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Dec-6-2007 17:08

It has been brought up before that without ways to remove cash from circulation any game economy is in long term trouble. Sleuth currently has at least five such money sinks available to all subscribed players:
Travel Costs
Bribes
Detective/Faction Shops
Real Estate
Shady Character

Travel and Bribes function well. Shops incur mostly one time expenses from low to mid experience characters. Real Estate (with the exception of Agency Rent) incurs a one time expense from mid to high experience characters. Shady really seems to be the biggest money sink of the game, and is really the reason for this thread. Having said that...

THIS IS NOT A THREAD ABOUT ALTERING THE SHADY SYSTEM!
(see "Beating a Dead Horse" if that's your thing, there are also other threads for non-money related ideas)

It's just that the money sink function of Shady is a big justification for keeping the current system. If we can come up with some new money sinks, maybe we can make some progress on that other front.

I'm looking for ideas that won't significantly change gameplay or create unbalance in the game. Ideas that appeal to all high experience detectives (not just the ones with FAs) and agencies are best, cause that's where the money is.

Dec-10-2007 08:42

Well I dont believe I ever said the retirement issue wasnt allowed nor did I tell people what to do. Hence the words IN MY OPINION. If older agents who have been around awhile want to take the easy way out and use it, thats fine. But my fear is newer players will see it as an easy out option without understanding the ramifications of their actions. And I dont think it should be thrown out there as an option when discussing issues as alot of us dont want to have to retire our detectives just to change contacts or pay off shady.

**DISCLAIMER** The above mentioned comments are solely the Opinion of the writer. They are in no way trying to tell someone what to or advise of what is legal and or illegal in the game of sleuth.

P.S. You know what they say about opinions. ;-)

Dec-10-2007 12:45

*raises her hand and waves it around* I do roamie! :)

in *my* opinion (which I know everyone loves hearing), this is not even worth arguing cuz its not ever something I would consider. I like the permanence of contacts (especially the ones I quit a considerable amount of favors to get), so I will be keeping mine, thank you.

And I'm of the same opinion that I, personally, would never use retirement as part of my game strategy. I've worked too hard to get the experience I have to throw it away cuz I want new contacts.

Dec-10-2007 13:53

I know I've been pushing the idea pretty hard, but I must confess that the only times I would want to drop a contact is if I switched agencies (and I like where I'm at), if my agency switched cities (and we found that our contacts clash), or if I pick up a bad contact in an overzealous pursuit of a lost treasure. So what's my motive? I brought it up because I noticed it has been a pretty constant complaint throughout the history of the message boards, and I think it'd add to the game.

I can also see where one would want to dump a contact they picked up before joining an agency, in their early days of sleuthing. That's why I'm a bigger fan of the scale idea (handled properly), since it makes the service expensive, but still assessable to relative newbies (like me) who might want the option.

Regardless, I know I DON'T want to false out. The other consequences are too great for me to handle.

Dec-10-2007 15:11

Yeah you're right roamie. I apologise. I just obviously read more into something than there was there. I usually read your 'opinion' with interest, and even amusement, rather than skepticism, so as the youngsters say 'my bad'.

I think the only point I should have made, was, rightly or wrongly :) falsing outfor new contacts is an option. Not a pretty one, not one the feature was designed for, but one that is a legitimate game play option.

Whether players, old or new, take it up is of course completely and utterly up to them.

Newer players can already see that some older players are for it and some against it, and that either / either, no-one would be criticised for using it.

Now sorry Jesse... changing a contact... great idea lol

May-11-2014 09:48

Some ideas already on the boards, on how to dump a contact, the first three, I'd love to see implemented:

At the end of every VH, if the co-conspirator is one of your contacts, you have the option of dumping that contact (can you trust them any more, after they've been harbouring the very villain you're after while you go traipsing around the city trying to find that villain?! You'd thought that contact was your friend! (a little bit melodramatic, but hey, betrayal generally is). This makes the choosing random enough, and you'll have to wait a bit, just as you wait for a favour for a townie you'd like as a contact; you could even include a big enough fee (so that people don't make a habit out of it) as a "good-bye and thanks for everything", and after that you'd have to go contact-hunting as usual. (ctown and Anikka)


You could choose if you want to keep a contact, when somebody *offers* to be your contact. The "offering" is kinda important here, because usually the townie just foists themselves on you, deciding that they're indebted to the saviour who brought their friend's killer to justice (doesn't that get *so* annoying? :D) If this change is effected, people who already have their contacts could change any contacts they wished to by 1) the VH-co-conspirator-contact-betrayal method (which could maybe be implemented...?) or 2) something else (??)


Then there's the massive pay-off method.


And the retirement method. Which comes with unwanted side-effects (the unpreventable ones being losing Faction standings (are Shangri-La faction standings affected?)) and loss of skill points and XP proportionate to the skill points lost (which isn't that much of a big deal for dets who've already got all their skills, and don't really need the skill points, most of which are lying unused (not counting their usage in the search for artefacts) anyway. And losing XP does nothing more than bruise your ego, unless there's some other dastardly effect I've missed).