Upgrade modules caveats and community upgraders

Smooth exchange of resources is probably the biggest challenge a community of strangers can have in Eco by Strange Loop Games. Upgrade modules availability is a particularly hard one, except if you use module upgraders.

What are upgrade modules ?

Upgrade modules are special items you plug into crafting tables, allowing significant rebates on resource usage. Upgrade modules are tied to technological eras (basic modules, advanced modules modern modules). The bonus brought by upgrade modules applies as a reduction on the resource needed to craft an item, unless the recipe has static values (ex.: a cart still needs 2 wheels). Tailing production is also reduced on mining equipment. 

Also, modules have numbers that range from 1 to 4. The first module gives a 10% bonus, the second 25%, the third, 40%, etc. The crafting recipes for the modules also work with these numbers so making a basic upgrade module 2 will require a basic upgrade module 1 as ingredient, plus other resources. Players who reach level 7 in one skill can upgrade a lvl 4 module into a fifth version that yield 50% bonus.

Early crafting stations require basic modules, but later, you will see other production facilities that require advanced and modern modules. So the advanced or modern tag doesn't mean the modules are "better", they simply are required by different crafting tables belonging to different eras.

It is worth mentioning that many recipes on crafting tables include resources that have been transformed more than once, so you end up with a compound bonus. Take for example a logging/carpentry player who makes a hewn bench. Benches are made from hewn logs and boards, but boards are also made of hewn and hewn logs are made of wood logs. So each module's rebate applies to the individual production of hewn, then boards, and finally the bench recipe. Without modules, each bench would require about 48 wood logs to make. When you plug a basic upgrade 1 (BU1), this drops to 37 wood. So the 10% rebate from the BU1 leads to a 23 % drop in raw material for the bench. Now imagine with a BU3, which has an initial 40% bonus... 

The compound bonus are quite powerful to save time. This is why experienced players will delay the production of some items until they have better modules and why beginners who craft items too soon (ex.: lumber, iron bars) often complain about the long hours required to make projects. As a rule of thumb, try not to invest too much in a project unless you have a module 2 in your crafting tables.

Another benefit of upgrade modules is they are tied to crafting tables. This is particularly interesting for public workshop since many players can pool resources to get modules and then share the benefits. If fact, upgrade modules are now a key element of fab labs and similar community workshops.  

Problems with modules

The main challenge with modules is their availability. On a typical public server, module makers will sell the ones they can produce (ex.: module 3) and buy the inferior module needed for the recipe (ex.: module 2). This is similar to any item in the game.

However, modules are the most expensive items of their era. For instance, making the first basic upgrade 1 (BU1) on the server costs 80 wood log. By comparison, researching carpentry costs 60 wood logs and most furniture items have a lower cost than this as well. 

The cost is not a problem, but it quickly becomes one when competitive/individualist behaviors come into play. For instance, someone with the logging skill and a BU1 on his carpentry table only requires 65 wood logs to make a BU1 module instead of the original 80 wood logs. However, it is common to see them at the price of 80 wood logs, which is a 18% profit margin. Now if the mason does the same, the final price of the basic upgrade 2 will have a 30% profit margin over it's real cost. This goes on until lvl 4 and is worse with advanced and modern modules. In fact, this problem is commonly related to exploitation of new players and server failure by those who take a competitive approach of the game.

Another common problem is the step-wise struggle to upgrade modules from 1 to 4. You have to visit a store, find the right resource to barter and repeat each time you want better modules. Store management is harder with modules at your main store because there is no guarantee your customers will buy the upgraded modules when they sell a lower version. Remember the modules have a high value and you don't want to be stuck with many inferior modules? Common currency tend to make things worse because other players can now dump inferior modules just to get money. But if you stop buying inferior modules, people wont't be able to upgrade them. This brings us to common situations that block upgrading, for example, when a player can make level 3 and 4 modules. It this case, it is likely he only accepts lvl 2 modules in his store (unless he is an expert collaborator). What do you do if you already have lvl 3 modules  and you want to upgrade them? These situations makes the quest for better module a lengthy and frustrating experience.

- Hey, I need five BU4, can you help me please ?

- Just buy them in my store

- Yes, but I already have BU3 and I want to upgrade them.

- Sorry, I don't need BU3. You can sell me wood instead.

Overall, the availability of upgrade modules quickly create a citizen category with access to them and the rest. As we saw earlier, citizens who owns modules can produce items with less resources and advance quicker than others. This is why upgrade modules are an important source of economic inequity right from the start, especially on "economic focused" and competitive worlds where small teams of players are likely to get them first. Also, players who are not carpenters or mason start with a clear disadvantage when it comes to upgrade modules and are easy prey for competitive players.

A simple individual solution : barter store

A simple solution to help people buying an item when they bring the resources is to make a separate barter store. This is great for tools repair and targeted exchanges for hewn, mortared stone, cloth, bricks, etc. To do this, craft a second store and set its currency to "none" or "barter". Buy the resources listed in the recipe and sell the crafted module. By a cautious setting of costs and amount, you can make this store in such a way that players will make the trade you want.

So if you are a mason, you can make a barter store which buys lvl 1 basic modules, mortar and stones in exchange for lvl 2 modules. For instance, a mason with a BU2 in his table needs exactly 15 mortared stone items, 15 mortar items and a BU1. It will work if he sells and buys at the following prices :

Selling :

BU2 = 130.5 (2 available)

Buying:

Mortared stone = 0.5 (limit 50)

Mortar = 2.2 (limit 50)

BU1 = 90 (limit 2)

If you add 90 plus the cost of 15 mortared stone and 15 mortar, you will get to 130.5. My prices usually cover fuel and calories, but in this case, I'll consider this to be of public service. When others get modules, it is actually a good thing for you when you play in a collaborative way.

I use a standard relative price of resources based on common balanced price on many servers. Here the base cost of wood is 1.5 and stones 0.6. Of course, this is a barter store: it has no currency. I can set the prices I want as long as the cost of what I buy is in relative balance to what I sell. The relative costs  in your world can be completely different, based on availability of equipment (ex.: skid steer), mods (ex.: big shovel), and beliefs.

BU1 cost about 70 credits in this case. What I did here is I increased the value by a lot to encourage people to bring the BU1 and discourage others to dump mortar instead and break the contraption. The buy limits are also there for this reason. If your recipe instead requires 14.7 of an item, Nothing is perfect, but this helps a lot.

Add a sign listing the recipe (1 BU1 + 15 mortar + 15 mortared stone). Finally, I link this store to a small or normal stockpile that is only used by this store and a dedicated masonry table. The table produces a large order (ex.: 15) of modules. I add 2x BU2 in the stockpile to start the contraption.

A community approach : the module upgrader

The module upgrader takes the barter approach to the next level. A problem with individual barter stores is each one require extra resources (space) for the infrastructure from each player and it's hard to convince one key player of each profession to invest. Moreover, profits can still plague the entire distribution network. Lastly every community project is a chance to collaborate and rise up in Eco's secret tech tree, so I prefer the collaborative approach.

The module upgrader is a community building that contains 2 carpentry tables, a masonry table, a wainwright table and four stores. The building should have a 200 m3 space inside, which is roughly a 10x7 blocks building with a 5 blocks height inside. The whole thing holds on 4 claims and require about 290 hewn. It is easy for a logging expert and collaborators to get all the resources within 15-30 minutes. Plus the building can serve as a shared space for many players instead of wasteful individual workshops. I personally like to combine this to a Fab Lab project to boost it's use.

Each store is linked to it's own chest and stockpile (on the roof). This is necessary to make sure upgraded modules really end up in a container where the players will get them via a store. Otherwise the next crafting table might pick it up. Each store is also set to no currency. The store for BU1 and BU3 share the same carpentry table and chest, the store for BU2 is linked to the masonry table and the store for BU4 is linked to the last carpentry table and the wainwright.

You may use a work party to recruit the specialists, putting the local chef's credits as payment. In the case of modules, calories are typically worth below 1% of the total cost, so giving a specialist enough credits to buy double or triple the amount of calories spent is not a big deal.

You can repeat the same approach with the modules from the next era, mainly with two kilns for AU1 and AU2 and an anvil for AU3. I found it best to have AU4 made in a public/collaborative T2 factory, however. There should be less demand for AUs anyway at this stage. Worlds who end up with many people in the modern era usually have enough collaborative mechanisms and communication paths to distribute modules without the need of an upgrade contraction. Or at least this is what I experienced. 

A community approach: the central store

Another contraption used on some of the most successful servers takes the module problem to a higher level. In short, modules in these worlds are considered so valuable for the community's wealth that a law prevents players to sells them unless it is a community store. This store uses a minted currency or the Lord's money trick. It buys modules and sells them. If something is wrong in the chain of production, the manager starts a large order on a crafting table and uses a work party to recruit the work of specialized players. Basic resources required can be bought at the store. It may sound too much, but module distribution is really a big source of tensions and abandonment in Eco. You might as well take this matter seriously.