Interstellar Trader 2

[Puke]

http://www.avault.com/news/displayne...1292003-123645

whats this?

give me more!

and what was IT1?

[Phoenix-D]

IT1 is part of the four-game set recently released.

Has it's own forum, too.

Phoenix-D

[geoschmo]

http://www.shrapnelgames.com/pressreleases.htm

[Puke]

after the Last decade of battlecruiser drama, i have a slight distaste for, and prejudice against people named Derek. Game developers in perticular. sorry.

I guess I will have to think of him as Mr. DiBenedetto. While this looks to be a very nice game, I have to take this opportunity to plug X2.

it sounds like this will have random trade / economic fluctuations. not real economy. in X2, whenever Egosoft publishes the thing, there will be real economies. factories will need resources and materials from resource extraction facilities (to put it in se4 terms). if you blow up a resource factory (or build one) the supply to factories changes, effecting the economy. building factories provides goods to outlets, and creates a demand for resources.

wars create demand for items. trade routes passing through enemy teritory (closest source for mineral X that is demanded by factory Y is on the otherside of empire Z's space) will cause empires to come into conflict. you can build factories or resource facilities, or destroy them, or intercept convoys to change the flow of goods and effect the economy.

Or you can make money mercinarying or pirating. or follow the story line. Its Elite, and then some. This looks like it will truely rock. www.egosoft.com

if X2 is all it purports to be, I dont think I will ever play a game with random number supply and demand, again.

[StormcloudCreations]

Hey "Puke",

I totally understand your distaste for game developers named Derek. I was fortunate enough to have one 3-hour Usenet exchange with the "other Derek" and believe me, one encounter was more than enough!

Fortunately for everyone here and for Shrapnel, I like to think I bear little resemblance to the "Battlecruiser" Derek aside from first name. Think of me as the nice Derek.

"it sounds like this will have random trade / economic fluctuations. not real economy."

Well, somewhat yes. The changes themselves will be somewhat random and the percentage a certain planet will go up or down may start out randomly, but will also be based on the way real economies ebb and flow. So the flow and direction of the model itself will be based on real economic trends. Certain planets will ebb or flow more frequently than others if you follow it closely. It makes more "sense" than the previous model did (I worked fairly hard on this part of it), though i'll note there are still occasional random fluctuations, just to keep you on your toes.

In fact, believe it or not, Trader 2 is being used in Greece by an economics teacher to teach his class about economic trends and concepts.

Just clarifying on your observations.

[Puke]

wow, we dont even get direct responses from Aaron, and this forum is dedicated to his game!

Pardon my off the cuff wisecracks on your name, I only wanted to take the opportunity to dig at the 3000AD fiasco.

Thank you for your response on the economic model in IT2. I have been entertained by the demo of IT1, and would be very interested in learning more about the sequel. Will the player be able to purchase fixed assets, or mearly buy and sell commodities? Will the actions of the player effect the economy, or will he only be able to make purchasing decisions in response to in-game events?

And is it possible for you to leak just a couple more details on how your economic modle will work?

traditional games that employ these concepts work something like this:
- sources for goods may be low risk or high risk, affecting the range of random fluctuation.
- sources for goods may 'trend' towards one end of their fluctuation range for perticular goods, representing availability in certain regions

other factors are frequently thrown in, such as how much stock they have, and how often they are re-stocked. random events, translated through some sort of 'news service,' may cause predictable changes in supply and demand, when they occur.

I presume that IT2 will use some or all of these concepts, but I am wondering if it will be possible to oversaturate a market to lower prices, or starve a market to raise prices. do pirate activities effect the flow of goods, and thus effect prices?