I played the original Elite on a BBC Model B and writing down station prices was tedious then... 3000 years later (well that's what my ED client says), I still have to write 'em down, unless I download one of the many wonderful third party tools that people have so patiently developed, kudos to them and all.
So why, in 3015, does ED not equip the standard Sidey with an E1 trade computer and let you outfit up to the very rare A model, which can only be found in a secret workshop at the core of the galaxy, to encourage travel and trade? Surely, when all the prices are presented on the station menu in spreadsheet format, my starter ship ought to have a computer that saves the prices, so that I can recall them later, even if the computer tells me that they are a bit out of date? Of course, this being the lowly E1 model, I won't be able to scan anything but the closest markets and perhaps my system won't be powerful enough to download outpost prices, unless I have visited the outpost first and registered on their database? However, with this basic system, I will be able to make money from low-level trades and kit out my Sidey as I dream of owning a Hauler. I realise that as the game stands (i.e. without a trade computer) it is possible to figure out which systems export what using the galaxy map, but it still condemns noobs in slow ships to wasted journeys while they find their way around the vast space which is ED.
I get the Hauler, but my E1 Trade Computer looks a bit sick now. Too few functions for my shiny new ship. So I upgrade. This model is four times the price and twice as powerful. It give me trading post prices and it has a (somewhat) wider horizon. Like the starter system, it shows stock levels, but they are a bit more up to date, so less risky doing bigger trades. It also populates the database automatically when I boot the system and it shows the profit per run. I begin to make money. Now you might say, "Well, this removes the challenge of trading!" but I would reply that the bar is a wee bit too high here for beginners and many, perhaps most, get turned off trading far too quickly, which is a complete waste of the very sophisticated commodities system that Frontier include as part of ED.
Version three of the Trade Computer is 12 times the price, with a much bigger range and it lets me lock a station for travel, and shows the cargo/available space in my hold (which I realise is available on the right hand screen in the cockpit). It also shows me goods which are illegal in the station/system I am in. Prices are nearer to real time.
4 tells me all of this, plus whether I can jump back with a load. It also lets me plot trade routes with multiple legs.
5 will track commodities on any system that I have visited, regardless of distance.
Enough already.
I will prolly get rammed for this suggestion at the very minimum, but having a trade computer available in the game would encourage noobs and that category of player which so often seems to get forgotten, but does exist in ED, which is folk who don't want to fight. Having gone the opposite route and played the game as a shoot 'em up, I would have appreciated being able to make an easier living out of trading when I started out and this particular piece of kit would have been a great help had it been built in right from the start. There are many possibilities, including allowing player groups to swap trade info amongst themselves, piracy involving ripping off your trade data etc.
Anyone else think this is viable? I have four pips in Sys, so do your worst (-:
So why, in 3015, does ED not equip the standard Sidey with an E1 trade computer and let you outfit up to the very rare A model, which can only be found in a secret workshop at the core of the galaxy, to encourage travel and trade? Surely, when all the prices are presented on the station menu in spreadsheet format, my starter ship ought to have a computer that saves the prices, so that I can recall them later, even if the computer tells me that they are a bit out of date? Of course, this being the lowly E1 model, I won't be able to scan anything but the closest markets and perhaps my system won't be powerful enough to download outpost prices, unless I have visited the outpost first and registered on their database? However, with this basic system, I will be able to make money from low-level trades and kit out my Sidey as I dream of owning a Hauler. I realise that as the game stands (i.e. without a trade computer) it is possible to figure out which systems export what using the galaxy map, but it still condemns noobs in slow ships to wasted journeys while they find their way around the vast space which is ED.
I get the Hauler, but my E1 Trade Computer looks a bit sick now. Too few functions for my shiny new ship. So I upgrade. This model is four times the price and twice as powerful. It give me trading post prices and it has a (somewhat) wider horizon. Like the starter system, it shows stock levels, but they are a bit more up to date, so less risky doing bigger trades. It also populates the database automatically when I boot the system and it shows the profit per run. I begin to make money. Now you might say, "Well, this removes the challenge of trading!" but I would reply that the bar is a wee bit too high here for beginners and many, perhaps most, get turned off trading far too quickly, which is a complete waste of the very sophisticated commodities system that Frontier include as part of ED.
Version three of the Trade Computer is 12 times the price, with a much bigger range and it lets me lock a station for travel, and shows the cargo/available space in my hold (which I realise is available on the right hand screen in the cockpit). It also shows me goods which are illegal in the station/system I am in. Prices are nearer to real time.
4 tells me all of this, plus whether I can jump back with a load. It also lets me plot trade routes with multiple legs.
5 will track commodities on any system that I have visited, regardless of distance.
Enough already.
I will prolly get rammed for this suggestion at the very minimum, but having a trade computer available in the game would encourage noobs and that category of player which so often seems to get forgotten, but does exist in ED, which is folk who don't want to fight. Having gone the opposite route and played the game as a shoot 'em up, I would have appreciated being able to make an easier living out of trading when I started out and this particular piece of kit would have been a great help had it been built in right from the start. There are many possibilities, including allowing player groups to swap trade info amongst themselves, piracy involving ripping off your trade data etc.
Anyone else think this is viable? I have four pips in Sys, so do your worst (-:
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