New NPC or extra options for traders for market deeds

[Anothernoob 102]

After spending hours and hours looking for good deals in Freedom Market and even opening empty merchants (and resetting their timer and so not letting them to leave their stalls) I thought that it would be a good idea to either make an NPC or add an extra option for traders to avoid similar problems in the future. 

 

The NPC would allow the following:

 

1. Having merchants on the same deed sharing info about their inventory with him.

2. Providing searching and sorting functions to possible customers.

3. Providing directions to the location of a merchant having a specific item (like 5 tiles north, 3 tiles west from here).

4. Giving basic info to the mayor about the activity of the linked merchants (like when it sold something for the last time)

 

Possible problems:

 

1. The NPC will need to be able to talk to multiple persons simultaneously which is different to the way that most dialogues with NPCs work now. The good news is that as far as the market NPCs don't allow transactions to be carried out through them and give directions to the merchants instead their implementation will be easier and their function safer. 

 

2. Some players may not want their merchant to be giving info. There is an easy way to fix this: Make linking optional and have every player with a merchant placed within the deed going to the NPC with the contract activated and selecting "link to market index" or a something like that to enable this.

[Shrimpiie 3,665]

So make a lazy mode so you don't have to walk around as much?

[Anothernoob 102]

So make a lazy mode so you don't have to walk around as much?

Edited September 16, 2014 by Anothernoob

[JDBooker 344]

I'd like to have a management list. so that my allies/villagers (or anyone i name) can restock my merchants or collect the money for me.

if i have a villager who is a smith, and a villager who is a carpenter, they should both be able to sell on my village merchant.

[joedobo 1,187]

+1

 

This is not the first time a player has realized some form of a information index would be very useful. I think one of the bigest issues holding back Wurm's market is a lack of infromation for: " Who, has what, where, and for how much?" How encompassing this might be can vary a lot and keep in mind all these ideas would still require that the player has to go directly buy from the merchant ...

 

1. An API for each merchant which lets players quarry stocking levels outside of game. You use it to checks merchant stocks and updates the listing. This is the way it would be If I had could make it so.

 

2. A way for Merchant's owners to do a data dump of the merchants inventory and maybe some past sales data. The data dump would go to the player computer and is in CSV format. This makes it very easy for merchant owners to upload stocking levels and could pave the way to player made information indexes.

 

3. Some kind of a bulletin board which must be placed on deed and it checks and lists all goods on merchants for that deed. It should have sort functions.

Edited September 17, 2014 by joedobo