Merchants

[Cory Trese]

There is a useful thread over on the blog.

tresebrothers.blogspot.com/2010/11/star-traders-rpg-guide-merchants.html

If anyone wants to discuss it in a real threaded forum ... have at it!

I will listen and answer any rules or math questions about ST RPG internals.

I understand that some people will not *enjoy* playing the Merchant (not enough destruction) but it does have a certain appeal (fun to sell 200 metals at 5,000 each!)

[jtwood]

Working within a Faction's territory requires the use of Acknowledge and Surrender. Merchants will not respond to surrender and no reputation will be lost. Bounty Hunters and Merchants may search, however, appropriate permits will enable the "Acknowledge" option which always allows the Captain to pass without trouble.

Constantly retreating without considering the laws and territory will cause trouble -- but that is the Star Trader's equivalent of running from the police and customs officials!

This was terribly enlightening. I was wondering why I was getting rep hits.

Also, it's indicative of the kind of stuff I believe needs to be explained fully in the Player Guide.

[jtwood]

Also, this

Reputation loss ONLY occurs when Running from Permit and Death Warrant Ships (Warship, Bounty Hunter, Merchant) who are operating inside there own territory.

[surlybob]

Please do military officer next!!

[jtwood]

I'm finding that this tip...

"Sell Everything Under Shortage Rumor Only"

...is much, much harder to do on Elite because the shortage rumors are spread more evenly across the entire map making it hard, if not impossible, to get to many of the shortages.

Not a complaint. Just an observation.

[militantofficial]

quick question:
do the buy/sell prices for a planet fluctuate a lot per trip, or is it fairly steady?
obviously this is excluding conflicts.

[Cory Trese]

they do change. you can get a feeling for how it works by using the Resource Reports, located in the Status menu.