Community Event / Creation EliteTrade.Net - Keep track.

tom_hartnett · Jun 4, 2014

Hi Guys,

Firstly may I just give a shout out to the devs of Elite. What an amazing job you guys have done so far. Well done!

Next... my fan creation: EliteTrade.Net (http://www.elitetrade.net)

I, like all of you i'm sure, have been trying to find a good way of keeping track of my trades in game. Paper, excel... they work but they don't provide much flexibility or crucially a nice easy way to analyse the data.

So i've created an online web app that works on mobile, tablet (which is cool to have next to you when playing

) and desktops, all mostly untested at the moment. The app, at the moment, simply allows you to add your trades and keep them in a handy online place but as you gather data, I hope we can do some amazing things with it.

It's very very pre-pre-pre-pre alpha at the moment but if you're interested, PM me or email me on elitetradenet@gmail.com and i'll give you access.

Thanks all,
Tom

-- Blurb from my about popup on the site

--

Hi,

Thank you for visiting my new (at the moment simple) web app. I hope that you'll find it useful and over time it will become a trusty companion running on your tablet as you explore new sectors of the vast Elite

angerous universe.

The Idea

By entering the trades you make at each station, you can easily keep track of where you're making the most profit. If lots of accurate trades are put through this system then we'll be able to do some cool things with the data.

With a quick glance at your dashboard, you'll be able to see the state of commodities across the universe and make educated journeys to maximise your trading profits.

The Future

I'd like to make this the most useful E

tool available. These are the areas i'd like to look into:

Store a players trade info for their own analysis
Gather as-fresh-as-possible commodity data
Calculate profitable trade routes
Show trends in systems supply and demand
To make this happen we need 'little birds' all over the universe.

Join now to make it happen

tom_hartnett · Jun 5, 2014

Account creation coming soon.

Hi Guys,

Over the next few days, i'll be adding the ability for users to sign up without having to email me.

There's also a bug report / feature request facility now too.

Thanks all,
Tom
(www.elitetrade.net)

Toumal · Jun 5, 2014

It looks interesting! I agree you should let people register themselves

Alien · Jun 5, 2014

added to The Fan Creation Stuff Index post #2

tom_hartnett · Jun 5, 2014

agreed and thanks!

Toumal said:
It looks interesting! I agree you should let people register themselves

Working on that ASAP. Just HAD to get the message out there.

I will try and be as good a Mr. Braben when it comes to meeting deadlines and hope to have the registration online by midnight tonight.

Alien said:
added to The Fan Creation Stuff Index post #2

THANKS

I really hope this can turn into a good resource for everyone.

tom_hartnett · Jun 5, 2014

oops

Alien said:
added to The Fan Creation Stuff Index post #2

ooops..... silly me! I didn't even realise there was a post 2 for the fan creation stuff with a few trade recorders on there already.

What i'm hoping for mine is to have a easy to use interface that works cross browser on mobiles, tablets and desktops. I love the idea of having your tablet out next to you while flying around trading

I'd like graphs to auto update with current commodity prices as people add trades. (or i'd like to attach into an api if it was ever offered!)

As the game grows, i'd like to be able to calculate where the best profit can be made while trading and ultimately good routes for traders to follow to maximise efficiency.

I have no reason not to expand into more functionality for example tracking mining profits etc.

Thanks all,
Tom

AnnuverScotinExile · Jun 5, 2014

tom_hartnett said:
I really hope this can turn into a good resource for everyone.

Not possible.

Especially given that this goes against the spirit of the game that FD want you to play. If they wanted universal prices to be available universally, they would plan to have them in the game. And they don't. They do plan to provide an individual trading log, and for some limited exchange of market data ('information as a commodity'). But that's it. They don't want you to know, or, at least, to have to do some work, and potentially pay some credits, to find stuff out. A big "tell me what to buy and where to take it" button devalues the game.

So the best that you can hope for is to turn it into a good resource for some of those that want to ignore that spirit of the game. I have to same "some", sadly, because you have several competitors.

tom_hartnett · Jun 5, 2014

AnnuverScotinExile said:
Not possible.

Especially given that this goes against the spirit of the game that FD want you to play. If they wanted universal prices to be available universally, they would plan to have them in the game. And they don't. They do plan to provide an individual trading log, and for some limited exchange of market data ('information as a commodity'). But that's it. They don't want you to know, or, at least, to have to do some work, and potentially pay some credits, to find stuff out. A big "tell me what to buy and where to take it" button devalues the game.

So the best that you can hope for is to turn it into a good resource for some of those that want to ignore that spirit of the game. I have to same "some", sadly, because you have several competitors.

Thanks for your comments. I think i'll roll out the good ol' 'You don't have to use it' quote here and correct myself and say I hope it'll be a useful resource for all who want to use it.

I basically track my trades using pen and paper and find that is ok but i just wanted a place to store my trades online so i could refer back to good ones i've made.

What i'm aiming for is a good place to store you own trade information that you can share with others. Think of it as a Trade Intelligence Network.

Also, as i've already had a great response to this, i think it'll be something SOME of the ED players would like.

All the best,
Tom

tom_hartnett · Jun 5, 2014

thanks

Thanks for all the people who are taking a look at the site and asking to be registered. I know this is annoying but I will sort out the registration tonight.

I'd just like to say that as we progress with this, all be asking the founding members (that's you guys!!) your opinions on the design and functionality direction.

I'm already thinking that input trade form might need to change, let me know that you think.

All the best,
Tom

tom_hartnett · Jun 5, 2014

Quick update

Hi Guys (sorry another long post!),

Just wanted to let you know that the purpose of this trade network app is exactly that... to build a trade network. People who want to be part of the network will be willing to update the trade prices as and when they visit star ports. This way I really don't think the charm of the game is smashed by this app. It is a manual process unlike having an access-all-info type of service (this is done on purpose, to keep it human and inline with the game).

I love the idea that as more people choose to become members of ETN (EliteTrade.Net), more trades will go though the system and we'll be able to offer really good and current info on the state of commodities in the populated areas of the game but as the game grows, the info for that far flung reaches will be out of date most of the time until someone goes out there and manually updates ETN.

Tonight, I will, update all the commodity stats for the systems we have available and that will get us some data in the app. Then I can work on what we'd like to implement next.

The things i'd like to achieve this week will be:

Trader Registration (tonight! pre 11:59)
Full Starport Update Input Page (a page that basically mimics the star port page and allows us to easily update all of the commodities in one place)

Things for the near future:

Trader Profile, change password etc.
Interface to display age of the data displayed
Trade Network Rankings, badges etc for people who use the app.

Thanks for getting through that! I really am excited about where this app can lead

so if you're up for helping out, sign up and help out.

Thanks all,
Tom

tom_hartnett · Jun 5, 2014

Registration Open!

Hi everyone,

As promised i've hit the pre 11:59pm deadline for creating the user account registration form and activation email system.

You can now visit http://elitetrade.net/signup to sign up and start tracking your trades online.

Once you've entered your details, you'll receive an email with activation details.

--
Quick brief for those who are new.

The Intention of this project is to create a community driven trade hub that works on mobile, tablet and desktop browsers. This is NOT an attempt to automate trade or reveal all the prices in the game at a glance. This aims to be a real, living, breathing network of trade intelligence gatherers and a great place to store your ED trading details.

If like me you cannot remember what you literally JUST sold and for how much profit, then this'll replace the scraps of paper littering your desk too!

--

Thanks all,
Tom

tom_hartnett · Jun 5, 2014

network trades

I've been busy!

Just pushed the latest change live.

You can now see the last 30 trades from the whole network on your dashboard.

Just need people to come and fill in the their trade info.. Roll up roll up!

Doing a run of a few star ports now so they'll be lots of fresh data online in the next hour or so.

If you havn't already done it... sign up for free here: http://www.elitetrade.net/signup

Thanks all,
Tom

tom_hartnett · Jun 6, 2014

so we're up and running

Hi Everyone,

We're properly up and running now. We have users registering and using the app to log their trades.

I have some planned updates in the pipeline and the app will be developing constantly.

I really found this is helping me identify the good trades i'm making and with more users coming on board the data from around the system is being refreshed quite frequently.

If you havn't already, come and check out the Elite Trade Network app at http://www.elitetrade.net

Thanks all,
Tom

tom_hartnett · Jun 10, 2014

v0.0.4 released

Hi everyone,

Just a quick note to say i've fixed some of the niggles that I've had with the site.

--CHANGE LOG--
v0.0.4 - 10 Jun 14
Changed the buy/sell radios to buttons
Added guidance on supply/demand
Added button to allow easier submission of bugs and/or feature requests
-------END-------

The change log has been updated on the site. Visit http://www.elitetrade.net for a full rundown of the past changes.

tom_hartnett · Jun 17, 2014

What's on the cards...

So I've been thinking a lot about the direction of the app and how to position it in the ED world.

My current thinking is that I do not want a AUTO-TRADE system. I don't like the idea of everything updating automatically and the player just clicking "Find me the best price". I'd like more of a group of people working together in something like a traders union.

The refined idea
Create a trade information portal for members to gain insight in to the state of the commodities market. This information will be manually added by players as they make trades, this allows them to keep a log of their trades and analyse their data to see where they are making the most profit etc.

Extra thoughts
I'd also like to offer some reward for updating old information making it more profitable for people to run out to the far off systems to update the data in the app.

It would be cool if there was an in game currency reward for people using the app.

Big Update Coming Soon
I will be adding 2 new sections soon

Check the stats of a commodity
Check the most up to date prices at a specific station

Any thoughts/ideas welcome...

Thanks,
Tom

Alien · Jun 17, 2014

tom_hartnett said:
So I've been thinking a lot about the direction of the app and how to position it in the ED world.

My current thinking is that I do not want a AUTO-TRADE system. I don't like the idea of everything updating automatically and the player just clicking "Find me the best price". I'd like more of a group of people working together in something like a traders union.

The refined idea
Create a trade information portal for members to gain insight in to the state of the commodities market. This information will be manually added by players as they make trades, this allows them to keep a log of their trades and analyse their data to see where they are making the most profit etc.

Extra thoughts
I'd also like to offer some reward for updating old information making it more profitable for people to run out to the far off systems to update the data in the app.

It would be cool if there was an in game currency reward for people using the app.

Big Update Coming Soon
I will be adding 2 new sections soon

Check the stats of a commodity

Check the most up to date prices at a specific station

Any thoughts/ideas welcome...

Thanks,
Tom

You should be commended for this post.
Regarding rewarding people ... afaik, you'll be to transfer money to other players in the game, so you could always buy the exploration data from them?

tom_hartnett · Jun 17, 2014

Thank you Cmdr Alien.

Pleased to hear that, I think it would be quite a cool addition to the game to be part of a trade network that shared their prices. I've likened it to two trader mates sitting it a bar and chatting.

Trader 1: "I just bought Fish at the amazing price of 388 from X"

Trader 2: "Wow, i've heard they're selling for 667 over at Y"

Trader 1: "Awesome, thanks for the tip. Let me buy you a beer!"

tom_hartnett · Jun 17, 2014

Latest update

Hi everyone!

I've updated the site. up to v0.0.6 now

I've started the profile of the commodities. You can now see the highest and lowest price a commodity has been bought / sold for.

Just click on the commodity name in the list of trades.

Thanks all,
Tom

elitetrade.net

Flangduck · Jun 18, 2014

Logged in to check out the progress and see if I could perhaps add my data from earlier today - clicked on the first Commodity listed (the most recent with a data change) which happened to be 'Aluminum'.

Got this for a prize:

Just thought you should know. Keep at it. Have a

tom_hartnett · Jun 18, 2014

Oh dear!!!

Thanks for letting me know. I'll fix it ASAP.