Post by t050189 on Feb 16, 2015 8:46:04 GMT
Tectum Clementia
Overhaul proposal
Hey guys. Erik/T0 here. As we've all seen recently, activity on the server has been dying down. We did enjoy a slight burst of users a while earlier, but there's not much forum activity at the moment (Not sure about on the server because of my timezone, but it appears that the same has happened there). We've lost Carnasis, one of our core Loremasters, and the story hasn't progressed whatsoever in a while. So, I have some suggestions that could help enrich the server RP and Gameplay wise, attracting more players.
NOTE: I am not demanding anything, nor am I trying to insult anyone, so please be a little more lenient. I have self esteem issues ._.
1. Recruitment drive
One thing the server desperately needs at the moment is more players. There isn't a large enough server population to maintain high activity for extended periods of time; right now, most RP from my experience consists of Admin events and the occasional joint strike or trade. So, one thing I'd like the staff to consider is to perhaps reward players for bringing in their friends or associates to join the server; perhaps in the form of credits, hardware, IC promotions etc.
While this would be hard to explain RP-wise, we could probably figure something out (a salary, a mission, pension etc?)
2. A more diversified "economy"
Right now, the server economy entirely bases itself upon blocks; selling blocks, buying blocks, producing blocks, yadda yadda yadda. The so-called main factions, the SS and Rendii, play a very small part right now. So here's a bit of stuff that I'd like to see implemented (and would be willing to help in):
Warning: Rant ahead
2a. Non-state corporations
What I mean by this is a group of different companies selling and trading different goods in spawn system, rather than everything being centralised at the single spawn station. These corporations need not be actively participating in RP, but can make spawn a lot more interesting. What I'm trying to convey here is to have different areas doing different this; one way to visualise it would be like a Hub City in a game like Borderlands or Sunset Overdrive, where different shops sell different aspects of the game's items and players must travel in between. It would be vastly more interesting than the current single "jack-of-all-trades" Indoc Facility we have now, and while hard to implement, we could work together, player and staff, to create the structures on buildserver.
Structures could include (but are not limited to):
2a)i) Shipyard, selling starter ships and other vessels for those who don't want to build
2a)ii) Market, player trade hub and shop
2a)iii) Auction House / Black Market, high value deals such as selling of player ships or rare items
2a)iv) Garage, players can buy a slot to store ships
2a)v) Center/Club/Residential, where players can mingle and socialise or perhaps even buy housing. Maybe a Community board where players can post notes.
Spawn should remain at Indoc, but the infinite shop should be removed (Still should have basic parts to allow players to travel to other areas for better stuff). Of course, this is very ambitious and probably will take a very long time to fully implement.
2b. Non symmetrical stocks/prices
One issue that will have to be addressed is the infinite shop at spawn. Players can't really sell stuff they've accrued over time, and richer players can just build whatever the hell they want as long as they have the cash. A suggestion that has been raised by Herr (I think, correct me if I'm wrong) is to remove nearly all/all blocks from spawn shop, making the economy more player based by forcing players to get stuff either through manufacturing or trade. Of course, things like generators, thrusters and hulls should remain in moderate stock to allow newcomers to construct basic ships to get around, though computers, weapons etc. should remain stocked by players.
2c. Financial reports and fluctuations
Now, this is probably a bit too much to handle for a server like ours, but I'm just putting this out here in case it might be possible. If there could be a thread that details on how the TC:NA economy is changing over time, perhaps with daily post edits (and according in game changes).
An example of a financial report would be:
The colony of Altrin in System -13 37 83 has been hit by a SoB raid. Casualties heavy, and the price of medical treatment has risen drastically.
This report would then be accompanied with an according change to increase the price of Medical Cabinets and Medical Supplies above the normal threshold, making it more profitable to run supply runs in the area. These reports should be temporary effects, and could include price drops as well (Sharp drop in popularity of crystal lighting drops crystal prices in the colony of Alp, System 18 29 -1) or other price related effects.
Economy rant over, on to next rant.
3. Ambience and environment
The universe of TC:NA, in all honesty, is a little blank. With the exception of stations and planets, there is little sign that the universe is any different from a stock one in SM with custom stations and ships. To help make the TC:NA universe more vibrant, I suggest the following:
3a. Station clusters OUTSIDE of spawn system
The Syndicate States and the Rendii are meant to be vast, powerful factions with great amounts of authority and influence. Creating colonial cluster stations outside of spawn would make this more evident that the SS and Empire are both major entities spread out around the universe, rather than lone station complexes restricted to a system or two. I realise that this has been partially done with the different State bases, but those are little more than claimed and repaired auto spawned stations. By these clusters, I mean groups of stations that have been at least slightly customised (Maybe even just a paintjob or some scaffolding) and with enough function to work as a mini "spawn" with enough lure to warrant a visit to them worth the while (Unique sold ships, perhaps, or different prices and goods).
3b. Planetside colonies
It's somewhat unrealistic to have all these massive stations, bastions of humanity's might, floating around in the thousands while not a single planet lies colonised (with the exception of basic player created factory colonies like Castra Glacie or Citadel-1). Just some basic terraforming and copy/paste could probably allow a number of SS and Rendii planetside cities to be created (In fact, I'm building one right now). These could act similarly to station clusters, with different aspects (shipyards, shops, socialising areas) located on different plates. Again, probably a bit too ambitious, but we could probably start with some minor buildings on some of the planets.
3c. MOAR LORE
Yes.
I just said (typed?) more lore.
While the SS, Rendii, Brotherhood and SoB lore is quite detailed, most of the other things in the TC:NA universe have been largely ignored. Are there any non-human life forms in New Ephebia? Any minor groups, rebels, notable bandit gangs, historical events, splinter groups, "legends", folk tales, stories, traditions, etc.? While it might appear too much to handle, games like Borderlands, Skyrim, and others manage to fit in so much non-main storyline lore inside. Now, I realise we aren't AAA multimillion dollar companies with multiple years to write it all up, but maybe we could all just a little bit everyday. On the bus, during recess, before lunch, in the toilet, in bed; even though staff might not have enough manpower to do so, allowing some players to contribute to the lore outside of IC actions as minor "lore keepers" or "lore writers" could probably fill TC:NA's lore with lots of interesting info, short stories or the like to make the server richer in context. This was kind of what I had in mind when I suggested the wiki be created.
3d. Ships
At the moment, TC:NA ships are all custom built with the exception of starters. There simply is no other alternative; premade catalogs and ready to buy ships simply do not exist. So, what if we had decent, pre designed vessels that players could buy from a "showroom" using credits? And I'm not talking about a single group, either. I mean interceptor to heavy fighter to even light frigate sized ships each created by IC companies, each with different appearance, emphasis on stats, price, etc.
I'm gonna raise another example. Say we have three different companies: Fiesler, Heckler and Iron Curtain.
Fiesler ships are fast, well armed, glass cannons. They work best as hit and runners and can cover large distances easily, but have paper thin armour and average shielding. Their colour scheme is blue, white and orange lights, and look sleek and aerodynamic.
Heckler ships are reliable, highly customisable ships. They have much larger power output and have large flat spaces and empty rooms for customisation by a player, making them the most versatile ships available for purchase. Their colour scheme is green, brown and red lights, and look somewhat worn down, with WW2 aesthetics and wear/tear. Possibly asymmetrical.
Iron Curtain ships are heavily armoured, heavily shielded, sluggish "mighty glaciers" that can take a beating. They are the toughest of all three companies and are solid ships that make for great warships and cargo ships alike. Their colour scheme is grey, white and blue lights and look like classic scifi Terran dreadnoughts with armour slabbed all over.
Now, say we have a fighter (or equivalent) from each company on sale for roughly similar prices. Each fighter naturally has the pros and cons of its parent company.
A player who aspires to be a lone wolf or bandit might choose to buy a Fiesler for more mobility and firepower on their own, or a Heckler to customise with spare parts they find.
A player who wants to be part of a faction or group may choose the Iron Curtain ship to act as a team player by soaking up damage for his comrades, or a Heckler to change into any role that fits his post.
Basically, players can choose from a series of premade ships according to their playstyle, character or preference. And, of course, there are the "unique" ships or ship groups that can only be bought at remote station clusters (see: 3a.) away from spawn, each with their own characteristics. Again, probably asking too much but a few premade ships that aren't starting ships could be nice.
3e. Misc. landmarks
These areas don't fall under the colony category, nor the station cluster category. They don't really serve any functional purpose other than spicing up the world of TC:NA, float around and look cool. Basically like derelict stations, but unique and sort of permanent. The most obvious kind of landmark would of course be the battlefield, a stretch of space filled with debris, destroyed ships, etc. While salvagers, griefers and bored players could pose a problem, we could circumvent it by making these battlefields stations, and making them faction homes (or some other way of making them indestructible). Other landmarks could include lone wrecks, rest stations, natural occurrences (giant asteroids), remnants of historic events (a derelict from Exodus, a prototype jump ship, maybe even Voyager II).
That's all for now. I'll be dumping whatever else I can think of here later. Cheers.
Overhaul proposal
Hey guys. Erik/T0 here. As we've all seen recently, activity on the server has been dying down. We did enjoy a slight burst of users a while earlier, but there's not much forum activity at the moment (Not sure about on the server because of my timezone, but it appears that the same has happened there). We've lost Carnasis, one of our core Loremasters, and the story hasn't progressed whatsoever in a while. So, I have some suggestions that could help enrich the server RP and Gameplay wise, attracting more players.
NOTE: I am not demanding anything, nor am I trying to insult anyone, so please be a little more lenient. I have self esteem issues ._.
1. Recruitment drive
One thing the server desperately needs at the moment is more players. There isn't a large enough server population to maintain high activity for extended periods of time; right now, most RP from my experience consists of Admin events and the occasional joint strike or trade. So, one thing I'd like the staff to consider is to perhaps reward players for bringing in their friends or associates to join the server; perhaps in the form of credits, hardware, IC promotions etc.
While this would be hard to explain RP-wise, we could probably figure something out (a salary, a mission, pension etc?)
2. A more diversified "economy"
Right now, the server economy entirely bases itself upon blocks; selling blocks, buying blocks, producing blocks, yadda yadda yadda. The so-called main factions, the SS and Rendii, play a very small part right now. So here's a bit of stuff that I'd like to see implemented (and would be willing to help in):
Warning: Rant ahead
2a. Non-state corporations
What I mean by this is a group of different companies selling and trading different goods in spawn system, rather than everything being centralised at the single spawn station. These corporations need not be actively participating in RP, but can make spawn a lot more interesting. What I'm trying to convey here is to have different areas doing different this; one way to visualise it would be like a Hub City in a game like Borderlands or Sunset Overdrive, where different shops sell different aspects of the game's items and players must travel in between. It would be vastly more interesting than the current single "jack-of-all-trades" Indoc Facility we have now, and while hard to implement, we could work together, player and staff, to create the structures on buildserver.
Structures could include (but are not limited to):
2a)i) Shipyard, selling starter ships and other vessels for those who don't want to build
2a)ii) Market, player trade hub and shop
2a)iii) Auction House / Black Market, high value deals such as selling of player ships or rare items
2a)iv) Garage, players can buy a slot to store ships
2a)v) Center/Club/Residential, where players can mingle and socialise or perhaps even buy housing. Maybe a Community board where players can post notes.
Spawn should remain at Indoc, but the infinite shop should be removed (Still should have basic parts to allow players to travel to other areas for better stuff). Of course, this is very ambitious and probably will take a very long time to fully implement.
2b. Non symmetrical stocks/prices
One issue that will have to be addressed is the infinite shop at spawn. Players can't really sell stuff they've accrued over time, and richer players can just build whatever the hell they want as long as they have the cash. A suggestion that has been raised by Herr (I think, correct me if I'm wrong) is to remove nearly all/all blocks from spawn shop, making the economy more player based by forcing players to get stuff either through manufacturing or trade. Of course, things like generators, thrusters and hulls should remain in moderate stock to allow newcomers to construct basic ships to get around, though computers, weapons etc. should remain stocked by players.
2c. Financial reports and fluctuations
Now, this is probably a bit too much to handle for a server like ours, but I'm just putting this out here in case it might be possible. If there could be a thread that details on how the TC:NA economy is changing over time, perhaps with daily post edits (and according in game changes).
An example of a financial report would be:
The colony of Altrin in System -13 37 83 has been hit by a SoB raid. Casualties heavy, and the price of medical treatment has risen drastically.
This report would then be accompanied with an according change to increase the price of Medical Cabinets and Medical Supplies above the normal threshold, making it more profitable to run supply runs in the area. These reports should be temporary effects, and could include price drops as well (Sharp drop in popularity of crystal lighting drops crystal prices in the colony of Alp, System 18 29 -1) or other price related effects.
Economy rant over, on to next rant.
3. Ambience and environment
The universe of TC:NA, in all honesty, is a little blank. With the exception of stations and planets, there is little sign that the universe is any different from a stock one in SM with custom stations and ships. To help make the TC:NA universe more vibrant, I suggest the following:
3a. Station clusters OUTSIDE of spawn system
The Syndicate States and the Rendii are meant to be vast, powerful factions with great amounts of authority and influence. Creating colonial cluster stations outside of spawn would make this more evident that the SS and Empire are both major entities spread out around the universe, rather than lone station complexes restricted to a system or two. I realise that this has been partially done with the different State bases, but those are little more than claimed and repaired auto spawned stations. By these clusters, I mean groups of stations that have been at least slightly customised (Maybe even just a paintjob or some scaffolding) and with enough function to work as a mini "spawn" with enough lure to warrant a visit to them worth the while (Unique sold ships, perhaps, or different prices and goods).
3b. Planetside colonies
It's somewhat unrealistic to have all these massive stations, bastions of humanity's might, floating around in the thousands while not a single planet lies colonised (with the exception of basic player created factory colonies like Castra Glacie or Citadel-1). Just some basic terraforming and copy/paste could probably allow a number of SS and Rendii planetside cities to be created (In fact, I'm building one right now). These could act similarly to station clusters, with different aspects (shipyards, shops, socialising areas) located on different plates. Again, probably a bit too ambitious, but we could probably start with some minor buildings on some of the planets.
3c. MOAR LORE
Yes.
I just said (typed?) more lore.
While the SS, Rendii, Brotherhood and SoB lore is quite detailed, most of the other things in the TC:NA universe have been largely ignored. Are there any non-human life forms in New Ephebia? Any minor groups, rebels, notable bandit gangs, historical events, splinter groups, "legends", folk tales, stories, traditions, etc.? While it might appear too much to handle, games like Borderlands, Skyrim, and others manage to fit in so much non-main storyline lore inside. Now, I realise we aren't AAA multimillion dollar companies with multiple years to write it all up, but maybe we could all just a little bit everyday. On the bus, during recess, before lunch, in the toilet, in bed; even though staff might not have enough manpower to do so, allowing some players to contribute to the lore outside of IC actions as minor "lore keepers" or "lore writers" could probably fill TC:NA's lore with lots of interesting info, short stories or the like to make the server richer in context. This was kind of what I had in mind when I suggested the wiki be created.
3d. Ships
At the moment, TC:NA ships are all custom built with the exception of starters. There simply is no other alternative; premade catalogs and ready to buy ships simply do not exist. So, what if we had decent, pre designed vessels that players could buy from a "showroom" using credits? And I'm not talking about a single group, either. I mean interceptor to heavy fighter to even light frigate sized ships each created by IC companies, each with different appearance, emphasis on stats, price, etc.
I'm gonna raise another example. Say we have three different companies: Fiesler, Heckler and Iron Curtain.
Fiesler ships are fast, well armed, glass cannons. They work best as hit and runners and can cover large distances easily, but have paper thin armour and average shielding. Their colour scheme is blue, white and orange lights, and look sleek and aerodynamic.
Heckler ships are reliable, highly customisable ships. They have much larger power output and have large flat spaces and empty rooms for customisation by a player, making them the most versatile ships available for purchase. Their colour scheme is green, brown and red lights, and look somewhat worn down, with WW2 aesthetics and wear/tear. Possibly asymmetrical.
Iron Curtain ships are heavily armoured, heavily shielded, sluggish "mighty glaciers" that can take a beating. They are the toughest of all three companies and are solid ships that make for great warships and cargo ships alike. Their colour scheme is grey, white and blue lights and look like classic scifi Terran dreadnoughts with armour slabbed all over.
Now, say we have a fighter (or equivalent) from each company on sale for roughly similar prices. Each fighter naturally has the pros and cons of its parent company.
A player who aspires to be a lone wolf or bandit might choose to buy a Fiesler for more mobility and firepower on their own, or a Heckler to customise with spare parts they find.
A player who wants to be part of a faction or group may choose the Iron Curtain ship to act as a team player by soaking up damage for his comrades, or a Heckler to change into any role that fits his post.
Basically, players can choose from a series of premade ships according to their playstyle, character or preference. And, of course, there are the "unique" ships or ship groups that can only be bought at remote station clusters (see: 3a.) away from spawn, each with their own characteristics. Again, probably asking too much but a few premade ships that aren't starting ships could be nice.
3e. Misc. landmarks
These areas don't fall under the colony category, nor the station cluster category. They don't really serve any functional purpose other than spicing up the world of TC:NA, float around and look cool. Basically like derelict stations, but unique and sort of permanent. The most obvious kind of landmark would of course be the battlefield, a stretch of space filled with debris, destroyed ships, etc. While salvagers, griefers and bored players could pose a problem, we could circumvent it by making these battlefields stations, and making them faction homes (or some other way of making them indestructible). Other landmarks could include lone wrecks, rest stations, natural occurrences (giant asteroids), remnants of historic events (a derelict from Exodus, a prototype jump ship, maybe even Voyager II).
That's all for now. I'll be dumping whatever else I can think of here later. Cheers.