Elite (BBC Micro cassette, 1984), market code

Elite came out in 1984. elite-bbc/release

Value: 1984

Acornsoft published it for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron; the catalog keeps only the earliest year.

Cited by: Commodity trading

Elite's station markets price 17 goods afresh in every star system and stock all but the last, alien items, whose availability var sets to 0. elite-bbc/trades

Cited by: Commodity trading

Each good's price is $(b+(r\wedge m)\pm e\cdot f)\times 4$ tenths of a credit, from its base price $b$, a random byte $r$ masked by $m$, the system's economy $e$ (0 to 7), and the good's economic factor $f$, all in 8-bit arithmetic. elite-bbc/price-formula

The comments in the pinned file are Moxon's; the instructions are the original's.

Cited by: Commodity trading

One random byte, drawn on arrival in a new system, sets every good's fluctuation for that visit. elite-bbc/visit-random

Cited by: Commodity trading

The table gives each good a base price, an economic factor from −9 (Furs) to +29 (Narcotics), and a fluctuation mask from 1 (Food) to 120 (Narcotics). elite-bbc/market-table

{
 "Food": [
  19,
  -2,
  1
 ],
 "Textiles": [
  20,
  -1,
  3
 ],
 "Radioactives": [
  65,
  -3,
  7
 ],
 "Slaves": [
  40,
  -5,
  31
 ],
 "Liquor/Wines": [
  83,
  -5,
  15
 ],
 "Luxuries": [
  196,
  8,
  3
 ],
 "Narcotics": [
  235,
  29,
  120
 ],
 "Computers": [
  154,
  14,
  3
 ],
 "Machinery": [
  117,
  6,
  7
 ],
 "Alloys": [
  78,
  1,
  31
 ],
 "Firearms": [
  124,
  13,
  7
 ],
 "Furs": [
  176,
  -9,
  63
 ],
 "Minerals": [
  32,
  -1,
  3
 ],
 "Gold": [
  97,
  -1,
  7
 ],
 "Platinum": [
  171,
  -2,
  31
 ],
 "Gem-Stones": [
  45,
  -1,
  15
 ],
 "Alien items": [
  53,
  15,
  7
 ]
}

Cited by: Commodity trading

A negative factor makes a good cheapest in poor agricultural systems and a positive one in rich industrial systems, so Food costs 7.6–8.0 credits a tonne at economy 0 and 2.0–2.4 at economy 7, and Computers 61.6–62.8 and 100.8–102.0. elite-bbc/economy-gradient

{
 "Food": {
  "economy0": [
   7.6,
   8
  ],
  "economy7": [
   2,
   2.4
  ]
 },
 "Computers": {
  "economy0": [
   61.6,
   62.8
  ],
  "economy7": [
   100.8,
   102
  ]
 }
}

Cited by: Commodity trading

Narcotics' sum can pass 255 and wrap around, so in a rich industrial system its price is either 94.0–100.4 or 1.2–39.6 credits. elite-bbc/narcotics-wrap

{
 "economy0": [
  [
   94,
   100.4
  ],
  [
   1.2,
   39.6
  ]
 ]
}

Measured from the code, not from play. At economy 7 the byte starts at 235 + 203, so the prices fall in two bands again (the probe prints them).

Cited by: Commodity trading