After identifying himself, the guards on Planet Golden Gate became extremely respectful and immediately allowed him to pass. Possessing the Gaol Golden Statue Medal, he held a superior status in the eyes of the people of Goddora and enjoyed almost unimpeded passage in the Garton Star System.
Countless players crowded in front of the portholes, gazing at the magnificent exterior of Number One Base.
The Number One Base, built over a year, is like an alloy castle. Han Xiao knew that this was an era that valued appearances, so the exterior was made to be very beautiful and full of technological flair.
If it weren't for the consideration of not leaving a narcissistic impression on the players, he would have liked to paint his handsome figure on the outer wall of the base.
The fleet landed smoothly at Black Star Number One Base. When it was being built, Han Xiao's blueprints had reserved a huge hangar, which was more than enough to accommodate sixty or seventy ships. Even the largest Fortress Class flagship had a dedicated giant hangar.
hiss hiss hiss--
The air pumps made a sound, and the cabin doors slid open one after another. Hundreds of thousands of players stepped into the hangar hall, looking around curiously. The crowd was dense and crowded, reminiscent of the Spring Festival travel rush.
Just then, Phillip's voice rang out in the hangar lobby, drowning out the noise and clearly reaching everyone's ears.
"Welcome back to Number One Base. New mercenaries, please turn on your communicators and complete the manual verification process..."
As he spoke, the communicators of hundreds of thousands of players immediately started ringing.
Frenzied Saber took it out and saw a new program on the communicator. Opening it, he discovered it was the Black Star Army's mercenary authentication program, along with some auxiliary functions, such as querying base functional areas and searching for information in Phillip's database...
It's basically a navigation guide that also has the function of teasing AI.
This is a subroutine that Han Xiao created for Phillip. Players can use the program to check their various deeds and merits in the Black Star Army. Since players are also free mercenaries, their accumulated merits need to be calculated separately. This makes it convenient to manage and coordinate the overall situation, and also makes it easy for players to check their accumulated deeds.
To enhance players' sense of accomplishment, they need to see real-time feedback on how their missions contribute to the Black Star Army's achievements, without any underhanded dealings, ensuring transparency and openness.
Players who received rewards for the [Operation Hodrarias - War Employment] purchased communicators as soon as they arrived on Goddora's homeworld, and it became standard equipment.
The communicators were very cheap on the market, and Han Xiao couldn't easily raise the price when reselling them, so he simply didn't do business in that area.
Number One Base was built by a group of top players including Frenzied Saber, Hao Tian, and Kings and Generals after the 1.0 version update, so they are only now receiving the subroutine.
"This is the Black Star Army's headquarters, it's pretty cool."
"Strange, this base didn't seem to be in the previous version of the video." Someone stared at Meat Bun, Meat Bun covered his face and walked away.
"Hey, it's definitely a version update change; it's not like we've never encountered this before."
All the players, including Frenzied Saber and others, were visiting Number One Base for the first time and were quite excited.
The purpose of Number One Base is to make players use it as their faction's main city. Having a base makes players feel that the faction is prestigious and reliable, thus generating a greater sense of belonging.
With Phillip's subroutine providing guidance, Han Xiao didn't need to explain it personally, so he left the players to their own devices.
These players used to have Planet Aquamarine as their main city, but now their main city is their Number One Base. They need to familiarize themselves with the new main city and get through the period of confusion during the transition.
Back in his room, Han Xiao dealt with the backlog of tasks that had accumulated over this period, such as applications to join the freelance mercenary group and some new hiring offers.
After the Goddora Festival, he gained a lot of exposure, and the number of pending tasks skyrocketed. He even received an invitation to be a mercenary to do advertising endorsements, which was simply insane.
But after one glance, it seemed to be an arms company, which immediately made sense.
Having recruited hundreds of thousands of players, and taking advantage of the soaring reputation and popularity, Han Xiao decided to recruit as many freelance mercenaries as possible. While players are great, they are subject to version updates, and he likes to plan ahead.
--Using players to expand the Black Star Army's business and improve its reputation indirectly attracts more free mercenaries, which is also a chain of interests.
With a backlog of hiring offers, Phillip sorted them by difficulty, making the layout easy to understand.
The vast majority of mercenary missions will be available to players; only a very small number of high-paying, high-difficulty, and high-level missions will require the player's or their superiors' intervention.
Because of the "borrowing resources to generate profits" business model, players go to different places to do mercenary work, which inherently involves interstellar exploration. The locations where missions are carried out already have events and storylines, which can make up for the Black Star Army's lack of resources and at the same time bring secondary benefits to players.
Moreover, players have only recently entered interstellar space and need stable activity areas to familiarize themselves with the environment, as well as a storyline to guide their actions.
NPC resource sites like Planet Sunil possess most of the functions players need and also have storylines.
If the player is the seed, then the NPC resource area is the soil that comes with its own fertilizer.
Planet Sunil is the first trial area that Han Xiao has prepared; it's time to fulfill the promise he made to Melos.
Han Xiao looked thoughtful.
"From this moment on, the plan enters a new phase."
"Black Star, you were looking for me?"
Melos pushed the door open and came in.
Han Xiao carefully examined Melos. Compared to when he first became a mercenary with him a few years ago, Melos's aura had become more composed. Mercenaries have no shortage of opportunities to fight, and Melos's strength had gradually improved with each job he was hired.
"Melos, I promised you I would bring you tens of thousands of superhumans to solve the problem on Planet Sunil once and for all." Han Xiao paused, then smiled, "In the name of the Black Star Army, I will lend Sunil 200,000 men at the most basic rate. During the mission, these mercenaries will be under Sunil's command."
Melos was stunned for a moment, then suddenly became overjoyed.
I followed Black Star because I believed in this promise, and now the day has finally come when it will be fulfilled!
At that moment, a surge of emotion welled up in his heart, and he almost couldn't help but want to draw his sword for Han Xiao.
He himself didn't know why he drew his sword.
Barely suppressing his excitement, Melos exclaimed, "I'll immediately inform my clansmen and have them issue a formal employment invitation specifically to the Black Star Army!"
"Okay, but I have one extra condition." Han Xiao nodded.
"We'll definitely agree to anything within our power."
"It's nothing major, just wanting Sunil's approval to build a Black Star branch base on Planet Sunil."
Han Xiao revealed an innocent-looking smile.
Every NPC resource site is an excellent place to provide benefits to players. Once a sub-base is established, it is indirectly considered Black Star's "territory".
"No problem," Melos agreed readily, then added after a moment's thought, "This is beneficial and harmless to us; the higher-ups won't refuse you."
Because of Goddora's award, Han Xiao's influence in the Garton Star System is unparalleled; he estimates he can even get a 15% discount when buying fruit on the street.
After seeing off the excited Melos, Han Xiao turned on his communicator and opened Phillip's feedback interface.
All players who received the subroutine were displayed as red dots on the map in real time. Han Xiao was most skilled in virtual technology, which was a form of surveillance.
It's not that I don't trust the players, but rather that I'm worried they'll lose me.
On the map, players are scattered across various areas of Number One Base, with the shop area having the most players.
Upon seeing this, Han Xiao's lips curled up slightly, revealing a joyful smile reminiscent of a bountiful harvest.
"The backlog of inventory has finally found a market."
Number One Base is divided into different areas. The shop area allows players to buy stocked goods. After paying, Phillip retrieves the goods from the warehouse. The entire process is automated.
At this moment, countless players formed long queues in the shop area.
The production lines in the workshops and factories have never stopped producing, resulting in a large backlog of machinery and equipment. These machines were carefully selected by Han Xiao and are very suitable for players at this stage, allowing them to replace all of the players' equipment.
Unlike players like Frenzied Saber who have Non-Commissioned Officer-Grade Armor, other players have a great need for higher-level equipment. Where there is demand, there is a market; if there is no demand, demand must be created.
The machines were sold off one by one, and the ample inventory, like a tempting but cheap commodity, drained the wallets of most players...
The turnover skyrocketed at an unbelievable rate, and all of this money flowed into Han Xiao's private account. One million Enas? That was just a drop in the bucket!
However, although these stockpiled equipment are mass-produced, their quality is not too low, and the equipment itself has a higher technical level, so the price is not low either. Therefore, even if most players spend almost all their money, it is still not enough to replace their entire set of equipment.
The expensive full-body armor, in particular, tempted players' appetites.
When players are short of money, the first thought that comes to mind is to quickly complete quests!
The Phillip subroutine lists a dense, dazzling array of acceptable hires.
Most of these jobs come with considerable pay. Following the procedure set up by Han Xiao, Phillip explained that this was a benefit brought by the Black Star Army's reputation and connections. Only mercenaries who join the Black Star Army can enjoy such good mercenary jobs. If they were freelance mercenaries, they would only be able to run around and risk their lives for meager pay.
Han Xiao had Phillip emphasize this because it was one of the core attractions of the faction, reminding players of the benefits they enjoyed from the faction, and also because, in the players' eyes, the Black Star Army was a growing faction, making working for the Black Star Army a win-win situation.
"Wow, so many rewards!"
"The best mercenary missions are always highly competitive, but the penalties for failure are quite severe."
Most players immediately realized the benefits of being a mercenary.
The most obvious point is that the rewards for these interstellar mercenaries far exceed those for their missions on Planet Aquamarine, and they can now freely choose their missions, giving them a lot of initiative. This is something that players who used to struggle to trigger missions are now enjoying.
Each hiring mission can involve multiple people, with varying maximum numbers. To accept a job, a player first submits an application through a subroutine. Phillip then processes the applications in the background, and if a player meets the requirements, the applications are approved in the order they are submitted. Only then can the player officially receive the mission.
This is because the difficulty of the hiring missions is taken into account; higher difficulty missions naturally have richer rewards, and many players want to compete for high-paying hiring jobs, but their applications are all rejected.
Phillip offered an explanation.
Han Xiao established a faction-level system, providing players with a channel to advance within the system. Starting from "one star," the higher the level, the greater the privileges and benefits. Personal level is also the application standard for hiring at different difficulty levels—meaning that players must complete sufficiently easy tasks to raise their credit level before they are qualified to accept more difficult tasks.
This is to protect our reputation. Han Xiao knows the players too well; they love to act recklessly. If a mercenary mission fails, it will damage the reputation of the faction. They rise and fall together, so this kind of safeguard is necessary.
In addition, Han Xiao set up another system: players can browse the hiring list anywhere, but they can only accept hiring at the base.
It's said to be to verify mercenaries' identities and prevent communicators from being stolen, but actually it's to prevent players from wandering around too much and to make them return to the main city every now and then to cultivate a sense of nostalgia... The main purpose is still to get players to spend money.
How are we supposed to make money if people don't come back?
On the other side, the members of the expert gaming group had varying feelings.
"The way we accept missions has changed..."
In version 1.0, they followed Han Xiao to do missions, but now they accept employment on their own. The most obvious feeling is that the faction's power is getting bigger and bigger.
Just then, a new job posting was pinned to the top of the subroutine's hiring list.
[[Operation Sunil Rescue - Large-Scale Employment]]
[Mission Introduction: Planet Sunil is plagued by Calamity. On the advice of Melos, a Black Star cadre, it has been decided to issue a mandate to the Black Star Army to recruit a large number of mercenaries, aiming to resolve the Calamity once and for all.]
[Mission Requirements: Travel to Planet Sunil and resolve the source of the Calamity]
[Number of people recruited: 200,000]
[Note: This is a large-scale mercenary mission. Completing this mission will improve the Black Star Army's reputation, add new benefits, and allow them to open a third base.]
"Wow, two hundred thousand men? That's half the size of a legion!"
"This is a new big event, isn't it?"
"Sunil? Calamity? Isn't this the plot from the early episodes of Meat Bun's Black Star series? Oh, there's a sequel."
Many players immediately became curious.
The reward wasn't high, after all, Sunil was living a very Enas life, and he had to be extremely careful with every penny he earned. Han Xiao gave Sunil a discounted price so that he could barely afford it. However, since this was a large-scale hire, the experience reward was quite substantial.
A large-scale hiring operation involving 200,000 people is undoubtedly a major event comparable to the main storyline in the eyes of players. Many players like to join in the fun, and gathering 200,000 people is not a problem.
Among hundreds of thousands of players, casual players make up a larger proportion. Compared to professional players and guild players with clear goals, casual players are slightly less adaptable.
The interstellar map is extremely vast, and casual players will see a large number of acceptable missions in a short period of time, gaining a high degree of freedom. However, they will also experience a period of confusion, not knowing what to do next.
This hiring of Sunil serves as a partial "main plot," acting as a guide:
--Don't know which mercenary mission to choose? Then why not join a large-scale mercenary mission with 200,000 people? With more people, there's always someone to look out for you, and things are less likely to go wrong.
To be on the safe side and ensure that the benefits would attract a sufficient number of players, Han Xiao also added faction favorability rewards and revised the mission description, emphasizing that hiring this character would help the faction grow, thereby increasing players' motivation.
However, he was overthinking it this time. The recent awarding ceremony had caused a new sensation on the forum, and players realized that Han Xiao was already a great figure shining brightly in the universe, adding a lot of legendary and noble color to his image.
Players have watched Han Xiao grow up, and they feel a sense of satisfaction. They are willing to fight for the Black Star Army.
Even if the rewards are meager, many players will participate in missions that help the Black Star Army grow stronger.
Han Xiao's actions over the years have subtly and gradually established a sense of belonging among players.