Complaints about the black market: a couple of questions

from Sins Forums
Hi,

Since 1.03 came out, lots of people complained about the new black market, saying that it makes Credits way too important in comparison to Crystal/Metal. People also claimed that this made TEC much stronger than the other factions because they have the best Credit income (I assume this has to do with the early trade ports?)

Now I really don't play much competitive SoaSE at all, so first I have a couple of really naive questions. Please bear with me:

1) What changes exactly in the black market caused this problem in 1.03? Is it the fact that prices no longer go up IMMEDIATELY after buying a resource because this enables you to buy large batches of the resource at a low price?

2) Do Booms and Crashes factor in this at all or are there easy ways to avoid suffering from a boom?

3) Do you think the changes in 1.04 will help with this?

4) How useful do you feel the resource techs are? Basically, do you ever research them in medium and small maps? Do you think boosting those techs would help?

5) What happens currently when a resource goes into boom? Does the price JUMP or does it just glide up very slowly? I just started a game and spent all my starting money on metal... it looked like I bought almost all of it at the low price, even though metal started going into boom quite soon.

The reason I'm asking these questions is that the economic situation fascinates me, and I've spent a little time making a model that *might* perform better in my head. Before I work more on that, though, I'd like to make sure I understood the problems right.

(I asked innociv on IRC and he thinks the changes in 1.04 will be sufficent. Still, I like to tinker with models like this, and I'd like to make sure i understood the problem right.)
12,134 views 3 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
1) For the most part, I think the mechanics of the current system are sound. The problem is simply in the prices. Right now, during a boom, the price of metal/crystal is never going to go above the 550-575 range. At any given point during a game, your credit production is most likely to be 5-10x that of your resource production so at the absolute worst price, 550 for a stack of 100 is a fair trade. At any other time, 300-350 for a stack of 100 is a steal. On the flip side, it's almost pointless right now to go the other route and amass resources for transfer to credits because the sell price is roughly 1/3 of the above figures. Selling 100 crystal for 100-200 credits is almost always a waste unless you have an absolutely 'massive' stockpile that you know you're not going to use (which is highly unlikely if you're trying to keep up with a competent opponent).

And since credits are capable of buying at these prices at any time, you're always going to get better returns from a trade port than you will from a refinery so there's very little thought involved in choosing logistical structures.

2) As noted above, booms only boost the prices to a point that could easily be considered a fair trade. Unless you're really strapped for credits, you don't even have to avoid the boom. As for crashes, I don't see those very often as, given the current rates, resource sales happen very rarely if at all.

3) The prices have been adjusted in a way that gives resources more value so, yeah. I think it'll certainly help.

4) Right now, I think they're practically useless unless you have nothing else to research. You're far more likely to get a good return from research or development that improves credit income.

5) When you buy a couple stacks of something, the price goes up steadily. When you hit a boom, it doesn't happen instantly but the price shoots up very quickly to the 550 range. Generally, you'll be able to get all you need before the boom prices kick in.
Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top

So, are there any reasons to spend Logistical slots on Refineries at all if Trade Ports are more profitable?
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Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
Until 1.04 hits, no. Not really. A trade port will almost always be the more lucrative way to go.