I'm still amazed at the sheer talent and dexterity of you and Vermilla to handle multiple modules, slivvening... all while safely dragon hunting.



Maybe the costs scales with increased crew members? For example rather than $ crew + $ crew + $ crew... the cost would be ((1 x $) crew) + ((2 x $) crew) + ((4 x $) crew) to prevent, or at least discourage, solo aetherhunting.

Well, we got the job done...somehow...

I think it was going to be blind bidding, yeah. That's what makes more sense. Barrin's assumption is that one tends to break ties by taking the first one on the list -- but he might just have been saying that to me because my manse is #1.

I honestly don't see the point of being the first shop on the list. The first reason has already been brought up. When I check prices at the 'Plex, I scan the rows and go for the cheapest price. Second, depending on what you're shopping for/what keyword you use, the shop at the top of the list can easily be pushed off screen. If anything, you'd want to be at the bottom of the list.

It would be nice if the shop list just automagickally sorted the prices from highest to lowest, or gave you the option to with the proper verbiage.

The problem with sorting is that it takes processing power. Thus, I believe it's generally avoided.

Hence why it'd be nice. Not something I'd ever expect admin coding to take the time to do, since it's really a minor change. Besides which, with a bit of time it's something that's very doable on the client side.

Achaea's best goldsink was ships.
- Necessary point of access for significant new content.
- Permanent acquisition, with the "it's special and it's mine" factor.
- Unable to be purchased with credits, causing people to sell credits and credit prices to drop, and remain lower, from increased supply.

I think if all the aethership upgrade artifacts were sold for gold rather than credits, it would work here in a similar way. Although since they've been sold for credits for years now, and it's not "new content" any more, I doubt a switch is likely.

You technically do have to buy the aethership rooms with gold, but they aren't a one man thing like achaea's are (I think) so there is close to little point for anyone but an org to buy the rooms for aetherships, because of crew issues.

Maybe we should make a command to "make it rain" which randomly deposits the gold in your hand into various inventories. That way, I can feel like a bigshot.

Doesn't Achaea's ship have 'crews', though? They're NPCs who man the ship and you have to pay them their salaries, etc., ensuring a steady gold sink.

Right, you buy the rooms with gold, but all the diamonuts and stuff are credit purchases. In Achaea, all of the various upgrades, like weapons, cost gold.

There's also ongoing upkeep costs, but I'm not necessarily suggesting them here, as they straddle the line between cool purchase and financial burden.

Is this a good time to bring up that old idea of Qistrel's ex-husband? Aethersurfing. One-man ship that makes you the Silver Surfer.

Probably not sufficient to be a gold sink, but how about an ads system for aethercrews, inspired by the LFG tool in WoW and such. Start squad with who you have, stick a role marker on the people you have, list what slots are open and from what orgs you can join in, and get people to join them through the system. Maybe even with some checks if people have the bare minimum skills needed for a role. Make it a small cost to advertise your squad on there. Maybe allow people to also list themselves as available.

For shops, how about allowing city shops to list themselves on PORTAL SEARCH SHOPS for a pirce?

This seems to be functionally the same as just buying a one room manse and a pilot chair. It would be cool to have battlestar-type aetherships, but that seems really complicated, and not a huge step past armadas.