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Author Topic: tariffs, reputation, immersion and avoiding the black market thugs  (Read 6279 times)

Dread Lord Murubarda

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so atm I wanna sell some nanoforges and synchotron cores to the LC, coz they seem like nice ppl. my only two options are the tariff and black market. I can either lose a lot of money or sell it on the black market and the items might end up in the wrong hands.

I am going to sell it on the black market and role-play that they are simply foregoing the tariff because they are very special items.

but I am thinking that we should have the option to sell these super rare items w/o any tariff, and even  more than that, get a reputation increase. we are talking about super rare stuff from the domain era. losing money or sell it to criminals should not be the only two options.

or how about tariff scales with reputation? 30% at 0 rep and bellow and a symbolic 1% at 100 rep, for all the paperwork, you know.

I am also thinking about sort of procurement quests, but longer, no extra reward, your normal price depending on demand, but without tariff. for example, luddic church announces that they are looking for transplutonic ores, so now you can sell it w/o a tariff at any of their colonies for X months or X quantity.
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AlucardNoirsFolly

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Re: tariffs, reputation, immersion and avoiding the black market thugs
« Reply #1 on: November 16, 2019, 01:39:33 AM »

Not going to happen, Alex said the tariffs were intended to be that high. He dislikes trading and only put it in game because he thought that if he didn't people would complain, but since he dislikes trading he added those idiotic universal 30% tariffs to make sure we won't even bother trying to trade.
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Grievous69

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Re: tariffs, reputation, immersion and avoiding the black market thugs
« Reply #2 on: November 16, 2019, 02:15:25 AM »

Not going to happen, Alex said the tariffs were intended to be that high. He dislikes trading and only put it in game because he thought that if he didn't people would complain, but since he dislikes trading he added those idiotic universal 30% tariffs to make sure we won't even bother trying to trade.
Negro what? It would be stupidly boring to make ''grab a crapload of items from point A then sell it at point B'' profitable. There are trading games for that. Also you have missions and bar offers which are both very profitable. As for the OP's problem, if you could sell rare items anywhere without tariffs, there would be no point ever in selling in black market (except maybe when you intentionally want to make the game harder).
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Yunru

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Re: tariffs, reputation, immersion and avoiding the black market thugs
« Reply #3 on: November 16, 2019, 05:50:53 AM »

but I am thinking that we should have the option to sell these super rare items w/o any tariff, and even  more than that, get a reputation increase. we are talking about super rare stuff from the domain era. losing money or sell it to criminals should not be the only two options.
Umm... Why? Either you sell it legally, and get taxed, or you're selling it illegally, which is the definition of black market.

I can just see that going over well: "No Mr. Inland Revenues, you see I don't have to pay tax on it because it's rediculously valuable."

Dread Lord Murubarda

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Re: tariffs, reputation, immersion and avoiding the black market thugs
« Reply #4 on: November 16, 2019, 06:20:20 AM »


don't you think the factions would be willing to give up the tariff and incentivize people to sell those rare items to them instead of selling them on the black market?

I understand that you like to obey the law, but real life does not work like that, governments do shady deals all the time and prosecute regular citizens if they do it. it's all about context.
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Grievous69

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Re: tariffs, reputation, immersion and avoiding the black market thugs
« Reply #5 on: November 16, 2019, 07:10:41 AM »

but real life does not work like that
WARNING! It appears you have made a comparison to the real world. Please bear in mind this is a video GAME forum, not a simulation. Have a pleasant day.
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Dread Lord Murubarda

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Re: tariffs, reputation, immersion and avoiding the black market thugs
« Reply #6 on: November 16, 2019, 07:54:31 AM »

what about immersion?
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Grievous69

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Re: tariffs, reputation, immersion and avoiding the black market thugs
« Reply #7 on: November 16, 2019, 08:05:26 AM »

what about immersion?
Good point, that's another argument in games I despise. Take a look at Red dead redemption 2, fun >>>> immersion. Yea let's make the player have to pick up each individual piece of something because that's more ''immersive'' and similar to real life. Again, that only makes sense in simulation games, so no need for these silly suggestions.
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bobucles

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Re: tariffs, reputation, immersion and avoiding the black market thugs
« Reply #8 on: November 16, 2019, 08:22:59 AM »

what about immersion?
The best source of immersion has been, and always will be whatever is FUN.

AlucardNoirsFolly

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Re: tariffs, reputation, immersion and avoiding the black market thugs
« Reply #9 on: November 16, 2019, 08:26:57 AM »

It would be stupidly boring to make ''grab a crapload of items from point A then sell it at point B'' profitable. There are trading games for that.

Congrats, it's not every day I see somebody dismantle their own argument.
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Grievous69

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Re: tariffs, reputation, immersion and avoiding the black market thugs
« Reply #10 on: November 16, 2019, 08:35:04 AM »

It would be stupidly boring to make ''grab a crapload of items from point A then sell it at point B'' profitable. There are trading games for that.

Congrats, it's not every day I see somebody dismantle their own argument.
That's why I don't like trading games? You could try adding two and two together instead of mocking me.
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JaronK

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Re: tariffs, reputation, immersion and avoiding the black market thugs
« Reply #11 on: November 16, 2019, 02:31:15 PM »

There's actually a mechanic like that already, for cores.  You can specifically talk to the station managers to get a bounty on them that's worth more.

You could simply make similar "quests" that allow you to sell off other massively valuable colony improving things.
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Dread Lord Murubarda

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Re: tariffs, reputation, immersion and avoiding the black market thugs
« Reply #12 on: November 17, 2019, 07:36:11 AM »

so people who despise immersion, for some reason, are telling others that they have no right to it because they know better how others should enjoy themselves, lol.
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Grievous69

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Re: tariffs, reputation, immersion and avoiding the black market thugs
« Reply #13 on: November 17, 2019, 07:57:50 AM »

so people who despise immersion, for some reason, are telling others that they have no right to it because they know better how others should enjoy themselves, lol.
I clearly said that I despise when gameplay suffers for immersion sake, not that I dislike it in general. Big difference.
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bobucles

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Re: tariffs, reputation, immersion and avoiding the black market thugs
« Reply #14 on: November 17, 2019, 08:09:11 AM »

Quote
so people who despise immersion,
Immersion is a blanket buzzword that doesn't really mean anything. Good ideas have good reasons behind them. Simply calling it "immersive" doesn't score any points.
 
Tariffs are high for a deliberate gameplay reason. Making all your money on peaceful trade defeats the main attraction of the game, which is space ships getting in each other's face and punching each other. You can still make excellent trade money through smuggling and piracy, however those methods are deliberately meant to draw you into conflict. Conflict draws spaceships into punching each other, which is good. Peaceful trade avoids ships punching each other, which is bad. You pay a premium to avoid battle, and are not meant to profit that way.

In terms of gameplay mechanics, the tariff system does effectively accomplish what it sets out to do. The story lore could certainly be tuned up though. Calling it a "tariff" doesn't quite explain why the price tag is so high and why everyone has it and why it sucks so bad. The fluff should create a setting where it makes sense that the player struggles to do honest trade.
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