THE SECRETS OF THE BLACK MARKET UNVEILED

[Rasteroid]

******** Spoiler warning! *********

I don't mind sharing these detail with you guys.

Please note, they are prone to change without warning, but the following code is current as of this post.

(Some PHP knowledge may help readers.)






function baseval ($ob) {
$price=8; # refined materials are this price
if ($ob=='coal') { $price=1; }
elseif ($ob=='bauxite' or $ob=='sand' or $ob=='pig iron') { $price=2; }
elseif ($ob=='uranium ore') { $price=7; }
elseif ($ob=='food') {
$price=8;
if (horse()=='black') { $price*=2; }
}
elseif ($ob=='diamond') { $price=12; }
elseif ($ob=='enriched uranium') { $price=13; }
elseif ($ob=='aid') { $price=26; }
elseif ($ob=='diamond drill') { $price=48; }
elseif ($ob=='icbm') { $price=46; }
return $price;
}


# code excerpt:

$mylevel = getlevel($name);
if (check_sop($name)=='anarchy') # downtown
{
$mylevel=0;
}
$cough=0;
$price= 2*baseval($desire)*$quant + $mylevel + 2*(25-$contacts)/5 ; # $contacts is the total # of visible contacts, $quant is the number of objects asked for.


# Following are the implementation of the Ramulgorithms as described in the docs.




Ta da!

[iuewen]

So increasing your tech level from 1 to 14 only really decreases your trade value by the amount of 1 EUR? That is pretty sad... Which means that Downtown isn't really that useful either.

[JCRAGE]

It means that Downtown is utter crap, and that Tech Level doesn't discourage Black Market trading at all. Time to scrap the Downtown. Hurrah!

[Nan]

$price= 2*baseval($desire)*$quant + $mylevel + 2*(25-$contacts)/5 ; # $contacts is the total # of visible contacts, $quant is the number of objects asked for.


This is my translation:

The base values of everything is as follows:

Coal = 1
bauxite = 2
sand = 2
pig iron = 2
uranium ore = 4
food = 8
diamond 12
enriched uranium 13
aid = 26
diamond drill = 48
icbm price = 46
Alum = 8
Steel = 8
Glass = 8



The most important part is this:
$price= 2*baseval($desire)*$quant + $mylevel + 2*(25-$contacts)/5 ; # $contacts is the total # of visible contacts, $quant is the number of objects asked for.

This is the formula that figures out how much you have to pay. What you pay is based on the above base values. I'll break it down a bit

2*baseval($desire)*$quant

baseval($desire) is the base value of what you want. If you want Alum it is 8. So everything here will actaully be double the base value. $quant is simply the number of objects you are requesting 2*8*1 = 16.

$mylevel:

This is your tech level. I new things got more exspensive as you went up in tech level but I thought it was more.

2*(25-$contacts)/5 = 8

This makes it cheaper the more contacts that you can see. If you have five contacts that you can see then anything you try to buy will cost you 8 units more.

Add those three elements up and that is the base value of stuff you have to pay to get what you requested. There are a few expections like having anarchy and the horsemen, but I will let someone explain that.

Lets say I can see five people on the board, I have 12 tech levels and I want 2 Alum. Lets see how much I have to pay.

2*(8)*2+12+2(25-20)/5 = 46.

So I would have to pay 46 units. Then Rumal goes through my stuff to see if I can afford it. 1 ICBM! or 6 Steel. A little pricey but fair.

Or how about 1 coal!

2*1*1+12+2(25-20)/5 = 22

What one coal will coat me 3 Alum and 3 Bax?? What a rip off!

I hope that helps!

[Mikhail]

It does. Thanks alot!

[Nan]

Hey Rast have you ever thought about have the basevalues change based on the current availablity and active trades? I know Steel and Glass are harder to get the Alum right now.


Just a thought

- n

[Rasteroid]

No.. I want it to be a total ripoff. It's not an independant game. I want to influence people not to break apart too much.. for the sake of getting a complete map of the world! Trading with other people is necessary. At the very least you have to get your meagre global trades going.

It's all a delicate balance.. the black market is evil. Don't use it! What a ripoff!

umm.. also, I changed the base value of URO to 7. It's all cool. Thanks Robuloid 7.

[nan]

I agree. I was suggested that if people are paying more for Glass and Steel, and it is harder to get then Rumal would also ask for more when people request Glass or Steel.


- n

[vilhazarog]

Ah man, URO was the best deal on the market and someone had to go and spoil it! Damn you Robulus!

[vilhazarog]

BTW, I ran the numbers, and here's what I come up with:

Assuming 8 mines, 2 refineries, and not capitaliism and +10 PM:
URO: 14 pts (4 URO - 2 to EUR) + 26 pts (2 EUR) = 40 pts per update
COAL: 30 pts (32 COAL - 2 to DIA) + 24 pts (2 DIA) = 54 pts per update
BASE: 28 pts (16 BASE - 2 to REFINED) + 16 pts (2 REFINED) = 44 pts per update

With captialisim and factory refining:
URO: 7 pts + 39 pts = 46 pts
COAL: 28 pts + 40 pts = 68 pts
BASE: 26 pts + 24 pts = 50 pts

Basically, COAL is what you want to be if you're a Ramul dump trader (dumping your entire production to Ramul for what you want every turn)... and URO sucks. I'm not sure how this plays out with the new LF rule allowing PMs up to +15... not even sure what +15 means (guaranteed 1.5 base per base mined, or is it guaranteed 1 base per base mined, and 50% for another?)

[nan]

It takes 8 coal to make one diamond. so it would be...

16 pts (32 coal - 16 to Diamond) + 24 pts (2 Diamond) = 30

With with a third refine

8pts (32 coal - 24 to diamond) + 36 pts (3 diamond) = 38.

Sounds like coal is the worst by a long shot!

- n

[nan]

Whoops

40 with two refines
44 with three refines.

- n

[vilhazarog]

Oh yeah I forgot about that. Good call. So COAL sucks. and URO sucks. If you throw in food production to the calculation, SAND sucks compared to PIRN and BXT. And BXT is better to have than PIRN cuz of all the warehouse fires. Therefore, I conclude:

BXT rules!

Good thing I'm BXT.

[Rasteroid]

You can never have too much bauxite.. there's never enough kicking around. Glass too.

[x4d3]

And yanno, Euranium is just fun cause it makes people smell like buirning!