Create / Mod files / Price tables for mods

Price tables for mods

A PriceTable holds the factors a generated trader prices every item by: the scarcity curve, the demand of each cluster type and civilization role, and the clamp on the product. There is one table, not a registry. The base game states it, and a mod that states one replaces the whole table.

This page is the field-by-field price table reference. For general RON spelling rules, see RON spelling rules.

How a trader prices

A living generated station and an intact generated ship price each item at the moment you trade, from its market:

ask = reference ask_cr x scarcity.ask x cluster.ask x civilization.ask
bid = reference bid_cr x scarcity.bid x cluster.bid x civilization.bid

Each side's product is clamped to clamp, then the price rounds to the nearest credit per the item's price_lot: ask_cr and bid_cr price one lot, not one item. A trade of a count that is not a whole lot pays its share of that lot price, rounded up for a Buy and down for a Sell; a Sell whose share rounds to 0 cr is refused. A lot of 1, the base game's for every item but the PDC round, prices each item.

An authored station or ship has no market. It deals at the reference price. A Buy at a station the player owns pays the bid.

How a trader restocks

A generated trader's stock stands still while its cell stands frozen. On the thaw it drifts toward its target stock by the play time it stood frozen: a starved trader buys back up, a glutted one sells back down, each by target * elapsed / recovery_seconds whole units, never past the target. An item the trader's target does not name is untouched - what you sold it stays sold. A reload alone restocks nothing: the clock stops while the game is paused, so no play time passes.

Neutralizing a civilization's generated hull or station is an offence against it, not a price rule: see Civilization stances.

How a job offer expires

A living station's job board has three slots, each on its own posting. An offer the player does not hold expires after jobs.offer_seconds of play, or jobs.escort_offer_seconds for an escort, measured from its posting. The slot then posts a new offer under a new id. A held job is pinned to its slot and never expires, however long you hold it; handing one in, or losing it (its hauler lost), renews the slot at once. The clock is play time, so the pause menu, the interface and a Load all freeze every offer's countdown along with everything else. See Jobs for the full posting and renewal rule.

The PriceTable item

[
    PriceTable((
        clamp: (min: 0.25, max: 3.0),
        scarcity: (
            starved: (ask: 1.5, bid: 1.25),
            glut: (ask: 0.9, bid: 0.6),
            glut_share: 3.0,
            unkept: (ask: 1.0, bid: 0.9),
        ),
        restock: (recovery_seconds: 1800.0),
        jobs: (offer_seconds: 1200.0, escort_offer_seconds: 3600.0),
        clusters: [
            (cluster: AsteroidRich, category: Raw, factor: (ask: 0.6, bid: 0.6)),
        ],
        roles: [
            (role: Civilian, category: Food, factor: (ask: 1.25, bid: 1.25)),
        ],
    )),
]

Every field is required.

A scarcity rule has four fields:

Overlay and lint

The last bundle in load order that states a table wins, whole. The base bundle must state one.

content lint and the content check at load both report an error for a pack that:

• states two tables;
• is the base game and states none;
• states a clamp whose min is 0 or less, or that does not hold 1;
• states a factor that is not a finite number, or that lies outside the clamp;
• states a factor whose bid is above its ask, which could push a bid above its ask;
• states a starved side below 1, a glut side above 1, or a glut_share of 1 or less;
• states a restock.recovery_seconds, jobs.offer_seconds or jobs.escort_offer_seconds that is not a finite number above 0;
• names one cluster type or one role with one category twice.

With every factor's bid at most its ask, a trader's bid is never above its ask.

Base price table

The table is generated into assets/base/market/base.content.ron.

The proof is market_sandbox: it sells iron ore at a living asteroid-rich station and at a living planet-heavy one through the Inventory pane, checks each Sell pays the computed bid, and checks the asteroid-rich bid is the lower. The restock proof is system_station_restock.