Merchant Archive

Message Edited by DocSavag on 06-07-2004 08:55 PM

Right off the top of my head, I'd say that giving merchants the ability to give members of their faction a discount through their vendors would be a start. The idea has been kicked around before, although I don't know how feasible it would be to implement.

Maybe for factional merchants, an ability to dress the vendor in factional clothing without having to use something you looted. In the first menu it would say something like

Terminal
Droid
NPC
Faction NPC

and then you would choose from

Imperial
Rebel

and then

Male
Female

All Imperial vendors would be human, since traditionally the Empire has a tendency toward being bigotted against other species. The rebels would be a random race. Then the vendor would be born with the appropriate uniform on for Imperials or with a jacket or something with an insignia for rebels. They would then automatically do markups for opposing factions, markdowns for same factions, and nothing for neutrals.

Just an idea.

I'd love the idea of factional vendors, that would be soooo fitting in with the concept of a war-time economy. On top of that idea maybe the vendor can be set to refuse access to the opposing faction while that person is overt. And, definately, the merchant has to be of the faction for the vendor he is setting and the process of setting it, restocking it, etc, needs to be overt.

(It would also be nice to have a vendor give a discount to guild members or other designated people automagically)

/agree with what has been said. The best merchants can do in the GCW is having factional vendors thatwill just let you choose a price depending on the faction of buyers, ormight not sell at all to players of the opposite faction. I would say it should only work on overt players though.

Hehe, one of the reasons I like crafting and merchanting is because I want zero part of any conflicts - it's bad for business. Customers tend to resent your killing them.

For those that want to partake - that's fine, but one thing about this war talk that needs to be remembered is there are some folks that do NOT like conflict and there has to be ways to opt out of it.

Remember, the only winners in a war are the arms dealers.

Yep I can't agree more, that's why it should remain a choice to do it or not.

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Wire3k wrote:

Hehe, one of the reasons I like crafting and merchanting is because I want zero part of any conflicts - it's bad for business. Customers tend to resent your killing them.

For those that want to partake - that's fine, but one thing about this war talk that needs to be remembered is there are some folks that do NOT like conflict and there has to be ways to opt out of it.

Remember, the only winners in a war are the arms dealers.

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I think it goes without saying that any effect that Merchants might have on the war would be a choice you would have to consciously make.

Limiting access to 'public' buildings by faction would be crucial... could be any number of classes of access to any building... some examples:

1. Private - default setting (as per usual)


2. Public (as per usual)


3. Declared - No overt members of opposing faction to the building's owner (not available to neutrals)


4. Restricted - No overt or covert members of opposing faction - Requires faction scanner (only available to overt faction members)


5. Authorised Personnel Only - only allows faction members in (no neutrals)

Another possibility for merchants in the GCW would be the vending of player-crafted faction-specific goodies (requires players to be able to craft them of course!), only available to faction-declared merchants.

Would declared imperial merchants (below a certain rank) be able to sell spices or sliced weapons? Or would the vendor somehow refuse to take handle these?

Of course, little changes as well - more options on the barking menus to reflect any changes, etc.

Ability to offer faction discounts - perhaps different discounts for overt/covert (group-TEF counts as covert) faction members.

What about factioned players that don't want to stop the enemy from buying from them, but want to charge extra? Sort of reverse faction discount. This might not be available for weapons, armour or anything illegal.

Just some random ramblings!

I think that Merchants should have a far more direct role in the GCW then just discounts. Many of the skills used to run a business could likewise be used to "run a war" or at the least help out.
While we would not necessary fight our self we could perhaps boost the effect a base had on the war effort, increase its number and strength of troops, reduce its costs, and increase the payout for missions run from it.

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Tarnak_Archvold wrote:
I think that Merchants should have a far more direct role in the GCW then just discounts. Many of the skills used to run a business could likewise be used to "run a war" or at the least help out.
While we would not necessary fight our self we could perhaps boost the effect a base had on the war effort, increase its number and strength of troops, reduce its costs, and increase the payout for missions run from it.

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This sounds more like something for a combat class then a Merchant. Maybe a Commando or Squad Leader in my opinion

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ZallusNuranxis wrote:

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Tarnak_Archvold wrote:
I think that Merchants should have a far more direct role in the GCW then just discounts. Many of the skills used to run a business could likewise be used to "run a war" or at the least help out.
While we would not necessary fight our self we could perhaps boost the effect a base had on the war effort, increase its number and strength of troops, reduce its costs, and increase the payout for missions run from it.

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This sounds more like something for a combat class then a Merchant. Maybe a Commando or Squad Leader in my opinion

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I'm not sure about troop strength but reducing costs might be an efficiency thing though.