Pack mule tradeing

[Valnar]

This is an idea to help long distance trading between villages and people

A pack mule would be a trained animal capable of carrying a few containers on its back.

The pack mule also has the ability to be ordered to go to a kin (possible to a beacon that the kin has to make) where the kin can take the goods and possibly send more back.

The time it takes for a mule to go from one place would be dependent on how far away the owner tells it to go.

The mule could be fed like normal livestock from a food trough or grazing and higher quality mules could possibly carry out their traveling faster.

The mule may also have a travel wariness that would be reduced with time or possibly some rare herb.

There would need to be a certain level of trust between the two parties since there is a possibility that one side may return nothing on the mule, or just butcher the mule for meat.

This would likely help a lot to encourage trade between people and keep the game from being really annoying when you need certain materials.

Example:
Hearthling Bob and Rob want to trade often, but they live 2 super grids away.

Bob and Rob learns mule trading and both build a beacon for mules on their claim.

Bob goes out and gets a mule which he then loads up with materials he wants to trade to rob.

Bob sends out his mule and some time later it arrives at Rob's claim.

Rob unloads the mule and then puts his trade goods back on to send back to Bob.

Rob sends out the mule back to Bob and then the process repeats however many times they want to trade.


Other notes:
The beacon building for the mules could be a central command for mule trading where the owner can see what mules are coming to that beacon and possibly recall mules.
You should equip your mule with a full feedbag so he doesn't go hungry and slow his journey or possibly starve.

[Kahim]

Sure this idea sound a wee bit cool. But now you got some problems rob and bob are trading but lets say frank sees the mule randomly walking in the woods. Doesnt this promote highway men holding up trade route praying for a good peice of loot. I mean it could help but it could also hurt if its intercepted.

[Valnar]

Sure this idea sound a wee bit cool. But now you got some problems rob and bob are trading but lets say frank sees the mule randomly walking in the woods. Doesnt this promote highway men holding up trade route praying for a good peice of loot. I mean it could help but it could also hurt if its intercepted.

Well, I was thinking about that and thought that when the mules get sent on a mission in the game they don't really exist in game to be interacted with until the timer runs out and the mule reaches its destination.

[Kahim]

Now thats not very realistic. No not fair at all. Cause then this ruins the fun of being a highway man.

[Valnar]

But, you could try to get people to trade with you and swindle them there, or possibly use their beacon to lure other mules with shiny apples as treats.

[Kahim]

1) Their beacon would be on their claim/village claim. Is it worth it then.

2) Doing the swindling will show you are a unworthy trader and trust me before you know it youll be killed or up in the forums getting flamed and will possibly never get another trade.

3) If you can hijack a trade rout midspin then the person has to walk the trade route till they find your scents (if they do) The draw back to the hijacking is you dont know how long it will be until you get another trade comeing your way and if you do intercept it who is to say that person wont hunt you down or not trade that way agian?

[Valnar]

Perhaps for someone to try to hijack a trade the hijacker would need to build a beacon within say 500ish tiles of either of the the traders' beacons and if they succeed in hijacking a scent is left at the beacon closest to the hijacker's that leads to the hijacker's beacon.

I have to say though, this is starting to get complicated and the idea I had behind this was to have a simple way for 2 people to be able to trade without the two people having to spend a long time traveling to get goods they need.

[Kahim]

But im just saying no trade routes were safe. And no theif builds a beacon that says "HEY IMA STEAL YOUR CHEESE AND PANTS!" No theifs for the most part are sneaky. (cept klaue last map he just knocked walls down and took whatever)

[Valnar]

But im just saying no trade routes were safe. And no theif builds a beacon that says "HEY IMA STEAL YOUR CHEESE AND PANTS!" No theifs for the most part are sneaky. (cept klaue last map he just knocked walls down and took whatever)

Well the beacon doesn't need to be on claimed land or say who last controlled it, that is unless an investigating hearthling might be observant enough to find scents that lead back to the thief.