X3:TC My traders only buying from my complexs

[Mr Morita]

Hello, I've joined and searched for my particular problem, but nothing quite explains or answers what I'm looking for.

I have set up a SPP XL and Teladianium complex inside the Xenon Hub. Now, while I wish for my traders to ferry the resources from the complex to The Hub, all 4 of them are doing it on a loop without buying from anywhere else.

I have 4 Baldric's hombased to The Hub (where the materials are required for the Gate plot) and set them to 'Buy Best Ware - Teladianium', and my factory has the price set to above average (this is so they will start ferrying again when they have drained other sectors, and allow them to fill up).

However, I'm traversing the universe finding Teladianium Foundires full to the brim, yet they still only pick up (not even full cargo) from my complex inside the hub.

I have set them to Auto-Jump, Minimum Range 1, Refuel 160. My satellite network has about 2/3s of the universe, and made sure all places with Foundires have one in sector

The thing is, if I tell them to Best Buy again, they will jump to one station with lots of Teladinium, then go back to only geting from my complex (is it a distance issue is my thought, it's more expensive but closer)

I have set the Home Base Max Jump range to 30, so I don't see why they are just going back and forth.

My game is unmodded, only script used was 50mil upgrade to make SSP crystal free, X3:TC V3.2 My complex is SSP XL, 13 Foundires.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thankyou. This is also because when I move to the ore part, I want it to be as efficient as possible.

[Alan Phipps]

This is gameplay rather than Tech Sp, so over to X Trilogy Universe.

You may have to make your complexes in the Hub sector not meet the traders' buy criteria by increasing their relevant ware selling price a bit. I think that if the best buy software can always see a quick and dirty local trade that meets the price bracket, they don't haggle too much for a better deal that is further away. That is my starter theory anyway.

Maybe the Bonus Pack's CLS/CAG facilities can help too.

It is also possible that the trader scripts are having difficulty calculating routes and distances from the Hub - they are simple scripts.

[Mr Morita]

I'm such a twonk, apologies for wrong topic area.

For when this is moved, I have tried that. My Hub buys at 200, my complex sells at 180.

Am I correct in assuming that my TSs should be buying from anywhere up until 179 (in theory) and then start buying from complex at 180-200 (and as it is the shortest distance, they won't go off 25 sectors away as the best price and location is a few KM away).

[X2-Illuminatus]

For buying the set price is always the maximum, for selling the minimum.
If you set a product price to 180 Credits, everyone paying 180 or more credits will be able to buy that ware. Since your HUB pays up to 200 Credits for a unit, your TS ships will go to your complex buying the units. In your example you would have to increase the product price in your complex to 201 Credits, so that your TS ships from the HUB won't target it anymore.

[ancienthighway]

I could be wrong, but I think CAGs will not visit player stations. I've always used CLS1 to move wares from the producer to my consumer. Home base 1 each Baldric at your SPP and Teladianium Foundry, set the product, set the consumer, and it handles the rest. The same Baldric homebased at the SPP can supply the Hub and the Teladianium Foundry.

Set your Hub up to stock ore, silicon, microchips, and crystals also (Advanced - Console - Dockware Manager or just unload 1 of each to the Hub). Then leave your other 2 Baldrics as CAGs, make sure the Hub has money, and let them stock as much as they can.

[RAVEN.myst]

What Alan said. Basically, the TCS Mk.2 "Best Buy/Sell" command tends to be lazy - to give you a concrete example, say you are selling Carbo Cakes at best from Venus to it and its 3 surrounding sectors - because all the local buyers are docks that offer the same price, your trader will constantly only visit the nearest one, even if it only gets to sell 3 units, rather than visit an empty dock just 1 sector away. So if your own factory offers best or equal price, being the nearest, it will be the only one visited. You may need to increase its sell price, but that is a messy tweak.

A better option would be to start CAG on those freighters, so that they buy more intelligently. You can also bar some of them from buying from your own stations, if you prefer. The trick is to phase them in 1 or 2 at a time, as while they are still training up, they will not be using their jumpdrives, so you will want to limit their range until they reach "Trader" level - a bit of initial management/setup, but far more effective in the long term.

[Triaxx2]

Forget CAG for the HUB plot. Have CLS buying at maximum price from all available locations. Yes, you'll have to manually set them, but it's less annoying than fighting the CAG.

Alternate plan, if you're doing HUB, chances are you're rich enough to afford a bunch of TL's. Set a few up in locations central to groups of teladiadnium factories. Have CLS ferry to those, and then one TL that goes to each of those TL's and then delivers to one at the HUB. Then off-load from the HUB TL. It's expensive, but it's also very much more efficient than one or two ships all waiting in queue at the HUB for docking, or at the various stations.

[ancienthighway]

Teledianium is the least of the worries for the hub. Set up a couple of stations in Paranid space (assuming you are friendly with them) and once you get what you need for the Hub, the Paranid will give you money for whatever you make. Considering the way the Teladi foundries are constantly out, one or two peppered around Teladi space would be a hit also.

I've had no problem running a CAG out of the Hub. Just make sure you don't have a bunch of wares not needed for the plot stocked by the Hub.

[RAVEN.myst]

I'll be blunt: anyone who disses CAG simply doesn't understand how to use it; it's arguably the single most powerful mercantile tool in the game. Not sure what was meant by "fighting with the CAG" - the only hassle is training up the pilots, and that hassle is also faced by CLS pilots, and on top of that the brute-force CLS option also requires additional initial setup, and is less elegant; furthermore, setting CLS to buy at top price means that when the pilots do actually buy at high prices, they are making trips for small volumes, which is not only more expensive, but also less efficient, meaning the whole thing could take longer. Also, you need not wait for queueing ships at the Hub docks unless you are in-sector - so if you spend most of your time out of the Hub sector (doing other things such as, say, playing the game), you won't have a problem in that regard.

Nowadays, I hardly ever use any TCS Mk.3 (ST/LT/UT), and CLS only ever for specific internal wares-moving between my 'plexes and docks if I am manufacturing - for trade, I use CAG almost exclusively, as it is extremely powerful, configurable, and can be used to stimulate either specific local or specific faction economies when necessary.

As ancienthighway said, getting the Teladianium for the Hub is not a problem (and neither is the Ore.) Things get considerably more challenging further down the line. One difference, however, is in how I handle no-longer-needed wares - instead of abandoning them and clearing them out, I continue trading in them using CAGs - that generates income that helps to pay for whatever ware is being currently collected. Thus, in my last couple of playthroughs (I have finished the Hub campaign 3 or 4 times, complete with the Microchips and all, plus maybe 10 more goes up to but not completing them damn 'Chips, lol!), I ended up with typically 42 fully trained CAGs (above that, you start seeing accelerating diminishing returns, as the universal economy gets almost fully serviced by your traders - the same sort of thing happens with UTs, also around 40ish), several of them set to only buy the currently sought ware, plus about half a dozen "fuel tanker" CAGs set to buy ECells for the rest of the CAG fleet. If at least one of your gates opens to a sector with lots of SPPs, then you can use this as the training mechanism for your CAGs - they can't use their JDs, but don't have far to travel to get the ECs so it's not a problem. Then, once they make Trader rank, you change their orders to full trading or plot buying, and replace them with more trainees. If you set up two or three saved configurations, you can make this process painless - new recruit gets trainee saved data, then upon graduating gets changed to either trader or Hub-plot buyer saved data - simplicity itself! Even well before completing the Hub plot, you find that you have a fast, hands-free money-spinner and a well-oiled universal economy, meaning high availability of pretty much anything you want.

EDIT: The assumption that by the time one is doing the Hub plot one is rich enough to throw money around for multiple TLs is fallacious. For example, my last couple of TC playthroughs before I switched full-time to AP, I raced to meet the Hub plot requirements, so that I could start it early and do it in parallel with as many other plots as possible, as well as having the Hub itself as my automated fundraiser, and stimulating economies to improve availability of desired weapons.