Trade routes, piracy, and missions aside, how do you want to make cash

Hey all, I'm working on a number of plugins right now which are still no ware near being released, and I was thinking of good ways to make money. Currently one of my plans is to have mining a much more lucrative opportunity. The idea that I am working on is to have a mining base of operations ship that carries a fleet of small miner vessels.

What I still don't know is how to go about programming the AI for this. I think that if I make the AI of the Miner "Trader" then the cargo capacity becomes useable, but will they still scoop asteroids when set to destroy/scoop asteroids, this I must test.

Any ways if anyone can correct my noob logic, or if you have another great Idea that you want to share about innovative ideas about how to make money in EVN please post away.

This post has been edited by Imhotep : 01 May 2008 - 01:10 PM

I'm pretty sure escorts and carried fighters won't mine. Unless you're talking about some kind of düde, in which case, I don't know.

As for other ideas, how about winning the lottery? Have a series of ten cröns which randomly either set or don't set a bit. If a bit gets set, the next crön is triggered. If the final crön sets the bit (a probability of one in one thousand and twenty-four) then you win big. More cröns make for longer odds.

@belthazar, on May 2 2008, 02:39 AM, said in Innovative ways of making money...:

I'm pretty sure escorts and carried fighters won't mine. Unless you're talking about some kind of düde, in which case, I don't know.

As for other ideas, how about winning the lottery? Have a series of ten cröns which randomly either set or don't set a bit. If a bit gets set, the next crön is triggered. If the final crön sets the bit (a probability of one in one thousand and twenty-four) then you win big. More cröns make for longer odds.

Did you happen to be here that day months ago (God maybe even a year now) when we were discussing how to do that for Anathema? Cause if you weren't, man you could have saved us a bundle of time.

We got to the same conclusion as you; it just took us quite a bit longer.

If you don't mind replacing the commodities, having one or very few trade centers that are extremely far apart, and ditching cargo altogether, you can convert the Trade Center into a pseudo-stock market. Rename all the commodities, make them all normal price, and create some disasters with really low odds, like 2% (since they'll all occur in one place), that raise and lower the prices. The player speculates on the stock market by buying low and selling high. I also worked in timeshares to this system by creating junks that multiply overtime, but have a really low price.

I think Josh pretty much wins this one.

I know this would probably be a bit much to add into CTC at this point, but someone else who's interested in the same system could also simulate smaller, more frequent fluctuation in prices by random-fire cröns that cycle through identical systems with slight differences in stock prices.

Hmm, Stock market is interesting; and that really sucks that mining can't be done by subordinate ships in the fleet, that could of added a new dynamic. Looks like piracy and trade will be as important as ever unless I can come up with a viable alternative. Watch out bulk freighters, my fleet may need your serviced and we don't like to pay.

Well I'm gonna watch some Galactica and see if I find any inspiration there.

Pirating is my way... it's easy and also boosts your combat level. Capturing ships are good too, but this would be more rewarding when you combine pirating with the lottery.

In other words, set a bit and crön event, then a mission, that occurs onboard a ship you're about to pirate. When you're on one, the mission could appear saying you find a lottery ticket, and when you land on a planet, the mission rewards you (insert amount of credits earned here) credits.

@archon, on May 2 2008, 02:27 PM, said in Innovative ways of making money...:

Did you happen to be here that day months ago (God maybe even a year now) when we were discussing how to do that for Anathema?

Nope. Took me all of two minutes to think up, though.

@archon, on May 3 2008, 01:53 AM, said in Innovative ways of making money...:

I think Josh pretty much wins this one.

You're just saying that because you're jealous.

It would be. I'd have to go back and edit every single mission and possibly duplicate a few to account for the duplicate systems, among other things.