Space combat is all well and good. I like blasting an enemy to bits just as much as the next person. BUT, I also love in-game economies where I can buy and sell to my greedy heart’s content. It seems Elite:Dnagerous developer Frontier does as well. In a recent newsletter, Frontier has dropped a whole lot of information about the economy in the upcoming open world space game.
“The rules are, of course, simple and universal – buy goods cheaply, where they are made and there is plentiful supply, and then sell them where prices are high, in a location that has a high demand for your cargo. Of course that may be easier said than done because of people who have honed their combat skills and are not averse to a little piracy as they spot you travelling from A to B – but let’s not worry about that for now…!”
As in the real world, the economy of Elite:Dangerous runs on commodity markets. To make things more interesting, each solar system has it’s own market, niche and government. Some may be service based, some prefer to deal in high-tech goods and others may be heavily industrialized. Add on top of that the extra complication of governments, “ ranging from anarchies where ‘anything goes’, to theocracies who have their own idiosyncratic strict proscriptions.” , and theres a lot of complexity when picking that sweet spot for what to buy and where.
The economy uses a server-based background trading simulation, with supply and demand levels being influenced by trading between local systems. This actually connects the economy across the vastness of the game world, meaning that each individual system is not a self contained market. Increases in the supply of a commodity in one system will have a corresponding impact on the price of that commodity in other local systems. And its not just players that affect this. AI traders exist in the world and their effects can also be felt. This system also encourages players to work together. “All your individual trades are added to the whole, and even mid-sized economies can be influenced by concerted efforts between groups of like-minded individuals. So you may find your ‘milk run’ dries up for a time, forcing you to look elsewhere for the deal. Or you could engineer a fat profit for yourself by cooperating with your friends…”
Frontier plans to start rolling out trading in ALpha 4, and I couldn’t be more excited. Of course, I’ll be the one blowing your ship away and taking your cargo for myself, but I just consider that cutting out the middle man….
