Author Topic: Reworking Trade  (Read 106671 times)

Tom

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Reworking Trade
« Topic Start: January 26, 2012, 10:20:12 AM »
We are currently doing a total overhaul of trade. Feedback from many players summed up as "the old system is way too complicated and bothersome". While we're at it, we will also replace warehouses with granaries. A granary is simply a building you can construct just like any other building (scouts guild, smiths, etc.) so this simplifies things because it's one interface and not two.


The design goals are:
  • Trade should be comparatively easy to do
  • Trade should have a local aspect, to simulate a world where logistics are rough and travel slow
  • Traders should have a space, but more in the spirit of masters of a trading house than as travelling salesmen

From this comes the following current design:
Every region lord (or his steward) can create Market Offers. These are deals of the "selling/buying X bushels for Y gold" kind. However, to simplify things, they are now all-or-nothing deals. So if someone is selling 500 bushels, but you only need 400 - tough luck. Buy the 500 or look for a different deal.

Region lords, stewards and traders can all access the "new" Marketplace. Actually, this is the old market place, the one you can build in your region and many regions (cities, townslands, etc. - can't be build anywhere) already have one.

When you are at a market place (or in your own region), you can access market offers from the nearby regions. Traders have a further "reach". So if you are a region lord and in desperate need of food - travel around to market places and you can find something. Or make a trader do it.

When you accept an offer, the food is delivered.


And that's it.

Right now, the system is a bit rough, and all trades are instant. We will later replace that with caravans being sent out.

Here's a screenshot of what the new market place screen will look like. This is for a trader characters, non-traders will have a lower trading distance.