Trading

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Revision as of 21:30, 1 May 2006 by Tycho44 (talk | contribs) (more detailed explanantion of trade)
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Trading is a new feature added on the 23rd March.

In the outsider outposts, you'll find the trading huts of Tom, Dick, and Harry. (As their names imply, there's nothing special about their inventory -- everyone else is looting the exact same stuff for free from goodie huts about four blocks away from you.) In the native villages, you'll find the trading huts of "Tamdals" Tik, Tack, and Toe. (And perhaps if you make a line connecting all three, you'll win!) The traders appear to stay in business by ripping off travelers who can't speak their language. "Hockackickack Hokbak? Sure, I'll buy that gourd in exchange for my rifles."

Trading involves using two pulldown menus to select a type of item from your inventory and a type of item from the trader's inventory. After submitting your choices, the trader will propose a trade.

The trade always consists of swapping 1 of the more expensive item for a bundle of the cheaper item. Some items are in the same price category (such as a banana and a bottle of beer), and can be traded 1-for-1 in either direction (the trader will tell you that the items are about equal). Otherwise, the trader usually collects a small commission by shorting you one item (plus roundoff) when giving you a bundle of cheaper items.

Once the trader makes the offer, you can either accept the proposed trade (costs 1 AP) or reject the proposed trade (costs 0 AP). Provided that both parties have the required amount of items, and provided that you have enough empty space in your inventory to temporarily carry both groups of items, the items will be successfully exchanged. After the trade, you have an opportunity to make the same trade again (costs 1 AP).

The traders do not have an unlimited supply of items. In fact, their inventory is dependent on periodic replenishing of supplies. It is believed that native traders restock only native items and outsider traders restock only outsider items. However, traders also receive items from other players. Therefore it is often possible to find both outsider and native items in a trading hut, as well as finding other goodies and detritus brought by other explorers.

Additional comments can be found on the talk page.

York, Durham, and Derby Market Prices

Trader Harry is located at [-70.367,+26.313] in York. Spot-checking Harry's prices over several weeks has caused us to deduce that Harry's trade prices are completely stable (April 12 - May 1, 2006); these prices are listed in the table below.

So far, a dozen price-checks have been conducted at Durham and Derby, and these have revealed an identical pricing structure to York. It can be assumed that the New York Stock Exchange prices also apply to Durham and Derby. See Talk:Trading for more details.

New York Stock Exchange
Heavy Sword $5000
Gem $1000
Rifle / Blowpipe $300
GPS Unit $250
FAK / Dried Herbs $200
Cutlass ($105-$120)
Machete $100
Gold Coin $100
Knife / Dagger $80
Blunt Machete $70
Driftwood $70
Sharpening Stone $50
Crab $50
Banana / Mango $40
Bottle of Beer / Bottle of Rum $40
Tasty Berries $40
Bottle of Water / Gourd of Water $30
Poisonous Berries $20
Rifle Bullet $15
Poison Dart $10
Poison Snake $5

Stock Exchange Notes:

  • These prices reflect trading up: offering multiple lower-priced items in order to buy a higher-priced one. For example, 67 bullets buys a gem, 20 bullets buys a rifle. When trading down, there is usually a commission or round-off error that yields less. For example, a machete was yielding only 5 bullets from Harry.
  • Currently the items appear to reflect trades from players rather than a magically refreshed stock. There might be premiums for trading an item to Harry that he does not yet have, or for buying his last unit of an item.
  • Be careful of round-off. For example, you'll need two GPS Units to buy one Rifle, even though 17 Bullets gets a GPS and 20 Bullets gets a Rifle. You're better off selling 1 GPS Unit into "cash" (bullets or berries), then accumulating cash to buy a Rifle, rather than cross-trading GPS->Rifle.
  • In my experience, you're better off looting the nearby Armoury, and getting your Rifle for free, rather than wasting AP on the stock exchange.

--Tycho44 19:16, 27 April 2006 (BST); Updated. 08:56, 1 May 2006 (BST). Updated, Tycho44 10:19, 1 May 2006 (BST)