Mailing items to other towns

[Kebek]

An interesting topic was brought up on Discord the other day concerning the transport of goods across towns. I'll try to summarise the consensus most people agree upon here.


The majority agreed there was a need to expand the mailing system. Specifically, mailing items form one town to another. Some concerns were raised about it removing risks from traveling between towns so an insurance system was proposed:

No insurance:

• Besides the transportation fee (e.g 1 gold), no extra fees are paid.
• Your mailed goods will arrive in the other town after a certain period depending on the distance between the two towns. (e.g. Meduli to Vadda takes 30 minutes, Meduli to MK takes 180 minutes).
• There is a 60% chance your goods arrive.

Light insurance:

• Besides the transportation fee (e.g 1 gold), a small insurance fee is paid (e.g. 5 gold).
• Your mailed goods will arrive in the other town after a certain period depending on the distance between the two towns. (e.g. Meduli to Vadda takes 30 minutes, Meduli to MK takes 180 minutes).
• There is an 80% chance your goods arrive.

Premium insurance:

• Besides the transportation fee (e.g 1 gold), a large insurance fee is paid (e.g. 15 gold).
• Your mailed goods will arrive in the other town after a certain period depending on the distance between the two towns. (e.g. Meduli to Vadda takes 30 minutes, Meduli to MK takes 180 minutes).
• There is a 100% chance your goods arrive.

As a side note, someone brought up an interesting idea to improve transporting goods form one town to another for players themselves. Basically you would be able to transform your goods into a ticket (like we had pet tickets in MO1), transport this ticket to another (predetermined) town and then collect the goods there.

This would add extra gameplay since someone killing the player with a ticket would be able to loot a ticket without knowing what it actually "contains" or where to collect it. This would effectively add a form of "detective/treasure hunt gameplay" to the game where players have to put in a little work but reap rewards at the end.

 

[Kokolo]

It sounds like an interesting mechanic but I don't see it fitting this game. It would remove value from the traders, mercenaries and other similar playstyles that depend on the transport of goods.

If it would be implemented it would need to be heavily restricted imo.

 

[Speznat]

I see potential problems there. First of thanks for sharing your thoughts and feedback.

I mean the trnasport buisness alone in Mortal is a whole proffesion were many people made alone a buisness just out of that.
And they normally have 100% ensurance.

And why implementing NPC mechanics if you can pay a player. And the player will 100% refund all the stuff. (if you pick someone with good reputation)

I highly doubt that any kind of that NPC save mechanic would be ever ingame, because its a player driven game and not singleplayer game.
And it would destroy the RISK by alot. And the NPC transport cant get interrupted by other players.

And just my personal opinion:

It would be just shit. And has nothing todo with the spirit of this game and is just a carebear mechanic (IM pve player since 10years) yeah even I think this will destroy a huge part of the game. But maybe Im wrong (no front here)

But thanks for sharing your thoughts.

In the end only star vault decides how this is played so:

Spoiler: Spoiler xD

 

[Kebek]

It sounds like an interesting mechanic but I don't see it fitting this game. It would remove value from the traders, mercenaries and other similar playstyles that depend on the transport of goods.

If it would be implemented it would need to be heavily restricted imo.

I foresee traders making heavy use of such a system, actually.

 

[G McB]

"The majority agreed"

Was that 2 out of the 3 people you asked?

 

[Amadman]

I agree with Speznat, these types of things should be left for the players to handle.

 

[Najwalaylah]

I can't think of a mechanic more opposite to the risk-vs-reward principle of Mortal games, short of having coin and items deposit themselves directly into your bank on delivery.

 

[Nefnate]

The only way I can see this functioning without ruining a lot of mechanics and interaction, is if there is a hard limit on WHAT items can be transported, and if they were transported by a physical NPC (or NPC party) that routinely walks the roads.

Players could kill the transporting NPC(s) and take their haul, at a massive loss of faction points (attacking and killing/robbing an official transport).

It would need to be set up so the NPC's are formidable, not as weak as a few bandits. A troupe of 3-4 mounted guards led by 2 elites or something. Making it hard to take as a small group, but larger groups would find it easy.

The item restriction would make the available loot not so great, depending on the restrictions, so players would not always feel inclined to put in the effort.

Anyway, outside of some version of the above, I think the idea is poor. Players need to handle transports, or we step further away from being a community based game and more into being a themepark where interaction doesn't matter, UI does.

 

[a.out]

Another great idea from the guy that wants a PvP toggle.

 

[Anabolic Man]

An interesting topic was brought up on Discord the other day concerning the transport of goods across towns. I'll try to summarise the consensus most people agree upon here.


The majority agreed there was a need to expand the mailing system. Specifically, mailing items form one town to another. Some concerns were raised about it removing risks from traveling between towns so an insurance system was proposed:

No insurance:

• Besides the transportation fee (e.g 1 gold), no extra fees are paid.
• Your mailed goods will arrive in the other town after a certain period depending on the distance between the two towns. (e.g. Meduli to Vadda takes 30 minutes, Meduli to MK takes 180 minutes).
• There is a 60% chance your goods arrive.

Light insurance:

• Besides the transportation fee (e.g 1 gold), a small insurance fee is paid (e.g. 5 gold).
• Your mailed goods will arrive in the other town after a certain period depending on the distance between the two towns. (e.g. Meduli to Vadda takes 30 minutes, Meduli to MK takes 180 minutes).
• There is an 80% chance your goods arrive.

Premium insurance:

• Besides the transportation fee (e.g 1 gold), a large insurance fee is paid (e.g. 15 gold).
• Your mailed goods will arrive in the other town after a certain period depending on the distance between the two towns. (e.g. Meduli to Vadda takes 30 minutes, Meduli to MK takes 180 minutes).
• There is a 100% chance your goods arrive.

As a side note, someone brought up an interesting idea to improve transporting goods form one town to another for players themselves. Basically you would be able to transform your goods into a ticket (like we had pet tickets in MO1), transport this ticket to another (predetermined) town and then collect the goods there.

This would add extra gameplay since someone killing the player with a ticket would be able to loot a ticket without knowing what it actually "contains" or where to collect it. This would effectively add a form of "detective/treasure hunt gameplay" to the game where players have to put in a little work but reap rewards at the end.

That would make the Bank of tindrem useless. They set up huge Gold transports every day to every town. Players can pay them 100 Gold in tindrem and getting payed out 80 Gold in a town of their choice, without having the risk of transporting.
The traders need their jobs. The PVP Players want loot.
The mercenaries want to be hired.



Such a mechanic would do more harm than good to the game, even if many new players would find it practical.

 

[agui]

Im totally against that idea for cargo ...

you need to say the obvious, to transport cargo you actually need to have it at the back of your horse ... otherwise this is lunatic you can change a ticked at some town and receive some kind of special material that isnt gathered any place near at that town ... like i got a ticket in GK of one stack of cronite to get it in meduli... doesnt make any sense. It would just destroy the trader profession, finish the work of looters on the way and make the material too cheap, at 0 risk. Even if u can receive only 60% ... thats without a real travel for me still 0 risk in this game.


However if i have a stack of gold in gk i think that wouldnt hurt that the banker could trade it for a credit title that i could redeem at any banker of any town. This happened to marchants in the middle ages when it was very dangerous to carry large amounts of gold between cities.


In that situation if u lose the credit title any person who grabs it can redeem your gold.