How are Max Gates calculated and used in Trade: Max gate distance to buy/sell

[jm7111]

I have some trouble to explain my Autotrader ship's "unwillingness" to reach certain stations for some vital trading cases. So could you please give me some answers to the following questions. Thanks

a. Do Jump gates count as 1 ? - I presume the answer is YES, although on map we can always see 2 gates, one each in every sector joined together

b. Do Accelerators count as Gates ? And if so, do they count as 1 as for (a.) above ? - In both questions I presume YES

c1. Do gates at start & end of (independent - see below case e.) SuperHighways count as 2 if a ship goes all the way through (does not exit midway) - I presume YES

c2. If a trade ship trying to reach a station has to travel through a SuperHighway for faster movement, this will add 2 gates (as per c1) in the calculation. If in such a case the Max gates limit is exceeded, does the ship ignore the SuperHighway and fly direct to the Station, or is such a possible trade rejected by the calculation ?

d1. Do Anomalies count as Gates ? And if so, do they count again as (a.) above ? - Can't tell

d2. Are Anomalies used by Autotradres/Autominers ? - As above

e. In case a Jump gate is joined with a SuperHighway, this gate counts as 1 (and not as 2 for being both a Jump gate AND a starting gate for the SuperHighway) - I presume YES

f. If the answers above (except d1, d2) are YES, it means that to travel to an adjoining (but connected) sector we calculate only 1 gate ea time. So, it would be fair to use the term Max Sectors instead of Max Gates. Where does this (simpler) term contradict the calculations, so that the term Max Gates was actually preferred ?

A nice w/e to all

EDIT:
1. Am assuming that for ea new trade round of Buy/Sell in Autotrading, the Max Gate calculation is based on the "base sector" fixed when the Autotrade command was issued, and not on the current position of ship after the end of prv trade run.
2. No relevant info could be found in X4: Foundations Manual / Piloting And Travel or /Trading And Mining

[radcapricorn]

First off, there are no gates at start & end of superhighways. Superhighways are the blue tubes that send you between sectors. The ring road that goes through gates - those are regular highways.

AFAIK, it's rather simple, and let the data diggers correct me if I'm wrong. Only gates are counted. For example, from Argon Prime to Second Contact II Flashpoint it's one gate. From Argon Prime to Grand Exchange III it's 3 gates (one to Second Contact, one to Black Hole Sun, one to Grand Exchange, superhighway in Black Hole Sun does not count). And from Argon Prime to Grand Exchange IV it's also 3 gates (superhighways inside Grand Exchange don't count).
Again AFAIK, traders are oblivious to anomalies.

Gates connect systems, which may contain more than one sector (connected via superhighways or accelerators). I may be wrong on terminology here though. I wish Egosoft would put a clear and unambiguous spec of their mapping into the bloody game.

[jm7111]

First off, there are no gates at start & end of superhighways. Superhighways are the blue tubes that send you between sectors. The ring road that goes through gates - those are regular highways.

AFAIK, it's rather simple, and let the data diggers correct me if I'm wrong. Only gates are counted. For example, from Argon Prime to Second Contact II Flashpoint it's one gate. From Argon Prime to Grand Exchange III it's 3 gates (one to Second Contact, one to Black Hole Sun, one to Grand Exchange, superhighway in Black Hole Sun does not count). And from Argon Prime to Grand Exchange IV it's also 3 gates (superhighways inside Grand Exchange don't count).
Again AFAIK, traders are oblivious to anomalies.

Gates connect systems, which may contain more than one sector (connected via superhighways or accelerators). I may be wrong on terminology here though. I wish Egosoft would put a clear and unambiguous spec of their mapping into the bloody game.

Thank you for the answer, and I thought the same as you in the beginning. But I have a case to buy from Nopileos Fort. IV and sell to Silent Witness I, i.e. 3 [jump] gates apart - as per our common understanding.
My trader has a 3 gate limit, but this trade was not executed and so I started searching for the reason why...

By looking in the X4:Wiki, I was baffled because all sector travel mechanics are referred to as gates

As per X4: Foundations Manual / Piloting And Travel

Superhighways, Orbital Accelerators, Jump Gates And Anomalies

The sector, or Hex, the player starts in may go on for vast distances in each direction but it is just one of many. To travel to other sectors and systems requires ship to fly through a Superhighway, Orbital Accelerator, Jump Gate or Anomaly. Superhighways are used to travel between nearby sectors within the same system and have unidirectional entrances and exits. The diameter of Superhighway gates means that care must be taken when flying larger ships though them. Orbital Accelerators and Jump Gates are wide bidirectional gates linking sectors together allowing for the rapid traversal of multiple ships at once.

The manual calls the entrances/exits of Superhighways also gates. Furthermore, the Accelerators are referred to as gates as well, and that is what made me wonder, hence my questions.
Additionally, the trade screen /Default Behaviour says Max gate distance to buy: and not Max Jump gate distance to buy:, which would be a very easy thing to do.

After more investigation, it seems that what you mentioned in your post is the correct case, i.e. only Jump Gates count towards Max Gate calculation, but I can't be 100% sure, unless a Dev can confirm it.
In this case, both the entry in X4:Wiki and the game trade screen should be IMO more clear as well...

Many thanks

[RodentofDoom]

Anomalies are not used by npc's.
Not even the ones you own.

It's just you that uses them.