I love the idea of traders having specializations. What I would suggest is to ADD a tab of their specialization instead of making them only sell certain items. If you're in a RWG game, it would suck to pick a way to play (like nomad) and find that the only trader available doesn't sell or buy weapons.
I also think that traders could be a huge part of the game if they also sell information. Have them ask you for 5000k dukes for the location of the nearest trader (mark in your map). As it has been stated in the thread, maybe have quests of delivery of items to other traders or reputation gains, for them to reveal the other traders for free. Maybe they tell you where the nearest city is for XXXX Dukes. The nearest Working Stiff, Shamway... you get my drift.
All of the specialized traders could have a weekly quest of item deliveries. This could fill a bar of "need" and when filled you raise reputation just as doing quests for him. The weapons trader would buy any gun level 2 or higher for the week. The medical would need 30 buy med kits before the week ends. (if you don't complete it, you still get dukes for the price of the ones you handed in)
Hey guys and gals, I am working on making traders and the economy as good as possible and need your input. My goals are:1.) Support all play styles, so non crafters can get what they need.
For this let me know if there are any items or resources sorely missing from trader inventory.
All should always sell:
Tool and Die set (price should not be so cheap, as it is a mid-to-late game item)
Beakers (expensive)
Acid
glue
nitrate
coal
gun powder
ammo of some kind (enough to make ait a habit of going to each trader each reset)
Maybe some have a coop or a little farm and they sell fresh eggs and meat
(and yes... vending machines should only reset in the trader location. The ones around the world you could destroy to get the goodies and thats it)
2.) Make it possible to make a living role playing.
Whether it be a lumberjack, a rock miner, a blacksmith, hunter, crafter selling his goods, scavenger selling things, I think you should be able to make a modest living. I'd want to know what trades are under powered and which ones are overpowered or not even supported.
For the lumberjack:
A rare wood/tree (that sells for a lot) that only grows in a certain temperature and you can only find not plant. Maybe in a tough to live terrain like the wasteland.
A tree seed that takes about a week to grow, but traders pay top dukes for the wood.
Hunter:
Rare animal that traders pay to dukes for the fur.
Zombie bear teeth that sell for a lot. (incentive to find and kill zombie bears)
Crafter:
Aesthetic things like chairs, desks, sculptures or some other ♥♥♥♥ you guys come up with.
Miner:
Rare gems (ruby, sapphires, emeralds, etc. You kind of have this already, but in 30+ hours of a17 I have found 2 diamond/rare gem blocks.)
Rare fossils worth a lot
Scavengers:
Relics - Paintings, sculptures, jewelry, etc. worth a ton and found in specific dungeon POIs (make me want to go loot those!)
Lost items of traders - Joe's Pajamas - sentimental values - a ton of dukes. Only bought by Joe and a quest mark should appear in the map.
3.) Perk balance. Are the trading perks too good? I typically get by without them so maybe they are OP?
I believe they're fine. Gives another option to play if you're going for a builder/traps/passive game style. (Just buy what you need) And traders are an absolute necessity for a perma-death SP run for streamers.
