I talked about this in a thread, but never made a proposal out of it.
Currently Engineers commodities have been removed, because they became a hindrance to gameplay as you had to carry them around
all the time. That was a big problem and FD recognized this.
FD mentioned they would bring engineer commodities back at some point in time and my proposal is about that.
Another problem for many cmdrs is the current material limit in ships.
To solve both problems, instead of simply removing engineers commodities the game or having very restrictive material limits, I propose the addition of the Engineers Commodities and Materials Bank to the game, or the ECMB.
ENGINEERS COMMODITIES AND MATERIALS BANK
---------------------------------------------
Every cmdr would have an account with the bank and would be able to make deposits and withdrawals.
You can access the bank from any Engineers base, but they might also have an office in a select number of systems, for example in the capital systems of powers and or super powers.
Information about what is in your account would be accessible from your ship at all times. This is necessary so you can plan the collection of your engineers commodities.
Perhaps it is necessary to have a limit to the amount of commodities you can deposit, but if so I would advise to make this a high number.
DEPOSITS AND WITHDRAWALS
-----------------------------
When you have been rewarded engineer commodities for doing missions you can then deposit them to your ECMB account at any engineers base. And you can also withdraw them from any engineers base if you want to.
Perhaps deposits and withdrawals should cost a small amount of money, let's say 100cr. We need money sinks anyway so this might be a good thing to do.
COMMODITY WITHDRAWALS FOR ENGINEERING PURPOSES
-------------------------------------------------------
IF you want to do some engineering at an engineers base you have automatic access to the commodities in your account and automated withdrawals will be made while engineering.
You won't have to do anything special and you won't notice anything different.
MATERIALS & DATA
-------------------
This works in the same way as commodities.
The current ship based material limit will be maintained, but you will be able to deposit materials to your ECMB account.
The on-board material/data storage can be used for crafting, or as a temporary storage until you are able to make a deposit at an ECMB.
For data I would also like to see the on board storage limit increased. Digital storage in a time of interstellar spaceflight should not be as limited as it is in ED I feel.
SELLING COMMODITIES AND MATERIALS TO THE ECMB
----------------------------------------------------
I think it would be cool to be able to also sell engineer commodities and materials to the bank.
We already can sell commodities in most stations. This would not change much in that respect.
Selling materials on the other hand would be new to the game. I think this would be a good idea because it would make materials more interesting in general and currently it feels wasteful to have to destroy them all the time. It would be fun if you could earn a few bucks by selling them at an engineers base.
What I think is good about these ideas is that it solves two fundamental problems, but it also adds an additional gameplay element instead of just removing stuff from the game. You will still have to manage your on-board storage as it is not limitless.
It gives you an additional reason to visit the cool enineers bases once in a while even if you are currently not engineering any of your ships.
I also like the idea of adding a well know institution, the ECMB, to the Elite universe. We might even see ads for the ECMB inside and in front of stations etc.
Currently Engineers commodities have been removed, because they became a hindrance to gameplay as you had to carry them around
all the time. That was a big problem and FD recognized this.
FD mentioned they would bring engineer commodities back at some point in time and my proposal is about that.
Another problem for many cmdrs is the current material limit in ships.
To solve both problems, instead of simply removing engineers commodities the game or having very restrictive material limits, I propose the addition of the Engineers Commodities and Materials Bank to the game, or the ECMB.
ENGINEERS COMMODITIES AND MATERIALS BANK
---------------------------------------------
Every cmdr would have an account with the bank and would be able to make deposits and withdrawals.
You can access the bank from any Engineers base, but they might also have an office in a select number of systems, for example in the capital systems of powers and or super powers.
Information about what is in your account would be accessible from your ship at all times. This is necessary so you can plan the collection of your engineers commodities.
Perhaps it is necessary to have a limit to the amount of commodities you can deposit, but if so I would advise to make this a high number.
DEPOSITS AND WITHDRAWALS
-----------------------------
When you have been rewarded engineer commodities for doing missions you can then deposit them to your ECMB account at any engineers base. And you can also withdraw them from any engineers base if you want to.
Perhaps deposits and withdrawals should cost a small amount of money, let's say 100cr. We need money sinks anyway so this might be a good thing to do.
COMMODITY WITHDRAWALS FOR ENGINEERING PURPOSES
-------------------------------------------------------
IF you want to do some engineering at an engineers base you have automatic access to the commodities in your account and automated withdrawals will be made while engineering.
You won't have to do anything special and you won't notice anything different.
MATERIALS & DATA
-------------------
This works in the same way as commodities.
The current ship based material limit will be maintained, but you will be able to deposit materials to your ECMB account.
The on-board material/data storage can be used for crafting, or as a temporary storage until you are able to make a deposit at an ECMB.
For data I would also like to see the on board storage limit increased. Digital storage in a time of interstellar spaceflight should not be as limited as it is in ED I feel.
SELLING COMMODITIES AND MATERIALS TO THE ECMB
----------------------------------------------------
I think it would be cool to be able to also sell engineer commodities and materials to the bank.
We already can sell commodities in most stations. This would not change much in that respect.
Selling materials on the other hand would be new to the game. I think this would be a good idea because it would make materials more interesting in general and currently it feels wasteful to have to destroy them all the time. It would be fun if you could earn a few bucks by selling them at an engineers base.
What I think is good about these ideas is that it solves two fundamental problems, but it also adds an additional gameplay element instead of just removing stuff from the game. You will still have to manage your on-board storage as it is not limitless.
It gives you an additional reason to visit the cool enineers bases once in a while even if you are currently not engineering any of your ships.
I also like the idea of adding a well know institution, the ECMB, to the Elite universe. We might even see ads for the ECMB inside and in front of stations etc.
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