Sorry for the length of this post but it sort of ballooned out of control when I started reading other threads on similar subjects which raised even more ideas and questions!
Something I would love to see in ED would be to have blueprints for every manufacturerable item, but then with a certain set of skills you can modify the stats of the items you’re wanting to create to, then have the rights to manufacture a totally unique item.
This would work as follows:
Standard Blueprints
1. A blueprint has a shelf life of say 3 to 6 months after which it is deemed expired and can no longer be used.
2. For short manufacturing run items, such as missiles etc, they will have a shorter expiry time as you can make a lot more of these in a short period.
3. The longer the manufacturing time the longer the expiry will be, obviously this would be for ships
4. a blueprint can have a certain number of copies made but it won’t be unlimited.
Creating Unique Items
1. With a certain set of skills or actions by a player they will have the ability to modify some of the attributes of a blueprint and therefore be able to create a unique items,
2. With the more skill levels a manufacturer has in creating unique items, they will have more attribute points they can modify their blueprint with. So with one skill level trained they would have the ability to change three points, at level II they might have five or six points and at level III they will be able to change 10 points. Obviously the further away from the original these blueprints go the more unique they are and the higher the price the manufacture can ask
3. A manufacturer can only release a certain number of these unique items from a particular blueprint but can demand a far higher price.
4. Only a certain number of blueprints with certain stats can be licensed out.
5. People wanting to manufacture a similar item with identical stats to the one currently being produced can join a waiting list to manufacture this item when the licences become available
6. Unique item blueprints cannot have copies made and therefore a manufacturer will have to keep buying original blueprints to convert into unique ones.
I love the idea of owning a unique piece of equipment and if somebody wanted a totally unique item then a manufacturer could sign an agreement where they agree not to mass produce this item and if they did the manufacturer would get a massive bounty put on his head. This way somebody could have a completely unique equipment layout but it would cost them an arm and a leg!
Counterfeit Goods:
I know this would be incredibly difficult to implement but as an idea it would be quite interesting to explore!
1. A counterfeit manufacturer cannot produce anything in sanctioned space but once they get out of the realms of the law they can produce anything they want with any stat.
2. These items will have a limited shelflife but they will be significantly cheaper than the original.
3. If a counterfeit manufacturer sees a product flying off the shelf they can obtain a blueprint, modify it to the output as the authentic item has and then sell it cheaper than the original item.
4. These counterfeit products would have a life of let’s say a couple of months but it would be significantly cheaper than the original authentic item.
5. The further the counterfeit strays away from the law in force areas the cheaper items are to make but the risk will come by shipping their products back to the trade hubs for selling.
6. A manufacturer of counterfeit goods would need significant support from other players to help them get their products to market but the rewards will outweigh the downsides to this venture.
7. A war could be established between the genuine manufacturers and the counterfeiters and the genuines could pay mercenaries to attack the counterfeiters to stop them bringing their goods to market. Naturally the counterfeiters will combat this with having large escorts so to combat this we the law of being a counterfeit has to be incredibly lucrative if they can get their products to market. This
As you can see I prefer the manufacturing/trading role in any game I play. I started my Eve online life as a miner and branched out into manufacturing. If elite is going to have asteroid mining then in my opinion it has to have a player based economy otherwise what are you going to do with the minerals you are mining? I have just read a post from another thread who said “I'd rather be outside the space station flying from A to B with a cargo of goodies or shooting pirates to make cash rather than sat inside the space station making docking computers to sell.” I would say that this most definitely isn’t for everybody and some people enjoy sitting in a station and seeing their manufacturing empire flourish!!!
Okay let’s look at the longevity of elite dangerous. If trading just means picking up items from NPC’s where you buy it at one price and fly to another planet and sell it for another price how long do you think that would become enjoyable for? Maybe six months, maybe even the year, but I can guarantee this game will be boring if there is no player economy. Manufacturers would have two undercut each other lowering the price of their goods. This has to stop at some point so there will be a benchmark where it just isn’t feasible to sell a product at that low price so each manufacturer will have their limit as to how low their prices go. Once a product has sold out at its lowest price then the next price will be sold and it will go like that.
Yes I can see elite is primarily a PVP and exploration game but there has to be an element where people can choose what they want to do and I want to manufacture! There is nothing quite like finding your niche in the massive in game market and a fulfilling your role to the best of your ability. I have never been one for PVP and I am quite an analytical minded person so hence why I enjoy manufacturing.
I appreciate my idea would have a lot of issues but even if they implemented a portion of it I believe it would enhance the game incredibly.
I would very much like other people’s opinion on this idea!
Something I would love to see in ED would be to have blueprints for every manufacturerable item, but then with a certain set of skills you can modify the stats of the items you’re wanting to create to, then have the rights to manufacture a totally unique item.
This would work as follows:
Standard Blueprints
1. A blueprint has a shelf life of say 3 to 6 months after which it is deemed expired and can no longer be used.
2. For short manufacturing run items, such as missiles etc, they will have a shorter expiry time as you can make a lot more of these in a short period.
3. The longer the manufacturing time the longer the expiry will be, obviously this would be for ships
4. a blueprint can have a certain number of copies made but it won’t be unlimited.
Creating Unique Items
1. With a certain set of skills or actions by a player they will have the ability to modify some of the attributes of a blueprint and therefore be able to create a unique items,
2. With the more skill levels a manufacturer has in creating unique items, they will have more attribute points they can modify their blueprint with. So with one skill level trained they would have the ability to change three points, at level II they might have five or six points and at level III they will be able to change 10 points. Obviously the further away from the original these blueprints go the more unique they are and the higher the price the manufacture can ask
3. A manufacturer can only release a certain number of these unique items from a particular blueprint but can demand a far higher price.
4. Only a certain number of blueprints with certain stats can be licensed out.
5. People wanting to manufacture a similar item with identical stats to the one currently being produced can join a waiting list to manufacture this item when the licences become available
6. Unique item blueprints cannot have copies made and therefore a manufacturer will have to keep buying original blueprints to convert into unique ones.
I love the idea of owning a unique piece of equipment and if somebody wanted a totally unique item then a manufacturer could sign an agreement where they agree not to mass produce this item and if they did the manufacturer would get a massive bounty put on his head. This way somebody could have a completely unique equipment layout but it would cost them an arm and a leg!
Counterfeit Goods:
I know this would be incredibly difficult to implement but as an idea it would be quite interesting to explore!
1. A counterfeit manufacturer cannot produce anything in sanctioned space but once they get out of the realms of the law they can produce anything they want with any stat.
2. These items will have a limited shelflife but they will be significantly cheaper than the original.
3. If a counterfeit manufacturer sees a product flying off the shelf they can obtain a blueprint, modify it to the output as the authentic item has and then sell it cheaper than the original item.
4. These counterfeit products would have a life of let’s say a couple of months but it would be significantly cheaper than the original authentic item.
5. The further the counterfeit strays away from the law in force areas the cheaper items are to make but the risk will come by shipping their products back to the trade hubs for selling.
6. A manufacturer of counterfeit goods would need significant support from other players to help them get their products to market but the rewards will outweigh the downsides to this venture.
7. A war could be established between the genuine manufacturers and the counterfeiters and the genuines could pay mercenaries to attack the counterfeiters to stop them bringing their goods to market. Naturally the counterfeiters will combat this with having large escorts so to combat this we the law of being a counterfeit has to be incredibly lucrative if they can get their products to market. This
As you can see I prefer the manufacturing/trading role in any game I play. I started my Eve online life as a miner and branched out into manufacturing. If elite is going to have asteroid mining then in my opinion it has to have a player based economy otherwise what are you going to do with the minerals you are mining? I have just read a post from another thread who said “I'd rather be outside the space station flying from A to B with a cargo of goodies or shooting pirates to make cash rather than sat inside the space station making docking computers to sell.” I would say that this most definitely isn’t for everybody and some people enjoy sitting in a station and seeing their manufacturing empire flourish!!!
Okay let’s look at the longevity of elite dangerous. If trading just means picking up items from NPC’s where you buy it at one price and fly to another planet and sell it for another price how long do you think that would become enjoyable for? Maybe six months, maybe even the year, but I can guarantee this game will be boring if there is no player economy. Manufacturers would have two undercut each other lowering the price of their goods. This has to stop at some point so there will be a benchmark where it just isn’t feasible to sell a product at that low price so each manufacturer will have their limit as to how low their prices go. Once a product has sold out at its lowest price then the next price will be sold and it will go like that.
Yes I can see elite is primarily a PVP and exploration game but there has to be an element where people can choose what they want to do and I want to manufacture! There is nothing quite like finding your niche in the massive in game market and a fulfilling your role to the best of your ability. I have never been one for PVP and I am quite an analytical minded person so hence why I enjoy manufacturing.
I appreciate my idea would have a lot of issues but even if they implemented a portion of it I believe it would enhance the game incredibly.
I would very much like other people’s opinion on this idea!
). Avatar-learning is a very different concept to acquiring data such as star charts for my ship's navigation computer, and not one that fits ED.
