Trade and Naval Suggestion
For upcoming PvP, you should let players ship 10,000s of resources on a regular basis. Maybe it's every 6 hours, 12 hours, or 24 hours. I never really understood how it makes sense to let players simply "trade" through a branch office since resources have to actually move.
Obviously, this would implement navy.
You could also let players open up insurance agencies to protect merchant marines. This is what "branch office" suggests anyway, and it makes sense for resource lots 10,000s of size. For example, if a stack of resources costs 20 coins, 25 stacks would cost 500 coins.
Insuring 500 coins at a 10% rate of 50 coins a lot would leave the shipper with a reliable 450 coins profit (or more if insurance is split freight out). I suppose a 10% interception and sinking rate would be an easy roundabout figure to program around as well. Pirating players, for example, could send out pirates similarly to how they send out explorers, and pirate fleets would have a (33%) chance of discovering merchant marines. Then, they would have to engage (80%), destroy convoys if any (50%), and sink or capture ships (75%).
Perhaps players could accumulate shipping and piracy trophies, medals, or buildings as well?
