Well, there is a thread explaining this, but I have no idea where it is now. It is from before the forum was split into multiple forums.

Try searching for it. If you don't find it, post again, and I'll answer. You might also search for it by my name. The first post contains my speculations, later posts have correct information.

K?

Ceylon

hte first number is the level requirement to buy the good, the second is the minimum reputation needed to buy it.

the others, well, i think noone really knows...

The last one's a price multiplier, isn't it?

Marketgood = A, B, C, D, E, F

A = Level requirement
B = Reputation, -1 equals any. 0.8 = really high.
C, D = has to be a value for it to be sold.
0,0 - not sold
10,10 - for equipment and ships
50,50 - For missiles and mines
100,100 - For Shield Batteries and nanobots
150,120 - Commodities

I think I just figured out what these mean! Lemme check it out real quick. I'll post an answer later tonight. I've got school work to do first.

E = ?
F = price multiplier.


Ceylon

Edited by - ceylon on 27-04-2003 20:07:08

For commodities (based on some testing I've been doing, and some other topics I've read).

MarketGood,A,B,C,D,E,F

MarketGood=the commodity 'nickname'
A=I've read that this is the level you must have reached to buy (It's always 0 for commodities on the shipping version of the files)
B=I've read that this is the reputation you must have to be able to trade, not tested it though. It is always -1 for commodities on the shipping version of the files.
C=?
D=?
E=0 or 1. 1 means that the commodity is bought and sold, 1 it is bought.
F=the price multiplier, a factor of the 'base price'. (The base price is stored in the goods.ini file)





Status: Elite - BBC Micro

Thank you very much.

Terrence...

What do you mean that if e is 1 the item is bought and sold and if e is 1 it is bought?

What appears to control purchasing are c and d. Have you found a relationship between e and purchase availability? If so, please elaborate. That is one I haven't been able to figure out.

For a moment I thought that c and d might affect which screen the items was bought and sold on, but that doesn't appear to be the case. My original hypothesis is that they were some sort of limit to how many of an item you could buy at one time, but I'm pretty sure that isn't the case.

Ceylon

Mmm, as well as being explained badly, I also put a confusing typo in. Let me try again. I repeat that my knowledge such as it is, is limited to commodities only.

If E=0 it means that the base sells the commodity at the standard price, multiplied by F. Because it also sells at that price, it buys at that price too. Bizarre, no profit!

If E=1 it means that the base buys the commodity, but does not sell it. It buys at the standard price multiplied by F.

I've written a prog that decompresses and parses all the INI files in the UNIVERSE and EQUIPMENT folders to produce tables in a Microshaft Access database. Then using various queries and joins between tables, I've produced a spreadsheet with buy and sell prices. As far as I can tell, from the info on this site and the FCC utility, the prices using my values for E and F are correct.

I have found no use for C and D. I wonder whether it's linked to this rumoured 'intelligent' market pricing. Sort of 'watermarks' for price changes? What I do know is that in the shipping INI files, the C,D values are ALWAYS 0,0 or 150,500.

Status: Elite - BBC Micro

Edited by - Terence Darby on 28-04-2003 13:53:53

In the following example.

Base X
Marketgood = supa_blasta_cannon, 0, -1, 10, 10, 1, 1

Good = supa_blasta_cannon
price = 1000

At base x, the supa blasta cannon will be sold for 1000 and bought for 1000? Really? If that's so, that's a very useful piece of information. Are you sure? If you leave and re-enter the screen it still has a sale value of 1000? Not 300?

I would test this right now, but I'm doing a bunch of work to get people reay for exams (myself included), that I don't really have time to tdo any modding for the next week or so.

Thanks,
Ceylon

No.

As I've tried to emphasise in every post, my research is only for commodities, not weapons, not ammunition, and not other ship equipment.

Right, but the format is exactly the same for commodities and equipment.

The variables may have different required modifiers, but hey apply to the same thing, except possibly e, since noone knows what it does.

For commodities:

If c,d = 0,0 it is not sold. if c,d = 150,500 it is sold.
f affects the price. if you set it to 5, the buy/sell price is 5 times the normal.

e does not affect this. Check it out. I was hoping you had found a use for variable e. If e has an effect, it does something else.

As far as I can tell, the following two lines will have the same result. I can't find the difference.

MarketGood = commodity_oxygen, 0, -1, 0, 0, 1, 0.600000
MarketGood = commodity_oxygen, 0, -1, 0, 0, 0, 0.600000

The base will buy the item at 60% of the selling price. I know this because I have made new items, with variable prices, and they always have an e value of 0
Have you found a difference?

Ceylon

Perhaps you're right. I've just been parsing INI files, you've been experimenting with the effects of values on the game. So you're more likely to be right.

However, it's probably worth noting that for commodities, only 2 C,D,E patterns occur in the shipping INI files. They are 0,0,1 and 150,500,0. So until someone figures out what E is for, it's probably best to avoid 0,0,0

Status: Elite - BBC Micro

Well, you did come up with something interesting. The fact that the e value appears to be different in some cases. I can think of a few things it might affect. I'll give some of them a try.

If you figure anything out, let me know.

Ceylon