Trade routes timing

[Captncrunch]

I'm finding that, in trying to work out where to establish trade routes, I am having to flick back and forth through quite a number of links. With this in mind, I have a few suggestions to make setting trades routes less of a chore:

1: A "view all known markets" type page, showing the buy/sell prices and amounts stored in warehouses and markets for all "known" markets (those that you have a warehouse in, plus those you have ships parked in).

2: A more comprehensive "view trade routes" page. The recent updates are _BRILLIANT_ (to say the least), but I think a few minor things could make it even more useful, specifically: showing how long the route takes, and the buy/sell prices of what is being traded at the two ports.

3: When setting a auto trade route, it would be nice to know how much time the route will take before committing a fleet to that route. This could either be done by having a page that asks to confirm the route before it is taken (probably the easiest to code), or by having some script within the trade set-up page dynamically calculate and display the voyage time for the currently selected route for each available fleet (more difficult to code, but more useful for the trader).

These ideas should make it much quicker/easier to identify the profitability of current or prospective routes, and cut down on the current page flicking and grinding work needed to accomplish the same result.

[Captain Jack]

a)This already exists and is called active ports. Quick link at the top of the page (click on the image of the docked ship, where the chain starts) or click on Active ports in market page.


Let me know if this is enough for what you meant and what upgrades you would like on this.

b)I like these ideas. Perhaps we will need to remove the right hand menu in that page so we will be able to fit in the extra info.

c)This is a good idea too and doable. Right now this is only possible through the travel calculator but I realize this is no handy. I prefer the second idea too; developing difficulty is not an issue.

We value the developing importance of such issues very highly and we are always interested to receive such feedback.

[Captncrunch]

Seems there's always that little bit more about this game that I have to learn: I completely missed the active ports page, and it shows exactly what I was after (thanks!)

A big "thanks again", Captain Jack, for the quick reply.

[Tilemaxos]

Captain Jack,

Can you provide us with a multiplier to set a fleet's speed or crew levels?

So right now in order to slow a fleet I have to fire crew from one ship and and use the travel calculator to adjust until I get the travel time at just over an hour.

Could we get some kind of multiplier that we set from .1 to 1 that allows us to either adjust the fleet speed or the crew levels for all ships in the fleet?

I would prefer the multiplier that adjusts the speed so I can still keep my ships fully staffed but just travelling slower. Of course there is nothing stopping anyone from firing crew AND adjusting speed via the multiplier.

This could be implemented in the following manner: In the menu where we setup a trade route, we could have an option to select a multiplier and what would be great is if the game calculated the 1 hour multiplier for you as a default or you can check a box for 1 hour or check a box for full speed or another box for other speed where you can put whatever you want.

I imagine the guys with a bunch of fleets would love this. One more thing, when setting up a trade route you can only do this for fleets in port. Could we have the option to setup a route on any fleet no matter where it is located this way? That way if someone wanted they could change orders for all their fleets in one fell swoop and adjust speed for all at the same time.



Thanks,

T-

[Swampy]

I like the idea of a multiplier but in the name of realism I don't think you could increase speed much without increasing crew BUT you could conceivably slow down your fleet quite dramatically.

[Tilemaxos]

Right. I did not clarify. Ships would not travel any faster than they do now. So the 1 hour option would not be applicable for longer routes. It would be the same as traveling full speed for however long it takes.

T-

[JackShaftoe]

This is a great idea! The game is more interesting if merchants are always adjusting trade routes in response to market changes, but it's really inefficient to adjust crew size by trial and error. What you gain in efficiency you pay for in upkeep cost (by keeping crew numbers high), but it's worth it, I think.

[Tilemaxos]

Maybe there can be an additional multiplier for crew levels.

T-

[Roileon]

Being a merchant (pirate) isn't easy. It takes a lot of hard work and it should seem like a chore, that is the consequence of being a large merchant (pirate). Besides, anything added to being a merchant would downgrade pirates in this game. I have a lot of negativity to this forum because it sound like you guys are whining because being a merchant (pirate) is hard but still has way greater odds than being a pirate. I kinda just want to say --- but i can't against forum rules. Seriously guys, when pirates made a forum like this, that is what capt.jack said to us, and I repeated it to you. Get over it.

[Hawk]

Actually, Pirating is virtually risk free when compared to trading. With the new treasure feature I could plunder anything I want and just let all my ships be destroyed without risking the millions I have. That, along with the fact that I don't even need ships to cast voodoo means that the only thing protecting traders is Mindbar, and a lack of Pirates in the game. This doesn't even take into account wars or players who want to do as much damage as possible for no reason other then petty revenge