I've been reading these forums like crazy the last days since I found out about the game.
As former/current player of PotBS and EvE Online, I have some questions/suggestions about the connection of the economy with the PvP/PvE in the sandbox.
First of all, I haven't found yet any big update about the design of the sandbox, maybe it is still early (or me being blind),
therefore I have some questions that I really hope the developers will answer sooner or later
1) What will the main concept of the sandbox be?
EvE Online - Player alliance/coalition territorial and market domination.
PotBS - Faction point/territorial domination a.k.a English/French/Spanish/Pirates gather points from conquering ports to win the round (lasting some months), new round doesnt mean that player loses his/her ships/levels.
2) What will the PvP/PvE risk factor be for the player concerning ship destruction?
EvE Online - Ship can be insured, but ship is forever gone if destroyed once.
PotBS - Ship can be insured, but according to the model it has 2-3 "lives". After the 2-3 destructions, ship is gone forever.
3) What will the difficulty to set up a construction line for a given ship be (probably difficulty varying from model to model)?
EvE Online - Player can create multi accounts (permitted), create characters and train them with the book reading feature (no leveling up) and start his production line.
PotBS - Player can create multi accounts (permitted), but has to level up every single trader/manufacturer with missions (very time consuming).
4) What wil the PvP area design be?
EvE Online - Solar systems vary in security according to the presence of NPC police from -0.9 - 1.0. Anything below 0.5 is a potential PvP area.
PotBS - PvP zones form around ports that are under attack/blockade, if port remains red for 2 days there is a Port Battle (24v24) in which the winner gets the port/island.
Thinking the economy through the spectrum of battles and overall war in a war game, the sandbox design that will give answers to these questions, will profoundly impact the importance of a player driven economy. For example:
1) Territorial domination could impact trading routes.
2) Island faction/alliance holder could overtax the opponent manufacturers of the conquered island.
3) Consistent blockade of trading routes or opponent ports could impact the future opponent's shipyard (No resources to build for the supposed upcoming big battles of a war).
4) Player can get a crew from the local tavern and train them for money (with some timer involved).
5) Player has a reputation which will define him as respectable or pirate. This could have an impact on how easily he can find a crew or what levels of crew would trust him, or on which islands he can find a crew.
6) Crew ability to act/fight could be defined by 2-3 factors: Moral and Level and maybe Injuries.
7) Crew trainer could be a profession for a player (having a building and offering fast crew training to other players for money), or maybe an NPC entity.
8) Crew training could be defined by the available equipment for training, trainer level, training fees (default or player driven), port holder (opponent can't train crew on this island).
9) Holding specific ports (with small distances between them and variety in resources a.k.a map balance and design is important) could boost the economy of the holding group. How dynamic and challenging do you want this sandbox to be? Any other suggestions about the connection of the economy to the PvP??
Please developers share your ideas <3