Droid Engineer Archive

Thread: Alright, time to toss this idea out : Merchant Modules

Cigaran
Wed Jun 01, 2005 11:12 am
#1
Greetings DE's.


Well, with my alt as a Master DE now, it's time I make a post or two and follow this forum a little more. As you can see from my sig, I have master Merchant as well. Now, we all know how the Barker Droids work and thier limitations. While learning the craft, I tried to work out an idea in my head that would benifit DE's, Merchants and the rest of the player base.


Picture this, you've just landed in Theed and are greated with 50 spatial messages spammed by AFK zombies that where there lastnight with the same stuff listed on the same empty vendors. Shaking your head, you call you droid and turn on the Merchant Module and load him up. A few minutes later and you see a Rodian that's looking for a new blaster. 20 people are spamming special sales on blasters all across Naboo. Then, you Protocol Droid turns to the Rodian and says, "Hello. We at CCF Industries craft a fine selection of weapons. Why don't you take a look..."


Merchant Module's, I think, would be a great additon to the game. They could be handled in a variety of ways.


  • Make them level based like the Storage Modules are currently.

  • Make them based on a percentage of the total number of items a Merchant can place on a vendor.

  • Use both ideas.

I'm sure that the first issue that would come up from the Dev's is dishonestly and removing the Droid before a player can retrieve the purchase. This would be no problem since you auto retrieve the purchased goods now and you are right there a the vendor. Basically, these would be mobile vendors that would only operate when they are called and stationed in an area.


The second area I can see the Dev's having issues with is "free" storage. While technically it would still exist, it is no worse then placing stuff on a vendor and charging 99999999 for it so it never sells. One simple solution for this as far a Merchant Modules go is to not allow the droid to store if there are still items for sale on it.


So, am I totally crazy and spam is good? See some holes in my idea? Suggestions perhaps? Post away and don't be suprised to see me posting here off and on in the future.




Cigaran Lanarik
Mayor of Alacio Island, Naboo C
Smuggler,Smuggler's Alliance Pilot
Drop off Vendor @ -1419 -187 Naboo
11710
Wed Jun 01, 2005 1:27 pm
#2
Well... There is already a merchant moduale, but it only speaks every couple minutes. But your idea is really good. I like how the droid would walk up to a person after they said a key word like weapon or blaster. But its probly not gonna happen anytime soon. I mean i can only guess that it would be rather challenging to work that into the game. But its still a good idea.

Oh and BTB Alacio Island is a nice place.



Lobus
Communications Officer of: -NWB-
\Master Droid Engineer | Master Artisian | Master Rifleman/
\Proud Wearer of Twin Relic Droid Engineer Rings/
\Elder Droid Engineer/
\Master Engineer/
\Vendor Location/
\3173 3763 Lok/
Straker_Atrella
Wed Jun 01, 2005 3:13 pm
#3
Right, there is already a Merchant module, but it is pretty much useless. It runs out of power, it stores when you travel, and everybody has Global Advertising with the GVS system.


I agree that something needs done, we have been suggesting something like this for a while, I actually think it would be ok if people could actually access all your stock from the droid. Non-Merchants need people to go to the bazaar to look, then head to their shop. Advert 4 merchants can bring their shop to the customer if they desire.


The droid wouldn't give extra vendor storage, people could just see what you stock and buy directly from it.



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Droid Vendor at Resurection near Theed on Naboo -5757 6222. Both carry a wide variety of maxed Droids, I also carry every type of Droid and Droid supply.

*Straker Atrella: Dark Jedi * Atrella's Wench: Master Droid Engineer / Artisan / Scout / Merchant * Dark Vortex: Ranger / Rifleman * Havana:Musician / Dancer / Image Design * Enigmatica : Doctor / Swordsman* CrazyEyes: Role playing BH.
Cigaran
Wed Jun 01, 2005 5:31 pm
#4
Thanks for the feedback guys (and city comments )!


Now, I have a few points I need to make. The idea of the droid being qued to certain phrases or words is something I wasn't going for. That was more of an incharacter discription of how it would be but I do like that idea. I agree though that something like that would talk a long time and a huge effort to code and impliment.


As for already having a Merchant Module, like I said, I am aware of the Barker. I'm interested in a way to kill off the AFK spambots. If you allow Merchants to bring the goods to the buyers, the spammers are going to be hard pressed to make sales. While this could boost the number of Merchants a bit, it would be a good source of income for the DE's when all the new Merchants are looking for these.


Again, thanks for the feedback and kind words.



Cigaran Lanarik
Mayor of Alacio Island, Naboo C
Smuggler,Smuggler's Alliance Pilot
Drop off Vendor @ -1419 -187 Naboo
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