quote: Original post by morfe

To prevent instances like this, you could ensure there is always a black market. Of course, prices would be higher, and there could be a risk of prosecution, but you can always get something if you really need it.

Gotcha. I do want a black market, but I don''t want this to be a sort of *hack* around trade getting boring...

quote:
Also in respect to widgets, if a civilisation has interplanetary / sytem travel, don''t you think that more than one planet will have access and the ability to build that technology too?

It seems to me that the whole point of trading in general is that everybody needs X, Y, and Z, but some people are better than others at producing X, Y, or Z.

An airless, irradiated moon might be good at mining but terrible at agriculture. A huge, mineral poor Gaia world might be great at farming but awful at production. Both could do it, realistically, but not without considerable inefficiency.

Enter the commodities trader...

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Just waiting for the mothership...

quote:
Wavinator:

You know that Capella is famed for its production of Semisentient Metals. So you jump in. In senario one, you can always rely on Capella having a huge supply. But in senario 2, you may jump in and find a huge freighter fleet docking with the station, leaving you little or none. Or there might have been a production shortage, raising prices or reducing quanity... etc.

Perfect. Getting there last screws you out of the chance of a lifetime. There was some space/trade type game that worked liked this, I liked it anyway. It does get a little anoying if someone comes in and takes everything you plan on buying or gluts the market, but if it was done by a capitol ship owned by a large company, there might be flight plans and cargo lists which the player might find available. Possibly with the right tech or for the right price.