Real-Life Economics
Contents
Overview
For me, one of the least satisfying elements of this game (going all the way back to the good ol' days playing Elite on my ancient Commodore 128) has always been the extremely unrealistic economics model.
In Elite, this behavior is hard-coded into the game, beyond the reach of all but Mr. Bell and Mr. Braben. Oolite, thanks to Mr. Williams and Mr. Ayton (among others) allows any clumsy, talentless hack (like Yous Truly) to pop the hood and monkey around the
The Lazy-Trader Shuffle
"How brilliant of me to notice that! I must be some kind of a genius! I'll just find a Rich Industrial/Poor Agricultural pair -- reasonably close to one another -- and make a killing hauling Computers one way and Liquor/Wines back... it's idiot-proof!"
Star Clusters and the Local Economic Balance
A star cluster is just what the name suggests... a group of stars Every system in the Ooniverse is the hub of its own cluster. Any star within jump distance (seven Light-years) of that system (the hub) is a member of the cluster.
The local Economic Balance
Effect on Prices
The lowest price you'll ever find for Computers will be in a Poor Industrial system in a heavily-Industrialized cluster. The highest price will be in a Rich Agricultural system in a heavily-Agricultural cluster.
