16:1 "Fair Trades" are they?

[DeletedUser594]

The 16:1 fair trade ratio on goods may account for total costs but poorly represent the value of those goods imo.
They have a use- early on in game play, especially when transitioning into tier 3 production. Later on they are drain on resources and imo only a gain the person offering the magical goods and loss for the receiver.
In early game play small quantites of Tier 3 goods are useful in nearly all aspects of gameplay: research, negotiation, quests, upgrades etc.. and 100 T3 goods are useful and perhaps rare depending on fellowship age.
.
Once past that period with a full fellowship in T3 production they kinda stink imo. I close out 100's of trades a day. I move quickly and try to get all the 1:1's in my fellowship I can. Having those 16:1 trades strewn throughout the board is like trying to cross the dogwalking area in a park with little presents strewn about- you gotta pay attention
In my Winyandor city I play as Human and produce Elixer and Steel. My steel is level 19 and elixer 15
(i chose them bcs they both produce 458/24hrs at level 15 unboosted)
even though my steel is 4 levels higher the numbers are still ugly for an elixer 1600:100 steel trade
some rough numbers
Unboosted #'s (for simplicity) and using the 3hr times for highest yield: (elix 179/3hr steel 148/3hr)
the costs and times to produce their alotted amount
plyr A) 100 elixer coin:26,000 supply 2600 (60elix/hr) or 1:40 of total production time
plyrB) 1600 steel coin:40,000 supply 4,000 (49stl/hr) or 33 hours

Factoring in boosts will of course lower total time but not the ratio if boosts match.
For smaller cities in my fellowship I happily close these trades to help get members rolling. After that I don't see how these deserve the term "fair". Looking at my map I see plenty of places 1600 tier 1 goods help but not any where 100 magical goods are worth more than pocket change. How does your fellowship approach these trades?


disclaimer* general disuse of mathematical skills + use of beer drinking skills may have affected accuracy

 

[DeletedUser61]

The value ratio, for the 2 day variable costs in all manufacturing buildings, the fair trade stars rating, the wholesaler, and even in the provinces if you want to negotiate rather than fight, is always

Total Variable Costs = Coins + 10*Supplies + 40*Tier1 + 160*Tier2 + 640*Tier3​

The capital costs, the initial fixed cost for placing and upgrading the building, are depreciated in any case. The fixed costs aren't quite as neat, but so long as they follow the same trend, and they do, you can ignore the fixed costs when you're pricing goods.

 

[DeletedUser627]

Agreed, Varron. Yes to helping developing cities - when we see those trades offering T1 goods for a few T3's, we remember how it felt to scrape around for every single gem or elixir, right? Sometimes losing hours or even days of building waiting for a few bits of dust...

Otherwise, I stopped making anything other than par trades months ago (well, except for the occasional fellowship need). It helped me ascertain the best production balance for consistent growth.

I know of at least 1 major fellowship where par trades are required unless there's an arrangement between two players. This fellowship has an abundance of goods. Other fellowships where 4:1 and 16:1 trades are common can tend to have goods' shortages. Players tend to underproduce the lower-scoring goods, assuming they'll be able to trade for them. When this occurs across an entire fellowship, it's problematic.

For example, during Dwarven some players under-produced T2 goods (lowest scoring) and relied on trades to obtain the goods they required. This is essentially boosting rank at the expense of fellowship members, who are inadvertently subsidizing the efficiency of the under-producer. Not so sporting...