How the hell does trading work?

[PenderBloodfart]

Such a weirdly unexplained thing for a "rogue trader" game...
The tutorial tooltip told me basically nothing, i need to raise rep and to do that i sell cargo but what am i selling exactly? Stuff that's there just to sell? Is it stuff i NEED? No idea.

Like it says i have 107% fuel but it won't let me select how much i can sell. Don't i need fuel for myself?

And my weapons and gear, selling them does nothing. What do i do with the trash?

[EnemigoDeLaMafia]

In order to "buy" stuff (although in the game fluff you're not buying your just taking what is yours, but this is an aside), you need two things profit factor and trader reputation.

Profit factor is an abstraction of your wealth. You'll get more of it just playing the game.

The second thing you need is trader reputation. Don't ask me why, it's probably a gameplay thing, but they won't unlock their better gear if they don't like you. To this end, this is where you put your cargo in order to accrue reputation and unlock stuff.

There are 5 factions with one of them being different in the items they trade for, so it's 4 factions and usually it is two of them that compete for a set of items, and also most of them will take common goods like fuel and food and stuff.

By playing you'll get enough cargo for raising reputation. Eventually you also get some other pathways into reputation. It can be slow going at first, so don't be discouraged. Try to check the vendors for stuff that you might actually want for your characters.

In order to actually buy an item, both factors, the profit margin requirement and reputation need to be correct.

[PenderBloodfart]

Originally posted by Disciple.:

In order to "buy" stuff (although in the game fluff you're not buying your just taking what is yours, but this is an aside), you need two things profit factor and trader reputation.

Profit factor is an abstraction of your wealth. You'll get more of it just playing the game.

The second thing you need is trader reputation. Don't ask me why, it's probably a gameplay thing, but they won't unlock their better gear if they don't like you. To this end, this is where you put your cargo in order to accrue reputation and unlock stuff.

There are 5 factions with one of them being different in the items they trade for, so it's 4 factions and usually it is two of them that compete for a set of items, and also most of them will take common goods like fuel and food and stuff.

By playing you'll get enough cargo for raising reputation. Eventually you also get some other pathways into reputation. It can be slow going at first, so don't be discouraged. Try to check the vendors for stuff that you might actually want for your characters.

In order to actually buy an item, both factors, the profit margin requirement and reputation need to be correct.

Ok so the cargo i sell is not stuff my ship needs then? It's just resources i carry around

[EnemigoDeLaMafia]

Originally posted by PenderBloodfart:

Originally posted by Disciple.:

In order to "buy" stuff (although in the game fluff you're not buying your just taking what is yours, but this is an aside), you need two things profit factor and trader reputation.

Profit factor is an abstraction of your wealth. You'll get more of it just playing the game.

The second thing you need is trader reputation. Don't ask me why, it's probably a gameplay thing, but they won't unlock their better gear if they don't like you. To this end, this is where you put your cargo in order to accrue reputation and unlock stuff.

There are 5 factions with one of them being different in the items they trade for, so it's 4 factions and usually it is two of them that compete for a set of items, and also most of them will take common goods like fuel and food and stuff.

By playing you'll get enough cargo for raising reputation. Eventually you also get some other pathways into reputation. It can be slow going at first, so don't be discouraged. Try to check the vendors for stuff that you might actually want for your characters.

In order to actually buy an item, both factors, the profit margin requirement and reputation need to be correct.

Ok so the cargo i sell is not stuff my ship needs then? It's just resources i carry around

Yeah you don't need cargo for yourself, outside of some very niche events while traveling that require a copy or two of something. Say you might use a copy of the sacred item that goes for 500 rep (I forgot the name of it) to shield the ship from the perils of the warp.

Other than those types of events, which aren't that many, you can freely trade your cargo.

[Taifun_Vash]

The first time you talk with Janris Danrok you can ask him about that, he says something like that you're selling the useless crap you don't need. There are some events, ship or on planets where you can need things like holy artefacts, fuel, provisions, armor and arms but they're a minority.

[Morgian]

You collect stuff by type, which goes into packages. Once a package gets to 100% or higher it is ready for being traged away. You can see the percentage of an item, if you like.
If you have one item that is worth 15% and add it to a package that is already at 92% it reaches 107%. I read someone manipulated the packages to keep them as close to 100% as possible, but that is a lot of work for little gain.

You can trade away all the stuff as you like. Only a few events require cargo for a different outcome. For example, one requires holy items (I don't recall how many), which are also the highest value stuff for two factions.
Selling everything gets you farther with the factions (although you cannot max out all of them thus far), having the cargo at hand for events can be beneficial. One of the choices to make :)