Trade network: Show how much credits shop has & make gui better

[MacThule]

I actually didn't think of that. That would only be incentive if the credits are stored on the planets instead of being directly deposited into a player's account. Hmm, now I'm torn on the idea.

Yeah, it's probably not a whole solution, but I think something like this could be part of the solution. Anything that makes capturable or destructible claims (planets, systems, stations) valuable in some way will probably make the game more fun.

And it's a good point. The credits would have to accumulate on-planet, and even claimants would have to run regular tax missions to collect by that model... pros and cons, I guess.

 

[aceface]

ok good discussion but please make a separate thread

 

[MacThule]

ok good discussion but please make a separate thread

Sorry to sidetrack. Particularly on this topic.

The OP issue is definitely one of the most annoying elements of the current Trade Network UI. Even after a year of using it, I have never quite gotten used to this. It's extremely bad when you need 1M shield caps and no one around sells nearly that many or gives a decent price and you need to order from 3 different shops... Then you have to search, go into the node, search again, click to buy, type in your order for their whole inventory of caps, go back to the main, and do it all over again several more times. It is painfully unnecessary. I've built a few databases and this is a simple DB feature.

Buy/Sell should be possible with two clicks, directly from the Search Results page, and doing so should not affect the search results displayed (it should not send you back to a main trade screen when your purchase is complete). We should be able to search "Shields," make multiple purchases directly from the results, then search "Reactor" and make several new purchases, etc., without any need to drag the interface back to the search/buy/sell screen where we need it.

 

[Nosajimiki]

This also means you need effort to collect your taxes which is another way to create impedius on infinite wealth. If you own 100 worlds, you'd need to either spend a lot of time farming them every day or two (which would be less profitable than mining anyway), OR you farm a few a day on a schedule and lets them stockpile, but ppl who let them stockpile become VERY juicy targets which makes for a great incentive for war.

Let's say each world makes 1 mil $/day, and you have 100 worlds, and you have a monthly schedule were you hit a few worlds every day. That is $30mil per world which is a few times more efficient than mining or stick shop trading, but it comes with greater risk. If another faction looks at the map and sees that you own 30 sectors, they will likely decided to raid the hell out of you, so they could make off with $1.5 billion credits by hitting all your worlds at once (about the value of an average 400k battle-cruiser), and destroy all of your claims which would take a lot of time to re-establish and rebuild their wealth.

Instead, the incentive would be to claim a small territory with the most amount of worlds so as not to draw attention to yourself. With 10 worlds across 3 sectors, your faction won't stand out on the map, and you could let them stockpile more safely. Then you just go out once a month an hit all of them for a free $300mil credits. At this rate of income, it would not replace mining, but make sure you always have the cash on hand to fill those random needs to keep your economy functional.

 

[Donoterase]

I like the OP's idea, and I would like to add that--if there isn't already--there should be some different color for factions that refuse to trade due to war or some preference stating they only trade with allies. Or even remove non-trading nodes altogether?