with the next expansion coming out, I cant help but think of what I would personally like to see in future expansions.



Here are my thoughts

1. slightly nerf dust collection for all factions in order to make selling items to the market more of a staple for dust income

2. limit the supply on the market so that it only has enough there to raise prices to maximum, no more infinite anything. Only minor factions that are non-pacified automatically generate units as mercs, and only at the rate they normally generate roving armies by.Resources generate in the market at a very slow rate to increase demand, capping at whatever the original amount on the market was and stopping once an empire is able to collect them. Stockpiles do not re-generate

3. Selling anything to the market increases the supply

4. slightly decrease the production costs of units and slightly increase the production costs of buildings to both encourage selling produced units on the market and the buying of industry stockpiles, which are also limited.

5.slightly reduce the "price floor" for market goods and raise the price ceiling.

6. add hud to the faction trading screen to show current market prices for all applicable goods.

7. unsold goods on the market reduce in price over time. Conversely, if the amount of any market good ever reaches 0, the market value increases until some items are supplied.

8. the prices for heroes and units is based, not on the demand for heroes and units in general, but on the demand for hero's and units of that type.

So, for units, the main portion of their cost is placed on the demand for that particular unit (e.g. silics or urces), a smaller portion based on the demand for a unit type (infantry, flying), another small portion based on level, and the cost of their current equipment is simply slapped on.

For heroes, the main portion of their cost is based on demand for units and heroes from their faction. A secondary portion based on the demand for their unit type. another small portion for their current level and the cost of their equipment is slapped on.

9. Units sold to the market and NOT instantly sold. Rather they are put on the market, so their home empire wont have to pay their maintenance cost.

10. units on the market will stay there for x ammount of turns before returning to the seller. If a unit is put back up on the market, the price of all units from that empire is reduced in addition to whatever reduction takes place from units simply not selling for a long enough time. (similarly, units belonging to minor factions that do not sell are returned to the minor faction in question, instantly becoming part of a roving army)

10. Empire receives dust if/ when the unit sells

11. slightly increase maintenance cost of garrisoned units to encourage sale



SYNERGY with the new GUARDIANS DLC

-new mega units can also be sold on the market with their own respective demand

-random events are given harsh-ish negative effects which are applied at the end of the random event which can be avoided entirely if an empire has x ammount of a luxury or strategic resource by that time, driving demand

-random events are given harsh-ish negative effects which are applied at the end of the random event which are only applied to empires that have more than x ammount of a certain luxury or strategic resource, destroying demand.



Economic warfare.

I just think it would be a cool idea to, in the span of three turns, effectively bankrupt a player and make a hefty profit doing so, or devalue the worth of their dust coins and increase the value of your own. Complete certain quests to drive market costs etc etc etc.



This would add a warfare element to nations in alliance and at war as figuring out their plans and foiling them in a way to make a profit will give you an upper hand in any conflict. combined with the suggested espionage idea in some way, this could result in some very interesting game play.

What if, instead of instantly, it took a few turns to receive what you purchased in the market. On its arrival you have to pay the then market price for it or turn it away and your goods could be stolen while they are in transit...





What do you guys think? is there a way to make genuine economic warfare a compelling addition to EL? What systems would be needed to make it fun and challenging for all?

I just slapped down some basic concepts to flesh out the idea. I'm sure some refinements and additions could be made.

Incidentally, this will all buff the roving clans to some degree, giving them an arguably needed edge.

I definitely agree that they need to find a way to make the marketplace more integral to the gameplay, as it's one of the more unique features of the game.

HappyHead wrote:


2. Only minor factions that are non-pacified automatically generate units as mercs, and only at the rate they normally generate roving armies by.

I believe the game actually does work like this at the moment, and I would like to see it changed so that there's a small random portion of units on the market. Otherwise, the mercenary market ends up completely empty in the mid to end-game, which is annoying for all factions if a quest asks for a specific unit type, and game-breaking for the Roving Clans.

HappyHead wrote:


7. unsold goods on the market reduce in price over time. Conversely, if the amount of any market good ever reaches 0, the market value increases until some items are supplied.

This is definitely how it should work. I am incredibly annoyed by the fact that even though nobody buys any resources and the supply keeps going up and up, so does the price every turn, until the market is full of 500 units of titanium at triple the original price. That is not how supply and demand work, further hampers the Roving Clans, and in my opinion makes the marketplace less interesting to use. Frankly, it feels like the only reason that resource prices are constantly going up is the inability to balance the dust income properly.

The-Cat-o-Nine-Tales wrote:


I believe the game actually does work like this at the moment, and I would like to see it changed so that there's a small random portion of units on the market. Otherwise, the mercenary market ends up completely empty in the mid to end-game, which is annoying for all factions if a quest asks for a specific unit type, and game-breaking for the Roving Clans.

Oh, is that right? Well then... You make a good point.

Perhaps it would be best to re-examine the merc shop then...

1. non- pacified villages generate units for the shop, these units depreciate in value over time and stay in the shop indefinitely. (resulting in a hoard of low level and ill-equipped units one can buy on the cheap if they so desire)

-needless to say, a scroll bar should be added to the merc market for this to work.

2. pacified villages cease to generate units for the merc market. However, their respective unit will be available for sale at their maximum price (which does not decrease over time due to scarcity). These units will be equipped with gear belonging to whatever age the lead player is in and their price will adjust accordingly, they will, however, always be sold as level one units.

-this only applies if all villages of a certain minor civ are pacified

3. players who assimilate villages of totally pacified factions will receive a portion of the proceeds from the sale of their respective units in proportion to the % of their villages they own.

-Players who chose to sell a minor fac unit at this point can rest assured that the price will never be lower than the price for the always available unit, but will not receive any dust until its sale







Still, all this really only enhances the market... there has to be a way for economic warfare to become a thing... perhapse if faction trade also somehow affected the market.... or if each civ had their own currencies which could increase and decrease in value...... i dunno

How about the market would regenerate amount of units and resources on it's own?

Garlic wrote:
How about the market would regenerate amount of units and resources on it's own?

It already does that, doesn't it?

More importantly, have you ever run into a situation where you have run OUT of anything on the market? Everything I've suggested has been rigged to force things to possibly run out in the market to make some things valuable in the late game.

Then again, I only play on endless, is the market more scarce in the other time settings?

It already does that, doesn't it?

Actually, nope about the units. If all villages gets pacified, you won't see any units in the market.

More importantly, have you ever run into a situation where you have run OUT of anything on the market?

Yes about units. I had bought out one strat resource and it have not restored after the time.



i play on hard difficulty (actually concidering harder one) and always on smallest map.



Imo units and resources should be always available in the market...

Garlic wrote:
Actually, nope about the units. If all villages gets pacified, you won't see any units in the market.

Yes about units. I had bought out one strat resource and it have not restored after the time.



i play on hard difficulty (actually concidering harder one) and always on smallest map.



Imo units and resources should be always available in the market...

huh, interesting, I play on the biggest map size so its nearly impossible to settle everything. I never run out of units and so it always seems odd how expensive they are in my games...



Does anyone know how the resource system works? Do resources regenerate?

My games start out with 100 of each resource and it would seem that they regenerate over time, but it could be people selling their resources...