Economy

[Syock]

I know this info hasn't been released.

What kind of interface for commerce you would all like to see? Examples?

If the NPC's are running complexes will there be as many opportunities for trade?

Do you think it will still be the individual station buying low and selling high, or will we see competition in a sector for a more stable price in a given area?


"How trade is done is even different. There's no landing to pick up wares and take them elsewhere. You now overfly the station and see what's on offer. Scanning stations and ships (legal or otherwise) will be important in the game."

Anyone have an idea of what to expect from that? It almost sounds like commerce has been eliminated completely.

[fallenphoenix32]

"How trade is done is even different. There's no landing to pick up wares and take them elsewhere. You now overfly the station and see what's on offer. Scanning stations and ships (legal or otherwise) will be important in the game."

Anyone have an idea of what to expect from that? It almost sounds like commerce has been eliminated completely.

I'm not sure how you came to that conclusion from just that quote. Taken alone, it sounds more like the hauling work is out, but the trade aspect is definitely still in.

I think of it as the difference between sailing the coast of Europe, selling and buying goods from your own ship, and sitting in front of a computer, trading commodities online. The first, you're physically transporting goods and exchanging them for other goods or currency, and the second you're giving the instructions for it to be done, without having to haul the stuff around.

Note: I realize commodities trading rarely involves the actual exchange of physical goods, but it's GoodEnough™ for this example.

[caleb]

Hi Syock, actually, from what I read it does not seem commerce was eliminated. They are upgrading factories so we can configure to produce what we want, and they mentioned we can command them to sell/buy stuff by themselves. So commerce is there, but it may be a bit different.

What I have not heard about are the old trade ships. It seems the game will be more capital ship centered, so will we have lone trader ships? Stations will probably have their complement of traders to feed it, but will the role of a lone trader looking for sales, will it still be there?

We have to wait for more info I guess to see what shape the trading/commerce will take.

[Shootist]

Since Station construction now takes place on a Construction Rig, which buys both raw and finished materials from both the Economy and from the player; I suspect the Economy is still a big deal.

[Mightysword]

i just hope it won't be as bad to have a catch 22. We need teladium to build a teladium fab, yet it's not sold by the AI anywhere

[SIMON POPPLEWELL]

There has to be some sort of trading in there somewhere, or how else are we going to make credits to buy stations and capital ships. Unless....It's only mission based money making.

[Syock]

I didn't mean to suggest there was no economy or that it wouldn't be important. The tiny bit of information given out so far is just odd. We see huge stations and fleets of ships, yet are told were not hauling goods anymore and that the stations do multiple steps of the process.

To me it seemed trade options could be less because the AI could be running its own complex and just spitting out a shield generator from raw materials rather than needing electronics and energy hauled in.

We have always been able to let a station stand alone without having to micromanage trade ships. It wasn't always efficient, but it worked.

I find it odd that we would still have to have eyes on, or be near a station to see what they are selling. I guess the future has no internet or marketplace.

[Morrigon]

I didn't get the we don't haul goods anymore. I got we can use our manager's to automate the delivery. Sorry on phone or would post a link but if you read the economy part at top here he say's we need to haul the building supply's our self or the build manger will do this for you... at a cost I'm sure. We did the same in TC just with menu's not through NPC's.

[A5PECT]

The tiny bit of information given out so far is just odd. We see huge stations and fleets of ships, yet are told were not hauling goods anymore and that the stations do multiple steps of the process.

The marketing department isn't too thrilled about rambling on about the complexities and nuances of economy simulation when they can just laud gargantuan space ships blowing each other up with frickin' laser beams.

I'm sure the trading aspect is still in-game, it's just not at the forefront of the marketing strategy.

[Koshea]

I think the hauling is out because we won't be flying around in a freighter. Perhaps if you own one you could tell it to come pick something up but you won't have to land for that. Flying over and seeing what's available seems like it will speed up things. I don't know why you have to fly over a station and scan it though rather than them making it available in sector what they have for sail. Either salesmen of the future are really lazy or their IT department is.

[Gswine]

What little info we have about trading is a bit off putting.

Starting off trading or scavenging in a few sectors before getting established. Then expanding the universe map, opening trade oppertunites, needing a number of TS's. Watching the stock levels/prices and still getting swooped by NPC's while you wait too long for the right price while doing whatever else your game entails. It's what we're used to in our familar universes.

the quote

""How trade is done is even different. There's no landing to pick up wares and take them elsewhere. You now overfly the station and see what's on offer. Scanning stations and ships (legal or otherwise) will be important in the game."

Could be the trade element we are used to has been turned on it's head. Maybe we rely on fabs own transport rather than just best price or quantity. With the fabs ability to deliver being as important as it's stock level and price. Maybe we become just middle men in the process. Setting up deals between two parties. If race relations are still important (so much unknown) it could be a commodity in itself allowing us to build trade relations rather than empires.

Do I want to have to scan each station to know whats going on rather than drop a satalite and see whats happening in an entire sector? If the change in scale Egosoft want in Rebirth has been relised then the NPC interaction could take the 'burden' of trade off the players hands and get in the way of my imersion in the new universe.

Way to early to tell of course and the quote you used, when I first read it, I'm pretty sure that the "Scanning stations and ships (legal or otherwise) will be important in the game." has to do with a lot more than just trade and is important to player production which is now its own entity (I think).