Once you found a trade route, it becomes boring (and grinding-like) very fast. At first you do Venderbight, then the Salt Lions. You can either grind your way toward being rich (or just being able to afford these super pricey ships) or you only do enough trade to get enough echoes for fuel, and then you go adventuring. Once you have done that and are poorer, you do again trading.
So instead of having unlimited quantities in trade, I propose that trade is a mission that triggers only every x days, say 30 days. So if you want to ship colonists to Venderbight, you have a proposal to transport 10 of them, and then the mission disappears for one in-game month. Same for the stones of Salt Lions.
What does it does? Once you have done your monthly trading opportunity, you feel ‘free’ to explore the zee. You got some serious income, but not that much that you can buy the world with it. This is much better compared to grind and bore yourself to death by gaining for hours 300 echoes from the salt lions, until you are rich enough to buy what you want or you are so bored to death you quit the game.
In fact, in the game, money making is easy. Once you found an opportunity, you can exploit it to death and endlessly. Will you do that? Some will only do that to gain enough funding for their expeditions in the dark zee. Some will decide that they will do that until they have all the money needed to by an Eschatologe! Chance is they will quit the game before this stage though.
So my plea is to limit trading opportunities to one mission a month. Depending of the mission it can net 150 echoes (Colonists), 300 (Salt Lion stones) or perhaps even more if you trade from further.
I have never found the need or desire to actually buy a pricer ship. imo the starter ship is the best ship. Engines and guns on the other, aren’t so expensive that I really could complain. I feel the generation of wealth is realistic. Sometimes travelling the seas is just that, making enough money for your next voyage and eventually you make enough to travel further and further and have more and more adventures. Sure they could tweak the economy a bit but I feel what they need to make more profitable is adventuring and exploration. Perhaps a logrithmic scale of wealth generation. Islands furhter away trade for goods at better ratios or what nto. I’m sure they will work on this stuff toward the end. Balancing of this nature would be the last thing to do.
Besides this game will never have trading as a big aspect of it, the des have even stated so. Besides between all the posts on how it’s too difficult to make money still I wouldn’t quite worry about such a thing as making too many echoes.
Trading is mentioned there and there as one of the occupation of Sunless Sea, in several devs statements. Just check the underline for this very forum: "[color=rgb(136, 136, 136)]A game of survival, trade and exploration in the universe of Fallen London"[/color]
The problem is not that trade should not be lucrative ;-) The problem is that there must be some changes or variations to have it less boring or reproducible. Perhaps after a while, the tomb colonists of Vender Bight have enough Mushroom wine. Or the Salt Lions quarry has no spare stones to send to London. Things like that. edited by Rapiere on 10/18/2014
[quote=Rapiere]Trading is mentioned there and there as one of the occupation of Sunless Sea, in several devs statements. Just check the underline for this very forum: "[color=rgb(136, 136, 136)]A game of survival, trade and exploration in the universe of Fallen London"[/color]
The problem is not that trade should not be lucrative ;-) The problem is that there must be some changes or variations to have it less boring or reproducible. Perhaps after a while, the tomb colonists of Vender Bight have enough Mushroom wine. Or the Salt Lions quarry has no spare stones to send to London. Things like that. edited by Rapiere on 10/18/2014[/quote]
Oh man. I wouldn’t like that. That’s too scary. As it is, I depend on the reliability of these options to get echoes. If any of then randomly changed, I’d be in a real pickle.
Do you realize that hunting monsters, while dangerous, is meant to fund your exploration right now?
Trade has use for making echoes and will likely get better as the game is completed. Playing as a Zee captain seems to be more about multitasking and hedging your bets on multiple sources instead of just one. That’s why the other ships (other than the smuggler) have bigger cargo holds so you can take on many missions on a single underway. After a little safety net at the beginning I usually make money by slaughtering anything in my path while going where the goods I plunder take me. I’ve never turned off my lights to evade but I have died five times. shrug
I’m enjoying the game so I can’t be doing it too wrong, right?
Trade never actually made echoes for me. Not since they changed up what is available where. If it’s going to be in the game, I’d like to be able to use it.
before the combat change, it was actually pointless. Hunting was 100% always more lucrative in every way. After the combat change… well, I haven’t been able to play more than an hour total, but the time I tried, it didn’t stop me from hemorrhaging money.
