The Next Economy Mode should not focus on Economy but rather Logistics

[Midnitewolf]

I have seen quite a few economy mods but even thought they improve things, the Economy still never seems to work right. I did some testing and realized that it isn't the Economy that is borked in this game but rather the NPC's use of Logistics to move products around is where the game economy is failing.

One example is tonight where I was trying to build a Ship up in Profit Center Alpha and the Shipyard was short on multiple things. However, everything it needed was either in the same system or a maximum of two jumps away. All the NPC faction needed to do is build transports and move it to the Shipyard. Not sure why the game doesn't do this by default but I am guessing it is by design so that there is ample opportunity for the player to step in and fill the gaps. Myself I would rather the economy work than have to step in literally everywhere to keep NPC factions building ships.

In any case, I am not sure if anyone has explored the economy from the logistics side when they have attempted to correct the economy but as far as I can tell through multiple tests, logistics is where the economy fails, not production. I am also not sure if anything can be done as far as a mod but I wanted to point out what I found in case any ambitious modder wanted to run with it.

[DeadAirRT]

Not sure what you are talking about but I have mods that already take care of both the economy and logistics.

[Midnitewolf]

Not sure what you are talking about but I have mods that already take care of both the economy and logistics.

Sorry. To clarify, most of the economy mods I have seen seem to focus on production but what I saw was that production wasn't the issue and in fact the NPC factions kind of overproduce. However what they seem to have trouble with is moving their production to where it needs to go.

Case in point, in my game, the Free Families Wharf and Shipyard can't build a ship for the life of them. I que up say a Rattlesnake and it flat out won't ever get built because they have a chronic shortage of hull parts. However, they have a hull parts factory located midway between the Shipyard and the Wharf with 23k hull parts available for the taking. I watch for a good long time and not once did a single FRF transport dock with the hull parts factory and move the the hull parts to either the Wharf or the Shipyard.

In another the night before last, I was trying to build a TEL Raven Battleship (Think it is from either VRO or the XR ship pack) and it literally just sat in que for over an hour before I decided to help them build it. The station seemed to be fairly well stocked but needed Advanced Electronics, Hull parts and I believe Turret Components. Well Hull parts were readily available in mass quantities in the same system as the Shipyard and the other two missing products were located just 2 jumps away, in TEL stations again in mass quantifies.

I also did a test where I basically cheated and gave myself all of the Godrealms stations using cheat menu because when I decided to go to war this them, they only had 5 cap ships total to defend themselves with. What I found was they had 161 stations and with just a little coaxing i.e. giving them about 20 miners and 50 medium transports, using only their stations, I could supply two Wharf/Shipyard combinations with enough products to have them build virtually non-stop anything I wanted from 100s of fighters at at time to about a dozen Destroyers, basically produce them as fast as the bays opened up.

So the issues with the economy don't seem to be due to lack of production but rather due to the lack of ships to move the resources and products around or maybe even the lack of a good AI designed to move the products around. Since I haven't seen a mod approach the economy from that angle, I though I would share what I found out.