Discovery Gaming Community

Have you ever hauled or seen anyone else haul Toxic Waste? Probably not. It just doesn't pay well enough.
As I have been working on revamping the economy for the next mod version, I keep coming across a simple problem : there are not enough commodities for all the stations, and we can't just keep adding commodities because then we duplicate trade routes and create multiple redundancies, or we have to go to the other extreme and create only a very few routes for a commodity (which then makes one wonder why the new commodity should be added at all.)

As I was thinking about two new space stations that are being added into a currently empty system, and I was seeing the routes that create a fairly nice roleplay oriented setup for them, I was trying to figure out what one or both of them could sell for the outgoing trip. Then it occurred to me : why not use Toxic Waste for a situation like this? With a rewrite of the infocard to broaden what qualifies as toxic waste, and a basis for traders making real money for transporting it (salaried pay rather than buy low, sell high) it could be made into a useful commodity.

While most trade routes are set up to buy the commodity at a very few bases and sell it at many bases, the reverse also works : buy it at very many bases and sell it for a good profit at only a couple of bases. Instead of the trade routes radiating out from a central point, they can converge on a central point instead. This must be done much more carefully, but it can be done.

The big question is, is it a good idea for Toxic Waste? It is reasonable for it to be "produced" at many bases, and there is already a faction (ALG Waste Disposal) which processes it, and players for it have basically no financial opportunities currently. Would it be believable for Toxic Waste transporters to be paid a salary (in roleplay terms) thus justifying the relatively high price that Toxic Waste would bring at Dortmund Station? In other words, the price Dortmund Station would pay for Toxic Waste would rise into the hundreds of credits, if not over a thousand (probably not much more than a thousand, since it could be purchased extremely cheaply, perhaps for 5 or 10 credits at the most distant bases from Dortmund).

I think this makes a lot of sense really. This might also apply to some other things. Perhaps shipyards could generate scrap metal which could be recycled somewhere and returned as ship panels.

Also, on redundant trade routes, does this mean the same trade route but with a couple different resources available for it or does it mean multiple valuable trade runs for a single commodity? Personally, I don't see a problem with the former since that could allow people to trade things that are the most aligned with their RP and the fact that two planets/bases should be able to make good profits trading more than just one good.

All large space stations, battleships, shipyards, and planets produce toxic waste in one form or another. Planets probably have the utilities to dispose of it planetside - but the space stations must have it exported.

I would suggest having an ALG Waste Disposal base as the selling point - this could have a large enough impact that an ALG faction might spring up. I've seen a few designs for ALG transports here as well - and Junkers could also partake in the transport of toxic waste (as we 'clean up' wreckages and such very similar to ALG)

The Muellfahrer is probably the only ship on the server that regularly hauls toxic waste.

As far as I know, toxic waste is reprocessed into MOX, which has a few decent runs for it. Since it is used on Dortmund to make MOX, raising it's sell price up wouldn't be at all unreasonable, considering that one can make respectable profits off of MOX. Another plus about hauling toxic waste is that most pirates will just laugh at you, other than the Xenos, of course.

It is also worth noting that ALG doesn't only transport toxic waste and scrap metal. ALG is a well-rounded corporation, similar to Republican, only with a predisposition to hauling the nasty stuff.

I'd hope that any modifications made to hauling toxic waste will avoid turning it into a power-trading route. Although that might be hilarious, it would be terribly disappointing.

I shipped toxic waste once. Of course, I've shipped oxygen, too. Although the latter makes more sense than the former need wise...

Hmmm, maybe the Gaians could buy toxic waste to make sure it's disposed of properly. Otherwise people might be dumping into orbit, you know?

If it was sellable for a good price at Dortmond, it would make for more intra-Rheinland routes.

But it does make sense for toxic waste delivery giving decent profits. After all, it is toxic If it were real life, you'd probably need a special permit just to ship it.

' Wrote:It is also worth noting that ALG doesn't only transport toxic waste and scrap metal. ALG is a well-rounded corporation, similar to Republican, only with a predisposition to hauling the nasty stuff.

I might also say that the ALG does a lot of it's business through Gateway Shipping, and not directly. However, it does less than it might since Gateway Shipping absolutely refuses to ship dangerous goods, namely as MOX and Toxic Waste, but everything else it produces is mainly shipped by Gateway Shipping. Yeah, we're that cool. :lol:

I'm actually rather fond of the more controversial cargoes, they give you some measure of protection against attack.

If you're hauling slaves, most lawfuls who at least RP a situation wont destroy your ship - because it means killing thousands of innocents.

If you're hauling toxic waste, you can threaten a pirate that "if you destroy my ship this entire area will become a radioactive hazard zone" - which means the pirate would have to find somewhere else to ply his trade.

Likewise with plutonium, you blow me up and you'll probably die of radiation exposure yourself within a few minutes.

I like the idea of toxic waiste. There is that great new hauler for it and alg is pretty under represented.