PVP for cash and the economy

[Sardus]

Something I've been lobying for a while now and I'm hoping to get a community response.

I believe that this idea will help us with the economy, PVP, and the contention system. I tried to keep it as simple as possible. simple = good

***We need cash rewards for PVP for port battles and open sea.***

Port battles:
1) When you successfully take a port, you should get cash from raiding the port. Pirates should get even more of a bonus.

2) When you successfully defend a port, the crown should reward you for your service.

Open sea:
1) The crown should reward you for sinking and taking enemy ships in PVP. The more ships you sink in a given battle, the more you get. 6 vs 1 isn't very profitable, but 6 on 6 may be lucrative.


How does this impact the economy?
1) People PVP, make money, die, and then spend the money on player crafted ships. The economy goes round.
2) If there is a surplus of cash, larger ships are made. When these larger ships die, that is a huge money sink. Extreme case: both nations in a port battle field plenty of big lineships.... some ARE going to die, reducing the cash in the system substantially.
3) If MORE people start PVPing, then more people are going to die. And when more people die, more ships are needed to be built. The bigger the demand for ships, the more the economy will turn.


What are the goals?
1) increases Reward vs risk
2) encourages OS battles
3) encourages port battles
4) gives the economy something to do


How do we balance it?
Screw underdog tools, but instead:

1) LOSING NATIONS GET A BONUS: when a nation is losing, the fewer the ports they have the more money they will recieve from the crown. If things really get top-heavy, you could even give money to the losing side even if they lose a port battle. This would encourage people to still show up for PBs and to continue to fight without the pain of resupplying their ships.

2) WINNING NATIONS DO NOT GET PUNISHED: don't punish the winning nation. There should still money to be had in continuing the fight and ultimately the map victory, but the losing nation will increasingly become more and more difficult to defeat. This will discourage one nation dominating another and encourages people to balance the populations.

[Sardus]

***We need to remove drops from the game. Everything in this game needs to be crafted***

This game has one of the best economies I have seen in years. Unfortunately, the lack of demand has killed the economy on just about every circle.

Why?

1) Not enough people are dying in PVP, this problem is addressed in my previous post
2) just about everything you need for your ship can be found off of drops (grinding missions for greens, etc.)


My solution?

REMOVE DROPS FROM THE GAME. Loot items are fine because they generate cash and serve no real other purpose.

1) green and blue items should be player crafted.
2) perhaps introduce rare books that allow players to craft blue and green items... but for only one or two runs


questions? comments?

[Sardus]

***We need to seriously rethink the skirmish system***

The skirmish system - this is meant to give people a reason to PVP without fear of losing their ships. This seems fine on the outside... but if used improperly this band aid will just disconnect with the contention system and open sea PVP... ultimately competing with them.


I'm all for a "place" where we can encourage people to PVP without having to look for hours for a battle.

Would it be possible to connect the skirmish system to the contention system? The more you win against another nation, the more contention that is produced? Anyone else have any ideas?

[BLStumm]

Nice. I'm on board with many of your suggestions, especially about making PvP rewards commensurate with accomplishments (6 on 1 = virtually no reward).

I also think how SoLs are used is messed up. I'm not sure how to address this issue and the economy (see below for ideas) but here is what bothers me about SoLs:
- I don't like the fact that SoLs are given such ridiculous speeds
- I disagree that NOs have to buy their SoLs (or any ships for that matter) - how realistic is that??
- SoLs are WAY too expensive

Gotta be some way to make use of SoLs more realistic and still keep the economy going. I think there should be some game mechanic that allows societies to contribute to their nation building an effective navy by selling shipwright materials to their nation for naval ship construction. Maybe getting enough contributions unlocks certain types of naval ships.

In port battles, these naval ships can become available for able captains. This would similar to the nation sending a fleet to "defend their interests." In port battles, a FT or Privateer captain should be able to command a 3rd or 4th rate ship (1st and 2nd rates are reserved for NOs). Naval assets (from the pool) are lost and must be replaced in order to maintain an effective navy (again, I think donations and usage of these should be geared towards societies to avoid issues). Pools should reset after a map is reset. Maybe with losing the map, the societies on the losing sides start off with free ships in their pool after the reset. Of course, port battles should be a different matter altogether for pirates - raid and land oriented vs. fleet battles.

Regardless of these suggestions, to help address your concerns about the economy and losing ships, I say reduce all durabilities to 1.

To promote more open sea PvP, I say:
- Limit SoLs to port battles- they are essentially floating batteries - shouldn't be able to outrun privateers, etc. anyways
- Force battles of smaller engagements somehow (max 3 on 3). If people know they may get jumped and ganked, they are less likely to venture out in PvP zones. If they know they can fight at closer to even numbers, they might be more adventurous.
- Keep record of each player's PvP wins/losses and conditions of those wins or losses - if you fight outnumbered and win, people should know about it