Totems and how they should work.
issueid=1230 09-27-2011 10:07 PM
Visitor
Totems and how they should work.
Totems and how they should work.

First off let me say Im doing this for many reasons.

Ok totems they are everywhere. I have a vision of changing that, and allowing totems to help trade, economy and allow smaller more active tribes to control more area.

First off, I do not like the idea that totems take no resources to put down yet can claim resources. Also I do not like that to grow a totem you need more players even if they are inactive. Ive seen tribes of 100 people with 1 or 2 online controlling huge parts of the zone.

Now how I would vote to change it is this.

Key is to require totems to take resources, and need resources to keep "protecting" the area.

I think when you want to drop a totem it should first place a ghost totem down, this ghost totem would not protect anything, yet it would not allow anyone else to claim a totem in the area until that ghost totem is removed.

Ghost totems will be removed after % of the resources not put in. IE if you drop a 100 man totem it would require say 10000 units of resources. Ghost totems decay say normally in 48hours but if you drop in 500 units in (5%)of the resources it would extend the decay by 5% or 2.5 hours.

After you get all 100% of the resources needed to then you can click the create, and it will drop a real totem based on the one you picked for the ghost. This will last for 1 week. Every week you have to upkeep the totem. (25% of base cost). Which can be put into the totem and the totem eats up over time. You can also use this totem as a bank for storage.

Things used for resources. Bricks, Logs, Sand, rock, metal, cloth etc. Each would have to have a unit assigned to them.

What this does is mostly allows people to build on land based on needs or even expected growth, without them to just want to "zerg" more members in the tribe.

It will promote trade by removing these resources and maybe even hiring labor to help gather these resources.

Also if an area goes inactive, slowly the totem will eat itself. It should lose 10% of its range a week of not being filled on the resource upkeep. After 10 weeks it will disappear.
This will allow a few members to keep the candle going for a large tribe if they wish. Also allows totems in the world to be removed, if tribes just leave them. Also will help prevent people from dropping a totem without knowing what they are doing, it will also help prevent people from having alt accounts with totems just claiming an area for themselves.

Idea? Comments? Complains? etc
This issue is closed. No more replies may be made.
Issue Details
Issue Number 1230
Issue Type Feature
Project Suggestions
Category Unknown
Status Implemented
Priority Unknown
Suggested Version Unknown
Implemented Version (none)
Votes for this feature 34
Votes against this feature 6
Assigned Users (none)
Tags (none)




09-27-2011 10:40 PM
Xsyon Citizen
Umm HELLS YEAH!
 

09-28-2011 05:03 AM
Xsyon Citizen
I vote yeh :)
 

09-28-2011 04:28 PM
Xsyon Citizen
The only way you could justify requiring resources to start up a totem is the ghost totem, with a time limit of course, but the resource count should be limited to allow lone wolf players to still be able to start areas (totems are, after all, only made of wood, feathers, twine and a skull). Tribes should only require an upkeep if the tribe leader decides what the upkeep is (bottle caps, money, wood blocks, stone, etc.) since in most games these things use the games currency (UO, SWG, CoH) but once it is set you can not change it. The upkeep could come out every game month to allow time to collect the upkeep resource. Trying to promote trade by removing resources is never going to work it reminds me to much of how certain areas had only a bear, raccoon, or coyote spawn....no one traded for the other resources, they just waited until they could construct items of their area or traded tools/weapons/recipes.
 

09-28-2011 06:16 PM
Xsyon Citizen
True, but the basic resources vet players wont want to get if the market is working right.

Say you are a master tailor, or bonecrafter. You wont to gather rocks for your totem upkeep. You will if you have to, but you could easy pay a newb who can gather rocks because they have little else to do, for a full set of tailored gear. This gear is worth 1000 or so rocks, but to a master tailor a 1000 rocks is MUCH MUCH harder to get than making 1 tailor suit. See the point? Trade. But there is no reason for players to trade high end gear is the problem, as few people want it.

About the ghost totem thing, yes the idea is to have a small resource so people wont spam drop totems, or drop one mid fight. Also you can figure that totems are made of wood, feathers, twine and a skull, but what about maybe like having to pray at it too for protection? See there can be a lot of things that go into it.
I just really want to see things like this promote trade, while also making it so a smaller group can control more IF they work hard or play smart. Instead of zerg tribes to win type of thing.
 

09-28-2011 09:13 PM
Xsyon Citizen
Yes Dez. We need this now. The map is littered with totems that players placed their first and sometimes only login. I would gladly work to upkeep my right to my homestead land.
 

10-01-2011 12:54 AM
Xsyon Citizen
These are all good suggestions and hopefully some will be implemented in time.
A more or less gentle way to "force" and/or encourage trades, and thereby travelling and exploring, is something I'd would like to see more of.
 

10-01-2011 07:15 AM
Xsyon Citizen
Sounds great. We can expect this next week, right? *grin*

I just wonder how current totems would be converted. If everyone reverts to a ghost totem, all our resources and structures would be griefable while we work to "perm" them. We would need a period of time where both systems are running parallel to allow us to gather up required resources and then abandon and drop a new system totem.

Also, how would you stock large stacks of items in the totem? Say upkeep required 200 wood blocks. Currently you can only stack wood blocks to 20. It would require 10 stacks (inventory slots) to fulfill this. Also, how would you handle mixed types of blocks as the game currently doesn't much like mixing types (its all one type at a time or nothing). Minutia, I know, but would be a big deal if actually implemented, requiring big changes to the fundamental way stacks are handled overall.
 

10-01-2011 12:36 PM
Xsyon Citizen
I was thinking is it would convert these things to "resource units".
Units would be a base value. So say 1 limestone = 1 resource unit. While 1 obsidian = 20 resource units.
So the totem wouldnt hold each of these items, it would hold resource units. It is also like a money system in game, only these resource units would be very heavy and not easy to move about, so people wouldnt normally use them as money.
 

10-01-2011 12:50 PM
Visitor
I truly love the idea! It promotes trade, grouping and careful manipulation of local resource. Now what it does for non local resource is cause it to be used. The devil is in the details I guess. Balancing it as far as resource requirements ( renewable resource would count more than bricks which are made from granite which is infi! Also resources that can be depleted easily like grass/wood/junk (seriously it can) should count the highest. This would be a double edged sword since it would take such a group effort to collect the resources for an initial totem which could also be gathered by others in a nearby competing area... depleting a grassland for example. This sort of dynamic would really sort out the planners and caretakers of our world from the slash and burn types. Perhaps that would even spawn more pvp not just between pvp groups but between gatherers as well. I am looking forward to seeing how this plays out.
 

10-01-2011 06:56 PM
Xsyon Citizen
Very good points, I agree Tereas balance would be a good key to getting it working right.

I think though getting it put into place, and with a basic balance using best judgement would be great start. Then look to see what people are using, and how things are going and tweak it over time.
 

10-01-2011 09:01 PM
Xsyon Citizen
This is a wonder special Idea.. +1.. To convert totems already in just start off with the ghost price but in upkeep form.. 1 week timer as you said and if a tribe fails to get er done then decay sets in. For my part to the toon of 25% decay per week with upkeep still in play. that gives any tribe active 1 week, or semi active they may not see it for a week so 5 weeks total before totem and tribe goes POOF. That is just my thoughts on it.. But I agree that resources should have assigned values. Just use gathered or possibly crafted items as upkeep payment, this way we have reason to trade and gather, and something to do with the 10000 rolls of twine and straps we destroy daily.. UNLESS of course you put the ability to replenish junk piles in at the same time.. then just use gathered resources for upkeep. Hope this made some sense.
 

10-01-2011 10:44 PM
Xsyon Citizen
Good Idea.
 

10-02-2011 04:26 AM
Visitor
Agreed MrDDT,
All the planning in the world will fall apart in the hands of the user! :) Like you said it would be better to have it in game with rudimentary test values and actually SEE how the mechanics work out in live and then tweak it.

Oh and good point, when/if system is implemented it would be a cure for the mass of huge towns sitting idle for a year as well as random totems that are not owned by active players. Remember even Sony Online Entertainment had a system like this for Star Wars Galaxies...to age and remove non active structures in world.
 

10-06-2011 08:00 AM
Xsyon Citizen
Great idea, i love it. I would love to be able to work hard to keep up with the upkeep of a large tribe area instead of being tied down by how many people are in the tribe. This also means that wallet warriors actually have to do some work to get their large tribe areas. :P This would fix alot of problems. I realise im a new player but i have wandered around the lake looking for even a small unclaimed scrap pile. Its nearly impossible to find one and the totem decay would fix this. Every settlement you would see would have active players there which means better chances of trade and communication between neighbors.
+1 vote from me mate.
 

10-10-2011 10:14 PM
Xsyon Citizen
How hard would a system like this be to put into the game? Or should it be changed a bit?
 

10-17-2011 08:46 PM
Visitor
yes, I think this it great idea as well.
 

10-19-2011 12:30 PM
Xsyon Citizen
Good ideas and a good discussion. I hope something like this gets implemented into the game.
 

10-19-2011 03:38 PM
Xsyon Citizen
Awesome idea, wish this had been around when my guild and I were still around..
 

10-20-2011 01:34 PM
Xsyon Citizen
I like this idea a lot
 

10-29-2011 08:40 AM
Xsyon Citizen
Why you need resources to keep "protecting" the area ???
Make no sense. What we need is monsters attacking the tribe area, and stealing our resources inside the tribe area. Let say certain monsters like to steal certain resouce.
If the tribe area is gated, then the monsters should try to brake in, and how easy they can do it should depend on the defense level.

Once they brake in, they should steal let say 10-25 % of certain resource. It should take a reasonable good amount of time to brake in.
While the monsters are trying to brake in, and the players got online, they will need to kill the monsters to stop them from entering the tribe area.
 

Closed