Faction Trading

saiyuki · Post by **saiyuki** » Fri Feb 12, 2016 2:31 pm

Hi. Is there anyway to trade with a different faction? I am with the alliance but i only mine and trade -never fired a shot in anger

- And would like to sell wares to the Federation controlled sectors.

I have a ship load of diamonds and Merak are offering to buy them at 230%. However, i cannot land at the station. Alliance controlled space is -at this time- offering very low rates, which for a miner/trader is not good business practice.

Even though Mercenary/Legacy are primarily combat orientated, i am trying to enjoy the game without having to 'go in guns blazing'. I find it quite enjoyable trying to avoid, rather than compound hostile situations.

Regards

SeeJay · Post by **SeeJay** » Fri Feb 12, 2016 2:36 pm

You can always log in as a FDN pilot and sell there, relog as ALC and continue to mine/buy where you were.

Or, build a ALC station in hostile space!

(Might involve some combat lol)

Sinbad · Post by **Sinbad** » Fri Feb 12, 2016 3:04 pm

It's an interesting concept... trading with the enemy! I suppose in a real-life situation there would be "neutral" traders, who don't want to get involved in the war. At present this game only offers the option to join either of the two warring sides. But it could be intersting to have a third option as a neutral pilot.

Radikal · Post by **Radikal** » Fri Feb 12, 2016 3:51 pm

From post: 185157, Topic: tid=12426, author=MCCON wrote:It's an interesting concept... trading with the enemy! I suppose in a real-life situation there would be "neutral" traders, who don't want to get involved in the war. At present this game only offers the option to join either of the two warring sides. But it could be intersting to have a third option as a neutral pilot.

Life as an IMG pilot? Interesting thought, kinda like it.

Post by **Marvin** » Fri Feb 12, 2016 5:39 pm

Yeah. Of course, not being of either faction, the IMG pilot could dock anywhere ... for a hefty docking and storage fee, of course.

Sinbad · Post by **Sinbad** » Fri Feb 12, 2016 5:51 pm

The neutral option would also be good for players who don't want the prospect of having to PvP with players of the opposite faction. At least it may give them a little more stress-free freedom to move about without automatically being a target. Perhaps that would address some of the issues being discussed in the Armistice Agreement thread.

But then again I suppose that if you want to avoid PvP you can just play SP. Although playing in MP is more than just PvP, so, yeah it could be a nice option to have.

-K- · Post by **-K-** » Fri Feb 12, 2016 6:25 pm

I will buy metal at the highest diamond rate with a bonus for quick consecutive runs when I'm on the Darkstar server.

Radikal · Post by **Radikal** » Fri Feb 12, 2016 7:34 pm

IMG pilots could add to MP as true mercenaries, fighting for whoever pays best or makes best deal.

DeathTech · Post by **DeathTech** » Fri Feb 12, 2016 7:51 pm

To be fair the better idea for a game setup would have been more the way skyrim did it (ish).

Where you aren't forced to pick, but you can join either side if you feel like it.
Unfortunately at the moment its, you pick a side and that is that.

Perhaps Vice could implement some sort of system where its like a slider.
You earn the trust of either sides by doing quests for them.

The more you do for them the higher the rep for them.
But the more you do for one side, the less the other side thinks of you.

And perhaps a quest you could take to redeem yourself and set yourself back to neutral.

That would also kinda patch back in with the whole merc background as if there is some leeway you could take missions for both sides on and off and profit off that.

saiyuki · Post by **saiyuki** » Sat Feb 13, 2016 11:36 am

I would welcome a sort of global trading pass which could vary in cost e.g. by the amount of sectors required to trade in, and possibly subscription based within the game -under the guise of an invisible trading corporation. This way if your just starting out, you would only afford to trade a certain amount of sectors. As your capital increases you could afford to expand the amount of sectors to trade in. Thus your costs go up per e.g. month. To make mining/trading more lucrative -you must travel to whoever pays the best prices, and possibly because of the cost of subscription, you would seek higher profits wherever possible. Thus risk and profit go hand in hand.

The evochron universe would see more players, have more pricing fluctuations in stations, piracy would be more selective and profitable tied to the value of cargo being transported. Why raid a transport with relatively cheap food when perhaps a cargo of missiles is being transported somewhere else. This way the trader has a choice, relatively safe cheap cargo within a given amount of subscribed sectors radii -perhaps one faction's sectors only, or high value cargo who's total profit is determined by the amount of distance traveled. No more huge profits from short distances. You want more money, you have to take the chance of success.

In multiplayer this would give credence to employing fighters to transporters -at a cost to the trader or faction- to help make sure the cargo gets delivered and not stolen primarily by pirates. If a delivery is successful the factions profit goes up -of course they have to get back to safety

The fighters would not have a traders pass, so they would not only have to protect the transporter to the destination from pirates -and opposing faction fighters, they run the risk of the sectors own defense.

Honestly, as it is now when mining/trading, and depending which faction you belong to -without cheating- the user is virtually limited to only accessing half the game sectors.

Of course the above is just something to possibly consider or discount as it is Vice's game/project/life

Regards

Post by **Marvin** » Sat Feb 13, 2016 5:19 pm

Something like what Death Tech has suggested would need to be in place if IMG pilots are to be allowed the option of accepting combat contracts. Else, they would be restricted to non-combat contracts ... and they could never opt to takes the side of one of the other two factions. But, if some kind of "slider" faction existed ... well, then even an FDN pilot could ... (nope, that wouldn't work).

Post by **DaveK** » Sun Feb 14, 2016 9:41 am

As I remember it many cities are (or at least were) IMG controlled so you could land there to sell your goodies

saiyuki · Post by **saiyuki** » Sun Feb 14, 2016 3:53 pm

Hi. I traveled to the planet in Merak but could not dock. I fly straight through the docking station. I don't know if it's the same in Mercenary, but Legends will not allow me to dock at an opposing factions base.

Regards

saiyuki · Post by **saiyuki** » Sun Feb 14, 2016 4:25 pm

I tested the same with Mercenary and i can land in opposing faction stations and planetary bases. The stations require a premium docking fee but not the planet base.

Regards

Post by **Marvin** » Sun Feb 14, 2016 4:53 pm

The factions in Legacy are not as enterprising as those of EM. You cannot dock at an opposing faction's station. Cursor over the station icon* to determine if you can dock or not. As for cities, you can dock as long as the icon either indicates your own faction or non-aligned (IMG).

* If you don't do the cursor thing before attempting to dock, it might make for a very dangerous situation.

saiyuki · Post by **saiyuki** » Sun Feb 14, 2016 4:57 pm

Thanks for the info. Ties in nicely with this thread

Regards

DeathTech · Post by **DeathTech** » Mon Feb 15, 2016 10:31 pm

Just to point out. I believe it is probably possible for you to build a station in the enemy area, outfit it with some heavy amount of turrets and dock there.

Because the station allegiance is to your faction I would assume it would welcome you.
Beware of the inevitable swarms of enemy ships though.

Correct me if I am wrong.
It is just a thought.

Post by **Marvin** » Tue Feb 16, 2016 2:57 am

You can build a station in any empty sector* whether it be in friendly or enemy space. It will have your faction's tag and will allow you to dock.

* Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the leave-a-space requirement of EM (where two stations cannot exist in adjoining sectors) doesn't exist in EL.

DeathTech · Post by **DeathTech** » Tue Feb 16, 2016 3:20 am

From post: 185387, Topic: tid=12426, author=Marvin wrote: * Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the leave-a-space requirement of EM (where two stations cannot exist in adjoining sectors) doesn't exist in EL.

Spacial restrictions are still existing.
However I don't think there is a restriction on us building in enemy territory.

<strike>But if I remember correctly the space between stations changed.
You can build several stations per (not exactly sure about the exact diance) lets say "5 - 10" squares on the nav map.</strike>

Its different for cities though.

According to the manual you could go to an enemy system and build a city on a planet.
Cities always default to "IMG" (Neutral) as long as there is no enemy station hovering too close to the planet.

EDIT: Another strategy is to blow up the nearby station, and replace it with your own allied.
EDIT2: Quote from the manual: "The space design is a more enclosed structure with 5 entrances around the center docking area. Only one of these can be built in each sector, so their build cap is more limited than for cities."

[Edited on 2-16-2016 by DeathTech]

Post by **Marvin** » Tue Feb 16, 2016 6:55 am

Only one command module can be built in each sector ... right. But, in EM, you couldn't build stations in adjoining sectors ... you had to leave an empty sector in between. And about cities in EL, be careful of building IMG cities without a command module to support them. If you just build cities, the opposing faction can come along and build the command module ... turning your IMG cities against you.