So, drawing the closest comparison available, EVE allows you to view the market for systems across the whole net. That is -not- what Elite is about, so I'm not asking for Galnet to make all trade data available from everywhere. Let's get that out of the way.
What I -do- think we need is something to remove the immersion-destroying need to take notes, screenshots, and photos (I use an iPad Mini) of the markets for places we -have- explored and docked. Nothing ruins the immersion more than having to alt-tab out, or pick up another device. I can't imagine the Occulus crowd are very happy about it.
So, my proposal... Any station you actually visit, the market details go into a log for the entire market, and the timestamp is noted. Then, add a tab to the in-game UI which allows you to search the history of visited stations, and pull up the trade data -you personally observed-, and notes how long ago that observation was made. It should be searchable by goods supplied, goods purchased, along with a distance parameter, and even let you pull up...all stations within 200LY, give me the Palladium prices I saw, and whether they buy, sell, or both, as well as possibly an optimal jump count (fastest route) from 'x' system.
Keep the exploration of the markets and hunting and such, even make people explore the stations first-hand. But stop shattering the immersion for people who have so far needed to go as far as building their own databases and spreadsheets. If you're going to make the market that central to the earning, give us -in-game- tools with which to do so, so that the game remains immersive.
What I -do- think we need is something to remove the immersion-destroying need to take notes, screenshots, and photos (I use an iPad Mini) of the markets for places we -have- explored and docked. Nothing ruins the immersion more than having to alt-tab out, or pick up another device. I can't imagine the Occulus crowd are very happy about it.
So, my proposal... Any station you actually visit, the market details go into a log for the entire market, and the timestamp is noted. Then, add a tab to the in-game UI which allows you to search the history of visited stations, and pull up the trade data -you personally observed-, and notes how long ago that observation was made. It should be searchable by goods supplied, goods purchased, along with a distance parameter, and even let you pull up...all stations within 200LY, give me the Palladium prices I saw, and whether they buy, sell, or both, as well as possibly an optimal jump count (fastest route) from 'x' system.
Keep the exploration of the markets and hunting and such, even make people explore the stations first-hand. But stop shattering the immersion for people who have so far needed to go as far as building their own databases and spreadsheets. If you're going to make the market that central to the earning, give us -in-game- tools with which to do so, so that the game remains immersive.