Trade

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Colonies can trade with other factions by using caravans and orbital trade ships via a comms console. Tradeable commodities include slaves/prisoners, furniture, gear, resources, food, drugs, and works of art.

The trade interface shows what commodities are available to trade, the colony's stock, the trader's stock, and the prices to buy and sell.

BUY QUANTITY SELL
ALL ONE positive = buy
negative = sell
ONE ALL
<< < may type # here > >>
  • Trade is influenced by your trader's ability to speak and hear. Damage to any such parts will ruin trade prices.
  • Prices listed in green are cheap (does not appear with base-game traders), while prices listed in red are expensive.
  • Items that the foreign trader has no interest in are shown grayed out at the bottom of the list; other traders may want them instead.
  • Animals that have been downed are not listed for trade.
  • All traders carry a limited amount of silver, so they may not be able to buy everything you wish to sell. You can still give them things over this value but everything they receive will be for free, as they cannot afford to pay. In this instance it is likely better to not sell the items or to take the excess in useful or resalable items rather than get nothing in return.
  • Selling a prisoner is profitable, but has a negative impact on the happiness of all colonists (excludes psychopaths).


Game progression

Early game

Caravans consist of one or more faction members often with pack animals and/or tamed animals in tow. Players can either form their own caravan or wait for others to visit their own colony. To trade with a foreign passing caravan, direct a colonist (preferably with high social skill and thus Trade Price Improvement) to speak with the caravan member who has a yellow question mark above the head. Stored items will be eligible to sell and appear in the trade window. Purchased items will be dropped in the location where the trader was standing and will need to be hauled.

Sometimes, foreign caravan members may fight each other and accidentally drop items from their gear inventory.

Later game

After researching the Microelectronics project, a comms console and an orbital trade beacon can be built, which allow:

  • Satellite calls to request caravans to allied factions at a cost of 15 goodwill (or 700/1100 silver prior to 1.0). You can only call for a caravan from a given friendly faction once every four days.
  • Interaction with orbital trade ships which will stay around for a limited time. A blue notification will appear at the right of your screen to announce the trade ship and its type. After it's gone, a simple notice at the top of the screen will note when the same vessel leaves comms range and can no longer be traded with. Each trade ship varies in type, which determines its inventory.

To trade, order a colonist to interact with the comms console. Only items located within range of an orbital trade beacon can be traded. Purchases will be sent via drop pods to a beacon's open-air tiles, drop pods will phase through constructed roofs otherwise. If all beacon tiles are covered, drop pods will land at the nearest eligible tile. Colonists using the comms console use the same Trade Price Improvement stat as when making trades in person. Prisoners can be sold directly from their cell even if not in range of a beacon and tamed animals can be sold from anywhere on the map. The trade value of a prisoner or animal is based on their capabilities, injuries and skills.

Trade prices

Hovering over an item's price opens a tooltip that displays price modifiers. Usually, goods from the colony are sold at 60% market value, and bought at 140% market value. These are further affected by the both the storyteller's economic and difficulty settings.

Actual trade prices are also dependent on the Trade Price Improvement stat of chosen colonist, listed on the tooltip as "Your negotiator bonus: -x%".

Some traders will charge 2x the price of a good, in addition to the multiplier on buying. Selling remains at normal price. Faction bases don't have any goods-specific price penalties and will even offer a 2% discount when trading at a base.

Trade factors

Some types of item have a multiplier on their sell price on top of multiplier from Trade Price Improvement. For example, weapons have a 0.2x multiplier, significantly reducing their sale value, while art such as sculptures has a 1.1x multiplier, slightly increasing what they sell for.

Note that these factors only apply the sale by the player - they are still sold for their normal value by non-player factions.

Type Factor
Weapons x0.2
Sculptures x1.1

Types of traders

Land convoy

  • Visitors are small groups that carry all of their goods on their person. They may or may not have items for trade; even if they do, they often have few items and little silver to trade with.
  • Trade caravans are large groups that carry their goods on pack muffalo or dromedaries, depending on climate. They have a moderate amount of items and silver to buy trade with.

Land convoys will leave the area if the temperature is deemed too dangerous for them to continue trading.

Visitors but not traders, no character with (?) sign overhead.

.

Technological level

  • Neolithic traders are tribal in nature and will be limited to selling neolithic level items.
  • Outlander traders come from other faction settlements and are not restricted to a specific technology level of items.

Faction bases

Large faction settlements that engage in trading. They buy/sell everything within their technology level, have the most extensive stocks and offer a 2% discount.

Physical presence

  • Outlander traders have a physical presence on the map and offer a small to medium amount of items and silver.
  • Orbital traders have no physical presence. They have large amounts of items and silver to trade with, and have the same trader types as outlanders.

While the game does not specify where orbital traders hail from, the technologically advanced nature of items that they carry generally indicates that they are from urbworlds or glitterworlds.

By inventory

Bulk goods trader

Bulk goods traders deal in food and basic materials, such as steel, wood, components, gold, textiles, as well as clothing, furniture and domesticated animals.

Combat supplier

Combat suppliers deal in weapons, armor, mortar shells, and medicine.

The tribal variant of this is the "war merchant".

Exotic goods trader

Exotic goods traders deal in rare and valuable items such as artifacts, televisions, telescopes, apparel, bionic body parts, neurotrainers, some furniture, plasteel, gold, uranium, and glitterworld medicine. The may also carry animals of the wilder variety.

The tribal variant of this is the "shaman merchant".

Slaver

Slavers deal in slaves/prisoners, weapons, body parts, medicine, and drugs. The chance of traders carrying prisoners should go down as colony population goes up.

The outlander variant of this trader was previously called a "pirate merchant" and they are still referred to as such in both discussion and the game code. Note that despite the name, outlander factions sent pirate merchants, not pirate factions.

Trader inventories

Faction base

Faction bases have an extensive inventory and deal with most things. They take 30 days to restock. The remaining time can be checked in "Show what will buy".

Outlander base

Name Price Min Stock Max Stock
Silver N/A 800 3000
Component x1 20 70
Steel x1 300 600
Wood x1 200 400
Plasteel x1 -50 200
Cloth x1 100 300
Gold x1 -50 200
Neutroamine x1 50 200
Chemfuel x1 300 500
Chocolate x1 -30 70
Beer x1 -40 100
Medicine x1 25 50
Telescope x1 0 1

Groups of items:

Group Price Variety Min Stock Max Stock Items
Mortar shells x1 1 - 2 kinds 20 each 40 each All mortar shells except antigrain warhead
Textiles x1 1 - 2 kinds 400 Silver 800 Silver All Textiles
Resources x1 2 - 4 kinds 400 Silver 800 Silver All resources except silver
Raw food x1 2 - 4 kinds 400 Silver 800 Silver All except fertilized eggs
Meals x1 1 - 2 kinds 12 each 50 each All meals
Furniture x1 3 - 4 kinds 1 each 2 each All furniture
Animals x1 2 - 4 kinds 3 each 8 each Most animals
Clothing x1 10 - 16 kinds 1 each 1 each All clothing
Drugs x1 3 - 4 kinds 750 Silver 1500 Silver All drugs
Ranged weapons x1 3 - 6 kinds 1 each 1 each All ranged weapons
Melee weapons x1 3 - 4 kinds 1 each 2 each All melee weapons
Armor x1 2 - 4 kinds 1 each 1 each All armor
Body parts/ Implants x1 2 - 4 kinds 1 each 1 each All body parts or implants
Exotic items x1 1 - 4 kinds 1 each 2 each Rare items
Artifacts x1 1 - 4 kinds 1 each 1 each All artifacts
Apparel x1 3 - 6 kinds 1 each 10 each All apparel
Art x1 5 - 10 kinds 1 each 1 each Sculptures
Televisions x1 1 - 2 kinds 1 each 2 each Tube television, Flatscreen television, Megascreen television
Slaves x1 -1 - 2 1 each 1 each ---

Neolithic base

Name Price Min Stock Max Stock
Silver N/A 800 3000
Component x2 3 10
Steel x1 200 300
Wood x1 500 600
Cloth x1 200 300
Gold x1 -40 120
Pemmican x1 500 1000
Herbal medicine x1 15 30

Groups of items:

Group Price Variety Min Stock Max Stock Items
Textiles x1 1 - 2 kinds 300 Silver 700 Silver All Textiles
Resources x1 3 kinds 200 Silver 600 Silver All resources except silver
Raw food x1 3 - 5 kinds 300 Silver 800 Silver All except fertilized eggs
Clothing x1 4 - 12 kinds 1 each 1 each Neolithic clothing
Animals x1 2 - 4 kinds 1 each 5 each Wildness below 70%
Animals x1 1 - 2 kinds 1 each 4 each Powerful animals
Drugs x1 1 - 2 kinds 400 Silver 1000 Silver Beer, smokeleaf joint, psychite tea
Ranged weapons x1 2 - 4 kinds 1 each 1 each Neolithic ranged
Melee weapons x1 2 - 4 kinds 1 each 2 each Neolithic melee
Slaves x1 -1 - 2 1 each 1 each ---
Artifacts x1 0 - 3 kinds 1 each 1 each All artifacts

Orbital

Orbital traders usually come with large stocks corresponding to their trader type.

Bulk goods trader

Name Price Min Stock Max Stock
Silver N/A 2000 4000
Component x1 15 30
Steel x1 500 800
Wood x1 500 800
Plasteel x1 100 400
Cloth x1 200 600
Medicine x2 20 30
Gold x1 50 200
Neutroamine x1 100 200
Chemfuel x1 200 600
Chocolate x1 -70 100
Beer x1 -70 100

Groups of items:

Group Price Variety Min Stock Max Stock Items
Textiles x1 1 - 2 kinds 2200 Silver 4000 Silver All Textiles
Resources x1 2 - 4 kinds 800 Silver 1500 Silver All resources except silver
Raw food x1 2 - 4 kinds 800 Silver 1500 Silver All except fertilized eggs
Meals x1 1 - 2 kinds 15 each 30 each All meals
Furniture x1 0 - 3 kinds 1 each 2 each All furniture
Clothing x1 10 - 20 kinds 1 each 1 each All clothing
Drugs x1 2 - 4 kinds 1000 Silver 2000 Silver All drugs
Animals x1 2 - 4 kinds 10 each 20 each Animals with wildness below 70%

Commonality: 2


Combat supplier

Name Price Min Stock Max Stock
Silver N/A 2000 4000
Component x2 5 10
Medicine x1 30 50

Groups of items:

Group Price Variety Min Stock Max Stock Items
Mortar shells x1 1 - 2 kinds 20 each 40 each All mortar shells except antigrain warhead
Ranged weapons x1 5 - 6 kinds 1 each 1 each All ranged weapons
Melee weapons x1 5 - 6 kinds 2 each 3 each All melee weapons
Armor x1 8 - 10 kinds 1 each 1 each All armor

Commonality: 1


Exotic goods trader

Name Price Min Stock Max Stock
Silver N/A 2000 4000
Component x2 5 30
Gold x1 200 400
Plasteel x1 100 400
Glitterworld medicine x1 5 30
Neutroamine x1 100 500
Telescope x1 1 1

Groups of items:

Group Price Variety Min Stock Max Stock Items
Drugs x1 3 - 4 kinds 2000 Silver 3000 Silver All drugs
Exotic items x1 3 - 5 kinds 1 each 2 each Rare items
Body parts/ Implants x1 3 - 5 kinds 1 each 1 each All body parts or implants
Artifacts x1 2 - 4 kinds 1 each 1 each All artifacts
Art x1 4 - 8 kinds 1 each 1 each Sculptures
Televisions x1 1 - 3 kinds 1 each 1 each Tube television, Flatscreen television, Megascreen television
Furniture x1 1 - 4 kinds 1 each 2 each All furniture
Animals x1 1 - 2 kinds 2 each 3 each Animals with wildness above 60%

Commonality: 1


Pirate merchant

Name Price Min Stock Max Stock
Silver N/A 2000 4000
Component x2 5 10
Beer x1 -300 300
Medicine x2 5 15
Neutroamine x2 100 400
Chemfuel x2 50 200

Groups of items:

Group Price Variety Min Stock Max Stock Items
Slaves x1 2 - 3 1 each 1 each ---
Ranged weapons x1 -1 - 2 kinds 1 each 1 each All ranged weapons
Armor x1 -2 - 2 kinds 1 each 1 each All armor
Body parts/ Implants x1 -4 - 5 kinds 1 each 1 each All body parts or implants
Artifacts x1 -5 - 1 kinds 1 each 1 each All artifacts
Drugs x1 3 - 6 kinds 2000 Silver 3000 Silver All drugs

Commonality: 1

Trader behavior

Trade caravans that come to your colony usually pick a random spot outdoors where they will simply wander around and wait for your colonists to send a negotiator for trade. This spot may be in a ridiculous place, such as the middle of a river. When hungry visitors may use the colony's tables and chairs for dining.

Leaving the map

A trade caravan will usually leave as soon as the merchant pawn becomes tired (the first notch on their sleep need), though they can still be traded with while walking towards the edge of the map. If the merchant has a different sleep need than other members of the caravan for some reason, caravan members may end up sleeping on the floor when exhausted.

Sometimes, foreigners will leave your map before you have the chance to interact with them. They may start social fights amongst themselves, fight rival factions, or get attacked by wild animals. The caravan may also leave the map on their own if the temperature becomes too high or too low for them or their animals, similar to raiders. Foreigners who get downed can be rescued, either by their own members or by yourself for a goodwill bonus. Any items dropped can be unforbidden without damaging relations, however stripping clothes from anyone unconscious causes a loss of goodwill.

Notes

  • You cannot buy back prisoners you just sold as a way to insta-recruit anyone (exploit prevention).
  • You can trade your expensive items (weapons, sculptures) for other desirable items if the trade ship doesn't have enough silver to complete the transaction. Of course, the amount of silver you can gain is lower, but it is usually better to have a lot of cheap items than an expensive one in your store. Sometimes you have items so expensive that no trader can buy them.
  • When selling pack animals, they will bring any items that they are carrying along with them.

Version History

  • 0.0.245 - Traders are now rarer but carry more goods.
  • 0.11.877 - Slave trader changed to pirate merchant, can still show up to buy slaves even when your population is high (though they may not carry any). A11B Fixed pirate merchants only bringing slaves when population is high. Reworked how slave prices are calculated so they take injuries, capacities, and skills into account better.
  • 0.13.1135 - Ground-traveling trade caravans from other factions added.