Trade Ships?

[The Judge]

Maybe having a new AI ship that spawns and delivers random materials to shops. If a Shop is out of an item a player can request a restock and an AI trade ship will travel to the shop and restock the desired item.

 

[MossyStone48]

They already do that.

 

[Andir]

Maybe having a new AI ship that spawns and delivers random materials to shops. If a Shop is out of an item a player can request a restock and an AI trade ship will travel to the shop and restock the desired item.

I've posted similar things in other threads. I'd like to see the trade guild work on a demand based system where shops demand goods, factories make goods and players could even set up demand for items in shops. They load up some money and the trade guild would fulfill orders (or players as well)[DOUBLEPOST=1418012968,1418012853][/DOUBLEPOST]

They already do that.

Not quite the same as the OP is suggesting I think. They do fly in to resupply, but it's more random and not as programmatic.

 

[MossyStone48]

They will also show up if you shot the shops. Making piracy against the trade guild lucrative if only for salvaged ship parts.

 

[Mr. V]

Schema's last news update spoke a lot about moving away from the game creating "blocks from nothing". It seems like the next logical step would be to find a way to better account for a few other areas that cause blocks to appear:
- ai ship spawning
- ai ship loot drops
- shop re-supply

... these are things that should be accounted for by the resources of our starmade universes.

I hope that ai factions eventually have to interact with each other as well as players in order to justify the ships they can spawn, the loot they can drop, and the materials that are restocked. It would be nice if shops re-stocked by transferring stock between existing shops or even arranging to buy needed items from existing human players. This could result in a number of types of missions/contracts that players could undertake (escorting trading guild deliveries, running freight for the trading guild and producing merchandise for the trading guild... maybe even various combinations of the above).

It would also be nice if pirates existed and thrived by: robbing or extorting the trading guild and human players - and maybe trading in black market items... like all of that glowing burnt dirt I can't seem to sell to shops anywhere... or that stupid non-repeating delay block... what is that thing made of... meth???? stupid space meth logic block.
This could also potentially lead to player missions if anyone feels like becoming a space criminal :D


But I've tangented... I agree - you should be able to special order specific blocks through shops. I agree with Schema's determination to fix the economy by preventing blocks coming from nothing, but I also think it would be foolish to completely abolish the ability to purchase blocks player's need/want. Some players want to manufacture everything, some don't - and some want to do a little of both.