Market
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.
- For the specifics of trading, see Trade.
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 commodities produced / demanded by the colony, smaller / more common weapons or ships (e.g. small weapons, Frigates), larger civilian logistical ships, and the occasional bigger warships with a decent amount of D-mods. Available weapons & ships are also influenced by the doctrine of the faction.
Trading on this market has a 30% Tariff, increasing/decreasing the price of all commodities brought/sold accordingly.
Not accessible when sneaking past patrols into an unfriendly market, or when approaching a non Free Port market with the Transponder off.
A player colony will only gain an Independent market upon finishing the construction of 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 stronger & bigger ships and weapons not found on the open market, requiring a higher reputation to unlock more items. Available weapons & ships are also influenced by the doctrine of the faction.
The only commodities they will sell are those related to military power & its logistics, which are supplies, fuel, crew, marines & heavy armaments.
They will also buy goods that are illegal on the open market, which can serve as an useful way for the player to get rid of unwanted illegal commodities without raising suspicion by trading on the black market or trade with the Transponder off.
This submarket are only available on markets with a Military Base or High Command Industry, and requires Favorable (10) 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. As such, without a commission, only most of the commodities, common weapons, and some frigate-class ships can be purchased.
Like the Open Market, trading on this market has a 30% Tariff, increasing/decreasing the price of all commodities brought/sold accordingly.
Not accessible when sneaking past patrols into an unfriendly market, or when approaching a non Free Port market with the Transponder off.
The Military Base market cannot be found on Player colonies, even if the player builds a Miilitary Base/High Command and Commerce on the same colony.
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 significantly more profitable or cheaper to sell or buy goods than the Open Market. Like the Open Market, the commodities mainly found in the Black Market are either demanded or produced by the colony, but goods considered illegal by the colony's faction (e.g. Recreational Drugs or Harvested Organs) can also be found here.
Military-grade weapons & ships are also found in greater abundance & less influenced by the colony's faction (as in weapons & ships not used by it can be found), and Pirates variant ships can often be found here.
A lower stability value will make more items available on the Black Market.
Unlike the Open & Military Market, the Black Market doesn't require the Transponder active to access, and thus is always accessible to the player.
Black Markets are not found on Player colonies.
Selling Blueprints to the black market will cause the Pirates to learn them after several months, and use whatever sold 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, assuming that the Pirates aren't able to outfit the ships with threatening hardware.
Smuggling
- For more information on trading & smuggling, see Trade.
Smuggling will generate suspicion from the local authorities, which can be mitigated by conducting some legitimate trade on the Open Market, or docking with the Transponder off, the suspicion level is visible as a hover tooltip on the Black Market button.
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.
If the player is caught by one of these patrols (possibly after the patrol demands the player to turn on their Transponder), the patrol will demand a cargo scan, which the following can happen:
- The patrol scan finds nothing suspicious and the player is let go, the probability of which can be increased by ships with Shielded Cargo Holds.
- The patrol scan finds some suspicious cargo and demands an inspection.
- The player allows the patrol to do an inspection.
- The inspection finds no illegal cargo (if any) and some ships loses combat readinesss.
- The inspection finds illegal goods (like Recreational Drugs or Harvested Organs or AI Cores) and confiscates them, patrols will also scan any nearby cargo pods for illegal goods.
- The player fights the patrol, resulting in Hostile (-50) relations.
- 1 SP 100% XP The player convinces the patrol to overlook this incident.
- The player allows the patrol to do an inspection.
- 1 SP 100% XP The player convinces the patrol to overlook this incident.
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.
Resource Stockpiles
| A portion of the resources produced by the colony will be made available here. These resources can be extracted from the colony's economy for a cost equal to 100% of their base value. The cost will be deducted at the end of the month.
These resources can also be used to counter temporary shortages, for a cost equal to 10% of their base value. If additional resources are placed here, they will be used as well, at no cost. |
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–In-Game Description | ||
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 5,000¢ 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.
Used storage space can be found under the Command Screen, with the Colonies section informing which NPC colonies are being used a storage & a limited preview of the items stored there, and the Income section informing the monthly incurred cost of storage.
