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- NPC ships and Trade Reservation have been explanation by Burnit! (link; Oct 01, 2015).
- Station Match Finder, for matching ware production and needs by EuRoKa (link; Nov 10, 2014).
- Station building guide by Simoom (link; Feb 18, 2014).
Automated Station trading (via Manager)
Once a station is built or upgraded, it's production lines can work straight away if you manually supply materials but for it to really work for you, it needs a Manager. The Manger will begin to advertise Buy and Sell orders for wares using a budget that you can define the size of within the Manger's Detail Menu. Those trade deals may be fulfilled by NPC traders, your manual traders (see below) or civilian ships that you assign to the Manager (recommended to reduce the probability of the station becoming stuck due to missing wares). See here for further details about how
Production Modules will often need multiple types of cargo (Bulk, Container, Energy and/or Liquid). Although the station will generate Upkeep Missions for missing ship types, as your stations grow you may need to invest in multiple ships covering the same type(s). Civilian ships come in Trade and Mine varieties, although the distinction is a little soft since both types can do fulfil both rolls with what they chose to do for a station being largely driven by whether they carry mining drones or not. See here for further details on Manager-controlled ships and about how to control where your ships will operate.
Useful info from elsewhere on the web:
- There's an interesting thread here about how trades are currently (v3.61/v4.00b) worked out, & why your station may stop trading for a time, with Dev comments/clarifications.
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