No trade ships anymore in A13?

[asanbr]

I get lots of trade caravans but no trade ships. Haven't seen a single one.

I played on Ice sheet only, I have played like 6 games without seeing 1 trade ship.

does the comms console have to be powered to get notice when they arrive? Previously it could be turned off to save power, and turned on only when a ship arrives to trade.

[Shurp]

Comm console requires power.  And I've traded with trade ships.  I leave it on all the time (it doesn't draw that much power).

[sadpickle]

I spent about 2.5 seasons waiting for a ship with console and beacon and never got one. They are way, way more rare. In that time I got very regular ground caravans, so maybe the game's RNG picks between ground and space and you get what you get. None of them wanted the 4 elephants I tamed.

Eventually everyone's best friend got beat to death by a pirate and the whole base went berserk, RIP.

[SadisticNemesis]

2.5 seasons really isn't much time at all.. plus you had ground trade caravans as you said, so its likely the story teller didn't think you'd need another trader for awhile.

[sadpickle]

2.5 seasons really isn't much time at all.. plus you had ground trade caravans as you said, so its likely the story teller didn't think you'd need another trader for awhile.

Well, yes. But 2.5 seasons is about 7.5 months in A12 time, and I could reliably get 4-6 trade ships a year in A12. I even downed a Thrumbo, which seriously jacked my wealth, but I only got ground caravans. I'm not sure what the metric is to get a ship, whether it's wealth, time or # of colonists, or something else. More data is needed.

[Habalabam]

I believe that I read in the earlier dev notes that trade ships were going to be botched or significantly changed.
Considering that the story of the game is that of stranded people, it would sorta leave a plot hole if they were trading and interacting with space ships. Why wouldn't they just trade for a ticket off the planet?

Trade was supposed to be with neighbouring settlements, but the developer wanted trade possibility before the game was at a stage where this could be achieved. So the quick solution was a console that just magically made it happen.

I haven't kept up to date on the dev blog for some time, so this may be severely outdated (or wrong).

[Mathenaut]

I believe that I read in the earlier dev notes that trade ships were going to be botched or significantly changed.
Considering that the story of the game is that of stranded people, it would sorta leave a plot hole if they were trading and interacting with space ships.

No. It wouldn't. Have you tried hitchhiking in real life? Unless you find someone going where you need to go, the only place you'd get is to another rimworld - and that's assuming the trader is willing to take you. They don't know who you are.

If trade ships are going to be capped, then they are no longer the balancing element to the rng. There was already some foresight with this, seeing as many traders carry components, that's great. Get someone that isn't an exotic space trader with gold and it'll be kosher.

[Shurp]

Trade ships definitely seem rarer.  I'm 3/4s of the way into the first year on my current game and I think I've seen two.  But I've run into several trade caravans.  So maybe the trade caravans just need to be better stocked.

[asanbr]

I started playing Ice Sheet a week or so in A12 and learned to build comms console as one of the first things, so that I could buy food from bulk traders. It's harder with caravans because they don't often carry food.

[Shawnganz]

I'm on a year streak with no trade ships, I'm hurting right now for components and iron because my colony random was on a non-mountainous terrain. My non-tribal neighbors are 50+ and 95+ relations, they come but caravans are sparse. It certainly makes the game harder and makes you play differently, so while writing this I guess I can't really complain.

But yeah, trade ships are really less frequent, unfortunately for me, so are caravans.

[Prodigga]

I have put in around 10 hours in to A13, have not been in contact with a single trade ship yet.

[Shurp]

Yeah, it seems that thanks to the lack of trade ships you really have to build a self-sufficient colony.  The good news is that with components you can now make your own rifles and armor.  The bad news is that you need gold and plasteel to get components going.

In other words, flat and small hills are now *much* harder.  But you can usually find plasteel on a large hills map.  And caravans occasionally have gold.

[Prodigga]

I just want to get rid of some of my crap ;p

[Coenmcj]

I'm feeling the lack of trade ships, the caravans barely buy anything and when they do, they rarely have the silver, hadn't really noticed it while testing... otherwise I would of brought it up then. It isn't so bad now with waste goods, since you can break down alot of stuff into cloth and steel.

[Mathenaut]

I'm feeling the lack of trade ships, the caravans barely buy anything and when they do, they rarely have the silver, hadn't really noticed it while testing... otherwise I would of brought it up then. It isn't so bad now with waste goods, since you can break down alot of stuff into cloth and steel.

You can break stuff down into cloth and steel? I haven't seen this yet.