Earning Money

[corynne_ryan]

Money is a big part of the game, but there are so few ways to earn it. The discussion area is super full, so this may never be seen, unfortunately. The devs are also busy making improvements and following some sort of planned schedule.

Anyway, I thought it would be interesting to have a sort of general store that could be built where goods could be bought and sold. Also, maybe a blacksmith where you could melt down guns into iron or something, that way you could just sell the iron instead of individual prices being allotted to the guns.

Does anyone have any other ideas dedicated solely to ways that could be utilized for earning money?


Edit: People have brought up points that money is not impossible to make in the game. While not on topic regarding this discussion, I will address the issue so as to avoid any unnecessary and unwanted comments on this discussion thread.

* No, this discussion is not about creating an economy. It is about earning money. This is not concerned with delving into the mechanics behind the game, but rather simple general suggestions as to what could be added. Not how it would work. While you are free to add this, please do not add anything that could be perceived as rude, dismissive, or irrelevant when pertaining to this discussion topic.

* Yes, I am aware that it is possible to earn money in this game. However, that's not at all relevant to this discussion topic.

* Please be aware of the fact that this thread has been created for the sole purpose of people commenting suggestions as to what could be implemented in the game that could be utilized for earning money or would maybe have other applications!

All ideas are welcome except for those that are not!

Note: If you have something to say that runs along the lines of "You can make tons of money in the game!" then please take yourself out of this thread.

Thank you for keeping this discussion polite, courteous, and on topic!

[Medicus]

There is an auctioneer in the game where you can trade stuff for money or the other way around.. Money is easy to get at this point, just kill bandits untill you have 200$ then buy the goldtrader from a mailbox, then you can sell the goldbars you get from bandits and pretty fast have enough gold for a tier 2 mine, now you farm gold in the mine and trade it into $$ from this point on money is just no problemos

[corynne_ryan]

Originally posted by Medicus:

There is an auctioneer in the game where you can trade stuff for money or the other way around.. Money is easy to get at this point, just kill bandits untill you have 200$ then buy the goldtrader from a mailbox, then you can sell the goldbars you get from bandits and pretty fast have enough gold for a tier 2 mine, now you farm gold in the mine and trade it into $$ from this point on money is just no problemos

The auctioneer isn't actually an answer for money. That only works in fully-formed multiplayer servers. Single player and less popular servers are cut off from that option immediately.
I am aware that you get gold bars from bandits by killing them. However, this option is not plausible earlier in the game, and it is a huge hassle to go all over the map. It would be great for there to be alternatives, despite there being two options to gain it, hence me directly saying in my original post: "Money is a big part of the game, but there are so few ways to earn it."

My main point is that some diversity and alternatives to that path would be an interesting thing to follow. Thanks for your response though!

[Atomblonde]

Why is "money a big part of the game"? I mean tbh we really don't need it for anything, except the mine but why do we need the mine, for gold but that's it.

[corynne_ryan]

Originally posted by atomblonde:

Why is "money a big part of the game"? I mean tbh we really don't need it for anything, except the mine but why do we need the mine, for gold but that's it.

I consider it a big part of the game due to its importance regarding hiring guards. Also, as the game is still in development, I expect that further uses for money will be implemented. I'm excited to see where it all goes! Also, it would be fun just to have other ways to work through stuff and gain monetarily instead of hoarding a bunch of random items.

[Merck]

Once the railroad gets further updated, that will create another demand for resources, which the mine can provide much better than most other spots.

But currently funds are not the real hard to acquire, since all you have to do is leave an area then go to approximate area that last seen bandits. Rinse & repeat. Then if make first purchase a Gold Exchange, you will be able to "cash-out" your gold. From then on you will have more funds than what you will need. And if a group get together on MP server, they can "pool" their purchasing, & will have absolutely no issue getting everything.

I would assume that over time these "mechanics" of the game will be adjusted, & made to not be quite so "generous". All which will change the overall balance of the game. I am hoping that there will eventually be "sliders" that will allow us players (or server admins), to adjust the "difficulty" of some of the various game mechanics.

Also, I could easily see at least one "town" of sorts on a edge of the map (most likely east or west edges). These could be "connection" points with "the rest of the world", where a player could buy, sell, or trade with off-map "entities". Most likely game created supply & demand system that would allow players to sell off excess items they have, or to purchase items they desire (but most likely at a high cost due to shipping long distances, etc..).

These "edge of world" connections could possibly be a way that servers could be "connected". Most likely not in "real-time", but more like a serial connection, where a person on a server offers a quantity of an item for X price or trade. Then another player (on another server), could look up what is available, & if agrees would take the trade. Next time the first player is back in town, they could collect the funds.

This might be very complicated to "code" (if even possible), but if kept "sequential" as such & the items listed on the "sellers" server, until actually completed the deal, then might be possible???

But the main advantage of an "edge of world" connection would be to have someplace to either connect with the railroad, or if say at the end of the river, have a river access to this spot. There could be a flat bottom paddle wheel boat that travels to this point or even just canoes or rafts. But whatever, this "connection" would allow some reason to create "higher" level items, & sell the extra to the "rest of the world".

The supply & demand could randomly fluctuate over time, to simulate the variable markets back in more "civilized" areas of the world. Also, if you "dump" too many items as a short time, the value could drop a bunch also.

Another possible mechanics that this game then could "incorporate" would be a telegraph line, that the players could join together to install to their town. Once they have a telegraph operator, they could then receive or send messages, thus being able to maybe get a better idea of markets, or maybe even occasionally they could receive "historical" or even prototypical-type news.

Oh well, some more "pie in the sky" ramblings from me!

[corynne_ryan]

Originally posted by Merck:

Once the railroad gets further updated, that will create another demand for resources, which the mine can provide much better than most other spots.

But currently funds are not the real hard to acquire, since all you have to do is leave an area then go to approximate area that last seen bandits. Rinse & repeat. Then if make first purchase a Gold Exchange, you will be able to "cash-out" your gold. From then on you will have more funds than what you will need. And if a group get together on MP server, they can "pool" their purchasing, & will have absolutely no issue getting everything.

I would assume that over time these "mechanics" of the game will be adjusted, & made to not be quite so "generous". All which will change the overall balance of the game. I am hoping that there will eventually be "sliders" that will allow us players (or server admins), to adjust the "difficulty" of some of the various game mechanics.

Also, I could easily see at least one "town" of sorts on a edge of the map (most likely east or west edges). These could be "connection" points with "the rest of the world", where a player could buy, sell, or trade with off-map "entities". Most likely game created supply & demand system that would allow players to sell off excess items they have, or to purchase items they desire (but most likely at a high cost due to shipping long distances, etc..).

These "edge of world" connections could possibly be a way that servers could be "connected". Most likely not in "real-time", but more like a serial connection, where a person on a server offers a quantity of an item for X price or trade. Then another player (on another server), could look up what is available, & if agrees would take the trade. Next time the first player is back in town, they could collect the funds.

This might be very complicated to "code" (if even possible), but if kept "sequential" as such & the items listed on the "sellers" server, until actually completed the deal, then might be possible???

But the main advantage of an "edge of world" connection would be to have someplace to either connect with the railroad, or if say at the end of the river, have a river access to this spot. There could be a flat bottom paddle wheel boat that travels to this point or even just canoes or rafts. But whatever, this "connection" would allow some reason to create "higher" level items, & sell the extra to the "rest of the world".

The supply & demand could randomly fluctuate over time, to simulate the variable markets back in more "civilized" areas of the world. Also, if you "dump" too many items as a short time, the value could drop a bunch also.

Another possible mechanics that this game then could "incorporate" would be a telegraph line, that the players could join together to install to their town. Once they have a telegraph operator, they could then receive or send messages, thus being able to maybe get a better idea of markets, or maybe even occasionally they could receive "historical" or even prototypical-type news.

Oh well, some more "pie in the sky" ramblings from me!

That's actually a really good idea and something to thoroughly think about! Thank you for contributing to the actual topic of the discussion that I created. I do somewhat disagree with the beginning as I never said that current methods are inadequate, just simply that it is quite limited and can become boring very quickly.

Back to your "edge of world" connection, yes I do believe it would be quite difficult to put together coding-wise. However, it is not something to write off completely, as it does have a lot of potential and would be really interesting to be able to interact with players in other servers and would take away the necessity of AI being created to buy and sell items, or trade.

I do hope they implement a sort of telegraph instead of just the mailbox! That would be brilliant.

Furthering your idea about leveling certain items, it would be really interesting if there were tiers of tools which would provide more material than other tools. Playing with leveling the tools like the character and horse could be interesting, as there is a bit of a lack in resources sometimes. The game is a bit grindy for my tastes.

Once again, thank you for your contribution, Merck!

[QuakeNAKED]

Well I agree for SP games. In multiplayer with a populated server, it's not so hard to smelt your gold into ingots and sell them to the gold exchange for a 10:1 ratio (it's good money!) so you can afford the big prefabs. But the OP has a point - in single player it's freaking tough. The only source to earn the gold for the mine is by killing bandits, and they drop small amounts of gold, and not all of them drop gold.

It seems to me the auctioneer is the answer if it were tweaked in a way that you can sell your stuff to him while in SP mode. Now, I don't know that it's NOT that way currently, I personally have not been able to earn enough gold for the mine, I'm still 300g shy of the 500 I need, so I'm nowhere near ready to buy an auctioneer.

I'm wondering though, and I am not intending to hijack the thread - but how is the bounty board used? Could that not be a source of gold if it were used to pull jobs from NPCs? I know there currently aren't any NPCs other than bandits, but I think the game needs them in SP mode. There is quite a lot missing in SP mode that needs to be there, otherwise once you're done building your little town, the game is over, no reason to play through again.

[Atomblonde]

Originally posted by corynne_ryan:

Originally posted by atomblonde:

Why is "money a big part of the game"? I mean tbh we really don't need it for anything, except the mine but why do we need the mine, for gold but that's it.

I consider it a big part of the game due to its importance regarding hiring guards. Also, as the game is still in development, I expect that further uses for money will be implemented. I'm excited to see where it all goes! Also, it would be fun just to have other ways to work through stuff and gain monetarily instead of hoarding a bunch of random items.

I had forgotten about the ability to hire guards..

[corynne_ryan]

Originally posted by QuakeNAKED:

Well I agree for SP games. In multiplayer with a populated server, it's not so hard to smelt your gold into ingots and sell them to the gold exchange for a 10:1 ratio (it's good money!) so you can afford the big prefabs. But the OP has a point - in single player it's freaking tough. The only source to earn the gold for the mine is by killing bandits, and they drop small amounts of gold, and not all of them drop gold.

It seems to me the auctioneer is the answer if it were tweaked in a way that you can sell your stuff to him while in SP mode. Now, I don't know that it's NOT that way currently, I personally have not been able to earn enough gold for the mine, I'm still 300g shy of the 500 I need, so I'm nowhere near ready to buy an auctioneer.

I'm wondering though, and I am not intending to hijack the thread - but how is the bounty board used? Could that not be a source of gold if it were used to pull jobs from NPCs? I know there currently aren't any NPCs other than bandits, but I think the game needs them in SP mode. There is quite a lot missing in SP mode that needs to be there, otherwise once you're done building your little town, the game is over, no reason to play through again.

That's an interesting point! As of now, the bounty board has no use in SP. It would be interesting to add in an element of bounty hunting NPC's to spice up the game a bit and introduce another mechanic to earn money.

With the multiplayer games: I know that some people are a little less enthusiastic about the more popular servers due to the sheer number of people. This puts a stress on the openness of the game and makes it hard to live a bit like a recluse. There's also the matter of PVP vs. PVE. If there were further options for gaining money instead of focusing so heavily on the more populated PVP servers (which there are also less of), I think it would help expand the game and really move it to the next level.

No hijacking done, all suggestions are welcome! Especially when they're valid and a really good idea.

[wildbill]

Originally posted by corynne_ryan:

Money is a big part of the game, but there are so few ways to earn it. The discussion area is super full, so this may never be seen, unfortunately. The devs are also busy making improvements and following some sort of planned schedule.

Anyway, I thought it would be interesting to have a sort of general store that could be built where goods could be bought and sold. Also, maybe a blacksmith where you could melt down guns into iron or something, that way you could just sell the iron instead of individual prices being allotted to the guns.

Does anyone have any other ideas dedicated solely to ways that could be utilized for earning money?

This topic would make more sense if you actually would state valid points.

Money is not a big part of the game right now. Resources are the biggest part if you are making buildings or making a railroad.

Money is super easy to get right now, not hard at all.

Kill bandits, make a mine, harvest all the gold in mine, Make gold bars, sell them at exchange. I have done all that within 5 hours of starting from scratch on a new server.

Once you have the mine, you can have like 750 cash in a half hour of mining. Shouldn't be any easier than that.

Maybe what you really want to discuss is how to create an economy in the game?

Right now, a single player can build an entire town, make everything in the game, and have no need to trade, buy, sell a thing. They can do this in one day if they have the time and skills.

[corynne_ryan]

Originally posted by billwerth2:

Originally posted by corynne_ryan:

Money is a big part of the game, but there are so few ways to earn it. The discussion area is super full, so this may never be seen, unfortunately. The devs are also busy making improvements and following some sort of planned schedule.

Anyway, I thought it would be interesting to have a sort of general store that could be built where goods could be bought and sold. Also, maybe a blacksmith where you could melt down guns into iron or something, that way you could just sell the iron instead of individual prices being allotted to the guns.

Does anyone have any other ideas dedicated solely to ways that could be utilized for earning money?

This topic would make more sense if you actually would state valid points.

Money is not a big part of the game right now. Resources are the biggest part if you are making buildings or making a railroad.

Money is super easy to get right now, not hard at all.

Kill bandits, make a mine, harvest all the gold in mine, Make gold bars, sell them at exchange. I have done all that within 5 hours of starting from scratch on a new server.

Once you have the mine, you can have like 750 cash in a half hour of mining. Shouldn't be any easier than that.

Maybe what you really want to discuss is how to create an economy in the game?

Right now, a single player can build an entire town, make everything in the game, and have no need to trade, buy, sell a thing. They can do this in one day if they have the time and skills.

As I said in my original response and further comments in which I elaborated my point to a more refined state, I imagine that money will grow into a larger role in the economy of OOTOW. I'm not sure which points of mine are invalid, but if you are still confused, perhaps you can go back and read every comment to its full extent as I have with everyone else out of respect.

You've actually made my point in that the game is relatively monotonous. This is not a bad thing in my eyes, as the game is still early access. Threads like the one I have created are being put out there for ideas for further implementations to catch the devs's eyes, hopefully.

Now, earning money is fairly difficult. I spent two hours in game searching for bandits and taking them out, only to earn a whopping $16.43 after a large period of time for someone who goes to school and takes all-consuming classes. My main point here, I will restate despite saying numerous times throughout this whole discussion, is that the game could be improved in an infinite number of ways due to the fact that it is still under development and this thread is here to serve the sole purpose of getting ideas out there.

Now, if you have any ideas, please feel free to share. Otherwise, stay out of a discussion if your comment is not relevant. Thank you, and I hope you continue to enjoy your experience playing Outlaws!

[wildbill]

Originally posted by corynne_ryan:

Originally posted by billwerth2:

This topic would make more sense if you actually would state valid points.

Money is not a big part of the game right now. Resources are the biggest part if you are making buildings or making a railroad.

Money is super easy to get right now, not hard at all.

Kill bandits, make a mine, harvest all the gold in mine, Make gold bars, sell them at exchange. I have done all that within 5 hours of starting from scratch on a new server.

Once you have the mine, you can have like 750 cash in a half hour of mining. Shouldn't be any easier than that.

Maybe what you really want to discuss is how to create an economy in the game?

Right now, a single player can build an entire town, make everything in the game, and have no need to trade, buy, sell a thing. They can do this in one day if they have the time and skills.

As I said in my original response and further comments in which I elaborated my point to a more refined state, I imagine that money will grow into a larger role in the economy of OOTOW. I'm not sure which points of mine are invalid, but if you are still confused, perhaps you can go back and read every comment to its full extent as I have with everyone else out of respect.

You've actually made my point in that the game is relatively monotonous. This is not a bad thing in my eyes, as the game is still early access. Threads like the one I have created are being put out there for ideas for further implementations to catch the devs's eyes, hopefully.

Now, earning money is fairly difficult. I spent two hours in game searching for bandits and taking them out, only to earn a whopping $16.43 after a large period of time for someone who goes to school and takes all-consuming classes. My main point here, I will restate despite saying numerous times throughout this whole discussion, is that the game could be improved in an infinite number of ways due to the fact that it is still under development and this thread is here to serve the sole purpose of getting ideas out there.

Now, if you have any ideas, please feel free to share. Otherwise, stay out of a discussion if your comment is not relevant. Thank you, and I hope you continue to enjoy your experience playing Outlaws!

Wasn't meaning to be disrespectful, but yes, did only read your original post, which if you feel is very misleading without reading all the replies, maybe you could edit it.

If you don't see how all your points are not true to this game, then maybe read my post again. 1) Money is not hard to get, 2) Money is not central to the game, are the two main ones that are not true for this game. Anyone that plays the game more than a few days starts to wonder what they are going to do with all the money they have. It is pretty useless after you earn a few thousand. Most the stuff you can buy is a waste of money.

I think you may be new to the game. I've been playing since day 1, and if you know what you are doing and are in a location where there are two bandit spawns fairly close, yes, money is very easy to come by. In 5 to 10 minutes, I can get on average $50, sometimes less, sometimes more. I don't think two hours and getting $16.43 is typical, maybe for someone who has only played a few days, but a game should not be designed for just the novice.

I totally get the purpose of the forum, I've been responding on forums since probably before you were born, so don't need any schooling on that BTW, just because you started a thread here, that in no way makes you in charge of it. This is steam, if you can't stand the chaos that is steam and the internet, you might want to post somewhere else.

I think one of my pet peeves is people exaggerating to make a point, which is why your post may have annoyed me a bit.

Of course the game is in EA and being improved, that is the whole point of EA. I've put plenty of ideas out there too. I do think the discord might be a better choice, hard to say.

My point, which I think is valid, is the game has ways to make money, what it doesn't have is an actual economy. How that differs from what we have now, is player run ways to make money. An economy would be were one player sells a resource to another player. I think we have the auctioneer. I've only heard that it doesn't work well, haven't tried it yet.

Others have said, how about adding something like a store clerk, or trader NPC.

[corynne_ryan]

Originally posted by billwerth2:

Originally posted by corynne_ryan:

As I said in my original response and further comments in which I elaborated my point to a more refined state, I imagine that money will grow into a larger role in the economy of OOTOW. I'm not sure which points of mine are invalid, but if you are still confused, perhaps you can go back and read every comment to its full extent as I have with everyone else out of respect.

You've actually made my point in that the game is relatively monotonous. This is not a bad thing in my eyes, as the game is still early access. Threads like the one I have created are being put out there for ideas for further implementations to catch the devs's eyes, hopefully.

Now, earning money is fairly difficult. I spent two hours in game searching for bandits and taking them out, only to earn a whopping $16.43 after a large period of time for someone who goes to school and takes all-consuming classes. My main point here, I will restate despite saying numerous times throughout this whole discussion, is that the game could be improved in an infinite number of ways due to the fact that it is still under development and this thread is here to serve the sole purpose of getting ideas out there.

Now, if you have any ideas, please feel free to share. Otherwise, stay out of a discussion if your comment is not relevant. Thank you, and I hope you continue to enjoy your experience playing Outlaws!

Wasn't meaning to be disrespectful, but yes, did only read your original post, which if you feel is very misleading without reading all the replies, maybe you could edit it.

If you don't see how all your points are not true to this game, then maybe read my post again. 1) Money is not hard to get, 2) Money is not central to the game, are the two main ones that are not true for this game. Anyone that plays the game more than a few days starts to wonder what they are going to do with all the money they have. It is pretty useless after you earn a few thousand. Most the stuff you can buy is a waste of money.

I think you may be new to the game. I've been playing since day 1, and if you know what you are doing and are in a location where there are two bandit spawns fairly close, yes, money is very easy to come by. In 5 to 10 minutes, I can get on average $50, sometimes less, sometimes more. I don't think two hours and getting $16.43 is typical, maybe for someone who has only played a few days, but a game should not be designed for just the novice.

I totally get the purpose of the forum, I've been responding on forums since probably before you were born, so don't need any schooling on that

I think one of my pet peeves is people exaggerating to make a point, which is why your post may have annoyed me a bit.

Of course the game is in EA and being improved, that is the whole point of EA. I've put plenty of ideas out there too. I do think the discord might be a better choice, hard to say.

My point, which I think is valid, is the game has ways to make money, what it doesn't have is an actual economy. How that differs from what we have now, is player run ways to make money. An economy would be were one player sells a resource to another player. I think we have the auctioneer. I've only heard that it doesn't work well, haven't tried it yet.

Others have said, how about adding something like a store clerk, or trader NPC.

I'm afraid your most recent assumption out of many so far is wrong. I purchased the game the day it was available, as well. We're not going to pull the age thing in here. Also, if you were doing so before I was born, that would be impossible as I'm in college and Steam was founded in 2003. Sorry :(

One of the things that annoys me is people coming in and pretending they know everything, if we're listing things that annoy each other, by the way! :)

If you understand the purpose of the forum, if you don't mind me asking, why are you still here? You're off topic and derailing the conversation which violates the Steam discussion guidelines. I would appreciate if you would take your ballooned statistics and prevent yourself from hijacking the post with facts that are based solely on your experience and not that of several other people.

Now, once again, if you have anything that is on topic, relevant, and not completely off basis, feel free to share your suggestions! If not, feel free to talk to me privately instead of wasting space on this thread.

Thanks!

[wildbill]

Originally posted by corynne_ryan:

Originally posted by billwerth2:

Wasn't meaning to be disrespectful, but yes, did only read your original post, which if you feel is very misleading without reading all the replies, maybe you could edit it.

If you don't see how all your points are not true to this game, then maybe read my post again. 1) Money is not hard to get, 2) Money is not central to the game, are the two main ones that are not true for this game. Anyone that plays the game more than a few days starts to wonder what they are going to do with all the money they have. It is pretty useless after you earn a few thousand. Most the stuff you can buy is a waste of money.

I think you may be new to the game. I've been playing since day 1, and if you know what you are doing and are in a location where there are two bandit spawns fairly close, yes, money is very easy to come by. In 5 to 10 minutes, I can get on average $50, sometimes less, sometimes more. I don't think two hours and getting $16.43 is typical, maybe for someone who has only played a few days, but a game should not be designed for just the novice.

I totally get the purpose of the forum, I've been responding on forums since probably before you were born, so don't need any schooling on that

I think one of my pet peeves is people exaggerating to make a point, which is why your post may have annoyed me a bit.

Of course the game is in EA and being improved, that is the whole point of EA. I've put plenty of ideas out there too. I do think the discord might be a better choice, hard to say.

My point, which I think is valid, is the game has ways to make money, what it doesn't have is an actual economy. How that differs from what we have now, is player run ways to make money. An economy would be were one player sells a resource to another player. I think we have the auctioneer. I've only heard that it doesn't work well, haven't tried it yet.

Others have said, how about adding something like a store clerk, or trader NPC.

I'm afraid your most recent assumption out of many so far is wrong. I purchased the game the day it was available, as well. We're not going to pull the age thing in here. Also, if you were doing so before I was born, that would be impossible as I'm in college and Steam was founded in 2003. Sorry :(

One of the things that annoys me is people coming in and pretending they know everything, if we're listing things that annoy each other, by the way! :)

If you understand the purpose of the forum, if you don't mind me asking, why are you still here? You're off topic and derailing the conversation which violates the Steam discussion guidelines. I would appreciate if you would take your ballooned statistics and prevent yourself from hijacking the post with facts that are based solely on your experience and not that of several other people.

Now, once again, if you have anything that is on topic, relevant, and not completely off basis, feel free to share your suggestions! If not, feel free to talk to me privately instead of wasting space on this thread.

Thanks!

Sure, my last response to you here, as it seems like you are only going to listen to response that agree with you.

Steam is not the originator of forums. BBS's had the first forums before the internet. Shortly after the internet was invented in 1983, there was also something called usenet where every subject in the world was discussed. Been there, done that.

You might look at whether maybe you just think you know everything.

I actually did start on topic, but your post in response to mine is where it went way off topic.

[Obsi]

There needs to be other options to earn money other than killing bandits and mining. So yes, being able to trade resources, sell tamed horses and stuff like that needs to be added as additional options for people. Especially in RP servers.