CUEmu - Thread Posts

WookieInLaw

Tue Jun 01, 2004 10:54 am

Here's an idea I've been kicking around in my head fora while. I have no doubt that it'll get buried beneath most of the Jedi discussion, but here goes anyway:

My idea regarding lot usage, PA Halls, harvesters, houses, etc.

The current system, as you all know, gives each player ten lots. PA Leaders are, in that respect, hindered, since most PA Halls take nine lots, and Tatooine Halls take seven. Ideas have been thrown about to the effect of having guild members donate a lot or so to the PA Hall, but this idea was soon shot down due to the obvious: what happens if a donator leaves?

Here's a possible solution that seems complicated at first, but might be just what the doctor ordered:

Instead of ten lots, give us 100. Before you freak out, I'm not saying that each person should be able to hold nine PA Halls, but the lot usage for structures should be upped. PA Halls should take 90 (except for Tatooines, which take 70). Give people the ability to donate lots to their PA under this system and it might not be too harsh. If you have ten members, each could donate nine lots if they so chose, assuming everyone in the PA checked the box that says "allow me to donate lots" or what have you. If a member drops out, those nine remaining people are now donating ten lots each. Or perhaps the PA leader could select in the Management Terminal a variable that allows him or her to donate 50 themself, and split the rest between the other members who choose to do so.

Now, why in the Galaxy would you need to complicate the ten lot system in such a way? Why not leave it at ten lots and do the same?

How about this? Like I said before, one could end up donating seven or five or three lots under this new system, which would amount to 7/10 or 1/2 or 3/10 of a lot under the current system. What good could it do to have a faction of a current Small Naboo Style 2's worth of lots free? Simple: to have a personal harvester take up the same amount of lots as a Small Naboo Style 2 or even a Medium or Heavy Harvester is just bunk. It's silly. Under this new system, personal harvesters could take up, say, four or five lots. Mediums could take up seven or eight, and heavies could take up nine or ten. House, perhaps, could stay the same: a Large Tatooine could take 60 lots, Small Naboo Style 1's could take 20, and Style 2's could take 10, etc.

It would be a lot of work, I know. And it might seem complicated. But I think it would be a fair change, and one that would make a lot of people happy

The idea still needs some fine-tuning and discussion, of course, and may be too complicated to fly, but it's worth dicussing

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Let the Wookiee Win

Just_Bri

Wed Jun 02, 2004 10:47 pm

#2

To flesh out this idea you could have the guild leader require that guild members donate X lots to the guild as part of the process of joining the guild. Extra lots could be donated to ensure that the PA hall doesn't poof if someone leaves the guild. I will use your expanded lot idea for my example.

Guild leader drops the PA hall, and it takes ninty of his 100 lots. He goes inside and sets the guild terminal to "charge" guild member five out of their 100 lots to be in the guild. ( Half thelot usageof a Naboo Roundhouse. )

15guild members follow him into the guild hall, and each uses the terminal to donate the 5lots required. This reduces the Guild leader's obligation to 15 out of his 100 lots. Using the terminal again, he recovers75 of his 100 lots. Throughout the course of the day the remaining 5guild members arrive at the Guild hall, having each beennotified of the lot requirement by in-game E-Mail.Each of them uses the terminal to donate the five lots. The guild leader recovers 10 of his lots when he next visits the pa hall, thelast five being reserved by the guild hall the same has all the other members of the guild. The PA hall now has reserved for its use a total of 105 lots. Ninty are required and the other 15 are for contingency.

A month down the line, the Guild loses four members for whatever reason. Their lots are recovered by them immediatly upon departure of the guild, and the guild hall is left with 85 lots. An in-game E-Mail is sent to all officers of the guild, and the next day one of them arrives and uses the terminal to donate 10 lots. The PA hall now has 95, and so quite happily goes on about it's buisness of sitting there and looking Guild hall-ish.

The Guild leader is informed of the current state of affairs and goes out and recruits two more guild members. They each donate 5 out of 100 lots, and the officer that had the extra 10 lots in the system gets an E-Mail stating that he may recover his extra 10 lots if he wishes. Not having an immediate use for them, he neglects to do so and the pa hall sits at 105 again....

Message Edited by Just_Bri on 06-03-2004 01:49 AM

____________________________________________________________

"V E E L A" S A I D - Retired Master Smuggler, cancelled 7/27/2005. SOE, think about every non-Jedi "cancelled" signature you've seen, and remember that there will be more as you forget the communities that makes this game's heart and soul. Entertainers, Crafters, Hybrids, Non-Jedi Combats, and Smugglers. When you are closing shop on SWG, remember that you ignored the REAL community to cater to an alpha class that assured this game would never be "balanced."

*Veela encourages you to adopt this sig

WookieInLaw

Fri Jun 04, 2004 11:56 am

#3

Not a bad idea, Just_Bri. Let me run this by you, though. Do you think the game mechanics would support "extra" lots so to speak? I like your idea other than that -- the surplus lot thing. And I don't dislike it because it's a bad idea, but simply becauseI'm not sure how the game engine could handle it. Perhaps instead of having a space buffer (extra lots), you could have a time buffer (much the way city structures do. Dip below the lot requirements for your PA Hall and you've got a one-week grace period to get it back up).

Either way, it makes for good discussion, I think. I don't think it could be realized for many, many months even if the idea did take off like wildfire. And there's much to consider -- for example, it would increase the number of structures in the game by a certain percentage. Could the engine support that?

Ideas are the seeds of action, though, so let's get some more discussion going on this. Is it at least worth debating? Is it too complicated? Are there much better solutions to the problem? Do enough people even consider it a problem?

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Let the Wookiee Win

Jascentia

Fri Jun 04, 2004 5:26 pm

#4

What I know about lots.... While I'm not sure this is 100% accurate, snippets of discussion with the developers have lead me to believe that the lot/structure relationship is more complex than it appears.

The lots a structure takes up is currently tied to the footprint of the structure. Anything under a certain footprint is 1 lot, anything between footprint size x and x is 2 lots, etc. So, if lots for any structure are going to be changed either the structure must be re-done to make it smaller (a huge issue as many live structures are already full of items, what would changing them do?) or ripping out this back end programming, which the devs would not be eager to do.

This programming exists because this allows the devs to know how much buildable space in each galaxy could potentially be taken up by players. For example, number of total lots X amount offootprint space per lot = maximum amount of space players could take up on the galaxy. While it is true that city structures do not follow this formula, city structures are subject to per-planet limits and so the developers can still control the amount of player-owned real estate. Think how awful it would be if they wanted to add a new dungeon or something really special to the galaxy but they could not because there wasn't enough wild space left.

I can only say that anything that works with the existing system will be received better than something which would require tearing it out and putting a new system in place.

Jascentia | Retired

Just_Bri

Fri Jun 04, 2004 10:49 pm

#5

Hadn't visited the topic in a few days. I will respond by saying that our examples are just as valid with the 9 lots on current PA halls. The guild leader could specify that everyone in the guild make avaialable 1 lot for guild structures. If the guild had 15 people in it, there would be six lots "reserved" but unused. Perhaps this could even lead to more types of guild related structures aside from a PA hall.

Just you know, tossing ideas out there. I know that one person plunking down nine of his ten lots on a semi-public building is quite a strain on that person's resourses and options.

Edit: Oh, and Wookie; I was presuming on the basis of a space and a time buffer. Exaust your space butter and the time buffer kicks in. If the time buffer expires and the space buffer has not been replentished, bye bye structure.

Message Edited by Just_Bri on 06-05-2004 01:52 AM

____________________________________________________________

"V E E L A" S A I D - Retired Master Smuggler, cancelled 7/27/2005. SOE, think about every non-Jedi "cancelled" signature you've seen, and remember that there will be more as you forget the communities that makes this game's heart and soul. Entertainers, Crafters, Hybrids, Non-Jedi Combats, and Smugglers. When you are closing shop on SWG, remember that you ignored the REAL community to cater to an alpha class that assured this game would never be "balanced."

*Veela encourages you to adopt this sig

WookieInLaw

Mon Jun 07, 2004 10:05 am

#6

Jascentia, that's a good point -- like I said, it might be too much trouble, but when you look at it from one point of view, a 100-lot system would give them more precise estimations of space usage. In the current system, I can place four personal harvesters in the same footprint area asa Small Naboo style 2 house. I'm taking up the same space, but using three more lots. So one could argue that each time you add a personal harvester, you're telling the system you're using more space than you actually are.

I haven't calculate it exactly, but just working from memory -- a small harvester or wind generator takes up one square of space. It also takes one lot. A Small Naboo style 2 takes... how many? Nine at least, right?

Even if they don't implement a lot-sharing system for PA Halls, a system like this would still allow for more fliexibility for PA leaders. Right now they have one lot free. In the hypothetical system I mention above, they would have ten. Those ten lots would still only hold one Small Naboo style 2, but perhaps if they lowered the usage of things like personal harvesters to a more realistic level, they could now place two, maybe three personal harvester.

Any structure in the game that facilitates storage should be left the same: multiply the number of lots they take now by ten.

Would it allow more structures to be placed in the game? Sure. But would it also allow more precise calcuations of area usage? I think so, at least. Perhaps in the end it's just too complicated, like I said, but a discussion like this might spark ideas that lead to a more realistic solution.

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Let the Wookiee Win

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Thread: Repost from In-Concept Thread: My Idea Regarding Lot Usage