Economy: Community Discussion

[Ayden Cater]

So on staff, we've had some ideas thrown around and one of them was the idea of implementing some form of an economy. Some ideas for this were for something as simple as leveraging bounties to a more broad, sweeping economy that would cover things like weapons, ships, mineral rights, and everything between here and Kessel. At this point though, our ideas are pretty much on the table and we're split on the issue.

So the next logical step was to take this case to you, the community. What do you guys think of this idea? Feel free to post your opinion and ideas.

 

[Darren Onyx]

I love the idea. Would really bring a more real life feel to it.

I would like to see a bounty board. I think that a sub-forum in RP Discussion could help with that. I also think we should have more NPC bounties. I've noticed a lot of people are hunting other PC. I happen to be one of those people. Anyways, I think faction leaders should have a forum called bounties. Post NPC bounties there that members of the faction could try and catch.

I also think this could really help with faction trading. We have so many trade routes but we don't really see them. This could implement so many RP ideas like a ship being intersected or something.

Really great idea.

 

[Verz Horak]

I agree with what Onyx says, with the addition on personal wealth. Because what would be the point of all this without having your own money to trade and possibly gain? Bounties are fun and all, but a central bank run by Staff and personal balances would be good to have.

 

[Kaveh Garshasp]

I like the idea, it gives a greater feeling of satisfaction that being a pirate who took out and raided a ship carrying precious minerals on a trade route actually means something. Also, I agree with @[member="Dark Onyx"] in that it would give greater importance to Trade Routes. Of course, we acknowledge their importance IC, but a lot of people are more concerned with cutting off enemies from growth while trade routes that they are receiving aid and supplies from are completely open and unprotected which doesn't make any real sense.

 

[Caulder Dune]

Full support. Will this mean our character have income taken into account and limited thusly, or is this a thing that mostly applies to factions/the Galaxy at large?

 

[The Reclaiming One]

*Gives a big thumbs up*

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

As I've said before the real issue to overcome here is where personal/company/faction/government finances overlap. Else we could have a character with billions of credits and can buy anything they want to excessive lengths.

I love the idea though, if it can be implemented fairly.

 

[Akio Kahoshi]

It would be... difficult to properly balance, but forcing people to earn their fortunes rather than everyone being a billionaire playboy mandalorian bounty hunter that never actually captures bounties would make things interesting.

 

[Cira]

I'd use the Sithlore System of getting wealth... but that's just me.



Required you to actually own a ship and post a thread from your own mine/company/ whatever going towards the refinery / pitstop / whatever.

Then the RPJ would judge the thread to be worthy or not. Depending on how many ships and how big, determined their amount in cargo they could ship.

Also, this involved trade routes --- you have to have some measure of defenses ( IE fighters or gunships) to protect the trade. Because ANYONE could jump in to try and attack your convoy.

This is I guess where hero units vs hero units would play a part.

Factions would get a set amount of credits every month; based on holdings. Whatever you deem planets are worth in terms of trade. They were labeled as manufacturers, producers, or... *thinks* mining worlds.

As an incentive when i was in sithlore; folk got money based on completed / participation on active RP's.... i'll go look for it.


Found it

Hear ye! Hear ye!

Alright kiddos, to keep things neat and tidy, we are making mandatory monthly activity checks to know which Rebels are currently active and which are not. After looking over the SLIU RA membership list, and noticing there are inactive members for more than a month on the list, we have decided to enact this bit of legislation. If you are inactive for more than a month, and miss the roll call by the last calender date of the current month, please do not be surprised upon your return to activity, you discover that your PC has been removed from the Rebel Alliance Faction Roster. This is not meant as a punishment, but to keep our list tidy, clean, and updated. Once your PC becomes active again, and you wish to rejoin the Rebellion, please feel free to submit an application to the Faction, and we will be glad to accept it.



TiCira Hawk and Buggie
Rebel Faction Leaders

*Jedi: Even though the Jedi are still under the RA in SLIU, do not worry that you have to report to a monthly roll call. Eryk will be the one taking care of such matters.


[SIZE=large]Rebel Alliance Monthly Pay[/SIZE]

Yes yes, now to the important part you all wanted to know!
It’s a tough job being a Rebel, thus for a job well earned, all active members of the faction (System perk, be happy!) are entitled to a monthly wage. However, it is an Equal Opportunity wage, so you are stuck with the amount as follows, courtesy of all the raids and looting we do of the Empire!

50K a month!

[SIZE=large]Roleplay Bonuses[/SIZE]

In addition to the standard pay, we have decided that the Rebel Alliance will begin offering a small incentive to participate in roleplays. This incentive is simply a monetary reward for participating in threads, with the actual amount of credits varying depending on the type of RP and the number of posts in the thread.

There is no limit to the amount of threads a member can claim for, but we, as Faction Leaders, reserve the right to reject any threads that feel as though they have been contrived simply in an attempt to earn credits. Additionally, most threads can only be claimed for once, with campaigns being the only exception to this.

Amounts are as follows:

• Starting or joining an IC thread - 1000cr
• " " with a member of another faction or an independent - 2000cr (*)
• Contributing at least 10 posts to an IC thread - 1000cr
• Contributing at least 20 posts to an IC thread - 2000cr
• Battling a member of the Empire or Sith- 3000cr
• Actively participating in a campaign (at least 5 posts per month) - 5000cr (May be claimed each month for the duration of the campaign)
• Successfully completing a recruitment thread with another character - 5000cr

* Amounts are cumulative, unless marked with an asterisk

Additionally, we reserve the right to award small bonuses to members of the faction who conduct themselves in a way that reflects upon the canon nature of the organization. We also reserve the right to deduct amounts from members who act in a way unsuited to their role.

[SIZE=large]How to Claim[/SIZE]

Claiming these rewards is relatively simple. We will pin up a topic that you all may post in for claiming activity bonuses. This will be done once a month, where you will state your activity no later than the final week of each month. Simply just post a reply listing each thread you think is applicable (with links, please!), and also detail which rewards you think each thread qualifies you for.

Please remember Rebels that you can only claim for threads that have started in the relevant month, with the sole exception of campaigns.

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

The only other issue is who decides how much say, a pirated ship is worth? Put in a request for RPJs to add in the amounts they feel as appropriate?

We'd likely have to peg the credit to the US$ so that players have an understanding of what credits are worth...and a list of common items too.

 

[Jsc]

Thoughts:

• Why do we need one?
• Why do we want one?
• How much research and evaluation has been done on previous Forums/Games?
• How would this Economy interact and transition between Characters, Factions, Civilizations, and OOC Authors.

I mean. I can't really comment on what I can't see. Lol.

 

[Ashara Zavros]

It would be difficult getting everything balanced and set but it would add to the SWRP canon I think.
After all, being a Mando I found it a very hollow victory when I just posted in my bio that I "used up" a lot of my "funds" to pay for the armor...When I really have no idea how much cash I have.

A problem I see with this though is: How do we implement it now? With many of our charactesr we already have personal ships, expensive ass armor and weapons. So what would happen?

 

[Darren Brunswick]

I'd say instead of making a credit balance for every single character, it'd be more effective to put a balance for individual factions.
It'd be much easier to handle, and factions could buy reasonable amounts of ships / weapons with their earned credits...

 

[Ayden Cater]

Thoughts:

• Why do we need one?
• Why do we want one?
• How much research and evaluation has been done on previous Forums/Games?
• How would this Economy interact and transition between Characters, Factions, Civilizations, and OOC Authors.

I mean. I can't really comment on what I can't see. Lol.

This is not meant to necessarily be a discussion on the ins and outs, merely a gauge of interest to see what the community thinks. If there's enough support for it, we would then proceed to put together a first draft of the system. We'd do some more discussions, and redraft the system as necessary until, like here, we reach a point where we can go no further with just the staff looking at it, at which point we release it to the community for review before implementing it.

 

[Verz Horak]

We'd likely have to peg the credit to the US$ so that players have an understanding of what credits are worth...and a list of common items too.

MURICA

 

[Tefka]

Thoughts:

• Why do we need one?
• Why do we want one?
• How much research and evaluation has been done on previous Forums/Games?
• How would this Economy interact and transition between Characters, Factions, Civilizations, and OOC Authors.

I mean. I can't really comment on what I can't see. Lol.

We're brainstorming. Everyone's commenting on what they can't see. Ayden asked me what the progress was with the economy project Staff has been discussing, I told him there wasn't any, and that it likely wouldn't be implemented. He basically said "shouldn't that be the community's decision?". I said start a discussion.

And now here we are.

 

[Cira]

Posting what Sithlore had in regards to trade.

Part of running a successful faction is handling faction finances, production and economics. The Sithlore economy operates almost entirely on the faction level, but there is a part to play for normal players too: trade.

V.i Production
The most important principle in the Sithlore economy is faction production. Factions alone have the ability to own production facilities (shipyards and factories) which produce military equipment. However, this equipment can't be made out of thin air and space dust! Factions require RU (Resource Units) to run their production facilities.

V.i.a Mines
RU can be aquired by factions through the ownership of mining planets, mining platforms and Orbital mines. Each of these give a faction a certain quantity of RU each month. However, for various reasons it is likely that factions will need more RU than they can produce themselves, and they can make up the deficit by encouraging their members and members of other factions to produce RU of their own (by owning a personal mining facility) and trading it with them.
For details about Mining Planets see the Galactic Wars rules. The other three kinds of mine, Orbital, Platform and Facility each have a maximum operational number. This means a faction or individual can only own a certain quantity of them:

Facility Personal Limit Faction Limit
Orbital Mining Station 0 4
Mining Platform 0 5
Mining Facility 1 0

V.i.b Production facilities
As previously mentioned the two production facilities are Shipyards and Factories. There is an operational maximum of six production facilities for the two main factions, the New Republic and the Empire, and four production facilities for the lesser factions. That means four production facilities in total, not four of each type. (Older players please note that despite the distinction between shipyard and factory no longer applies. Effectively they are now two names for the same thing. Ground vehicles can be made in shipyards and ships in factories.)

Each facility processes 5000RU per month.

Further details about how production actually works can be found in the Faction Leader Manual, which is not available to normal players.

V.ii Trade
The more observant among you may have noticed that the maximum production allowed is more than the maximum RU that can be mined each month. So how can you make up the deficit? One answer is trade. Individuals can, as we have seen, own mines. However they cannot own production facilities. Only factions can produce. Therefore individuals are allowed to trade with factions. This can be done in one of two ways, first, by transporting their RU themselves using the tradelanes forum. As an incentive the individual will recieve 500cr per RU traded. The second method is by having the faction pick up the RU, in which case no credit incentive is recieved.

V.iia Personal Trades
In order to conduct personal trade you need RU, and a Ship capable of carrying RU (All ships with this ability have 'Spacelanes Transport' in their store reference entry). These must be owned by the individual, as using faction transports to transfer personal RU is not permitted for personal trade.
The first step is to post in the tradelanes forum in the first week of the month, including in your post the type of transport you're using as well as a the number and type of any escorts being used to protect your convoy and the name of the faction you are trading to. The deadline for this post is the 7th. You are allowed one personal transport piloted by you, plus one additional transport if you have a pilot droid. All other transports must be piloted by real players.

That done, you can either RP the convoy travelling or sit back and wait. You may not post reaching your destination safely, as there is a chance your convoy will be intercepted!

The next step of trading starts on the first day of the second week, the 8th, when Raiders may post interception attempts. Each convoy may only be intercepted once and it works on a first-come, first-served basis, though all interceptions MUST be posted by the 14th of the month. Please note each character may take part in one convoy and one raid, but no more than one of each.

Scenario Chance of Interception
No Special Equipment 50%
Ship with Gravity Well Generators in Raiding Fleet +25%
All ships in Convoy equipped with HIMS system -25%

If the convoy isn't intercepted, it completes it's journey and the RU's owner receives 500cr for each RU. The RU then goes to the faction named at the start of the thread.

If the convoy is intercepted, they must choose whether to try and fight the raiders off, jettison the cargo or surrender. If they surrender, or jettison the cargo the Raiders get 500cr per RU and keep the RU. Should the convoy attempt to fight off the Raiders, the battle will be generated by the moderator. If the ships carrying the RU is destroyed, no-one receives the credits or RU. If the Convoy fight off the Raiders, they receive the full credits and the RU goes to their chosen faction. Should the Raiders win without destroying the ship carrying RU, the defenders once again have the choice of surrender or jettison.

If the defenders choose to resist then the attackers must conduct a boarding action in order to gain the cargo and credits. In boarding they can use PCs and faction troops to attempt to take control of the freighter. If the crew win, they keep their RU and may escape from the Raiding fleet. However, if they lose, the Raiders receive the RU and 500cr per RU.

Please note that all XP rewards for battles in the Spacelanes are halved.

V.IIb.i Faction trades.
In many respects faction trades are the same as personal trades, but there are a number of important differences. Firstly, faction transports and not personal transports are used. Personal transports are not allowed in faction trades. Secondly the person who owns the mine and at least one faction PC must be present (these two roles cannot be filled by a single player, there must be two PCs present). Thirdly there is no limit to the quantity of faction transports that can be used, but the larger the convoy the bigger the chance of interception (more on this later). Fourth, faction tansports DO NOT generate credits for either side. Finally, a player must choose between EITHER a faction trade or personal trade, but may not conduct both in the same month.

V.IIb.ii Faction trade interceptions
As already mentioned the chance of interception is proportionate to the size of the convoy. The larger the RU shipment the larger the chance of it being intercepted.

RU Quantity Chance Chance with Interdictor
0-999 50% 75%
1,000 - 1,999 60% 80%
2,000 - 2,999 70% 85%
3,000 - 4,999 80% 90%
5,000 - 6,999 90% 95%
7,000 + 99% 99%

Interception proceedure is identical to that of personal trades, except that as with successful trades no credits are generated in the case of a successful interception.

 

[Akio Kahoshi]

So... many... rules....

 

[Tefka]

We've already got a problem with people not reading the currently established rules, now you're proposing a novella. LOL. People are too lazy, me included, to keep up with all of it. The system would die within weeks, and would cause a lot of arguments.

 

[Ayden Cater]

Don't worry, Akio. That was how they did it. It's not how we'd do it.