Trading Updates!
Hi! With a couple of cycles processed so far, I wanted to take some lessons from turn processing for the first couple cycles and standardize on a few things. My hope is that standardizing on these items will allow me to process and return trades much quicker, and hopefully make accounting easier for everyone.
Please Note: Some of this contradicts prior guidance that requested omitting received trade items on your turn sheet. Apologies for the contradictory guidance as I continue to iterate on this.
Player Shortcodes
You may, if you wish, use the following shortcodes to refer to parties in GTAs and Trades (not case-sensitive):
CJg - Crystal Jaguars
Dji - Djinda
Driz - Drizzari
Gur - Gurbollans
Kal - Kalyrii
Lux - Luxoptera
PPl - Pai-Pal States
UA - United Armada
Viz - Vi'zen
Wyld - Wyld Stallyns
GTA Proceeds
I've noted a variance between how players account for GTAs on their turn sheet. Commonly, turn sheets either...
- List the gross proceeds from all GTAs then deduct 1C per GTA moderated by the UA, usually added to any other trade fees for that turn.
- List the net proceeds from GTAs only.
For future turn sheets, please list the net proceeds from all GTAs. As a reminder, that's:
- 4C for each direct* GTA.
- 3C for each indirect GTA (moderated by the UA).
(*A GTA is considered Direct when both parties know an owned location with a warp gate that the other owns and both players list the GTA as Direct on their turn sheet. Your GTA with the UA is always direct.)
Use the following format to denote GTAs:
GTAs
Direct: (Comma-separated list of parties)
Indirect: (Comma-separated list of parties)
Note: If you don't list a party in this section, you are presumed to have cancelled your GTA with them if one was active.
Trade Proceeds in Resource Tallies
You should include the resource you receive from trades in your resource tallies on the turn you receive (or expect to receive) them. If omitted, your Trade Turn Results will provide corrections. Deduct sent resources on the turn they are sent.
Resources provided via indirect trades and trades with the UA are safe*. Direct trade resources, however, are not safe! If you are relying on directly traded resources for an action that turn or to sustain units, these actions may not succeed if the other party doesn't send the requisite resources.
(*Unless there's any wild cosmic events or abnormal situations that may develop at Zontan's discretion. If something abnormal happens, it'll be noted on your turn results.)
Listing Received Items
As stated before, you only are required to list items you're sending on the turn you send it. However, if it helps with your personal bookkeeping, you may list items you expect to receive from a given trade. (These received items will be ignored.)
Please add all trades to a section titled "Trades". Please use the following template for listing a trade, with an empty line between each trade...
To: (Party Name)
Via: (UA or Sector ID)
Send: (Comma-separated list of items)
Receive: (Optional, Comma-separated list of items)
Use the following shortcodes when listing resources:
C - Credits, M - Mechanical, E - Energy, LS - Life Support, G - Genetic, LX - Luxury, W - Workers
So, for example...
Trades
To: UA
Via: UA
Send: My Cool Character Fluff Tech Name [Technology Name I], 20C
Receive: 3M, 3G
- Don't list GTAs in your trades, just resources and technology. Use a separate section (documented above) to list GTAs.
- Don't forget to deduct 3C per indirect trade from your resource allocation.
Alright, thanks for sticking with me to the end of this post. It's perhaps a bit silly to nitpick about format; behind the scenes I'm hoping to be able to parse these turn sheets in later turns, which will make it a lot easier to turn around trade results quickly, and hopefully with a reduced risk of errors. Thanks!
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:21, Sat 08 Oct 2022.