The Economy in 4.85

[Xoria]

Since Igiss has been providing some insight about the newly forthcoming geography of Sirius, I thought I would provide a general outline of the new economy.

First, you all owe a huge debt of gratitude to Kuraine and Unselie for spending countless hours thinking about commodities, station functions, trade routes, and the roleplay ramifications of the economic choices that we were making. Their relentlessly argumentative dispositions have been invaluable in improving on the concepts that we came up with, and immeasurably improved the final result. Doubtless, they usually thought it was a big hassle to butt heads with me so much for so long, but the new economy is far better than it would have been without their input. There were other contributors to the project, but these two were the most consistent participants.

The principles molding the creation of the new economy are as follows :

1. An overall decrease in the number of specifically coded price points for all commodities. The game file that governs the economy in 4.84 has over 6,000 lines of code. The new file for 4.85 will have less than 2,000. Almost the entire inherited economy from the vanilla game is being replaced. The only exceptions are oxygen, water, consumer goods, and food rations. Having so many lines of code made it virtually impossible to change the economy without creating inevitable problems like the old Tau 31 plague. The only solution was to replace the current system entirely, and decrease its size so that it is manageable by a single person instead of requiring a team of developers with a budget like Digital Anvil had. The truth is that the vast majority of those price points were not being used anyway, because it was not profitable to use them. So their absence will not be missed from any financial standpoint. Additionally, most of the price points were related to creating the appearance of an economic system that did not make any realistic sense to begin with.

2. Economic realism : Commodities will now be bought and sold at stations that have a logical and realistic economic reason to deal in those goods. Production stations are heavily emphasized, while middlemen are almost totally removed. (There are also vitally important balancing necessities that mandated this.)

3. Cargo piracy is now a profitable option for all unlawful factions. Each unlawful faction now has the potential to raid cargo shipments and find a financially rewarding sale point at a friendly or neutral station within (or within one system of) their ZOI. This has been accomplished without making those sale points more profitable for traders. Almost every commodity has been set up as a profitable target for cargo raiders, with a few exceptions due to the nature of the commodity.

4. In the old system trade routes existed mainly in order to create long trade routes. Distance was a purpose all by itself. In the new system, economic realism and roleplay authenticity are emphasized to create trade routes that are both long and financially rewarding. Authenticity and realism no longer take a back seat to distance, but you will still be doing routes that are more than 15 minutes long in between buy and sell points for the best profits.

5. The two stop trade route has been virtually eliminated. To give you one example, the diamond/niobium route is now Diamonds/Mining Machinery/Niobium : Diamonds from Dresden or Omega 11 to the New Tokyo system (thus eliminating the Kusari-bound leg going through Chugoku) ; Mining Machinery from the New Tokyo system to Java Station or Falkland Base ; Niobium from Java or Falkland to Leipzig Station (The Ring is greatly reduced in profitability as a sale point, and you can't buy Diamonds in the New Berlin system anymore). All of the most profitable trade routes (with a couple of minor exceptions) now require transport of at least 3 commodities and the use of at least 3 (in most cases, 4) stations (instead of 2 and 2 for the old Diamond/Niobium route). Intermediate commodities for these routes (such as Mining Machinery) are now much more profitable than they used to be. Also, trade between Houses is highly emphasized. In fact, international trade is the primary focus of the economy. I will provide more in depth details about trade routes when the mod is released.

6. Special focus has been given to unique roleplaying opportunities in Planetform, ALG Waste Disposal, Synth Foods, Cryer, and Orbital Spa and Cruise. None of the trade routes for these factions are as profitable as other alternatives, but routes for Pharmaceuticals, Synth Paste, human cargo, toxic waste, fertilizers, terraforming gases, etc are now financially rewarding enough to make a reasonable level of profit for people dedicated to roleplaying in those factions while not attracting power traders. Prisoners are now available for transport from selected Battleships and Police Outposts and delivered to prison stations for hard labor, where they produce basic commodities for the House's industry. So Prison Liners can now transport prisoners in one direction, and other commodities in the other direction to supply the outposts and battleships (not 2 stop routes, but you can at least make a profit).

7. Integration of guard system bases into the most basic level of the economy. At a minimum, every station should have price points for oxygen, water and food rations, and many guard system bases are now depots for cargo raiders to sell their loot. None of these price points are high enough to attract normal trading (and there is nothing for the return trip anyway).

8. Trade routes will now generally emphasize the completion of a circuit that travels through 3 or more Houses and/or regions, rather than back and forth between 2 Houses or regions. The trader who does some research will make many more credits than those that don't.

9. Lots of new commodities. I'm not going to give specifics, but there is everything from basic raw materials to extremely high tech luxury items...and an almost-easter-egg thrown in to honor one of Disco's oldest and best-loved factions, the TAZ. It will hopefully provide some lively story ideas while also giving Zoners a unique commodity to transport. I'll simply leave it at this : your pineals will never be the same again.

New commodities are almost exclusively purchased at new stations, or stations that have never before been producers, creating a greater variety of locations to start your trading from. In fact, in the new economy, there is virtually no reason to ever do the same trade route twice, and if you are, then you haven't explored nearly enough.

10. A black market economy will now exist on at least a moderate level, so that characters may now be funded by piloting an alternate transport vessel for their faction instead of using lawful trading characters to fund unlawful characters. As you might imagine, Junker bases are heavily used as starting points for black market items desired by unlawful factions. These transactions are not as profitable as lawful trading in the same items, but the option is now open like never before.

11. And much, much more...

When the mod is released, I will be outlining numerous trade routes that are suitable for various factions, so no one who reads these forums will be left completely in the dark about how to earn credits in the new economy.

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