[Bnomic-private] Proposal: Speeder Upgrades

[Glotmorf]

On 9/17/02 at 8:01 PM Wonko wrote:

>Quoth Glotmorf,
>
>> On 9/16/02 at 6:54 PM Wonko wrote:
>> 
>>> {{
>>> __Improving Speeders__
>>> 
>>> Create the following rule:
>>> {{
>>> __Wealthy Bastard Speeder Upgrades__ {*(WBE,Speeder,Grid),2*}

One thing in particular, before we get much further.  I know it'll take a=
 substantial rewording, but...I'd like to see all these upgrades be things=
 in the rules in general, and not tied to a particular person or group.=
  Say, for example, that such-and-such an upgrade is available for=
 speeders, and would cost X resource units for a given entity to produce=
 and install.  Then have a provision that any entity that has paid some=
 up-front capitalization cost (including a society that has written it into=
 its charter) and that has gotten the resource units from somewhere can=
 produce said upgrades.

If you then want to try to make WBE be the only entity that can salvage=
 grid objects to produce resource units, that's a separate issue.  Maybe=
 vSOI would somehow combine gnomes to produce resource units.  Maybe M-Tek=
 Manufacturing (a division of M-Tek Industries) could get resource units=
 some other way, including buying them from some entity that has the means=
 to produce them.

Is this realistic?  In today's world of corporate espionage, trade secret=
 laws and reverse-engineering labs, I daresay it is.  And since we've seen=
 what the Baron thinks of trade secret practices, I'd say some technologies=
 wouldn't stay secret for too long.

>>> A.2 Returns
>>> 
>>> If a player has an Airspeeder that is Upgraded, and that upgrade is
>>> reversable, then e may Reverse the Upgrade. When a player reverses an
>>> Upgrade, BNS equal to 2/3 (rounded down) of the price of that upgrade=
 is
>>> transferred from WBE to that player, unless this is more BNS than WBE
>has,
>>> in which case all of WBE's BNS is transferred instead. [[Note that this
>>> means you get no money if you return an upgrade when WBE is bankrupt]]
>>> Additionally, when an Upgrade is reversed, 9/10 of it's resource cost,
>>> rounded up, is added to the Raw Materials, and the Upgrade Space of the
>>> Airspeeder which had the Upgrade increases by the Size of the Upgrade.
>> 
>> This should involve a warranty period, during which funds are
>> frozen/escrowed/held in reserve; otherwise, since shillings are
>automatically
>> disbursed, the chances of there being any money back from returns is
>slim to
>> none.
>
>Wording suggestions?

Working on it.  What would you, as a manufacturer of speeder upgrades,=
 consider a reasonable amount of time to have to wait for assets to be=
 unfrozen?

>> What about heights?  What if a speeder starts out in a square with deep
>depth?
>> Does it plow into the side of a high-depth square?
>
>Squares don't have 'height', just 'depth'. Right now, there's a=
 restriction
>on moving to a square who's depth is 4 or more less than your current
>location's depth. With Boosters, you're able to boost up to the top of=
 such
>squares, ignoring the depth consideration. It may be better to increase=
 the
>price of this... If we ever start doing anything with Depth, this'll be a
>very good upgrade.

Okay, let's say we were going to turn depth into a relative measurement,=
 like units above/below sea level.  Where would you set sea level at this=
 time?  At a square that has a depth of zero?

						Glotmorf