Trade

[UesugiKenshin]

This concept within BotE of trade of natural resources is a misnomer as I doubt such material would be sacrificed as by the time it accumulates, it's required for domestic infrastructure. Thus it harms the player to engage in trade but yields profit and makes liars out of all who engage in it.

Whereas if other finished products were generated by natural resources like Romulan ale that might be sold and either transferred by low end freighters with warp capability or traded on the galactic market. That is what usually happens. It's excess goods created out of abundance. You could even have goods and services ie some races have excess services generated like the Ferengi on pleasure planets or Rigel in the milieu of Star Trek and likely some planets under the Orion confederacy that would generate morale boosts in exchange for credits. Or minor races like the Bynar might offer boosts to computer power that means a significant research boost.
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Rigel_system
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Bynar

Note that when you subjugate similar races, their techtrees have such things in them already as a draw to conquer them or be members say in the Federation. But if you had something involving trade with minor races, then they get stronger this way to then defend their homesector through higher treasuries and cashflow.

[UesugiKenshin]

Every sector under the empire's control would likely along a continuum either at the far end demand that such intergalactic finished goods and services be boycotted as these detract from domestic production, or they want them badly to resell them and profit or they even use them as recreational goods and services and so would pressure the government to allow their sale.

Trade is controversial and helps the enemy but in some games may end up establishing better diplomatic stances. Who ever thought that conservative Americans who love firearms would actually want to buy Chinese SKS rifles? It's illogical but a genuine phenomena.

[UesugiKenshin]

Now watch as this could become clever as a plot device within BotE. Say Nausicans offer to sell protection contracts and so security is beefed up in a sector and it doesn't cost that much. But then they run a side trade of gambling and then use extortion through protection rackets as they want Nausican immigration. Then start pleasure houses and recreational drug sales. Next thing you know, security takes a dip as Nausicaan organized crime is happening in that sector.
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Nausicaan

Or some seemingly innocent merchants within a minor race within the Romulan empire offer to set up exclusive trading goods that are quite in demand in a sector. But really they are cosmetically altered Romulans who after so many turns begin mapping operations that ultimately reveal your entire map details as their freighters traverse Federation space..until your intelligence network stamps them out. This then lowers your diplomatic standing with the Romulans as they feign ignorance as they have plausible deniabilty, "Hey, it's not true. Those were really a minor race and once again the Federation is lying by making up fake news."

You don't have to do much to program this but have if then statements/choices in the random events file and if the player agrees to allow some, they have unforeseen outcomes that get quite convoluted as maybe there are many benefits as well as costs where some like the Feregni might say, "What the heck? Look at all the gold pressed latinum! Who cares at a minor dip in security in the grand scheme of things?"

So more random events happen and even combine where they cancel each other out or are synergistic. Some Vulcans want to spread religion about the teachings of Surak within some sectors of the Romulans. And it seems benign but begins to subvert allegiance to Romulan authority as logically it is sound versus unwavering support of the state.
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Surak

But what if then your Romulan intelligence agency then recruits them to do counter-intelligence against subversives just as the FBI infiltrated many such groups like regarding nuclear freezes of missiles? The Cardassians could have funded these Vulcans because they have a common ancestry between Vulcans and Romulans and ultimately the Cardassians hold the Vulcan religious leaders families as hostages. It can get very convoluted and the Federation attempts a risky mission to free the Vulcan families held hostage giving modifiers to the Romulans and the Vulcans and the Cardassians. But to even do a mission, the Federation needs a cloaked ship and the Klingons agree to allow a weak cloaked Klingon ship to attempt the mission.

The Romulans may appreciate the plot being exposed and diplomatic relations improve. The Klingons may trust the Federation more by involving them by admitting that cloaking technology is sometimes indispensable. Now the Federation reverse engineers the cloaking device with ramifications allowing retrofitting at a big price with weak cloaking Klingon technology. It's spice and flavor with very limited modifiers to actual combat.

These are opportunities to lightly have storytelling elements within BotE. It began with a random event that altered trade, which destablized morale but then gave intelligence gains.

[UesugiKenshin]

With trade you have profit and loss versus risk and reward.

First you might send an armed transport vessel to take ore X to a sector. You pull up the galactic display and you could study the map and note what resources are there. In this example, the Klingons felt it was politically useful to use the Corvellians as a wedge for negotiations. This minor race has no M class planet but the homeworld is an L class. In the entire sector there is deuterium which obviously they likely don't need. So the Klingons could offer another ore like titanium which they have an excess of.

Second, two planets are nearby (Sigma 951 or Acubens) and so they could transfer the ore via a transport vessel but it's near two maybe three sectors under various control (Cardassians and Aszrethians). Entering those sectors could be perceived as hostile acts. Trade that is sent in essentially a very expensive transport vessel is risky as maybe the ship is carrying troops.

The Klingons would have to carefully navigate using waypoints ie starting and stopping and not flying autopilot. That is a pain in the kiester.The Klingons could end up causing diplomatic strain with the Okotai by drifting into their sector as well if they had to change the mining planet sector from the southen direction too.

But I lose 15% as a tax using trade routes just to start. Then consider is it worth it? Is there enough profit that it helps the Klingon empire, or am I really acting like the Federation and diplomatically manipulating them?

Let's say it's Klingon altruism as they want the Corvellians to eventually be better warriors so it's a challenge to defeat them. Klingon motivations are completely opposite any other empire's.

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Then as the Cardassians are nearby, it's a ruse as if the Cardassians mess up a Klingon trade route, or if diplomatic relationships improve and they become friends or even have membership, then the Klingons have an excuse for war, "So you dishonorable scum Cardassians attacked a weak minor race (cough).How dare you! (dripping with moral outrage)They are our trading partner so you attacked our economy. Prepare for war! You will be annihilated."

The game has a LOT of depth and in my opinion is one of the best for the Android. When I first downloaded it, I installed and removed it six times out of boredom and frustration. But once you learn how it works and modulate expectations, it's a very good game with few competitors if some of these items are addressed in later versions or patched. There is a lot of potential here as some aspects are very sparse on details.

[UesugiKenshin]

If the Klingons then send a transport vessel with an escort, they might say it's a training mission in potentially hostile territory and ensuring the safety of the titanium delivery to the Corvellians as the Cardassians have been acting like they own open space.

It's a way to increase diplomatic tension through a 3rd party. Klingons need no excuse for war but they aren't barbarians either.

Because of the profit loss of 15% versus direct transport, they could say that colonization of a nearby world and terraforming is useful as then titanium delivery is assured and so sectors gets swallowed up. Then militarized and borderlands are created and eventually membership or assimilation/subjugations likely happens. The Klingons don't have to start fights, but you can bet they finish them.

[UesugiKenshin]

And if the Okotai don't like it, maybe they get perturbed and threaten war or outright declare war, so much the better. Now see, the Klingons did nothing provocative and old stereotypes abound and so the Klingons are not the bad guys . "We were just trying to sell some titanium at a discount to help neighbors and people assume the worst, so we'll have to squash them like insects for being disrespectful."

There is no such thing as "good men". That is philosophically correct as well as Biblical. Every nation justfies or even enobles their actions and motivations. Talk to an actor. If he or she thinks they are evil when the character seems evil, it screws up the performance and makes it "over the top" or "on the nose". People may question their actions, but generally sleep like babies as they excuse their actions. "Oh I was younger then and immature. Well the ends justified the means. Get over it already."

Even Hannibal Lecter...

[UesugiKenshin]

So the way trade is set up is like a minigame within BotE. You mine the ore or crystals and then you watch the price to determine when you should sell some portion of your accumulated ore or crystals. You determine a threshold at which you think all the evidence points to an opportunity to make a profit. If you sell too much, the AI will likely dump titanium too and everyone loses.

Like this.

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Titanium initially was valued at 92 as a minimum price,but then climbed to 345. The price looks great and the turn is #244 so lots of expansion is going on driving up the price of titanium as it's required to run the economy.

It's a growth period and the economy is likely to stay robust as the AI has not generated sufficient troops to have lots of invasions and be successful. Thus the AI will keep reinvesting in the other empires just as I am.

So I elected to sell some titanium to turn a profit especially since the Cardassians are north of my empire and will likely again start trying sabotage missions. This means I have to build up my intelligence infrastructure to a ridiculous level as a priority.

So this selling of titanium was measured and I sold enough to moduate the price down to 302.

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Now by the next turn, the price rose back to 327! Demand is brisk enough that maybe I can sell every other turn and use that money to outpace the Cardassians. More money pushed back into infrastructure to support intelligence agencies, is rather President Ronald Reagan investing so much into the US military that the Soviets couldn't keep up. He broke the back of the USSR and it collapsed and thus the Berlin Wall fell.

Screenshot_2020-04-07-08-48-44.png

I'm trying to do the same with the Cardassians. The thing is I don't want to even though it's a legitimate tactic as I prefer a different way of waging war.

I'm creating a profit to outspend my likely enemy by reinvesting in my economy so I can prevent the likely intelligence attack in turn #300. And it actually helps my economy such that I can build more titanium mines and surge ahead.

The Klingons are being peaceful to allow the minor races within their sphere of influence to get stronger through trade, and that is diplomatically improving their attitude toward them. Eventually they will either be subsumed by the Klingons by membership or subjugation.

I don't think you can lose this way on the easy level. It's a huge waste of money on useless sabotage as it's countered by counterintelligence. Eventually all the other four empires will be met and then they will try to sabotage each other and me. As the Klingons, sabotage is the last thing they want to do as it disgusts them as a cowardly mechanism.

I don''t know how the AI is configured but I guess I could glance at the programming. Generally at higher levels the AI gets an economic boost where either they make more money or their units and infrastructure are less expensive. If that is so,the human player has to use economic warfare to defeat them,not just smarter research patterns, and troopsand ship construction, but seize the initiative with profit too.

We all know that AI can manipulate markets better than any humans as we make purchases and sales based on hunches when the AI does it based on statistical analysis and looking at complex trend interaction. The AI knows the volume being generated across all empiresn whereas I only know my own mining data(look at the empire and then systems and then resources screen).So a true AI would be able to out manipulate the economic factors or precious metal sales and likely then not even have to have a less expensive infrastructure or unit costs.

[UesugiKenshin]

So I just offered a trade deal with the Exomers and they accepted as their demeanor towards me was neutral from the start. Sometimes there is a percentage chance that even far less of an attitude will allow them to recieve trade, perhaps based on relative ethos and how poorly their economy is developed?

Screenshot_2020-04-07-12-09-09.png

Note the dashed orange trade route versus the resource routes.

Here is an example of an established trade route with the Klingons at Menkalian sector to the Miramar who are a minor race with one sector under their control.

Screenshot_2020-04-07-12-09-44.png

When you click on a sector and click on systems, then trade,then it willshow the profit from a trade route. It's producing 59 credits for six more turns. Then I will reassess.

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Offering trade generally improves demeanor. All were initially hostile, but now two are friendly, several are angry, some are neutral, some are uncooperative.

When setting up a trade route, make certain it's not cutting through their declared territory which is like when people walking through your property to access say a forest. It at least provokes irritation unless you have a trade deal, thus you can create trade networks to minimize theoretical transport time.

You are going to make better profits by discerning what they cannot currently mine in sufficient amounts.

A good map editor would allow the map designer of a campaign to place natural resources such that critical ones necessary for advanced ships like the armor class of hulls or critical supplies for weaponry of ships might only be in abundance to some region of the galaxy, but scattered in lesser amounts elsewhere. Thus all empires are fixated on controling that system/sectod just like the book Dune by Frank Herbert and the spice only exists on Arakis...that is crucial for the navigators who fold space/time and mentat human calculators who serve as advisers.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VSV9S2Ol3bc
"The spice must flow. I was never here.." [The navigator and guild cannot pick a side as they are enmeshed in all the factions of the imperial empire]
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Y90xNI6DyY8
Or warp travel is in peril and the whole galaxy in that mythos is based upon spice and warp travel. Even the Emperor has to listen to the navigators who no longer are merely aliens but evolved beings from constant exposure to the spice.

Folding space/time must be like the navigators create a temporary wormhole.and do not actually travel

[UesugiKenshin]

At some point when there are excellent graphic examples plus good prose that describes the functions plus commentary, that is well editted and pared down and not so verbose, then such information would ideally be put in the wiki as then it's a dynamic manual versus a pdf.

I hope that happens. I'm glad to make the Google Play version on Android more accessible. I hope what I am doing is useful. The most frequent comments are players seeing the potential but being unsure how to play and confounded by the intelligence agency's espionage and sabotage portion.

I would love to see a million users playing this as then likely lots of artistic Star Trek fans and similar fans make mods. Unfortunantly it's difficult to include mods on Google Play as people are technically breaking copyright, but if modding is a function of save games and or changing the xml files or text files is plausible and straight forward, then many fans would design maps, music, art, write details to be seen in game, sound effects, and on and on.

[UesugiKenshin]

Rather than a map designer placing natural resources as one paradigm, a far simpler method is certain techtrees probably by minor races result in special trade items. Thus membership by peaceful means or negotiated exchange of tech by a major race or subjugation would then allow special resources...even unique ones that are invaluable in the game.

Some game engines have major and minor goals on a point system (like Civ2), and then each empire is trying to gain as many of these goals to raise their score and at a certain threshold gain achievement recognition. So sure you get points by colonizing but it's based on empires so likely acheving this through conflict resolution to win diplomatically or by military means.

[UesugiKenshin]

So two minor races are asked to allow a trade agreement. One accepts and the other refuses.

Why? What factors influence the acceptance of trade in diplomacy?
1. The trustworthiness of the initiator
2. The character of the initiator
3. The history of the initiator
4. Is the trade logical ie does my race gain from accepting it, or is it to no effect, or does my race lose power by accepting the terms?
5. If it is to no effect, then probably the accepting race realizes they are in an inferior bargaining position...
6. ...but such is the way treaties are struck that ultimately offer protection where a race is a group of scientists not warriors.

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In these two cases with neutral demeanor, there is no economic benefit to their respective minor races but that may change. Maybe both have well developed mining operations.

[UesugiKenshin]

What is the target price of an essential metal like titanium in game?

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A commodity or natural resource is priced based upon demand (which will always be high in BotE), but subject to how much is mined and easily transported.

And an economic form of warfare is offering less expensive ore to minor races as that may still allow your empire a profit, but make their demeanor improve to you, while may irritate the heck out of another major race.

And as discussed, a way to trounce the AI as I can dump titanium or any ore and crystals and break their economy as they will own ore that is so devalued as to not be able to sell it,.only use it domestically.

And then as I have demostrated can manipulate the precious metals price by selling as it rises above 300 credits, but what is the best price truly at several stage in the game? Cash in hand is better than a theoretic profit at some time in the future as there is banking or investments making a profit. If you win the lottery, it's better to have cash now than a chance to make more later in stages.

I'm guaranteed to lose 15% from profits unless I use either transports or resource routes,right?

If the minimum price is 92 and the maximum is 345, the midpoint is 184. Is that the likely best level?

I may experiment with halving the difference and so using 218.5 or 219 as a target. Then I can have a large chunk of money to rapidly improve infrastructure and focus on intelligence, defensive systems, and build troops and offensive ships.

I can't fix the intelligence/security agencies espionage flaws, only adapt to them in some kind of way that doesn't hurt the AI. The goal is to progress to as much as possible to defeat sabotage at least of the ships and troops. Then build a large sustainable standing military that is appropriate to do combat testing.

Eventually once figuring out that, then tactics.

Then play the game on normal level with what I know and create save game positions.

Rinse repeat until the multiplayer gets released to control all six empires to create save game positions.

Then do extensive testing of which empires win and why.

[UesugiKenshin]

Titanium started to be sold at 345 and then sold in stages at 300. I can modulate this in chunks over 10-15 turns downward to 275, then the same meterered approach to 255, and on to 219. It creates a new normal value.

[UesugiKenshin]

I can do that for every single ore or crystal to make a huge profit and so win by Ferengi methods by pumping that profit right back in with excellent infrastructure with deterium, duranium, iridium, crystals, and so on.

And it gets easier once creating a safe map corner as they cannot attack the backside as long as no wormhold exists. So I only need to upgrade them to have the best ships and troops generators.

I don't have to have the best defenses in the flanks which is totally incorrect as that doesn't exist in a galaxy because attacks would occur all along the Z axis.

[UesugiKenshin]

I was playing as the Romulans to see the effects of their race abilities on security buildings. While doing so I was building and mining at watching ore prices. At one time playing as the Klingons, titanium got up to 340. In this game which only has the Federation, Klingons, and Romulans, with limited colonization as the minor races are at 50% in the game settings, either the Federation or the Klingons sold at 250 credits and beat me to it. Now the price is 220.

Manipulating the ore prices so you can finish infrastructure earlier than your oppornents is a big part of the game to stay ahead. You are maximizing industrial capacity and research.

The game would be far more playable as a modded version or with prebuilt empires. Playing on a tablet is not like playing on a home computer or laptop. Using a tablet is a diversion while doing something else. So probably the tablet folks don't want to spend hundreds of hours building empires but 10-20 hours fighting a war for control of a system.

It's a cerebral exercise and a fascinating one for a niche market. BotE has potential.