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More Contracts  

44 members have voted

  1. 1. Would you like to see the limit of player buy/sell contracts increased?

    • Yes, I would like to have more contracts.
    • No, I think the current contract limit is appropriate.


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Very simple suggestion:

I think we should be allowed more contracts above the current limit of 5. I think the player economy would be more vibrant if we don't stifle the commerce between players by having a cap on trading contracts.

I also think the game needs more gold sinks so...

I think each contract should have a progressively higher "contract fee". Players can have lots of contracts but, eventually, they will become too expensive to maintain as the cost for contracts goes up.

Inflation is very important to address. I know this game is alpha but this is the best time to handle economic changes and get inflation under control. Inflation is a major factor in new player retention.

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There must a hard cap. Both in number of contracts or on influx of resources.

 

The contracts feed themselves from infinite pool of resources.

 

This doesn't work and is making money, ships and resources completely worthless in the long run.

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European Traders deliver as much as any number of players can buy. Production buildings produce as much as any numbers of players want.

 

There is never a real shortage of anything nor need to establish trade links between different towns or factions.

 

Increasing the number contracts would only mean we can increase the influx of good from a infinite pool meaning more products on the market, raw or transformed into materials/built-in ships, without any real demand being fed by infinite offer.

 

On top of that none of the Town demands is ever fulfilled. An empty and meaningful mechanic so far.

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European Traders deliver as much as any number of players can buy. Production buildings produce as much as any numbers of players want.

There is never a real shortage of anything nor need to establish trade links between different towns or factions.

Increasing the number contracts would only mean we can increase the influx of good from a infinite pool meaning more products on the market, raw or transformed into materials/built-in ships, without any real demand being fed by infinite offer.

On top of that none of the Town demands is ever fulfilled. An empty and meaningful mechanic so far.

I definitely agree with you sentiments as far as scarcity goes. That is another issue that I've felt needs to be addressed. I remember when we had iron shortages and players were sailing to far away ports in search of a supply to bring back for profit. I miss that feeling. I miss the scarcity and I think it needs to be brought back. I think the shift towards a player market, adjustment to port productions, and adjustment to the resource buildings will accomplish that goal. People complained about shortages but I quite enjoyed it. Strife and want are what create the illusion of fulfillment once a goal is accomplished.

However, I also feel that allowing more contracts will help when the scarcity is returned. It seems like a silly artificial cap.

My logic being: if you go to your local convenience store, they aren't limited to selling only five items at a time while other, in demand, stocks are sitting in the back unavailable to anyone.

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  • 5 weeks later...

It depends on the server you play on.

On pvp2 and PVE servers the population is so low that the ports do not have any competition for the Euro traders. These severs can be raw material farmed easily using the contracts and the smuggler flags. So more contracts will just result in more bottom dollar materials produced out of thin air. Since this doesn't cost labor hours and the prices are low it becomes better to build ships using the euro traders than player factory raw materials. That's not good.

On pvp1 there is competition for the Euro traders. I have a contract in right now for coal. However, another player came in and placed a contract for a higher price so my contract stopped filling. If I want it to fill again I need to offer more of my gold. Similarly you see contract competition in most of the free cities. So in this case increasing the contract number from 5 to say 10 should increase that competition further and spread out the raw material supply ports creating more shipping and more ships at sea.

So yes, I am for more contracts providing there is competition for euro trader contracts OR euro trader bottom price is raised enough that it doesn't become a better method of production than the x5 player factories.

Edited by Bach
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More contracts would mean that traders could sell a wider variety of goods, while buying more goods

 

I think more buildings is also a must, especially with the new mechanics. There are simply not enough people willing to produce resources to supply the demands of a nation.

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An economy must allow for individuals to explore the different markets available.  If we are trying to enable a simple, single player crafting game, than remove the contracts entirely.  If we want an actual economy that matches the depth of the ship combat/detail in this game, there must be room for players to explore and utilize the economy.  Players can't properly explore the economy if they are limited to 5 total contracts.  This is a fake feature.  The economy must allow for players to grow.  This 5 contract limit stunts econ players ability to interact with the game's economy.

 

There can't be a functioning economy with these types of limits imposed on it. 

Edited by Kiefer Cain
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I think each contract should have a progressively higher "contract fee". Players can have lots of contracts but, eventually, they will become too expensive to maintain as the cost for contracts goes up.

This makes calculations very hard... :D

 

I'm all for dropping the contract limit. In fact I would like to see production buildings put up automatic contracts.

http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/14793-for-a-more-fun-and-profitable-player-base-econ/?p=275051

 

And I would like to be able to put up a trade post, so I can continuously buy and sell.

http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/14565-clan-warehouse-to-trading-post/?p=270113

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European Traders deliver as much as any number of players can buy. Production buildings produce as much as any numbers of players want.

 

There is never a real shortage of anything nor need to establish trade links between different towns or factions.

 

Increasing the number contracts would only mean we can increase the influx of good from a infinite pool meaning more products on the market, raw or transformed into materials/built-in ships, without any real demand being fed by infinite offer.

 

On top of that none of the Town demands is ever fulfilled. An empty and meaningful mechanic so far.

 

Umm European Traders will autofill contracts the second you place it if you pay enough so it does not matter if you have 100 or 1 contract free as you just need to finish that order and place a new one its just about paying enough money which in most cases are not worth it... Otherwise its just the ports own production and the AI trading ships that will fill them.

 

Thus I fail to see how you reached your point and how its a problem for the player economy with a higher limit on contracts...

 

Your suggestion to keep the limit is hindering players from placing contracts that OTHER players can fill or purchase from and not the European Traders.

 

If I have a trade route and is wanting to deal in the 3-4 resources that the ports on that trade route creates or demands, a hard limit as is now would require me to sail it every few hours unless I want to allow other traders the chance to come in a buy the resources at the price that is set by the port itself despite that I may be willing to pay a premium to be able to come in and buy larger quantities but only once a day.

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