Buying and selling goods at a market (Jangala, in the Corvus Star System)
Markets are inhabited planets and space stations belonging that participate in trade. Markets will produce and use commodities and weapons, deploy fleets of ships, and provide repair and refitting services to non-hostile players. Player colonies are also markets.
Each market belongs to a faction and has one or more market conditions and industries, representing social or environmental conditions and economic facilities that affect the production or consumption of goods. Higher-population markets have an increased supply and demand.
Markets also have a stability value that reflects the degree of socioeconomic development and government control at the location. A low stability increases the number of items on the black market at the expense of the legal markets, and makes the market more vulnerable to hostile actions such as raids and bombardments.
Submarkets[]
Different submarkets carry different items. There are several submarket types:
Open market[]
| The open market. Only legal goods may be traded here, and transactions are subject to tariffs. More goods are available when stability is high.
Selling enough of a commodity will temporarily resolve a shortage. |
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–In-game Description | ||
The standard submarket. Sells most commodities, along with regular, civilian-grade weapons and ships, and somewhat damaged military ships. Not accessible when sneaking past patrols into an unfriendly market.
Accessing the open market on a player colony requires the Commerce industry.
Military base[]
| Trade with this faction's military base.
Weapons and other military hardware can be bought and sold here even if they're illegal on the open market. A commission and better standing with this faction results in higher-grade hardware being available. Will buy locally illegal goods as part of a no-questions-asked buyback program. Selling enough of a commodity will temporarily resolve a shortage. |
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–In-game Description | ||
Military bases will sell ships and weapons not found on the open market, with a higher reputation unlocking more items. They will also buy goods that are illegal on the open market. This submarket is only available on markets with the Military Base market condition, and requires favorable or better relations to access.
A faction commission is required to purchase any item that also requires a Welcoming or higher reputation level, if the faction issues commissions.
The military base is not found on player colonies.
Black market[]
| The black market. Anything and everything can be bought or sold, and there are no tariffs. More goods are available when stability is low.
Selling enough of a commodity will temporarily resolve a shortage. Black market transactions may catch the eye of authorities, resulting in cargo scans and reduced faction standing, unless the trades are carried out with the transponder turned off. Engaging in legitimate trade as a "cover" also reduces the probability of attracting the attention of authorities. |
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–In-game Description | ||
The black market charges no tariffs, making it more profitable than the open market. The black market also carries illegal items and military-grade ships and weapons not normally found on the open market. A lower stability value will make more items available on the black market.
Smuggling (i.e. trading on the black market) will destabilize the local market, with selling illegal goods into the market having a greater effect. Suspicions of smuggling will cause the player to lose reputation with the faction operating the market, and can attract attention from nearby patrols who will search for contraband. Trading on the open market at the same time as smuggling will reduce smuggling suspicion, while having the transponder off eliminates it. The suspicion level is visible as a tooltip on the black market button. Free ports do not care about smuggling activity.
Smuggling raises reputation with the pirates, but not when done on pirate bases. Players can trade with the black market regardless of current reputation with the pirates.
Selling blueprints to the black market will cause the pirates to learn them after several months, and use that equipment in their fleets. This can significantly increase the game's difficulty, but can also be done to obtain a new source of recoverable high-end gear.
Unlike the open and military submarkets, the black market does not require the player to dock with their transponder active.
Black markets are not found on player colonies.
Resource stockpiles[]
Only found on player colonies. The stockpile lets players take resources produced by a colony, paying only the base price (deducted from colony income at the end of the month). Resources here (including those transferred into the submarket by the player) can also be used to counteract temporary shortages.
Storage[]
| Storage space for ships and cargo. | ||
–In-game Description | ||
A place for the player to stash ships and items. Requires a one-time fee of 5000 credits to access, except for player colonies and some recently abandoned bases.
Storage on other factions' markets incurs a fee equal to 1% of the price of the stored items per month. The abandoned station and player colonies provide free storage.
Up to date for version 0.97