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Buying goods in multiples

LarryHookins

Buccaneer
Staff member
Storm Modder
Can someone explain to me why the code was changed to purchase trade goods in multiples? For example, instead of buying rum 1 unit at a time, we're buying 10 units at a time. Same for all goods. It used to be one at a time for everything but cannon ammo.

I spent several hours studying the code last night, and never did figure out why advantage this gave. I understand purchasing cannonballs, for example, in multiples of 20, but everything else?

Thanks in advance.

Hook
 
Here is my guess. I think the code was changed to accomodate carrying more goods. That is each commodity is now rated with a certain number of boxes, rolls, bundles, etc per hundredweight. The multiple quanties that you see are those units per cwt.

I am not sure about this, but it is what I think has happened.
 
As far as I can tell, the goods still weigh the same, except for a few that have been changed. But the price changes, sometimes for the worse. For example, rum used to be a good trade good; now it's almost worthless. Rum is one of those that had the price/weight ratio changed.

As far as I can see, it causes an annoying semi-random change to the number of goods you buy as one unit, while messing with the prices. You *appear* to be buying by cwt rather than unit. But I find calculating costs by cwt just as difficult as it was when you bought a unit with a varying weight.

The only apparent advantage is that the prices don't change as fast when you buy or sell lots of goods. For example, the more you buy, the higher the price per unit is. Since you're buying fewer units, you're getting fewer price increases. Selling works in a similar manner.

I'd have preferred to see this kind of change as lessening the impact of buying or selling multiple units on the average price per unit. I really don't like buying rum in multiples of 10. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />

Hook
 
Guys, why you are in panic? You don't buy more goods. Only a goods weight was diminished.
was:
<!--c1--><div class='codetop'>CODE</div><div class='codemain'><!--ec1-->
Goods[GOOD_PLANKS].Weight    = 4;
Goods[GOOD_PLANKS].Units    = 1;
<!--c2--></div><!--ec2-->
So, here we have one PLANK with weight 4
now:
<!--c1--><div class='codetop'>CODE</div><div class='codemain'><!--ec1-->
Goods[GOOD_PLANKS].Weight    = 4;
Goods[GOOD_PLANKS].Units    = 4;
<!--c2--></div><!--ec2-->
So now we have one PLANK with weight 1. You buy wheat PER CREW and rum PER CREW by UNITS, not by weight. Also PLANKS and SAILCLOTH and other goods. As we see, only weight was changed and AUTOBUY works correct. But you have more free space on your ship, that's all.
 
<!--quoteo(post=150878:date=Jun 11 2006, 11:57 AM:name=Maximus)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Maximus @ Jun 11 2006, 11:57 AM) [snapback]150878[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->
Guys, why you are in panic? You don't buy more goods. Only a goods weight was diminished.

As we see, only weight was changed and AUTOBUY works correct. But you have more free space on your ship, that's all.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
If only the weight was changed, what would the effect have been of setting Weight to 1 instead of Units to 4?

Thanks for the answer.

Hook
 
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->what would the effect have been of setting Weight to 1 instead of Units to 4?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

For some realism only <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/icon_wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=";)" border="0" alt="icon_wink.gif" /> What must it be - 1 rum? Now we have one barrel with 10 litres of rum. Is it not real?
 
After spending some additional hours in the spreadsheet, I have determined that the profit you can make from a single trade run is the same with your numbers as with the original numbers but all weights set to 1.

The only change is Silver, which has a different weight/unit ratio. In all others, the units are the same as the weight. With Silver, 2 units is 1 cwt. This makes it more valuable than gold.

The reason cannonballs, for example, has 20 per unit is that a single cannonball weighs less than 1 cwt. In the game, 20 of them weigh 3 cwt, or about 15 pounds per ball. This is why the Unit variable is in the game.

I'd suggest changing Silver to Unit=1 and all other numbers back to the original values. You'll take more of a hit on average price when you buy or sell a lot of the same goods, but I think this effect is realistic. If people think it's excessive, then it can be changed elsewhere in the game.

Hook
 
Well, I see it's been changed back in the June 11 2006 update. Sailcloth is still weight 3 where it was 2 before, but I don't think that will make enough difference to matter. Gunpowder has been changed so that you buy 300 units instead of 200, making one unit of gunpowder weigh 1/3 pound instead of 1/2. Again, it doesn't matter.

Maximus, you do great work. I love what you've done with the cannons, for example. If I seem a bit unenthusiastic about some changes, it's because I've been wading through the code trying to get rid of errors in the log files, and some of the code is truly bizarre. Not your code, but some of the code is just strange.

The current full moon will be over soon and I think things will get better then. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" />

Hook
 
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