Useful Traders

The Main Problem:

It's always cool when you find a trader, but then you look at the trades and see that they want to buy things that you can't source yourself. In other words, they want to buy things you cannot make, they want things other traders sell, or things that can only be found in ruins. Often, though, you can't find the right trader who sells what you want to buy, or you don't find the needed loot in ruins. So what is the result? You never use the trader because you can never get enough gears to buy anything you want from them. Solution? This mod.

The Solution - What This Mod Does:

This mod removes all requests from traders to buy things that can't be sourced reliably.

That means no trader will ask to buy a cracked vessel. They also won't try to buy clothes that you can't make, they will go to the clothing merchant for that, like you have to. The goal here is to have them request things that you can actually provide. If you can't make it, they don't buy it. The only exception is the luxury and treasure hunter traders, who, by implication, buy things that can't be easily acquired.

This does not eliminate the possibility of setting up supply lines between the traders; it simply means that if you can't find someone selling what the first trader wants, you have the option of making it yourself.

Additionally, another goal is to identify and add items that they should be selling or buying, but currently are not in vanilla.

For example, with this mod, the agricultural trader can now sometimes offer to sell you a populated skip of bees.

Secondary Problem:

They are so far away, and if you build a cool castle marketplace, you can't get traders to populate it.

The Secondary Problems Solution - What This Mod Does:

You can now purchase a trader spawn to set up a stand where you want. When trading with a merchant, you will sometimes find that you can purchase a merchant spawn of the same variant that you are currently speaking with. You'll take that purchased trader spawn and go back home, where you have built a cool stand or shop, and place them there - keeping in mind that TRADERS ARE LIMITED TO A 4 BLOCK RADIOUS OF WHERE YOU SPAWN THEM. This radius is vanilla, and why the traders never run out of their carts and get killed by monsters. The logic here is that you are investing in them to set up another shop where you want. One day, I hope to tie this to a dialogue option for immersion.

Note: 

Once you place a trader, you cannot pick them up again. They now act using vanilla functionality. They will only ever travel 4 blocks from where you place them. If you kill them, they don't respawn, and the body just stays there.

This mod is still in production. Its at a state good enough for me to add it to my server and play with, which is why its being posted now, but I'm not done with it.

So, feedback is encuraged If;

You find them wanting to buy stuff that is unproducible, excluding the luxury trader.

You want them to sell something they don't, suggest it and I will consider it.

Awesome Links!:

Trader Trades Spreadsheet v2.3.3:  This is a snapshot save of the spreadsheet I use to identify issues with trades and plan changes before making them. This is after implementing the changes for v2.3.3. It lists all trades, but it will be much more useful to you if you know how to use the filtering options. Then you can search the Excel for specific items and will get back who sells and who buys that item, along with info on how much they sell or buy it for.

Known Issues/Bugs:

None currently :)

 

Update Tracking:

Click the files tab. Then click the relevant square in the Change Log column to see the details of each update.

You'll see that this mod is updated relatively frequently, and those updates often come in intense batches whenever I return to hyperfocus on this mod.

 

Planned Updates:

v2.4.0 - Add Jeweler and maybe Tailer. Spawns are to be purchased from the luxury and clothing traders, respectively. Rebalance trades if necisarry. Per request; "~take a look at the named traders in Nadiya? Even if it's just to add to the amount of gears they keep, Agneiszka for example will offer to buy more iron than she can afford to pay you for, and some of the villagers don't buy anything at all (Tad the barber surgeon, Gerhardt the hunter, Wall the alchemist)."

v2.5.0 - Teach myself how to add and set up a config file in the game files so people can tweak prices and stuff as they wish. I may or may not actually do this depending on the amount of work it turns out to be.

To be honest, I don't understand the need, as I figure if a user is confident enough to open the game files to edit a config file, they can edit the mod files directly. That's what I do with mods I want to tweak. You all have my full permission to modify this mod for personal use.

The fact is, it's a server-side mod, so while I haven't tested this in multiplayer, I assume that as long as the computer hosting the game has the modified files installed, everyone on the server should receive the custom modified prices.

I will only have a problem with someone using my code if they then post that forked/edited version without crediting me for having the original idea/mod, as that's all we modders really get out of doing what we do - credit.

 

FAQ:

Q: Can I add this to an existing save? 

A: Yes, note that you may have to wait for thier stock to refresh if you have already discovered that trader. Once it refreshes, their trade options will be pulling from this mod instead of the vanilla file.

 

Q: Is this mod compatable with ___?

A: I don't know. If I were you, I would download both mods and then create a new creative test world to find out. I do this every time I add any new mod to my playlist. Once I am sure they are compatible, then I will launch my old survival save.

Users have reported the following mods as being compatible after they tested them together on a test world:

Trader Phone

Rustbound

Day Trader!

 

If you like this mod:

Try Drifters Have Loot - Vintage Story Mod DB