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Vulpex Posts: 390
5/19/2017
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The research centers on the moon are essential for mankind to enjoy the benefits of the artifacts from the moon. The question comes as to who should run these centers and how to most efficiently develop them.
Some basic principles apply namely:
· Research stations should be run by corporations which are capable of financing them and developing them.
· Output of the research stations must be controlled, to prevent tensions from escalating due to rising costs of exploitation leading to an unbalanced situation.
Corporations exploiting the moon – several suggestions have been brought to my attention.
First – the idea that the city rulers of Earth should be the ones which have the right to run the research centers. Intrinsically the rulers of the cities will be the ones with strong economies and support which should enable them to finance the running of the moon bases. Furthermore city rules can be expected to be producing artifacts for the benefit of their city which will stimulate overall growth of Earth.
Second – the idea that it should be certain guilds which should be allocated a number of research centers on the moon. At this stage ARK, the Mining Guild and Dogstar have all at one point deployed research centers on the moon. However it would remain to be determined exactly how many research centers would be present and how other guilds would be involved, as such this is potentially a contentious proposal as it still leaves open the possibility (though much reduced) of inter guild rivalry and conflict.
Third option – Caretakers of the moon. Under this proposal the companies on the moon will produce artifacts on demand for those who need them the most. Under this system there will be a public adjudication of the moon artifacts for those projects which are accepted by the caretakers of the moon.
Note that the last option can be used in conjunction with either option 1 or 2.
The second issue is on the output level of the moon resources.
The simplest solution for this would be to cap the size of the research centers on the moon. Somewhere around size 4-5 has been suggested to accommodate everyone involved.
Another option which can be complimentary to the first one is to cap the level of overcrowding which we see as acceptable on the moon.
Please express your opinions below on the two questions – how to decide who holds the research centers and also how to determine the level of exploitation of the moon.
edited by Vulpex on 5/19/2017
edited by Vulpex on 5/19/2017
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EdwardBishop Posts: 15
5/19/2017
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I agree with the First option on the 1st issue, which will thereby decide by math the second issue (assuming each city ruler runs their base).
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Hutton Posts: 276
5/19/2017
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I'm in favor of a mix of option 1 and 2, weighted more heavily towards option 1. I think we will end up with coalitions in each city and the mayors will have to cater to the needs of their supporters to stay in power, thus 2 doesn't need to be codified.
I stand by my suggestion that their should be one administrator with the strongest military presence that doesn't get a research station. My initial suggestion was that that should be the Emperor, but was forgetting that the moon will have it's own mayor soon, so that is the obvious person that should be the administrator. That would mean a 26th research center that stands idle. Ironically, this might create a situation where nobody wants the job because they have to suspend research and you have other players for cable drafting them into the position.
I further propose that areas of the earth be divided into conferences by continent. The largest city in each conference levels their facility up to a point where they can use all the points allocated for their conference. Stations may cede their points to a larger station which doesn't have to be in their conference.
You name you station after your city. If you are donating your points to another station, you name it after that station. You get to keep stack land units there of whatever size and types you want, except commandos. They defend the area. Upon wining city office, before your station is turned over to you, you must pledge to abide by the moon charter and support the City Manager of Lewis. (Maybe we can petition Dread to manually change the name to something more symbolic if Lewis doesn't object).
The city manager gets one defensive structure of each type and one land unit of each type. Maybe extra commandos. They are never to leave Lewis. If anyone refuses to turn their station over within 100 (200?) turns of leaving office, the city manager shall rally the stakeholders together to destroy that office. if the city manager breaches is his responsibility, all the other corps are called upon to honor their pledge to oust the city manager. I suggest a convention by which the emperor calls a vote and then sets a turn to attack. Then you can plot in a wait order before an attack order so it's not a big mess to coordinate.
If someone wins office but refuses to take an oath to support the Moon charter, the incumbent gets to hold onto the research station and shall be known as the Shadow Mayor of that city until they or someone that will sign onto the charter assumes office.
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Hutton Posts: 276
5/19/2017
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And because the math won't work out exactly when one station cedes it's research points to another, the city manager arbitrates whether you round up and down. Maybe the city manager also arbitrates how much over crowding will be tolerated for a given term.
I had a thought that we could also weight reasearch allotment by population, but that seems way too complicated. Even for me. And obviously I am a big fan of complicated.
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Hutton Posts: 276
5/19/2017
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I was originally thinking that everything should be exchanged for $1 when offices change hands, but on second thought they should be the default price. You have to put a deposit on the property you are custodian of, and you lose your deposit if you screw around and get that stuff destroyed so the next guy has to build it from scratch.
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Zip555 Posts: 67
5/19/2017
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I suggest
City govenors, who have at least HQ 5, should share the moon equally
Agree on an overcrowding limit, perhaps 50%, and share out the research points equally
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Vulpex Posts: 390
5/19/2017
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Ok so option 1 seems to be the one which is getting the most traction. I agree that making research allocation based on population seems too complicated especially since there can be a lot of changes in the population of a city.
As to when there is a change in the mayor of a city that situation becomes complex. You cannot actually sell a research station to another corporation so this gives two situations - dismantle the research station or set production of the research station to 0. Either way I would suggest that the owner of the research station may complete production of a tier 1 artifact, if he is already at least halfway.
I don't have a preference on dismantling or reducing production to 0 - in fact I think both can work at the same time.
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bosik1 Posts: 5
5/19/2017
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Well, if we did it for cities 50x25 =1250, acceptable overcrowding penalty and I'm all for it. I don't like continents idea because it would create local conflicts and fight over supremancy on the Earth. Facilities can be scalled down, and building a new one and upgrading it to lvl4 isn't that time consuming or expensive.
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John Posts: 67
5/19/2017
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Wait... we can't trade structures? Well crap, I may have dismantle my base structures there afterall then. 
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Walk the true path, or be trampled beneath it.
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John Posts: 67
5/19/2017
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Nevermind, I just checked, you CAN trade military structures, just not economic ones.
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Walk the true path, or be trampled beneath it.
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Hutton Posts: 276
5/19/2017
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You can't? Oh crap, you're right. That screws up my whole plan.
Maybe we can actually go to dread and ask him to implement this. There is already a mechanic for military structures so it shouldn't be difficult. Unless there is a game balancing issue that I'm not thinking of.
My own thought was that you have 100 or 200 turns from the election to turn over the base. Maybe you negotiate a slightly higher sale price in exchange for turing it over quickly, (if we can get structure sales implemented).
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John Posts: 67
5/20/2017
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It wouldn't imbalance anything, you can already make a dozen alt accounts and farm ACPs for days, most top players are doing it, some to insane levels. (I really think alt accounts should be against the rules, not that it would stop the use of them or anything, but it'd be easy to spot alt trading via contracts.)
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Walk the true path, or be trampled beneath it.
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+1
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Hutton Posts: 276
5/20/2017
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If we have to build our own bases, the loosing incumbent can just shut there's down until they win office again. Their research progress will pick up where it left off. Or they can make a side deal with someone to cede rights to them. Or have an ongoing courtesy to allow them to operate at 20% until they hit there next A1.
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FuriousGeorge Posts: 51
5/20/2017
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I like the idea of being able to bargain with whoever has the current turn and buy their research time.
It's a time-share property now, and it's booked for years hahaha.
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Vulpex Posts: 390
5/21/2017
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Regarding this topic:
It has been agreed that all rulers of Earth (including the Moon) may have research facilities on the Moon. When a ruler changes on earth, the research on the moon must stop with the corp in question having the option of either salvaging the structure or setting production to 0. As a courtesy they may complete the production of a tier 1 artifact.
It has been further agreed that research facilities on the moon will be capped at lvl 5.
All signatories to the moon charter will enforce this rule. All the research stations which do not comply with this requirement will be asked to leave. Those which do not leave will be forcibly removed.
24 hours for final comments - at that stage this will be considered approved.
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Hutton Posts: 276
5/21/2017
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I propose that the City Manager of Lewis should have the power to adjust the level cap. The person in that position will presumably be there it's the support of all world leaders, and I think we should include a mechanism for future leaders to make adjustments without nullifying the charter. If that puts too much power in the hands of the city manager we could just give them the power to call a vote on the issue or give the emperor veto power over changes.
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Vulpex Posts: 390
5/22/2017
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It is a good idea to give the manager of Lewis the power to change the level cap. I agree with this. (NB - the manager of Lewis is the Mayor of Lewis or is there a difference?)
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John Posts: 67
5/22/2017
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I'm ok with him setting the cap, but so we don't have to upgrade/downgrade labs all the time, I suggest we make lvl 5 labs the permanent cap, then the gov can choose the maximum lab % allowed per turn.
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Walk the true path, or be trampled beneath it.
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Hutton Posts: 276
5/22/2017
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I like calling the mayor of Lewis city manager because the term carries greater connotations of a selfless civil servant, and the role will require more active management than other cities.
Valhalla, that is more practical if there is a decision to reduce overcrowding, but what future generations of rulers want to stomach more overcrowding after we have moved to the stars. We also need to make an allowance for corporations Pooling their point for bigger projects. If four cities give up their points so a fifth can work on an A5 or AX, it should be the City Managers job to do, (or at least approve) the math.
"Okay, you have 200 points/turn donated to this project, so you can upgrade to level 7 but have to reduce capacity to 70%" (I did not actually do the match to figure out if that's even close).
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Vulpex Posts: 390
5/22/2017
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I can see how the city manager would do that though the pooling of points is a bit complicated. Like was mentioned elsewhere the opinion of the manager would be most welcome.
One other thing has been brought to my attention which is what to do in situations where the mayor of a city does not have the means or capacity to support a research station but someone else in his city does (often a very economically successful free account) could the mayor officially delegate his production to another corp from his own city?
I would only allow this within cities - i.e. a mayor should not be able to delegate to a corp which is based elsewhere on Earth or even outside of Earth.
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