Forums » Suggestions
Abstracting National Trade Volume using a CtC Format
For trading, maximizing profit over time means figuring out how to squeeze the most credits out of each jump. It is entirely dependent on how much an item is bought and sold for and how far one has to travel to realize that profit. The long-term problem is that with sharp price drop offs and slow recovery rates a good route to Grey may get run a few times after which it will cease to be profitable enough to attract traders; so back to square one until the price recovers which can take weeks or months.
In-system trading can yield 100k+ profit per jump. Trade to/from Grey would have to be substantially greater than that to lure traders. Factors to consider are: the danger of traveling in Grey space (cost of replacing ships, lost cargo, bribes, wasted time), the use of more survivable ships when trading to/from Grey with their concomitant reduced cargo capacity, and the additional distance one has to travel there and elsewhere. Absent an increase of an order of magnitude or so to trading with Grey space there is currently no economic incentive to do so for the advanced trader.
However, there are other ways of structuring the VO economy to increase activity in Grey space. Briefly:
- Trade volume to each Nation affects their respective ship/addon prices.
- CtC-like format (simplified commerce raiding), either weekly or in real-time,
- But with more commodities involved and a much greater impact on the economy.
- Potential for tension between the UIT and Itani/Serco.
The idea is to abstract demand in terms of a Nation's manufacturing capacity and have actual trade volume (both PC and NPC) in and out of a Nation's space impact the price of ships and addons. You can set minimum and maximum prices to maintain a degree of control over the economy but the range between the min and max price should be fairly large (like an order of magnitude) in order to make a difference on player behavior - If the price of your favorite ship went from 25k to 250k (as an extreme example), you would probably notice. Assuming needed raw materials are coming from Grey space and finished goods to and from UIT Space, players of all Nations have a real incentive to patrol Grey space outside their nation's borders either to protect their own trade routes or to disrupt their opponent's.
In essence, a type of large-scale CtC but not limited to the delivery of one type of commodity and with an impact greater than the availability of one type of weapon. Convoys to/from Itani/Serco space then become legitimate targets for the opposing side as well as pierats. Either keep the weekly cycle to retain a degree of control over the process with prices in each Nation only being calculated weekly or go for true dynamism and have prices calculated in real time as goods are actually delivered and sold to stations.
The weekly approach might be the best (though less immersive) choice as it would provide specific goals on which players can focus as well provide for a more stable economic environment. In fact, the current economy could remain almost as is with the addition of a weekly price multiplier calculated for each Nation dependent on their respective weekly volume of trade.
One ramification of this abstraction is that, depending on with whom they are actually trading, traders may become vulnerable to nationalists as well as to pierats. This would put a strain on UIT neutrality (as the UIT would logically have to try to protect their trade with both the Itani and Serco at the same time) thus providing a new source of potential conflict in VO. Sporadic UIT forces fighting Serco or Itani in Grey space would then be a legitimate scenario to add to the perennial Itani/Serco conflict.
In the above scenario, the Daily Trade Reports could be used to announce real demands by stations. In a simplified economy, these could be the commodities used for that day to calculate the trade volume for each nation at the end of the week as opposed to tracking every commodity everywhere all the time. Reflecting this heightened demand, station buy prices for these commodities could be increased to a level high enough to attract both veteran traders and pierats. Then everyone is happy; traders get to trade, pierats get to be ratty, and nationalists get to blow things up.
In-system trading can yield 100k+ profit per jump. Trade to/from Grey would have to be substantially greater than that to lure traders. Factors to consider are: the danger of traveling in Grey space (cost of replacing ships, lost cargo, bribes, wasted time), the use of more survivable ships when trading to/from Grey with their concomitant reduced cargo capacity, and the additional distance one has to travel there and elsewhere. Absent an increase of an order of magnitude or so to trading with Grey space there is currently no economic incentive to do so for the advanced trader.
However, there are other ways of structuring the VO economy to increase activity in Grey space. Briefly:
- Trade volume to each Nation affects their respective ship/addon prices.
- CtC-like format (simplified commerce raiding), either weekly or in real-time,
- But with more commodities involved and a much greater impact on the economy.
- Potential for tension between the UIT and Itani/Serco.
The idea is to abstract demand in terms of a Nation's manufacturing capacity and have actual trade volume (both PC and NPC) in and out of a Nation's space impact the price of ships and addons. You can set minimum and maximum prices to maintain a degree of control over the economy but the range between the min and max price should be fairly large (like an order of magnitude) in order to make a difference on player behavior - If the price of your favorite ship went from 25k to 250k (as an extreme example), you would probably notice. Assuming needed raw materials are coming from Grey space and finished goods to and from UIT Space, players of all Nations have a real incentive to patrol Grey space outside their nation's borders either to protect their own trade routes or to disrupt their opponent's.
In essence, a type of large-scale CtC but not limited to the delivery of one type of commodity and with an impact greater than the availability of one type of weapon. Convoys to/from Itani/Serco space then become legitimate targets for the opposing side as well as pierats. Either keep the weekly cycle to retain a degree of control over the process with prices in each Nation only being calculated weekly or go for true dynamism and have prices calculated in real time as goods are actually delivered and sold to stations.
The weekly approach might be the best (though less immersive) choice as it would provide specific goals on which players can focus as well provide for a more stable economic environment. In fact, the current economy could remain almost as is with the addition of a weekly price multiplier calculated for each Nation dependent on their respective weekly volume of trade.
One ramification of this abstraction is that, depending on with whom they are actually trading, traders may become vulnerable to nationalists as well as to pierats. This would put a strain on UIT neutrality (as the UIT would logically have to try to protect their trade with both the Itani and Serco at the same time) thus providing a new source of potential conflict in VO. Sporadic UIT forces fighting Serco or Itani in Grey space would then be a legitimate scenario to add to the perennial Itani/Serco conflict.
In the above scenario, the Daily Trade Reports could be used to announce real demands by stations. In a simplified economy, these could be the commodities used for that day to calculate the trade volume for each nation at the end of the week as opposed to tracking every commodity everywhere all the time. Reflecting this heightened demand, station buy prices for these commodities could be increased to a level high enough to attract both veteran traders and pierats. Then everyone is happy; traders get to trade, pierats get to be ratty, and nationalists get to blow things up.
>One ramification of this abstraction is that, depending on with whom they are
>actually trading, traders may become vulnerable to nationalists as well as to
>pierats. This would put a strain on UIT neutrality (as the UIT would logically have
>to try to protect their trade with both the Itani and Serco as the same time) thus
>providing a new source of potential conflict in VO. Sporadic UIT forces fighting
>Serco or Itani in Grey space would then be a legitimate scenario to add to the
>perennial Itani/Serco conflict.
This.
Well, the whole suggestion, but especially this.
[Really Big Stamp of Approval™]
>actually trading, traders may become vulnerable to nationalists as well as to
>pierats. This would put a strain on UIT neutrality (as the UIT would logically have
>to try to protect their trade with both the Itani and Serco as the same time) thus
>providing a new source of potential conflict in VO. Sporadic UIT forces fighting
>Serco or Itani in Grey space would then be a legitimate scenario to add to the
>perennial Itani/Serco conflict.
This.
Well, the whole suggestion, but especially this.
[Really Big Stamp of Approval™]
This would be neat.