Clan Warehouse to Trading Post

[Fastidius]

As I mentioned in some previous threads i think the devs are going about the clan warehouse the wrong way.Rather than spend time making new functionality I suggest they leverage existing mechanics and remove the existing clan warehouse and implement my system which i will diplay and spec here.

 

My idea revolves around Clans having a Trading post in a home port (similar to having a warehouse however a warehouse is only accessible by officers so and trading etc has to have a person waste playtime to transact with people.  Ignoring the obvious need for logging which i will leave till after they actually design the shop if it happens.

 

So i have mocked up what i think the screensshould look like.  Wether they make screens have scrolls up and down to see items etc is irrelevant as long as these features are in place.  This will make a clan warehouse actually work.

 

 

 

 

Initial Screen

 

 

A clan trading post can be setup in the exact same way as the current warehouse by the clan leader. I dont see any reason for change regards to this.

A new rank is built which is Officer + Trading Post Managment - For this moment lets just call them SHOPKEEPERS

 

SHOPKEEPERS

This rank has access to the CHANGE option for each item so they can set values based on their needs.  I will Suggest baseline values which make sense based on how AUSFC run their economy.  This basically produces 1st rate ships at 1 Mill and Santis at 2 mill with everyone in the process making a profit.  I can explain it all further later however for this moment i will simply suggest the numbers.

 

PORT SCREEN CHANGES

Personally i think having ships as part of the shop actually makes sense so I would remove ships from the top bar andactually creat it as a nested item inside the current shop interface.  I don't see that as being a big issue for developers and it makes more sense because you are buying and selling ships from the port shop keeper who hapens to be the shipyard also......its a small change but makes room up top for a CLAN option.

 

On entry to the port an additional check is made on loading in.  Normal port appears but a secind DB call is made which is similar to the following

 

var ClanHomePort as integer

ClanHomePort = Select Scalar count(clanid) from DB where CurrentPortID=X and ClanID=Y   (returns 0 or 1 if the clan table has that port has a record of a warehouse)

if ClanHomePort = 1 then

   Add UI Item CLAN to MenuBar at top

else

Exit

 

There has to be current structure similar to this for them to have the warehouse tied to a home port, I just think it should be part of the port as well as viewable from the existing Clan button on the chat bar.

 

Image of the Main Screen with CLAN button Pressed

 

 

 

 

The clan Warehouse already has a gold counter so the gold pool can be seen there and interacted with using the same warehouse functionality except there should be a text entry box not a slider.

 

Resources

Materials

Upgrades

Ships

 

Are all available however you could apply a charge to open up each selection in a similar way to the clan warehouse is created and set flags on a warehouse table to see if the buttons are available.

 

select from warehouses where clanid = X and port ID = Y

If Resourses = 1 then Show Button

If Materials= 1 then Show Button

If Upgrades= 1 then Show Button

If Ships= 1 then Show Button

ShipSlotsMax = Shipslots

Crating available = Crafting

 

 

Table would look like

 

ID

ClanID

PortID

Resourses - Booleen

Matrerials - Booleen

Upgrades - Booleen

Ships - Booleen

ShipSlots - Int

Crafting - Booleen

 

this way you can set up a purchase button for each area and the ability to actually craft.

 

On clicking the clan button Or as part of the Port loading function you query it to set what buttons are available.

 

 

 

Selecting Resources looks like this

 

 

The Clan Warhouse on build should create rows for each of the Items possible to be Stored so that items that have Zero Stock etc are still shown.

 

The idea around this is that there is a clan shop where you can buy and sell into using clan set prices. 

 

RESERVE is Officer only buyable and will fill up before Available is allowed to be filled this allows the clan to set a pool of Clan Resources for Shipbuilders only if they manage it that way.  The RESERVE is the quantity actually available in reserve. The actual value is only available to the Shopkeeper and clan leader in the change window. 

 

 

WAREHOUSE ONLY MODE - For those who just want the officer only access warehouse

If you set the default prices to Zero and the reserve to 999999 you get the exact same functionality as the current warehouse until you have more than 1million items in the actual warehouse.

 

 

LIMIT - The maximum Number of items of this type the clan is willing to buy

 

AVAILABLE STOCK = Warehouse Line item Quantity minus RESERVE and is the quantity a general clan MEMBER can draw upon.

 

BUY AND SELL - Almost the identical system to shop and withdraw in the current warehouse excepting it uses the clan money pool as the Creditor/Debtor

 

BENEFITS:

No interaction between officers required to perform clan in/outs with money transfers for basic transactions. 

Allows crafters to pull resources without being made an officer.

 

 

CHANGE BUTTON FUNCTIONALITY

Look at the materials section for info - same thing but no Hourly Rate

 

 

 

MATERIALS VIEW

 

 

Same deal as the resources.

 

CRAFT BUTTON.

If clicked an unavailable get similar error to warehouse access from non available port however depends on if Crafting is true from initial warehouse query

 

 

 

 

The maximum Craftable value should be checked against LIMIT and Hours.  no reason for there to be a max value on the slider beyond those limits.  Values for ingredients are linked to the warehosue quantities not the users.  The user is payed for the hours used ONLY and allinteractions happen via a transaction in the DB

 

Craft Transaction

 

Transaction Start

   check values of each quantity required are available (multiple people accessing one DB so have to confirm the data pre transaction)

 

If values = available

Change ingredient quantity to new values

update created material value to new value

transfer gold from clan money pool to player

adjust crafters hours

if all transaction = true apply

else error = not enough materials/gold available at this time.

 

requery the quantities and refresh screen.

 

 

THE CHANGE BUTTON

 

this button checks if the rank = SHOPKEEPER or CLAN LEADER and throws an error if not.

 

 

THIS SCREEN ALSO NEEDS LIMIT ADDED - Will redo image shortly

 

SHOPKEEPER/clanleader Sets these values.  

 

RESERVE is designed to allow a restricted amount of items for use for CLAN shipbuiling only so that you dont run short of the items required for X amount of ships at any time.  Anything over that amount is available to any clan member.  An extreme high number like 999999 means officer access only.

 

LIMIT is the maximum number the clan is willing top purchase. and extreme value like 999999 allows purchase without restriction.

Hours rate only appears on materials and Upgrades  check against the item type on click

 

Hourley rate is the money payed when crafting this.   There are a few ways people do this but we set a subcrafting rate on anything other than notes and upgrades and pay extra for levels used to make these.  more obvious on the upgrades button.

 

 

UPGRADES DISPLAY

 

Same deal however with a filter setting at the top as per the current design.  again each item possible is shown and limited.  A second set of filters for Quality might be of benefit here for managing the pricing.

 

 

SHIPS SCREEN

 

 

 

SLOTS - You set a limit on the number of ships allowed in the clan ship shop and purchase prices for additional slots.  Crafters list them in the normal fashion only difference is it only displays to ClanID people.  the only change i would make is that there should be an option for Permanently available rather than a timed sale.  This way an officer can choose to Buy it off a crafter and relist it as a clan assest and reimburse himself.  That way the clan has ownership the crafter has cash and anyone who wants to buy it will be able to without the issue of a timer.

 

 

 

CONCLUSION

This uses almost all functionality already built with minimal adjustment and provides the most automation of the clan processes that take time away from officers inour system.  PLEASE BUILD THIS.

 

Side Benefits.

You can write an API dump for clan warehouses which can be interrogated and ranked outside the game showing the wealthiest clans as a ranking system and assuch create avenues of people to rate clans in some fashion

 

Once you have solidified this structure you can add Audit logs to the transactions which are tied to a clan and create a daily dump and wipe of that data to textfiles for the clan shopkeeper to acquire and use for audit purposes keeping your database clean but also keeping transaction for review.  

 

Adding ranks will allow you to create access to variety options just by adjusting permissions on the clicking of a button type giving you a granular security option if you wish to develop this.

Edited June 8, 2016 by Fastidius

[GreenT]

This please. The amount of time i spend chasing officers to give me stuff in the bank i need to craft their ships is stupidly frustrating.

[Skully]

I would even go as far as to day that every player should be able to put a "Trade Post" in one of his building slots, so a similar thing can interact with his local warehouse and all other players.

 

See also http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/14472-clan-warehouse-improvement-to-stimulate-cooperative-play/?p=268120