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General Discussion / Re: Why the sliding-scale mechanic on prices?
« on: February 28, 2023, 04:55:54 PM »
If you've ever sold anything in Eve Online, or tried to buy something with demand and NOT at a market hub, then the "series of increasing/decreasing prices" is exactly what happens.
Admittedly, the analogy falls through at large market hubs (like Sindria really SHOULD be for fuel!) because there's often massive stockpiles and the price margins between different traders are razor thin and usually only a few credits.
That might, in fact, be a way to rebalance this to make more sense. Look at how many units the colony is demanding or short or producing or whatever, and divide the amount the scale slides by the amount of exponential units in question, and then if you buy fuel at Sindria yes the price will go up but from 93cr to, say, only 98cr, instead of more - wheras at a small independent place, buying the same amount of fuel might push the price from 93cr to 125cr.
Maybe it -already- works this way, I've never paid too much attention, honestly. It usually doesn't bother me too much as I'm well aware the economy is all a little abstracted for the purposes of gameplay, and it's more fun if you just don't think about it too hard. Like most game economies it doesn't really make sense even after various justifications, but it does the job well enough to be fun.
Admittedly, the analogy falls through at large market hubs (like Sindria really SHOULD be for fuel!) because there's often massive stockpiles and the price margins between different traders are razor thin and usually only a few credits.
That might, in fact, be a way to rebalance this to make more sense. Look at how many units the colony is demanding or short or producing or whatever, and divide the amount the scale slides by the amount of exponential units in question, and then if you buy fuel at Sindria yes the price will go up but from 93cr to, say, only 98cr, instead of more - wheras at a small independent place, buying the same amount of fuel might push the price from 93cr to 125cr.
Maybe it -already- works this way, I've never paid too much attention, honestly. It usually doesn't bother me too much as I'm well aware the economy is all a little abstracted for the purposes of gameplay, and it's more fun if you just don't think about it too hard. Like most game economies it doesn't really make sense even after various justifications, but it does the job well enough to be fun.