Telescopes to Trading

[raybonr]

Telescopes to Trading

Ok, so my basic idea is to use telescopes to find habited planets to establish trade routes with, without unbalancing the game.

This is a rough idea...

1.   Purchase and set-up three telescopes.
   a.   why 3, i don't know that way it takes at least a bit of time to get enough telescopes via traders, and it "requires" 3 to optimally map the stars
   b.   Perhaps one can build their own telescopes?

2.   Research "star mapping" at the research table.
   a.   This would unlock a star mapping terminal that would need to be built.

3.   From this point you would set a worker to work at the star mapping terminal.
   a.   This terminal would utilize the worker's "research" skill. vs crafting, etc. This way the researching skill is still advantageous even after one is done researching everything.
   b.   As the terminal is used, perhaps it would show a bar filling up (similarly to the researching screen). After a thousand points or so (this is highly variable depending on how this mod is set up) You would finish mapping a small piece of the galaxy. (there are infinite pieces)
   c.   at this point there would be a small chance (again another variable you would decide) that you would find and establish a permanent trade route with a habited planet.

4.   Trade Routes
   a.   There is obviously potential here to unbalance the game, and take away the chance factor of passing traders, so this would have to be treated carefully...
   b.   I picture the planets found would be similar to the trade ships in that you would find a "textile" planet or "slaver" planet... vs finding a planet that sells and buys everything.
   c.   Perhaps, as another balance, the planets could be less lucrative than trade ships, I.e. Prices are higher to buy and lower to sell.
     i.   or an import/export tariff could be imposed depending on what the planet has to offer.
  d.   There could be different planet classes, under-developed to glitterworld. where the latter has far more advanced offerings (and higher tariffs)
   e. as a further balance I imagine planets to have a limited amount of trading money (like trade ships).

What's your thoughts? I'm sure someone has thought of this before, but I'm new to the community and haven't noticed it in the mod section.

ps. I have zero programming skills, this concept didn't seem too difficult to me.

Thanks,

Ruston

[TwixFunSize]

This idea is not bad. I think the overall goal of this idea is to find trade routes and new people to trade with. Maybe they would even have some special new items...

[raybonr]

Having reliable trading partners rather than having to wait and "role the dice" with each passing ship would really help things.
   And yes, setting the planets apart from ships in some way would be great.

[Kegereneku]

Interplanetary is well outside the scope of Rimworld. (also, if you had several inhabited planet in the same system you wouldn't have problem leaving or getting picked up)

However you could use the Communicator to trade with other faction.

[raybonr]

hmm... I didn't consider interplanetary trade compromising end-game exodus.
    Perhaps it could be purposely tied in.
What if you could pay say 10K to a planet to come save you. However, pirates intercept the transmission and before the other planet can come save you a major all or nothing pirate siege takes place. Those who survive the fight will be picked up by the rescue ship.

     Outside of that, one could also argue that even the ships that pass by normally to trade could give your pawns a lift off of the planet.

[Kegereneku]

I agree that it take as much "fictional logic" to keep our colonist stranded, than for them to embark on galactic trading. (my headcanon being that the "trader" are AI cargoship passing by with little to no place for human-cargo)

Thing is, the ambiance of a Rimworld is of isolated settlement on the surface of an itself abandoned planet (in a world with no faster-than-light travel).
Interplanetary trading however, is a sign of post-scarcity wealth. (and if you take a sci-fi setting too "realist" trading could not be economical)

Aside, as I have been told, Tynan created the "Trade ship" as a placeholder for trading. You could replace them with a ground caravan and it would still work.

[ardentpause]

Kegereneku: That site makes a lot of assumptions about the costs of ships, fuel, maintenance, and everything else. Saying that realistic space trading and passenger ferrying can't ever be economical, is like the ancient Egyptians saying that realistic planetary trading and passenger ferrying can't ever be economical.

[Kegereneku]

We are getting out of topic but we can't assume we will simply overcome the laws of physic that lead to that conclusion. Else, what if we get femto-assembler and super-AI who can build anything from atom and replicate themselves.
The website in question worked the subject much harder than we will here and the assumptions go as well in the realism than the fictional technology to explore all aspects of what we would consider "trading" and not say "logistic".

More on the subject, I'm just saying creating voluntarily such INTERPLANETARY trade route imply a level of civilization higher than what Rimworld aim for.
It would be more fitting to trade with local caravan/faction scavenged items.

[Adamiks]

+1 but... There is a problem. There is no light speed ships in Rimworld, so even if someone would found the planet trading would take a lot of years. For example i want to sell some medicine to a trader in another solar system. Before i will get my silver i will need to wait like from let's say.... 10 to even X years.

[BetaSpectre]

IMO you should have to talk to people who visit you to start trading with caravans.
Or rather have the caravans scheduled to visit you. Like DF style no?

[Toggle]

I think it's a good idea, but yeah would still need work. What about a variation of this, satellites? Would require pieces bought from traders as said above, and then the research to build the object. Would require being unroofed, 2x2 once built. What this would do would unlock an ability with the communications console, "Locate a trader" in the far off galaxy. Would require a certain amount of work, and have a chance to either locate a trading ship or not. If you locate them though, the screen pops up for trading, you can trade or not, but after exiting you cannot trade with them again, they're lost to you.

This method could be used for more trading, not break the games storyline, and is just a random idea.

[ARiA1089]

if this idea was ever implemented i think the main goal of getting off your planet would be dismissed and more of "lets take all the silver from that planet with 200 golden sculptors and lets have out entire colony flood with silver because of it"