Why no trade computer software just like in XRebirth?

[Browser_ice]

I do not like how the trade computer software behaves in X4. I consider it to be too limiting in available choices. I liked how it was done in XRebirth because I could see ALL available trades and easily choose which ones are more profitable for me. Having a list of only 5 trades often does not show the same ware in the buying and selling portion of the trading computer software window. Or if I want to look at which offer is the most profitable for one specific ware, I could just select it as the only ware in the filter but then again, I am not even sure if what its showing me is really the most profitable one available.

So couldn't we get a trading software computer just like in XRebirth? Either from Egosoft or from an experienced scripter?

[Raevyan]

Lots of people felt overwhelmed by a table that actually was searchable and could be filtered. I did like the display of trades in that screen too, the selection of the trade ship and issuing the trade not so much.

The map seemed like a good approach in the beginning but the longer I played the more I dislike the map in terms of trading. First of all you get multiple windows that are on top of each other which makes it hard to read. It's even harder to then figure out which station has the trade offer.
The map also only shows the "best"? offer, so depending on zoom you only see one offer for a specific ware. This definetly makes it hard to see, which sectors have shortages. In Rebirth it was very easy because you would see all offers of a specific ware and could easily check which station in which sector needed it. You were also able to use the search and filter by sector/station name.

In X4 you have to zoom in really close which may cause issues. When you zoom in too much you might not have the station with the trade offer on screen or you get that second window on top of the one you actually want to see or in worst case you don't see the offer in a specific sector because the offer that's just in zoom level overwrites it. While you can filter by ware and use search to only show, let's say HOP trades, you only see one offer of a specific ware, when zoomed out.

Yea the new map is more casual friendly and in some areas easier to use but it also has lots of problems. In my opinion the map needs a lot more work.

[DaMuncha]

the trade software is already built into the game. Pilots can distrubute wares at level 2, at lvl 3 they can system trade, and lvl 4 and 5 universe trade. All trade offer information for buying and selling can be seen from the map using the map filters.

[Axeface]

The map in X4 is woefully inadequate and a complete mess to use for trading imo, I hate it if im being honest - it makes trading a chore for me. I really hope its not the final way we are going to discover trade opportunities once the game is finished, because I will never be able to enjoy the trading game if it is. And I loved the trade interface in Rebirth (and the trade deals interface), you have every ware on one screen, its readable, easy and fast to navigate and its nice to look at.

[DaMuncha]

If you fly near a station or have a satelite nearby it will show you everything the station is buying and selling from the map screen OR you can view info about the station to see that information listed. But to make trading simpler they added the filter system that shows you the best prices for each good on stations on the universe map. If you want to do it manually you can select your trade ship and right click and tell it to buy or sell goods to that station by moving the slider on the trade window that sets how much of a good can be bought or sold.

[tomchk]

I also miss the two great XR trade windows and hope they can be ported over as an alternative interface.

[Imperial Good]

Because the way X4 is set up leads to automation of making money. There is little need to search trades seeing how most of your ships will do this automatically in a good enough way.

[Axeface]

Because the way X4 is set up leads to automation of making money. There is little need to search trades seeing how most of your ships will do this automatically in a good enough way.

Good point, but a problem arises when the player wants to do space trucking - manually find or create the perfect buy and sell loop. I personally have enjoyed that in all previous X games, even once I have a trade empire set up I often jumped into a TS in X3AP to do some trading manually, often this is because I see an opportunity and I know that I can exploit it better than my UT's. And Rebirth gave me some really cool ways to increase the profits I made if I wanted to, with commisions/hacking etc, and the trade deals interface/trade computer made it SO easy (almost too easy)... but its satisfying at least.

[Imperial Good]

Good point, but a problem arises when the player wants to do space trucking - manually find or create the perfect buy and sell loop. I personally have enjoyed that in all previous X games, even once I have a trade empire set up I often jumped into a TS in X3AP to do some trading manually, often this is because I see an opportunity and I know that I can exploit it better than my UT's. And Rebirth gave me some really cool ways to increase the profits I made if I wanted to, with commisions/hacking etc, and the trade deals interface/trade computer made it SO easy (almost too easy)... but its satisfying at least.

One can use the map window to do this to some extent. Filter by the desired good then look at the prices. It automatically shows the highest sell price and lowest buy price in the region. Zooming in and out controls the scope of the region being searched. In some ways this is better than a list since it allows one to search deals in a locality rather than universally.

[tomchk]

I love the map and filters, and I agree with what you say, but I often just want to avoid changing filters so often—I often want to see a clear sorted list with profit estimates like one menu provided in XR.

[ubuntufreakdragon]

I wont mind the big table in addition to the map interface.
If the table makes a comeback, I don't want to scroll though all unassigned ships to find the the right one.
So make ships available by a whitelisting system.