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New Fleet Holding: Fleet Services Office
tribbulater
Member Posts: 292 Arc User
A couple discussions going on about DilEx, Phoenix Boxes, Player housing, Fleets etc. brought this topic up in a discussion I was having. I didn't want to derail several of those threads so thought I would post it here.
The idea is to address several issues at once:
- STO needs more dil sinks to reduce the oversupply of Dil
- Phoenix boxes need more things players want to buy
- A use should be found for the piles of GPL many players are sitting on
- Players want something like housing, but it can't be too hard for Cryptic to set up
- The above should promote interaction in social hubs more than on bridges or in space
Basic idea is this:
- Fleets get a new holding, the Services Office. They can develop it like other holdings, but several special unlocks would be "Open Service office on <faction home / social hub>". ESD, First City, DS9, possibly New Romulus, Risa and Drozana as well. Each one a separate price.
- Other unlocks would be a Personnel officer, bank, exchange and mail in fairly close proximity.
- A relaxation lounge with a bar and a dabo table (3 unlocks) might be interesting.
- It would also have a turbolift that leads to "Personal quarters". The turbolift to Quarters would be a fleet unlock, but then every member of the fleet would need to individually unlock their quarters with a Dil price (similar to the way we unlock extra slots for DOffs, Traits etc.)
- Various quarters types (size and layout) would have different Dil costs and could be upgraded.
- Quarters items could be placed similar to what we do with Trophies etc. in ship interiors. Quarters items would be obtained with a variety of Dil, GPL, Phoenix token unlocks to increase the value of each of those.
So we get a fleet holding, various currency sinks, and personal quarters all wrapped up in one mechanic that introduces not much in the way of new code. It would also give players access to some fleet amenities without making them need to jump on a ship and trigger 4-6 loading screens in order to get to their fleet.
Can't really say I expect Cryptic would do anything like this, but it does address a number STO concerns in one fairly workable package.
The idea is to address several issues at once:
- STO needs more dil sinks to reduce the oversupply of Dil
- Phoenix boxes need more things players want to buy
- A use should be found for the piles of GPL many players are sitting on
- Players want something like housing, but it can't be too hard for Cryptic to set up
- The above should promote interaction in social hubs more than on bridges or in space
Basic idea is this:
- Fleets get a new holding, the Services Office. They can develop it like other holdings, but several special unlocks would be "Open Service office on <faction home / social hub>". ESD, First City, DS9, possibly New Romulus, Risa and Drozana as well. Each one a separate price.
- Other unlocks would be a Personnel officer, bank, exchange and mail in fairly close proximity.
- A relaxation lounge with a bar and a dabo table (3 unlocks) might be interesting.
- It would also have a turbolift that leads to "Personal quarters". The turbolift to Quarters would be a fleet unlock, but then every member of the fleet would need to individually unlock their quarters with a Dil price (similar to the way we unlock extra slots for DOffs, Traits etc.)
- Various quarters types (size and layout) would have different Dil costs and could be upgraded.
- Quarters items could be placed similar to what we do with Trophies etc. in ship interiors. Quarters items would be obtained with a variety of Dil, GPL, Phoenix token unlocks to increase the value of each of those.
So we get a fleet holding, various currency sinks, and personal quarters all wrapped up in one mechanic that introduces not much in the way of new code. It would also give players access to some fleet amenities without making them need to jump on a ship and trigger 4-6 loading screens in order to get to their fleet.
Can't really say I expect Cryptic would do anything like this, but it does address a number STO concerns in one fairly workable package.
Post edited by baddmoonrizin on
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Comments
This has been talked about before, but it should not be linked to a Fleet holding as there are many that do not want to join a Fleet. A personal holding would be far more appealing and have greater impact on the Dil-Ex than making it a Fleet Holding.
- I don't want housing, I can't recall ever making use of it in any game. That part is for other people.
- My own interest is the dil sinks, currency usage, and access to certain amenities from a social hub.
- Putting housing on a ship bridge (or customizable interiors as a substitute) makes it a more solo and less social activity. It also addresses the point of people not 'hanging out' because it gives fleet members a place to hang out and invite other people (the relaxation lounge) without having to beam to ship, fly or TW to fleet, dock to fleet, then reverse those steps to get back to where they were. Given the loading times/SNRs of STO screens I never go to my fleet unless I really need to.
- Not making it 'fleet only' is a valid point. On one hand, it would encourage people to join fleets with developed holdings rather than smaller or solo fleets. On the other, it shouldn't be denied to people who don't want to fleet. However, once the mechanic is in place, since quarters would already be an individual purchase, it wouldn't be difficult to make them available to non-fleet players for a higher price.
devs have already stated that we will never get housing... i happen to agree with them, starship bridges are housing, i don't see what "housing" would offer more than what a ship interior already does, sounds to me like you want more free storage
the real reason why phoenix box doesn't work is because new players don't have enough dilithium to build their ships and then have any left over to buy phoenix boxes. I once spent 4 Million dilithium and didn't win any phoenix box ships... oh well. Because the game is so easy to play there is really no reason for them to stay once the mission arcs are completed. So saving millions of dilithium just to try and win a character bound ship makes no sense anymore like it did 7 years ago.
We already have a relaxing bar area at the Fleet Starbase and K-13... don't see why we would need more of that.
EDIT: if you want more free storage then just start a personal fleet and use your own fleet bank... there, storage solved.
As a fleet leader I'm not going to just open a bunch of dilithium hungry projects for no reason, especially developing an entire fleet holding.
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I have all the storage I need. Nothing in the suggestion refers to new storage. Bank access is not storage. Fleet banks are separate from fleet holdings anyway.
Not sure how the OP gave the idea it was all purely cosmetic, but will address that below.
I didn't add in every refinement on the idea because frankly, it's unlikely to ever get implemented. However if someone asks for refinement/more thought, I will add it. So:
"Why would I interact with this holding?"
1) Convenience (as a player): There are very few locations in the game that have bank, dabo, Personnel officer, exchange and mail close together. People ask for Cell ship invites all the time to get some of this access. In other places, you are running back and forth between locations to get them.
2) Recruitment/retention (as a fleet leader): You can stand on ESD, DS9, First City etc. and say "Walk over here and check out some of what my fleet has to offer". It gives a fleet places to meet and hang out that don't require multiple screen hops/travel time. It is also a convenience option to offer to all fleet members. Perhaps fleet members would get a discount for the various "Personal Quarters" layouts they could unlock based on fleet size - which would encourage larger fleet membership.
3) Cosmetics: Quite a few people are heavily into cosmetics, design and display. A lot of what Cryptic sells is cosmetics. Finding a way to add yet another avenue to display one's personal designs is likely to result in more sales with zero power creep or balance issues.
4) "What if I leave fleet?" Already mentioned that the Personal Quarters is in two parts. "Turbolift access to personal quarters", would be a fleet-wide unlock, and "Personal Quarters Layout" is a personal expense. If you moved from one fleet to another fleet with access, no problem. If you were fleetless or your fleet had no unlock, you could pay the individual "Access to Personal Quarters" fee for a permanent unlock. Again, this would be a fleet recruitment or even a personal expense benefit (better to unlock access for all your alts in a fleet than pay for them individually).
5) "Not interested in developing an entire fleet holding." I get this, I'm not really into that either. On the other hand, quite a few threads over the past year have discussed needing a Dil sink to soak up some of this excess Dil floating around that has been driving the DilEx to 500. I'd rather see a fleet convenience/access/timesaving/cosmetic/housing option than yet another holding which unlocks more power creep. As for the costs, those are flexible. Since it's not a power/balance-affecting holding, Cryptic shouldn't feel the pressure to put the same ridiculous costs on it that some other holdings have had.
The OP was presented mostly as a "would there be any interest in this idea?", something to kick around. If it was going to be implemented then one assumes it would undergo a little more refinement.
@tribbulater's recommendations attempt to carry water on both shoulders - to create a dil sink and meaningful additional fleet (or player) unlocks. The unlocks need to be evaluated for value before deciding whether or how to implement them.
Any dil sink needs to be considered in light of the other major currencies in-game - zen and EC. As they are all convertible to each other, adjusting any one would impact the others. It may be that addressing EC demand (for expensive character bound ships, for example) would reduce zen demand for keys for sale that would reduce the demand for dil, causing the dilex rate to drop (purely illustrative).
Second, dil sinks only address the supply of dil chasing zen. The other side of the equation, zen chasing dil would also impact exchanges rates.
Looking at the problem from the perspective of one currency (dil) and only the dil supply will not create a lasting equilibrium.
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I'd also love to see an enhancement to faction Starship Interiors or a bit more customization offered as Housing!
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l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
I have often compared the way the fleet holding system is designed with people building a house for their neighbor, because investors get no equity in the holdings they pay to develop. Entangling housing unlocks with it would make that analogy a literal truth. No thanks. Everyone should pay their own housing if they want one.
Nor is it particularly productive to try to "encourage" people to socialize if they don't want to. I don't get why some people care so much about the clusters of randos standing around the interact points of social zones doing their own business. What's the big deal if they'd all go in their own houses to stand around instead?
I'd gladly build a place or three for myself on a planet, a station, ship interior or anywhere they'd care to let me...if they make it interestingly customizable and/or useful. But I'm not interested in financing some kind of "fleet hangout" nobody will use just to have a dil sink.