michmarc
Well-Known Member
Summary: Provide a way for lower-level fellowship or neighbor cities to facilitate sentient trades.
Details: We all know about the terribly imbalance of sentient goods on some servers and most of the proposed fixes are just band-aids. One of the problems is that if there is an imbalance in regular goods, your FS can attempt to recruit members to balance production out. For Sentient Goods, which are already traded across the entire server, this isn't possible. When the entire universe is unbalanced, there is not much that can be done to fix it.
If Inno introduces a third round of boosted goods, the problem will be even worse as the number of players that can take those trades will be very tiny.
The suggestion is to have some mechanism where players that have not yet reached sentients (or the new tier) a way to facilitate the trades. Trade facilitators would still have to be either fellowship members or local traders (same as for standard goods). Neighbors far enough away to require a trade fee would not be eligible to be facilitators.
There could be many ways to do it, but one suggestion would be to have 2* or 3* sentient trades appear as normal good trades for players that are not yet producing that tier of sentient. For example, someone posting a trade of 1000 Moonstone for Tree Gum would appear to a lower-level neighbor as a trade of 1000 Planks for 1000 Steel. That lower-level person can pick up that trade (exchanged in normal goods from their inventory)
Why does Moonstone become Planks? This is to preserve boosts. This is because someone boosted in Moonstone would be boosted in Planks. I think converting boosts both preserves balance in the FS even when only a fraction of the members are in sentients. If we didn't convert and all of the plank producers are in sentients, then someone demanding Tree Gum and can't get it from fellow sentient producers also couldn't get it from low-level members because none of them are boosted in planks. It also potentially prevents abuse of using a combination of standard good trades and sentient good trades to "launder" goods.
Why 2* or 3* trades only? Allowing 1* trade to be facilitated would allow sentients to be created directly from normal goods: Find a low level player, have them post 1* trades in standard goods to be given some standard goods "for free". Then post 1* sentient trades that the low level player picks up with the "free" standard goods. Result: sentients directly from standard goods. With 2* trades, while the same thing could be done to have the 1* person assist in making the trade, you're still not gaining or losing any amount of total sentient goods.
Benefits / Pros: Greatly increase the trading population for sentients and leverage the existing FS balance of boosted goods to balance out availability of sentients.
Downsides / Cons: You could "pay" (using unfair normal goods trades) the low-level person to pick up your trades. I don't see that as a big problem.
I'm open to other ideas for how low-levels could facilitate trades: the key idea is to allow everyone to participate instead of just the limited number of people who are in the final chapters.
Details: We all know about the terribly imbalance of sentient goods on some servers and most of the proposed fixes are just band-aids. One of the problems is that if there is an imbalance in regular goods, your FS can attempt to recruit members to balance production out. For Sentient Goods, which are already traded across the entire server, this isn't possible. When the entire universe is unbalanced, there is not much that can be done to fix it.
If Inno introduces a third round of boosted goods, the problem will be even worse as the number of players that can take those trades will be very tiny.
The suggestion is to have some mechanism where players that have not yet reached sentients (or the new tier) a way to facilitate the trades. Trade facilitators would still have to be either fellowship members or local traders (same as for standard goods). Neighbors far enough away to require a trade fee would not be eligible to be facilitators.
There could be many ways to do it, but one suggestion would be to have 2* or 3* sentient trades appear as normal good trades for players that are not yet producing that tier of sentient. For example, someone posting a trade of 1000 Moonstone for Tree Gum would appear to a lower-level neighbor as a trade of 1000 Planks for 1000 Steel. That lower-level person can pick up that trade (exchanged in normal goods from their inventory)
Why does Moonstone become Planks? This is to preserve boosts. This is because someone boosted in Moonstone would be boosted in Planks. I think converting boosts both preserves balance in the FS even when only a fraction of the members are in sentients. If we didn't convert and all of the plank producers are in sentients, then someone demanding Tree Gum and can't get it from fellow sentient producers also couldn't get it from low-level members because none of them are boosted in planks. It also potentially prevents abuse of using a combination of standard good trades and sentient good trades to "launder" goods.
Why 2* or 3* trades only? Allowing 1* trade to be facilitated would allow sentients to be created directly from normal goods: Find a low level player, have them post 1* trades in standard goods to be given some standard goods "for free". Then post 1* sentient trades that the low level player picks up with the "free" standard goods. Result: sentients directly from standard goods. With 2* trades, while the same thing could be done to have the 1* person assist in making the trade, you're still not gaining or losing any amount of total sentient goods.
Benefits / Pros: Greatly increase the trading population for sentients and leverage the existing FS balance of boosted goods to balance out availability of sentients.
Downsides / Cons: You could "pay" (using unfair normal goods trades) the low-level person to pick up your trades. I don't see that as a big problem.
I'm open to other ideas for how low-levels could facilitate trades: the key idea is to allow everyone to participate instead of just the limited number of people who are in the final chapters.