Commodity Prices

This page tries to collect what we want, and where we want to go with the next version of economy system in pioneer. An ideal case would be to have a dynamical economy. Perhaps a smaller version of the Star citizen economy or similar.

Other sources of interest might be: Interstellar gamedev - Economic Simulation

What affects a market, and how?

This section aims at basically brainstorming all ideas for how markets and their commodities should be affected for the future new market system in pioneer. The prices will fluctuate in time with prices going down if a good becomes abundant, and becoming expensive if in demand. This will be modeled through a set of coupled ordinary differential equations (if there isn't some cheaper way to do it?).

This section aims at basically brainstorming all ideas for how markets and their commodities should be affected for the future new market system in pioneer. The prices will fluctuate in time with prices going down if a good becomes abundant, and becoming expensive if in demand. This will be modeled through a set of coupled ordinary differential equations (if there isn't some cheaper way to do it?).

• Every planet / station? produces and consumes goods, proportional to population, and other factors, like listed here below.

• Production and consumption rates depend on what kind of planet/station, population size, what other goods are available, etc. E.g if there is a shortage of grain, then price of grapes and other food goes up.

• Price is relative to the amount offered for sale

• This price drives AI/NPC to trade, taking goods from where it is cheap (abundant) to where it is in need. -> model through stochastic differential equations?

• Goods are consumed when producing other stuff?

• Is production seasonal? The trade between northern and southern hemisphere (if axis tilted), seems to not at all be worth it, and break space travel.

• Government? Will communist government lead to flat prices, due to planned economy? Or will they fluctuate more due to not being in sync with true demand? what effect will the different systems have?

• • Democracy
  • Corporate
  • dictatorship
  • anarchy

• Only trade with closest neighbors. Could be done like so: expand a sphere out from the system until with radius r_min, and if found inhabited systems are below some value (10?) keep expanding sphere until r_max. This generates a list of closest neighbors for all systems.

• On the star map, one can see which systems a market is trading with? Why would this be useful? It would be all within some distance.

• In the market (if player subscribes?) we show for the selected commodity its price over the past months? Zoom in/ out from 1 to 3 months? Show system index average, "galaxy index" (based on nearby systems or all systems in the game?).

• How will the dynamics from the market lead to ships with those actual items coming in? Somehow c++ engine must tell TradeShip.lua how many shipped units of each item is being sold / bought / shipped?

• If I kill off trade ships carrying something, then I should be able to create a shortage of some goods. Mission: Drive up price of grain: attack all grain carrying ships?

• Will a system like Mu Herculis, with very far between jump point and station, have much higher prices for everything, making the long transit worth while

• Faction specific: Distance to faction home world? Trading over faction borders?

• Tech level?

General

Many goods are traded, ranging from simple H2O (water), all the way up to farming equipment. In order to keep exchanges simple, a standard unit is used for trading; the metric ton. There are a total of 31 commodities used on the standard stock market, encompassing all major aspects of life.

Goods Descriptions

Hydrogen

Average Price: 1 Credit

Used as fuel for starships, hydrogen is an extremely important element. Fortunately, it is also abundant, and is often among the cheapest commodities on the stock market. Most starports have thousands of tons in stock at any given time. Hydrogen is also known sometimes as simply H.

Liquid Oxygen

Average Price: 1.5 Credits

Liquid Oxygen has many purposes. It's most common uses are in medical and industrial applications, though it is sometimes used for waste treatment. It is very affordable, as oxygen is easy to obtain.

Water

Average Price: 1.2 Credits

An often overlooked commodity, water is needed wherever humanity roams. Sometimes known by its scientific name, H2O, water is required for human life, as well as almost all life on Earth. As such, the vast majority of off-world colonies import water from planets like Earth. It can also be created artificially, though this is expensive. Water is also known to be used as fuel.

Carbon Ore

Average Price: 5 Credits

Used in almost everything, carbon is another inexpensive, but important commodity. Carbon is a natural element, and is in metal, trees, and even human beings. Most commonly, it used to create metal alloys. As such, almost all industrial settlements import carbon ore.

Metal Ore

Average Price: 3 Credits

Metal ore is very common, and has similar purposes to carbon ore. Many colonies mine metal, and export it to industrial systems. Used in everything from small toys to spaceships, metal is one of the most significant resources in the galaxy.

Metal Alloys

Average Price: 8 Credits

After metal ore is extracted, it is processed and ends up as various alloys. An alloy is a mix of metals, rather than a single element. To this end, almost all consumer metals are actually alloys, as pure metals are often impractical.

Precious Metals

Average Price: 180 Credits

Precious metals are, predictably, metals with considerable economic value. This often includes gold, silver, platinum, diamonds, and many others. Generally speaking, these metals are wanted as a way to back up a currency, though some individuals like collecting rare rocks and metals. Certain metals, such as gold and silicon, are also used in computers.

Plastics

Average Price: 12 Credits

Many everyday things are made of plastic. Although usually found in simple consumer goods, some advanced plastics have made their way into military hardware and even starships.

Fruits and Vegetables

Average Price: 12 Credits

While most people eat a synthetic diet, some purists still like to eat real fruits and vegetables. These are grown on agricultural worlds, and then exported to systems in which growing plants is not feasible.

Animal Meat

Average Price: 18 Credits

A major point of controversy, meat is the flesh of animals. In this day and age, with synthetic meat readily available, most people believe that animals should not be killed. In many core systems, animal meat is illegal, as it is deemed inhumane to kill animals for the sole purpose of taste. Many argue the other way, stating that it's only natural, and that killing things is how humans survived for thousands of years.

Live Animals

Average Price: 32 Credits

Where meat causes anger, live animals cause rage. In almost any system where meat is illegal, live animals will be too. This is because the only major reason to import animals, is to eat them, or for transport to illegal zoos (government agencies often take care of official zoos).

Liquor

Average Price: 8 Credits

Most towns have some local brew that outsiders can't stomach. These are alcoholic beverages, often served in bars. Some systems, however, feel that alcohol is unnecessary, and have banned it, on grounds that is simply decreases a person's ability to perform. Regardless of the law, a shot of scotch is almost always available on the black market, for a price.

Grain

Average Price: 10 Credits

Grain is the backbone of many peoples' diets. It is used in farming, to feed animals (though this uncommon these days), and as a cheap supplement to synthetic foods. Grain is also used in many other foods, such as oatmeal, and the infamous "Sodian Grain Plate". Most cultures eat at least some grains, as there is an almost endless variety, meaning something will probably grow.

Slaves

Average Price: 232 Credits

The vast majority of governments have banned slavery, but it is rife nonetheless. It is almost universally accepted that slavery is immoral, and as such, punishment for slave trading is often much more harsh than smuggling a hold of, say, illegal spices. Despite the best efforts of humanitarians, there are still many corrupt rules who use slaves as a form of cheap labor.

Textiles

Average Price: 8.5 Credits

By definition, a textile is a simple fabric, woven from yarn. Usually produced by robots in large factories, it is still possible to find the occasional weaver who makes their own textiles. These are usually much more expensive than mass-produced cloths, but are generally considered nicer.

Fertilizer

Average Price: 4 Credits

Fertilizer is used in the growing of crops. Growing plants in specialized fertilizer yields far better results than planting in plain dirt. The downside, of course, is that fertilizer costs quite a bit for a large lot of land, where dirt is free.

Medicines

Average Price: 22 Credits

Made on industrial worlds, medicines are needed everywhere humans go. If a system is low on medicine, then injured people will often pay very large sums of money to receive medical supplies they need. Medicines are carefully watched by customs agents, as it is not uncommon to disguise narcotics as medical drugs.

Consumer Goods

Average Price: 140 Credits

The term consumer goods covers a very wide range of products. Anything that's not a necessity falls under this category. This can be as small as a toothbrush, or as large as a car. These are expensive, being that they are luxuries, and are mainly in demand in highly developed core systems.

Computers

Average Price: 80 Credits

For over one thousand years, computers have developed. Back in the beginning, computers were really just glorified calculators. After some time, they became practical work and entertainments systems. Now, a computer can do trillions of calculations per second, and is the size of a coin. Some people elect to have implants installed, which lets the computer feed information directly to the brain or eyes.

Rubbish

Average Price: -0.1 Credits

Rubbish is a general term for unwanted waste. This can be industrial waste, household garbage, or any number of other junk items. Because it is unappealing to have dumps on the surface of planets, most rubbish is sent to starports for transport off-world. Dumping garbage in inhabited systems is almost always illegal.

Radioactive Waste

Average Price: -3.5 Credits

One of the more dangerous items for starship captains to transport is radioactive waste. It is created by nuclear power plants, nuclear reactors, nuclear warheads, and military hyperdrives. It is not uncommon to see radioactive waste banned, due to the potential for catastrophe if an accident were to happen at a starport. In systems where it is legal, there is a small payment for getting rid of it, as there is no practical use for radioactive waste.

Narcotics

Average Price: 157 Credits

Despite warning against it for hundreds of years, many people still find it interesting to "sample" exotic drugs. These drugs, unfortunately, are often two things: A) addicting, and B) unhealthy, or even dangerous. They are also expensive, meaning some people will use all their money trying to quench their need for the narcotics. Most systems with a reasonable government have outlawed the trading of narcotics.

Nerve Gas

Average Price: 265 Credits

Nerve gas is almost always illegal, for good reason. It is generally accepted to be a weapon of mass destruction, meaning that not even the military in most systems has access to it. It works by rendering nerves unable to transmit messages, leading to a slow, painful death by asphyxiation.

Military Fuel

Average Price: 60 Credits

Military fuel has the same practical use of hydrogen, except that it is used exclusively in military drives, while hydrogen is used in normal consumer hyperdrives. When used, it creates radioactive waste, which must be disposed of. Because of this, some governments have banned the use of military fuel. Due to its synthetic nature, military fuel is also much more expensive than hydrogen or water.

Robots

Average Price: 63 Credits

There is some debate over robots, mainly over the topic of citizenship. Many argue that a robot, if sentient, should be considered a citizen. Others, however, argue that robots are simply machines, and that they should be treated as such. Because of this issue, many people believe that robots should remain non-sentient, and some systems have outlawed robots all-together. Robots are often imported into industrial and mining systems, due to their ability to easily perform tasks that would be too difficult, tedious, or unsafe for human workers.

Hand Weapons

Average Price: 124 Credits

Hand weapons have existed for almost as long as humans have. The term applies to any weapon that can be wielded without the aid of a vehicle or structure, and many people choose to always remain armed. It is unusual to find a space trader in a far-out system without some sort of small side-arm. Many governments, however, have decided that weapons have no practical use, and only serve to increase violence, thus barring them from trade.

Air Processors

Average Price: 20 Credits

Where there are humans, there is oxygen. Very few worlds, however, come stocked with breathable air, and so it is necessary to process the existing air and make it ready for human use. Thus, many companies produce various air processors, capable of turning even the most volatile atmospheres into a workable environment. It's worth noting that air processors are not terraformers. They only work inside of small, closed facilities.

Farm Machinery

Average Price: 11 Credits

Although farming is less common than it was before the invention of synthetic fruits and vegetables, it is still a viable industry on some planets. Large machines are used to help cultivate the land, and are rather inexpensive. Although rare, it is still possible to catch the occasional farmer with an ox-driven plow.

Mining Machinery

Average Price: 12 Credits

In a similar fashion to farming, mining is made far easier through the use of large machines. These machines help miners in locating and retrieving various ores, and then transporting them to processing facilities and/or starports.

Battle Weapons

Average Price: 220 Credits

Any kind of military-grade weapon would fall under this label. This could be anything from a grenade or machine gun, to a surface-air-missile (SAM) launcher. These are illegal in almost all stable governments, as it is generally considered reasonable that only the military needs access to weapons of this magnitude. On the black market, however, these can often fetch a hefty sum of money.

Industrial Machinery

Average Price: 13 Credits

Regardless of the industry, almost everything produced comes from a large factory of some sort. In these factories, there are often many machines busily working to create goods. These machines, due to their rather simple nature, are very cheap. Many systems import these, as they are under a constant workload and frequently break.