The economy in ED is awful. I pick up needed repair supplies in the bubble for ~1000 credits, head off to the Pleiades sector to drop supplies off at stations under attack, and the best profit I can make is 500K? I don't understand how something that is needed badly carries such a menial price. There is a maximum of a few hundred credits profit per item. I guess being repaired and rescued is not worth that much to humans. That much is apparent IRL as well.
Hire a real economist, please!
- Thread starter mintaka5
- Start date
In ED human life is cheap and easily replaceable, so a few thousand burning corpses out of trillions is not going to be of widespread concern, more of a blip.
A "real economist" would say, among other things:
1) You're transporting bulk-available cargo the equivalent twenty minutes down the road. No matter how urgently they're required that's going to limit your opportunity for price-gouging because there's plenty of other sellers and haulers who'll do it for less. The fact that you can get >500K profit on a single cargo haul between two adjacent stations is the implausible bit.
2) In theory the pirate attacks could be a reason for getting more pay; in practice piracy is so laughably unprofitable itself that there's no in-game-visible reason that the pirates should - economically - exist at all when they make a tiny amount if they succeed and die if they fail. They should be removed. This will also mean that the combat-related professions can be removed, leaving just bulk trade and exploration as ultra-low-profit occupations.
I think the game probably works out more fun with cartoon economics.
1) You're transporting bulk-available cargo the equivalent twenty minutes down the road. No matter how urgently they're required that's going to limit your opportunity for price-gouging because there's plenty of other sellers and haulers who'll do it for less. The fact that you can get >500K profit on a single cargo haul between two adjacent stations is the implausible bit.
2) In theory the pirate attacks could be a reason for getting more pay; in practice piracy is so laughably unprofitable itself that there's no in-game-visible reason that the pirates should - economically - exist at all when they make a tiny amount if they succeed and die if they fail. They should be removed. This will also mean that the combat-related professions can be removed, leaving just bulk trade and exploration as ultra-low-profit occupations.
I think the game probably works out more fun with cartoon economics.
So you're saying they already hired a real economist? Good good, glad this one is solved
They're playing so much just to save... PEOPLE?
Can't be Elite! I think you're playing another game.
When you say "hire a real economist", do you mean "how do I make moooaaaahhhhh money" perhaps?
And be fair... it's real. In elite universe they don't care about humans. Perfect economy! uhaHUAhuaHUHau
Oh... I can't laugh at that.
Agree with the OP's sentiments. Think the OP's example is laughable.
It's so replaceable that system populations stay the same even if they have a 356% daily mortality rate!
It's so replaceable that system populations stay the same even if they have a 356% daily mortality rate!
Anyone got the phone number for Alan Greenspan?
And be fair... it's real. In elite universe they don't care about humans. Perfect economy! uhaHUAhuaHUHau
Oh... I can't laugh at that.
You have no soul.... good form!
So by 3308 human lives will mean nothing and corportate profit means everything... there is no way we would devolve into such a primative system in only 1500 years.And be fair... it's real. In elite universe they don't care about humans. Perfect economy! uhaHUAhuaHUHau
Oh... I can't laugh at that.
*looks at news site
Oh nevermind, we don't need to devolve.. we are already there.
You hire an economist if you want a working economy.
But what we commonly mean when we say economy, is the game's progression system (called 'economy' because it's done via the pretense that people within this universe pay us, but the reality is of course different, the game rewards us to keep us engaged). An economist isn't needed there and wont be of much help. This is purely a game design topic, and I doubt you need an economist to come up with the in-universe justifications for the game's reward system. Supply and demand is not a difficult concept to grasp at the shallow level a game like ED is supposed to work.
Still, it would be good for a thorough sanity check on those justifications, as most of it does, indeed, make no sense.
But what we commonly mean when we say economy, is the game's progression system (called 'economy' because it's done via the pretense that people within this universe pay us, but the reality is of course different, the game rewards us to keep us engaged). An economist isn't needed there and wont be of much help. This is purely a game design topic, and I doubt you need an economist to come up with the in-universe justifications for the game's reward system. Supply and demand is not a difficult concept to grasp at the shallow level a game like ED is supposed to work.
Still, it would be good for a thorough sanity check on those justifications, as most of it does, indeed, make no sense.
Last edited:
Life is so meaningless they just stop counting and go
I can take this part and nod a little in agreement. However economies are hard to model and for a game, in general, ED is mostly pretty good when compared to many other game economy simulations.
Basically what you're asking for is 'more credits' from your specific chosen task, even as others have pointed out you can make vastly more credits doing any number of other trade runs or even other activities.
The biggest problem in ED is everyone (and Frontier themselves agreed) wanted more credits to such an extent that over time (since game start when it was harder to amass wealth) making money has become kind of easy. As a newbie player i blasted through half a dozen starter ships (and a few internal upgrades on them) to get my Asp Explorer in about 15 hours of newbie (ie inefficient) game play. That is just because people complained they wanted more money, more easily, and Frontier agreed to those demands.
THAT nearly broke the game for me as a recent new player, so be careful what you wish for.
What i could suggest is that in whatever trade run you are looking to do, you can also check the mission boards and passenger boards to see if any of those also match up with a trade run you might consider, as that can add a nice overall credit increase just in case the profit from trade is not as good as hoped for.
What i'd like to see to better balance the glut of cash making, is a better risk/reward mechanic specifically around the cost of running a spaceship (higher usage of fuel and very specifically increased repair and maintenance costs) as you basically never have to worry about that as far as i can tell so far.
Last edited:
Why cant i quote the title?
Anyway - nope.
It's a game. And it works in this purpose.