There has been some forum noise over new players discovery of the insurance mechanic only after the cost of learning this becomes rather hard to take. Some of the complaints center around the limited size of the allowed Credit Loan. This started me thinking about how the Credit Loan mechanic and about ways to expand it to allow for even more game play opportunities.
Insurance:
I am sorry, but Insurance should be paid up front. Simple and to the point. If I want insurance then i should have to pay for it in advance of when I need to use it. I should be able to buy it at a fraction of the cost of the asset I am trying to secure and at varying levels of coverage. Those of us with insurance adjustments based on our level of backing should just either get a reduction on the cost or increase in the coverage level for the price. We should be able to buy insurance for ships, modules and cargo separately with insurance rate adjustment for length of contract and history of claims. Insurance now pays out credits not actual ships and components. In addition it also places the player in the closest station with a ship for sale.
Credit Loans Expanded:
We could really use a more feature rich Loan/Credit system. One which allows players to take out loans based on their credit worthiness. We should be able to take either a secured or unsecured loan depending on our credit worthless and history. There should be a minimum credit worthiness before you can take an unsecured loan. Loans should have a fixed repayment schedule with but allow for early payoff. Failure to make payments should result in additional fees and possible forfeiture of collateral. Collateral will not be allowed to be sold though official means without approval from the lender. (i.e. lender gets their cut off the top and will only allow the sale if the profit exceeds the amount owed.) Sales through unsanctioned Black Market deals would be unregulated but incur additional negative effects on to the seller and buyer. All collateral would need to be insured.
Debt Collection & Asset Recovery:
This aspect new mechanic might need to wait until we can get out of our ship. For now it could result in a bounty mission to track them down and end them. This would then trigger the insurance mechanic to allow the lender to recover the insurance payout. The reward for this mission would be a percentage of the value of the assets recovered, and be variable based on reputation as a recovery specialist. As we get the ability to leave our ships additional mechanics could be put in to space to allow for ship capture, ship module and cargo recovery both while in space or while docked at a station. This could be expanded to become a very interesting subset of game play mechanics.
Insurance:
I am sorry, but Insurance should be paid up front. Simple and to the point. If I want insurance then i should have to pay for it in advance of when I need to use it. I should be able to buy it at a fraction of the cost of the asset I am trying to secure and at varying levels of coverage. Those of us with insurance adjustments based on our level of backing should just either get a reduction on the cost or increase in the coverage level for the price. We should be able to buy insurance for ships, modules and cargo separately with insurance rate adjustment for length of contract and history of claims. Insurance now pays out credits not actual ships and components. In addition it also places the player in the closest station with a ship for sale.
Credit Loans Expanded:
We could really use a more feature rich Loan/Credit system. One which allows players to take out loans based on their credit worthiness. We should be able to take either a secured or unsecured loan depending on our credit worthless and history. There should be a minimum credit worthiness before you can take an unsecured loan. Loans should have a fixed repayment schedule with but allow for early payoff. Failure to make payments should result in additional fees and possible forfeiture of collateral. Collateral will not be allowed to be sold though official means without approval from the lender. (i.e. lender gets their cut off the top and will only allow the sale if the profit exceeds the amount owed.) Sales through unsanctioned Black Market deals would be unregulated but incur additional negative effects on to the seller and buyer. All collateral would need to be insured.
Debt Collection & Asset Recovery:
This aspect new mechanic might need to wait until we can get out of our ship. For now it could result in a bounty mission to track them down and end them. This would then trigger the insurance mechanic to allow the lender to recover the insurance payout. The reward for this mission would be a percentage of the value of the assets recovered, and be variable based on reputation as a recovery specialist. As we get the ability to leave our ships additional mechanics could be put in to space to allow for ship capture, ship module and cargo recovery both while in space or while docked at a station. This could be expanded to become a very interesting subset of game play mechanics.
