Sounds like a good idea to me. I like the idea of Robotank being a gun (or tank) for hire.
This might stop the recent spate of people recruiting in SG's purely for the initial prestige boost.
I seem to remember the days when you joined a SG for the social benefits, not just to help fund some other bod's base design blah blah blah blah....
(stops typing due to record being stuck....) 
Cheers, @RoboTank
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Cloudwalker MA Scrapper
Shadowcall Dark Stalker
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Sent from my HAL 9000
I can see prestige bein a bone of contention in some SGs, where the lowly minions go out and graft for it and don't have any say in how its spent. This, I imagine will be doubly worse if the leaders aren't pulling their weight in a prestige sense of the word.
Go in as a merc, then you don't care - leave all the battles of wills to those that care and then maybe finally find a home in an SG that's already got well fleshed out base.
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(O.O) Bunny: Our time is coming
(> <)
Sounds like a great idea for a badge set- after earning 100K prestige for say 3 SGs, 10 and 50 (no idea what a reasonable amount of prestige takes to earn anymore as my girlfriend won't let me near the PC so this might be way off 
. Go from Hireling to Gun for Hire to Soldier of Fortune?
Would you consider working for anything other than influence for the smaller SGs that can't afford your fee? You don't want to end up like Robert Vaughan in the Magnificent Seven!
The problem is my main is now 42nd lvl and will need somewhere in the region of 5 million to afford the full rake of SOs at 47th so my view on influence is skewed by those requirements.
If I had a lower lvl toon then I could consider working for a lesser fee and perhaps some salvage thrown in. Why, are you hiring?
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(O.O) Bunny: Our time is coming
(> <)
I like the sound of that. As you say it'd be a easy way for one-man-bands like mine to get Prestige. Although the SG loses the bonus 200K when a member leaves, I assume it keeps any Prestige earned?
You only gain/lose 20k prestige per member but yes you keep all the prestige they earn whilst they're with you.
But you're a good sample. How much is say, 10k (keep it simple) prestige worth to you?
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(O.O) Bunny: Our time is coming
(> <)
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Sounds like a great idea for a badge set- after earning 100K prestige for say 3 SGs, 10 and 50
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The whole idea of someone whos been in 50 Supergroups is scary. What do we call the badge? How about Easy, Loose, Liberal, Capricious or wanton?
Nice idea, I've met a few chars that only join team ups for a price so its not that diff from that.
I'm starting to have bad feelings about the base idea, the phrase "dedicated players" is poping up more and more when SGs are recruiting and clearly indicates that they dont care what char joins as long as they are going to log on as much as possible and get as much prestige as poss in that time.
Makes me question how many SGs actually care about their members, and how many just see them as cattle to farm, certainly from the few SGs Ive seen it does seem that you have a core group to the SGs and then the "chaff" they recruit to pay for their base.
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Makes me question how many SGs actually care about their members, and how many just see them as cattle to farm, certainly from the few SGs Ive seen it does seem that you have a core group to the SGs and then the "chaff" they recruit to pay for their base.
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I guessed this was going on in some SGs and hence the mercernary idea. So what if the SG elite don't care about you? So long as you get paid. Swap around enough SGs and you'll finally find one that doesn't work that way and may eventually find a home.
Could get very interesting once base raiding starts.
SG to Merc: We've just got our IoP and already we've got another SG ready to raid us. Can you be on at 9pm to help defend the base?
Merc to SG: Sure thing. My fee will be 500k payable in advance.
Seriously though, with the wealth in terms of influence likely to go out of the game over the next few months there's an opportunity to get some kind of economy going here... but that's a subject that deserves its own topic
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(O.O) Bunny: Our time is coming
(> <)
Just checking BTW, which server are you on? Unless you're on Union, I'm afriad I won't be able to hire you. :-(
As to how much 10K Pres is worth, I'd have to check my inf. I tend not to spend it much so I'd be quite generous with it I guess.
How about saying that the freelancer get 5 inf for each pres he earns the base.
As long as the SG has over 15 members does it still lose pres if a member quits?
I'd be happy to pay 5 inf/pres
Great idea. Only problem I can see is if a culture of almost everyone becoming a freelancer was created.
The Smoking Demon
Ash/Tar Corruptor
Union
@The Smoking Demon
But then there'd be no SGs for them to work for! I doubt it'll ever get that far as some toons will always want to actually build a base. Some will always want to stay in a cohesive SG for the social aspect. And some won't care and become freelancers. No worries.
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I'd be happy to pay 5 inf/pres
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I cant see you getting many people taking that on. Remember the ingame exchange rate is 500inf/pres. It's hard to say, my main is 42nd lvl so his requirements would price him straight out the market and it's so easy for him to make inf anyway it'd be pointless.
I'm toying with creating an alt and running him up to 10th and then go into business, by which time I'll know his inf requirements. In theory he should never have to go through the chronic inf shortages the mid-20s presented my main with, otherwise what would be the point?
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(O.O) Bunny: Our time is coming
(> <)
[ QUOTE ]
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I'd be happy to pay 5 inf/pres
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I cant see you getting many people taking that on. Remember the ingame exchange rate is 500inf/pres. It's hard to say, my main is 42nd lvl so his requirements would price him straight out the market and it's so easy for him to make inf anyway it'd be pointless.
I'm toying with creating an alt and running him up to 10th and then go into business, by which time I'll know his inf requirements. In theory he should never have to go through the chronic inf shortages the mid-20s presented my main with, otherwise what would be the point?
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I realise I'd be unlikely to get that kind of rate! I was just refering to Scyta's suggestion of 5 inf/pres.
Sorry, I'd replied to the wrong person
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(O.O) Bunny: Our time is coming
(> <)
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The whole idea of someone whos been in 50 Supergroups is scary. What do we call the badge? How about Easy, Loose, Liberal, Capricious or wanton?
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Sure this could lead to SG-sluts becomming a mainstay of the game, but given that the SG base system as developed by the devs rewards a rapid hire-fire cycle for SG management then it's a natural progression. I think the idea of being able to hire mercs to defend your base is great. You can expand it too - Imagine the first day you turn up in the Hollows as a level 5, faceplant a few times and then a figure emerges from the shadows and says in their best Cap'n Quint voice "I'll get you to your Frostfire mish for 10 pieces of salvage, but I'll kill him for 50!"
Ok, it'll never work until /em fingersdownblackboard is developed but I can dream.
If the freelancing thing picks up in the manner stated in a better post than this though, where everyone in the 10-24 bracket is for hire earning prestige and getting paid in inf then surely that's going to lead to a hike in DO and SO prices or mob difficulty to try and keep the challenge of the game stable? A solution would be the proposed 'player apartments' being paid for with inf rather than prestige, so you have somewhere to channel all the extra cash. Or unlockable costume pieces that cost prestige or inf before you can access them in the tailor.
A mercenary is likely to have a fairly short career. As his/her lvl increases so his inf/pres requirements will rise until he's eventually priced out of the market by lower lvl mercs.
If he wants to get his toon to 50 then he'll likely have to earn inf the old fashioned way. It might, however be an interesting method of making it through the inf crippling early 20s to mid 30s comfortably.
The higher lvl mercs may serve another function. Despite prestige not adjusting with lvl, higher lvl toons can still earn prestige MUCH faster than their lower lvl counterparts.
I can imagine a scenario that after a base raid, where all an SGs lovely toys are lying in ruins, but they managed to hold onto their IoP and are in a panic to rebuild as much as possible before the next raid.
They could contract in some heavyweights - established mercs who know how to raise 12-15k prestige in an hour to help with the prestige shortfall.
I like the idea of influence funded apartments - which could be cut down versions of the base editor - that a toon can call their own private space and has storage space for not just salvage, but also enhancements (I've always wanted to be able to store them).
I dunno, I think I'm being whistful about the whole thing but I could see it adding another dimension to the game.
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(O.O) Bunny: Our time is coming
(> <)
to be honest, I think this idea is a waste..I mean the whole point of SG bases/Raids is a SG effort.. members you have played the game with since day dot. - we would never want to have the feelin of lets hire people..that would be very degrading in my book, our SG is social and fun, we like to keep it that way. we earn our own prestige and build our base the way we like on our own terms and prestige. and not by somone who keeps spamming other SG's for this and that reason.
Also a lot of SG's dont have 5 mil inf just to throw for 100k prestige..(100k prestige is a days work) 5 mil is not!.. most people that play in SG mode now need all the inf they can get, and the ones that do have the inf is shared around the SG for the greater good!.
Also it can lead to problems later on. You will know what people have, security wise, or base layout... sure you can have an advantage that way but think of the team that you were hired by, and you saying.. Right lads the power gen is here, and IoP is here etc..I just dont buy the idea. although apparently lots of people do...
100k prestige represents about 50 man hours of (normal) play time. Anyone want to tell me how long it takes a lvl50 to earn 5 million influence? If I'm really banging at it I could do it in 10 hours, but I don't fancy 10 hours straight of that kind of play.
Having said that, 1 don't know where you got the 50:1 ratio from. I don't think I'd go any higher than 20:1 and probably be looking for closer to 10:1
So 100k prestige becomes 1 million influence and at 42nd lvl I can earn the latter quicker than the former.
The trust/espionage issue is an interesting point and one I hadn't considered - obviously that's up to the SG itself. Not everyone is going to have a raidable base - perhaps the main cusomter base will be fledgling SGs where getting an IoP is a distant prospect and thus security isn't an issue.
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(O.O) Bunny: Our time is coming
(> <)
But surely the trust issue is one that exists allready with SG members, especily as a large number of groups do recruit anyone and anything to get prestige.
The various SGs Ive been in and left, have never had any great feeling of group loyalty, especily amongst the new recruits who all know that in truth they are just prestige cows to be milked, this lack of loyalty increased recently when lots of people shifted over to COV so suddenly all us peasents were left in SGs where the ranking members had all bogged..but still asked us to keep grinding the prestige so there us peasents are, earning the rent for peoples bases with little chance of earning group rank or recognition.
But then a lot of this harkens back to the culture of scorn that exists on the net regarding new members/recruits/noobs.
-
Back to the security issues:
1: Improve relations with your SG members.
2: Ask for mercs/freelancers to not accept contracts opposed to your SG for a set period,or to give good notice if they do.
I have not built a base of my own , and have not looked into doing so as my chars dont need one yet.. But can you not move your defences around?
OK, I've had a think about mercs and security and come to the conclusion that you're SAFER with a merc than with any other new-ish recruit.
The reason for that is you KNOW he's just in it for the money, that he has no loyalty to the SG or its members. He could also be working as a spy for another SG. All these things you know.
But what about that quiet member you recruited a couple of months back who's been quietly gathering prestige and keeping an eye on your base and ready to tell his SG the MOMENT you park your first IoP and has a complete run of the base up until the raid starts. He could be taking screen shots and feeding them to the rest of the SG, whatever.
At least with a merc, you know where you stand and can boot him (paying him, or at least sending an email promosiing to rehire him after the raid) so there's no possibility of him feeding last minute intel to anyone.
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(O.O) Bunny: Our time is coming
(> <)
here's a thought about merc's for everyone.
lets say people start to merc this way, you basically have a verbal contract with someone else on the internet, someone you dont know, cant really trace (legally) and which really isnt all too legally binding.
say the merc is asked to earn 100k prestige and is offered 5mil inf for it. the merc agree's and works hard for a week or two and finally his lifetime total rolls over the 100k mark. he contacts the SG leader with whom the contract is with.
instead of his reward he gets kicked from the group.
whats a merc to do but put it about in broadcast that "player X of SG Y is a cheat"
and we have ourselves a flame war
it can also happen the other way round, merc demands money up front (for say helping on a base raid) and doesnt bother to show up, doesnt honour their side of the deal. flame war follows soon.
coming from a game where merc's rule and basically anything you want in terms of items to missions even to levels can be bought with enough in-game money this kind of griefing is common. in fact one area of the game on the server i played on i avoided purely because it was the place where people did just that, [censored] and moaned and complained and flamed each other 24 hours a day.
i'm talking about FFXI, check almost any forum on the game to see threads about merc's ripping people off or people ripping off merc's "just trying to earn some honest cash"
merc's have ruined that game. i really hope as much as this is a nice idea in principal it never happens. there is just too much chance for trouble
I'm not sure exactly where to post this but I thought since it's prestige related I'd put it here. Apologies if this isn't the right place.
I'm toying with the idea of freelancing. In that I sign on with an SG and agree to earn a fixed amount of prestige for them in return for a certain amount of influence.
For example - 100k prestige for 5 million influence.
Freelance is a nice way of putting it, I'm talking about becomming a mercenary.
The reason behind this is so that I don't have to care about people within the SG not pulling their weight or the long term future of the SG or my hard earned prestige being spent in a way I don't agree with blah blah.
I also thought since I'm fairly good at earning prestige (40k per week on average) maybe this is a way for the smaller SGs to get some much needed prestige without having to continually expand - simply hire someone for a few weeks and then off he goes, you get whatever it was you were saving up for and it's still just you and your mates.
Bear in mind, I'm EXTREMELY bored at the moment and at work, so forgive me if this is a stupid idea, but is there anyone out there who would consider a similar career choice, or would consider hiring such an individual?
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(O.O) Bunny: Our time is coming
(> <)