Militias expanded: A ward against crime and vermin

Militias expanded: A ward against crime and vermin
This idea/suggestion is Open. You can respond to ask questions or discuss the idea and either vote it up or down if you believe it should or should not be implemented, respectively. Popular suggestions and ideas will be considered by the development team to become reality in-game.

ieptav

Proposal
(This is partially a suggestion in two parts, but the militia can just refer to players, or players who reside in the city and not those who specifically are able to grant zoning access.)

Every 1-3 months a city could be besieged by lawless criminals or infested by vermin (which consists of enemies available in that planet's mission terminal). To counteract this threat, the city militia can run missions to mitigate the severity of these threats and reduce the likeliness of the event taking place. If the event does occur, enemies related to the event type will spawn inside the city and a certain threshold will need to be eliminated before the event is over. During the event there could be increased taxes(via extortion) or maintenance fees(due to property damage) to coincide with the theme of the invading enemy. City management terminals would allow players to see the severity or likelihood of an invasion.

To make it easier on developing cities the maximum severity of these invasions can be reduced on a scale depending on the level the city is currently at.

If there needs to be additional incentives to make it not overly punishing and instead more rewarding, there could be a bonus in credits for missions that is of an enemy type of a higher severity.

Part 2: The "militia" conundrum
Regarding militias, in this scenario these could be more like a city guard appointed by the mayor who can run missions potentially from a mission terminal exclusive to members of said militia.

Militias as we know it right now could be renamed to militia captains or simply city officials who have the authority to grant zoning laws and ban players from said city's services.

This is mostly fluff that could be discarded from the main idea if needed.
Justification
There are plenty of under utilized player cities within the game, systems like this could push players into being more active within their own cities, or taking missions in other cities throughout the galaxy. This would of course negatively impact cities financially who have an inactive playerbase but this could be offset by good samaritans who can help eliminate these threats for them whether it is before or after they become a problem.
Motivation
The world of Star Wars is often a lawless and dangerous place, and yet player cities feel like idyllic settlements untouched by the threats that loom outside. It would be cool if players had to take a more active role in protecting their homes, and give them the opportunity to protect other settlements as well.
I am totally aware that this idea will likely need iterating based off of feedback, but I still think the core of it would be a good addition to the game.
 
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Posting so I can downvote.
What's the benefit for me, as a mayor, or just living in a city? This looks like all stick and no carrot.
The failure rate on cities on Resto is very high. I don't think you get how tough it is to just keep a city from dying.
 
To be fair I did overlook the player base who dislikes the lair type pve gameplay loop when I thought of this.

A potential replacement for the increased taxation or maintenance for not participating in this gameplay loop would be a maintenance waiver for times of peace, if your city is proactively protected the upkeep costs will be reduced, if not then you get some non aggressive mobs walking around while paying the normal as it currently is maintenance fees.

If the devs would ever consider it, the same system but aggressive mobs would make a neat risk/reward for having a player city on dangerous planets such as Dathomir, Endor, or Yavin.
 
Like Savacc, I am wondering what the upside is for Mayors. It sounds like at best this is effectively an increased tax and at worst it's a situation that will drive people out of cities. Imagine being a level 1 crafter and not being able to leave your house for long periods of time even to leave to the city?

There are ways to generate "raids on the city" if that is what the citizens want. You can use the Storyteller system to generate attackable NPCs that people who want to participate can fight. Those who don't want to get involved (the level 1 crafter above) don't need to join the story.

I am all for adding features to Player Cities, but I think it needs to be something that will increase the likelihood of city sustainability. This idea could be interesting if it offered a reward on par with the risk.
 
nuri2k said:
Like Savacc, I am wondering what the upside is for Mayors. It sounds like at best this is effectively an increased tax and at worst it's a situation that will drive people out of cities. Imagine being a level 1 crafter and not being able to leave your house for long periods of time even to leave to the city?

There are ways to generate "raids on the city" if that is what the citizens want. You can use the Storyteller system to generate attackable NPCs that people who want to participate can fight. Those who don't want to get involved (the level 1 crafter above) don't need to join the story.

I am all for adding features to Player Cities, but I think it needs to be something that will increase the likelihood of city sustainability. This idea could be interesting if it offered a reward on par with the risk.
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Yeah, you make a valid point which I briefly touched upon in my response to savacc, as it is right now there could be little to no incentive in forcing combat onto a town of non combatants. It is a step down from the original idea but essentially having a non aggressive occupation or infestation would be the only viable solution to having non combat players avoid death in this situation, though it makes the threat of said raid as real as a bunch of story teller props, which also goes against the intention of the original idea. The incentive as previously mentioned in a reply above could also be a waiver of maintenance fees as opposed to a tax punishment if people don't participate.

Alas, back to the drawing board with this idea.
 
most of our efforts re cities is 1\ condensing population centers and 2\ counteracting urban sprawl; part of the incentive structure around that is currently planned to be the opposite of this, that is, a city is a safe space, but choosing to domesticate in unincorporated territory is dangerous and could potentially subject you to different levels of difficulty that come along with living without societal protections like a militia; so I don't really see this going anywhere because it wouldn't fit with the other stuff we're doing, but will leave open for continued discussion
 
ieptav said:
Yeah, you make a valid point which I briefly touched upon in my response to savacc, as it is right now there could be little to no incentive in forcing combat onto a town of non combatants. It is a step down from the original idea but essentially having a non aggressive occupation or infestation would be the only viable solution to having non combat players avoid death in this situation, though it makes the threat of said raid as real as a bunch of story teller props, which also goes against the intention of the original idea. The incentive as previously mentioned in a reply above could also be a waiver of maintenance fees as opposed to a tax punishment if people don't participate.

Alas, back to the drawing board with this idea.
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Think about this:

What if you took systems in the game and used them to (effectively) give you what you want?

Incentivize those cities/mayors that hold Storyteller events in town.
These events could scale based on city size and participants. The larger the event, the better 'payout'.
Maybe that payout is better decorations, reduced fees, etc..
You can get the same effect, but using the game mechanics we already have.

This would create cities as places where people would want to be so that they could partake. It would give the Mayors something to work towards. It could be a revenue producer for the vendors/docs/entertainers.
 
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Posting to downvote. The server is already small and cities are not an easy thing to build/maintain. This would only harm cities IMO.
 
As I said on Discord I would be completely against this if it was forced. Player Cities are safe havens and I like that. Now, if you could have a specific city specialization that a mayor could choose to bring such a dynamic in, that would be a possibility. And as others have suggested here, the use of the Storyteller System could fulfill this role.
 
Aconite said:
most of our efforts re cities is 1\ condensing population centers and 2\ counteracting urban sprawl; part of the incentive structure around that is currently planned to be the opposite of this, that is, a city is a safe space, but choosing to domesticate in unincorporated territory is dangerous and could potentially subject you to different levels of difficulty that come along with living without societal protections like a militia; so I don't really see this going anywhere because it wouldn't fit with the other stuff we're doing, but will leave open for continued discussion
Click to expand...
Ohh I like this idea! The thought of been attacked in the wilderness for braving it out on your own.

Survival of the fittest!
 
I am going to have to agree with those who have mentioned that this effect could be better achieved through the use of the Chronicles and Storyteller systems, which players actively consent to participate in. If a city's inhabitants want to do something like this, the tools already exist.
 
We have had events like this before in player cities, (Giant mutations escape the lab comes to mind) Just coordinate with the dev team for a day and have a server event this would let people opt out if they don't want to participate in your city story. going to down vote.
 
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