[QoL] Information Broker service on stations

[rootsrat]

Hi FDEV. How about an Information Broker service, available on some stations. This person would sell information about available modules or ships. Very much like Inara does now - you could ask him about a specific module or a ship (select what you're looking for from the list) and he'd point you to the nearest system that sells that module or ship - for a fee.

Simple as that.

"Welcome, Commander. I have all sorts of information to sell, what are you looking for?"
"Well, I came here to mount 4A Fuel Scoop on my ship, but it's not available in Outfitting."
"Let me search my database... You'll find one in Blah system at Round Orbital station."
"Thanks, Information Broker, you're the best!"

Finding a specific module or ship can be a real pain sometimes and a lot of players don't even bother searching for it in game, they go directly to Inara and use the browser. Why not have that very function in game - that way you:

1) Keep the players immersed in game, rather than make them go to search externally
2) Always give them most up to date info, as Inara can be out of date at times

This would be a MASSIVE Quality of Life positive change in the game and (granted I don't have any knowledge of Elite code) I can't imagine it being that hard to implement - it's basically querying the database, right?

 

[brap_man]

I actually quite like this idea. It'll never replace Inara and EDDB, but it'll be nice for some people who want to feel immersed (like the ones that love ship transfer times), and it'll also help people who don't know about 3rd party tools.

 

[Maymo]

Yeah I like this...
+1

Better yet, let us order new parts for delivery at a premium and use the same timing system as the current module transfer...

...that would be sweeeeet!

This kind of thing should be in the game already to be fair...

1. Go to outfitting, > FSD’s
2. No good FSD’s
3. Go to ‘Order Modules’
4. 5A FSD Eravate/Cleve Hub 12ly (player now knows where to go, if they like)
5. Order module, costs 5m + 0.5m p&p...total 5.5m, 10min wait...
6. Puts kettle on...

 

[brap_man]

To he honest, at least that way we could actually build a decent ship in Colonia without travelling back to the Bubble. Every time a new ship comes out my Colonia account has to go back to the Bubble to buy modules

 

[Chaparral]

As a general design consideration, tools like Inara and EDDB should have been in game from the very beginning. Hiding information like who sells what where and at what price should not be hidden by "you haven't visited that system yet". How many times have I needed to find a mat dealer for just a few more units of X so I can hit that G5 goodness, and had to dip out to Inara? Too many times.

I think the devs are kind of stuck in the 1980s with their philosophy of "information discovery is gameplay". There is this thing called google that 5 year olds know how to access. In a video game supposedly set in 3300, trade and gear data should be smacking you in the face.

The other day, during a physics lecture I asked a question about a particular problem, several hands shot up - but siri answered the question (my phone was on my demo table), before I could call on anyone. If anyone thinks that finding information is going to get harder they are completely out of touch. I sure hope ED 2.0 figures this out.

 

[rootsrat]

As a general design consideration, tools like Inara and EDDB should have been in game from the very beginning. Hiding information like who sells what where and at what price should not be hidden by "you haven't visited that system yet". How many times have I needed to find a mat dealer for just a few more units of X so I can hit that G5 goodness, and had to dip out to Inara? Too many times.

From what the devs were saying, I think the idea was to kind of make you travel around visiting many different places... But I think it's fair to say that's not the best solution or gameplay where all you want is a specific module for your ship. It's not fun, it's just annoying. Hence Inara and EDDB are so extremely popular.

FDEV should really rethink this one.

 

[CZRFeign]

Module delivery would also open up some timed cargo run missions early on as you are hired to rush the module to the target - bonus pay for speed. Could be nice profitable yet risky runs for newer players (who can have a little flashback to when they first started out as their 7A Thrusters turn up for their tens of million cred ship on the edge of the bubble). I would say the delivery options for rarer goods would be either more limited or more expensive to deliver so people weigh up cost/convenience.