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So, one of the biggest and most prominent aspects of Starmade is the factions, and with Global Factions being a thing in the relatively near future (it's at least planned) I've decided to add onto it that could make faction gameplay far more enjoyable across multiple servers.
Faction Treasury
The Faction Treasury is simply the faction's credit pool (Which'll be implemented with the economy update) except it's on the global scale, so the same faction on every type of server will have and be able to us the same treasury when linked to the global registry. Factions can also choose to have a tax rate, so that the treasury gets a percentage of the player's sales if the leaders choose so.
Individual players will also have their own wallets on the registry, which'll be used in the same way as the faction treasury, except only the individual can view/use them.
Faction Catalog
There once was a suggestion for microtransaction to be implemented, as in, people can pay for blueprints using RL moneys. Now, that was met with a ludicrous amount of furious rejecting, but the idea isn't half bad. Rather than have the blueprints cost money, how about make them cost credits?
You'll be able to buy blueprints straight from the SMD onto servers for the fee of some credits, which'll be set using this formula:
c = cost of blueprint | m = total cost of materials to build | p = percentage the owner wants to increase the cost by
c = (m / 2) * (p/100)
This way, the cost can't be abused too badly, and the value of the ship will make up the cost. You can pay for it with credits from your own wallet (I mean in-game registry one, not your RL one :p) or with faction credits, and it'll allow you to build as many of it as you wish. You will be able to see the catalog directly in game, using a similar feature to the new launcher.
For singleplayer, you can download the file and dick with it for free, but the entity cannot be saved as another blueprint, and the copy/paste feature will only work locally for that entity. If you alter a ship significantly enough, then you can save it as your own blueprint, and put it on the SMD as a sub-blueprint which'll be found through the original blueprint. When altering the original, it will check if the original values are the same as the altered ones, and if they are, then blueprinting will not work, so you cannot alter it then un-alter it to cheat the system.
If a blueprint is uploaded to the SMD on behalf of the faction, then the credits earned will go to the faction treasury rather than the players wallet.
Faction Meta-Items/Astro-Gear
This is where the more RP based stuff begins. Factions will be able to make their own meta-items which'll again, exist on the global factions registry. Since Meta-Items will most likely be small and easy to download, when a faction links itself to the global factions registry, then the Meta-Items will automatically download onto the server.
Meta-Items can be anything really, they're only limited to what Meta-Items can be. But factions will be able to design their own 2D images and 3D models if need be. For example, if you wanted to make your own laser rifle which exists in your faction style, then you'd be able to upload the model/icon and info of said rifle onto the global registry.
Faction Meta-Items can be bought from factioned trading stations (stations with a shop module that belongs to a particular faction) as well as faction trader NPCs (We'll get to that in a bit). Factions can upload the Meta-Items to the SMD for players to download and play with in singleplayer, and can be obtained form any Trading Guild stores/trader NPCs.
Factions Quests/Story Arcs/Lore and NPCs
It's been stated by the devs before that they're creating their own lore world in which we can exist in. If they haven't put too much work into it, I propose an alternative. The current lore behind the faction scene is incredible, and will be far more interesting since it actually happened. While the game will still have it's lore for the base NPC generated factions and such, factions will be able to create their own lore through quests and NPCs to add onto the base game's lore.
Factions will be able to design the NPCs that can do anything an NPC may need to do, from giving out faction quests to being traders for the faction. NPCs will be the primary source of handing out quests and even story arcs, especially for singleplayer.
This is rather self explanatory, factions will be able to create quests which are linked to the NPCs they make, a member of the faction, or any random NPC that exists in the faction.
Story Arcs will be a series of quests that all tell a story together, and can only be started from created NPCs or members. These will tell a much grander story than the standard quests, and will be best used to tell an ongoing story within the faction.
Quests again can be completely designed, the objective, encounters, the dialogue, the rewards, the places to go, etc. Everything can be scripted and can amount to a vast and amazing singleplayer experience, while still adding to the multiplayer experience for newcomers.
Lore can be told through anything, through the builds of the faction, through Meta-Items, NPCs and of course, through quests and story arcs, and is only limited to the faction's imagination.
For multiplayer, a faction can choose to download certain quests/story arcs onto a server from the factions registry, for players to find and play through. For players of singleplayer, a faction can upload it's quest/story arc/NPCs to the SMD for others to download and play through in singleplayer.
What if the Registry is Down?
All information that's downloaded to servers will be saved every autosave, that way, if the registry is down, the server still has the information necessary to run with global factions/players.
To sort through different values of credits when the registry is down, the registry will look at the differences in credits, and will apply the losses/gains that happened offline, and come up with the new total from that.
For the blueprint catalog, the blueprints will be seen, but not able to be downloaded until the registry is back up. Players/factions will still be able to buy the blueprints, in which they'll get the blueprint item, but the blueprint will only have the information to download the ship/station information for when the registry is back online. If the blueprint has already been bought and/or built by another player, then it'll use the information from that blueprint to provide them with the ship/station.
Meta-Items are downloaded upon the linking of a faction to the registry, so these don't need to be worried about.
Any of the faction quests/story arcs/lore and NPCs that haven't been downloaded onto the server will not be available to download, but any that have been downloaded onto the server will still be usable, and will be unaffected.
In Conclusion
These changes would provide significantly improved gameplay to factions as a whole and adds to the planned global factions system which is currently on the roadmap. Factions have been a strong part of the game since Starmade's infancy, and thus it's always good to improve upon them and allow for more people to join on across all servers, keeping the factions scene together.
Faction Treasury
The Faction Treasury is simply the faction's credit pool (Which'll be implemented with the economy update) except it's on the global scale, so the same faction on every type of server will have and be able to us the same treasury when linked to the global registry. Factions can also choose to have a tax rate, so that the treasury gets a percentage of the player's sales if the leaders choose so.
Individual players will also have their own wallets on the registry, which'll be used in the same way as the faction treasury, except only the individual can view/use them.
Faction Catalog
There once was a suggestion for microtransaction to be implemented, as in, people can pay for blueprints using RL moneys. Now, that was met with a ludicrous amount of furious rejecting, but the idea isn't half bad. Rather than have the blueprints cost money, how about make them cost credits?
You'll be able to buy blueprints straight from the SMD onto servers for the fee of some credits, which'll be set using this formula:
c = cost of blueprint | m = total cost of materials to build | p = percentage the owner wants to increase the cost by
c = (m / 2) * (p/100)
This way, the cost can't be abused too badly, and the value of the ship will make up the cost. You can pay for it with credits from your own wallet (I mean in-game registry one, not your RL one :p) or with faction credits, and it'll allow you to build as many of it as you wish. You will be able to see the catalog directly in game, using a similar feature to the new launcher.
For singleplayer, you can download the file and dick with it for free, but the entity cannot be saved as another blueprint, and the copy/paste feature will only work locally for that entity. If you alter a ship significantly enough, then you can save it as your own blueprint, and put it on the SMD as a sub-blueprint which'll be found through the original blueprint. When altering the original, it will check if the original values are the same as the altered ones, and if they are, then blueprinting will not work, so you cannot alter it then un-alter it to cheat the system.
If a blueprint is uploaded to the SMD on behalf of the faction, then the credits earned will go to the faction treasury rather than the players wallet.
Faction Meta-Items/Astro-Gear
This is where the more RP based stuff begins. Factions will be able to make their own meta-items which'll again, exist on the global factions registry. Since Meta-Items will most likely be small and easy to download, when a faction links itself to the global factions registry, then the Meta-Items will automatically download onto the server.
Meta-Items can be anything really, they're only limited to what Meta-Items can be. But factions will be able to design their own 2D images and 3D models if need be. For example, if you wanted to make your own laser rifle which exists in your faction style, then you'd be able to upload the model/icon and info of said rifle onto the global registry.
Faction Meta-Items can be bought from factioned trading stations (stations with a shop module that belongs to a particular faction) as well as faction trader NPCs (We'll get to that in a bit). Factions can upload the Meta-Items to the SMD for players to download and play with in singleplayer, and can be obtained form any Trading Guild stores/trader NPCs.
Factions Quests/Story Arcs/Lore and NPCs
It's been stated by the devs before that they're creating their own lore world in which we can exist in. If they haven't put too much work into it, I propose an alternative. The current lore behind the faction scene is incredible, and will be far more interesting since it actually happened. While the game will still have it's lore for the base NPC generated factions and such, factions will be able to create their own lore through quests and NPCs to add onto the base game's lore.
Factions will be able to design the NPCs that can do anything an NPC may need to do, from giving out faction quests to being traders for the faction. NPCs will be the primary source of handing out quests and even story arcs, especially for singleplayer.
This is rather self explanatory, factions will be able to create quests which are linked to the NPCs they make, a member of the faction, or any random NPC that exists in the faction.
Story Arcs will be a series of quests that all tell a story together, and can only be started from created NPCs or members. These will tell a much grander story than the standard quests, and will be best used to tell an ongoing story within the faction.
Quests again can be completely designed, the objective, encounters, the dialogue, the rewards, the places to go, etc. Everything can be scripted and can amount to a vast and amazing singleplayer experience, while still adding to the multiplayer experience for newcomers.
Lore can be told through anything, through the builds of the faction, through Meta-Items, NPCs and of course, through quests and story arcs, and is only limited to the faction's imagination.
For multiplayer, a faction can choose to download certain quests/story arcs onto a server from the factions registry, for players to find and play through. For players of singleplayer, a faction can upload it's quest/story arc/NPCs to the SMD for others to download and play through in singleplayer.
What if the Registry is Down?
All information that's downloaded to servers will be saved every autosave, that way, if the registry is down, the server still has the information necessary to run with global factions/players.
To sort through different values of credits when the registry is down, the registry will look at the differences in credits, and will apply the losses/gains that happened offline, and come up with the new total from that.
For the blueprint catalog, the blueprints will be seen, but not able to be downloaded until the registry is back up. Players/factions will still be able to buy the blueprints, in which they'll get the blueprint item, but the blueprint will only have the information to download the ship/station information for when the registry is back online. If the blueprint has already been bought and/or built by another player, then it'll use the information from that blueprint to provide them with the ship/station.
Meta-Items are downloaded upon the linking of a faction to the registry, so these don't need to be worried about.
Any of the faction quests/story arcs/lore and NPCs that haven't been downloaded onto the server will not be available to download, but any that have been downloaded onto the server will still be usable, and will be unaffected.
In Conclusion
These changes would provide significantly improved gameplay to factions as a whole and adds to the planned global factions system which is currently on the roadmap. Factions have been a strong part of the game since Starmade's infancy, and thus it's always good to improve upon them and allow for more people to join on across all servers, keeping the factions scene together.
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