Guild Supply current problem and its solution

[Grack]

Hello all, and hopefully Star Vault. I hope SV takes the time to read this because I believe this is a core issue at the heart of what will make Mortal online 2 a true sandbox with a future or a sort of guild stronghold sandbox with melee and magic.

Introduction

SV has been doing a great job of learning from the original Mortals mistakes and I personally like the direction they're going in overall. However, there is one major issue with territory control that is undermining its potential to be a great sandbox and help grow its population and diversity of players. TC for in-guild gameplay works fine and is probably the right balance so this topic is exclusively about out of guild or guild to guild gameplay. I believe this fix is very easy, low effort and most importantly highly influential and positive for the game.


The problem

The current issue is TC does not function or incentivize social and community based gameplay that is out of guild. In fact at its current state it actively punishes a guild for anything but in-guild gameplay.

The problem: Re-supplying

• Supply runs effectively cost 5% of the total earnings of a territory's 1000 supply pool.

When viewing this from an in-guild point of view this is acceptable both financially and logistically. The logistical effort helps balance out the outpost earning capacity and protection they help provide.

When looking at this from an out of guild, or guild to guild perspective this is a terrible deal and makes no sense. You will run out of supplies quickly, you have a 5% loss which quickly accumulates and is made worse by the fact your own guild isn’t getting the full benefit from the 1000g supply. Suddenly the supply running is a constant chore added to the daily grind. You’re literally doing far more work for not just less return but losses. This makes no sense and so the result is you don’t open your territory up to others, or use this feature of the game because it is a negative loop.


Solution: Tax

• Add a 10% tax on goods bought and sold under your territory's vendors, taxes should go into guild chest. (this coupled with the 5% loss means a overall minimum 5% gain (50g) to each supply pool which isn't crazy but just enough to encourage you to make the effort of supply runs if you desire to have an open territory)

This will incentivise and reward guilds and groups who are more social by providing a small pump to their coffers, but nothing too ridiculous. Suddenly the supply runs stop becoming a negative loop chore and become a positive loop. This will mean more activity, more runs, more people moving about and playing the game and will prevent a stronghold game where territories are only for the guilds in them.


A final word

It is essential that a sandbox game allows and encourages different playstyles, and by giving players the tools to interact with each other and benefits each other you create a true sandbox that will grow in population and flourish. If you do not allow players to create their own space and be given the option to either lock it down for themselves or open it up, you’re just going to stagnate the game into stronghold online with guilds all in their own little areas with little incentive to interact with the next, which is what happen in MO1. I can not stress enough, you don’t need to encourage players to create conflict, it will naturally happen on its own. There will always be conflict and a natural incentive for groups to be in-guild and lock down their own territory for their own gain. but currently there is no alternative for guilds to build a social and vibrant environment which also happens to benefit those that play just for combat because they will have more players to pray on and for more value. A sandbox game with lots of sand to play with and the ability to play with others is the lifeblood of its survival and popularity, the inability to do anything but hit each other over the head for only in-guild based benefits will stagnate and reduce again and again until there is very little substance left to play for.


TL/DR
SV if you do not allow players to utilize tools to create their own local areas and economies to interact with others you will stagnate the game to only strongholds and pvp, when it has the potential to be a whole world with depth. Changing TC vendors to provide guilds with a 10% tax on brought/sold goods is such a small simple change, but it has the potential for big positive change towards the games population and activity!

Thank you for your time people.

 

[Sinister Shadowfox]

Setting the tax should be optional but yes there does need to be the ability to tax or there is no incentive for open cities.

 

[Amadman]

Agreed. The system does not seem like it would promote open town development.


I honestly have not used the system, but on paper I see what seems to be many other issues as well.


It simply does not make sense that an npc can not sell something after they just bought something. And vice versa.


The initial vision was to limit what npcs sell/produce and have it be based more around players suppling items they acquired.

This system however seems to do the opposite.


If items that are sold to vendor are not put up for sale (not sure if that is how it works)

then it is not reflecting the regional resources available in the area.

This to me seems like it would be a missed opportunity to strengthen the effects of regional resources.


In the end I did not vote because I would rather see a system that is more directly supplied by the players.

Making supply runs could be an option to restock. But players should also be able to contribute directly.

 

[Emdash]

"It is essential that a sandbox game allows and encourages different playstyles, and by giving players the tools to interact with each other and benefits each other you create a true sandbox that will grow in population and flourish."

Yeah, but... that happens organically in A GOOD GAME. It should be, instead of a system is created to foster a behavior / give tools, a system should be created because said behavior exists and tools should be given to make it more effective. I think that's the sandbox 'misfire.' As you said about conflict happening, so, too, will many different behaviors. They had tried to change people's behavior with mechanics or incentivize things like dungeons, but that's not how a sandbox works, believe it or not. That's the core flaw, and until someone figures it out (been saying this for like 10 yrs haha,) said 'true sandbox' will not be created, or it will be something that only exists on paper, like Eve.

A sandbox is sand, the dev's job is to play GM/DM and help people interact. Nobody likes it when they are overruled by GMs, but it's necessary. Also nobody likes it when the environment of a game becomes a certain way, but, barring exploits and such, it's more of the job of GMs to roll with it and give people more tools to do what they are doing. The 'questing' and 'farming (for trinkz, scrolls, books, etc)' were not sandbox additions. I know there was stuff in MO1, but it was so niche. You should be able to get anything anywhere, just playing.

The ideal is to be able to log in and do what you want. Not be protected from killing or whatever, but just be able to create your own thing, not with TC structures, either, as an idea. And the more influential you become as a person/guild/entity, the more the developers should add in things to deepen your experience. Then, the clashing of those things creates conflict, some people like what you do, some people dislike it.

It seems like it should work to just be like well let's give people some things to build, let's give them places to farm, etc... it's not enough. The world should be built dynamically, roadmaps are jokes. Swirly magikz. They did actually try to develop the areas that people were, but they did it in the wrong way, trying to add more farmable content etc.

They needed to add more THINGS TO DO. Like I said before, if you so wish, you should be able to live life in town and make money. I mean, you can, just crafting. You won't make much money, but you can. Creating THOSE things is how you encourage different play styles. I don't think SV really understands what different playstyles are. Their idea is like... how you like to fight and how you like to farm. What color rock you like to R haha.