Research and development

[Sky Fox]

I was looking into a long term financial idea for the game and came up with R&D effort to support the developers.

1. Cheap sub accessing a research and development scheme for the server.

So as a basic no shops will sell advanced weapons/armour.

Players with premium will be able to research the advanced blocks, build and sell them to none premium players.

Research is tied to each player so factions will aim to have specific players working on unlocking specific armour/ weapons thus creating a longer term interesting goal. Rather than the current access all.

 

[Thalanor]

The state of your account will determine one simple thing in the future: whether you play the demo or the full game.

Bad idea. Also, if a server decides to have "premium" stuff - much like with minecraft servers - the money will go to the server owners, not Schine GmbH, where you would want it to be.

 

[SkylordLuke]

pay extra $$$ to build advanced blocks??...the word premium should be banned from English language,you sound like EA.
i hope you are not serious xD

 

[Sky Fox]

I was hoping we would move away from unstable deserted servers and move onto a decent single server with everyone on similar to other space games.

Premium was directed at making money to pay for said super server and also continued development.

I would be happy to support the developers in the future and wish to find a way to get everyone on one server.

 

[Crusade]

One server? No thanks. Different people have different balance tastes - one single server would ruin that.

Multiple servers are the way to go, with people going to more popular ones if they want a more sociable experience.

And yes, in the future if you don't own the game, you'll just be playing a demo.

 

[whooplaah]

While I super agree with Sky Fox on both funding the game and setting up a central server, I don't think that pay-to-play or pay-to-win features are the answer. If I have to pay for a game, I feel that I should get the game and not just a percentage of game access. Besides, these types of systems don't generate a whole lot of money (from what I've read).

Talking purely finances here; the most efficient and stable way to fund a server is to set up a Trust account. This means a 1-time investment of money that generates interest - the interest is withdrawn from the account and used to fund the server. When the server is taken down or discontinued, the principle is withdrawn.

Powering and Cooling a 1-tower server can be done for around $700 a year (see this calculator: http://www.abtecnet.com/virtualisation-calculator/). This can be offset with certain technologies (solar). So the biggest expense is going to be the pay for the person who maintains it. Assuming this is a part-time position, you only need $20,000/year in labor.

To generate $20,700/year from a 6% interest rate means a 1-time investment of $345,000, plus the cost of the server itself. Though that may seem like a lot, that's practically nothing when looking at business revenues or the sales from a game.

Also, keep in mind that Starmade is in Alpha and won't be fully released any time soon. Probably not for years to come. I'm sure that the Dev's will have a more stable plan for implementation by the (if they don't already).

 

[Sky Fox]

Well having been on a server with my clan with us investing a great deal of time to have that server become completely unstable and unusable has caused us to become frustrated and have us move on. People are not investing in good servers Europe is dead bar a French/ German server. Players are looking for guidance and not getting it. If a hardcore clan cannot find a home what is the hope for a single player.

 

[jorgekorke]

One server? No thanks. Different people have different balance tastes - one single server would ruin that.

Multiple servers are the way to go, with people going to more popular ones if they want a more sociable experience.

I disagree.
Unfortunately, this is the reason of Starmade's lack of growth - Multiple deserted servers for a player base that is too little, and there is little appeal for new players going there. Starmade's potential lies on a galaxy of varieties made by multiple players, but however, no server ever is able to hold on too much people without breaking. RS and EE tries, and fails at that, being annoying to play there due to the lag and game's own issues.

 

[SkylordLuke]

i dont wanna sound biased,but StarSide server was able to run smooth like butter with 20+ people every night. we have tons of cool stuff that you will never find on other servers,so if you wanna start somewhere that is safe,and dont have to worry about losing your hard work.. StarSide is for you