Warp "Services" Issues

[mikaile]

Because Bonnie made the Services thread personal, I have made a new thread here.

The original free basecrew status (not the one related to investments or subscriptions) will in future have limitation to not support competing services through advertisement or pilot tasks - it is considered a conflict of interest to support two services which run an competing schedule.

I am just curious how it is a conflict of interest. There are no trade secrets or special recipes to give away... what could be at risk that is defining the said conflict <removed>?

If you feel to take on such tasks on other ships you will have to take on a subscription on the Normandie instead of your previous free status to remain on the guestlist.

So you are telling your people you don't trust them although they have been with you since the beginning, but you will still let them participate on your ship if they pay? That is nice of you. That is a good way to demonstrate an example of the loyalty you demand and expect.

*****************************************
Introducing great new Bonuses for our Basecrew and Subscribers !!

From today you will be able to enter a competition to earn peds as you skill !!

...

Requirements:
You are an active member of the crew (participating on at least 3 scheduled nights per week).
You buy your tools and wires from me.
You gain a new point in intelligence.

I do give you a pat on the back for trying to come up with a way to make it seem that your crew / subscribers are earning something back... but the long and short of it is that you are having them pay you to pay them.

In general, I hope all warp services succeed - but honestly I think you are going to drive people away with all your rules and regulations. You can't control the game play of others in order to make the game do what you want (or wish) it would do.

Eventually people will wonder why they are chained to your flights, buying tools / wire from you because of the above mandate, and not allowed to crew other ships, and they will go somewhere else.

That being said, best of luck to you and to your business venture.

Sincerely,

Mik

 

[Dusk]

Maybe John just wants a crew thats dedicated to his fleet? I don't see that as unreasonable.

As for buying wires and RKs from him, I do believe he sells at below market price. Crew will have to buy them from somewhere, so why not on the cheap?

 

[Alainax]

As split from your other thread where Sakuba very wisely suggested you remove it for de-railing

-

Well Hello there Mikaile, here was me thinking we avoided drama

I am just curious how it is a conflict of interest. There are no trade secrets or special recipes to give away... what could be at risk that is defining the said conflict <removed>?

Its super simple, when things compete, lets say bussinesses, football teams, racing cars etc- if you are a supporter of one, and actively doing so lets say an employee, on the fan commitee or part of the pit crew team - can you imagine how the others in said team would feel knowing you are actively supporting the ones you are competing against? No agendas involved.

Its about having a strong faithful crew with a goal of all working together for the greater good

No one is saying that we want our crew only on our ships, thats silly and you jumping to conclusions - its simply that to be qualified for the loads of free warps, we ask you come abaord sometimes to keep up your free crew status, and to not advertise for other ships. Common sense really.

So you are telling your people you don't trust them although they have been with you since the beginning, but you will still let them participate on your ship if they pay? That is nice of you. That is a good way to demonstrate an example of the loyalty you demand and expect.

As you well know Normandie has a huge base crew, and most enjoy out 100+ warp flights every month completely free, as they have from the start. However those who dont join in as crew, cant be expected to recieve these 100+ free flights for life time its again super simple. It wouldnt be fair for those who pay for flights, if it was allowed to be this way

[
I do give you a pat on the back for trying to come up with a way to make it seem that your crew / subscribers are earning something back... but the long and short of it is that you are having them pay you to pay them.

<removed>

As it counts for free base crew also, they havent paid a penny and yet can still claim peds back Also, we sell wire and tools very very cheap

Far far better than never getting a chance at any peds back!! And ofc, we also offer a free skilling ship too for those who are not fussed about warp flights

All about choices

I really dont understand why this is effecting you so much, but I guess I could be niiave to your Agenda.

 

[mikaile]

here was me thinking we avoided drama

No drama, simply thoughts and questions that came to mind. Everyone has a right to an opinion. <removed>

Its about having a strong faithful crew with a goal of all working together for the greater good

Let's hope your peeps feel that way and continue to do so. I for one am skeptical, but again that is simply my opinion. It is possible your faithful crew and customers will completely accept the new impositions.

No one is saying that we want our crew only on our ships

Have you even read JBK's post? That is exactly what he is saying.

<removed>

I also don't know why you would choose to make this personal, both here and elsewhere. I was simply making observations about JBK's choices and wording <removed>.[/COLOR]
<removed>

 

[dr3w]

Can I say something as a customer?

Instead of all that pillow fight with stupid "skillings" and "loyal" crews - improve your logistics, please.

I mean - not when 99.9% transport is sitting on Collapso™ (from where most people easily flying EMPTY to any destination with quads) but distribute all your forces between planets from where people with loot want to go NOW to Collapso as trading hub.

Eve, proud VIP user (99% DOUBLE WARPS (except Top-Notch overpriced Best-Useless-SI-Ingame-MS)), with Love, forever yours and stuff like that. (smile.jpg)

PS: This is to ALL MS-owners.

 

[mikaile]

Agreed! It would be awesome if all the warp services could work together to provide round the clock cheap warp service to all.

 

[John B Knight]

Since mikaille (efa) already opened this new advertising thread for ToS Normandie's newest offer of paying our crew with rewards for skilling i guess i can say something on this matter

At first heres our new offer:

*****************************************
Introducing great new Bonuses for our Basecrew and Subscribers !!

From today you will be able to enter a competition to earn peds as you skill !!

At the start i will scan you to get your starting intelligence and VSE lvl.
Each time you gain an intelligence point, you will earn peds


--> You can claim your current VSE lvl or current Intelligence level, whichever is lower

Example 1:
Gaining intelligence to 41 while being VSE 43 - will entitle you for an reward of 41ped.
Exsample 2:
Gaining intelligence to 23 while being VSE 10 - will entitle you for an reward of 10ped.

Requirements:
You are an active member of the crew (participating on at least 3 scheduled nights per week).
You buy your tools and wires from me.
You gain a new point in intelligence.

Happy skilling everyone
*****************************************************

Yes thats right - in addition to our free skilling ship the Ark Royal we now also offer payed skilling on Normandie.
Which essentially means people can subscribe to the Normandie benefit from all our warpflights and even earn their entire subscription fee and more back through skilling while purchasing tools and wires below marketprice

And surprisingly enough mikaille doesnt like this offer - or maybe envies it - otherwise its hard to grasp why she tries to point something negative out in this.

In regards to your other concerns Alaina already gave you an perfect answer

 

[dr3w]

And not to be "empty-ranter" - here is idea (for free! for all! for humanity! for trees and wales!):

Most important is VIP-customers, scheduled flights is a... ok. (see? I can control myself!)

Especially nice, when there is several VIP-happy people. And if they "splitting" their warps - it's even better. That can mean - even ecofags can fly CHEAPER with them. How to detect several VIPs?

Entropia Tracker. All MS-owners know their VIP-clients who often calling MS's. What remains is - handy stats, where, who is right now, and active or not, etc. Ofc it should be "private" interface, or something like that.

Then MS-pilots can "adjust" themselves and silently move to "most potential" planets. For example - right now people massively hunting Pop Dragons at RT.

I think, Starfinder can implement that service.

 

[John B Knight]

Can I say something as a customer?

Instead of all that pillow fight with stupid "skillings" and "loyal" crews - improve your logistics, please.

I mean - not when 99.9% transport is sitting on Collapso™ (from where most people easily flying EMPTY to any destination with quads) but distribute all your forces between planets from where people with loot want to go NOW to Collapso as trading hub.

Eve, proud VIP user (99% DOUBLE WARPS (except Top-Notch overpriced Best-Useless-SI-Ingame-MS)), with Love, forever yours and stuff like that. (smile.jpg)

PS: This is to ALL MS-owners.

if you use to many vip warps , why did you never consider subscribing to ToS Normandie Eve ? our subscribers enjoy vip flights at 20ped per jump - cheaper then anywhere else - should safe you some ped
And yes you were spot on space transport providers should work together to provide a good coverage, i also dont know why so many run their flights at the same times as Normandie which has established scheduled flights at those times from the very start

 

[dr3w]

if you use to many vip warps , why did you never consider subscribing to ToS Normandie Eve ? our subscribers enjoy vip flights at 20ped per jump - cheaper then anywhere else - should safe you some ped
And yes you were spot on space transport providers should work together to provide a good coverage, i also dont know why so many run their flights at the same times as Normandie which has established scheduled flights at those times from the very start

John, I really don't care - will it be 20 or 50. What I care only about - TIME. And I think, most people who using MSes often will agree with me.

Yes, I'm aware that I will never get speed of Stationary Teleport.

Also I don't want to mess with any subscriptions and stuff like that. I am lazy and dumb, with bad memory and habits, I just want to open FL (like I doing now), find my pilots *advertisement of Narfi's services was censored* and msg: "take my shiny ass from X to Collapso, please!"

Too much "I am"'s of course. But even IRL, big companies have databases of their clients, and working with them.

 

[Hella]

And yes you were spot on space transport providers should work together to provide a good coverage, i also dont know why so many run their flights at the same times as Normandie which has established scheduled flights at those times from the very start

John, from what I have seen by watching my FL and talking to many my friends who are active MS owners, the reason that their scheduled warps are the same times as yours.....well, that is when they play.

This may be due to work times or timezones they live in, but they shouldn't have to quit their job or move just to schedule at a different time than Normandie. I personally respect all the MS owners who are trying to make a business of this. And although you have taken me off your crew, I still tell people about your service as one of the safest options for traveling in space.

At this point since I have been staying on planet instead of skilling in space. And when helping new players I inform them of all 3 of the most active space services including websites (although since I have been spending my time helping new players most of them do not wish to spend 100ped for a subscription).

 

[John B Knight]

John, I really don't care - will it be 20 or 50. What I care only about - TIME. And I think, most people who using MSes often will agree with me.

Yes, I'm aware that I will never get speed of Stationary Teleport.

Also I don't want to mess with any subscriptions and stuff like that. I am lazy and dumb, with bad memory and habits, I just want to open FL (like I doing now), find my pilots *advertisement of Narfi's services was censored* and msg: "take my shiny ass from X to Collapso, please!"

Too much "I am"'s of course. But even IRL, big companies have databases of their clients, and working with them.

See its great that you have Narfi operating in your main gametime and that he offers a service where he can keep you on guestlist all the time even when he isnt on. Its all about choice

 

[Dusk]

Below is what I understand to be a fairly current list of mothership owners. Now I don't know the majority of them, but if you can identify any that are in places like Australia/New Zealand/far east or the Americas then maybe ask them why they don't run passenger services in the times that they are online.

1 - Bismark - Milela Sakuma Wilnfe
2 - Saratoga - Rudolph the reindeer
3 - Yamato - Eugenio Anhithe Wilde
4 - Fortune - Zachurm Deathifier Emegen
5 - MacReady - John MacReady on behalf of Narfi Hungry Willem - formerly known as Revenge owned by Jon NEVERDIE Jacobs
6 - Victory - Miss Hoff Bad
7 - Thule - Sara Chibi Taylor
8 - Ticonderoga - Hooligan on behalf of BlackAngels
9 - Kronan - Sbinortz Sbi Latz' tek
10 - Krusenstern - Modified Akoz Power
11 - Enterprise - Zek z3kdark3r Darker
12 - Alabama - Augis Auktuma Tumas
13 - Normandie - John Black Knight
14 - Varyag - danotti magic pandora
15 - Gagarin - George Ace Skywalker
16 - Dreadnought - Taxi Goblin Goldy
17 - Ark Royal - John Black Knight

 

[dr3w]

See its great that you have Narfi operating in your main gametime and that he offers a service where he can keep you on guestlist all the time even when he isnt on. Its all about choice

Fun is: those guys (AFAIK) mostly US-guys. I am from Zimba.. errr, Europe.

But I can rarely remember times, when all pilots from them wasn't online. And my playtime is chaotic, by the way.

Anyway, it's not about THEM, it's about my dream: when I msg to pilot, and IN MINUTE I getting summon window. For now it's just dream.

 

[Fishface]

Below is what I understand to be a fairly current list of mothership owners. Now I don't know the majority of them, but if you can identify any that are in places like Australia/New Zealand/far east or the Americas then maybe ask them why they don't run passenger services in the times that they are online.

I assume you are referring to Sakuba and the Bismarck by that. That one is easy enough to answer.
Sakuba does, actually, provide service on Australia time. He does VIP flights almost non-stop on the busy days. But most often, during those times there aren't enough people online to justify a full schedule of flights.

The whole idea behind EFA's scheduled warp flights is to make it such that people can travel affordably. Running a full schedule on Aussie time wouldn't work, because the whole concept behind the flight schedules is that the number of passengers to all of the planets combined is enough to pay for the entire schedule's flights. So then if you don't have any passengers going to NI, but you have someone there who may be looking for a flight, he knows that you will still come because the profits from the more popular planets are used to defray the costs to the least traveled.


As far as in the Americas, I'm in the US, and his flight schedule is right on the money for me. He is flying during the time that I'm playing (early afternoon), and he continues on for the entire night here, in case I'm playing late.

Even if he's offline, I know I can go onto www.efa.ms and click his "Mumble" link to connect me to his voice server where I can ask whatever crew is on for a VIP, and someone there will call him and he'll usually be able to log in just to make my VIP. So as an American, it's very convenient for me. And because there are so many ships in Entropia Fleet Alliance, the odds that someone is not only available, but also on the same planet as me goes up tremendously. This saves me time. I like that.

 

[Dusk]

When I posted that I didn't realise Sakuba was in Australia (Deathifier, on the other hand...)

From what you've said it sounds like there are flights available around the clock. This in turn makes me wonder why people are talking about service providers operating during the same timeslots.

 

[Fishface]

Because the only time that you can run a full schedule of flights is when there are enough people online. Right now, the peak times are right around 1900-0000 MA time. So that's when many of the services will do their main schedule, just as that's when most of the radio stations will do their main shows, and that's the same time slot when I did most of my events/contents in the past. It's prime time in EU at that time.
For one person to want to claim exclusivity to a time slot isn't really realistic, I'd say.

 

[Dusk]

Because the only time that you can run a full schedule of flights is when there are enough people online. Right now, the peak times are right around 1900-0000 MA time. So that's when many of the services will do their main schedule, just as that's when most of the radio stations will do their main shows, and that's the same time slot when I did most of my events/contents in the past. It's prime time in EU at that time.
For one person to want to claim exclusivity to a time slot isn't really realistic, I'd say.

Has anyone actually claimed exclusivity though? I think JBK said he'd run services at that time from the outset, and inferred an attitude of "why should I move?"

You identify 1900-0000 MA as peak time. Why wouldn't all services run then?

 

[narfi]

Below is what I understand to be a fairly current list of mothership owners. Now I don't know the majority of them, but if you can identify any that are in places like Australia/New Zealand/far east or the Americas then maybe ask them why they don't run passenger services in the times that they are online.

MacReady and XXIV are both active during Australia/New Zealand/Asia,
That was one of my main goals when starting up EntropiaTransport.com since I had seen the most requests for that time.

Unfortunately, there is more than just the times that the owners are playing effecting things here.
There are busy times and there are dead times in Entropia, it is logical that most of the Mothership owners running a scheduled service will target the busy times, it would be economical suicide to do otherwise.

I have the rare advantage of time on my side for getting a return on investment because of the way I obtained my ships. (sure I could have bought 2+ Motherships if I had stayed at work an extra 2-3 hrs every night during the event instead of 5+hrs hunting, but my actual money invested(lost) into it was much smaller)

Because of this and because of the over 200 low to mid lvl players who helped me achieve my dreams that I decided to open up as many options for those players and players like them as I could. This means operating for less profit and servicing the players who play during the quieter times of day and those who have lower budgets. (they have time but not ped)

If an owner buys a ship, they need to operate during those busy times, and this is why you see multiple services all operating at similar times. That is when they play, and that is when their customers and potential customers play.

For my personal use, I would prefer a different schedule for my ships, that can match my own playing time better,(both tos and efa have better schedules for my personal play times) but I think that the more diverse we can make our services the better, it will present options to all players from all time zones and all budgets.

The other issue is manpower and trust.
It takes a lot of logistics to run just a simple one flight schedule 4-5 days a week and make sure you have the proper crew ready for each flight. The more ships become active the more diluted the base of players interested in this sort of activity becomes. It is possible that there just aren't enough people wanting to 'live' in space as crew during the Asian time zones. (lets face it, it cost every crew man 2ped + a thruster use each flight unless they want to live in space without ever going to the planets)

During the 6 month Thing event where I won the MacReady I was handing out thousands of ped a night to players helping me, that is a lot of time to build trust and build a list of potential Captains and crew from.
Any normal player, or new MS owner starting out wont have that, and will need to be much more involved with micro-management, it is exhausting.

Diversity is good, but I think we need to be careful to remember that even in competition, that the ship owners are on the same side, and that the pirates are on the other side.

I think we will see more and more time zones covered as owners like JBK add ships to his fleet, the EFA alliance grows, and new active owners start participating in the space.
They both have good working models to grow upon, and I think that will be good for all the players.

 

[Sakuba]

"Entropia Fleet Alliance" is a collective of "Space Services" who have similar beliefs, aims, and standards. Our main aims are to provide an affordable, secure means for Entropia Participants to move themselves, and their stackables between Planets. We also offer Hunting Trips and/or Services, as well as many Training Services. Some of these "Services/Sessions" are free of charge, and others come at a price. We have very few rules or conditions that we insist that our members and/or clientele abide by.

Each "Warp Capable Ship Owner" (Mothership and Privateer Owners) is free to set and enforce standards of behaviour and conduct upon their own ship. Foe example:

On the Bismarck.
RK5's are sold at a minimum price of 11 PED, and Welding Wire at a minimum price of 200%. Both RK5,s and Welding Wire can be obtained at lower prices elsewhere. This "Service/Standard" is offered as a matter of convenience and affordability. Not everyone can afford the 4000+ PED per month required to burn through more than 200 RK5's. The average Player/Participants affordable range is most likely a lot closer to 10 or 20 RK5's per week, and even this many is not a sustainable quantity to be continuos. Even this runs at a cost of 200 PED to 400 PED per week.

Training Sessions on the Bismarck are also minimal, and problematic, and usually restricted to Subscription Members. Please keep in mind that a 5 PED Fare with the Bismarck or Kronan on a Scheduled Flight, is considered a Daily Subscription Fee.

The problems here come more from the number of VIP Flights I do more than anything else. In addition to the 20 Scheduled Warps Per week that the Bismarck does, I also do an additional 10 VIP Flights or more per day. In total athe Bismarck uses close to 2 warp drives per week.

I could say that in the 8 Months since taking possession of the Bismarck, we alone have done an excess of, 2000 successful warps with a 100% success rate. Once you take off the "Rose Colored Glassess" you can see every warp any ship does is successful. It is the small problems that may occur before, and after the actual warp that can be detrimental.

These problems may simply be Pirates wanting to harrass the Service, or any Service for that matter.

They can also be caused by Clients who are new and uneducated to how Space Travel actually works, due to lack of knowledge or misleading information.

It can aslo be due to clients who choose not to follow, or for some reason do not understand fully the instructions given when travelling on a warp ship with stackables.

Overall Entropia Fleet Alliances main aim is to provide a sustainable service to a growing Entropia Player Base by putting affordability to the average player ahead of profitability to the individual service or ship owner. It is my personal belief that along with a growing Player Base will also come a growing Profit Base. Entropia Fleet Alliance is open to anyone who is willing to follow these simple beliefs and standards. It is not our intent to begrudge anyone the right to work or travel with any other service at any time.

I do understand that the purchase of a Mothership or a Privateer is a considerable investment. I also realise that those who spend these large amounts need to see a viable return on their investments. I feel I am looking for a longer term return on my investment than others may be and I fully understand this. Sadly, this can create a conflict of interests with beliefs and costings. It is my personal hope we can eventually get past these differences and work closer together in the future.

 

[Charlie Stokes]

Fun is: those guys (AFAIK) mostly US-guys. I am from Zimba.. errr, Europe.

But I can rarely remember times, when all pilots from them wasn't online. And my playtime is chaotic, by the way.

Anyway, it's not about THEM, it's about my dream: when I msg to pilot, and IN MINUTE I getting summon window. For now it's just dream.

go ahead dreaming just tell how you want to stop the train or the plane, going on schedule, in real life - as i always say - the MS´s are the spacetrains. Only in free moments they are able to operate on your wish if they are on schedule flights.

and btw. there are enough taxiservices around that you can use if you dont mind the ped. but please dont think that regular schedule flights are broken up only because someone wants to do a warp flight and we have to wait for it hours and hours and then recieve the msg that you stay on mining and it all was only a waste of time