Shopping Rounds Take Too Long

[Minarai]

I have an idea, how to cut the time spent on selling and buying stuff. In Safe Zones you can access unlimited inventory window no need to go anywhere just unload the stuff for selling, this is your warehouse. All purchases are done using special interface where you can access all known merchants' inventory windows as well as your warehouse window and items (sold or bought) just appear or disappear in/from your warehouse. Money are transferred to your "account" or to merchants's inventories. The interface should tell you when merchants have restocked. That way tedious shopping rounds disappear and players can spend more time adventuring and exploring. Also the moment "Damn! I should have taken more guns or tactical vests" disappear entirely and yet carrying capacity still plays its role because you need to reach the Safe Zone.

[Raven]

Can't say I agree to this.

1)How you gonna explain this for lore? Magical caravans between traders? Or teleportation system? This game is a story about surviving groups of people in tunnels. with monsters/bandits between them.

2)Managing your inventory and weight is the part of the game. What to take, what to scrap, etc.

3)The "searching for needed parts" is annoying yes, I posted suggestion about adding "order" button for merchants to get 1 item per restock and the restock clock in their menu to see how long it will take for new stuff, so I can agree with you about that.

4)The mini game of "I'm going to that merchant so I gonna take this items for sale" will be gone. It gives some flavour and uniqueness to buy/sell mechanics

[Minarai]

Man, going for realism is stupid to begin with. How do you explain bottomless barrels filled with expensive guns, tactical vests and electronics standing in the middle of the street and nobody tries to still anything from them. It's proposed not for realism but to save irl time spent on leg work that adds only frustration to your gameplay. Online shopping saves your time in real world now also available in Underrail. If you need explanation they might have a delivery service you might need to pay extra for shipping and it might not be instantaneous, it just is in the game for convenience sake.

[Raven]

Well you can't make total realism, but still you need it as much as possible to make a proper game. Your idea skips a LOT of gameplay. It's not MMO with auction house.

If you want something like that, then the best option would be a mail service/trade box for your house in Core city. And then it can't be quick, so 30-60min for delivery maybe?

[Minarai]

Legwork doesn't belong to the world filled with cellphones and computers. They have highly advanced bots but not Internet? What realism are we talking about? Your are defending the time consuming part of Underrail that's all legwork and no substance. Planning, experimentation and "buy bullets from this merchant and sell them to his neighbor next door" minigame are still there minus walking. And listen, you are right to have your opinion and be open about it. For me, I've never finished Underrail because I just didn't want to sink any more time into shopping marathons. I like fighting, crafting and shopping minigames but not hours of legwork. That's why I offered this idea.

[Raven]

Legwork doesn't belong to the world filled with cellphones and computers. They have highly advanced bots but not Internet? What realism are we talking about? Your are defending the time consuming part of Underrail that's all legwork and no substance. Planning, experimentation and "buy bullets from this merchant and sell them to his neighbor next door" minigame are still there minus walking. And listen, you are right to have your opinion and be open about it. For me, I've never finished Underrail because I just didn't want to sink any more time into shopping marathons. I like fighting, crafting and shopping minigames but not hours of legwork. That's why I offered this idea.

1)Well we have cellphones and PCs, but yet somehow most people use their legs to go and buy stuff))
2)It's the apocalyptic times. Even if they have bots from the past, it does not mean they have internet. Plus internet as we know it was made by people in peaceful time, but it started as military connection system. In the world as Underrail nobody will use working lines for shopping. All communication lines/systems will be under the control of military/top brass, since information is important resource. So as you see, the lack of internet is quite realistic in this game.
3)"Planning, experimentation and "buy bullets from this merchant and sell them to his neighbor next door" minigame are still there minus walking" - no it isn't. It's gonna be the same if you make a game, where at the start you kill final boss and game finished, cause it's a pain in the ass to walk all game to fight it.
But I agree with you, that the running around and searching for the last component is tedious. Not so much with selling stuff, as this game's selling mechanics makes you work for your buck. In my opinion your idea with pop up window with all traders and storage, where you dump all loot is too crude.

I agree, that we need some ordering item system and we need reset timer for merchants. Maybe we can have NPC carriers in towns, that can be used to send items home/location. But virtual shop is too over the top for me))

[harperfan7]

Drop whatever gear you normally carry that you don't need on the trip (watch out for random encounters), use str-boosting or carry-weight boosting stuff, use the built-in speed-up thing, use the under passages to get around, and select your loot intelligently.  Like, heavy inexpensive items should be recycled, excess scraps should be made into advanced repair kits and sold, make sure to repair expensive items before selling them if the math adds up, only carry what you think you can sell in one or two trips, carry a variety so you can hit all the vendors.  I like to take my jetski into core city docks, sell jetski parts, go to the merchants and on lvl 3, then up to marty, then down to metro and walk the railroad to foundry, then walk back up the railroad and split off to rail crossing, then take the underpassages to free drones base (if you went with them) and then blaine/SGS, then take the ferry to junkyard and back, then take the underpassages back to core city and the docks back to my jetski.  Takes like 10-15 minutes.

[Minarai]

Ok, how about we keep the Safe Zone Warehouse(better than inter-dimensional dumpsters), hire an Accountant, who just sells stuff (that's repetitive and grindy anyway) and after scouting the market he sends you a report on what is currently available so you can choose what you need (you can choose items from merchant's inventories from the list) , in 10-15 minutes chosen items appear in your warehouse. Selling is repetitive and grindy anyway, so you just buy stuff with minimum time investments and zero legwork.

Drop whatever gear you normally carry that you don't need on the trip (watch out for random encounters), use str-boosting or carry-weight boosting stuff, use the built-in speed-up thing, use the under passages to get around, and select your loot intelligently.  Like, heavy inexpensive items should be recycled, excess scraps should be made into advanced repair kits and sold, make sure to repair expensive items before selling them if the math adds up, only carry what you think you can sell in one or two trips, carry a variety so you can hit all the vendors.  I like to take my jetski into core city docks, sell jetski parts, go to the merchants and on lvl 3, then up to marty, then down to metro and walk the railroad to foundry, then walk back up the railroad and split off to rail crossing, then take the underpassages to free drones base (if you went with them) and then blaine/SGS, then take the ferry to junkyard and back, then take the underpassages back to core city and the docks back to my jetski.  Takes like 10-15 minutes.

you're in the wrong thread. We aren't talking about legwork optimization but rather about its elimination.

[harperfan7]

you're in the wrong thread. We aren't talking about legwork optimization but rather about its elimination.

Thread title is "Shopping Rounds Take Too Long"; they don't. 

[Raven]

I was thinking how to make this more lore friendly. So we know, that traders have connections with each other to some degree, why not use it?
Except for big cities each location should have main trader/supplier (in junkyard I think the weapon shop in main area is the most advanced one to have PC/connection and control over the market) These traders can give you 2 options:

1)browse the trading line - you can see whats on sale in other locations (minus hostile factions for this trader and shops, that are too far to trade with) So every trader has their own unique set of connections based on lore and you still have to visit different ones to see everything, but this will cut a lot of time for searching, win-win.

2)Mail service - I think it's faster to just go to the shop and buy what you want, time wise. But for selling it can be good. Since traders orders/sends items between each other, they can "buy" extra items to resell them to other traders with lower price. Example: weapon trader will buy 4 guns for himself for standard price, then you can check other traders via service and make this trader send other guns to them. You will not get money right away and have to wait till restock to go back to this trader to get your money and it will be 15%(maybe) cheaper(service cost), but you can save time if you want.

For me it's not a problem to sell stuff, but it's the running around to find needed part, or better quality item is what annoying..