Rebirth of the big era of online games

Chapter 438 Arms Dealer

(Misfortunes never come singly... My wife fell on New Year's Eve and broke her tailbone. I have a bad cold until now, and the next update will still not be stable...)
Economy determines politics, and war is the continuation of politics.

With the development of marine economy and trade in the Ark World, the circulation of materials has been greatly accelerated, and the areas that were not suitable for survival in the past have been gradually conquered and valued by humans.

Needless to say, those resource islands on the ocean, important resource producing areas and excellent seaports near the coastal areas have also become the focus of competition among various forces. The core that really provokes ocean wars is actually the resource competition in the game. A subsidiary product of the scramble,.

While the naval battle is in full swing, "Ark" is still constantly being upgraded, or "Ark" has been upgrading since its inception.

This upgrade not only refers to the upgrade from the 2D circle game "Ark: Survival Evolved" to the 3A-level masterpiece "Ark: Age of Voyage", but also with the development of scientific and technological civilization in the world of Ark, the corresponding game subsystems are also constantly improving. upgrade.

For example, in the era of cold weapons, players may just slash with knives during PK. The game system calculates the probability based on the combat skills and physical fitness of both parties, and finally judges the damage value and the parts that may be injured. This is a very simple method. system.

In the era of firearms, the game system will upgrade the attack methods, such as judging the ballistic speed, accuracy, bullet spread, distance...etc., and will also upgrade the injury status, not only for body parts, but also for Probabilities are calculated for abrasions, penetrating injuries, contusions, etc.

If grenades, shells, etc. are invented, there will naturally be corresponding game subsystem programs for calculation and judgment of explosive kinetic energy damage, physical collisions, and shrapnel spread. Certainly.

If "Ark: Voyage Age" is a one-time upgrade of the game system corresponding to the scientific and technological civilization of the firearms age, then "Ark: Survival Evolved" only initially set up systems such as ecology, survival, and cold weapons. Just started to upgrade.

Therefore, sea battles and land wars in Ark World are actually two different things strictly speaking. The game system of land wars is very crude. Even in the age of firearms, shooting each other is more like two circles facing each other. Eight hundred duels, it is difficult to gain an overwhelming advantage through bunkers or tactics, such as a headshot or something, purely depends on the character and the probability calculated by the game system.

This is obviously not true enough, and does not echo the concept of the Ark project.

Of course, even if the game system is upgraded and improved, it is impossible for a 2D circle game to do this, so the land version of Ark World or "Ark: Survival Evolved", in addition to continuously upgrading the game system, also Constantly changing from 2D to 3D.

The so-called 2D to 3D conversion is of course not just the game map or the game scene, which includes very complicated game subsystem programs, but the game scene is still the top priority.

This task is entrusted to Boiling Games. The investment of 6000 million U.S. dollars is not only as simple as building a model, but also the workload is huge. It is impossible to complete it in one step. It is impossible for Boiling Games to devote all its energy on this.

Therefore, Fang Jie’s method is to proceed step by step, so that Boiling Game starts from the coastal border with "Ark: Navigating Century", and gradually erodes and converts to the inland direction bit by bit.

Players in 2D mode don't feel anything during this conversion process, but players in 3D mode feel particularly obvious.

Every time I log in to the game again, I find that the game always has an updated map. Players can choose not to update, but if they update and then enter the game, they will find that the area of ​​​​the port they are in has expanded.

This expansion refers to the expansion of the range of the air wall. In the past, the 3D range that could be moved on land was only 1 kilometer around the port, but now it can leave the port and move within 2 or 3 kilometers around, and this range is getting bigger and bigger. .

……

Arkworld, Port of Osaka.

Originally, this was just a seaport that was uninhabited and not suitable for human survival, but now it has formed a bustling seaport town with a large scale.

At a glance, there is a constant flow of cars and horses on the wharf, and people are extremely busy. Hundreds of sea-going ships of various types are moored at the port, and various minerals, building materials, ammunition, industrial products and other materials are continuously loaded onto the ship or unloaded. Industrial factory area behind the port town.

On both sides of the port, there are five huge docks. The dilapidated armed ships in some docks are being repaired and refurbished at a speed visible to the naked eye. The speed visible to the naked eye was miraculously created from scratch.

60 times the production efficiency, as well as various related civilization technology and skill bonuses, make such industrial miracles everywhere in Ark World, and players in the port have long been accustomed to it.

"This is a newly designed medium-sized armed merchant ship, which is used for both trade and transportation. It is between the destroyer-cruiser class defined by the official standard. According to our custom standard, it belongs to the dragoon class..."

"According to the game's official ship's basic performance evaluation, the ship's horizontal sail power is 96, the vertical sail power is 15, the oar power is 8, the load capacity is 1455 tons, the number of sailors is 90, the steering degree is 6, the ship durability is 4670, and the sail durability is 2790. Battery 16..."

In the easternmost dock, a group of people stopped under a huge ship that was being rapidly built. A dwarf player in a strange suit was introducing the various performances of the current ship through the in-game voice system.

After some introductions, the leader of the crowd, a player who looked exactly like Fang Jie, asked: "Professor Ruan, you are an expert in shipbuilding, why don't you build more advanced steam-powered ships? Lighting up the skill tree related to steam engines should not be a problem. Is it difficult?"

"It's not difficult."

The dwarf player responded with a smile: "Steam ships can be built at any time, but market demand and cost must be considered. The current manufacturing cost of steam boilers is too high, and the relevant steel raw materials and smelting technology cannot meet the application requirements for the time being, and the cost performance is very low."

"For example, this dragoon-class armed merchant ship is all wood, and the current timber resources are easy to obtain and the cost is extremely low. Therefore, the manufacturing cost of a dragoon-class armed merchant ship is only about 7800 US dollars, but if it is converted into steam power, Each additional set of steam boiler power costs an additional $3000."

"In order to ensure the same power of a sailboat, at least two sets of steam boiler power systems must be installed, and the cost will be high. In case the ship is blown up, the loss outweighs the gain. Instead of building a steam-powered armed merchant ship, it is better to build two sail-powered ones. , Whether it is transportation or naval warfare, it has more advantages, at least the artillery and carrying capacity have doubled, and it is nothing more than a slightly slower sailing speed."

"Moreover, coal resources are basically inland, and the cost of transportation to the coast is extremely high. If the cost of land transportation does not decrease, most people cannot afford to burn steam-powered ships..."

After a pause, he quickly added: "The endurance of steam power is not as good as that of a sailing sea-going ship. If the Ark World is in an era of peace, there is no big problem. Ships can stop at coastal ports at any time to replenish coal fuel. But now As you know, ports all over the world are still in the midst of chaotic wars, and some ports even operate black shops and are pirate bases..."

When talking about this, the dwarf player laughed: "Isn't our place a quasi-pirate base? Players who come to us to supply supplies, sell stolen goods, and buy ships are obviously businessmen. If they have a chance in private, they definitely don't mind." Be a pirate, otherwise, of all the ships we make, it is impossible for armed merchant ships to sell the best."

At this time, Fang Jie, who was sitting in front of the computer, couldn't help but nodded with a smile.

The reason why the sales of armed merchant ships is very good is naturally because they are dual-purpose for commercial warfare. Although the load capacity and some auxiliary functional facilities have been reduced to a certain extent, the combat effectiveness and escort capabilities have been improved. A fleet composed of multiple armed merchant ships, whether it is It is applicable when a pirate is robbing a house or running a business honestly.

However, not everyone can build this kind of armed merchant ship. It needs to combine professional knowledge to re-customize the design. Only professional shipbuilding companies or Professor Ruan, an expert professor of shipbuilding, can build this kind of non-game official ship. The refitted ship, if ordinary people act recklessly, it is estimated that it will sink as soon as it goes out to sea.

Non-professionals and ordinary players can only provide standard technology tree templates based on the game's official system, follow the script, and manufacture standardized ships of all levels according to the ship drawings, but whether it is functionality or cost, they cannot [-]% adapt to the actual situation of players. needs, especially those that do not meet the needs of pirate players.

Because the standard pure combat warship has high combat effectiveness, but the cargo hold and load capacity are very small. If a combat ship is used as a pirate ship, unless it directly captures the opponent's ship, it cannot hold too much spoils.

One of the key factors is that in the world of Ark, players can be resurrected.

If it is real, everyone would definitely prefer to live rather than die. If you encounter pirates and cannot resist or escape, you must choose to surrender. After all, you only have one life. If you die, you will really lose it.

The game is completely different. Players are not afraid of death. One death is nothing more than a loss of 0.1 dollars. When encountering pirates, of course they have to fight to the death. Even death is a backstop, so the war in Ark World is a life-and-death war, and it will eventually become a war of annihilation.

The same is true for sea wars in the game. It is very difficult for pirates to successfully capture ships, and it is even more impossible to take hostages. They often either sink the opponent directly, or fight hand-to-hand until the opponent is wiped out. Sometimes the party being attacked will even take the initiative to sink the ship, and will not let the enemy take advantage of it.

However, if the ship sinks, according to the game settings, not all the materials will sink to the bottom of the sea, and one-third of all the materials on the ship will be kept, floating on the sea for other players to salvage and pick up, which is equivalent to killing monsters and dropping things in traditional online games set up.

This setting is obviously not in line with reality, but almost everyone ignored it intentionally or unintentionally. Fang Jie and the game planners, including the shareholders of the Ark game, wanted to encourage ocean wars, intensify resource consumption and recycling, and This promotes the appreciation of game resources, but players don't care about it, and they can't decide anything anyway.

So the pirates in Ark World are actually far more vicious than the real pirates in reality. They never leave a living when they rob. If the robbed cargo ship can be towed away, they will be towed away. The supplies are settled.

But even so, a battleship can’t hold too much loot. A standard medium-sized cargo ship can hold more than 2500 tons of cargo, and a third of it can hold more than 800 tons, while a frigate can only carry 300 tons. One-third of the floating debris can't be eaten at all, so the refitted armed merchant ship that can fight naval battles and load a lot of cargo has become a favorite of pirates.

Of course, this is just a product of a special era. Refitting armed merchant ships is the best choice at the moment, but it’s not the best choice. It’s just cost-effective. If it’s really the first iron, it will cost a lot of money to get an invincible steam-powered iron ship It's not impossible.

Just like the 5G era in the previous life, everyone knows that the 5G network speed is very fast and abnormally fast, but when 4G has basically met everyone’s daily needs, it is difficult to promote various applications in the 5G era in a short time. Because the technology has exceeded the demand, or the cost of the technology is higher than the cost of the demand, this is the current situation in the world of Ark.

"Boss, in fact, we have resources, funds, technology, and people. Why don't we build some modern warships, directly dominate the Southeast Asian waters, and even participate in the battle for the hegemony of the Arkworld?"

"Yeah, I just can't figure out why I hide here to build a ship, and I can't make a lot of money..."

"Those international capital giants are enclosing land everywhere. With Fangzhou International as our back, we will go off the field in person. We will be both referees and players. Who dares to compete with us?"

In the crowd, many high-ranking members of the Legion in the original "EVE" game spoke one after another, and they were always puzzled by Fang Jie's actions.

At first they thought that the boss came here to establish a side, or to engage in island affairs, and at least he had the idea of ​​being a pirate. Unexpectedly, Fang Jie really came here for development, selling resources every day or creating seas for other forces. Ships, military forces are limited to land, and have not built their own navy. Obviously, they have no idea of ​​fighting for sea power at all.

Fang Jie smiled, and said: "I have earned enough money, and I can't spend it all in a few lifetimes. What more money do I need to make? My reputation is not too small now, right? Since I don't want to be famous or make money , why should I go down and break the rules of the game myself?"

"As you said, I am the referee of this game. As a referee, my task is to maintain the rules of the game, not to destroy them. Let this game continue and let more people participate. This is my current goal. Appeal."

"Besides, no matter who seizes the hegemony in the Ark World, isn't it all still within the framework of the Ark Project? Isn't it all under the control of Fangzhou International?"

"What's more, the hegemony in the world of Ark conflicts with my interests. I hope that the world will be as chaotic as possible. If the world is unified and peaceful, there will be no more wars or deaths, so what should I do?" Make money? How can you develop technology without money?"

At this moment, someone suddenly said: "What does the boss mean... Let's act as a shit-stirring stick to muddy the water in here?"

Fang Jie smiled and said: "It's not as bad as you said, what kind of shit stick... But, that's about it, let's just play around..."

"But it doesn't conflict with our formation of a naval force, right?" Someone couldn't help but said: "With our own team, we will fight whoever is stronger and consume them. In short, no one can think of peace!"

Fang Jie shook his head and smiled, "It's not necessary, let's enlarge the situation a bit. Winning a naval battle is useless, and it's a tree without roots. In the end, everyone has to return to land..."

The person who spoke before couldn't help but said: "Then... shall we fight for land supremacy?"

Fang Jie rolled his eyes: "Didn't I just say that I won't end in person, at least I won't fight for the so-called hegemony of the game world."

After hearing this, everyone was silent for a while, wondering in their hearts.

After going around in a circle, everyone still didn't understand Fang Jie's thoughts. Could it be that the boss called everyone here just for fun?

At the beginning, everyone fought together in the international server of "EVE" and played the prestige of Chinese players. I thought that following the boss to Ark World, the NB Legion would reproduce its glory, and the goal was to unify the world in the game world. of soy sauce.

If this is the case, the game will be boring, because you can't pretend to be forceful!

Perhaps guessing what everyone was thinking, Fang Jie asked with a smile, "What do you guys think are the nature of these improved armed ships?"

Without waiting for others to answer, he said, "Armment."

"Yes, arms. In the Nautical Century version, the core gameplay is naval warfare, and the core equipment of naval warfare is actually armed ships, so we are not shipbuilders, but arms dealers."

"Once the land plate is upgraded, and the land war will start in an all-round way, we will sell all kinds of arms, guns and ammunition, aircraft tanks, artillery bombs..."

"So we don't need to personally participate in wars and hegemony. As long as we win, we will sell arms to whoever pays, and we will reap huge profits from the war."

"Our goal is to build the island region into the game world, at least the largest arms industrial base and neutral force in the Asia-Pacific region. They fight theirs, and we earn ours."

"We don't have that great ability to compete for global hegemony in the game, and the forces of all parties don't allow it, but there is no problem in controlling the small island country. We don't need to be the first bird, and we don't need to stand on any side."

After hearing this, everyone in the audience was stunned. No one thought that the boss would actually want to be the biggest arms boss in the game.

But thinking about it carefully, I feel that this seems to be nothing.

After all, Ark World is just a game world, so what’s wrong with selling and selling arms, killing people in games is commonplace, let alone selling weapons and equipment, neither stealing nor robbing, nor killing people, doing business according to their duties, there is nothing wrong with it.

While thinking like this, everyone couldn't help sighing secretly: the weapons sold are not used by others to fight. It's a trick to borrow a knife to kill people. No, it's not borrowing. After this wave of money, no matter who hacks whoever, the death and resurrection can reap another wave of profits!
The heart is cruel enough, black enough!

However, since it is the money of black foreigners, everyone will naturally not have any psychological burden. On the contrary, the motivation of the game that has just fallen has been raised again.

Is it the arms boss in the game?
It's interesting, you can play it, you should have a good gaming experience.

Someone expressed concern: "I'm afraid that after we grow stronger, the real island countries will not allow us to occupy the dove's nest and make their homeland in the game a mess. If the public players are mobilized to suppress us..."

"That's for the future. In the short term, governments won't care too much about an online game."

Fang Jie said with a smile: "Even if you really want to drive people away, let's go to war. In the game, we are still afraid that they will fail? Before the island country pays attention to these things, everyone strives to mine all the game resources in the island country area and exploit them destructively. See How will they develop locally in the future!"

The destructive exploitation of the resources of the island country in the game, even if Fang Jie didn't say it explicitly, in fact, everyone did it before. This is a very conscious tacit understanding.

The high-level army in charge of logistics said: "The trees are okay. I am afraid that it will be difficult to mine all the minerals in a short period of time. Even if the production efficiency is 60 times, the technological equipment is not in place, and the land 2D version of the game system does not support high-tech mining equipment. At present, it is mainly mined by hand.”

Fang Jie chuckled: "Cut down all the trees on the island, enough for them to drink a pot. A bare island country, ha ha, can't make any waves. You must have noticed that the update of land 2D to 3D on the island country The speed is much higher than other parts of the world, and there is also a tacit understanding at Boiling Games... If the trees are too difficult to cut down or it is inconvenient to transport, we can set them on fire and burn them all. We can also implement a three-light policy..."

"In addition, the island country lacks mineral resources, so the next step is to build a seaport in the northern part of the peninsula. There are all kinds of metal mineral resources in the northeastern region of our country, and it is relatively close to the sea."

"However, the peninsula players are relatively new. We don't need to be head-to-head. We can support some local forces to occupy resource points, especially iron ore. We need to mine and stock up more and trade with them. The demand will be huge in the future. The money earned from shipbuilding now, All of them are used to purchase and hoard raw materials for arms.”

The other party replied: "Understood, just follow the route of arms dealers, we know what to do."

Fang Jie nodded and said: "That's right, we don't get involved in other things, we only produce and sell arms and supplies. Of course, just because we don't cause trouble doesn't mean we are afraid of trouble. If anyone dares to provoke us, they will fight back."

Someone laughed and said, "Who dares to mess with us in the game? We all know that Osaka Port was established by our NB Legion, and we also know who the boss is..."

"boom!"

Before the words fell, there was only a loud noise, a scattered bomb from nowhere, and the sail of an armed merchant ship that had just finished repairing and sailed out of the dock in the distance was riddled with holes!
Before everyone came back to their senses, a few seconds later, the armed merchant ship that was attacked quickly turned around, and at the same time stretched out the 8-tube muzzle on one side one after another, apparently to counterattack the enemy ship that attacked it.

After all, the game is no better than reality. When encountering such a situation, the players on the pier did not run away in a panic, but stood very calmly on the pier to watch the battle and eat melons.

"Boom!"

There were two more loud bangs, one armor-piercing shell pierced the cabin of the turning armed merchant ship, and the other shell missed, falling into the sea and causing huge waves.

Fang Jie took a glance and found that the one attacking the armed merchant ship was a vulture-class frigate that had just sailed into the offshore waters of the harbor, and it looked very arrogant.

At this time, the armed merchant ship that was attacked also completed its artillery preparations and began to shoot at each other, while the surrounding ships scattered to avoid it, fearing that it would harm the fish pond.

"What's going on?" Fang Jie asked.

The one who had just been slapped in the face observed for a while and said, "What the hell, it seems that there is a personal enmity between the two parties, and it is not aimed at our harbor. Judging from this posture, the two sides are going to die!"

Fang Jie understood, and snorted lightly: "I don't understand the rules! I sank those two ships!"

Although the Osaka Port where the NB Legion is located does not have its own naval ships, there are hundreds of artillery pieces on both sides of the port and the narrow and long estuary stretching for more than ten kilometers along the coast.

This is the foundation of the NB Legion's foothold here. If external forces want to seize Osaka Port, they cannot enter with naval warships. No matter how much they come, it will be refueling. Only by attacking from land can they invade and occupy it. port.

In fact, there is no need for Fang Jie's order at all. The NB Legion had already planned for such an emergency. Dozens of cannons were immediately erected on both sides of the coast. Those who controlled these artillery were none other than the NB Legion. Thousands of miner players staying in Arkworld.

These people can only be farmers in the international server of "EVE" in English, but in the world of Ark, they are useful. They are still farmers in non-wartime. The task is to mine various resources. It is the city defense force of Osaka Port.

After receiving Fang Jie's clear instructions, all the artillery within the firing range fired a salvo, and the rain of shells directly smashed the Vulture-class frigate that fired first into a pile of waste wood.

Immediately, the coast fort turned its muzzle and fired another round of salvo. The dense shells easily exploded the armed merchant ship that was attacked.

Anyone who dares to fire artillery near the port will be eliminated without discrimination as long as it is within the range of coastal artillery, even if it is only a passive counterattack.

An inexplicable naval battle was suppressed so quickly in the middle, both the attacking party and the attacked party were instantly killed.

Some of the players in the harbor who saw this scene were terrified. Only then did they realize that the player forces who can build ports and ships are definitely not small characters who play soy sauce. Of course the end will be ashes...

(End of this chapter)