potatoskunk
Master Corporal
Proposal:
Modify the market to make it easy to see the best trade ratio when trading two goods, and to allow entering a ratio instead of a number
Have you Checked the Ideas section for the same idea posted by someone else? Is this idea similar to one that has been previously suggested?
Yes, and no
Reason:
The 2:1 ratio for trading goods across eras is completely arbitrary and has nothing to do with supply and demand; a fair ratio would probably tend to be closer to 1.5:1 but would fluctuate in response to temporary spikes in supply and demand. However, the 2:1 ratio is easy and ingrained into the culture, and as a result, trading goods up is easy because lots of people are willing to take two lower-age goods in exchange for one higher-age good, but trading goods down is difficult and can take a long time unless a fellow guild-mate or a friend helps you out at their own expense. I went into much more detail on the economics of this in this post; the TLDR version is that the 2:1 ratio hurts people because it makes it hard to do trades that would make both people better off.
The main argument that I see against switching away from 2:1 as standard is that 2:1 is easy, but checking and calculating ratios is complicated and time consuming. So, why not change the interface to do that work automatically?
Details:
When you bring up the market window and search for a specific trade (say, offer honey/need copper), it shows you all offers, sorted by the best deal. So far so good. This allows you to grab the best deal in the market if you consider it good enough.
However, when you go to the Create Offer window, you are given no information on what other deals area available, and you have to enter specific quantities. Additionally, it defaults the quantities to a 2:1 (or 1:2) ratio if you select goods across ages.
What if, when you select goods, it displayed the ratio of the current best offer in the market? Additionally, what if there was a field for you to enter the ratio, and if you enter that instead of the quantity it would calculate the quantities automatically?
For example, let's say I want to trade Copper for Iron. It will tell me that the current best offer is at a ratio of 1:1.4 - i.e. I could get 140 iron for 100 copper. I could have seen that in the Trading tab that shows the list of available trades too, but this way I don't have to check. I decide I want a better deal than that and am prepared to wait for someone to accept it - maybe I want 1:1.6.
Then I enter 100 Copper, and then, instead of calculating ratios and quantities, I simply enter 1.6 in the ratio field. That would automatically calculate and fill in 160 in the Iron quantity field. I can double-check to make sure I'm happy with the proposed trade, and then click Create Offer.
Visual Aids:
A somewhat messy mock-up of how it could look:
If you enter the quantities for Copper and Iron, it would calculate and display the ratio automatically.
If you enter the quantity for Copper and then enter a ratio, it would calculate and display the Iron amount automatically.
If you enter the quantity for Iron and then enter a ratio, it would calculate and display the Copper amount automatically.
If both quantities are entered and you modify the ratio, it should recalculate and update the lower quantity (in this case, Iron).
Balance:
This would not affect the balance of the game in any way. All it would do would be to aid more efficient trading.
A somewhat detailed discussion of the effect of trading with prices based on supply and demand rather than the arbitrary 2:1 ratio can be found in this post. The TLDR version is that it would make it easy to quickly trade resources across ages by making it easy to identify a true fair price that reflects supply and demand. If you want a fast trade, you beat the current best offer. If you want a better price and are prepared to wait for a spike in demand for what you're offering, you set a higher price. You would no longer have to rely on guild-mates and friends helping you out at their own expense. Additionally, the ready availability of accurate prices will tell people that certain goods are selling at a higher price, so they could ramp up production of those goods; if Copper is selling at high prices, people will start producing Copper to sell, which will eliminate the shortage.
Abuse Prevention:
None needed.
Modify the market to make it easy to see the best trade ratio when trading two goods, and to allow entering a ratio instead of a number
Have you Checked the Ideas section for the same idea posted by someone else? Is this idea similar to one that has been previously suggested?
Yes, and no
Reason:
The 2:1 ratio for trading goods across eras is completely arbitrary and has nothing to do with supply and demand; a fair ratio would probably tend to be closer to 1.5:1 but would fluctuate in response to temporary spikes in supply and demand. However, the 2:1 ratio is easy and ingrained into the culture, and as a result, trading goods up is easy because lots of people are willing to take two lower-age goods in exchange for one higher-age good, but trading goods down is difficult and can take a long time unless a fellow guild-mate or a friend helps you out at their own expense. I went into much more detail on the economics of this in this post; the TLDR version is that the 2:1 ratio hurts people because it makes it hard to do trades that would make both people better off.
The main argument that I see against switching away from 2:1 as standard is that 2:1 is easy, but checking and calculating ratios is complicated and time consuming. So, why not change the interface to do that work automatically?
Details:
When you bring up the market window and search for a specific trade (say, offer honey/need copper), it shows you all offers, sorted by the best deal. So far so good. This allows you to grab the best deal in the market if you consider it good enough.
However, when you go to the Create Offer window, you are given no information on what other deals area available, and you have to enter specific quantities. Additionally, it defaults the quantities to a 2:1 (or 1:2) ratio if you select goods across ages.
What if, when you select goods, it displayed the ratio of the current best offer in the market? Additionally, what if there was a field for you to enter the ratio, and if you enter that instead of the quantity it would calculate the quantities automatically?
For example, let's say I want to trade Copper for Iron. It will tell me that the current best offer is at a ratio of 1:1.4 - i.e. I could get 140 iron for 100 copper. I could have seen that in the Trading tab that shows the list of available trades too, but this way I don't have to check. I decide I want a better deal than that and am prepared to wait for someone to accept it - maybe I want 1:1.6.
Then I enter 100 Copper, and then, instead of calculating ratios and quantities, I simply enter 1.6 in the ratio field. That would automatically calculate and fill in 160 in the Iron quantity field. I can double-check to make sure I'm happy with the proposed trade, and then click Create Offer.
Visual Aids:
A somewhat messy mock-up of how it could look:
If you enter the quantities for Copper and Iron, it would calculate and display the ratio automatically.
If you enter the quantity for Copper and then enter a ratio, it would calculate and display the Iron amount automatically.
If you enter the quantity for Iron and then enter a ratio, it would calculate and display the Copper amount automatically.
If both quantities are entered and you modify the ratio, it should recalculate and update the lower quantity (in this case, Iron).
Balance:
This would not affect the balance of the game in any way. All it would do would be to aid more efficient trading.
A somewhat detailed discussion of the effect of trading with prices based on supply and demand rather than the arbitrary 2:1 ratio can be found in this post. The TLDR version is that it would make it easy to quickly trade resources across ages by making it easy to identify a true fair price that reflects supply and demand. If you want a fast trade, you beat the current best offer. If you want a better price and are prepared to wait for a spike in demand for what you're offering, you set a higher price. You would no longer have to rely on guild-mates and friends helping you out at their own expense. Additionally, the ready availability of accurate prices will tell people that certain goods are selling at a higher price, so they could ramp up production of those goods; if Copper is selling at high prices, people will start producing Copper to sell, which will eliminate the shortage.
Abuse Prevention:
None needed.