NPC trading IA - strange behaviour.

[Loltak]

Hi all

I observe a strange and little bit boring behaviour about the "Trade IA", perhaps someone could explain why.

I build 2 station in Wavy Haze which all need various resources to function (pharma lab, Bofu complex)
I decided to let the "game" run and provide them to see how "NPC trade IA" will handle that; I only gave 1 ship to manager but without radar relay it's like 0.

After at least 2h(+seta) nothing happen.
None of NPC traders have done some trade with the 2 stations, even for some energy cell.
I know that most of the resources are not in the sector but NPC stations have some quite amount of them in their storage.
Theoretically, NPC should have done some, even if the economy seems pretty slow, almost stuck in fact.

Finally I decided to provide the resource myself and to prepare next step I decided to build the Radar relay for the both station.

In a few minutes, ships trade energy cells (and other goods) with my CV !
So why no ships trade energy cells in 2 hours with my station, and it just take few minutes with my CV!
I don't understand the difference.

Bye

[w.evans]

Possibly price? I seem to remember architects paying more for stuff than station managers do.

[ubuntufreakdragon]

CV's always get priority over any station when searching a sell offer.

[RAVEN.myst]

Something to keep in mind in Omicron is that the system is in a bit of an energy crisis - the system's supply is not *quite* up to the demand, so there you will find that if you rely on NPC deliveries, you may end up waiting a loooong time. The other wares shouldn't be so bad in this regard, but since production of everything (except ECs) depends on ECells, there may be some knock-on effect down the product chain.

As the others have mentioned, CVs get priority, which is a VERY good thing, as otherwise construction could take very long, and also as it makes it viable to build without getting freighters for the CV (assigning subordinates to a CV creates some small, slightly annoying budget irregularities.)

Also, I'm not 100% sure about this, but often I've had situations (mostly with Ice) where if I don't have a miner, NPC traders come fast, but if I have a miner, then not so much - it's as if the trade system detects that I have a way to get something myself and so makes that station lower priority. (As long as I didn't imagine the whole thing!) It may be the same with freighters - and if you gave the station a Lyranea or Lyramekron, then the game thinks you have all its needs sorted (even though, as you said, without radar that depends on where you are.) I don't know whether this sort of thing still happens in 4.0 (or was ever really happening before - may have been coincidences), as I haven't tried testing it in any way.

[Loltak]

Hello All,

Thanks for your answers

Pricing :
I also though it could be one of the reason. As the prices asked by the manager were largely above market price, it should be not that.

Priority:
I suspected that but I was clearly not sure, thanks for the confirmation. Like you said, it a good thing


With the economy analytic software and X-builder 2.0, if data are correct, I was able to examine the market, and effectively some of the NPC station seems to on hold due to various resources shortage. Perhaps it has contributed to the situation.

For the "fun", and because I like to understand , I will remove the assigned ship and test the game a little bit
I will also test between "IZ/high priority" and "OOZ/low priority".
I was not always in the zone, but perharps not sufficiently far to go in "low priority state".

Bye

[Kregoth]

There are a ton of variables at play here for your station, what your Rep with those station's faction? Does the Manager have more then 3* Management? Does your manager have enough credits to fulfill her budget?(always give more than the minimum) Do the ships you have assigned have decent navigation skills?

Radar and Storage are always my first upgrades. I upgrade all storage I can, then Radar to start getting trades. I start building production units and supply the resources as they are built so once they are done building they start producing! It's quicker and cheaper to do this manually, unless you lack good trade deals

I believe the Radar dish probably does more than what the Encyclopedia description says. I think the Dish is also what allows the AI to see what your stations trade offers are, without it they don't see it unless they get close to the station(like the player has too). the description also mentions it's multiplex, which might meant the Manager can't give simultaneous commands to his ships without it.

I'm not sure how else Radar affects stations, perhaps some modder can enlighten us?

[Loltak]

Yes all are ok, even if in the manager & pilot qualities should not is not a issue as the purpose of the threat is about how"foreigner NPC" deal with the station.

I let the game some moment and it seems that finally the whole sector is on hold, NPC stations too.
Like someone said, I was probably in a long slowdown of the economy.
I'll will upgrade with the radar and assign few ships to station like usual

Bye