Hi there!
We hope everyone's weekend was brilliant - without further delay, let's get to the question of the week!

This week we will shred some light on Ghstwolf's pair of questions regarding materials and logistics within contested territories.

Q1: Will there be nodes for common materials that are "up for grabs" under territory control?
A: No. All common materials will be widely available from both markets of Continoma and Noir, while all rare materials will be available only from contested territories. Given the relative low price of common materials, their production from contested territories versus the risk of supporting and protecting such territory would make very little sense. Also, the separation is very important because it makes rare materials even more important when developing your guild's contested territory, and we are aiming to balance the economic impact of rare material production so that players won't lower the influx of rare materials by concentrating on common materials instead due to the limited amount of space and facilities that can be built within a contested territory.

Q2: Will there be supply chains from the "mines" to the control center of a contestable area?
A: Not in contested territories, no. As currently designed, the mines will directly send all mined resources towards the Control Center of the contested territory, and from there it can be transported for a price to Guild's Warehouse. A Guild could do it themselves for free by using Mechanoids to transfer large amounts of resource to the nearest populated territory such as the city of Sal Vitas or other smaller towns, however they will be risking an likely ambush from rival guilds. However, we are working on at least one very special resource that will almost exclusively require the need to be transported by Mechanoids. As Mechanoids presently fall in two specific groups - Harvester/Carriers with very little weaponry and destruction-heavy Combat Mecha - transportation of that resource will require at least two players to cooperate in a group in order to safely transport it.

The special resource thing sounds intriguing to me, what do you guys think? Feel free to share your comments and speculation below!
~ m.

 

Great news again for us players looking forward to conquer territory.

Hah! Using mechs isn't free! :p

The special resource also interests me... I wonder what it'll be used for!

Oooh, the mech part sounds fun. I also really like the idea of having convoys.

If they do hit the self-destruct sequence does that mean it also destroys the resources? 

Those interested in caravan protection would simply need to agree on a price with a customer that is cheaper than the secure sounding but probably expensive automatic delivery to a guild warehouse that was mentioned. 

If its cheaper to hire some mercs than to pay the system I might go for that.  The caveat of course being that they don't get paid if the resources get stolen. 

Sounds pretty good except for the automated transport option.  Sounds easy mode IMO.  Just one more opportunity people can exploit to buy success rather than earn it.

The transportation system also sounds like an excellent compromise between the enjoyment that convoys can offer (i.e. ambushes and the strategic planning involved in both carrying them out and protecting yourself from them) and the tedium of constantly having to guard haulers without event.