So what do we do about trading?

[Felkin]

So, it's been over a week now and we know that oathing is NOT a thing. What shall we do? Trading will, at the end of the day, be VITAL. Especially for hermits. Every settlement can supply themselves everything of regular q, but everyone will need some stuff from high q base nodes. High q soil/wate/clay etc etc. We WILL need to TRADE.

So how do we go about this? If there is an open skype chat conversing on a solution, would be nice if you went public with your ideas or atleast gave some notice to the community.

Atm we only really have 3 options:

1. Trading hub (lolno)

2. Travel between villages secretly.

3. Merchant caravans.

Here's the deal with the 3rd one and why I think it's going to be the one we should default to :

Create a merchant association with dedicated MERCHANTS. People who would go in a caravan with a mercenery squad, going from village to village, taking up goods and then moving on to the next. They would get the goods from village A, drop em at village B and get the return goods. Keep going on their way and then eventually land back at Village A, dropping the goods and getting a payment.

This of course has the 2 issues. a) the need of extreme trust between the villages and merchants and b) defense tools vs asshats like Dis/AD etc etc etc. This whole thing could make for great gameplay and a lot of pvp action for pvpists, whilst being vital for villagers. Having these merchants and their paths be public is,ofc, absurd, but some "for hire" paths should exist. Maybe a merchant caravan in each side of the map, doing runs only in that quarter of the map. Who knows?

Any ideas, guys? Cause we WILL need to do something.


By the way, what about coins? I think currency could actualy become a thing now. Merchants would get orders and trade coins for goods. The point system itself could stay. Would be the same as IRL, with different villages having different rates and merchants looking for good deals.

[venatorvenator]

Common trading villages connected locally by roads to trade with people you trust seems to be the best option in my opinion. I'll build one later on. We still need more experimentation with roads and waylaid mechanics, but I don't think they make us as vulnerable as one would expect.

With free game time being so valuable I doubt there would be many willing to do caravan runs. It takes hours to go from one place to another. Logging off and leaving the goods unprotected is also an issue, which means it would have to be a player who has time to do it all in one go.

[Felkin]

With free game time being so valuable I doubt there would be many willing to do caravan runs. It takes hours to go from one place to another. Logging off and leaving the goods unprotected is also an issue, which means it would have to be a player who has time to do it all in one go.

Well merchant runs in all games are ment to be a timely process to gain good profits. I can't imagine any free player taking it up, but we will have many players who have subs so I imagine some might pop up who fancy a life on the road.

[Jesus_Smith_Nandez]

Reading all this neat ideas that could happen in theory always makes me all tingly inside, bet let's face it: cool stuff like this will never happen. The people who play this game are very good at avoiding any fluff and finding the most effeciant way or bug to abuse to get to the point they need. For now and the foreseeable future, the most effeciant to trade from far away is something like a high UA "runner" character with no scents spending a couple hours walking/boating with the items in a b-line acrss the world without telling anyone. That being said, trading with someone far away is too hard and too risky to be done regulairly unless it's very important and/or there isn't much supply of the item you want. Local trading will most likely be the easiest and most dominant form of trade in HnH on account of people being lazy.

[Sollar]

Why not tradin hub like Salem does? I find it ok. I also have another suggestion - having 2 big roads crossing the map from 1 corner to the opposite - (highways). Traders can set up trading stalls near it. At the big intersection in the middle maybe have an inn with tables, food and booze. For socializing, hiring rangers, exchanging scents, etc.

[Felkin]

Why not tradin hub like Salem does? I find it ok. I also have another suggestion - having 2 big roads crossing the map from 1 corner to the opposite - (highways). Traders can set up trading stalls near it. At the big intersection in the middle maybe have an inn with tables, food and booze. For socializing, hiring rangers, exchanging scents, etc.

Salem's hub is a nonpvp zone last I remember. Here there are no game mechanisms to stop people from killing each other. Trading hubs were tried many times in past worlds and always ended the same way - bandits ruining it all. Same would happen with stalls.

Nandez is right that most trading will happen in secret, but the point I'm trying to make that we might get a new profession - merchant popping up. It would be really cool if some trustworthy people took it upon themselves to supply villages.

[shubla]

For socializing, hiring rangers

You dont know the game you are playing
You wouldnt hire rangers or socialize. It would be just massive bloodshed with tons of guys camping 24/7 killing everyone that moves.

[Jesus_Smith_Nandez]

Why not tradin hub like Salem does? I find it ok. I also have another suggestion - having 2 big roads crossing the map from 1 corner to the opposite - (highways). Traders can set up trading stalls near it. At the big intersection in the middle maybe have an inn with tables, food and booze. For socializing, hiring rangers, exchanging scents, etc.

Reading all this neat ideas that could happen in theory always makes me all tingly inside, bet let's face it: cool stuff like this will never happen. The people who play this game are very good at avoiding any fluff and finding the most effeciant way or bug to abuse to get to the point they need.

[kilakan]

For socializing, hiring rangers

You dont know the game you are playing
You wouldnt hire rangers or socialize. It would be just massive bloodshed with tons of guys camping 24/7 killing everyone that moves.

Previous worlds have at one time or another had both wagon-trading companies, ranger groups for hire or free-lancers. Not saying they worked all that amazingly well but we had em.


That said, it took 8-12 hours to walk (with a cart) from spawn area to where I am living now. So trading via walking overland doesn't seem hugely functional, it'll probably have to be play nice with your neighbors or tough it out.

[_Ryan_]

I think trading by boat could be quick enough, as long as the villages are along the same waterway. It would be cool to see some kind of alliance of villages that are along the same river.