Delayed Purchase of Goods

from Offworld Forums

Hello,

 

I was watching the latest stream (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27aTgU732_I) by TheCaptain, and he mentioned the idea of delayed buying of materials prior to a shortage occurring.   I have been thinking about it, and had some ideas I would like to share.

 

The main issue is the instant availability of goods if I buy 100 aluminum, I can instantly sell it again as soon as prices rise.  You could argue that is how the stock market works, but let us say it is not yours to sell until the resources have been delivered.  If we consider the in game mechanics (assuming teleportation has not been patented, or a building is not connected to the player's colony) resources have to be sent from a mine/production center to your base using a vehicle.  What if it purchased goods were sent from the map colony?  This would cause a delay in the availability of resources and could also potentially be slowed down using a magnetic storm by parties invested in a shortage.  To prevent the damage from being too serious, you could argue that the goods were insured for delivery by the seller (the colony) and have them resent.  This would slow down colony upgrades as well, and possibly other construction as a side effect though, but only a little.  This would provide a slight advantage to building close to the map colony though, but at the cost of resources being close by (in many cases anyway).

 

The other idea is having a quantity associated with each resource, considered the colony's stockpile.  The colony would consume/produce a minor amount and when a shortage or surplus occurs this would be the result of the colony producing/consuming more.  This would mean there is a limited number of resources available to be purchased.  This number would also be affected by the behavior of the players.  If everyone keeps selling water, there would be quite a surplus that could be purchased.   This could be used to block other players from getting required resources (no offworld for you!) but would be expensive to keep the resources unavailable.  Or since the map colony does not have the resources, it would need to be shipped from another colony(either instantly or by vehicle), justifying the shortage and increased cost.

 

I am certainly not a pro player and have not been here since the beginning, so I'm not aware of all the changes that have been made in the past.  So I apologize if any of this has been discussed before.

4,122 views 5 replies
Reply #1 from Offworld Forums Top

I'd like the trading of goods to be delayed in some way too, because it is more realistic and it adds a little bit more complexity to consider.

Reply #2 from Offworld Forums Top

Just some more thinking.

This could provide a slight nerf to offworlds if you do not already own the goods if the delivery method was used.  The goods would have to be purchased and delivered before sending which could delay a launch a little if you are not actively mining/producing the resource. 

Other players could also potentially see what you are buying by the delivery vehicles. This could could cause them to buy if they think you are expecting something... and you to sell at a profit.  :)

Sins of a Solar Empire II
Reply #3 from Offworld Forums Top

I wouldn't mind seeing this experimented with. It could add another useful dimension to play with.

Reply #4 from Offworld Forums Top

I think its good as is. Consider; Trade's are executed instantly in real life. You can sell without possessing the goods in real life, also. 

There are ways to counter the shortages- sell your goods into the shortage. Sell at the announcement and the shorter then loses top dollar prices, as you set a lower floor. 

The fundamental aspect of real time strategy games is to make split second decisions. Take advantage of the market. Manipulate it. That is the game.

Reply #5 from Offworld Forums Top

Preface from retrospect-land: Sorry if this comes off harshly; I don't mean it in that way. 

 

This would make Magnetic Storms by far the best black market item in the game. Even if the goods are resent from the base, waiting for ten or fifteen seconds for some steel you need to build an offworld or upgrade to fly over to your base is painful, especially in 1v1s where the metagame currently boils down to racing to level 5 and constructing an offworld. 

It would also elminate the hologrammed offworld strategy (and really, hologrammed special anything) entirely - just look for the huge shipment of steel/carbon/glass/electronics suspiciously heading over to someone's HQ. 

Perhaps delayed purchase is viable (if not frustrating, probably interesting to mess around with), but telegraphing what players are buying or selling or constructing to everyone on the map all the time seems like a nuclear fix to the problem to me if anything.