Goonhub
12-06-2020, 09:37 AM
Something I've been thinking about is the idea of QM, instead of having supplies simply launched at them and from them, instead there was a system of shipping considerations they would have to navigate to maximize qualities like cost and speed.
Considering that crates have physical limits to what they can carry, item weight seems like a good starting point.
Crate weight in terms of items per crate and maybe item size could contribute to a shipping cost in order to move that large of an amount of items around. We could continue to have it in place that the items are launched, but we could also introduce shipping vessels. This could be actual vehicles that dock at QM, or simply exist in concept as the vehicle you're launching goods to. Personally, I'd love to have it physically dock, and orders unloaded while shipping items are loaded.
This then allows you to design different delivery vehicles, perhaps ran by different shipping companies, with their own advantages like having more cargo space but being slower, or being faster but smaller.
This also got me thinking about things like customs, smuggling, pirates and anti-theft measures, and package insurance.
Maybe each time you ship stuff, you've got to provide a manifest by having the crates scanned, but allow you to slip additional items past this process. There would be a risk that the vessel could be audited, which would increase the bigger the weight discrepancy was. Shipping vessels could also be attacked by pirates, which you could protect against by opting for various package deals offered by the shipping companies.
Considering that crates have physical limits to what they can carry, item weight seems like a good starting point.
Crate weight in terms of items per crate and maybe item size could contribute to a shipping cost in order to move that large of an amount of items around. We could continue to have it in place that the items are launched, but we could also introduce shipping vessels. This could be actual vehicles that dock at QM, or simply exist in concept as the vehicle you're launching goods to. Personally, I'd love to have it physically dock, and orders unloaded while shipping items are loaded.
This then allows you to design different delivery vehicles, perhaps ran by different shipping companies, with their own advantages like having more cargo space but being slower, or being faster but smaller.
This also got me thinking about things like customs, smuggling, pirates and anti-theft measures, and package insurance.
Maybe each time you ship stuff, you've got to provide a manifest by having the crates scanned, but allow you to slip additional items past this process. There would be a risk that the vessel could be audited, which would increase the bigger the weight discrepancy was. Shipping vessels could also be attacked by pirates, which you could protect against by opting for various package deals offered by the shipping companies.
