Trading - Brainstorming Changes

[Athenian]

Just browsing over the suggestions so far and there are some good ones emerging. Indexing commodity cost to ID is one thing that could be developed - place very lucrative cargo in guard systems available only if you have full rep (e.g. GMG H Fuel in GMG Guard system -purchasable only if you have full rep but with a discount on top of that if you have GMG ID).

Incidentally folks, this is nt about how pirating is ruining your day - its about promoting trading by making it as attractive an option in and of itself, not a means to an end.

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[Guest]

Just browsing over the suggestions so far and there are some good ones emerging. Indexing commodity cost to ID is one thing that could be developed - place very lucrative cargo in guard systems available only if you have full rep (e.g. GMG H Fuel in GMG Guard system -purchasable only if you have full rep but with a discount on top of that if you have GMG ID).

That wouldn't be very helpful to those corporations that don't have a guard system though.

I'm personally quite happy with trading. Being in a convoy adds alot of fun to it, that is of course if the entire convoy can hold for each other. *glares at certain people*

A buff to the profits wouldn't be too bad, for instance a 500 unit freighter would make as much as a 1000 unit (transport?). To those that say that this would increase the capital problem, I say HA!
The "nerf" that trading got in this version of the mod has in no way decreased the capital ship number, it has how ever increased the amount of time that so called "loltraders" are on, therefore increasing the aggravation that pirates/lawfuls/RP traders receive from said "loltraders".

A lot more routes would be a decent idea, with the embargos in place the routes are already limited for corporation traders. I know of several decent loop trade routes, how ever when you add the blockade running then those routes fall down to a pitiful number.

I'd also with increasing freighter speeds.

P.S: Any numbers on the "buff the profits" idea are placeholders to get the idea across.

Edit:
P.P.S: This idea is directly related to pirating but since I think getting pirated makes the general trading experience better I'll add it here anyway.

If it is possible to make a plugin for this, then allow pirates to sell commodities they've stolen from traders on their bases for a decent profit.

Example: I'm sitting around merrily minding my on busy on my Outcast Pirate Transport (Read: Waiting for some trader to come along) when out of the blue comes a trader carrying a commodity that the Outcast's are in need of. So, instead of taking credits of the trader, I ask him nicely for some of his cargo and then once I've got it I take it to Ruiz/Cali/Malta/What ever other Outcast base and sell it there. I then make a decent profit from it, say two million (which would've been around the amount I'd have pirated for such a luctrative commodity.

[FooFighter]

Incidentally folks, this is nt about how pirating is ruining your day - its about promoting trading by making it as attractive an option in and of itself, not a means to an end.

Well, boosting profits alone or giving certain factions certain goods that they can only buy with full Guard Rep won't help anything here I think. Trading, in itself, as it is at the moment, is broken. Yes, most of us have to do it (smart people trade guns instead, which is much more profitable, or do bounty hunting because it's more fun; I pretty much only get on my transport to help out newbies), and boosting profits will make things better by not requiring you to trade that much anymore, which will make people happy, but it won't change the fact that trading will stay - to use your words - the means to an end. I think if you really want people to trade because they like trading and not because they need the cash, trading as a gameplay mechanism needs to be radically changed (oh, and I'd be glad helping to mod that of course *coughs*).

[...]dynamic economy[...]

Fully dynamic economy is a bad idea in my opinion - it'll just lead to weird ooRP situations from which only the "I dock everywhere"-Zoner Guard traders will profit. Give every faction that has a reason to utilize trading ships at least one good route (and make all of them about equal; maybe make smuggling a little bit more profitable taking in mind that it at least *should* be more risky than lawful trading - maybe allow people to engage smugglers like any other ships?). Frankly said, if you have multiple trade routes there most likely will be one which is "the best" and which will be spammed. In .84 it was the Diamond-Niobium run, now we have various smuggling runs and other routes which can only be flown by the hated Zoner Guard traders. If every trading faction had an equal route (which you wouldn't have to "discover" - working out trade routes is one of the most boring things to do, even worse than trading itself), people would spread much more I'd say, which might bring some life to the other houses (especially Kusari needs some love - who ever goes there?). If you want some variety, maybe use Xoria's economic events proposal to temporary create new routes for some factions (ONOZ FOOD SHORTAGE ON PLANET X! SYNTH FOODS FOR THE RESCUE! - a month later: thanks, we have enough food now, now go back to your normal routes). We *do* have an auto-updater, after all:).

[...]trading missions[...]

Trading missions sound nice, but here, I think you'd have the same problem as with just increasing profits. Yes, it would spread out people a bit, and add a little bit of variety, but soon will get just as boring as regular trading. It won't change anything fundamentally, but I think it could be quite nice in combination with other changes.


Oh, and one little thing regarding more profit leading to more caps...well, I don't really see much less caps nowadays. 'sair caps are legion, Order carriers keep roaming the eastern border/edge worlds en masse and OC caps aren't too rare either. NY has less caps now, which I'd attribute to the endeavors of the [LN] to keep the lolcaps away. Rheinland...uh, RNC, anyone?

If you are afraid of caps being spammed should they become profitable again, give the various player factions the right to regulate caps and preferably also GBs (to make sure they won't sit on every second trade lane waiting for traders - seriously, it's getting hilarious).

[Guest]

If you are afraid of caps being spammed should they become profitable again, give the various player factions the right to regulate caps and preferably also GBs (to make sure they won't sit on every second trade lane waiting for traders - seriously, it's getting hilarious).

I'd agree with giving the factions the right to regulate capital ships. As for the recent problems involving mass GB usage, it's nothing a few Shires can't handle.:P

[FooFighter]

I'd agree with giving the factions the right to regulate capital ships. As for the recent problems involving mass GB usage, it's nothing a few Shires can't handle.:P

True. Actually, when flying in a med/large convoy, I'm much more scared of single bombers because they actually can evade the fire of 3+ Shires and a Transport x) .

[jimmy Patterson]

not to sound rude but you wanna make tradeing better



[color=#FFFF66] SOLVE THE 2MILLRDAI10SECONDS *KILLED WHILE TYPEING /GIVECASH COMMAND* PIRACY GUNBOAT PROBLEM!

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kudos tommeh for sig

[Eppy]

not to sound rude but you wanna make tradeing better
[color=#FFFF66] SOLVE THE 2MILLRDAI10SECONDS *KILLED WHILE TYPEING /GIVECASH COMMAND* PIRACY GUNBOAT PROBLEM!

I agree. Incidentally, the last three posts have been largely off-topic.

A truly dynamic economy won't work, I feel. That would necessitate a change bigger than what this mod can support. I think we should just focus on making trade routes more interesting.

I think the full guard rep bit is an interesting idea, but you'd have to implement it carefully. It would take quite a bit of balancing, and we should probably focus our efforts on straight trading for this mod.

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Quick comment - we thought that Panzer was the Leader, Swift. -Agmen

Which Dreadnought was that?

One of your nine.

[Benjamin]

Not those 4, if you mean to somewhere you'll actually make a profit during the changeover. However, Refugees, Scientists and Prisoners will all work.

The idea of Cryer converting Scientists to Human Organs is a touch farcical though. The other two are at a Zoner Base, can't see that happening either really, and a Corsair one.

Cryer get their organs out of Slaves, as far as I can tell from Atka. But it's just as likely that they are synthesising them. I mean Cryer's immoral, but it's not THAT messed up.

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[cobraSting]

Srsly dued...AFK it. Have your volume turned up and train yourself to listen for when you enter & exit lanes/gates/holes, and freaking do something else in the meantime. I usually do homework or play pokemon (:D). Also, I check the chat screen every now and then to see if I have missed anything. I don't have to worry about other players much as I usually trade during low-activity times.

[Benjamin]

Biggest real insurmountable problem I can think of is that trading is about moving, and roleplay is essentially about staying still. I like stopping and chatting when I'm on my trader, but when that happens, I'm no longer actually trading. And I can't really roleplay with someone as I'm churning through a new Omega every couple of minutes. Sure private chat works, but half the point of roleplay is the performance of it. This is what pulls traders out of the lawful/unlawful roleplay system, which they both get to have fun with.

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