I’m sure this has been talked about before but I thought I’d throw in my two cents.
As of right now the commerce building feels underwhelming and in my opinion is in a very bad place since the last update. Even when I went into the text files to change it from a precious industry slot to a regular building, I find that I still don't build it due to the huge cost and time investment compared to the small benefit it brings. Other than convenience there's not really a use for it either since if I wanted extra stability it's better, and way cheaper, to just build/upgrade ground defenses, starbases, or patrol HQs that also don't take up an industry slot. The market itself is pretty bad too since you're stuck with 30% tariffs and it seems like the only ships it sells are mostly frigate/destroyer/cruiser grade utility ships based on the planet's quality/stability(?) while the weapons are mostly small common slots with the occasional medium/large. An alpha core also just increases the +1 stability bonus to +2 which is... not the best use of one.
There are a few ideas I had which I think would help bring commerce up to the level of other industries and make it something worth investing in:
1. Create an infinite duration techmine-like production at the end of each month. This production would be restricted to non-rare items, so no blueprints, LPCs, and weapons unlike regular techmining; just basic goods like supplies, food, organics, domestic/luxury goods, ores, etc. and to a lesser extent lobsters and illegal goods like drugs, weapons, and organs where the number of illegal items gained is increased or decreased depending on stability. Additionally, there could be a very low % chance a month for a random ship whose quality depends on the market size weighted towards pirate hull types to be produced. The idea is that your officials would be collecting part of the tariffs for the player or confiscating contraband which I think would fit nicely into the theme of the building.
2. Open port could also affect the market a bit more. Tariffs could be cut from 30% to 10-15% over time like the other values at 365 days. The downside would be greatly/completely reduced confiscation of illegal goods (drugs/guns/organs) but you could start getting a small number of free crew and marines instead.
3. Commerce could satisfy (remove) the local demand for drugs and organs as well as increase local drug production by +1. This local drug and organ demand removal would happen even with a closed port and the +1 drug production bonus would only happen with light industry and open port running together. I think it’s a fair bonus considering it takes two specific industry slots and guts the free illegal items you gain when using open port. Lore wise I’m not sure if this makes sense whatsoever, but I’m assuming commerce would make it easier to smuggle and distribute a large quantity of narcotics/organs while a centralized hub would facilitate offworld exports.
4. Alpha cores have a bunch of things you can do with the reworked industry though I’m not sure what is ideal. The obvious choice is to just increase items gained from the production by 25% or whatever you find reasonable. Alternatively they could perform a similar function to megaports and increase accessibility by a bit while increasing the income modifier by a bit, greatly increase the chances of getting a free ship each month, or even push the drug production bonus up a bit or apply the same bonuses to organs. There’s a lot of choices.
5. A bit boring, but it could also increase the local income modifier by x1.05 or reduce the local upkeep modifier by x0.95. Skilled merchants would help get the best prices when buying and selling afterall. Nothing too outrageous, though combined with all the other additions it’s best to err on the side of caution instead of over buffing and making this a must-pick.
I think if at least some of these features were added and the numbers were tweaked for balance it would make commerce actually competitive. At the moment it really does not even come close to being worth 450,000 credits and 90 days build time imo, especially when you can just find a local market or pirate base to dump all your excess junk into with no tariffs while having much better ship quality, weapon quality, and choice.
