One of the big flaws of the game is the crude application of supply and demand based on BGS states.
The BGS basically predetermines the supply and demand based on the BGS state and it refreshes with periodic regularity.
There is some impact on pricing but it is less than subtle.
What I'd propose is to make the buy and sell pricing much more granular than High, Med, Low demand / supply and introduce a bit of player agency.
ED is an NPC dominated universe so the basic assumption would be that NPCs fulfill 99% of the baseline transport needs of an economy.
i.e. If the baseline demand for Bauxite at a refinery is 10,000 tons a week, then assume that NPCs supply 9,900 tons of it and it's up to players to supply the rest.
If that missing 100 tons is not supplied then the demand and corresponding sell price of Bauxite should go up.
If surplus is delivered then the demand and sell price should go down.
Then actually start applying a supply chain - Bauxite is required to produce Aluminium.
Assume that base productivity is 10,000 tons of Bauxite produces ~2,000 tons of Aluminium (and smaller amounts of Gallium).
The available supply of Aluminium would be determined by the delivery of Bauxite with knock on effects on the buy price.
i.e. Surplus Bauxite would produce surplus Aluminium and a lower buy price.
This supply chain could be extended right through the different economies with Aluminium feeding into Industrial and High-Tech economies in order to produce their goods.
This whole chain could then in turn drive more realistic BGS states, and directly influence the generation of Delivery missions.
Not enough food being delivered > Famine > Civil Unrest > Civil War / War / Elections
Not enough medicines being delivered > Outbreak > Civil Unrest > Civil War / War / Elections
Surplus raw production goods being delivered > Boom > Expansion with the opposite effect being Bust
However, these BGS states would be indicative of what is happening in the supply chain rather than the crude drivers currently implemented.
That 1% player agency would likely produce chaos throughout the bubble but certainly create opportunities for more creative BGS gameplay and genuine drivers for mission generation.
The BGS basically predetermines the supply and demand based on the BGS state and it refreshes with periodic regularity.
There is some impact on pricing but it is less than subtle.
What I'd propose is to make the buy and sell pricing much more granular than High, Med, Low demand / supply and introduce a bit of player agency.
ED is an NPC dominated universe so the basic assumption would be that NPCs fulfill 99% of the baseline transport needs of an economy.
i.e. If the baseline demand for Bauxite at a refinery is 10,000 tons a week, then assume that NPCs supply 9,900 tons of it and it's up to players to supply the rest.
If that missing 100 tons is not supplied then the demand and corresponding sell price of Bauxite should go up.
If surplus is delivered then the demand and sell price should go down.
Then actually start applying a supply chain - Bauxite is required to produce Aluminium.
Assume that base productivity is 10,000 tons of Bauxite produces ~2,000 tons of Aluminium (and smaller amounts of Gallium).
The available supply of Aluminium would be determined by the delivery of Bauxite with knock on effects on the buy price.
i.e. Surplus Bauxite would produce surplus Aluminium and a lower buy price.
This supply chain could be extended right through the different economies with Aluminium feeding into Industrial and High-Tech economies in order to produce their goods.
This whole chain could then in turn drive more realistic BGS states, and directly influence the generation of Delivery missions.
Not enough food being delivered > Famine > Civil Unrest > Civil War / War / Elections
Not enough medicines being delivered > Outbreak > Civil Unrest > Civil War / War / Elections
Surplus raw production goods being delivered > Boom > Expansion with the opposite effect being Bust
However, these BGS states would be indicative of what is happening in the supply chain rather than the crude drivers currently implemented.
That 1% player agency would likely produce chaos throughout the bubble but certainly create opportunities for more creative BGS gameplay and genuine drivers for mission generation.
Last edited:
