5 Faction Trade Events

[REMworlder]

An upcoming feature mentioned by Tynan is ground-traveling trade caravans from other factions. As the caravans set off in search of distant markets, they're weighed down heavily by not just wares and silver but also intrigue. Here are a few events that might happen. Since we don't know much about how trade caravans might work, assume the messages happen in a manner similar to the Chased Refugee event.

I. Smuggler? I hardly know her
The player receives a message from a local enemy colony, sent by a smuggler. Your factions are enemies, but the trader turned rogue needs to get rid of the goods desperately.
  Options- ignore the offer or send over some silver in exchange for the goods in question.
  Outcomes- random chance of nothing happening, or the badly wounded smuggler appears on the map with a message that his traitorous trading was discovered and he joins the colony

Just for the record, the weather today is partly suspicious with chances of betrayal.
Chuck Palahniuk, Diary (2003).

II. With Friends Like These, Who Needs Enemies?
The player's relationship with a local faction is great. Members of the allied faction appear on the colony map and politely demand food from the player, claiming their colony is starving and it's desperately needed. They offer nothing in return but goodwill.
  Options- give the faction the raw food or meals demanded, or refuse to help them
  Outcomes- the faction takes the food and leaves, or, if refused or ignored, attacks the colony and steals what food they can

III. hey its me ur brother
The player receives a message, saying "hey its me ur brother." The message asks to trade with the player for weapons.
  Options- the player can agree or refuse
  Outcomes- if the player agrees, the player receives several inexpensive low-quality weapons, or a legendary weapon with a description

^{Caravan - Martiros Saryan 1926}

IV. Black Market Friday Deals
On a day that's a multiple of 7, the player is messaged with an offer about GREAT HOLIDAY SAVINGS. The seller offers heavily discounted gold or items made of gold.
  Options- the player can buy the goods or refuse
  Outcomes - if the goods are bought, the player can get really good deals on gold

MACBETH: Duncan is coming here tonight.
LADY MACBETH: And when is he leaving?
MACBETH: He plans to leave tomorrow.
LADY MACBETH: That day will never come.

V. Lady MacBeth
The player is asked to kill a factionless (eg spacer) neutral visitor on the map in exchange for compensation.
  Options- the player attacks the visitor or doesn't
  Outcomes- if the visitor is killed by the player, the player receives silver. If not, nothing happens. A spooky spot of blood appears near the silver.

[A Friend]

III. hey its me ur brother

I got a chuckle out of this one.

Anyways, these ideas pretty solid. Though I think they should contain a bit more of a negative outcome like you getting scammed in the Black Market deals.

Here's an idea of mine: Promised Shipment
A trader arrives without any merchandise on him. He offers a "sweet" deal with you. You can get X amount of a valuable resource (Plasteel/Gold/Equipment/Food) for a "low" price of X. Odd thing is that you don't receive it immediately. The trader promises that it will arrive in about a week.
  Options - You take the deal, you don't, or you shoot the guy.
  Outcomes - 1. The shipment arrives, 2. A different batch of resources arrives (Steel instead of plasteel), or 3. nothing arrives at all and you get a message about how the colonist that interacted with the trader felt scammed, suffering a minor mood debuff.

[REMworlder]

That's a good idea about the colonist, I hadn't even thought about the roles of the colonists involved in trading.

I like the idea of having arbitrary outcomes where things aren't entirely inside the player's control. At the same time I see how that could be frustrating, especially to new players. Do you think there's a way to turn the outcomes where the player gets scammed into learning experiences or entertainment?

[MeowRailroad]

The traders involved in sketchy deals would need to have different names so that they could sound really fake.

For example:
Quality A1 Plus Import Export Co.
Super Discount United
Bud's 2-for-1 Discount Emporium Spaceship
Get-Cheap-Stuff-Here Company
Shade-E's Bangforbuck Weapons Co.
L. O. Budget Trading Lines
Wes Kimpon Inspections Line (We skimp on inspections)
Tacksfraud Interplanetary

Ok, maybe not as silly, but something that makes you think twice about buying from them.

[A Friend]

That's a good idea about the colonist, I hadn't even thought about the roles of the colonists involved in trading.

I like the idea of having arbitrary outcomes where things aren't entirely inside the player's control. At the same time I see how that could be frustrating, especially to new players. Do you think there's a way to turn the outcomes where the player gets scammed into learning experiences or entertainment?

I think that which faction the trader belongs to would be a great clue. Friendly/Allied Factions are pretty trustworthy and are less likely to scam you. Pirates have a high chance of it.

Edit: Or you could introduce a new mechanic: Examine. You can order a pawn to examine a trader and a little description will pop up that will help provide additional clues. The contents of the text box will vary from "He's wearing cowboy hat. Why can't I have one?" to "So this guy is from the [Hostile Faction] huh? Seems shifty."

Tribals, due to language barriers may misinterpret your words or use weird names for items. Here's an entertaining example: A tribal wishes to trade a shipment of "Boom Booms". Players may think, "Neat, artillery shells". Then about a week later, they send a bunch of boomrats and boomalopes to your base. Then a pirate raid happens hue hue hue hue.