Sell the ones you don't need to upgrade your HQ (sometimes an exception can be made if the price is really low, like 10 or below). You begin the game with a handful of resources. When the prices of those base resources aren't worth selling at, you can usually just stockpile them and wait for them to be in demand again. So don't panic when the price of base resources you are producing plummet. This is a big reason why having a lot of electronics factories will only very slowly change the prices. What this means is that it takes a lot of factories to make a big change in prices of advance resources, but the simple base resources can change in price very quickly as supply and demand change. Or in the case of electronics, a single factory only produces 0.25 of electronics each second. On the other hand, a single factory will usually only produce about half a unit of the advanced resources. And most factories will use 1 whole unit of the resource each second. For example, at default game settings, a single mine/quarry/pump can produce 2 units per second with a level 3 resource (and more if you have adjacency bonuses). This is because it is easy to both use a lot of the base materials (causing a price increase), as well as to produce a lot of them (cause a price drop), compared to the resources produced in factories. Prices of base materials (water, iron, etc.) will tend to be more volatile (faster changing) than prices of the more advanced goods.

Shortages and surpluses generate additional demand or supply each second for some amount of time.

The last place demand comes from is random shortages and surpluses, or players using a hacker array to create shortages and surpluses.

In either mode, the colony will have a greater effect on the game as the game progresses. In the campaign mode of the game, the colony grows by players buying the colony structures. In most game modes, the colony will grow randomly on its own. So if the colony is buying 1 unit of something every second, it will raise the price by about $15 each day. It buys that amount of goods each second. Mouseover the colony to see what it demands. Players also use fuel when transporting resources, except robotic HQs which use power instead of fuel.Īnother place demand comes from is the colony. The players HQs' (except level 1 HQs) require some food, oxygen, and water, except for robotic HQs which don't require any life support. Players can also buy and sell resources to stockpile for later or to try to make money on speculation (buying resources they expect will go up in price). They will buy materials they need to upgrade their HQ, build buildings, and the inputs to the buildings (such as water and power to make food). The first place that demand comes from is the players.

Offworld trading company campaign guide