New Game Features Builders for hire

[DeletedUser]

Hello,

Need is the mother of invention being in a situation where i can't utilize all my builders at the moment and waiting at the bottle neck of a tech tree to start producing third gen magical goods, this idea just formulated

[Summary] - Enable players within a fellowship to hire out their builders when not needed. This can be in exchange for coins, or a limited set of goods.

[Details] - A player that has excess goods and only 2 builders that are busy, can set up a transaction with a player that has excess builders and a need of those goods to benefit both and encourage working in fellowships.

e.g. I currently have 4 builders, I do not have the population to upgrade the main hall, and do not have the gems/elixir/dust to upgrade the houses to get more people. I can potentially upgrade workshops, but then i have even less people. Obvious opportunity cost for me, and i'm sure the situation happens to many.

Idea is to be able to put up 2 of my workers to be hired and in exchange, get the goods/coins i need around the city.

Balancing the price may be interesting because extra builders are bought by diamonds only, but it would encourage people to join fellowships and be able to exchange.

How: a workmarket of sorts would be set up, similar functionality to trader, with wholesaler options (deactivates one of your builders for a day and you get say 100 silk) and fellowship options (allow a fellow to hire & use my builder for 3hrs/9hrs/1day/2days for 50/90/250/400 silk) exact values to be calculated according to yield.

To limit any exploitation by premium users, limiting the hiring out of a user's builders to the original 2 is maybe an option.

[Reasons for implementing] - help make tactical players more efficient. added incentive to join fellowships. encourages discussion and comms between players to sort out the details. people can get needed goods/builders and do more to advance in the game.

[Impact on other game features] - Extra workmarket window/system needed. can be replicated from the trader system with minor changes. and can sit at the bottom of the UI next to trader as well.
Little icons on top of traders hut to signal extra/missing builder

 

[DeletedUser66]

I like the idea and I would certainly make use of it if it were available. But there is a problem...

Builders are connected to the premium system. If builders were made available for hire, players wouldn't use Diamonds to buy them - it would be seen as a revenue loss.

 

[DeletedUser]

Agree that it's a tricky situation, though depending on yield and what you get in return for hiring them out, Inno could balance it out.

Also, depending on how you look at it, I know i certainly had doubts adding that 4th builder (was so expensive!) having this option can potentially alleviate that doubt and motivate people to buy extra builders because not only will they help you right now (at the begining when you really can use all the builders you can get), but you could also hire them out later on for perks, so longterm investment as well.

If all else fails to manage the yield and keep it profitable, there could be a small fee of diamonds (5 or less?) to accept/offer hiring a builder.
That way it would be a test try as well for as of yet non-diamond-buyers to see how much difference an extra builder would make, and encourage them to buy diamonds to get more builders... the implications are many..

If it's a relevant user feature, which i believe it is and seems you agree, then i'm hopeful enough that Inno can find a way to monetize

 

[DeletedUser66]

While I like the idea and would support it - I can honestly say now that the chances of this happening is very very low. In fact, you would have a better chance getting a feature added that allows you to hire a builder from the system for x amount of diamonds over a certain duration of time. The premium system is purposely set this way so that if a player would like to progress faster, they can make use of the premium currency. You must also remember, progression is not that much faster having more builders - you are still hindered by the research tree and waiting to unlock the new technologies.

InnoGames doesn't seem to like changing their premium system in a live game unless it is absolutely necessary, perhaps to balance an unforeseen problem out for example.

This is my opinion from experience I've had with managing another game InnoGames provides.

 

[DeletedUser]

Makes sense. I work in monetization, not of games, but online products just the same, and understand the need to steer clear off of the existing revenue streams - That said, I'm hoping they see it as a means to expand into untapped revenue potential.

Hiring directly from the system for x diamonds would still be a cool feature imo, doesnt help my current situation, but low hanging fruit revenue wise, and a neat user experience too.

 

[cwgiii]

I like this idea. Open the free market. All resources should be open for trade (coin, supplies, relics, runes, military units, buildings, etc.)