So we’ve been playing this game in Early Access a few weeks now and although I don’t have access to a lot of data on how many players are ‘actively’ playing. I’m also aware that it’s pretty hard as a player to be objective about this but I want to get people’s opinion on how well the economy is holding-up to players trying to use it.
My experience is that the cost of all ‘consumable items’ was eroding my profits down to a very very tiny margin when I started (I took the Constructor package and trade at Benten Station). I often had to wait significant time for some items to sell and it got to the point where build queues would run out of input resources to keep going. But it’s ok because after you persevere and get a better building to make better items things will improve, right? Wrong.
Now I have a Welding Plant and basically I can only make Trusses. I mean technically there’s nothing to stop me making other things but they won’t sell as there’s no buy orders, no sell orders, no guide pricing even. Perhaps some people reading this would say I should try and sell them anyway but as I cannot sell Trusses in any hurry right now and the margins on those are worse than on more basic things, the point seems moot.
I thought perhaps it was just the way I was playing, or perhaps I have just randomly drawn the worst trade hub in the game - so I asked my better half to see how she was getting on and even though she’s doing the Food-producing starting package, which should very easily make money and is at another hub, things are really no better. For her expansion is proving not an option and the resulting cost of consumables over time is taking its toll.
This made me wonder if really the only viable way to play this game could be in Pro mode (where you can use local orders) - could a pro-subbed player perhaps comment on their experiences relating to this?
As for what changes would I recommend - it is hard to say, as I don’t see all the numbers but perhaps seeding the market with some base buy/sell orders (the prices don’t have to be great but at least there’d be something to sell against for empty items) would go someway towards helping. Apart from that I can only think players will need the amount of consumables needed or their cost reducing to help give them the time for the economy to get their trades done. At the moment I’m pretty much accepting buy orders on a great deal (like almost all) of my stuff just to play at all.