If the devs want that the players are using the ah ...

[Richard Blake]

they have to make it impossible to trade produced materials.

Currently most of the societies are building up/using a mostly closed economy.
If it was intended that all players have to use the ah to contribute to a nationwide HEALTHY economy than it is unavoidable to deactivate the tradeoption for everything that is produceable.

After that you have to make only one national ah to avoid that some societies are trading secretly in some remote ah's.
This sound maybe a littlebit radical but by looking at the economy at the moment with only a few players using the ah properly i will say that t least on Bonnet it doesnt work as a nationwide well working system.

It's the choice between a healthy captialistic system (by not allowing to trade directly) or a somewhat healthy planed economy......i can't figure out how a communistic economy will fit in in the 1720's caribiean setting.

[James Blythe]

Originally Posted by Richard Blake they have to make it impossible to trade produced materials. Currently most of the societies are building up/using a mostly closed economy. If it was intended that all players have to use the ah to contribute to a nationwide HEALTHY economy than it is unavoidable to deactivate the tradeoption for everything that is produceable. After that you have to make only one national ah to avoid that some societies are trading secretly in some remote ah's. This sound maybe a littlebit radical but by looking at the economy at the moment with only a few players using the ah properly i will say that t least on Bonnet it doesnt work as a nationwide well working system. It's the choice between a healthy captialistic system (by not allowing to trade directly) or a somewhat healthy planed economy......i can't figure out how a communistic economy will fit in in the 1720's caribiean setting.

But then, you have no navy officers that need to buy their own ship in the 1720's. It would be ordered, build and paid for by the crown and handed over to captains to command.

Also, I find it hard punishing societies for maintaining an self supplying and therefore cost efficient source of products.

[Richard Blake]

I am a society leader and we have this planned economy as well....but wouldn't it be nice if everyone would contribute to a nationwide economy with realistic markups of 5 - 10%? By having this kind of economy even the noobs and soloplayers would have a fair possibility to buy stuff. As the societies are concerned you could say.....finally beeing in a society is not important for the game after that change than it will only be about players liking to play with some other players and showing that they belong to this group of players.....only a social thing not an economical or otherwise important matter.

[James Blythe]

You have just stated the main problem yourself, why this would not work at all.

.."with realistic markups of 5-10%"

This will never happen. Not in a player driven economy. Have a look at the AH, markups of 100% are not really a rare occurance. Also, a 5-10% markup would not be realistic anyway if you had to haul the goods to a centralized AH beforehand anyway.

Furthermore, being in a society to me means also that I help out other fellow members. And that also includes providing them my services free of charge. Which would no longer be possible in your model.

[Richard Blake]

I belive that the devs had in mind to create a game where a nationwide struggle is behind everything that is ongoing. By giving the societies the possiblity to exclude themselves of this struggle you create a world where societies with 100+ players can do everything without participating in the nationwide effort at all.
My society has 25 members and we cann already make our own thing without caring about others...this is not really a goal in a MMORPG.

If people could only accomplish goals (pvp/pve/economical) by working as a nation it would be a more social game that needs players with social understanding and social abbilities to interact better with each other.
The experience of the national struggle against the enemies of the crown is not quite huge in the game...a forced open economy coulf be a good way of forcing the players to act as a nation...not as a bunch of people playing in groups without caring about our other citizens of our country.

[James Blythe]

While the general intend of your suggestion certainly is admirable, it will not work in the enviroment as it is set up now. This would in my eyes only work in a setting were you are dependant of each other in the extreme. However, being able to play this game solo without ever really have to play together to achieve things, the concept is quickly killed.

A solo PVE player is not interested in supporting the nation. He is interested in maximizing his own profits. If he was dependant of the NO next door having a good ship to protect him in the next mission or cargo run, he might be willing to give him a fair price. As there is no dependancy on other players, this is not in his best personal interest. I mean, look at the AH and you can see it confirmed. It is a circle of doom and doing the changes you mentioned would not help it one bit in my eyes. It would only make all players suffer the same from the profit orientated players.