This is an overhaul of logistics and markets. But with very simple change. For example i can shop in Jita from all areas of highsec and i can have the item delivered to a station of my choice by NPCs. Maybe they will take an hour to arrive and cost ISK depending on volume and number of jumps and value of cargo. (Another ISK sink!) Maybe i would even be able to send stuff to Jita with NPCs.
Want to save the money? Transport the stuff yourself. And if the practice become widespread enough maybe player corps will begin to compete with the NPCs and offer logistics services more. The new corp project thing could play a big role here i think.
So something like this should be rolled out slowly, and the first change is to be able to view any region market from any where in space(?). So when you open the market window there is a small drop down that allows you to select which regions prices you want to view.
Next step is to allow people to send stuff between stations with NPCs. I imagine you purchase a container, put the stuff you want shipped inside, right click and hit âSend to destinationâ (As opposed to Buy more. Sell or Trash Item), and a simple window opens that has input for destination and the cost, and also maybe wether u need express or not. And thats it.
It would be important to have a dialogue with the player run shipping corporations to balance things properly and not have them lose business. Thats all. Have a nice day.
There is about 20,000 players online and Red Frog maybe performs services for a fraction of them. Even if they wanted they couldnât handle the complex task of even 1,000 players needing a module or some ammo outside of Jita and delivering it to them in a timely manner, no offence. Even if they could it would probably be so expensive that noone would bother to use them, no offence. This NPC thing will fill in the middle, and its why i emphasized on potentially having a dialogue with corporations like red frog when designing the pricing algorithm to avoid it from putting them out of business.
Players are most likely willing to pay to have items delivered to save them the trouble of doing it themselves, but other players cannot provide this service at a cost and in a time that is reasonable (Because every other job is more profitable among other things). I mean why haul a small package to some player when you can just do it as a NPC mission and probably make 2-3x more. And due to the amount of money required for escrow its typically not an activity that is available for new players anyway who might be more inclined to do this type of job when first starting out.
so to summarize
There is demand for shipping, but players cannot provide it to each other at a cost that is reasonable for the most part. So an NPC freight service should be implemented. (NPC will gladly freight a relatively low value module or ammo from Jita 10 jumps for for example 50k isk, most players will not) so it doesent hurt anyone?
You can argue this thing may destroy the profits of ppl maintaining markets outside of Jita because now everyone can get Jita prices and liquidity at any station in high sec if its introduced.
Sounds too good to be true and it probably should be. For example ideally the cost to use it goes up the bigger value and the higher the volume you are sending/recieving. So there will basically still be a premium on items going far from Jita and producing locally may still be the better option if possible. But on the flip side, things are not always cheaper in Jita. And its possible other regions will see a boost in prices on some things if this logistics functionality is implemented. But ultimately I think it will be magnificent for industry and trade and ultimately the UX assuming the design is right.
You could do much cool stuff with this idea. For example should a shipment have a chance to fail to arrive? Probably not.
But also it sort of gives repackaging items a new meaning. Now they are ready for shipping, and maybe if you put them in a container as well you get a rebate. Because the NPCs dont have to do that or even provide the container then. This gives players a chance to âspecializeâ as well by producing their own containers and what not to save some ISK if they use the service alot. And of course you can introduce some skills as well that maybe improves relations and lowers the cost on using the service as well or whatever + more
iâve always found Red Frog and their ilk to be pretty reasonable for the service they provide. I donât use them regularly as Iâm generally hauling into or out of a wormhole, so I just plan my hauling for when I get a nice connection. But the times I have used those services, Iâve been happy with the results for the cost.
And it has to be profitable for them, otherwise why would they take such huge risks with escrow and the risks of flying freighters around? Itâs a specialised playstyle, and one that doesnât appeal to me, but they obviously enjoy it and make bank doing it.
Im probably not doing a good job of explaining the idea. But i dont think people are going to use Red Frog to bring modules or other items to them for example 7 jumps from Jita. By the time RFF gets around to it, you could probably have made the trip yourself a few times.
But also according to RFF trip calcultor 7 jumps with RFF costs 9 Million isk (36 milion if its urgent). https://red-frog.org/
What is the target audience for this? It has to be small.
NPCs can offer cheaper logistics options for small and medium packages and vastly improve UX.
again: can we destroy these NPC couriers en-route?
iâm guessing not from your previous reply.
and in any event, i dislike this concept for a large number of reasons. not least of which is that it will kill off the smaller markets that people have seeded and tended. Stacmon as but one example of a small market hub that someone went to a lot of effort to stock with a surprising variety of stuff. They took a huge risk in doing so, why shouldnât they reap a reward from that effort?
Its the main hub on Serenity because its the main hub on Tranquility i imagine. But if i had to guess why its the main hub on Tranquility i would say the name is a big part of it. Jita rolls of the tungue, and its easy to navigate to, its easy to type Jita unlike some of the other systems that are harder to pronounce and so on (And i dont think thats a bad thing). But in fact all the hubs have short names that roll of the tongue somewhat. Dodixie, Rens, Hek, Amarr
But when Jita as a market hub was founded, the system and region layout also played a role i imagine. It was probably at the center of the universe, easily accessible from most parts and maybe it had plenty of stations and asteroid belts for how industry used to work, the game has changed in this respect since then. But also I know the stargate layouts have changed since then. But network effects are a powerful thing, so Jita is the main hub because it always has been? Im sorry if thats not a satisfactory answer.
when EVE was first launched, Yulai was designated as the main trade hub by CCP with long range gates to all empires. The rickety early servers couldnât handle the player numbers, so they got rid of the gates, killing it as a trade hub (the epic gatecamp actions of m00 also didnât help).
Jita grew organically from the players. Itâs at a classic, Silk Road, crossroads. Youâre only one jump from two more regions (Lonetrk and The Citadel) and two jumps from a third (Sinq Laison). So thatâs four regions you can quickly check market orders while based in Jita.
The 4/4 station is also home to a number of level four mission agents, a lucrative income stream in the early days of the game. Itâs roughly equal distance from Jiita to Amarr, Dodixie and Rens/Hek and nicely central to all of those.
So all of these things led to players building up Jita as the main trade hub. It wasnât CCP designating it as such.
Just a short history lesson on why Jita is what it is.
Your idea would also largely kill arbitrage as a means of income. Iâve made a pretty ISK (or sourced modules I use regularly) by checking regional markets whenever I pop out of my wormhole into k-space. Iâve picked up some good deals on some Deadspace modules in remote pockets (like Solitude) and either used them myself, or hauled into Jita for profit.
You can still arbitrage, maybe the spreads will drop, but because the logistics portion becomes easier you can expand to more products. But even if arbitrage becomes less lucrative i think thats a price worth paying for the boost in UX
No. Your bias is obvious, and your intentions clear.
You merely want to remove agency and needed jobs from the denizens of New Eden.
You would remove two major careers from New Eden with this change. Haulers and pirates, more commonly known as âgankersâ in the nomenclature of today.
However, we all can see what your real intent is. It is to remove piracy as a viable career path.
Please, if you cannot afford to have others haul for you, or are too inept to haul your own things safely, then I suggest retirement or biomassing.
