Markets
Economy & trading — read the room before you list
SpaceCraft economies reward players who haul value through risk and time. Prices wobble with patches, piracy routes, corp stockpiles, and plain-old mood. This page is the friendly macro view: how markets breathe, how blueprints trade, how contracts price danger, and why information beats guessing. Pair with supply, logistics craft, and org tools so lists on Babylon 7 reflect reality, not optimism.
Player-driven markets
Read depth, not headlines. Busy hubs compress spreads; frontier stations reward patience and escorts. Carry backup plans — if titanium spikes because a war ate freighters, your weekend plan should flex. Treat taxes and fees like weather; drizzle still soaks uninsured cargo.
Blueprint resale
Good blueprint sellers document assumptions: fuel budget, armor class, docking envelope. Fraud is rare but complacency thrives; watermark versions, disclose patch targets, refuse mystery meat fittings. Respect IP inside corp libraries — theft kills collaboration faster than pirates.
Contracts & hauling
Contracts translate trust into itineraries. Reward clarity: pickup windows, insurer expectations, contingency contacts. Align pay with hazard — asteroid lanes differ from guarded lanes. Combat-capable pilots should cite tactics they actually drilled, not fantasies that explode on gate approach.
Prices & information
Use notebooks, corp dashboards, spreadsheets, napkins — consistency beats brilliance. Snapshot prices after patches roll; ripple effects propagate slower than memes imply. Teach newcomers price literacy in the beginner’s guide rhythm so they haul once with intent instead of thrice by accident.