2 issues: economics and ship maintainance

[benjie]

hi there,

being a newbie, i'd like to ask for two things:

first, the prices on the market. there seems to be a factor for each item and each planet, plus a random multiplicator. but are the prices in any way driven by demand? that is, if i return repeatedly to a planet to buy the same item, will prices go up? or will it just be out of stock sometimes? this would be interesting to know when planning longer routes to make best profit from different types of worlds.

second, there is this "ship maintainance and overhaul". it's quite costly, actually. does it do anything or did the developers just appeal o my "keep your ship nice and tidy" instinct?

benjie

[JazHaz]

first, the prices on the market. there seems to be a factor for each item and each planet, plus a random multiplicator. but are the prices in any way driven by demand?

I might be wrong but don't believe it is driven by demand. However having said that there was an OXP released last week that affected prices at random planets. See the Bloomberg Markets OXP thread here: https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?t=7476

second, there is this "ship maintainance and overhaul". it's quite costly, actually. does it do anything or did the developers just appeal o my "keep your ship nice and tidy" instinct?

Yes it prevents witchspace malfunctions amongst other things. It'll also affect your ship resale price, ie it will go back up to what it was when you first bought the ship. Thus if you are planning to sell your ship you should do it soon after an overhaul to get the best price.

[Disembodied]

JazHaz isn't wrong: price fluctuations on the planet are not affected by player actions. If you want a rationalisation, it's worth considering that they're whole planets we're talking about here, and you're only flying one ship. The maximum amount of any commodity any single pilot can buy or sell on a planet – outside of special cargo missions – is 127 tons (or 127 kilos, or grams, depending on what you're trading). It's never going to be enough to affect an entire planetary economy.

[JazHaz]

The maximum amount of any commodity any single pilot can buy or sell on a planet is 127 tons (or 127 kilos, or grams, depending on what you're trading).

Yeah I've been wondering about that. I seem to remember being able to trade 256kg of gems in the classic Elite....? I think you got 256kg of gems as a reward for the Nova mission and you could sell them in one go? I might be wrong though!

Its a pain because I quite often have more than 127kg of gold/platinum/gems these days! I tend to carry them around, adding to them, until I find a decent price.

[Loxley]

Its a pain because I quite often have more than 127kg of gold/platinum/gems these days! I tend to carry them around, adding to them, until I find a decent price.

These commodities are a bit of a special case in that you can carry effectively unlimited quantities of them; of course, that's what allows us to rack up the credits on those ridiculously profitable cargo contracts.

That brings me to another point, I regularly transport gold and platinum by the ton, exactly how big is that safe in the cockpit?

[Disembodied]

That brings me to another point, I regularly transport gold and platinum by the ton, exactly how big is that safe in the cockpit?

Gold is traditionally weighed in Troy Ounces (31.1035 grammes). With the density of gold at 19.32 g/cm3, a troy ounce of gold would have a volume of 1.61 cm3. A metric tonne (equals 1,000kg = 32,150.72 troy ounces) of gold would therefore have a volume of 51,762 cm3 (i.e. 1.61 x 32,150.72), which would be equivalent to a cube of side 37.27cm (Approx. 1' 3'').

So not that big, really ...

[Loxley]

Glad to hear it. I was starting to wonder if there was still room in my cockpit for me after I'd stashed all my bullion.

[CptnEcho]

The safe may fall out of its mounts, but you'll still have room for the gold in your ship.

[Zbond-Zbond]

they're whole planets we're talking about here, and you're only flying one ship.

..however one usually makes purchases at a space station which, due to the need for commodities to be transported space-side, limits availability; it seems that repeated trading depletes stocks (at the station) but that may be my imagination - I've never compared the effect on planets (planetfall.oxp) where one's arrival point is not altogether predictable

I regularly transport gold and platinum by the ton

sometimes having over 1000Kg of gold or platinum does reduce available capacity for other items -- but I can't remember the circumstances, whether it was a particular ship (e.g. Adder), or when I failed to deliver a contract, or what ? ? ? it might have been a glitch with an operating system that seemed to transfer equipment (such as special hardware awarded during some missions) between ships I had saved; I no longer have that o/s (it had enjoyed being struck by lightning around that time), but i do have an adder struggling along at present so I could try it out again

[Commander McLane]

sometimes having over 1000Kg of gold or platinum does reduce available capacity for other items -- but I can't remember the circumstances, whether it was a particular ship (e.g. Adder), or when I failed to deliver a contract, or what ? ? ? it might have been a glitch with an operating system that seemed to transfer equipment (such as special hardware awarded during some missions) between ships I had saved; I no longer have that o/s (it had enjoyed being struck by lightning around that time), but i do have an adder struggling along at present so I could try it out again

It only happens right after you purchased (or got as a cargo contract) a big amount of gold/platinum. As soon as you switch to another screen and then back to F8, you got your full capacity again.