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Trader Better Sorting Options for Fair Trades

Cinnamoon

Seeker
Hi there. I would like to propose better sorting options for the trader. Even with the available sorting options, things tend to get very tedious when you search for a specific thing, because there are so many bad trades out there. What I'm speaking of are cross tier trades. The main problem is, that the game thinks of them as equal (because it only considers supply cost in production) when they are anything but. [for an explanation as to why they are not, see bottom of the post]. The problem is, that whoever bothers to actually calculate the odds, sees clearly that it is very beneficial to offer a higher tier good and ask for a lower tier one. So the end result is that there are endless cross tier trades listed and noone really wants to pick them up. It would be really helpful to either correct the calculation of a fair trade for cross tier trades or at least offer a tick box to only see same tier trades. Saves us having to leaf through pages and pages of trades noone really wants to pick up.

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As to the fairness of cross tier trades. atm the calculation looks at supply costs in production only. Which is one point, sure. But look at it this way: if there were people, building only t3 manufactories and trading for their t1 and t2 goods, how would a city with only t1 or t2 goods have to look like to be able to compete? How do the ratios in terms of production time and / or space look like? (and / or as you can ofc build more manufactories to produce more in shorter time or use less manufactories but produce for a longer time)

I'm looking at lvl 1 manufactories with no boost and at the same area. Silk lvl 1 T2, area 2x3, produces 9 silk in 3h. Trading post says this is equal to 36 T1 mats. I'm comparing it to 3x Plank lvl 1, total area 2x3, produces 9 planks (3x3) in 3h. But for a 2 star trade I have to offer 36 planks, so I either need to have 4x more area covered or need 4x more time to produce the amount.

even worse for T3 to T1: Dust lvl 1 T3, area 3x4, produces 18 dust in 3h. Trading post says this is equal to 288 T1 mats. I'm comparing it to 3x Steel lvl 1, total area 2x6, produces 18 steel in 3h. But for a 2 star trade I have to offer 288 steel, so either I need to have 16x more area or need 16x more time to produce an equal amount.

Still think, cross-tier trades are fair? If so, I wonder why there never are any cross tier trades where someone offers the lower good and wants to trade for the higher? Or why there are always so many cross tier trades hanging around for days even though they are listed as 3 star trades? If you ask me, supply costs are (relatively) neglegible, but in a game where space is so central, you can't really ignore it as a factor in trade ratios. And if there is no fair system possible, it would at least be great if we could click those "bad trades" away and not have our trade window filled with pages of them.
 

cwgiii

Shaman
Still think, cross-tier trades are fair? If so, I wonder why there never are any cross tier trades where someone offers the lower good and wants to trade for the higher?


I agree with your premise.

However, our fellowship has this condition during tournaments. We trade to support our smaller members to maximize effectiveness of goods while trying to get the Blueprint. These trades are taken immediately. Of course, they would not last very long at all, otherwise. They are too valuable.
 

Cinnamoon

Seeker
@LazyTony well as said, I'm not counting on the ideal option as in getting a better trade ratio, it would already be helpful if we got a tick option not to see the cross-tier trades.

@cwgiii I know, but just a hint: if you have the smaller players set up 'bad' trades for the supporting players to pick up, noone has to rush and you get the same result. We also allow such trades but as you say, only during tournament to support younger cities. Those could still happen but you can filter those trades out the rest of the time.
 

cwgiii

Shaman
but just a hint: if you have the smaller players set up 'bad' trades for the supporting players to pick up, noone has to rush and you get the same result.

We do this as well. But, in tight timelines, the smaller cities are busy working the provinces. So, the larger cities often create the reverse trades to save time.

This raises the point, that these trades can be viewed from either point of view: Uber good/fair vs. uber bad/unfair. Two sides of the same coin.

As with most things in life, intent is at the core of the issue.
 

cwgiii

Shaman
On the unfair side, I know for a fact that there have been folks that post a lot of the undesirable trades up just to "catch" a random click from an unsuspecting participant and gain a great boon by random.
 
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