (3x post read this one)
Get comfy, this is long.
There should be an ability to view and use all vendors galactically, the devs are considering it, and I hope they read this idea.I suggest this be done by introducing Advertising Skill Points, I will call them ASP’s. A players ability to view and display vendors would be determined by the total of the buyer and sellers ASP’s.
(SEA’s MIGHT be possible but I am not going to deal with that here.)
What skills would ASP’s grant? There are two variables which have to be considered when a player sets up or looks for vendor. What you can display/see, and how widely you can display/see it. The second variable, how widely you can display/see the vendor, is easy to deal with. The current system of local, planetary and galactic works fine. What you can display/see is more tricky, and very contentious. I am going to suggest the following levels of ability: Vendor name, Resources, Items (no detail/price), Items (with detail/price).
Vendor Name. This is the basic item to display/see. Under the current system, at advertising 3, it can be displayed at the planet level for all to see. That ability would shift slightly with the system I am proposing.
Resources. I suggest that resources be given there own category and that this category require very few ASP’s. With recourse skill would come the ability to view all of the resources stats, and the ability to remotely purchase the resources. (But no delivery) I propose this because resources are simple items insomuch as there is no skill in using harvesters, and no crafter skill in obtaining creature resources. They can’t be enhanced in any way and the cost in obtaining them is universal so the competition here is fair. I also believe that everybody wants them to be easily bought and sold. In fact, I can’t think of any reason to limit or slow the trade in resources, while there are lots of reasons to open them up. (Though I am open to arguments here of course)
Items (no details/prices). This is all other items for sale. Though they should be listed by type, not name, otherwise crafters would have to abandon the practice of giving goods a custom name. Obviously sales are impossible with out a price, but a way point to the vendor can be obtained at this level.
Items (details/prices). Everything is displayed, and remote purchases, but not delivery are possible. An argument could be made to split up the skills and create 2 categories, or to drop the price category all together. I don’t feel that they should be separate, as one is meaningless without the other. I am also in favor of allowing prices to be displayed when both the buyer and seller have enough ASP’s for the transaction.
Ok, here is the breakdown of skill points and their use:
5 ASP’s are awarded which each of the following skill boxes.
- Business 3
- Novice Merchant
- Adverting 3
- Master Merchant.
I also like the idea of spreading some of the points throughout the Advertising Tree, and possibly even putting some points in the Hiring Tree. However the basic breakdown should be this: You must have 5 points at Business 3, when you can place your first vendor, 10 at Novice Merchant, and the maximum points one player can have is 20 points at Master Merchant. (You’ll see why in a second.)
When you place a vendor you have the option of assigning as many ASP’s as you have to each vendor. For example, a Master Merchant with 20 ASP’s can assign 20 ASP’s to each vendor.
Here is a rough graph showing the ASP requirement for what you can display/see, and how widely you can display/see it. Remember, these are the total ASP’s of the buyer AND the vendor.
Name Resources Item(no detail/price) Item(detail/price)
Local5 1010 30
Planetary10 10 1535
Galactic 1515 20 40 (free delivery)
What does this really mean?
Players without vendors will have no ASP’s that means to access the galactic market, they must rely on the ASP’s of the vendor. This means the most such a player could do is obtain a galactic view of Master Merchant items (no detail/price) using the Master Merchant’s 20 ASP’s.
Using items(price/details) requires a minimum total of 30ASP’s. That means the buyer must have at least 10 ASP’s of their own (Novice Merchant) to even view a Master Merchant’s vendor with 20 ASP’s. Novice Merchant requires a fair dedication of Skill Points. Most combat players will not do that. Galactic use of items (prices/details) would only be possible between 2 master merchants as 40 ASP’s are needed for the transaction.
Galactic use of resources however, only needs 15 ASP’s. That means if a player sets up a basic vendor to sell resources, (remember the seller brings 5ASP’s to the transaction with that basic vendor), all it would take is a Novice Merchant with their 10 ASP’s to access that vendor galactically.
Free delivery is not critical, but my feeling is that if we limit it to transactions between master merchants it would be ok. The buyer is a little more sophisticated and not really interested in fancy stores,(in fact he might steal your ideas!) and is unlikely to be swayed into buying other items while there.
The real goodies come at Master Merchant. They can run galactic advertising to all players. However, when they do that, they also allow other Master Merchant’s to view their prices and comparison shop. Which is can be desirable, or not.
Anyways, the I will stop here as there are too many variables with transactions to name, and (as usual) my post is getting WAY too long. You get the idea.
Thoughts?
Message Edited by IntoTheGarbage on 02-15-2005 03:33 PM
PyroVespin Message Edited by IntoTheGarbage on 02-17-2005 01:27 PM