Suggestion

[Trogdor]

So, commodities that degenerate over time are already in the game.

But..how about commodities that go the other way?

Commodities could grow over time (Given a certain set of parameters) Such as..

Plants
Livestock
Bacteria

Even some non-biological things. It could open up possibilities such as mobile factories. A ship picks up raw materials from some bases, and as it's traveling along to a sell point it converts those materials into a finished good like engine components or luxury consumer goods. (This would also take care of what I know you're thinking right now, which is that ships will just sit outside sell points letting their cargo bays fill with loot and not go anywhere)

Or, a commodity in the cargo hold could generate another commodity (livestock could generate luxury food while maintaining a stable population)

These commodities would be intended for larger ships that have the space on board to support the machinery, equipment, livestock, etc. as well as the product.

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[johnpeter]

I approve it, but how hard would it be to implement it?

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Come on! Be free!

[DeathsOverture]

Actually, if this is possible, I support this idea. Reviewing your examples, if balance is an issue we can balance the good commodity with either a waste or a not so popular commodity. In other words, livestock would give rise to fertilizers in addition to luxury food. Plants would give rise to ... food, oxygen.... and maybe more plants, or terraforming gasses.

While we're on topic, perhaps this would be appropriate for some existing commodities

Degeneration:
MOX --> Toxic Waste
Plutonium ---> Toxic Waste
Slaves---> Fertilizers ( Because slaves have biproducts and don't all live in transit )

Production:
Scrap Metal --> Ship Hull Panels
?? --> HFuel ( For a Gas Miner)

Good thinking. Hopefully we get a steady flow of ideas here, and maybe we'll see some implemented in the future... if this is even possible to code.

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[Trogdor]

A few notes..

One, when contemplating what produces what desirable product and what secondary product, you'd have to make sure that whatever the secondary product is, it isn't more valuable in terms of time/distance per profit than the intended primary product.

For example, Slaves->Fertilizers. Fertilizers sell really well on some bases. You'd have to make sure that it isn't more profitable/easier to just buy a bunch of slaves and let them all convert to fertilizer, then sell them on the Freeport a tradelane or two away, instead of bringing the live slaves to a mining colony 4 systems away.

Two, for at least some of my examples it wouldn't make sense for them to occur on small ships i.e. fighters. You wouldn't want a fighter wandering around with livestock on board making luxury food, it would be silly.

A couple of ways to get around this...one is to only allow the transformation to occur if the ship has at least x cargo hold space. Or, if the ship is of a certain type.
Or, you could have machine commodities. You only need one, and 1 of it takes up, say, 200 cargo space. This 1 machine allows the conversion process to take place in your cargo hold.

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[JohnLenin]

... and the smuggled slaves produce lots of small slave babies and the increased amount of cargo tiers my beautiful ship apart...

;)

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JohnLenin * Collector * Junker
.:j:.Jane.Blond * Firefly * Smuggler * Junker Congress

[Cellulanus]

How could this be coded? I think that the degradation of commodities is a relatively simple processes of damaging the item one by one until it is destroyed (in the game coding) but to add commodities or change them would be a completely different scenario.

[Tenacity]

I'm not sure about the whole 'converting' one commodity to another thing that may not be possible except with complicated FL hook programming.

However, having cargo types which 'multiply' over time would be interesting. Say you load up your ship with gaian wildlife, or plants, or alien organisms... you sell off all but 1 at a buying point, and then over time that 1 becomes another 2-3k cargo.

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[farmerman]

Degeneration:
MOX --> Toxic Waste
Plutonium ---> Toxic Waste
Slaves---> Fertilizers ( Because slaves have biproducts and don't all live in transit )

I like the idea of Slaves turning into Human organs - they die and that's all that's what is left to sell.

In any case, it seems like a neat idea if it could be balanced.

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