Change in economy?

[monkey]

I was hauling in and out as per normal. And my stockpiles were not huge because I reset them all back to 5k.

The -10Meg treasury balance was as a result of my planet paying high price to buy the commods to get the stockpiles to 20k and then selling them at a lower price when I rest maxs back down to 5k.

How many bays do you guys haul when hauling out? I have been doing 6 bays at a time but if most people only haul in 3 bays at a time I guess I'm not doing them any favours by hauling double that.

[oddball]

6 bays I figure to be the correct amount. Most commods on most planets should generally speaking be at -525 tons so would take 7 bays. However, when I was trading, I set mine to 6 to avoid going over 0 on those occasional commods where there was greater than -525. That said, even going over 0 has a minimal effect on the planet. Someone would have to make a concerted effort over many days to cause a planet to lose anything appreciable.

I my stockpiles set large pretty much since week 2 of when I linked a planet. As a result, I get ALOT of trade in and out. I would say most merchants (well alot of them anyway) over the past year have shopped and sold there. Merchants especially will go where they can find large stockpiles of anything....even lower priced commods. They can easly get a list of what planets are buying with premium or remote price checkers....or on occasion I've been known to relay it to them...lol.

I will say that post-crash I have seen less activity than pre-crash....there is the usual trade I get from other POs (thank you) and maybe 1 merchants a day using New Chicago as a base. As a result, the profit per day is less. I think I have done maybe 20 builds since the crash where I was doing mayb 4-5 a day pre-crash.

I've actually shut the link down as of yesterday for a couple of reasons.

1) I don't need the commerce...so if I shut the link down you all should benefit.

2) I don't appreciate the "policing" that is currently being directed at me (or at anyone that appears to be me or to be associated with me or look like me...lmao). Since I don't suffer fools too well, just as well I move on.

[monkey]

Yes I noticed you shut the link down. Is this a permanent thing? I was buying all my kats, holos, petros and tools from new chicago but I can switch to Pentagon if you're keeping it shut.

What do you mean by "policing"?

[brookerf]

Do you mean ME because I exiled your alt? If I knew the alt was you, of course I would have just let YOU know. I know YOU do not dump or knowingly sell a commod to an exchange that is produced by facs. I TBed your alt twice (as did one of my alts who is also a PO for a different circumstance) and no response. All I *wanted* was a response, because it is a just a hauling mistake, but one I felt needed to be addressed. I was trying to do the right thing instead of shutting down my link, which is how I used to handle such things. The wise words of those on this board encouraged me to handle things in a more fair manner.

If someone wants to contract with me and say they will haul in x amount of x commods per day, I'd gladly change the facs all to firewalls and arts. I'd certainly make more money! I love for haulers to sell to my planet...saves me time.

Obviously, something went down yesterday in Fed, because I read the spynet review with all the exiles. I keep my comms off 98% of the time because on the few occasions that I have "socialized", I've been chewed out by staff and I feel like there is a huge double standard on how much chit chat is allowed and by whom. Rambling aside, my point is that I missed what happened if it was talked about on the comms...but don't at all consider myself a fool. I would never exile anyone that I considered friendly and I know, Oddball, that you don't abuse exchanges...although I have seen many who do...and they give haulers a bad name by making POs suspicious of all.

Hope you are back soon.

[oddball]

Goodness no Brook, had nothing to do with you...sorry I was so cryptic (didn't really mean to be...lol) and I quite agree with you there is a clear double standard. It's actually that double standard I was referring to. May post more later but need to go watch the game at the moment...chuckle.

[smitty]

brooke and odd- i couldn't agree with you guys more on the comms/double standard stuff. that's one of the (actually, very FEW reasons that i don't play as much as i might, but it's a big one) i've obviously been on the frontlines of confronting people about it (notably, fighting arlene's rampant banning on the comms/etc) - but that's never gotten me anywhere... even when i escalated it to other staff.

anyway, i didn't see/hear about the exiles and whatnot- but i mostly just try to ignore that stuff these days.

well, with all the unplesantries aside ...back to the main conversation!

everything i've ever seen or done trading wise would indicate exactly what odd said previously. you would have to work excessively hard (and lose a LOT of money in the process) to hurt someone's economy by dumping/etc. It is true, you could really hurt people in "old fed" - but anyone who says you can still do the same just hasn't tried or doesn't know what they're talking about.

so, in short- it only hurts YOU to keep your link closed (for economic reasons that is). I absolutely believe in closing it to make a statement/etc. as for odd- sorry to hear people are being uncool toward you. it seems to be par for the course lately.

[brookerf]

I think you missed my point, Smitty. I didn't explain very well. I did not exile his alt because I thought he was going to do damage to my exchange. It was possible, though, that damage could be done to my factories (small damage, but when you're talking about three alloys facs, you're not really pulling in great profits ) I didn't even exile for that, though. It was because I wanted to let him know I wanted him to stop selling that commod to the exchange. I tried contact two times on one planet, once on another. He got back to me afterwards and I took the exile off.

Personally, I don't care what anyone else does with their planet. They can close the links, exile me, whatever. It is definitely easier to play when in cooperation with others, but not mandatory. I believe I greatly fail in the sociological aspect of the game!! I think the part of the game that bothers me the most is when people are just plain unfair...whether it is in hauling, policing the comms, building facs on planets with low wtgs and causing wage wars...all that stuff irks me, but it is the trade-off for playing the game, I suppose? Guess it is part of that 'play nice' concept I'm constantly reminding my kids about. I'm glad to know others feel the same way I do about the comms. I think if I listened in on them more often, I would probably not be playing the game any longer.

smitty said:

everything i've ever seen or done trading wise would indicate exactly what odd said previously. you would have to work excessively hard (and lose a LOT of money in the process) to hurt someone's economy by dumping/etc. It is true, you could really hurt people in "old fed" - but anyone who says you can still do the same just hasn't tried or doesn't know what they're talking about.

[oddball]

I decided to take the original messge off for a variety of reasons mostly because the whole issue has given me a headache.

[smitty]

just a quick reply to Brooke- I wasn't calling you out specifically or anything. My quote was more a general bit directed at anyone and everyone, not you (or anyone else) in particular.

I think there has been some confusion lately as to hauling "hurting" planets. It is simply my contention that (for all purposes) more trading CAN'T hurt you! (which is a really great thing!)

all that being said- i think there are many reasons (relevant or not/ good and bad) for a player to close his/her link. so i say, to each his own. i just don't want anyone to think players can "hurt" your planet. it's just not economically viable.

Mostly, I don't want people to start passing around the idea that opening your link will hurt you- because (as most things in fed) that idea will spread and we'll be left with fewer places to trade.

as for all the IP nonsense and double standards/etc - this is the biggest reason i HATE that staff get to just play as themselves. it's a simple fact that staff have special privileges, like IP checking, SPYBEAMS (don't let them tell you they don't have them. it's a blatent lie.) etc etc. using these tools as staff is one thing. using them as a normal character to influence the game is just plain LAME.

the other thing that i emailed hazed about is that staff don't have a distinction of when they are "on duty" - this used to exist. I believe it needs to come back. in the case of arlene she (he?) has the tendency to be a "normal" player until she (it?) sees something she doesn't like, then she puts on a "staff" hat and bans people from the comms. all the while continuing to play/act like a "normal" player. THAT is what i got into a tiff with her/it about. i still say i'm right... some people might think otherwise (hazed did).

[oddball]

" I did not exile his alt because I thought he was going to do damage to my exchange. It was possible, though, that damage could be done to my factories (small damage, but when you're talking about three alloys facs,"

That was several days ago (Thurs?) and unrelated. Was actually my fault cause I never looked for an alloys factory...lol...who da thunk! Up the food chain commoditywise, I always look, but never had before on the low profit commods. Now I know better...lol (And I have been known to look and miss). It's actually something for a different topic but have you seen some of the planets? Maybe as many as 20 factories. Result is it's hard to trade anything without stepping on factories....so I just tend to bypass entirely. Isn't worth my time to check on all the time. It is an interesting strategy tho. My guess is ultimately a second rate one (in terms of payoff). Nothing can substitute for hauling out excess stockpiles (in terms of absolute net)

[brookerf]

Since I read your most recent post last... I've had a small epiphany (all I'm capable of this point...my natives are very restless today...) Now that I've changed my strategy for making money, it DOES seem pointless to me to fill those defs in that manner (by many, many factories)! I don't think you were leading me to that conclusion, but I came to it nevertheless!

That said...

I do appreciate your posting of what happened. Not for gossip's sake, but just because it is a valid side of the situation that should be shared. I do hope you stay in the game, or at least come back when you feel like it. I had no clue stuff like that went on, but like I've said, I do as little of the social stuff as possible. I always wondered about the spybeams. Wish I had one now! Used to come in handy with ship fights way back when. I seem to remember reading an article or interview about Alan long ago that said Fed was a great social experiment. I guess in that context, any outcome is interesting...although, me...I can't handle conflict. Don't mind someone being mad at ME, but I don't like anyone being mad at anyone else.

I have many alts, too, and every single one of them were born out of boredom. Especially when my main character, BrookeRF, was waiting for different ranks to be coded in, I started other characters just to pass the time.

[oddball]

" I don't think you were leading me to that conclusion, but I came to it nevertheless!"

Chuckle...I wasn't even aware one of your planets was doing that... It came to me when I went back to recheck the alt's script where I stepped on you. I went back and rechecked all the planets he had done business on to make sure I hadn't missed any others (I had but they were of the rarely managed planet kind) and was struck by some of the planets and the number of factories they were able to fit on them...lol

[nkir]

No Harm Odd? Got a fac on New Chicago that requires me to haul, but now it sits idle cuz the link is closed. Tell Zaaap thanks also (wink, wink, nudge, nudge).

Nkir