Politician Archive
Thread: 19 questions for 6/10/04
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Pappi
Thu Jun 10, 2004 6:33 pm
#1
last 19 questions
so I guess TH took a question from this forum and used that while I was working yesterday and grading all today... since it deals with city missions, I guess it's alright
so here's the question and answer:
What do developers think of the idea of getting cities to spawn NPCs based on a city factional affiliation (once implemented), different ranks of cities might spawn differen't types of NPCs, with Villages spawning lower-level NPCs, and Metropoli spawning upper-end content, including possibly up to AT-ATs as random spawns in an Imperial city. These would have nowhere near the spawn rate as regular bases, but would have a decent chance of randomly spawning them on occasion.
There has been a lot of discussion on the issue of “City Missions” and this would certainly fall along those lines. There are a lot of versions of city missions being discussed and we definitely want to see player cities involved in some sort of GCW content. City Missions were on the development list, but they were removed in the last schedule review, though some members on the team strongly want to see this soon. Currently, it is cut, but if it comes back on the radar screen, myself or the correspondents will let you know.
next week I'll be back in full swing, as long as that stuffy nose and dizzyness goes away
edit: added link to our last 19 questions
so I guess TH took a question from this forum and used that while I was working yesterday and grading all today... since it deals with city missions, I guess it's alright
so here's the question and answer:What do developers think of the idea of getting cities to spawn NPCs based on a city factional affiliation (once implemented), different ranks of cities might spawn differen't types of NPCs, with Villages spawning lower-level NPCs, and Metropoli spawning upper-end content, including possibly up to AT-ATs as random spawns in an Imperial city. These would have nowhere near the spawn rate as regular bases, but would have a decent chance of randomly spawning them on occasion.
There has been a lot of discussion on the issue of “City Missions” and this would certainly fall along those lines. There are a lot of versions of city missions being discussed and we definitely want to see player cities involved in some sort of GCW content. City Missions were on the development list, but they were removed in the last schedule review, though some members on the team strongly want to see this soon. Currently, it is cut, but if it comes back on the radar screen, myself or the correspondents will let you know.
next week I'll be back in full swing, as long as that stuffy nose and dizzyness goes away
edit: added link to our last 19 questions
Message Edited by Pappi on 06-11-2004 12:29 AM
PreLaunch
Thu Jun 10, 2004 9:19 pm
#4
Ok well thanks for the answer but knowing they have been cut is a real downer. I was looking forward to at the VERY LEAST missions taken from PC terminals adding cash to treasury.
Is there anyway you can poke TH in the ribs and get a " well that sounds easy enough " type of response for this current pubblish or the next.
Having them cut simply means the one thing I thought we were certain to get before JTL is now off the table which simply put means we have NOTHING to look forward to at all for whatwill be months.
shadowrifts
Thu Jun 10, 2004 9:21 pm
#5
This might sound like a werd idea but i think a way to save the player towns is to first gear them more tward fraction based play and then make them able to be defended with out any player help. Basicaly make them kinda like a npc town in a way by adding npc guards (that respawn jsut like npc town guards when killed) to patrol your city thehigher the city rank the more guards and then add in turets of some type that won't take away form your slots but are limited in number by the rank of yourcity (maybe give extra's to strong hold cities or have there bonuses apply to the npc's as well as players). That way you could have cities that are fairly safe for overts torun missions from,run to for safty while under attack,shop, hang out or what everand by doing so you will masivly increase the amount of overts of both fractions running around and even overt jedi's. This will then boost the PVP action of towns attacking each other or overts hapening to cross patch while running missions for there fraction bassed play city. The reason why i think this will help is because NPC town's are not safe for overt and beacuse of this we see so few. Also while there is sevral fraction cities already none of them are safe because of the lack of guards even the people liveing in these cities run around covert most of the time just incase the other fraction attacks.
just my 2 cents but i think after playing the game for 6 months or more alot of people turn to PVP for some excitment and right now there just isnt much to be found.
Shadowrift
Laeren
Fri Jun 11, 2004 4:44 am
#6
*reads the question
*reads the question again...hey! that's mine!
*reads the question again...hey! that's mine!
Well, I hope it does come onto the radar soon. One of the biggest issues we've been talking about with our city is community. There were several events that really pulled our city together as a community, one of them being a random spawn of Peko Peko Albatrosses on our border, and a group of 10 of our citizens taking them on (with casualties, of course). It was a spontaneous event that just came together, and everyone afterwards said that they wished there were more events like that IN our town, where the whole town could pull together and defend it or take something on.
Some ideas for City Missions would be some kind of "Defend Your Turf" missions, where the mission may spawn, for the next 30 mins, random Tuskens in your city (if you're on Tat), or some kind of aggressive Gungan Invasion Force if you're on Naboo, Greater Sludge Panthers on Talus, etc. Aggressive, medium-difficulty random spawns appearing all over within your city boundaries - and it's up to your citizens to defend their turf. Spawn rate and perhaps even difficulty could be scaled based on the size of the city. Perhaps the mission is based on number of kills of these spawns, and if you don't achieve that, you don't earn the $$ for the city treasury.
The reward for the city mission would go directly into the city treasury, though of course participants would be free to loot bodies for whatever they could get from them. OR, perhaps the reward could be some kind of city decoration unique to City Missions, that once completed, the mayor could place as a symbol of the unity and fortitude of the city.
GCW-related spawns could also, of course, be generated by City Missions, if and when cities are able to be factionally aligned.
X-caliber-Bria
Fri Jun 11, 2004 7:50 am
#7
Sounds good....but am rather disapointed...I was really hoping to get one of our other questions answered... Like where are our skills for Master politician???
Laeren
Fri Jun 11, 2004 8:53 am
#8
X-caliber-Bria wrote:
Sounds good....but am rather disapointed...I was really hoping to get one of our other questions answered... Like where are our skills for Master politician???
The answer to this is that the dual-specializations for cities was removed because they are bugged. If they get a chance to investigate and fix that bug, we should probably have them back. Otherwise, if it takes a major coding initiative to get them fixed, it'll have to wait til after JTL.
X-caliber-Bria
Fri Jun 11, 2004 10:23 am
#9
Thanks. I just read that in another post... but was after I posted this 
Fneegan
Fri Jun 11, 2004 10:50 am
#10
I think a lot of players remain with the gamedue to the hardwork ofMayors, Player Citiesand PA's.
It's them who are add additional content, build a community and help the new players settle into the game where forums andonline or offlline documentationcan not.
We have a City of 65 cits and the TAX is 2000, shuttle is 100 and speeder garage is 200 and it only covers maybe half of thePlayer City expenses. Why shoulditcost that much ?PoliticianIS the only profession where you advance only once a week too.
I don'tthink we actuallyneedMORE mission terminals (as there are many already and faction oriented mission terms) but I think, since they are in a PLAYER CITY, they should also generate revenue towards the city treasury..
My 2 cents
Di-Kiem
Mon Jun 14, 2004 5:08 pm
#11
I would agree. While there is an option to place the mission terminal, it would be nice to get a % of the mission payout dump into the city treasury. It will help the city funds and encourage citizens to take mission within city boundries rather than missions else where
Another good addition would be a new city structure. Such as a City Mall. The ability to implement rent fee or sale tax or any other tax on that structure without having to tax the entire city. What I find popular is people like to place vendors in popular cities. While they live in another city or elsewhere due to guild, group, or whatever, they like to place vendors in popular cities.
WIth this, we could implement renter fees w/o imposing tax against the entire city. It will generate some revenue against those who are generating revenue themselves, rather than imposing tax against poor citizens.
The whole tax thing is unbalance. You could implement a property tax, but 2k for one person is pocket change, while 2k for someone is a large amount.
Another thing is to make Cantina, Medical Building, etc as part of the city structure. It is not good to have a structure which is viewed as a city structure but taking up someone else lots up. It is a hassle of that person leaves the game or unable to maintain it, thus having to transfer the structure over. Having it part of the city structure will allow it to be properly maintain by the mayor.
My 2.5 cents.
DK
Balin76
Thu Jun 17, 2004 10:44 am
#12
But since GreenMarine is now shuffling towards Smuggler once done with JTL, I don't look for much love (if any at all!) for some time to come.
And y'all are right... it's the Player Cities and the PA's that are keeping people in this game. We're the ones adding content, and keeping people involved, or getting them started.
I'm usually not the negative voice in all of this, but I'm getting highly frustrated. I'd almost be tempted NOT to submit a question, since all of the responses are largely after combat rebalance, after JTL, we'reinvestigating that, etc, etc, etc.
Any question we ask that would require dev work, is most likely going to get an "after JTL" response... so perhaps we could ask something about how they'd like cities to work with the Smuggler changes, or "How should mayors be managing their cities given the tools that they currently have available?" Or some nicely worded version of that.
But then, I'm just in a cranky mood today, so it might be better to ignore me!
MariusF
Mon Jun 21, 2004 4:47 am
#13
Nice to know any advance on politics has been cut.
I have to agree with the majority of posts here, Player Cities and the communities they form are one of the key elements of luring new players into the game and making there first experiences enjoyable. Many new citizens join a city to get the initial benefits of a community. Some stay and are valuable members but many find that the city is nothing but a financial drain at a time when they are establishing characters and leave.We work FOR the SWG community. Our characters are hamstrung with the loss of SP needed to be politician. The cities cost way too much to maintain. The tax system actively discourages players.
Here are some suggestions for changes, some serious, some not so.
I think the idea of part of the reward of missions from city terminals going to treasury going to civic funds is excellent.
Likewise the skill point drain of politics HAS to be addressed or the skills made more usefull.
What about some Squad Leader like skills when Leading a Group ofCitizens? They know whos in charge and therefore act more effectively as a group.
Much of our costs are paid for by regualr city "hunts". Why not give mayors option of taking group missions directly to civic funds. this would work on city terminals. If a mayor was in the group and the group went to a mission terminal an option to take "Civic" mission would come up.
City improvements like gardens Cost a fortune to build and maintain. The only purpose of these is to enhance the look and feel of a city. Enhancing the Game. I think maintanance for these should be Nil. Same for all "decorations". They are about game experience improvement.
What about Citizens of any city getting 2 "free" lots to use for a house only when he declares residence. This would give a genuine reason for a player to join a player city.
Ahh well not expecting much return here. I think that most Mayors know that we are under appreciated in the Game and By the Game. Politics is nothing but a rare badge to some people. To those of us that stick with it and grow a city over many months it is a service and that service is of benefit to all. The reward for achieving a stable community is a lot to do with personal satisfaction yes. Thats why we Do it of course. But, we give a LOT back to the Game and this is NOT reflected in any rewards from the game or in the game.
Marius Faiwoo
Mayor of Old Denobiaon Rori
TRIADS guild.
Infinity Server.
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