Trading Post

[Yolan]

They don't have phones. Realism is a plenty valid argument here...

Both would be solved by what I jokingly suggested earlier. Messenger pigeons. Well, not pigeons, but something of that ilk. .

By 'they' you mean the trading posts? Well sure, add a little pigeon coop the the graphics, doesn't hurt none if the devs could be bothered. But this is a game, and its fantasy (albiet not high-fantasy) to boot. At a certain point whats 'realistic' is less important that what makes the game work.

Big towns will spring up. I'm pretty sure we agree on that.

I don't know about this one. So far all we have had are villages really. To get any bigger than what existed in this world, we need some more code support, and some kind of workable trade system.

all we need to do is triangulate based on the positions of other towns to find one in the middle. The other towns send couriers to that town with a list of what they want and what they have.

You mean, like some big central market? People are pretty against this for good reasons. There is a link to a recent thread about it in my OP.

Are you sure you get that I am not proposing the instant transportation of goods? I want to see goods being shifted in the game world, and I want to see buying/selling done in the game world, not on IRC. An ingame global network of tradeposts seems like a great way to make those things happen to me.

[calodine]

Something that works and is realistic > something that works but isn't.

big villages, towns, same thing. Just easier for the distinction. Big central market would be more of a big meeting place for setting up trades ingame. I'm basing it off a likely system that'd spring up if we were given the stuff needed. Big central hub for setting stuff up, smaller regional hubs for the bulk of the trading. One region needs something another doesn't have, they trade, then the needed goods get traded between the smaller regional routes.

One big place where all trading takes place IS silly. A central place to set stuff up and if needs be meet up to save massive amounts of travelling for the really big trades? Less so.

Trades will still be done on IRC and the forum. But not everyone uses them. This would benefit those people more, I suppose.

I'll give a quick breakdown of what I mean.

You have a village. In your immediate area there are ten other villages. Instead of sending goods to every village that has something you need, you send it to the biggest/one in the middle. The other villages send their stuff, you can all trade between yourselves without massive amounts of legwork. One trip there, one back. Instead of ten there, ten back.

Same deal with the town stuff, but on a bigger scale. If you got a map and drew the trade routes out, it'd look like several smaller webs linked together.

Again, this isn't the RoB. You don't get everyone just heading to the centermost town and setting up stalls (You'll likely get a few, but...). You get people sending a message boy to set stuff up, then send a caraven through to trade. And this is only for the big stuff.

[Yolan]

Something that works and is realistic > something that works but isn't.

I'm not sure I agree with that in all cases, but sure, lets assume that as common ground. My response is that the world needs trade support beyond what people can create by themselves.

The stuff you have mentioned is perhaps doable to some extent, with IRC support and such, for more active players. The less active you are, the less connected you are to what is going on around you. Suppose you spend about four to five hours a week on this game on average, rather than twenty (heck, thirty?.. fourty)+ of active players. There are players like this. In-game emergent complexity is great, but not everybody lives online. There is only so much complexity you can have when it is completely unaided.

[calodine]

People explore. All it takes is for someone to find a less active village and let them know what to do to get in on the trading. They get on and feel like seeing what's on offer, they send someone down. guy hearths back, says they have X, they want Y, they send some stuff up when they have time. Not massively time consuming. It doesn't take a whole village being on at the same time to do this stuff. Hell, it doesn't ven take an official village with an idol at all.

[Yolan]

I think we are going to have to agree to disagree on this, as it seems we have very different foundational views on what is possible in this game.

[calodine]

Probably down to me being new. I haven't picked up the required paranoia yet

[vikingdragons]

You now what, you two are like science and religion (no offense intended to anyone) you are argue and argue, and yet you don't realize that you are both arguing the same points, but with different words. its kinda funny when you think about it i think a type of global market that actually promotes local and regional trade would be a good idea. So i agree with both of you! Now stop fucking bickering like an old married couple!!!

[Yolan]

You now what, you two are like science and religion (no offense intended to anyone) you are argue and argue, and yet you don't realize that you are both arguing the same points, but with different words.

Ah, glad you came along to clear that up for us...

[JustasJ]

For me it's ok if trading posts are automated, as long as items do not teleport magically. What I would suggest would be a trading post that looks like a log cabin but has maybe somewhat different aesthetic look. The owner of the trading post would be able to put goods they want to sell of specified quality while asking goods of certain quality and certain amount in exchange. Due to vast quality differences that would arise, you could specify the range of goods you want to buy from other people. If you do not like it too automated, you could make it so that then a person enters his trading post, he logs out. Just like with sleeping. That way, trading towns and wilderness supply centers could arise everywhere on the map.

[theTrav]

You now what, you two are like science and religion (no offense intended to anyone) you are argue and argue, and yet you don't realize that you are both arguing the same points, but with different words.

yes ... science and religion ... they totally have the same goal ...