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[Jaghaimo]

Public Companies

This mod introduces publicly traded companies. Multiple types of companies:

• Trade (buy off excess to sell where it is a deficit),
• Exploration (picks exploration contracts), and
• Bounty Hunter (picks bounties).

All companies can be invested in and will earn a dividend (once player owns shares), controlled (when player has >50% shares) or taken over (100% share ownership, becomes
player faction, full profits).

REQUIRES STELLAR NETWORKS TO WORK (SEE FURTHER WORK).

Company details
In the first iteration, only Trade Companies will be implemented.

Trade Companies

Activity within core worlds (non-hidden markets, including player owned). Each company belongs to a faction - ownership decides which markets it can visit.
Each company starts with an investment fund (loan to repay). A company can go bankrupt if their fleets are consistently or loan interest cannot be paid.

Bankrupt companies can be bought for cheap (loan - fleet assets). Other companies can be bought for multiplier of annual income minus loan. When bought, loan becomes player loan (like spacer start), and company will repay capital (while player - interest). Meant to curb trading opportunities by removing excesses and fulfilling demands. Meant as a sim addition.

Exploration Companies

One NPC company at any time, to compete with the player for exploration missions.
Meant for player ownership. Lets the player auto-complete exploration missions.
Option for exploring system, and selling (for % of ownership price discount) or handing over (if 100%) looted probes / derelicts.

Bounty Companies

One NPC company at any time, to compete with the player for bounties.
Meant for player ownership. Lets the player auto-complete exploration missions.
Option for recovering defeated ships and selling (or handing over) ships to the player.

Further work
Administrators expansion

Administrators could be required to manage companies. Same like colonies - up to 3 without penalty. Unlike colonies, add a slot for "advisor" - an AI core that boosts performance.

Stellar Networks dependency

Externalize `uilib` (bundled in Stellar Networks) to make this a standalone mod.

[Jaghaimo]

The purpose of this post is to gather feedback and ideas PRIOR to implementation phase, especially for other types of public companies.

This post will become "mod resources" post after initial release (e.g. translating / integrating) so, erm, reserved

[IonDragonX]

I can't help but to recall this ancient relic from a bygone age:
https://archive.org/details/msdos_BattleTech_-_The_Crescent_Hawks_Inception_1988

This was the first time that I learned simulated worlds are crazy. I could put all my credits into one of the simulated stocks and run around in circles. Give it enough time and you could cash out then never worry about prices of anything again.

[AtlanticAccent]

This is a fantastic idea and something I've considered myself, but never in as much detail!

Some random ideas:

• Many factions in Starsector are actually megacorps - could there be the functionality to "promote" a company to a fully fledged faction, possibly by purchasing an existing planet, founding a colony, purchasing a "faction" right from the Hegemony, etc?
• Different company types/specialisations: R&D might generate blueprints of a certain archetype; historical research might excavate ruins for you, or perform similar tasks to The Historian; (insane) terraforming corporation, which manipulates planet conditions for planets in factions they contract to
• Corporate espionage/assassinations: companies may have stationary assets of some kind (maybe a non-blocking industry on a planet their parent faction owns, or a random space stations) which can be raided or destroyed. Missions might be generated from intel (or facilitated by player action) indicating important assets or personnel are being moved by a company, which would allow the player to intercept and destroy the transport fleet.
• Full blow company management sim: manage hirings, firings and transfers of key personnel within a company once you have a significant/controlling share of a company.
• Faction commission alternative: employment! Work your way up the company hierarchy, maybe even all the way to CEO! This might presumably be built on the existing reputation system. Being employed would provide tangible benefits, but might also come with mandatory tedious or difficult tasks, like bounties or exploration missions. Tying into an earlier point, in a sufficiently cutthroat corporation you may even be able to kill your boss to take his job!
• Private companies and IPOs: create a private company, grow it with your own investment/venture capital, then take it public and attempt to reap the rewards! A private company would of course be under your majority ownership, but selling off shares (if the company performs well) and dividends may provide some nice cash. I'm not sure what proprietary assets you might be able to base a company on, but I can see two basic things:
  
  • The player uses some of the blueprints they know and manufacturing facilities to create a weapons or ship building company
  • The weapon builds or donates ships of their own to their private company, and directs it to act as a trade/exploration/bounty hunting company
  • (insane) The player donates colony items they have to the company, which then acts as a freelance terraforming/planet improvement company - ie: the company will contract with a planet, and provide the benefits of certain colony items to said planet
• Companies that a player owns may be able to take on missions of their own, such as faction government contracts. These would be very similar to the current "produce x in y days" missions players can get, but would need something unique to differentiate them
• Investments/loans: you could donate a chunk of cash/assets to a company in exchange for shares/interest on the loan

Anyway love the idea, and even if it's just a stock trading simulator that's all I need in Starsector!

[Kakroom]

This is a feature I've wanted since I started playing the game. I really hope it goes somewhere.

[DreXav]

Awesome concept, hope we get to play with it soon!

[Anexgohan]

How does one go about listing his company on your publicly traded stock exchange? 

[Hansag]

Interesting. Perhaps being able to invest in the "Exploration" or "Bounty" missions that become available, and get a dividend later if you sponsor the expedition?

As for investments, perhaps have a screen with a list of companies 20 companies, 15 being random (Independent) and at times go under (so you lose your money if you invest in them), value perhaps based a bit on the market size and the Resource they are tied to. The 5 remaining companies could be mega-corporations like Tri-Tachyon, Persean Fleet Systems, Sindra Technologies Engineering, Chicomoztoc Orbital Yards, Tech Duinn Thunderbirds (Pirates)

I suppose in the random 15 the risk is you lose your money, but they might be more affected by things happening on their homeworld etc. as well as random events; e.g. "Hegemony Security Forces raid Nostromosleds Solutions headquarters on Eventide - confiscates AI cores and liquidates assets"
(name from: https://www.scifiideas.com/scifi-company-name-generator/)

• I guess companies need to be tagged as permanent or not
• A home planet for their HQ (Independent, or possibly one of the factions)
• Have a name allocated to them like a character (possibly related to their planet or star system)
• One or two goods that determine their value and how much one might get in dividends (e.g. Ship Components and Heavy Equipment for an
• Engineering firm, or just Ore for a mining company)
• Something that tells how stable the company is (i.e. financially, but also how dodgy and at risk it is of getting attacked or similar, perhaps it needs to have a rating for size as well so one can see how many HP it has against bad stuff.)

My master's was in political science and I only have a BBA on the side

[Dwarden]

i noticed you got PMC and Trade companies but you forgot about

Big Pharma (it's always about medical drugs)
* investments into stations / colony services and trade and research

Military Complex (procurement of more dakka or ammo)
* investments into defense and offense of fleets, factions, stations , colonies and logistics etc.

Pleasure  (cause entertainment, alcohol and sex is profitable)
* investments into station services and trade