Trade Sanity

[matthewhively]

In phase 1 there is a lot of weird effects.

Each trade route should be worth 25k (23k + 2k minimum) QUESTION: how does min_income interact with startup_income? QUESTION: TRADE_ROUTE_REQ_TRADERATE does what? QUESTION: TRADE_ROUTE_OWNERS_SHARE does this only effect foreign trade?

Currently in our phase 1 game:

• ~I don't have level 2 tarka xenotech, so why is trade with cara even available?~ Morrigi unlock trade with level 1 tech.
• ~my routes are worth 32499 each~ Morrigi get 130% trade value
• ~routes to cara (ally) are worth 51999 each~ Morrigi gets double foreign trade (also 130%) == 260% * 80% (my share)
• ~My startup routes are worth 2599 each~ See above
• ~Startup routes to cara (ally) are worth 4159 each~ See above

~QUESTION: How are these values related to whats in StrategyVars.txt~ ? Morrigi bonus is not configurable, hardcoded

• Currently trade range is 32.
• It looks like it increases with fusion (and maybe drive level)

QUESTION: is it configurable anywhere? QUESTION: what does it start at? QUESTION: is it race specific

NEW IDEA for revised cost structure Instead of pre-subtracing the maintenance costs of freighters from the trade routes, I should do the following

• Increase the maintenance cost of freighters to 5x normal
• Set the startup income == maintenance cost

By doing this the AI gets a bonus from trade right away, and human is break even. It'll help nerf human players VS AI

[matthewhively]

DE should be (5000 5) - (500 5) = 22500 net value for human players CR should be (15000 5) - (3000 5) = 60000 net value for human players

trade value of 25090 seems to make most of the trade multiplied numbers look better. (at least not with 99s everywhere) and 65060 for cruiser freighters.

[matthewhively]

Revise freighters to have low construction cost, but high fiscal cost. It should essentially be a "contract" for a pre-existing civilian ship. Therefore the limiting factor on scaling up trade is how much you can afford, not how quickly you can construct.

QFreighters are the normal construction cost.