Right now I am trading in a system which contains several CZs. I run the most profitable trade on one leg and hop into (OK, farm) the CZ on the way back. Regardless of which leg I am on, it is quite normal for security to pull me over at a checkpoint at some stage (a minor bug with these is that jumping out of them frequently loses me several Light seconds, injecting me back into super cruise further away from my destination than I was when I submitted).
Anyway, despite having four high risk CZ, trading in the system is no more dangerous than anywhere else in the galaxy and safer than many places I have visited. Although interdictions by security are frequent, interdictions by NPC are rare, and the profit margin is no better than when the system was at peace.
This has set me thinking. In real civil wars, commodity prices go through the roof, looting (piracy) is rampant, and the dogs of fortune take full advantage to run guns, rob the poor and shoot the defenceless out of hand. Traders charge insane prices for basic foodstuffs and vigilante groups spring up overnight. The sh*t scary thing is that all of this happens in a completely anarchic fashion.
PP doesn't actually model this very well, if at all, although it could be adapted, which would have the advantage of providing serious rewards for traders, not to mention pirates and bounty hunters (I can't quite see an angle for miners). The current PP 'wait for your slot' and get your reward at the end of the week if you are good scheme, could be replaced by nerve-wracking, but potentially highly profitable runs to support one side or another for traders, screaming through space with pirates and every other kind of space garbage (apols, guys) snapping at their heels. A dramatic reduction in commodities in a CZ system, coupled with doubled buying prices and screams for help on Galnet would bring profiteers (I am looking at you) from light years away around. Ramping up NPC interdictions in the system would increase the risk and achieve the golden aim of the original Elite to combine trading with pew pew in an offer that everyone can understand. Where there is war, their is profit—but there is also great danger.
One big advantage of this mod would be that it would be possible for non PP players and PP players to coexist and help towards the same goal without getting in each others' faces, and it could even be used to siphon non-believers (can't believe I am typing this) into PP by offering them increased profits from trading or pewing if they sign on the spot when they dock in a CZ station. 'Never mind the bottom line sir, just put your name here and you too can get a 20% increase in spondoolicks'.
Yay, or nay?
Anyway, despite having four high risk CZ, trading in the system is no more dangerous than anywhere else in the galaxy and safer than many places I have visited. Although interdictions by security are frequent, interdictions by NPC are rare, and the profit margin is no better than when the system was at peace.
This has set me thinking. In real civil wars, commodity prices go through the roof, looting (piracy) is rampant, and the dogs of fortune take full advantage to run guns, rob the poor and shoot the defenceless out of hand. Traders charge insane prices for basic foodstuffs and vigilante groups spring up overnight. The sh*t scary thing is that all of this happens in a completely anarchic fashion.
PP doesn't actually model this very well, if at all, although it could be adapted, which would have the advantage of providing serious rewards for traders, not to mention pirates and bounty hunters (I can't quite see an angle for miners). The current PP 'wait for your slot' and get your reward at the end of the week if you are good scheme, could be replaced by nerve-wracking, but potentially highly profitable runs to support one side or another for traders, screaming through space with pirates and every other kind of space garbage (apols, guys) snapping at their heels. A dramatic reduction in commodities in a CZ system, coupled with doubled buying prices and screams for help on Galnet would bring profiteers (I am looking at you) from light years away around. Ramping up NPC interdictions in the system would increase the risk and achieve the golden aim of the original Elite to combine trading with pew pew in an offer that everyone can understand. Where there is war, their is profit—but there is also great danger.
One big advantage of this mod would be that it would be possible for non PP players and PP players to coexist and help towards the same goal without getting in each others' faces, and it could even be used to siphon non-believers (can't believe I am typing this) into PP by offering them increased profits from trading or pewing if they sign on the spot when they dock in a CZ station. 'Never mind the bottom line sir, just put your name here and you too can get a 20% increase in spondoolicks'.
Yay, or nay?