One for the Devs, mostly, but happy for commander comments.
It feels like trading, and commodity markets, still need ironing out generally (i.e. supply reverts to the original number when returning to the same market having previously bought at, and demand numbers never alter)....
However something I noticed this week is a multi-station system with prices pegged the same. Which didn't strike me as real. Let me explain. In part, this is going to be coupled with generic system population sizes driving markets.
System Chac Cimih has three starports and one outpost. The 'main' starport station and system economy type is Agriculture. The two other starports and the outpost are Industrials. Systems like these interest me as a trader, as it's possible to trade in-system, without having to hyperspace (fuel/time saving), plus with the ability to influence reputation in a single system (i.e. do I get to become the local kingpin?).
Starport 1 (400ls) -- Busch Ring -- Agriculture
Starport 2 (700ls) -- Oxley Terminal -- Industrial
Starport 3 (1200ls) -- Abernathy Ring -- Industrial
Outpost 1 (21500ls) -- Blackman Dock -- Industrial
So, three starports close together, and one outpost far-flung. The three Industrials have identical markets for both buy/sell costs. While I can accept the logic of a single system sharing market prices (avoiding arbitrage), distance must have a role to play - i.e. this is not a perfect market. E.g. all three sell Crop Harvesters for 2027, but what's a trader's incentive to go to the outpost to buy something that can be had for the same price at one of the starports. Or Biowaste, selling for 19... surely the outpost, being further out, would be selling for a cheaper rate, to reflect the time/effort/cost in simply getting out there to take the stuff off their hands. Or for selling, Grain sells at all three for 219, but wouldn't the Outpost be paying more for increased shipping costs (or perhaps that's balanced by lower overall demand from a smaller station?).
As a secondary point, while the outpost had lower volumes to buy/sell, it was still labelled as a "high population" on the market screen. While the main planets/starport might have big populations, it's not credible a poky outpost 20,000+ls away is also part of the big population algorithms.
All said, while the prices might be pushed and pulled for a variety of reasons (distance, LOCAL station/planet size, and supply/demand (once activated)) and they may end up in a similar range, it's not realistic for them to all be pegged the same.
As a final point, the commodity market screens, and possibly the system maps, need to include in-system trading data. From the Agricultural Busch Ring I can use the Galaxy Map and the right hand column of the market screen to see other systems to sell Foods to, whereas there's money to be made selling Foods in-system to the other three stations and it would be useful to see that too. I won't rehash the "commodity market data should be widely available", but in-system, and certainly once I've been to all four, should be known to me.
JC
It feels like trading, and commodity markets, still need ironing out generally (i.e. supply reverts to the original number when returning to the same market having previously bought at, and demand numbers never alter)....
However something I noticed this week is a multi-station system with prices pegged the same. Which didn't strike me as real. Let me explain. In part, this is going to be coupled with generic system population sizes driving markets.
System Chac Cimih has three starports and one outpost. The 'main' starport station and system economy type is Agriculture. The two other starports and the outpost are Industrials. Systems like these interest me as a trader, as it's possible to trade in-system, without having to hyperspace (fuel/time saving), plus with the ability to influence reputation in a single system (i.e. do I get to become the local kingpin?).
Starport 1 (400ls) -- Busch Ring -- Agriculture
Starport 2 (700ls) -- Oxley Terminal -- Industrial
Starport 3 (1200ls) -- Abernathy Ring -- Industrial
Outpost 1 (21500ls) -- Blackman Dock -- Industrial
So, three starports close together, and one outpost far-flung. The three Industrials have identical markets for both buy/sell costs. While I can accept the logic of a single system sharing market prices (avoiding arbitrage), distance must have a role to play - i.e. this is not a perfect market. E.g. all three sell Crop Harvesters for 2027, but what's a trader's incentive to go to the outpost to buy something that can be had for the same price at one of the starports. Or Biowaste, selling for 19... surely the outpost, being further out, would be selling for a cheaper rate, to reflect the time/effort/cost in simply getting out there to take the stuff off their hands. Or for selling, Grain sells at all three for 219, but wouldn't the Outpost be paying more for increased shipping costs (or perhaps that's balanced by lower overall demand from a smaller station?).
As a secondary point, while the outpost had lower volumes to buy/sell, it was still labelled as a "high population" on the market screen. While the main planets/starport might have big populations, it's not credible a poky outpost 20,000+ls away is also part of the big population algorithms.
All said, while the prices might be pushed and pulled for a variety of reasons (distance, LOCAL station/planet size, and supply/demand (once activated)) and they may end up in a similar range, it's not realistic for them to all be pegged the same.
As a final point, the commodity market screens, and possibly the system maps, need to include in-system trading data. From the Agricultural Busch Ring I can use the Galaxy Map and the right hand column of the market screen to see other systems to sell Foods to, whereas there's money to be made selling Foods in-system to the other three stations and it would be useful to see that too. I won't rehash the "commodity market data should be widely available", but in-system, and certainly once I've been to all four, should be known to me.
JC