Trading system-quantity selection

[Gruhn101]

Hey all

I love the progress this game is making as well as the direction it is heading. And since it is still in alpha, I am not sure what features or tweaks are in the works.  After a quick search I noticed no one mentioning what I am about to say.

My suggestion may help the trading system be more precise.  I like the idea of the launchpad, lets bring it back. Yet, for improvement, don't just make it another stockpile location.  Add sliders or a box you can type in a number of what specific good the colonists should place there for trading. When a quantity is specified, colonists will remove the desired item/s from normal stockpiles and place them in the area to be traded which will remove the items intended for trade from the usable item pool.  If you no longer wish to trade the item/s decrease the desired number to zero, in which case the colonists removes items from trading area and replaces them in normal stockpiles. It would not need an exhaustive list of all the things in the game, just a quick check of what is internally available (the items already placed in the trade-able zone) and what the normal stockpiles currently hold.

The benefits of doing this are many: greater control over what is traded, can hide main stockpiles away from open areas, only expose a few select items to the elements/raiders, by removing items from usable item pool you can save stuff for later use, no longer reliant on colonists randomly choosing to place stuff in the trade-able area, and I'm sure many other benefits.

I was somewhat surprised that I had not seen this recommendation or something similar when I searched the forum... I'm sure this is not a new idea... then again, I've always excelled at stating the obvious. 

[Pulaskimask]

You're not stating the obvious, and I haven't seen this suggested. However, I do believe many, many people dislike the imprecise slider mechanic and would prefer if they could just type in a number. Also, I believe it may be the case that the current trade system is only a stopgap measure for the alpha version of the game and will be entirely scrapped and reworked later in the game's development. I like this suggestion but I'm not sure how trade is going to be developed and if this suggestion will remain relevant in later releases.