| Tom Morgan (Kebir Blue) | Monday, June 13, 2011 - 02:37 am 
I have been playing this game since January 2011 and have been sort of shocked by some of the promises made but not delivered by the GM and also some of the flaws and areas which need improvement/expansion which are being ignored both by the player community and/or the Game Masters.
Firstly, there appears to be high demand for an economic system which is true to the roots and does not require injections by the GM to stabilise supply and demand. I suggest that the people at Simcountry take a while to look at the system and point out its flaws and fix them.
This can only be done with alot of collaboration and input from players who have complaints and ideas. It is quite obvious that some major flaws exist in the game in regards to the economy and its realism- players don't like the game automatically injecting supplies into the game as it is unrealistic and prevents some companies from making a profit, otherwise players are going to loose faith in how the game is run.
Secondly, the Factory Maintenaince Unit system is way out of whack and is impractical at its current size- there needs to be either a reduction in the need of a fully upgraded corp each month, a scrapping of the system entirely, or a system which doesn't put so much pressure on corps if shipments are late. FMUs are ruining the world economy badly and there is a fundemental flaw in the logic of how this system works.
Thirdly, I have been pushing recently for a police force and index in every country which would be handled in the same way as hospitals and education. I also have been trolling the suggestions forum (coz I have a life) and have found similar calls from many members in the past, yet the people who run this game continue to ignore it. Lets face it: the space idea is cool but unnecessary and not as popular as the GameMaster had hoped. The police force is something which has been in demand for a while and yet the GMs seem to be treating it as kryptonite, even though it is far more simple and usable to the common player than the space industry.
The space option is a mess and is difficult to understand, yet the GMs seem to be pushing it as if people will flock to it. Space has actually become a FAILURE, something which will stir alot of debate. Some will claim it is a good system, but if that is so, why are so few people using it.
I am quickly loosing faith in the people who run this game due to their simple ignorance and lack of innovation that this game used to have. I played a few years back and the economy was fine and the game was less ambitious, which actually made the game funner.
But now, with a flawed economy and an unpopular attempt at Star Wars behind their belt, maybe its time to go back to the roots of the game.
If Simcountry wants to restore an era of stability and expansion of the game FOR EVERYONE, maybe its time that they stop looking for grand space plans and:
1: fix the economy
2: add some new features to the game which challenge and reinvigorate, rather than confuse and anger.
Thankyou to those that stuck with me- I will be emailing a complaint to the GameMaster soon and would enjoy some (non-discriminatory) input.
T |
| rep (Little Upsilon) | Monday, June 13, 2011 - 08:32 am
I find myself in agreement with you regarding the "supply fairy", although I believe a move in the right direction was made recently, as witnessed by the economic turmoil on several worlds. More work needs to be done on that front.
I also agree with your assessment of the need for revamping the FMU situation in some fashion. I too played several years ago and recently returned. I seem to recall factories not requiring nearly as many FMU as they do now. The fact is that if you doubled the number of FMU corps on LU it would still take several game years (closer to a decade) to catch up to the backlog.
I think the space game could become a decent feature. It could promote inter-world trading, where items in deep green on one world could be transferred to a world in deep red. I'm not involved with it right now, but would consider it in the future.
I'm not really keen on the police idea, I don't see a real need for it. Since I'm not interested in it I haven't followed any of the threads regarding it, but what purpose would it serve? Yes, you could add prison corps and I suppose a low police index could be tied in to a country's welfare score, but it just doesn't seem that relevant to me. Same goes with emergency response teams (firemen, EMTs, etc.), they may be a neat little add on but I, personally, would just find it an annoyance, one more thing to try to keep up with.
Anyhow, that's just one man's opinion, take it for what it's worth. |
| white darkness (Little Upsilon) | Monday, June 13, 2011 - 09:22 am
The police concept has been voted on repeatedly and suggested repeatedly. I believe it's been invariably voted down due to two factors.
1. What's the point?
2. Most players don't want a "feature" with only a detrimental point or no point (transportation), added on. Admittedly, the mighty earthquake does serve a purpose in consuming resources, via relief supplies and stirring things up by the destruction of corporations. Though there were a few extreme situations on corporation destruction in the past.
Though the system as it stands does have it's positives. As rep mentioned, previously the FMU consumption for a fully upgraded corporation was 66 units. Now it's 94-114 (give or take). Actual production by these corps was 536? 635? some number like that. But, the FMU is not an essential, you run out, you go negative. Production doesn't stop. I hope they don't make it stop, then we may have a worse situation.
Before the FMU, upgrading increased or created high tech services demand. While the consumption numbers have changed, high tech services consumes services and services consumes high tech services. We used to ride a see-saw between the two. So we've gone from a see-saw to what could be viewed as a hole that we're shoveling sand into.
The biggest advantage to space that I see (barring GM involvement in trying to control pricing) is that it is the "free market" aspect. If I throw out a strat bomb for 1 GC and somebody buys it, did I rip them off? Technically, by world pricing and GC conversion calculations, yes. However, if they're willing to pay, who am I to argue? On the other hand, most people throwing stuff out are waiting for someone to post a request that they find appealing. Whereas, I'll admit I previously was selling strat bombs for .54GC a piece (at approx. 300Q). There was conversion technicalities and a slight fee for the inconvenience of me having to load the dock, but otherwise, that was it.
If you really wanted to get down to technicalities in game, (besides the fact that there are no trains, but we have train tracks), why not just convert the transportation index to an infrastructure index. After all, apparently we have broadcast power in SC. There are no power lines. Of course from there, you'd have to have power line maintenance and construction, and a choice between above ground (more maintenance) and below ground (less maintenance but more expensive). Factor in water, gas, etc.
Would I want that kind of concept? Sure, eventually, but fix stuff first, add more complexity later. |
