Dynamic Trade Runs

[Kenu [CDEV]]

dynamic trade routes are what I'm most excited for when it comes to adding onto live! If trade run values changed frequently and there were many options of trade runs it would make trading so much more interesting. No more back and forth somerled to prasad, maybe have some zweihander to net-7 or some paren station to earth. That fact that sometimes you'd score on a trade route profit and other times it'd be meh would also make it more interesting

[bondct]

imo you should leave somer pras and somer fen exactly where it is... and if you want to do dynamic trade runs that if followed will provide slightly higher xp then do so... but trade runs are annoying enough as is... at least leave us in the status quo... and also imo trade run should always provide at least the same xp available through jobs if not more...

if you are not a hardcore trader... then please dont nerf what we do best

[Tyran]

A possible dynamic trade run:

You buy goods at a station as usual. But you are given two options:

• Deliver them either to another station for normal payoff
  
• Or take it to an NPC (eg. arm's trader) in space somewhere, for better payment
  

The latter has many interesting possibilities, to name a few:

• The NPC patrols several nav points, so you need to find him. Or he may even float about outside navpoints within in an area that only an experience player would know.
  
• He may also stay very close to a MOB spawn (eg. Red Dragons). In this case you can either tank it, kill the mobs, or sneak in cloaked (the JS will love this!)
  

Ofcourse finding an NPC that is guarded by lvl 16 John Holmes in Slayton should offer less payoff than finding a test tube sabine in ROC that floats around a LvL 60 V'rix infested navpoint, for example.

About finding an NPC and using cloak, this is quite possibly the only way a JS can use cloak for trading. Ofcourse it should not be a one-trick-pony so certain mobs may need the ability to see cloaked part of the time, or perhaps see lower levels of cloak.

Just a minor suggestion...

[xulei]

A possible dynamic trade run:

You buy goods at a station as usual. But you are given two options:

• Deliver them either to another station for normal payoff

• Or take it to an NPC (eg. arm's trader) in space somewhere, for better payment

The latter has many interesting possibilities, to name a few:

• The NPC patrols several nav points, so you need to find him. Or he may even float about outside navpoints within in an area that only an experience player would know.

• He may also stay very close to a MOB spawn (eg. Red Dragons). In this case you can either tank it, kill the mobs, or sneak in cloaked (the JS will love this!)

Ofcourse finding an NPC that is guarded by lvl 16 John Holmes in Slayton should offer less payoff than finding a test tube sabine in ROC that floats around a LvL 60 V'rix infested navpoint, for example.

About finding an NPC and using cloak, this is quite possibly the only way a JS can use cloak for trading. Ofcourse it should not be a one-trick-pony so certain mobs may need the ability to see cloaked part of the time, or perhaps see lower levels of cloak.

Just a minor suggestion...

I really like this idea!

[Tienbau]

ooo, having mobile traders for trade goods is a great idea!

also I agree with Avani, leave the existing trade runs as they are, but have the dynamic economy provide opportunities for bigger and occasionally WAY bigger profit/XP. That way the people who log in once a week or don't want to read the Net7 News still know where to go for their vanilla trade runs.

also

and also imo trade run should always provide at least the same xp available through jobs if not more

You're right - we need to actually work this out correctly. I only hope that when we balance it there's not a 'they nerfed jobs!' cry. It does make sense that a good trade run done by a trader will give trade XP and profit faster than trade jobs. Although trade jobs should give faster XP if done by a non-trader than trade runs ... maybe??

[seekeronos]

I haven't really done the trade jobs - I would guess that the utility for these could lie with the POTENTIAL for them to outdo and equivalent trade run for a trader toon with negotiate+.

I do like the mobile trader idea, and I think mixing up the smuggler aspect (perhaps getting illicit things to Chavez or RDs for rep, trade exp. and credits... while avoiding the GSPs or other patrols by the normal factions) would rock too.

[Suricata79[IS]]

Another possabilty, is to have XP tied into your TL, so you have a 'sweet spot' lvl, for example a tl 25 would get best xp from lvl 5 trade goods, this would mean as a player lvl's they'd change trade routes/goods to match their TL. This would be similar to how mining was set up in live, so mining ores around your own lvl gave more xp than mining below or above it.

[Tyran]

Another possabilty, is to have XP tied into your TL, so you have a 'sweet spot' lvl, for example a tl 25 would get best xp from lvl 5 trade goods, this would mean as a player lvl's they'd change trade routes/goods to match their TL. This would be similar to how mining was set up in live, so mining ores around your own lvl gave more xp than mining below or above it.

+1.

To add to this, perhaps low levels should also not be able to profit as much from high level trade goods. Otherwise it may be an easy cash farm.

[Suricata79[IS]]

You would probably just use the same multiplier on the base XP and price (kind of). This would mean players would not run the exact same traderun to level up, the dynamic routes could then be applied to lvl 9 trade goods for high level traders. You could maybe even restrict lvl 9 trade goods for the trading classes even, to give them an edge, like explorers have with mining and warriers have with combat.

[Terrell [BT]]

You would probably just use the same multiplier on the base XP and price (kind of). This would mean players would not run the exact same traderun to level up, the dynamic routes could then be applied to lvl 9 trade goods for high level traders. You could maybe even restrict lvl 9 trade goods for the trading classes even, to give them an edge, like explorers have with mining and warriers have with combat.

The Trade classes already have an edge over the non-trade classes, the Tradesman, Seeker, and Privateer have 10 more cargo slots than any of the Non-Negotiate toons of the same level, and 5 more cargo slots than the Scout and Enforcer of the same level. In addition with Negotiate 5 you get 2x the XP per trade good that a non-negotiate toon would get for the same trade good.

[Suricata79[IS]]

Did negociate increase XP gain in live? I thoght it just increased credit gain? There is nothing in the games master design documents about it applying to xp, only credits? (Just a query before people go crazy!)

[Terrell [BT]]

Did negociate increase XP gain in live? I thoght it just increased credit gain? There is nothing in the games master design documents about it applying to xp, only credits? (Just a query before people go crazy!)

Not sure about Live because I didn't do that many trade runs. But in Emulator, a Negotiate toon does get more XP per trade good by a factor of 2 with Negotiate 5 over a non-negotiating toon (said toon is buying the item for less money than the non-negotiating toon, and selling it for more). In ST3 I used Somerled - Fenris runs to get TL50 on both my JE and JT, and my JT got 2000 XP per nanobot at TL25+ (earliest she could get Neg 5) while my JE got at most 1000 XP on the same nanobot, additionally my JT could carry 10 more goods in her cargo hold than my JE. Now that Jobs are in, I see no reason to even bother with Trade runs on my JE, JW, or PE. Makes much more sense to do Explore Jobs, since they give Explore XP, Trade XP, and Faction, especially when playing my JE since wormholes do not affect XP from jobs, and did not affect Job XP in Live. Trade Jobs, last I checked, were not giving Faction (in Live ALL jobs gave faction with their sponsor).

For a JE the fastest way to level up is Jobs, since we can use our wormhole skill to our advantage, while with Trade runs we cannot. I don't think that anyone can match a JE in XP per hour doing trade runs vs the JE doing jobs that are in locations convienent to the wormhole skill and are of high level. Now if we don't include the JE, I don't know if the Scout, Seeker, Enforcer, Privateer, & Tradesman, would get more XP per hour doing Trade runs than the Warrior, Defender, & Sentinel doing trade jobs without the assistance of a JE.

Edited July 12, 2010 by Terrell

[Tyran]

Did negociate increase XP gain in live? I thoght it just increased credit gain? There is nothing in the games master design documents about it applying to xp, only credits? (Just a query before people go crazy!)

In live negotiate gave more XP from trade runs,

It did so indirectly because the XP given was based on the difference between the buy and sell value of the goods.

[seekeronos]

To add to this, perhaps low levels should also not be able to profit as much from high level trade goods. Otherwise it may be an easy cash farm.

IMO, Trade runs earn so-so cash. Maybe a decent amount in up to around OL75... but farming biological mobs for stackable loot does just as well if not better, to say nothing of trading that loot to a player toon and back (loot toss) before vendoring it all gets decent XP as well.

Of course, that may well be due to trade goods being capped at L5. There is no way to qualify what L9 trade goods with offer for base XP.