Questions About Supplies and Trading

[Lemon Wren]

I started playing a month ago and feel stuck at towards the end of chapter two. My boosted tier one good is marble and I have four manufactories at the highest level build, along with one each wood and steel at lower production capacities.

My problem is that the few players in the trader also only sell marble as their first tier good. Most days it's three or four pages of marble offered and almost always zero listings offering wood or steel. Right now there is one offer of 200 steel for 200 silk, which is a zero star trade and seeing as how silk is a non-boosted good for my tier two, there's no way I would accept that even if I had 200 silk. Once again, zero listings for wood at any exchange rate.

I sell marble at a loss (so always a three star listing), but only two players ever buy my marble so I feel chronically short of wood and steel because there are limits as to how much they buy at one time. (I can pretty much guess what both their work schedules are, based upon their buying times, haha.) I've used the wholesaler, but now, of course, the prices have crept up so I've stopped using it.

I belong to a guild with 25 players, but judging the names in the guild against the names of traders posting trades, only a couple of my guildmates use it to post items. (One of my buyers is a guildmate.)

1. Is this just how it works? Worlds just assign every player the same boosted good to throttle advancement?

2. As a new player in an old game, I find my position on the board is on the fringes. There are no player towns to the east and only now did one new player appear on the map to the south. Quite a few of the players on the board that I've expanded to appear to have quit the game as when I visit their builds remain tiny, with no appearance of new buildings. I've tried expanding north and west, but the game locks you in to expanding equally, so that's at a standstill. I really need to horde planks and ingots at this point anyway, so expansion is on hold. Is the lack of active players in discovered towns part of my problem?

3. I've tried waiting out the wholesaler, but even after waiting for the offers to reset, when I check back, it seems to remain at the same price. I took a screenshot with the time, so I'll check it later today when the offer is supposed to reset to see what happens.

4. 15 guildmates actively play the tournament, but as far as I can tell, most do not use the trader to either buy or sell. How can this be possible?

Any insights appreciated, as I enjoy the town building, but do not enjoy playing the Steel and Wood Procurement game. Thanks.

 

[Iyapo1]

Hi, welcome to the game! Sorry you are having problems.

This sounds like a FS problem combined with a bad neighborhood.
One of the primary purposes of a FS is to give you trade partners. You might want to send your Archmage a message stating your difficulty, or post on the forum in members seeking FS and jump ship.

Just a few points. Having steel and plank manufactories in your city is a huge waste of resources and space. Trading marble with the Wholesaler is also a huge waste. Finding a more balanced FS would solve both problems.

The Wholesalers prices reset every 24 hours. They are never good. Your neighborhood will change every now and then as Inno shuffles active players, so you have no control over that.

 

[Iyapo1]

Oh, just as an aside, I wont take 3 star trades from little neighbors. I usually assume they are intended to help FS members and leave them sit(or email the player and ask). Not every player is like me but some are.

 

[Iyapo1]

I just checked your FS....it looks good so...try posting a "trades up" message in chat as the quickest solution.

 

[Lemon Wren]

Thanks so much for the insight and advice. "Trades up?" What does that mean exactly?

 

[hvariidh gwendrot]

in your fellowship chat you just let the members know you have some trades up by posting "trades up"

 

[NightshadeCS]

1. Post trades. It is much easier for others to take your trades than for you to find the trades you want, so make sure you are posting trades every day to try and maintain an even number of planks, marble, and steel.

2. Boosts are pretty evenly distributed, though sometimes fellowships can get lopsided. You can see any player's boosts by looking at their city on the map. The three provinces directly north, southeast, and southwest are that city's boosts (you can also find out by looking people up on ElvenStats.com).

3. Larger players sometimes go a long time without posting trades because they have large stockpiles of goods. This also causes some players to spend less time checking the trader. So, when you post your trades, just drop a friendly line in chat that says you would appreciate help with trades, or "trades up" or even "TU" if your FS knows and uses that shorthand.

4. Many more people can afford to take your trades than you can afford to take theirs, for two reasons. A) If you have not discovered them, you need to pay a trader fee to take their trades. Neighbors who are more advanced in the chapters can take trades from further away without paying this fee. B)Because of your lower production currently, you can only accept trades for very small amounts. Larger cities can easily take your small trades.

I agree with the above that you should keep your trades an even 2-star for now. There should not be any need to sell them at 3 star.

 

[Lemon Wren]

Thanks, everyone! I really appreciate the explanations and advice!

 

[Darielle]

I have to admit, I've done 3 star trades (only on boosts) since I started, and I do believe my neighborhood has gotten in the habit of buying from me first. So it's been a win for me. But I do agree with everyone else on the fellowship. You need to communicate and tell them when you really need something. Most people in a fellowship are more than happy to help if you just ask. If not, then you'll need to find a new fellowship. If you go that route, make sure you look for one that needs marble. Elvenstats will tell you that, and sometimes they'll say so in their fellowship overview.

 

[Lemon Wren]

I have to admit, I've done 3 star trades (only on boosts) since I started, and I do believe my neighborhood has gotten in the habit of buying from me first. So it's been a win for me. But I do agree with everyone else on the fellowship. You need to communicate and tell them when you really need something. Most people in a fellowship are more than happy to help if you just ask. If not, then you'll need to find a new fellowship. If you go that route, make sure you look for one that needs marble. Elvenstats will tell you that, and sometimes they'll say so in their fellowship overview.

Thanks for weighing in. I did post in my FS chat and was happy to see, at least so far, two members actively engaged in the trader now, buying my excess marble and also posting their not-marble T1 goods. But other than them, it's still a sea of marble offers in the trader.

 

[Darielle]

Thanks for weighing in. I did post in my FS chat and was happy to see, at least so far, two members actively engaged in the trader now, buying my excess marble and also posting their not-marble T1 goods. But other than them, it's still a sea of marble offers in the trader.

Yeah, in my area everyone is clamoring for steel; seems to be in short supply. But thank goodness I have a great fellowship, so I'm never hurting for it. That's the best way to overcome such neighborhood anomalies.

 

[Arcturis2]

I have also been playing about a month and also have marble. I have 10 marble factories most are level 4 but a few are up to lvl 5. I don't usually go for the offers available in the trader.. I just post an offer for 300 or 500 marble in exchange for steel or planks or whatever. Somebody always takes it right away.

 

[Arcturis2]

Since my last post, I joined a new fellowship and they are helping me out a lot. I post one star trades and they take them, so I've been able to get steel and planks, and crystals and scrolls without spending all my marble and silk. Because I don't have a lot of either of those to trade.