Phoenix Forums

Sees With Knowledge

Hi all,

Probably a simple question for those in the know, but I can't seem to find the information anywhere!

How can I find out just how 'perishable' a perishable item is? When I am working out my trades obviously it would be usful to know how much of my cargo, (and therefore profit margin), is going to rot before I get to my destination.
How can I work this out?

Does each item have it's own rate of decay, or is there a set rate for all perishable items?
Which ever of these it is, how can I find out what the rate(s) are?

Thanks,

Sees With Knowledge

occ Phil

Ro'a-lith

I think it's either 1 or 2% per week? Can't quite remember what perishable decay rates were in BSE, or whether they even apply in Phoenix for that matter.

On second thoughts... good question.

Jerusalem

Heh, foolish me, I thought this one would be easy to figure out. But, here's the stats on the two perishable goods currently at my SB:

1 Sharks decayed and was dumped.
3 Eels decayed and were dumped.

| 191 Sharks
| 220 Eels

Tends to suggest variable decay rates for different goods? Not big enough sample set to tell though.

Sees With Knowledge

Glad to see it's not just me that is stumped!

I had a simialr thing to Jerusalem, 2 samples that appear to have decayed at different rates:

CARGO:
381 Hog Meat
35 Snake Bite

DECAYED & DUMPED:
14 Hog Meat
0 Snake Bite

If anyone can answer this directly that would be great, if not I guess if we get enough samples on this thread we 'might' be able to work it out!

Thanks!

Garg

i always counted it as 5% loss per week, did not know there could be differences in goods

Sees With Knowledge

At the following location in the KJC Phoenix Rulebook I have found something. It's not in the main text but on the right hand side:

RuleBook

It says:

QUOTE

Perishables

Certain trade goods are classed as perishable. These items go off. In game this is accounted for by a weekly mass attrition. Each week there will be a drop of up to 5% of the mass. When trading in perishable masses it is imperative that this loss is taken into consideration on all trade deals. If the goods are going to be in transit for a few weeks this could vastly reduce the profit margin.

So at least this ties in with what Garg has said, so we might be getting somewhere.

Does anyone know if this is variable item to item though?

I mean 5% of my hog meat would be 19.05 mus, and 5% of my snake bite would have been 1.75mus.

Presuming that it would round down this would be 19 hog meat and 1 snake bite dumped, but as can be seen above I lost 14 hog meat, and 0 snake bite.

This seems to point to it being variable up to 5% as said in the quote rather than fixed at 5%. So then the question is how do we know the perish rate of each item or do we have to take a gamble and work on the worst case of 5%?

Obviously if I have a choice of buying 2 different types of perishable goods, I might favour the one with the lowest perish rate?

Any more information is of course welcome

Thanks

Duckworth-Lewis

I'm not sure - but I always thought that the rate of decay increases the longer you have a good. So for example it may start at 1%, but the same goods may suffer 2% the following week...

...though that does kind of imply the game keeps a track on every weeks worth of production

ptb

I read it as up to 5% for any item, so it could be 1% one week and 5% the next, regardless of the goods.

A variation would tally with how much things at my starbases decay

Garg

must say that its interesting, that it can be up to 5% loss per week.

But if you want to keep track of losses from moving, then do this, consider you will loss 5% nomatter what per week, then you know at least what you will be getting minimum and anything else is a bonus

MasterTrader

Decay rates are variable. The rate of decay on your items will vary from item to item, and on any given item it will vary from week to week. Presumably the 5% mentioned in the rules is the upper limit, but I have to admit to not having checked. If you have less than 100 of a perishable item, there is generally a fairly good chance that none will decay in any given week.

Richard
AFT

ptb

Judging by what i know of phoenix it's probably another curve

so 2.5% will be what you should expect to get, with the worse case of 5%

Andy

I'm pretty sure it is dependant on item - each perishible trade item has it's own decay rate

Sees With Knowledge

QUOTE (Andy @ Aug 7 2005, 03:01 PM)

I'm pretty sure it is dependant on item - each perishible trade item has it's own decay rate

What makes you say this? Any ideas how you can find these rates out?

Thanks,

SWK

Andy

The only way i know of is to see them perish at a starbase and then work out the percentage decay rate

Andy

ptb

QUOTE (Andy @ Aug 7 2005, 04:01 PM)

I'm pretty sure it is dependant on item - each perishible trade item has it's own decay rate

Hard to say, it can vary significatly on the same item week to week.

Avatar

And I was pretty sure the TM indicated the weekly decay rate

Sees With Knowledge

QUOTE (Avatar @ Aug 8 2005, 12:18 PM)

And I was pretty sure the TM indicated the weekly decay rate

Sorry for my ignorance...

The TM?

SWK

Garg

then its a newer thing, as i have never seen a decay rating on the TMs, i was told that the decay was 5%, so i kept using that number and it tends to be there or less are decayed, either way as long as it dont go over 5% per week, then i dont care

Clay

QUOTE (Sees With Knowledge @ Aug 9 2005, 07:01 AM)

QUOTE (Avatar @ Aug 8 2005, 12:18 PM)

And I was pretty sure the TM indicated the weekly decay rate

Sorry for my ignorance...

The TM?

SWK

Technical Manual.
There's an order called Tech Manual that takes an item number as it's argument. Run the Tech Manual order and shove in a few item numbers (be aware that this uses TUs if done on a ship!).

Try a few basic items like Food (30048), Luxury Food (30010) and Nutty Bluebird (31148).

Mica Goldstone

Changed over two years ago - item 7. The rulebook still holds true though - max 5%.

Jerusalem

Thanks Mica.

Sees With Knowledge

Many thanks Mica

Sees With Knowledge