Question regarding Trade Rank and Player Stations

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FearMunchies
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Joined: Sun, 7. Oct 18, 09:55
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Question regarding Trade Rank and Player Stations

Post by FearMunchies » Thu, 24. Sep 20, 10:09

Hello all,

I recently decided to go back to X3:TC & AP to get all the achievements and I'm trying to get to X-Treme Trade Rank but I'm a little perplexed. Granted, I am more of a fighter (just grab my Boreas with Gauss Cannons and just charge through all Xenon Sectors until there is nothing left but scrap), but I was thinking about creating my own stations to provide my own sell-able resources to the economy instead of selling off drop loot (I know, insane in the long run).

I understand some of the rules regarding trade rank (every 800 credits profit made above average gives 1 point, Rank decreases after certain amount of time of inactivity) but not how trade rank can be gained from High Tech end products (Shields, Lasers, etc) which are not resources for other stations. Also if my station (lets say Ore Mine) is stock full, wouldn't that mean I would be selling BELOW the price average similar to how AI stations decrease their price the more stock they have, or do I need to prevent outside trade to my station and use my own transporters to sell my product for the best price? Are Self-Suffucient stations viable or not for Trade Rank?

I would be grateful for any information regarding the rules of Trade Rank.

Thank you.

jlehtone
Posts: 21801
Joined: Sat, 23. Apr 05, 21:42
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Re: Question regarding Trade Rank and Player Stations

Post by jlehtone » Thu, 24. Sep 20, 17:00

IIRC, buying cheap (n*800cr below the average) yields as many points as selling high (n*800cr above the average).
FearMunchies wrote:
Thu, 24. Sep 20, 10:09
if my station (lets say Ore Mine) is stock full, wouldn't that mean I would be selling BELOW the price average similar to how AI stations decrease their price the more stock they have, or do I need to prevent outside trade to my station and use my own transporters to sell my product for the best price?
The prices at NPC stations are indeed dynamic: a function of stock status: full = cheap, empty = expensive, most amounts in between near average price.

If you look at your station, it is you, who sets a fixed price. Unrelated to the stock status.
Some scripts (CAG?) offer "dynamic, like NPC", but the base game does not.

You have that Ore Mine. You set it to buy ECells for 17cr. It is quite sure that if you set price to 16 (average) or below, then no NPC will bring ECells to you. Even with 17cr, the NPC likely to find better offers elsewhere. If the NPC does come, you will pay the 17cr.

If your Mine has a ship, it will look for cheapest offer; 12cr is quite common. If things are really desperate, then it will go to 17cr.
Your ship will pay what the NPC asks, not the price you did set for the station, but it will not pay more than the price you did set.

Therefore, if NPC sells ECells to your Mine, then you will pay what you did promise (17cr). If your ship goes to buy, then it can get the ECells with 12cr.

Same thing with selling. Since NPC Mines are almost always full, they offer Ore á 50cr. To compete that you would have to use 50cr too, even if you have none in stock. The chance to sell anything with average-1 is slim. The ship of your station will find a better offer and will get good price.
Goner Pancake Protector X
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