Exterminating trade caravans

[Shurp]

I have a theory that if you have hostile relations with all of the factions on the map, they will stop sending trade caravans and trading visitors, and so whenever the "trade" event is queued a trade ship will show up instead.  Has anyone tried this yet to see if it works?  I am about to try it myself but I thought I would ask to see if anyone else had tried it before me.

[Mathenaut]

I don't think so. This is because I haven't seen an increased frequency of trade ships in maps where I was trading with only one other colony.

[PotatoeTater]

I did it, I was getting ships very often. I had an exotic trader about every 14 days. The trader that rarely showed up was the bulk, (I had one in 4 seasons); however, I had a combat trader almost every 2 to 3 days.

[Shurp]

So it sounds like for it to work you have to be hostile with *everyone*, but then it works like gangbusters.

(I'm in summer of my second year and I haven't seen a *single* trade ship.  Time to kill all the visitors!)

[PotatoeTater]

So it sounds like for it to work you have to be hostile with *everyone*, but then it works like gangbusters.

(I'm in summer of my second year and I haven't seen a *single* trade ship.  Time to kill all the visitors!)

Yeah, although through my experience, the wealthier you get and the tougher the raids get, the more trade ships come over land traders.

[Shurp]

*Yeesh*

I killed two visitors.  A few game hours later, *fifteen* enraged townies attacked me.  Holy crap!  Needless to say I was pretty reliant on my turret network for defense.  Lost half a dozen. 

I hope they don't keep attacking me with this strength or I'm screwed

[mumblemumble]

I just think caravans and ships should be separate  ,  so more caravans isn't less trader ships.

Also,  i think putting want adds out / paying money to caravans / traders for regular visits would be cool

[ReZpawner]

I just think caravans and ships should be separate  ,  so more caravans isn't less trader ships.

Also,  i think putting want adds out / paying money to caravans / traders for regular visits would be cool

That last idea sounds fantastic! I had to build 3 extra storage-rooms just to hold all the stuff until the appropriate trader would come by. I would've gladly paid up towards 5-10 000 just to get them to pick it up sooner.

[Astasia]

I just think caravans and ships should be separate

They are. It's two different good "incidents," OrbitalTraderArrival and TraderCaravanArrival, both have a base chance of 3. By comparison, in alpha 12 the traders had a base chance of 22.

Going hostile with all factions means several other incidents are removed from the pool, including trade caravans, visitors, and travelers. That would likely increase your chance of orbital traders, but only indirectly, and while also likely boosting things like cargo pod drops and animal self tames, assuming the game decides to pull from a pool rather than just checking each individually to see if it runs.

[mumblemumble]

I see,  in that case,  hmmn... I would like orbital traders more often,  they have better stuff,  but are never around.

[RazorHed]

I started a new game last night and was going to try this , but my first two trade caravans came at the same time from the same tribe . There were about 50 guys , 3 muffalos , and 6 elephants against my 4 guys with 2 guns and shivs. So I was nice to them haha

[Mathenaut]

So it sounds like for it to work you have to be hostile with *everyone*, but then it works like gangbusters.

(I'm in summer of my second year and I haven't seen a *single* trade ship.  Time to kill all the visitors!)

Yeah, although through my experience, the wealthier you get and the tougher the raids get, the more trade ships come over land traders.

Man, it is the exact opposite for me. I get traders early on where they are sort of nice, but never in late game when I can really take advantage of them.

I just think caravans and ships should be separate

They are. It's two different good "incidents," OrbitalTraderArrival and TraderCaravanArrival, both have a base chance of 3. By comparison, in alpha 12 the traders had a base chance of 22.

Going hostile with all factions means several other incidents are removed from the pool, including trade caravans, visitors, and travelers. That would likely increase your chance of orbital traders, but only indirectly, and while also likely boosting things like cargo pod drops and animal self tames, assuming the game decides to pull from a pool rather than just checking each individually to see if it runs.

Essentially this. It doesn't really have a strong bearing on trade ship frequency, as there is no direct relation between those event calls.

[Listy]

*Yeesh*

I killed two visitors.  A few game hours later, *fifteen* enraged townies attacked me.  Holy crap!  Needless to say I was pretty reliant on my turret network for defense.  Lost half a dozen. 

I hope they don't keep attacking me with this strength or I'm screwed

Wait until you've been on the ground a few years... I've seen attacks with over 100 tribals on easy setting... I normally make peace with the Tribals just because they can zerg attack through your defences.

[Shurp]

They are. It's two different good "incidents," OrbitalTraderArrival and TraderCaravanArrival, both have a base chance of 3. By comparison, in alpha 12 the traders had a base chance of 22.

The frequency of traders arriving has been reduced by 73% !!!

Well no $@^&ing wonder a13 has been a pain.  I guess I'll just rely on the trade ship "USS Devmode" whenever I need something, traders are officially useless.

[cultist]

Let's be honest here, the real issue is exotic traders and always have been. Whether you need a new implant or just to unload 200+ parkas you "found", it's the exotic traders everyone is always waiting for. Since you can now craft any weapon, combat traders are much less critical to your success. I usually just buy cheap medicine and sell excess weapons. Bulk traders are important on maps with no growing options, but apart from that they usually just provide a little extra cash and some resources you don't have to work for.

But the exotic traders... making big money selling art, making big money unloading excess clothing and getting implants and bionics critical to your colony.

So here's a few suggestion to make things less frustrating:

- add some basic prosthetics to combat and bulk suppliers. Nothing fancy, just simple prosthetic arms and legs (and maybe a nose?). This avoids the frustration of waiting for an exotic to get rid of that peg leg, only to find out it carries bionic eyes instead that you can't afford. :/

- More land traders should buy clothing/art. Maybe they don't have any use for it, but they could sell it somewhere else for a profit. I really doubt anyone will complain about lower prices from land traders if it means you don't have to build two-three 9x9 rooms just to store parkas.