here's the current situation...
At Elite Dangerous stands at the moment. For a trader to maximise profit they need to fill their holds with the most valuable things they can get their hands on. i.e. the item with the biggest profit at the station they are delivering too.
The pirates in the game know this, so will attack anyone on route to xxx station, knowing that anyone in a hauler/type-6/type-7/type-9 will be a nice big fat juicy target.
That's the logic that I'm thinking about. Where does it fall over? well, last time I was attacked by a pirate, I lost my ship - with a 4 million credit loss, because of animal meat. I'm leaving out the part where the "pirate" interdicted me (which took 2 seconds from interdiction start to interdiction complete, so much for that mini game, this was 1.1) Then give me 5 seconds to drop my cargo - which I wasn't carrying, but they didn't scan my cargo hold so didn't know was a I was carrying. I digress.
So currently the trader has to find the items with the biggest profit between stations, fill their hold with really expensive items - thus everyone becomes a target. Let get back to the real world for a moment. How many trucks do you see on the motorways full of gold, platinum etc? The vast majority are running things like Textiles, Consumer electronics, cars, waste, food, furniture. Basically, common junk. Why is it so profitable for them?
CONTRACTS!
Currently ED does not have a good grasp on the idea of contracts for running goods. It's got the casual market sewn up well, and I'm not suggesting for a moment that is altered in anyway what so ever. But how about an alternative... Allow the player to enter into a contract with a station - we saw something similar with the Yembo event, but that was a community things and was for extremely expensive items. So, what am I suggesting.
The idea is that the trader can take out a contract with Station xxx to ship yyy amount of a given commodity. If they reach the target amount, they get paid, if they exceed they get a bonus - which can ramp up.
For example. A two day (48 hour) contract, to carry 100t of Hydrogen fuel to Eravate Cleve hub if I make the target, I get 150,000 credits (plus bonuses for extra).
For someone just starting out in a sidewinder, that will be a massive under taking. For someone in a hauler, it'll be 5 trips, for a Type-6 one run will do it. But here's the kicker, the 150,000 credits plus the credits that come from the hydroen fuel add up. That makes the best profit for the cargo within 55 light years 7500 credits, and a total value of the cargo hold 16900 credits. Making for the trader, the total return 1,57,500 credits, for 100t.
At this point, I'm hoping that all the traders are saying "oh hell yeah" This idea completely blows the trader tools out of the water, as no longer are we dealing with finding the maximum profit all between two stations all the time. there would be another route to riches - find the profitable contracts. It will introduce a whole new level of complexity to the trading came.
I mentioned bonuses for extra - that's simple, it's a 48 hour contract. So for each shipment that you complete (each 100t in the care of the example) it will add a bonus to the contract.
The people playing pirates will have an issue with this. The reason, is that the money is no longer in the hold of the trader, its in the contract. The Trader risk is lowered a lot compared to before. The pirate won't make much cash from a hold full of hydrogen - so it's not really worth their while to go after it. 75 credit profit per ton, or to the pirate 169 credits per ton, oh wait they have to sell on the black market as it's stolen so it'll be a fraction of that price.
So, now the priates will be cursing me greatly for suggesting it..... but wait there's more!
Another Example.
A 6 hour contract, to carry 1000t of Palladium to Eravate Cleve hub if I make the target, I get 5,000,000 credits (plus bonuses for extra).
So, even with a type-9, that's two maybe three runs. It's a big fat juicy target, It's out of the reach of the small ships - a hauler simply can't complete in the time. A Type-7 would need 5 runs to complete that - so, pirates, there's your nice big fat juicy target. It's a type-6, type-7 or type-9 run of the good stuff! Why the 5,000,000 credit profit? Because of the risk.
With the wings update, we can have 4 ships in a wing. The trader would be able to hire a security detail, so splitting the profit/bonus up that's not so profitable for the trade, but it does lower the risk.
I'm sure there are most aspects to this idea.
Oh, and one last thing....
it should only be possible to pick up and contribute towards the contract in open play - no switching to group play or solo if the trader does, that cargo hold does not count towards the contract.
How about that idea as an incentive for Traders to play in open? Some targets are pointless for pirates, some are extremely profitable.
For the traders, you can choose to make yourself a target, or not. - just depends on the profit that you are willing to give up.
At Elite Dangerous stands at the moment. For a trader to maximise profit they need to fill their holds with the most valuable things they can get their hands on. i.e. the item with the biggest profit at the station they are delivering too.
The pirates in the game know this, so will attack anyone on route to xxx station, knowing that anyone in a hauler/type-6/type-7/type-9 will be a nice big fat juicy target.
That's the logic that I'm thinking about. Where does it fall over? well, last time I was attacked by a pirate, I lost my ship - with a 4 million credit loss, because of animal meat. I'm leaving out the part where the "pirate" interdicted me (which took 2 seconds from interdiction start to interdiction complete, so much for that mini game, this was 1.1) Then give me 5 seconds to drop my cargo - which I wasn't carrying, but they didn't scan my cargo hold so didn't know was a I was carrying. I digress.
So currently the trader has to find the items with the biggest profit between stations, fill their hold with really expensive items - thus everyone becomes a target. Let get back to the real world for a moment. How many trucks do you see on the motorways full of gold, platinum etc? The vast majority are running things like Textiles, Consumer electronics, cars, waste, food, furniture. Basically, common junk. Why is it so profitable for them?
CONTRACTS!
Currently ED does not have a good grasp on the idea of contracts for running goods. It's got the casual market sewn up well, and I'm not suggesting for a moment that is altered in anyway what so ever. But how about an alternative... Allow the player to enter into a contract with a station - we saw something similar with the Yembo event, but that was a community things and was for extremely expensive items. So, what am I suggesting.
The idea is that the trader can take out a contract with Station xxx to ship yyy amount of a given commodity. If they reach the target amount, they get paid, if they exceed they get a bonus - which can ramp up.
For example. A two day (48 hour) contract, to carry 100t of Hydrogen fuel to Eravate Cleve hub if I make the target, I get 150,000 credits (plus bonuses for extra).
For someone just starting out in a sidewinder, that will be a massive under taking. For someone in a hauler, it'll be 5 trips, for a Type-6 one run will do it. But here's the kicker, the 150,000 credits plus the credits that come from the hydroen fuel add up. That makes the best profit for the cargo within 55 light years 7500 credits, and a total value of the cargo hold 16900 credits. Making for the trader, the total return 1,57,500 credits, for 100t.
At this point, I'm hoping that all the traders are saying "oh hell yeah" This idea completely blows the trader tools out of the water, as no longer are we dealing with finding the maximum profit all between two stations all the time. there would be another route to riches - find the profitable contracts. It will introduce a whole new level of complexity to the trading came.
I mentioned bonuses for extra - that's simple, it's a 48 hour contract. So for each shipment that you complete (each 100t in the care of the example) it will add a bonus to the contract.
The people playing pirates will have an issue with this. The reason, is that the money is no longer in the hold of the trader, its in the contract. The Trader risk is lowered a lot compared to before. The pirate won't make much cash from a hold full of hydrogen - so it's not really worth their while to go after it. 75 credit profit per ton, or to the pirate 169 credits per ton, oh wait they have to sell on the black market as it's stolen so it'll be a fraction of that price.
So, now the priates will be cursing me greatly for suggesting it..... but wait there's more!
Another Example.
A 6 hour contract, to carry 1000t of Palladium to Eravate Cleve hub if I make the target, I get 5,000,000 credits (plus bonuses for extra).
So, even with a type-9, that's two maybe three runs. It's a big fat juicy target, It's out of the reach of the small ships - a hauler simply can't complete in the time. A Type-7 would need 5 runs to complete that - so, pirates, there's your nice big fat juicy target. It's a type-6, type-7 or type-9 run of the good stuff! Why the 5,000,000 credit profit? Because of the risk.
With the wings update, we can have 4 ships in a wing. The trader would be able to hire a security detail, so splitting the profit/bonus up that's not so profitable for the trade, but it does lower the risk.
I'm sure there are most aspects to this idea.
Oh, and one last thing....
it should only be possible to pick up and contribute towards the contract in open play - no switching to group play or solo if the trader does, that cargo hold does not count towards the contract.
How about that idea as an incentive for Traders to play in open? Some targets are pointless for pirates, some are extremely profitable.
For the traders, you can choose to make yourself a target, or not. - just depends on the profit that you are willing to give up.
