CUEmu - Thread Posts

LeeRydersRevenge

Sun Mar 14, 2004 11:49 pm

**This is more a post to the mods of this forum than anything else**

Our city is now about roughly 10 days old, has 29 citizens with 50 odd structures. Mainly due to hard work. ( I believe)

I'm having a blast being Mayor. Negotiating, planning, meeting new people everyday. Really, its a blast and the most in depth role in the game, bar none. A good example of what a day for me is like is as follows:

Negotiated with Odh (Guy on SunRunner) about some foods, namely Brandy to be our city and guilds sole supplier offering him a non-compete gaurantee within our city limits for various other perks such as pricing, names..etc. He came to our city and laid out a fine display of samples for me and one of our Guild leaders.

Entertained about 5 New players (n00bs/newbs is such a harsh term people, grow up) showing them the city by flying them to Dantooine, giving them a swoop for safe transport to our city. Set them up with free housing..etc while explaining the numouros benefits we offer New Player, and old alike.

Searched for 3 (friggin) days for a Master Dancer/musician to lay a cantina for us... found one (Lolth, your the bomb baby!) and she was great. I spent about an hour making the deal with her, and then she rescinded all my hard work and has essentially done it for nothing. Sweet.

So daily, of say a 6 hour day here.. I spend roughly 4 hours doing the political scene.

But the benefits are so minimal. I've been doing all this so I can now tell an engineer to lay a park done? I mean come the heck on people.. not cool. We need real perks. Real benefits..

How about something like this:

Level 1:

Your like Little house on the prairie (ok, all cities are walnut grove right now). No lighting, small ability to place taxes. You can place a small Education facility (with say one trainer at thgis level), small temple for the wandering Jedi as a safe house in all regards. Player housing.. etc. You can actually SEE a boundary to your city one demand (say cntl 2) because everyone knows the boundary moves as you do.

Level 2:

Place small taxes, say property or whatnot. Enlarge your Education facility, place cantina (without a friggin dancer! 5 lots is just way to much to ask of someone) begin placing lighting, plantable tree's to mark roadways etc. Place more taxes or increase those you have. Mayor begins to pull a salary of 15% of city fund of whats left over AFTER the bills are paid. (automatically happens) Back to education facilities: Trainers invovled in their will fund the city, not the game. Since we are paying for these, we should reap the benefits of said. Something where we can enable who pays and how much. As in, my citizens can learn free or afree i place independant of the fee SOE charges or that a non-citizen would pay.

Level 3:

Expandable shuttle ports. Herein that a shuttle ports abilities will grow as the city grows. At this level a shuttle port can only have one connecting flight to the mayors choice of cities/outposts. Larger education facility (more trainers). More taxing skills, ability to place a mall instead of just independant merchants. The mayor can then charge a rent to place a merchant inside independant of any taxes already in place. Ability to begin laying one or two paved areas! No more Walnut Grove! I find it hard to believe in a far advanced civilization the populace would be expected to walk in the mud EVERYWHERE they are outside of coronet, it's just stupid. This would also cut back on lag encountered because our PC's wouldnt have to draw all the individual flora. Also, med centers that begin healing at a reduced rate, to get better as city's infrastructure expands.

Level 4:

Full scale Education facility. Mall with unlimited vendors that we can buy modules for to expand them as needed. The ability for Mayors to post "help Wanted" type ads on the city hall where vendors, people or whatnot can read. Example would be city meetings..etc. Something we dont necessarily want to spam in email but would like all people, citizens and non alike to be able to read and leasure. Expanded shuttles to 3 or more destinations, star ports now go to one planet (dependant on your planet of course), medical centers that now heal at full bonus'. Ability to pave 75% or greater part of the city. Temples are now "factionable" to either light or dark "religions". CITY CAN DECLARE WAR (ahh to dream!), mayors salary now increases to 25% off the bottom.

Level 5:

This city can now be a true metropolis. Starports to all connecting planets avail., Shuttles anywhere on your planet, a plus 10 to medical facilities, full paving of roads, ability to have high rises, etc.. of a true city level to show increases in say.. manufacturing bonus'... medical or what not., dedicated zones for residential, industrial..etc. than can be independantly taxed.

So much more can be said (and has been said on these forums), so why has nothing been done so far? why must people continue to live in Earth circa 1833 walking in mud in such an advanced civilization? These things are not difficult to program into the game... they already exist in the most part in major cities (ie; pavement).. just give us the ability to do it.

How about this: We can control the major power sectors as well. So that, say we have some schmuck in our town we dont want (he built a structure in front of city hall say), we can cut "power" to his home effectively raising the cost for him to live there in maint. by double...

I dunno, Im enjoying the hell out of this.. but would sorely love to see sooo much more. I dont think anyone could say these arent things that would only enhance the game all around.

So far all we have however is a city you CANT live in, or Mayberry year 1912 that you can.

2,000 years ago, when God made an ass speak it was a miracle.
Today, it would be a miracle if you could get one to shut up.
~Pastor James Vernon McGee

EccoTon

Tue Mar 16, 2004 5:32 am

#2

Lee,

No offense intended.Mayor is the poorest designed profession in the game. Mayor is fun the first couple weeks. When you have done it for months like the rest of us you will find it is the least in depth role in the game by far. When you reach master or even only a few boxesyou will find it very boring and a waste of skill points, unless Mayor is all you plan on doing. Planning town is fun but when it is set and some decorations are placed there is nothing to do. Maybe change a trainer from time to time. I thought it was fun on my 10th day too, but now on my 100th day it is boring! Hope it stays fun for you but I have not met to many Mayors who do not want major changes to this profession. It had so much potential but SOE fell flat on this one.

Ecco Ton

Mayor - Polygon Valley, Naboo (Corbatins)

Flynn_Nomad

Tue Mar 16, 2004 6:22 am

#3

Ecco doesnt like politician FYI, but he stubbornly continues to be one...he probably has a dead end job IRL he's afraid to quit too, so...

Yes Ecco, mayor is poorly designed and IMHO, not finished yet...

But as this guy is showing there is MUCH more to do outside the skill tree.

As a mayor, I am constanly handling /tells and emails, addressing the afk citizen issue ( some have gone to war IRL)

Even to the point where I have to contact the families IRL to get their name and password. (you need to have a lot of balls and tact to call a family and say "Hey I know your husband is at war but can I get his info so his house doesnt poof in game?")

So hopefully soon they will add more to our skill tree, but in the meantime I will say that mayor isn't easy.

--------------------------------------------
Kid, I've flown from one side of this galaxy to the other. I've
seen a lot of strange stuff, but I've never seen anything to make me
believe there's one all-powerful force controlling everything. There's
no mystical energy field that controls my destiny.

EccoTon

Tue Mar 16, 2004 7:09 am

#4

Flynn_Nomad,

Don't make assumptions about me that you know nothing about. I am actually a nationally know artist and work out my studio. You have to start by insulting someone to state your point. Your ignorance is amazing!

Ecco Ton

Korrack

Tue Mar 16, 2004 7:18 am

#5

Our city is now about roughly 10 days old, has 29 citizens with 50 odd structures. Mainly due to hard work. ( I believe)
But the benefits are so minimal. I've been doing all this so I can now tell an engineer to lay a park done? I mean come the heck on people.. not cool. We need real perks. Real benefits..

10 days in and your city is doing well. I commend you, but also remember, it's only a week and a bit in. Don't expect everything in one shot. It will come to you. by the time you reach larger size, things will come to you.

small temple for the wandering Jedi as a safe house in all regards.

What about Imperial cities? Jedi are by default Rebel to start. Something like this altho probably a good idea for Rebels is useless for Imperials and also a giant advertising sign of "Come here to kill Jedis"

You can actually SEE a boundary to your city one demand (say cntl 2) because everyone knows the boundary moves as you do.

The city boundary code lags the servers enough without having to actually display a circle around the city. Adding more graphics is a bad idea to an already graphically bloated system.

place cantina (without a friggin dancer! 5 lots is just way to much to ask of someone)

Dancer or chef or musician. I disagree with this point. Having no pre-requisite to place player civic structures will leave them as ghost towns. There is no reason a currently required professional entertainer cannot be found to place a structure for this if they are serious about their profession. The same goes for the hospital and theater. I like making a city dependent. What sense does it make for a TKA to own and operate a hospital or cantina?

plantable tree's to mark roadways etc.

I will answer this one in a minute

Mayor begins to pull a salary of 15% of city fund of whats left over AFTER the bills are paid. (automatically happens)

From day 1 I thought the mayor should have a salary. Somethign reasonable, yet somethign fair. It is the only profession with no clear cut way to make money in the game.

Back to education facilities: Trainers invovled in their will fund the city, not the game. Since we are paying for these, we should reap the benefits of said. Something where we can enable who pays and how much. As in, my citizens can learn free or a free i place independant of the fee SOE charges or that a non-citizen would pay.

Also another great point. All those trainers being a giant money sink. We find in our city that most players try to get trained by other players because they don't want to pay the fees and the money doesn't go to the city, not even a portion of it.

Ability to begin laying one or two paved areas! No more Walnut Grove! I find it hard to believe in a far advanced civilization the populace would be expected to walk in the mud EVERYWHERE they are outside of coronet, it's just stupid. This would also cut back on lag encountered because our PC's wouldnt have to draw all the individual flora.

As with the plantable trees above, I'll explain this shortly.

Also, med centers that begin healing at a reduced rate, to get better as city's infrastructure expands.

Yes, expanded abilities of medical centers in healing rates, expanded entertaining healing of cantinas. Good ideas, as the city progresses, the infrastructure gets better at what it does.

Mall with unlimited vendors that we can buy modules for to expand them as needed.

This is called a PA hall. A lot of groups are using them very successfully as malls. As with anything else, if you want the storage space and operation space, you need to spend the lots. I completely agree with the lot system in this game as it keeps everyone from being everything.

The ability for Mayors to post "help Wanted" type ads on the city hall where vendors, people or whatnot can read.

I used to do this using color codes "\#Xff0000\Meeting This Friday at 8pm Eastern" type signs using backpacks which can be easily picked up and renamed. A board posting system would be nice tho. If text based Diku Muds from 10+ years ago can do this, why not a game like SWG?

Ability to pave 75% or greater part of the city.

Honest, I will get to this...

Temples are now "factionable" to either light or dark "religions".

Still not liking the temple for Jedi idea. Jedi in this timeline are all in hiding and in limited numbers. There has not been active Jedi temples in a long time.

CITY CAN DECLARE WAR (ahh to dream!)

If your city is guild based, this already exists. If not, just walk around overt all the time. But none the less, a good concept

This city can now be a true metropolis. Starports to all connecting planets avail., Shuttles anywhere on your planet

This would completely negate the need for NPC cities. Perhaps this will be handled in the Space Expansion.

full paving of roads, ability to have high rises, etc..

Almost there, I swear...

dedicated zones for residential, industrial..etc. than can be independantly taxed.

Very good idea. Would love to see this, but I believe implementing it without a major code revamp would be difficult.

So much more can be said (and has been said on these forums), so why has nothing been done so far? why must people continue to live in Earth circa 1833 walking in mud in such an advanced civilization? These things are not difficult to program into the game... they already exist in the most part in major cities (ie; pavement).. just give us the ability to do it.

Ok ok, I'll answer this now. There is a major reason why they cannot at this time allow cities to place roads, or trees, or walls, or too many decorations. Server lag. You know that wonderful boundary system you wanted to physicallt see? Well, that system needs to calculate each and every item in the city as well as where every player on the planet is in conjunction to the city in order to handle things like "Entering Vicimus (Metropolis)", handling code for what was /citywarn to know when a player "got out of town", counts for numbers of decorations and civic structures within city limits, what buildings are in town to pay taxes etc. This all takes system resources. Adding more items that the city needs to count and that need to render when someone comes into the city gives huge bloat to the system. This has been tested. The DEVs have mentioned at some point that they may try and implement pavement. Don't expect it before a major server revamp and a database redesign. The current system just cannot handle more items inside the city zone that are placeable by the citizens. This is why they limit things. Reader's Digest version: The servers suck...

How about this: We can control the major power sectors as well. So that, say we have some schmuck in our town we dont want (he built a structure in front of city hall say), we can cut "power" to his home effectively raising the cost for him to live there in maint. by double...

A method of detering an unwanted citizen would be great, but as with anything the DEVs write, it will be exploited and used for griefing of individual players. I think this could be reasonably coded as a "double" tax or something. It remains to be seen if the DEVs can even reinstitute /citywarn without people using it to grief.

You had some great points in your post and I am glad to see new mayors coming into this with so much thought into what could make the profession better and better. But as with anything, a major revamp of politician and player cities will stop coding of combat changes, additions to other professions, added "content". Everything is give and take. Stuff will change and much will be added, but it is all down the road. I expect a major revamp to player cities and politician to occur when the Space Expansion is released. It just makes sense that as you reach out into the galaxy on your own that home because more important.

We shall see. Keep up the good work, and remember, it's just the beginning, you will see so much more over time. You are 10 days in, the city I live in has been in since day 1 of player cities, and we have a wonderful community there. The city is mostly what you make of it. People can ignore the mud if they find good services and people there.

Try not to become a ghost town of inactive players and watch out for the planetary city caps.

Best of luck.

OKIEKORRACKOKIEKORRACK
OKIEKORRACKOKIEKORRACK
OKIEKORRACKOKIEKORRACK  __________________________
OKIEKORRACKOKIEKORRACK
OKIEKORRACKOKIEKORRACK
OKIEKORRACKOKIEKORRACK    O K I E  K O R R A C K
OKIEKORRACKOKIEKORRACK
OKIEKORRACKOKIEKORRACK       Black Sun Pilot
OKIEKORRACKOKIEKORRACK
OKIEKORRACKOKIEKORRACK     Outer Rim Droidworks
OKIEKORRACKOKIEKORRACK
OKIEKORRACKOKIEKORRACK    Mos Eisley  2952 -5573
OKIEKORRACKOKIEKORRACK
OKIEKORRACKOKIEKORRACK  __________________________
OKIEKORRACKOKIEKORRACK
OKIEKORRACKOKIEKORRACK
OKIEKORRACKOKIEKORRACK
OKIEKORRACKOKIEKORRACK

Flynn_Nomad

Tue Mar 16, 2004 7:51 am

#6

Lol Ecco Im just joking, just pointing out that you always seem to be so down on Politician, just wondering why you do it...

So sensitive! (quick get these emotions on a canvas!)

--------------------------------------------
Kid, I've flown from one side of this galaxy to the other. I've
seen a lot of strange stuff, but I've never seen anything to make me
believe there's one all-powerful force controlling everything. There's
no mystical energy field that controls my destiny.

EccoTon

Tue Mar 16, 2004 8:10 am

#7

The reason is. I want it fixed. I could be so much fun. I am glad new mayors like it.I like it too, like all new mayors do. . However read the over all board, most experienced mayors feel the same way. The original post was thoughtful but I disagree with the depth comment. The reason I stay is my town wants me to. They trust me to keep it an open place for all players to shop and recieve help and guidance from an experienced group. Read my posts I want SOE to notice us. We are the minority profession. If we do not talk about the problems then SOE will never realize politician needs a lot of work.

Make know mistake when I am insulted I will respond has nothing to do with being sensative.

Ecco Ton

TFA_Maverick

Wed Mar 17, 2004 2:39 am

#8

Well it's really comforting to me to know that there are other people out there who are enjoying the job (certain detractors notwithstanding). I've been mayor of our city since they first went up in, oh, December? I've always managed to find a way to keep occupied and useful to this very day... even more of late, actually. These days I actually spend the vast majority of my in-game time either in my plush city hall office talking to new potential citizens and PA recruits as well as having other various meetings, or out and about in the city limits helping move and situate some new structure or another to keep our streets orderly and beautiful. Between that and being the resident MD running the hospital, it's a full time job, and a rewarding one. I was shocked tonight when most of the citizens threw a surprise ceremony in my honor to thank me and shower me with large monetary gifts, lol... So now I can enjoy my job and not have to subsist economically, at least for a while. =)

True, player cities and the politician profession need a lot of work still... either some more enduring content in the field or slashed SP costs, as well as separation of gardens from streetlamps to allow a little more in the way of accenting... and some mild terraforming tools wouldn't hurt. Oh yeah, and the ability to see who owns a structure and evict them, lol

But all in all, I wouldn't trade it for anything... I have a blast politic'ing in SWG, more than I even imagined I would, and my citizens and guildmates all appreciate my work... and that's enough for me.

Jason'R Horn

Mayor of New Cardia, Dantooine
Sub-Primus, Central Imperial Order

Flynn_Nomad

Wed Mar 17, 2004 6:33 am

#9

People need to understand that the profession is called "politician"...

I do SO much work OUTSIDE of the skill tree...

Last night I had to meet a prospective citizen in front of our city hall.

I needed to show him around, tell him about the city...all the while I'm getting /tells from my friends to go hunting, and I have to reply, "No, I can't, I'm working"

I show this guy around, he loves the city, it's layout, the fellow citizens, the potential (were only 4 weeks old), so I bring him to one of my predetermined lots, and drop his house for him. (the only time I actually used a skill from the tree).

So now we are one more citizen closer to the next level.

--------------------------------------------
Kid, I've flown from one side of this galaxy to the other. I've
seen a lot of strange stuff, but I've never seen anything to make me
believe there's one all-powerful force controlling everything. There's
no mystical energy field that controls my destiny.

LeeRydersRevenge

Wed Mar 17, 2004 5:03 pm

#10

So true about 90% of the "job" of Mayor is outside the skill tree. IMO, the Devs completely missed the boat on how to assign skill points in this regard. We get points for votes, but votes being automatically given, along with having absolutely NOTHING to do with what we actually do (visiting, negotiating, planning, purchasing, accounting, Greeting, building, economics and more!) that the largest part of our duties are disregarded by others simply for the reason it isnt listed in the skill tree.

Tuesdays are by far my busiest day as it is update day and Im ussually in a rush to get everything in order for the coming update. I suspect that at the top level this will relax a bit.. but all the above mentioned things will be even more so hectic due to now I will most likely be evaluating more closely the people that ask to join us due to space concerns.

Add onto all these things that if not now, then most likely eventually youll be looking at aiding in the defense of a faction base of your liking.. and this could very easily turn into a full time job... (like it isnt already, ya right! lol)

As far as getting a "salary" from our position... I guess its in the gratification of seeing it grow.. but still..

2,000 years ago, when God made an ass speak it was a miracle.
Today, it would be a miracle if you could get one to shut up.
~Pastor James Vernon McGee

Olepi

Thu Mar 18, 2004 5:52 pm

#11

Flynn_Nomad wrote:

Ecco doesnt like politician FYI, but he stubbornly continues to be one...he probably has a dead end job IRL he's afraid to quit too, so...

Yes Ecco, mayor is poorly designed and IMHO, not finished yet...

But as this guy is showing there is MUCH more to do outside the skill tree.

As a mayor, I am constanly handling /tells and emails, addressing the afk citizen issue ( some have gone to war IRL)

Even to the point where I have to contact the families IRL to get their name and password. (you need to have a lot of balls and tact to call a family and say "Hey I know your husband is at war but can I get his info so his house doesnt poof in game?")

So hopefully soon they will add more to our skill tree, but in the meantime I will say that mayor isn't easy.

As my father always said there is a moron born every minute.

Why do you have to go and start a fire with some guy you don't know in real life?

Feeling a bit insecure about our status IRL? makes it a lot easier and braver to talk crap to someone that can't chin check you!

i'd come up with lots of theories about you based upon your comments here but i'd get banned.

Olepi

Thu Mar 18, 2004 5:55 pm

#12

LeeRydersRevenge wrote:

So true about 90% of the "job" of Mayor is outside the skill tree. IMO, the Devs completely missed the boat on how to assign skill points in this regard. We get points for votes, but votes being automatically given, along with having absolutely NOTHING to do with what we actually do (visiting, negotiating, planning, purchasing, accounting, Greeting, building, economics and more!) that the largest part of our duties are disregarded by others simply for the reason it isnt listed in the skill tree.

Tuesdays are by far my busiest day as it is update day and Im ussually in a rush to get everything in order for the coming update. I suspect that at the top level this will relax a bit.. but all the above mentioned things will be even more so hectic due to now I will most likely be evaluating more closely the people that ask to join us due to space concerns.

Add onto all these things that if not now, then most likely eventually youll be looking at aiding in the defense of a faction base of your liking.. and this could very easily turn into a full time job... (like it isnt already, ya right! lol)

As far as getting a "salary" from our position... I guess its in the gratification of seeing it grow.. but still..

When do the DEV's not completely miss the boat? Take Droid Engineer as an example it's the most neglected professiona nd withthe new updates it just got funnier or sadder depending on how you view it. This profession is right behind it.

BUT HEY W GET TO PLACE GARAGES!!!!

give me a freaking break.

LeeRydersRevenge

Thu Mar 18, 2004 11:30 pm

#13

see mt /tip devs thread. to me... this is one of the best, unforeseen bonus' we could have asked for. they look terrific and make the cities feel 50% less like walnut grove.

2,000 years ago, when God made an ass speak it was a miracle.
Today, it would be a miracle if you could get one to shut up.
~Pastor James Vernon McGee

Politician Archive

Thread: Very Fun Job Being Mayor.