Shellhound Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 (edited) Why would people join a cartel and have their prices fixed if they could just not join the cartel and sell their resources at a price they know people will buy? Less money, with enough people participating you could control the supply and therefore keep prices at a higher price level you'd like. There will be those that try to undercut, but if the cartel is run right that is quickly bought up and then sold at a higher price. Edited August 18, 2014 by Shellhound 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jarl Matt Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 Yes, which is perfectly able to happen without built in mechanics. As I mentioned earlier, it is something I was discussing with my alliance right from the start. Quote 1x Gentleman of Economics @ TSG 1x Leader @ TSG 1x Minister of Prosperity @ TEL 1x Adviser @ TEL First Recipient of the Order of the Jarl @ TEL - Honoring service to the alliance. 1x Associate @ tS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shellhound Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 Yeah that's something I agree with, I don't think their should be built-in mechanics, but I've already made my case on that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoS Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 Less money, with enough people participating you could control the supply and therefore keep prices at a higher price level you'd like. There will be those that try to undercut, but if the cartel is run right that is quickly bought up and then sold at a higher price. That would only be possible with a ton of money in the hands of a few players - like $6 mil bonus. Â I tried to buy the low offers and monopolize a commodity. No one bought at my increased prices. They just waited for lower prices to be posted again. And I wasted millions on the experiment. Â Trade would carry on exactly the same with or without trade unions, as long as trade unions can only set their prices - which is what individual nations already do. We would need to approach it from a different angle. Â A mechanism to gain (small) control of supply seems to be the only way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shellhound Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 And how would you suggest that? The only way to be able to do it *that I can tell) is for Unions to set the minimum price for all nations which would be giving them far too much power imo. And given enough resources and players, one could feasibly do this. You yourself tried doing this, add 20 players to the mix, add an alliance backing a few people etc. and suddenly they become that much more powerful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jarl Matt Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 Yup, if you have a rich alliance spread out throughout the timezones so there would often be someone on, you just have to buy out the cheaper offers every time they come up so that there isn't any cheap offers for other people to buy, and thus they are forced to buy from you. You just have to be rich and have a world wide alliance. Â Quote 1x Gentleman of Economics @ TSG 1x Leader @ TSG 1x Minister of Prosperity @ TEL 1x Adviser @ TEL First Recipient of the Order of the Jarl @ TEL - Honoring service to the alliance. 1x Associate @ tS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shellhound Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 Yup, if you have a rich alliance spread out throughout the timezones so there would often be someone on, you just have to buy out the cheaper offers every time they come up so that there isn't any cheap offers for other people to buy, and thus they are forced to buy from you. You just have to be rich and have a world wide alliance. Or working with other alliances, I could see alliances making economic treaties to do just this (runs to Pre to try and get him to do it.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jarl Matt Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 Yeah, I would prefer it if the game would require more communication between people as opposed to just clicking on a couple of buttons and hey presto! PROFIT! Quote 1x Gentleman of Economics @ TSG 1x Leader @ TSG 1x Minister of Prosperity @ TEL 1x Adviser @ TEL First Recipient of the Order of the Jarl @ TEL - Honoring service to the alliance. 1x Associate @ tS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoS Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 And how would you suggest that? The only way to be able to do it *that I can tell) is for Unions to set the minimum price for all nations which would be giving them far too much power imo. And given enough resources and players, one could feasibly do this. You yourself tried doing this, add 20 players to the mix, add an alliance backing a few people etc. and suddenly they become that much more powerful. I posted earlier, I would make it where nations can sell their rights to develop certain improvements (ie. mines, refineries, etc.). For example, I can build 3 steel mills. I sell one to nation x, then he can build 4 and I can only build 2. Maybe, we could even capture them in war. Â That's one of the ways economic dominance is gained. No one can gain dominance if everyone can freely and equally produce, buy, and sell. Â You can get together a billion dollars and buy all the steel on the market for a few days. But guess what...they'll keep producing steel and in a few days your cartel will be competing with them again. You would be much better off starting a global war. Or just stockpiling until one breaks out. Â Some method of tariffs or market share might help the trade side. We could place tariffs on nations or alliances or resources that would effectively lower or raise the final price from what the seller quoted. There could be a like and unlike button (or embargo/free trade buttons) next to a nation's trade offers. That would be added to or subtracted from his quote price to arrive at his final price (all done by comp, not players). This could be incorporated into the trade unions, where they have spheres of influence and the cooperation to make global trade policy versus other trade unions, alliances, and individuals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoS Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 Food is selling for no less than $600. Is this the work of a cartel? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shellhound Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 Alas, you have discovered our devious plot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoS Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 But no one is buying... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.