How can we help couriers to make more isk? Lets look at the math behind the jobs that they might encounter and see if we can change any of that.
Contract 160,000m3 Jita to Amarr.
2b Collat
2b would be the assumed average amount that any sain courier would even try to carry with a good pilot using all Ore Bulkheads in an Obe or Provi. Anything else is specialized couriers.
40m payment << this is 2% value for product
We cannot simply ask players to pay more because market rates are directly controlled by profit percentages. This means you can only dedicate about 2% of your product value (for two step products) to couriers for typical highsec products because margins are already very slim and sparse.
2b Obelisk
This is the cost of the ship and the only number that can change. This is how CCP can change the formula. Currently couriers risk 4b and get paid effectively 1% of that. 1% profit is not acceptable for long term growth.
Is there any way we can get a ship thats cheaper and still capable of offering the content and service? The ship cost would not effect our best gankers plus they are the reason wages have gone up in actual fact. We can do even better by lowering the lost ISK to the courier when he does inevitably lose a ship along with the load.
I think highsec should be split into islands. Each empire has two or three short lowsec connections to two neighbours, but no highsec connections. In such a system moving cargo between the empires becomes massively more valuable. It would also have relatively little impact on the haulers, as all the big haulers are already operating large multibox fleets. You would simply shift one or two alts into rapiers or vendettas at the lowsec connection and web assist your freighters through one by one. It also creates a viable playstyle of actually being a pirate, a sci-fi staple, since ganking really is closer to playing a terrorist than a pirate.
I proposed this idea years ago, it would also revitalise those faction’s trade hubs because right now there is no reason to ever use Dodixie, for example. And there’s now proof of that based on how Amarr is doing better BECAUSE it’s effectively disconnected from Jita.
You are talking about high end contracts. I make up stupid little contract for the new players. Then I hit the estimate button on collateral. I pay them 5% which I think is fair.
I never ship in bulk all my contracts are 20 K mass cubed or less.
If I can, I keep the collateral down below 100 M isk.
Would be cool if these were the actual Distribution missions through NPC’s.
I cannot see this changing as its sandbox and some toons will do couriers for Peanuts lose their Freighters because they dont understand the Udema dynamic’s.
IMHO All Freighter pilots should just burn Jita daily till Null grinds to a halt in protest as by undocking you are consenting you are content and you get paid squat.
I dont think your read my post… you just shared an opinion thats sort of related but not really. I dont care personally. Im selling Defense and Security Packages… you want to light a fire? Ill sell you some cheap gasoline.
Right but there would need to be some sort of tradeoff if you wanted a cheaper ship, either in terms of what it can carry or its HP etc, CCP isn’t just going to make freighters cheaper just to help the people doing asset transport contracts
So what trade offs would you be willing to accept in order to actually make these things cheaper?
Would there be a benefit to allowing the person who accepted the contract to only show after it is completed? So that there is no prior warning of who the person is who must finish the contract? Or would such a change mitigate too much of the gank contracts? As you would not know who to target along the pathway from point A to point B.
The way you get around this is by accepting the contract on an alt, and then contracting the payload to your freighter pilot from the alt. The freighter pilot delivers it to the alt, and the alt delivers to the actual customer.
Oh I realize the work around, but this would eliminate the need to “hide” the person doing it and allow a single character to engage in this activity without resorting to alts to move goods in this manner.
I’m more wondering if it would destroy the ability to ambush someone along the route too much, as some contracts are simply created with extremely high collateral so as to destroy the player en route to collect the failed contract collateral fee.
For me, the idea of creating fewer need-to-have workarounds might increase players’ willingness to attempt such contracts. It ultimately might be too little too late to change the tide of things but its a step in that direction.
Its a sandbox so if a player accepts a crappy courier contract it is what it is only way to get actually paid any real value for JF Couriers is with a Courier Corporation that has defined rates. CCP are not going to do this for you. I merely broadened the topic as in a method to make it less sandbox.
I dont see a real issue with the scam contracts either tbh but there was already mention of it before. For me, they are obvious and I dont mind teaching noobs to be careful around fire by burning them. I would look down on EvE if it didnt have scams everywhere, let them play patty-cake over in warcraft. I also see that working corps do function based on reputation. Not only is there good corps like RedFrog and all that… private couriers are also there for more independent pilots.
some of these public contracts are terrible. Unfortunately I dont think CCP can do anything to make the rewards higher other than buffing freighters again. Please don’t buff freighters again.
Increasing EHP shifts the dynamic rather than resolving it, concentrating the activity among those with extensive multi-boxing setups and resources while creating a higher barrier for smaller-scale participants. Same effect as increasing the price of war. Simply hands it to the rich.