Would love something like wholesale contracts

[ggsimmonds]

One of the things that has been missing from X games that I would really love to see is wholesale trading and possibly contracts.

Once the player levels up or reaches some milestone large scale trading should become available.

Say you produce resource X.
A NPC station requires that resource in the production of a good.
The player should be able to sign a contract or agreement that promises a quantity of that resource at a specific price. The more the player's skill increases the more beneficial the terms become.

In your good producing stations you could also agree to a contract to buy high quantities of necessary resources from NPC stations.

Dealing wholesale should be an obvious part of building an economic empire right?

[Seanchaidh]

I don't know if I like the idea of the terms becoming more beneficial the more successful the player becomes. At least not in terms of price. With more experience, the player should be offered larger contracts, not sweeter prices.

[Alan Phipps]

We already have the player getting increasing discounts and benefits as their reputation with the relevant faction increases in X Rebirth for example.

[Falcrack]

I have a great idea! How about unlocking trade discounts due to your ability to win a chat minigame! Or unlocking special trade deals by flying close to stations, to encourage you to fly right next to all the pretty stations!

[Sandalpocalypse]

i think the real benefit to a contract fulfillment system is that it gives you a concrete thing you can interact with in terms of either the station building or free trading game. you just have to extend missions a little and have contracts be a native thing stations do. then you can view a stations contracts, and you can look at a ship fulfilling a contract and see that its doing so, and you can interfere with other stations/corporations contracts and even get reputation penalties for competing with other factions in a given area.

[koyuka]

I have a great idea! How about unlocking trade discounts due to your ability to win a chat minigame! Or unlocking special trade deals by flying close to stations, to encourage you to fly right next to all the pretty stations!

That sounds like a terrible idea.

[Scoob]

It's an interesting idea, but as long as the items involved are real - not a fake supply/demand situations created for the player to exploit.

i.e.

Station A needs some stuff, for whatever reason they're running low.

Station B - might be in a different system - has lots of said stuff, again for whatever reason (likely local demand) they have lots.

(Player Stations could in theory be the "Station B" in this scenario, and perhaps the player could trigger a "Station A" scenario if they wish)

Station A commissions the player to collect n units (likely several full Capital Class Freighter loads if stock has gotten really low) which due to the Price vs. Supply mechanic would yield a GOOD profit for the player anyway, but an additional financial (or reputation or other) incentive could be added.

In XR, when a player has explored a good chunk of the game universe, these sorts of trade opportunities come up from time to time. I personally am often micro-managing a small fleet of Freighter doing such trade runs.

However, the twist on this is that the play effectively pre-orders the wares at the price given when the contract is presented. So, rather than the first run being a buy @ 150cr a unit, sell @ 300 cr a unit with the second run being buy @ 170cr sell at 280cr unit the deal is worthless, the Low/High prices would be fixed for all runs, while the "contract" is active.

Might be an interesting way to make a little extra profit for those who like to micro-manage their trading activities. The controlling script could apply price overrides to the Stations in question, as well as "reserve" the trade goods. Mission completion / quitting the mission or a time out would reset the buy/sell values. Mission should make it clear the expected profits of the contract.

Scoob.

[Thrake]

No. Guaranteed price cuts down any risk involved in trading, as such it would make it much more favourable than fighting. Also if you take away any risk, it cuts down the fun in my view. It's easy enough already to manage a trade empire as it is.

[ggsimmonds]

No. Guaranteed price cuts down any risk involved in trading, as such it would make it much more favourable than fighting. Also if you take away any risk, it cuts down the fun in my view. It's easy enough already to manage a trade empire as it is.

I disagree.

First I'll mention the biggest argument against my suggestion. Like someone else said, it couldn't be something disconnected from the game economy like a mission that only the player character could do without regard to current supply and demand. IT would need to be fully integrated with the game world, and AI npcs would need to use the feature as well. To get the most of out that would call for having something like ai controlled corporations that would have their own behaviors and strategic goals. That is a lot of work, especially when as it is now the races don't even have that much depth to them.

As for your objection due to guaranteed prices, that points to why the trade mechanics are underwhelming in the X games, there is no significant difference between the early and late games. No trade empire is built by loading up on goods and hoping for the best. That should not be the primary challenge in the late game, the challenge should be competition and providing security. You should have rival corporations that start trade wars with you, pirates should seek out vessels that are known to be delivering contracted goods (because for pirates that is a guaranteed payday rather than attacking random freighters and hoping you get lucky). That same pirating strategy could also be used by the player

X games leave me wanting more because the universe never feels truly alive. Its just a bunch of independent traders hauling goods with no connection to the situation. I want to feel like a major player in the galaxy but we cannot because there are no other major players.

It would make for a fun game if your cruising along when a AI controlled entity decides to start production in your area on a good you deal in and start undercutting you on prices. That would be multiple ways to handle it and it adds a strategic depth to the game.

We already have the player getting increasing discounts and benefits as their reputation with the relevant faction increases in X Rebirth for example.

I see your point, but it doesn't need to be better prices. The benefits could be larger quantities or longer terms, both of which also present risks.
Larger quantities: more profitable, but don't bite off more than you can chew and be short on production
Longer terms: Gives you some stability and peace of mind due to having a steady income stream, but could work against you if the market changes and you are stuck with those prices