i was wondering if it would be able to implement a way to automatically bid on a certain contract with a certain price when the bidding is nearly closed. Reason is sometimes its not possible to get to the computer at my time which is 5:55 Am in real life. Maybe a system where you put in your 1/2 contracts and your preferred price and when it hits 11:54:45 it auto. puts in your offer, whether you win or not is down to the price you put. sorry for this being sooooooo long but i got carried away being bored :D

Mmm I'm guessing you mean something that sites such as ebay currently use, but instead of specifying the highest maximum price you are willing to bid - you give the lowest? I've actually pondered over this before myself, and it is certainly an idea that should be considered. However the contract system is one of the most debated aspect of the game, so good luck getting everyone to agree :lol:

im sorry but this is a bad idea if you cant bid on a contract at bidding time that is to bad that is the reason if you cant bid at 11:55 you might as well not even be a contract manager that is the way i see it

I also think this is a bad idea. This is also like using a bot to bid on contracts which is against Trukz ToS. Also what would happen when everyone started to use it and everyone entered their bids at the same time? Who would win the contract?

Yeah, i dont like it. Its something we all have to deal with. But i dont see how it would work. If 5 people put in the lowest bid of say 1.00, and nobody went lower, then who wins it? There are to many flaws with it. And the way i see it, is we need to stop trying to keep making the current system work, and come out with another new one.

Well I don't like it. I think it is more towards the Cheating side than the Helping side.

-Mr Bear

IMHO too much of a cheating factor.

If you can't be on at the right time, you should not be contract manager. Sorry.

-WarMan v2

Something like this has been running through my mind as well. It's obvious that the contract system is the most debated feature in the game and there are alot of valid ideas that could work. however there are many good points against it mentioned.

I know I've wanted to bid on a few contracts in the past then got wrapped up in another game and came back to trukz a minute after bidding closed. it's frustrating and irritating. I mean, honestly, if you're computer slows down for even 5 seconds at the wrong time you could miss out even if you're on the site and bidding. I think an ebay-esque bidding system would be toeing the line of the ToS as gravedigger mentioned. If it was coded into the game however, then I don't think it would necessarily cross the line. Or perhaps the ToS would have to be amended so no outside bot could be used for bidding purposes or something to that effect.

as to the what if factor if multiple companies enter the same lowest bid, that's the toughest part. a couple ideas are floating through my head, but both have flaws that I can't quite get around. 1. first come first serve so to speak. whoever enters the bids in first wins the contract. the flaws here are that someone could conceivably bid by 1:05 am and not worry about it for the rest of the day. 2. names in a hat. the server randomly picks from the lowest bidders. flaws here are just like with any other random draw, there's no saying that the same company might be randomly picked a couple weeks in a row or one company might get the short straw while other companies are picked more.

all in all, i think this idea has some weight behind it, but is it possible to find ways around the possible flaws.

One side benefit to this feature- it would reduce the damage of a rogue Contract Manager. If a guy bids $.01, it'll only go as low as one cent below the next lowest bidder.

If a bidder from another company did bid down to $.02 to make it happen, it would be easy to see the conspiracy (not that poeple can't see it already in most cases).

Oh, and if you did it and there was a tie bid, whoever bids it first gets it.

You could really make it like ebay and have it go down one cent below the next lowest bid, updated to that immediately, but holding back you true low bid until someone bids lower.

The other way I could see doing it is to make it a true "sealed bid" system where no one sees what anyone's bids are until a winner is revealed at the close of bidding. (I'm sure this has been suggested before.) This doesn't give you that rogue bidder protection though...

Well i think a minimum contract price that is activated by the CEO VP on the company page that anyone in the company can bid on any contract would be a good idea...
Also a contract system based on company merit and length of time since last contract and current bid
so something like (company merit)+(time/days)-bid price
5 + 7 -$1.45=$1.33pm

If that was added i would literally step down from contract manager, it would take all the fun out of it, contract managers should be online at 11:30 every night there is a contract that they want, which should be every night the company is without a contract, or close to done, i have my clock set a few seconds before Game Time, so i just bid at exactly when my clock changes and get the last possible bid in, usually the lowest

I think Sweetchuck makes alot of good points for this. There's things that can be done for the betterment of the game and contract system in general. It's a matter of finding the best and easiest to implement.

thanks guys i do see some valid points being made which i didnt notice in the first run, and yea i suppose it does take out the fun of actually waiting to the last possible second to bid and finding out you was .03 out. but maybe some aspects of this idea which you have suggested could be implemented. i dont know just a thought! now back to truking <devil>

Oh, one other thing-

As a Contract Manager myself, I like the current system, even if I have to be up at 1am (local) to bid.

I do however like the idea of some safetys in place to avoid some of the recent unpleasantness.

i agree with sweet chuck, i don't see anything wrong with the contract system, except for there should be some kind of barrier

I don't think if you bid .01 it should make the bid go down by .01, because then the winner of absolutely every bid will have put the bid in at 11:54:59, which is lame, because that guy should have to bid below everyone else too... so he needs to guess what everyone else will bid in that frantic 10 or so seconds before bidding gets closed, right now its the person who does the research and all that good stuff, in that way it would just be the last person to bid before bidding closed