Trading

TRADEABLE GOODS

The population that remain unemployed at the end of a production run will be allowed to craft trade goods. These trade goods are unique - each planet producing only one type of a specific value. The purpose of these goods is for trading with other planets, either your own colonies or those of friendly neighbours. It is in this way that you can supplement your income from planetary taxes and generate further financial income, in the shape of Credits, the monetary unit within the game.

In order to participate in trade the destination planet must have a spaceport, each spaceport can handle the sale and distribution of 2000 trade goods per fleet.

The number of goods produced per head of "unemployed population" relies on many things, and cannot be calculated as a constant, however the figure lies between 5-50 Unemployed Pop for the production of 1 unit of trade goods.

As your technological advancement increases you may upgrade your existing production units to match the new capabilities. Higher tech utilities usually require less people to function and consume less raw materials. You may of course scrap any item no longer required.

TRADE RUN

Trading between planets is a way of supplementing income from taxes. This trade takes the form of "exchanging" various goods between worlds, those items produced by people deemed unemployed at the start of a production run. Each type of goods produced has a relative value equal to that shown for the stats on that world. These goods are transported to another world, where the populace there buys them and the money is added to the Empires treasury provided the planet has at least one starport. An important thing to remember is that it is the people themselves who are purchasing these goods from their own pockets - this money goes straight into your Empires treasury as a result. The actual value of the goods is determined by the difference in values on both the vendor world and the receiving world. For example;

World X produces Widgets of value 100, while World Y produces Gromets of value 50. Any exchange between these two worlds results in an income of 50 credits per item (100-50), regardless of the way the trade is carried, i.e. from X to Y yields the same income as trading from Y to X. Thus if 120 goods were taken from World X and sold at World Y, the empire would gain a total of 6000 (50 x 120) credits. This trading can be done as a two-way trade, using just one order. The format for trading is:-

Fleet No, Trade One Way, start loc, end loc

or

Fleet No, Trade Both Ways, with location

With the former of these a ship is ordered to load up with goods and carry them to the target world before selling them, while the latter orders that a return trip is to be undertaken too.

Fleet Fleet orders Start End
9 Trade one way

Trade goods at [1,3,3]4

 [2,2,2]3 [1,3,3]4

Would load the ships in fleet 9 with as many tradegoods as they can hold (or as many are on the planet if this is less) at [2,2,2]3 and carry them to world [1,3,3]4 where it will sell them. If the order had been;

Fleet Fleet orders Start End
9 Trade both ways [2,2,2]3 [1,3,3]4

Trade with [1,3,3]4 then the fleet would have done exactly the same as before, but would then have loaded all the goods from, [1,3,4]4, or as many as the fleet could carry, and then convey them back to [2,2,2]3 and sell them there. You may only use the Trade both ways order if the fleet has the movement capacity to travel between the two planets and back again.

A point worth remembering about the trade order is that a fleet will always take as many goods as it can in one swoop. However, a planet can only buy a maximum number of goods equivalent to one tenth of the population and 2000 times the number of starports present. So, if you were selling goods to a 40000-population world, you would be able sell up to 4000 goods in a single transaction, provided you have 2 starports present at the planet, while a 100 population world, assuming a starport is present, will be able to sell just ten of them. Any goods left on the trading fleet will remain in the ships hold unless the order has been issued to trade both ways. A fleet can only hold one type of goods at one time; a both way trade that leaves goods in the hold will see the original goods flushed into space to make way for the newer items. This can be an expensive mistake to make on some occasions! If this is likely to be a problem then it is probably best varying the amount of goods you load by using the Cargo Run order instead of the Trade order.

Of course, trading between your own worlds is just one way of initiating an income boost - you may always choose to sell your goods to another race. Trading with another player and/or NPC is done in exactly the same way as Solo trading, but there is one exception. You may stipulate what the receiver of the goods gains in credits from this trade too, simulating a sort of "sales tax" for the population. This profit is above and beyond the normal range of credits gained from trading, and allows the receiver a benefit he would otherwise not normally have. This sales tax can have any value between 0% and 50% but will be set at a default of 10% if none is specified. The format is much the same;

Fleet Fleet orders Start End
9 Trade one way

Trade with Kashtav Empire(27) at [3,3,3]1 granting 40% profit

 [2,2,2]3 [3,3,3]1

This would move a fleet from [2,2,2]3, packed with trade goods, to a world owned by the Kashtav Empire (player 27). There it would offload the goods, gaining the normal profit for the treasury while insuring a 40% sales tax gave the Kashtav Empire a credit benefit too. Of course, the Kashtav Empire will have to have agreed to this in advance, otherwise the people below will simply refuse to trade at all. A Trade Both Ways orders of this type will generally not be allowed without prior consent of both parties.

It is worth noting that goods can also be carried as part of a normal cargo.