Commodities

Commodities are various resources that are produced and consumed by different buildings and can be purchased in markets. Some of them are simple trade goods, while some are required by the fleet to function or perform specific actions.

List of Commodities

Base Price: The unmodified price to buy/sell in a market

Economic Unit: The number of an item available if a market has a shortage/surplus of 1 in the colony

Price per Economic Unit: The trade value of one unit of shortage/surplus

Commodities List
Icon	Commodity	Base Price	Economic Unit	Price per Economic Unit
	Supplies	100¢	750	75,000¢
	Fuel	25¢	1,500	37,500¢
	Crew	50¢	500	25,000¢
	Marines	200¢	100	20,000¢
	Food	20¢	2000	40,000¢
	Ore	10¢	5000	50,000¢
	Metals	30¢	2000	60,000¢
	Transplutonic Ore	75¢	500	37,500¢
	Transplutonics	200¢	200	40,000¢
	Organics	30¢	1500	45,000¢
	Volatiles	250¢	200	50,000¢
	Domestic Goods	50¢	1000	50,000¢
	Luxury Goods	100¢	500	50,000¢
	Heavy Machinery	150¢	300	45,000¢
	Heavy Armaments	500¢	200	100,000¢
	Recreational Drugs	200¢	400	80,000¢
	Harvested Organs	300¢	200	60,000¢
	Volturnian Lobster	100¢	500	50,000¢

When trading or smuggling the most money is made when buying cheap (somewhere with a surplus) and selling high (somewhere with a shortage). If you have a small cargo capacity it is best to pick commodities with high individual price. If you have a high cargo capacity it is better to choose commodities with a high price per economic unit. The idea is to buy the entire surplus and fulfil the entire defecit.

Important Commodities

These commodities are required or consumed by various fleet operations

Crew

Main article: Crew

Most ships require crew to run. Failing to have enough crew to man all ships will reduce their maximum combat readiness. Crew members can die in battle if the ships take hull damage or are destroyed.

Supplies

Main article: Supplies

All ships in the fleet require supplies; they consume a small amount every day, and a larger amount for repairs and combat readiness recovery. If the fleet runs out of supplies, the ships will start losing combat readiness, eventually leading to damage, ship loss, and possibly even destruction of the fleet.

Fuel

Main article: Fuel

Fuel is required to move the fleet through hyperspace - it's not needed to move within the system. If a fleet runs out of fuel while in hyperspace, it will drift towards one of the nearest gravity wells. Having no fuel while in a system has no negative consequences aside from not being able to go into hyperspace.

Heavy Machinery

Main article: Heavy Machinery

Heavy Machinery is used in salvaging - you will be shown how much machinery you need for full salvaging efficiency. Heavy Machinery is not required to salvage; not having enough or having no machinery at all simply means that you get less salvage.

Marines

Main article: Marines

Marines are required to perform raids. Marines are not required in a fleet; having no marines simply means that the player can't perform raids.

Volatiles

Main article: Volatiles

Volatiles are used to run Neutrino Detector. Volatiles are not required in a fleet; having no volatiles simply means that Neutrino Detector can't be used.

Availability and Price

A particular commodity is available for purchase in a market if at least one building either produces or consumes it. For example, Heavy Machinery can be found in the markets that have Heavy Industry (which produces it) as well as Farming or Mining (which require it). Prices tend to be slightly lower when the commodity is produced, but the price difference is not big enough to make profits on it. A commodity that is not available in a market can still be sold there.

A market can have a shortage or an excess of a commodity. This can happen either because a shipment has been lost because the trade fleet got attacked, or because the colony is not able to import it, due to low accessibility or because no market in the sector produces enough to satisfy the demand, for example:

• Chalcedon has a demand for 5 units of supplies, but has terrible accessibility, limiting their cross-faction imports to 3. Since Luddic Path don't produce their own supplies, Chalcedon usually has a shortage of supplies.
• Chicomoztoc has a demand for 8 units of Recreational Drugs, but the highest production in the sector is 5. Because of that, Chicomoztoc usually has a shortage of Recreational Drugs.

A shortage allows the player to sell a limited amount of the commodity at a very high price, while an excess does the opposite. A shortage can be satisfied or reduced by selling the commodity in the open market; black market trades do not satisfy a shortage, .

Commodity Export Incomes

Colonies earn income based on all commodities produced. The income is a percentage of the total market value (Sector Demand * Export Price), where the percentage is the market share: The proportion of that colonies supply (production * accessibility) to the total sector supply (sum of all colonies production*accessibility).

• The Market Value, Sector Supply and Sector Demand should be taken as estimates
• These values are very likely to change through updates, mods, or errors in taking the values in the first place. They are roughly accurate.

Commodities Global Market Value
Icon	Commodity	Export Price	Sector Demand	Market Value	Sector Supply	Price/Unit
	Supplies	250¢	267	66,750¢	50	1,335¢
	Fuel	750¢	230	172,500¢	25	6,900¢
	Food	1,000¢	266	266,000¢	58	4,586¢
	Ore	1,500¢	72	108,000¢	68	1,588¢
	Metals	3,000¢	44	132,000¢	62	2,129¢
	Transplutonic Ore	2,000¢	59	118,000¢	34	3,471¢
	Transplutonics	6,000¢	30	180,000¢	43	4,186¢
	Organics	500¢	199	99,500¢	40	2,488¢
	Volatiles	5,000¢	25	125,000¢	29	4,310¢
	Domestic Goods	300¢	215	64,500¢	68	949¢
	Luxury Goods	500¢	114	57,000¢	43	1,326¢
	Heavy Machinery	500¢	124	62,000¢	50	1,240¢
	Heavy Armaments	500¢	141	70,500¢	50	1,410¢
	Recreational Drugs	1,500¢	223	334,500¢	76	4,401¢
	Harvested Organs	2,000¢	114	228,000¢	35	6,514¢
	Ship Hulls & Weapons	300¢	250	75,000¢	48	1,562.5¢

• Income is earned on anything used by the colony, faction, or exported to the sector. A surplus does not generate income.
• Surplus/Excess commodities can be bought on the local market (by the player) at a reduced price.
• The price reduction/premium for a surplus or deficit is relative to that markets needs. A market with a deficit of two out of total demand 8 (75% availability) will pay a smaller premium than a second market that has a deficit of 2 units out of a demand for 4 (50% availability).
• Crew & Marines do not generate income
• Illegal goods do not generate income unless the colony is a Free Port.
• Player colonies do not contribute to the total market value.
• The Price/Unit will decrease as the supply of goods increases. This decrease in price will be fastest for commodities with low starting supply - Fuel has the highest price/unit produced but with only 25 units produced by AI colonies a small increase in production by the player will quickly drop the price. On the other hand the Food market is large and with a high supply to start with the impact of increased production by the player is limited.
• It is market share not total produced that generates income, raiding other producers can be more valuable than increasing production, albeit temporary.

Illegal Commodities

Various factions consider different commodities illegal. Illegal commodities cannot be sold on the open market of that faction, thought their markets still generate supply and demand, available in the black market. Furthermore, illegal commodities can be taken from the player's fleet if their cargo is scanned by a patrol fleet (usually after being suspected of smuggling or being caught with transponder off).

Faction	Heavy Armamants	Recreational Drugs	Harvested Organs	Luxury Goods	AI Cores
Hegemony	Illegal	Illegal	Illegal		Illegal
Luddic Church		Illegal	Illegal	Illegal	Illegal
Luddic Path		Illegal	Illegal	Illegal	Illegal
Persean League		Illegal	Illegal		Illegal
Sindrian Diktat	Illegal	Illegal	Illegal		Illegal
Tri-Tachyon					Illegal
Independent		Illegal	Illegal
Pirates

Up to date for latest version, 0.97a.