Corporations – What are they?
Simply put, they allow a player to create a Corporation and open offices for said Corporation, grow the Corporation user base, utilise its Corporation Store and Corporation inventory, begin to level the Corporation through Research Points and then go on to upgrades like Corporation-based Assembly and Manufacturing and even recycling. Corporations have a lot going for them, and it’s going to be an ongoing development as I see it used and suggestions come forth. But here follows a brief guide.
How do you form a Corporation?
Well, first off, you need to NOT be in a Corporation already. If you joined someone else’s and want to form your own, you will need to leave that Corporation first 🙂
You are looking for a Corporate Registry. There is one on New Earth in Feris if you’re still down that way. More will appear dotted around the main hubs later today. Entering that office and having 2 Million Credits on hand in your ship’s account, you will be able to name and open a NEW Corporation. Once founded, you become the legal owner and Director of the Corporation. The Corporate Registry also has a secondary Tab to purchase special Corporation upgrades. This tab will activate on the next major update for Corporations.
Having founded a corporation, you can now open as many offices around the Galaxy as you wish. Simply visit a location and use the ‘Corporation’ button up on the promenade next to the Hangar button. This forms two actions. First, it lists any existing offices at that location where you can review their status via the info button, or apply to join via the second icon. Secondly, it offers YOU the opportunity to open an office,
The cost of the office and subsequent monthly costs are wholly dependent on the Law level in which the Office is opened. The higher the law, the cheaper the office rental.
Important Note: Should you fail to make a monthly payment on ANY office after seven days, it will be set to an inactive state, and the only thing you can do is add money to the Corporation account or use the settle back payments option. This will reactivate your Corporation. I don’t expect to be deleting Corporations, so should a player go inactive, then return, they may have a large bill to pay, but the corporation and its contents should remain intact. Obviously, if we start to see a horde of inactive Corps, we may come up with other plans and certainly will have a method to hide inactive ones for over a year, other than the owner on his / her return. Not active yet, but a thought for the future.
Corporation Office
On the left, you can choose to click on an Office. If you only have one, you will only see one 🙂 Corporation offices for the MOST part can be remotely administered FROM any of the corporation’s offices. The top row of stats are the Corporation collective stats like Level, XP to level RP Corporation Bank, members, offices and the total monthly upkeep of all offices.
Corporation Log
There is a global log at the bottom of this main Overview, which will track 30 days’ worth of log entries. Most actions with respect to the Corporation are logged.
Members
I have attempted to keep Member levels Simple. Just three Levels and the Director (Owner).
New members will join as a Recruit. This gives them view access to the Corp and the ability to deposit to the Corporation stores and the Corporation bank.
Following that, you have Operative, who can also remove from the Corporation Stores.
Finally, Executive who has full add and remove privileges for all sources, though they have a limited daily withdrawal from the Corporation bank.
Members’ rules and abilities are open for discussion as we move forward, BUT I want to keep it simple, and we WILL NOT be getting involved in inner political debate in Corporations where a member has been given a rank and removed a large amount of resources, then left. Promoting players is down to the Director and its Execs. What those members do is not the Admin’s concern.
Corporation Store
So unlike the Commercial Store, this store is fed by donations from members. It IS a central store that can be accessed from any Corporation Office. Its primary reason is to feed the Corporation Manufacturing and Assembly features to be added in Phase 2. Though it obviously has great use in aiding fellow members when they need XYZ resource, and the corporation has plenty.
The store works the same as your ship <> CS interface. Click on a number, and if you want to transfer multiple amounts, do that till your happy, then click the Deposit Selected button. The same works for removing resources if you have permissions. There is no limit to the store, though it will not hold items that will not reside in your normal ship’s cargo store or Commercial Store.
It should be notes as above the Corporation Store is fed from your Commercial Store and NOT your cargo hold. This is intentional and will not change.
Corporation Inventory
This one is a little different. The game, as you know, has a limit to your ship’s inventory, so we don’t end up with 50,000 mining laser mk1’s. You can expand that through FSP purchases, but generally speaking, it’s not going to allow you to store 1000’s of items. The Corporation Inventory works the same; it started off at 50 and increases 5 per level. There will also be Corp upgrades available through the spending of Research points to increase it. (Phase 2)
The list is broken into two tabs: Player Inventory and Corporation Inventory. You can push TO the Corporation and Pull from it. Neither can overfill beyond their capacity limits. The actual listing breaks down Ship/utility items and Consumables. Moving consumables will bring up a requester box for the amount to move. Note that the items have a colour Info icon, and hovering this will give you the advanced info on the item.
Corporation Bank
This ones self explanatory. Everyone can donate/pay, but only the Execs and Directors can remove funds. Execs have a daily withdrawal amount of 1 Million Credits. This again is open for discussion, but I added that as an initial stopper.
All activities, both in and out, are tracked and posted for all members to see both in here and on the Overview main page.
Banking funds are across all offices, so a shared resource/pool. All monthly costs are taken just before midnight on the day they fall due. Failure to pay for seven days will result in the Corporation being locked down to paying in credits and settling debts.
We can, at a later date, discuss Corporation Loans or a way to tip players directly from the Corporation, but it relies on open and frank discussion in the Discord Suggestions channel.
Corporation Power
Each office is its own source of local resources, things like Power (Reactors deployed) and research units, all of which are local to that Office. So if you want to deploy some Research Buildings, you will first need to deploy some Reactors. At level Zero, you have three slots open.
There is a New Blueprint store for Corporations its called Meridian Corporate Designs. These are dotted around the Galaxy and sell the current Power and Research building Blueprints for Corporations.
Please note the fittings for both the Reactors and Research screens feed directly from the Corporation Store. This means the items must reside within.
Corporation Research
The research is where the work is done to increase not only your ‘Research Points’ to utilise in Phase 2 for ‘Upgrades’. Research Points are created every hour and are added to the Global pool. From the picture below, you can see I’m making 30 RP per hour at this office. I also have two other offices bringing in RP, so my total RP is +70 per hour.
Phase 2
The Upgrades page will grow like the one I created for Outposts, which currently sports a collection of Outpost Upgrades. You can expect things like:
Open Manufacturing Slot – X per upgrade
Open Assembly Slot – X per upgrade
Manufacturing Resource Requirement Reduction % – X per upgrade
Assembly Slot Resource Requirement Reduction % – X per upgrade
Corporation Missions – X per upgrade (Earn Corp XP)
Increase Corporation Inventory + per upgrade
Open Corporation Ship Yard
Whilst it’s not fleshed out yet, the Corporation Manufacturing and Assembly, along with Ship Yard functionality, will add a different take on the existing elements, allowing for a Corporation rather than an individual to assemble and Craft items (from the Corporation Store)
Corporation Ship Yard will allow the construction of ships to be docked and sold/lent to members from a separate tab in the Hangar System on the Office locations where these elements have been opened. That’s the rough plan on the whiteboard.
Have fun!
Coops
P.S I forgot to mention Corporations come with their own dedicated persistent chat. Check out the last tab in the in-game chat.