Trade skill need serious work

[Flesson19]

I tested the skill and I tried to buy an item with 0 skill and then with 300 skill the difference is 2.7%. That is .9% per 100 skill. Why would anyone want to waste points to get under 1% profit per 100 points. this also can explain why caravan leaders are getting such poor profits when you invest valuable points into trade. anyone with 300 trade should get a much better deal than 0 skill so it is confusing why this bonus is so low. This why the perks are so bad, they don't effect the selling or buying price they effect the trade penalty reduction making them so bad

 

[sc2war4]

I think trade should be tax related
Transactions generate taxes, and part of the profits from trade become taxes
Trade should not only make money and lose money. Only in this way can making money become risky and greater returns
So the game becomes more interesting

 

[Ask]

2.7%? So your extra profits while trading increase by what... like 6%? I mean it's nice that trading is profitable already for the player but seeing that the skill has so little impact is actually pretty disappointing, not much reason to put focus points into it if that's the case.

 

[bonerstorm]

I tested the skill and I tried to buy an item with 0 skill and then with 300 skill the difference is 2.7%. That is .9% per 100 skill. Why would anyone want to waste points to get under 1% profit per 100 points. this also can explain why caravan leaders are getting such poor profits when you invest valuable points into trade. anyone with 300 trade should get a much better deal than 0 skill so it is confusing why this bonus is so low. This why the perks are so bad, they don't effect the selling or buying price they effect the trade penalty reduction making them so bad

OUCH. I've noticed that certain goods seem to achieve a massive market glut over time - wine in my current playthrough is green-priced everywhere west of Chaikand.

What is the vanilla trade penalty anyway, if 300 skill has so little effect on it?

Average retail mark-up on consumer goods IRL is something around 50%, though it considerably varies based on product and market. Trade skill should give a discount that asymptotically-approaches retail price.

 

[Flesson19]

From what I understand there is a natural trade penalty, I forgot the number but lets say 10%. So if the trade skill lowers that by 50% then our trade penalty would be 5%. So all that skill gain would only give us 5% more profit(this is an example) that is why trade is so bad, you spend a ton of points to get very little profit.

 

[bonerstorm]

From what I understand there is a natural trade penalty, I forgot the number but lets say 10%. So if the trade skill lowers that by 50% then our trade penalty would be 5%. So all that skill gain would only give us 5% more profit(this is an example) that is why trade is so bad, you spend a ton of points to get very little profit.

Is it both ways or only on selling? If there's a 10% "trade penalty" then that should equate to a roughly 15% cut in profits, if you're selling goods at 2x wholesale price.

As much as I hate to say it, trade penalty should probably be significantly higher. Like I said, average retail mark-up is something like 50%. I'm guessing it was higher in earlier versions of the game, but they cut it because a lack of caravan traffic was killing the hell out of towns.

I think the economy in general needs a huge overhaul and I laid out my thoughts in a post I just tagged you on.

I doubt it's possible, though, considering apparent lack of TW interest and my suspicion that the things I want changed aren't going to be moddable.

 

[Ask]

What if workshops/caravans gave you trading experience instead and more perks were focused on increasing their performance?

But like big, noticeable performance boosts, unlike what we see right now. And each level of trading gave +0.1% extra profits for caravans and workshops, so that combined with trading perks focused on workshop/caravan performance, at level 300 you would be making say, ~800-1000 denars each on very succesful ones?

Would this be too strong? I'd love to see something like this, I'm aware that workshops are supposed to have some level thing at some point but maybe you could unlock workshop levels with trading, so that higher level workshops produced higher base income (say 50-100% more per level), and leveling up trading actually helped to bring profits. Alternatively there'd be equivalent perks for caravans, that would for example increase caravan size, which in turns increases their carrying capacity and profits, speed, etc, along with letting us use the "inspect troops" option on caravans to give them troops or whatever.

Eitherway, just throwing ideas out there because the current trading skill is boring, grindy and unimpactful save for 2 or 3 perks, almost anything would be better lol