Jewelry Trade |
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Trade with jewels has two similarities with Dark Corner trade: Long-range, and taking place in faction core clusters. [MECH:Black Market & Dark Corner]. Both profit from [MECH:Packing].
In every faction core cluster, one neutral, mobile Gem Merchant is stationed. [TWOP:NPC Buildings]. In regular intervals, the gem merchant moves their building to another random spot of open space in the same cluster, to a sector with a planet. This NPC building works like any other player-owned building: It requires upkeep (food, water, energy, optical components, and gemstones) and produces the type of jewels corresponding to its territory: Blue Sapphire jewels in Federation space, Ruby jewels in Empire space, and Golden Beryl jewels in Union space. [TWOP:Commodities]. Production level may span from 1 to 7 and depends on the cluster's economic strength (= amount of existing player-owned buildings in that cluster). The production level increases up to a maximum of 15 whenever the building is sufficiently supplied, and it shrinks whenever it is not supplied, but not below the initially determined level that depends on the economic strength of the cluster.
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Besides the upkeep, every gem merchant pays for acquiring jewels from other regions. This price is uniquely determined for every gem merchant and changes when a merchant moves to another spot. It is always higher than the price the jewels can be bought for in their regions of origin, with small random variations. Jewels from other places which the merchant has acquired decrease with every production cycle. Every time the gem merchant moves two thirds of the acquired jewels vanish due to being sold on the journey.
Jewels of all varieties are required for the building of modules for Alliance Command Stations.
[REF:Defense Modules]
