- Governance
- Proposals
IIP-53
Automated Drone Trips for Resource Gathering
- Date PublishedJun 5, 2024
REVISIONS NEEDED
Sponsor
Filo
Key Contributors
ScrubaDubDad, Scoriox, Dr.Spoon, Torrex, zz cap, JoshETH, ape41, Artemis, Doooom, Amino
Simple Summary
The proposal advocates for the integration of Drone Trips into the Illuvium Overworld, enabling players to dispatch their drones, accompanied by a team of Illuvials for defense, on automated missions for mining rocks and harvesting plants. These missions would yield random outcomes, and their effectiveness would be based on the drone’s progression system, the illuvials defending the drone and the region’s stage. Illuvial hunting wouldn’t be included in the Drone Trips to ensure the integrity of Illuvium’s game economy. An IIP would be required for this feature to be implemented in the future.
Abstract
The proposed Drone Trips seek to enrich the player’s experience within the Overworld by introducing automated missions for mining and gathering, providing additional avenues for resource acquisition. Furthermore, the Drone Trips offer a way for Illuvials to gain experience passively. This proposal outlines the key features of the Drone Trips and emphasizes the need for an IIP for any future changes, ensuring transparency and community input.
Overview
The introduction of Drone Trips represents a significant expansion of automated gameplay possibilities within the Illuvium Overworld. Players will have the opportunity to dispatch their drones, accompanied by a team of Illuvials for defense, on missions to mine rocks and harvest plants. The Drone Trips interface might be accessible through various platforms such as the Illuvium website, mobile app, Sanctum Mesa, or within Illuvium Zero.
The Drone Trips could incorporate a progression system for the drone, such as gaining bonus stats with levels, utilizing a skill tree, or another form of progression mechanism. Additionally, there could also be upgrades for the drone that players would purchase using fuel. The design of this system and its mechanics will be left to the discretion of the team.
Drone Trips would require the standard amount of travel fuel. They would have longer durations and provide lower rewards and experience compared to player-led Overworld travels.
The player can choose to send their drone to any region stage. However, not having an appropriate team of Illuvials and a capable drone according to the region’s stage would result in reduced rewards. Stage 0 regions wouldn’t be included in the Drone Trips, or if they were, they would require a small amount of fuel. Also, the player shouldn’t be able to travel to the Overworld while their drone is on a mission.
It will be up to the team to decide whether players can select the type of mission for the drone, such as mining, harvesting, or both.
It's important to note that Illuvial hunting will not be included in these Drone Trips. This decision underscores Illuvium’s commitment to preserving the balance and integrity of the game economy and its assets. Additionally, the requirement of an IIP for any future changes ensures that community input remains central to the decision-making process regarding this feature.
The Drone Trips acquired loot and mission duration would depend on various factors:
- The drone’s progression system and its upgrades, which encompass factors such as the mining or harvesting rate, drone’s speed, heatmap accuracy, and so on.
- The average level of the illuvials defending the drone. For instance, sending the drone alone without illuvials for protection would result in lesser resources due to inaccessible gatherables due to nearby enemy illuvials.
- The stage of the region. Higher stage regions would necessitate higher level illuvials for safe defense of the drone and improved gathering rates. Entering a stage 3 region with low level illuvials would yield fewer resources as they may struggle to defend the drone against the enemies there. The higher the region’s stage the longer a mission would take.
Example:
If we’re assuming the base loot percentage acquired from a Drone Trip to be 25% of that obtained from a player-led Overworld travel, with the travel duration being twice as long, no drone upgrades, no bonus for the progression system and the illuvials’ average level being level 5. In this case, considering an average player-led Overworld stage 1 run takes 1 hour and yields around 40 resources, a Drone Trip would last 2 hours and acquire only 10 resources.
The drone’s progression system and upgrades could increase resources gathered by 0-25%, with the illuvials' average level contributing another 0-25%. This totals a maximum potential loot acquisition of 75% compared to an average player-led Overworld run.
Illuvials' average level
Illuvials' average level bonuses per region stage
Stage / Level | Level 0 | Level 5 | Level 10 | Level 15 | Level 20 | Level 25 | Level 30 | Level 35 | Level 40+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Stage 0 | 0% | 5% | 10% | 15% | 20% | 25% | 25% | 25% | 25% |
Stage 1 | -5% | 0% | 5% | 10% | 15% | 20% | 25% | 25% | 25% |
Stage 2 | -10% | -5% | 0% | 5% | 10% | 15% | 20% | 25% | 25% |
Sstage3 | -15% | -10% | -5% | 0% | 5% | 10% | 15% | 20% | 25% |
Travel duration
The drone’s progression system and upgrades could also reduce the base Drone Trip travel duration from 0-100%.
Drone bonuses per region stage
Bonus / Stage | Stage 0 | Stage 1 | Stage 2 | Stage 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
0% | 1h | 2h | 4h | 6h |
50% | 45min | 1h30min | 3h | 4h30min |
100% | 30min | 1h | 2h | 3h |
Resource rarity
The resources drop rate should mirror that of a player-led Overworld travel. The influence of the drone’s progression system and upgrades on this rate will be determined by the team.
Rationale
Drone Trips shouldn’t be implemented under the pretext of wanting to grant mobile only users access to Overworld assets. Instead, they should be implemented to enhance the overall gaming experience for all players. These automated runs streamline the process of acquiring resources from the Overworld, maintaining their affordability and freeing up time for other activities. Engaging in tasks like mining rocks or harvesting plants can feel tedious to some players when they have to travel to a region solely for these purposes. However, maintaining the balance where Drone Trips aren’t as profitable as players traveling to the Overworld themselves retains value for those who enjoy these activities.
Given the no-bot policy, Illuvium should strive to provide players with as many official automation tools as possible. However, these changes need to be carefully studied and analyzed, as even minor adjustments could significantly impact the game economy. This underscores the importance of requiring an IIP for any future changes.
Unlike gatherable resources, illuvials come in sets and have a limited supply, meaning they shouldn’t be minted unless captured by a player to preserve the value of the illuvial hunting experience and their overall rarity. Not only that, illuvials have a capturing bonding-curve which would be significantly affected with the introduction of automated illuvial hunting.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the integration of Drone Trips into the Illuvium Overworld represents a valuable addition to the game's ecosystem, offering players new opportunities for resource gathering and passive experience gain. However, it's crucial to exclude Illuvial hunting from Drone Trips to safeguard the balance of the game economy. If illuvials were to be captured through Drone Trips, it would substantially increase their supply. If this increase were to outpace demand, it would accelerate the devaluation of an average Overworld run due to heightened sell pressure. Consequently, players would likely reduce their frequency of travel, as the profitability of Overworld activities would rapidly diminish.