Se let me get this straight;
Trading in Starsector is done via events that stay active for a (short?) period of time, but there should be several around at any time to pick from?
- Are these commodities picked from planets or stations just as you now would buy a new gun or a ship?
- Are some places better for them than others or are the differences mostly about the size of the colony (core world producing more stuff than fringe one) or something else?
- Are you intended to do something like:
1) Hear about an event happening over at planet Z that makes the left kneecap of a dancing robot profitable if sold there
2) Figure out where this particular kneecap is produced
3) Have enough capacity to carry enough to really make some profit in addition to having the speed to get there
4) Hope no-one else has bought it empty or pay through the roof for whatever they have left once you get there
5) Find another place if the last one was indeed emptied
6) Then beat the competition to said planet or end up with cargo hold full with kneecaps for dancing robots that are now worth less than you purchased them for because the base purchase price is always higher than the price others are willing to pay?
If so, it doesn't honestly sound too appealing to me. I do hope there's something very basic I'm missing here.
And yes, there are people out there who do like trading. The pure 'buy cheap, sell expensive' -experience. But if it's final that that kind of trading isn't going to be in Starsector proper, I can live with that.
As for the 'getting paid for delivering cargo for certain planet/corporation/faction/whathaveyou'; that sounds like a fine addition to the game along with the event-driven trading. Even if the majority of the bulk trading of onions is done by corporations or something that the player doesn't even see, it shouldn't eliminate such a huge opportunity for trading in the game!
Could even consider it as a good way to get into it without having to resort to the planet a -> planet b -> planet c -> planet a routine. There's tons of trading happening all the time in the universe behind the curtains.
Now just like the events, one corporation (or faction or planet etc.) gets hit hard by something similar to the events or just gets really lucky or something, tons of possibilities;
- Competition sabotaged their ships and the only way they can stay in business is to call for outsider help
- Company got a REALLY good deal on some big batch of coconuts but they simply don't have enough capacity to ferry them to the coconut-hungry dancing robots that refuse to dance without them
Anything goes, really. Especially since it's among several WORLDS. Tons and tons of trading and corporations there.
Anyway, in addition to the event system, (maybe under the industry tree as a skill?) have a list of currently available freight orders for the the player to accept the one (more than one?) that suits his current ability to complete.
Granted, it's not too different from the events but it is less catastrophic and more .. errr, let's say "sustainable" and it might help keep the 'regular trading' feeling in. Rewards could be based on the amount of goods you can carry, be it a single Hound, fleet of them or a big ol' Atlas. Of course, that's in addition to such things as distance and how dangerous the route is etc., you know, the usual.
Basically something that isn't quite so random as these events seems to be (to the uneducated) and does give a moderate profit without being easily optimized into "planet a -> b -> c -> a" routine.
Suppose these could be considered missions or ...quests... more so than events, at any rate.
Btw, how is the new player experience intended for Starscape proper? One frigate and of ya go?
Thinking that having a real mission-like interface could help out starting players to get off the ground. Be they newbies or just someone who got their fleet blown to smithereens.
Something along the lines of 'guard the caravan' in Fallout 2. To be part of a bigger caravan and being able to tackle some easy kills for some exp, maybe loot and pay, depending on how successful the run was.
Well, whatever you end up doing, this game is tons of fun. Really good stuff, wish more of those games that claim to be finished could raise up to the same level where Starsector already is!
