Contract guide?

[DickNixon]

So I'm asking for a 'friend' ;-)

 

But can someone post a quick guide on how to use the contract system... & how to set prices?

 

I *cough* I mean my friend, is totally befuddled when it comes to choosing a price for the 1,975 blocks he has sitting in his inventory.

 

I'm *cough* I mean he, is also a little confused as to why he can sell resources, but not materials...

 

Thanks

[FlyingRoss]

Check my channel. Guide to contracts and trading coming out tomorrow  

[Jon Allen]

If the idea is to make a profit, this is all math done by hand. Setting up a contract requires you to pay 10% of the value upfront. So if you decide to sell your blocks for 1000 gold total (the whole lot), then it'll cost you 100 gold up front.

 

As for how much you should sell them for, that entirely depends. But start with how much it cost you to buy the basic materials in the first place that were used to create the blocks. Then maybe tack on a little more than that for a profit margin, and maybe a little more to compensate for the 10% I mentioned above.

 

The best case scenario, you sell in a free port or capital, where there is shipbuilding going on, and where blocks (and the basic materials needed to make blocks) cannot be found. To look for signs that shipbuilding is happening, look at the ships for sale there. If you see a lot of ships for sale with people's names on them, odds are there is some shipbuilding going on there and those crafters are keeping an eye on the local stuff for sale at their hub.

 

To really increase the odds, find a specific crafter, arrange a deal. How many blocks for how much gold at which port.

Edited February 3, 2016 by Jon Allen

[DickNixon]

Is there any way to see what other people are listing an item for?

 

My personal thing is capturing merchants, using their raw materials to craft items and then selling the items I crafted (I figure this way I level up my crafting, get to shoot my guns, and hopefully make a profit along the way).

 

It would be nice to be able to see all the active contracts listed in whatever port you happen to be in, to gauge the market so to speak. 

 

Right now I'm looking at the listed price in the shop, and cutting my prices by like ~10 percent to under-cut what I assume to be other players? Are those player listings? Or are those auto-generated port listings?

[FlyingRoss]

Is there any way to see what other people are listing an item for?

 

My personal thing is capturing merchants, using their raw materials to craft items and then selling the items I crafted (I figure this way I level up my crafting, get to shoot my guns, and hopefully make a profit along the way).

 

It would be nice to be able to see all the active contracts listed in whatever port you happen to be in, to gauge the market so to speak. 

 

Right now I'm looking at the listed price in the shop, and cutting my prices by like ~10 percent to under-cut what I assume to be other players? Are those player listings? Or are those auto-generated port listings?

Almost all the buy prices you see are determined by players "sell contracts", and all the sell prices you see are determined by players "buy contracts"

[May Lionheart]

I am also a little bewildered by the the trade mechanics in this game.

 

Can someone kindly walk us through a sample trade, perhaps? Maybe what you purchased or obtained, from which port? Then which port you went to and the process to sell?

 

Thanks!

[DickNixon]

Almost all the buy prices you see are determined by players "sell contracts", and all the sell prices you see are determined by players "buy contracts"

 

Okay, so the prices I see in the shop are the actual prices being set by other players then ... and I should continue to price accordingly?

 

If that is so, then I am still a little confused as to why I can 'sell' resources w/out a contract, but not materials even though there are 'sell' prices listed for materials? To sell materials, I have to create a sell contract (can't just click 'sell' in the shop window).

 

For reference, I am listing in Port Royal, which seems to have a pretty vigorous economy going.

 

 

,.,

 

Tangent: I'm sure there are many other more important things, but as a suggestion, a more robust trade system (ala Eve's contracts) would be wonderful :-)

 

Not that I'm not super-impressed with the progress of the game over the last year. (double negative. For clarity: I am super-impressed).

[Salty Dog.]

Okay, so the prices I see in the shop are the actual prices being set by other players then ... and I should continue to price accordingly?

 

If that is so, then I am still a little confused as to why I can 'sell' resources w/out a contract, but not materials even though there are 'sell' prices listed for materials? To sell materials, I have to create a sell contract (can't just click 'sell' in the shop window).

 

For reference, I am listing in Port Royal, which seems to have a pretty vigorous economy going.

 

 

,.,

 

Tangent: I'm sure there are many other more important things, but as a suggestion, a more robust trade system (ala Eve's contracts) would be wonderful :-)

 

Not that I'm not super-impressed with the progress of the game over the last year. (double negative. For clarity: I am super-impressed).

 

when you do a sell contract, you are not selling them at that moment.  You are offering them for sale.  If nobody buy them they don't get sold.  Think of it as Amazon.  You use amazon to sell your product at a price you set.  Amazon holds your product until it sells then gives you the money.  when you have a sell contract, the item is then buyable from the materials list.

 

When you do a buy contract your are not buying them at that moment.  You are offering to buy any resources or crafted items players sell to the port at YOUR buy price.  your contract is filled by either the port filling the contract from the items the port produces OR by players selling resources they have.  

 

Materials are only sellable if a player has listed a Buy Contract.  I think the UI needs to be changed to only show materials that have buy contracts.  I've sold several crafted items like planking and crafting notes but it's a little difficult to tell what your actually able to sell.  

Edited February 3, 2016 by Sea Daddy

[May Lionheart]

when you do a sell contract, you are not selling them at that moment.  You are offering them for sale.  If nobody buy them they don't get sold.  Think of it as Amazon.  You use amazon to sell your product at a price you set.  Amazon holds your product until it sells then gives you the money.  when you have a sell contract, the item is then buyable from the materials list.

 

When you do a buy contract your are not buying them at that moment.  You are offering to buy any resources or crafted items players sell to the port at YOUR buy price.  your contract is filled by either the port filling the contract from the items the port produces OR by players selling resources they have.  

 

Materials are only sellable if a player has listed a Buy Contract.  I think the UI needs to be changed to only show materials that have buy contracts.  I've sold several crafted items like planking and crafting notes but it's a little difficult to tell what your actually able to sell.  

 

This was very helpful and clarified trading a little for me at least. The point is to try and sell your goods for a profit but make the price appealing enough that you undercut competitors?

[ulysse77]

Also, remember that ressources sold by the producing port change according to the stock.. A port produce Oak log... the store stock is 2000, the log will be cheap... as the ressources get bought the price, from the store get higher. So even in the port that produce the ressources the prices varies...

 

The only way to see if you sell to a player is if you don`t see the store stock change then you are selling to a contract. To my knowledge there`s no way to see if you buy from the port or a contract... Because port will buy any ressources, even the ones that are not consume there, they will just buy it really cheap.

[DickNixon]

Also, remember that ressources sold by the producing port change according to the stock.. A port produce Oak log... the store stock is 2000, the log will be cheap... as the ressources get bought the price, from the store get higher. So even in the port that produce the ressources the prices varies...

 

The only way to see if you sell to a player is if you don`t see the store stock change then you are selling to a contract. To my knowledge there`s no way to see if you buy from the port or a contract... Because port will buy any ressources, even the ones that are not consume there, they will just buy it really cheap.

 

Okay, that makes sense to me now. So the port will buy resources, but not necessarily material, which is why sometimes you can sell material and sometimes not correct?

 

Again, it would be nice to see which prices are set by whom, just to get an idea of market values. As-is, it's hard to tell who is selling what for what amount, who is dumping things cheap, who is over-selling, and what the "base price" (as set by the AI port) is for different resources/materials.

 

Hard to gauge the market. Maybe I should just start keeping spreadsheets for reference.

[Raivo LT]

I am a beginner in the game, too, but I've noted one simple rule: popular production ports, usually short distance to the capital or free cities, don't sell resources for cheap prices, as they are overexploited and the stocks are small. But if you happen to find rarely visited ports, usually at the outbacks, you can hit really good deals, like Pine Log for 11 gold, or Stone Block for 5.

Also if a port consumes some resources you won't always sell them for a good price there, as many players come to dump their loads and the market is overstocked.

[Capt_Streak]

It sure would be nice if you could walk around the port and see the shipyards in service. I mean, those trees with ropes on them sticking out are kind of a dead giveaway

[hensay741]

What started out well with difficult and challenging to wish you well with its mission