I suppose by your logic, if an Architect in this day and age creates a building and expected compensation, by your standards they would be paid with a pat on the back.
It depends. There's many contract arrangements out there where a contractor pays up front costs to set up some sort of infrastructure for a client... depending on what's involved the contractor may or may not stump up the costs of the materials too... once established, the same contractor is then provided an ongoing stipend for ongoing maintenance, or even "just because"... would you pay the entirety of costs for a $20m project if you were guaranteed a payment of $1m per year for 40 years upon completion? Some would, some wouldn't, it all depends.
I paid for a garden design for my house once. That's because there was no guarantee of having them do the work, nor any associated ongoing service fee. But a contract for, say, public gardens.... if you negotiate it as such, there's
very much ongoing work there, and a business may pay for that opportunity with gratis services up front.
As it stands, i hear people getting 5m+ a week from some systems now. That will recompense
any costs within 5 weeks... noting we are reimbursed with-profit for all construction materials too.
If that still feels like a pittance, it ties in to why credits aren't the main driving factor here; the credit economy is busted. But i won't get into that one. The income sources people compare to are in dire need of rebalancing.
In short:
- The faction we contact is the primary benefactor and proponent of the work.
- we are the architect of the system and facilities, providing overall design guidance.
- anyone can supply the materials, and Brewer compensates us.
- Brewer do the actual construction work.
- The factions then occupy and operate the facilities.
Architects then get the weekly fee for their input.
There will always be two points of view, just like in the arguments/discussions on space legs, ship interiors, eva activities...anyway, the list goes on. Anyway, like I said, to each their own.
I'm certain there's many more points of view; but only one design vision, and that's entirely FDs remit.
I just observe what goes on in the game and what's provided/ written by FD, as distinct from a lot of the RP fantasy that backs how people might present their characters... even if that is incongruent with what's around them.
Regardless, given the current numbers there seems to be more than enough interest in the feature as it stands.
EDIT: FWIW, I wish i could be a fully fledge imperial navy pilot, respected across the Empire, unwelcome across the Federation, tolerated in the Alliance, targeted by bounty hunters everywhere. That's not how we present in the game though. Is it a shame? Sure, but it's also core to the game and it's mechanics, and so unlikely to ever change.
