The current rare goods mechanic of a limited tonnage of a rare good being available at each visit is fine as a starting point.
.
It would be nice, to add some additional rare good mechanics for variety. That is to say some rare goods are available as per now but others have a different availability criteria.
.
Here are two suggestions.
.
Timed availability
Like in the real world, some goods, particularly those with an agricultural/biological basis are only available at "harvest time". These goods would only be available at certain times e.g. Xenonian Christmas brandy would only be available in December each year or "GarlicFace", a narcotic plant bulb, would only be available during months with an "R" in them. Naturally these goods would be extra valuable, both to buy and to sell. The time dependent nature of these good would add to the background fiction of the universe with GalNet reports of ships gathering in the relevant system for the "harvest".
.
Availability tied to faction reputation
The rare goods would be offered in varying amounts linked to the CMDRs standing with the controlling faction. The friendlier you are to the faction, the greater your allocation. The promise of increased standing (and hence increased rare goods allocation) could be used as a mission reward. Of course, if you are not in good standing with the current controlling faction, you could always support a revolution to put in place a new controlling faction, who would be very generous to their supporters
.
.
If you combined the two you could also get an interesting mechanic of deciding to "cultivate" a faction reputation so that come harvest time you can get your hands on the rare good. Alternatively you could try to topple the current faction so your favoured faction are in power come harvest time.
.
What do people think?
.
It would be nice, to add some additional rare good mechanics for variety. That is to say some rare goods are available as per now but others have a different availability criteria.
.
Here are two suggestions.
.
Timed availability
Like in the real world, some goods, particularly those with an agricultural/biological basis are only available at "harvest time". These goods would only be available at certain times e.g. Xenonian Christmas brandy would only be available in December each year or "GarlicFace", a narcotic plant bulb, would only be available during months with an "R" in them. Naturally these goods would be extra valuable, both to buy and to sell. The time dependent nature of these good would add to the background fiction of the universe with GalNet reports of ships gathering in the relevant system for the "harvest".
.
Availability tied to faction reputation
The rare goods would be offered in varying amounts linked to the CMDRs standing with the controlling faction. The friendlier you are to the faction, the greater your allocation. The promise of increased standing (and hence increased rare goods allocation) could be used as a mission reward. Of course, if you are not in good standing with the current controlling faction, you could always support a revolution to put in place a new controlling faction, who would be very generous to their supporters
.
If you combined the two you could also get an interesting mechanic of deciding to "cultivate" a faction reputation so that come harvest time you can get your hands on the rare good. Alternatively you could try to topple the current faction so your favoured faction are in power come harvest time.
.
What do people think?