When you are beginning your career in Stellar Fortune, you start out at the bottom hauling cargo. It may not be the most exciting profession, but it is vital to the game's economy and a good place to learn the ropes. In this post, I'll discuss the details of hauling cargo and some of the decisions still to be made.
Hauling cargo is pretty simple. You (and NPC haulers) check for which jobs are available, choose one, travel to the station and pick it up, then drop it off at its destination. You are paid when the job is done.
Payment is based on the value of the goods you are delivering. There are two types of hauling jobs, which are invisible to the hauler.
Transport to sell. When you drop off the job, the items are immediately sold on the market. You are paid 10% of the sale price.
Transport. This is just moving items. When dropped off, the job is moved to the customers warehouse. You are paid 10% of the average sale price.
The percentage you are paid will likely be variable and based on factors you can alter.
As I mentioned before, these jobs are vital to the economy. They involve moving actual commodities instead of being made up just to give players and NPC's something to do. When carrying around the cargo, they will be in a special crate which cannot be sold... so no selling it and taking the money.
There will also be a duration for each job. If you do not deliver the goods in time your reputation will take a hit. What happens to the cargo when you do not deliver it in time? I have not decided yet. It may just magically transport to the destination.
Once you reach the level of Trader, you will be able to create jobs of your own. Currently I am still working on the Job interface. I'm also actively tweaking the NPC Traders who create the jobs. I need to be sure there is a good mix of jobs based on value and the tonnage (size) so that the player and NPC's have opportunities.
