Oolite Trading

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Trading

Trading is the primary way for the honest spacefarer to earn his, her, or its credits. Every ship sold within the GalCop has an integrated trading computer which hooks into the current systems' trading Market (F8 Screen).

Most space stations have made the process of trading very simple, in order to facilitate a fast turnover in goods and ships. Import and export tariffs - which are high on some worlds - are automatically added or deducted and this is reflected in the prices shown. The auto-trader system does not allow for more specific trading deals to be performed.

Once docked you are linked directly with the CorCom Trade System. At your request you can obtain a list of basic trade items available for purchase.

Slaves are measured by the TC in galactic trading. This may seem a little strange, but it includes the cryogenic suspension system necessary to keep them alive during space travel. The slave trade, once almost eliminated by the Galactic government is now returning, despite the efforts of the Galactic Police Force to suppress it.

(The Space Traders Flight Training Manual, p.38)


Commodities

Warning: these average values can be changed by various .oxp's


ITEM DESCRIPTION AVERAGE PRICE/ ₢ UNITS
Food Simple organic products, see below 4.4 TC
Textiles Unprocessed fabrics 6.4 TC
Radioactives Ores and by-products 21.2 TC
* Slaves Usually humanoid 8.0 TC
Liquor/Wines Exotic spirits from unearthy flora 25.2 TC
Luxuries Perfumes, Spices, Coffee 91.2 TC
* Narcotics Tobacco, Arcturan Megaweed 114.8 TC
Computers Intelligent machinery 84.0 TC
Machinery Factory and farm equipment 56.4 TC
Alloys Industrial Metals 32.8 TC
* Firearms Small-scale artillery, sidearms, etc 70.4 TC
Furs Includes leathers, Millennium Wompom Pelts 56.0 TC
Minerals Unrefined rock containing trace elements 8.0 kg
Gold 37.2 kg
Platinum 65.2 kg
Gem-stones Includes jewelry 16.4 g
Alien Items Artifacts, Weapons, etc 27.0 TC

(*) These items are defined as illegal by the Galactic Government, so trading in them is risky.

F8 activates a list of basic trade items at current market prices.

Shown on this list are the quantities of each item available and the current market price per unit. Most CorCom Trade Systems deal exclusively under blanket categories, including Food, Machinery, Minerals and Gemstones.

The prices shown at the time of trading represent an offer to you and will be guaranteed while you are in Trading Mode.

If you wish to trade, indicate the amount you wish to buy or sell using +/-; <Enter> sells your entire inventory of the current item or buys as much as your hold (and Credits) will allow if you have no inventory. autoSCAM modules will immediately transfer your transaction between your cargo bay and the station. Your screen will be updated to indicate your new inventory and remaining credit facility.

Most ships must dock with a Coriolis space station or other similarly equipped outpost before buying or selling cargo. It has no Free Space trade facility, apart from routine jettisoning and scooping of cannisters.

Advice to Traders

The Cobra trade ship can be fitted with four lasers, four missiles and one energy bomb. This should be sufficient to make trade possible within the System Space of even heavily piratised worlds. But it is strongly recommended that pilots achieve a combat of at least "Deadly" before any worlds designated "Anarchy" or "Feudal" are approached, especially if the cargo is high tech machinery or luxury goods.

To make money as a trader is no easy task. Unless you have backing capital you would be well advised to start with foodstuffs, textiles, minerals and alloys.

Demand for goods varies widely and prices within planets fluctuate, but GalCop regulations prohibit planets from advertising their requirements or announcing their market prices beyond their own System Space. Any trader, therefore, approaches all transactions with a certain financial risk.

Trade depends upon demand, and selling prices depend upon the level of demand on the planet, and its available money. None of these factors can be assessed before entering the system.

Agricultural planets invariably have excess produce at reasonable purchase prices, and such food sells well at industrialised, middle- to high- technology worlds. Raw materials, and ores, will sell well to middle-tech worlds, which are usually able to refine them, and the refined product can fetch excellent prices at worlds of very high tech status.

The rules are complex, and anarchy and piracy has its effect on causing the rules to change.

In trading with a planet, consider its economic profile:

AGRICULTURAL WORLDS need specialist food and raw materials, but mostly basic machinery and spare parts. If they are rich, they need luxuries and high tech industrial machines. They produce food in quantity, raw materials and specialized "organic" items, like some textiles.

INDUSTRIAL WORLDS need agricultural produce; raw materials (for refining); resource exploitation machinery; (if rich) high tech goods. They produce basic items of need for civilized worlds: beds, seals and gaskets, power storage units, basic weapons, mass produced chemicals such as fertilizer and medicines, etc.

Think about a planet's needs. Think what might make the society function. Don't trade expensive trivia to a hungry world.

If the profit isn't worth it, trade it somewhere else. 

 From the Bulletin Boards:
  Money-making tips: well, buy low and sell high, so much so obvious. Raw materials and general biological produce (food, textiles, ores, furs, etc.) come from Agricultural worlds; finished goods and technological stuff (Luxuries, Computers, Machinery etc) come from Industrial worlds.
  The Rich/Poor overlay adjusts the buying and selling prices differently depending on whether the world in question is Agricultural or Industrial. Rich Industrial worlds provide the cheapest finished goods: they have the most efficient industrial plants and can undercut their competitors. Their industries and populations are also hungry (not to say greedy) and will pay top whack for raw materials. Poor Agricultural worlds have the lowest standards of living and produce the cheapest raw materials. They're also the most desperate for finished goods, and pay the highest prices for them. Therefore, the best trade run is between a Rich Industrial and a Poor Agricultural. The least promising is between a Poor Mostly Industrial and a Rich Mostly Agricultural (I think). Well, unless you start trying to ship Industrial goods to Industrial planets, obviously (although even here you might make a bit of money, if you're buying from a Rich Industrial and selling to a Poor Industrial).
  The highest profit margins, on legitimate goods anyway, tend to be on Computers, Luxuries and Machinery on the Industrial side, and on Furs and Liquor & Wines on the Agricultural side. Running precious metals and gemstones is also worthwhile as a long-term investment. If you see them cheap anywhere (mid- to high teens per gram for gemstones, 36-38  ₢/kg for gold and anything under 70 ₢/kg for platinum) buy up what you can afford and hang onto it until you find a high selling price. It doesn't take up any cargo space as you keep it in a safe in the cabin. Agricultural planets usually sell precious stones and metals slightly cheaper than Industrial ones do, but a big money payoff can happen pretty much anywhere.
  Government type and Tech Level don't make any difference to trade prices -- at least, not in the unmodified game. Some of the OXPs, such as Dictatorships and Your Ad here, add extra trading possibilities based on other factors, e.g. population size (which is linked to wealth), government type and so on. Government type does make a difference as to how much trouble you might run into on your way in, though, with Anarchies the worst, moving up through Feudal, Multi-Government, Dictatorship, Communist, Confederacy and Democracy, with Corporate State being the most peaceful (or cop-infested, depending on your point of view). Disembodied (2008).

  More from the Bulletin Boards:
Narcotics and computers are definitely the goods to go for. Cheap narcotics do show up quite frequently, it's just that you may need to move around a bit to find them. Here are some notes I did on trading strategy:

Starting out, you won’t have enough money to fill your holds with the real winning commodities like furs and computers. With less than 100cr in the bank you’ll need to maximise your profit percentages rather than aim for large cash payouts. Trading in cheap but profitable goods like food and radioactives is a good way to start, before moving onto alloys, machinery and liquors and wines.

Once you have sufficient money to be able to fill your holds with any one commodity, it’s time to focus on absolute profit. Food bought at 2 ₢ per ton can easily be sold off for a 300% margin at 8 ₢ per ton, but that only amounts to 6 ₢ absolute profit; for a 35t trip this amounts to a profit of only 210 ₢. Furs can be bought at 50 ₢ and sold for 90 ₢; while only providing a margin of 80%, it’s a 40 ₢ per ton profit, amounting to 1240 ₢ for a full load. Although you need to make a greater investment in order to reap these rewards, there is no real increase in risk: so long as you’re in a stable system and you’re dealing in legal goods, there’s no more danger of your ship being attacked whether you’re carrying food or computers. The satisfaction of making a 300% profit will be outweighed by the fact that one more trip just might be enough to get you a docking computer.

As revenues increase you may be temped to trade in illegal commodities. Generally speaking, the only profitable commodities of this type are narcotics. Firearms can be sold off to rich agricultural states but typically with less profit than computers; conversely slaves may be sold to industrial states but with far less profit than furs. Narcotics usually have a profit margin similar to that of computers and so are not usually worth your time, however prices fluctuate wildly and if you happen to be in the right place at the right time you can make massive gains. If you ever see narcotics on the market for less than around 30 ₢, buy them up. It may be that there has been a slump in the local market, making it difficult to make a significant profit at nearby systems, but if you hold on to them and shop around you should find an agricultural system with prices around the 90 ₢ mark.

Rich Agriculturals do indeed seem rather useless from a trading point of view. They remind me of organic farms in that they can afford to sell their goods at elevated prices and aren't bothered about losing out to the lower end of the market. At the same time, they seem less prepared to pay over the odds for industrial goods. Conversely, Poor Agriculturals need all the money they can get, so will happily let their exports go at below-average prices, while they will pay handsomely for thinks like computers, luxuries and machinery.

Piracy is always an option as a way to make some quick cash, but it's probably best to wait until your ship is kitted out a bit more before going down that route.

(Ramirez (2006))

Links

OXP's to help with or enhance trading

Information

  • XenonUI: vital reminders of what the numerous keyboard options are for the F8 market GUI screen (as well as the F5/F6/F7 screens)
  • Market Observer enhances the F8 market screen with vital data: average prices, % differences & what price you bought your goods at.
  • Market Inquirer adds an interface screen (f4) that shows the distances in system and an interface screen that shows the markets (prices and quantities) of the main station and selected oxp stations closest to the player.
  • Useful MFDs provides a free MFD with a list of your cargo and its current value in the system's main station.
  • Manifest MFD lists your hold's contents.
  • Display Current Course adds your currently plotted course to any mission map screen, so you can tell whether the destination for the new mission is close to where you are currently heading.

Possibilities

Changing the markets

Other advice pages

  • How do I ... dock / succeed in trading / win a fight / configure my controller/joystick etc
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