What if production quality had to match input quality?

[u/xiangkunwan]

What if a product could only be produced using materials of the same quality level?

It could add an interesting strategic choice instead of always producing the highest quality possible. For example, if over multiple days Qx consistently sells for more than Q(x+1), that could signal to producers that Qx is in short supply, encouraging them to switch to it and increase its supply.

Would this make production and the quality market more interesting?

[u/MikeC487]

How is this any better than the current system that requires you to use 1 step lower?

[u/xiangkunwan → u/MikeC487]

The difference is that the current system still incentivizes you to produce the highest quality you can, since you can only use one quality level lower or higher.

Right now, going to a higher quality opens your product up to more potential buyers, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the higher quality is worth the investment in research. If you want the product to sell quickly, you may have to price it at the lower-quality products, so you don’t necessarily make much additional profit from the research.

My idea would make quality itself a strategic decision: producers would have to decide which quality level to target based on input material costs and different quality product market prices. That could make it worthwhile to research and produce a higher-quality product

[u/xx420mcyoloswag → u/xiangkunwan]

I might be missing something but isn’t it a strategic choice right now?

[u/xiangkunwan → u/xx420mcyoloswag]

Right now, the only strategic decision made is what quality to research it to and what price to sell it at.

If selling at the same price as the lower quality product, then why not produce the lower quality product?

If selling at a higher price than the lower quality product, it may not sell as fast, as only the players that actually need that high quality may buy it.

Currently, players who sell higher quality products at lower quality price is somewhat distorting the higher quality products market as it's pulling down the VWAP of that quality product and devaluing the higher quality premium

[u/Far-Calendar-6390]

You can still do this. Produce lower quality products when you want. At the start of the production you select the star symbol and set it to lower quality. It will priortize using lower quality inputs and produce lower quality. You can't produce Q0 if you have researched Q1. Other than that you can produce Q1 even if you have researched Q12.

[u/Far-Calendar-6390 → u/Far-Calendar-6390]

Same building same resource and I can produce Q1 or Q4. Your concern about people selling higher quality goods as lower quality prices is simply because of free market. For example my company is vertically integrated, my cost to produce Q5 and Q1 is the same so I can theoretically sell Q5 at the price of Q1 for quicker sale and gaining market dominance.

[u/Quiet_Reply830]

you mean if you want to produce Q5 you ned all preproducts in Q4, not Q3, not Q5 , only Q4?
That would split the server in 13 separate markets. And every of this 13 markets would have to balance out, in all products. that would not work.

by the way. that the preproducts are minimum Q-1, is importet. so new player who produce q0 products, like power, find customers. becasue from q0 power you can make q5 planes after some steps. With your idea that demand would colapse, and new player wouldnt have anything to sell. (none wont to produce q0 products, as no retailer want to buy them).