ninjabee.com

i see that when a ship docks and pays for a service, a dollar figure will float up above his ship. Above that figure another figure, a test tube + digit, for example in a science dock, will float up as well. What exactly does that signify? that X number of science supply/demand was exchanged? How does that figure help us? should it correspond to the dollar figure and if it doesn't does that signify that our pricing at the dock is too high or low?

thanks. Love the game BTW.

Interesting question.

The quick answer is that the "other" thing that floats up is just there for show and you don't need to worry about it.

In detail, though: Technically it is a reflection of how much satisfaction the visitor is getting from that expansion. Higher-tech expansions with high appeal should generally result in higher numbers here. But the easiest way to watch and control this is through the expansion editing interface that actually shows the appeal level, and by watching the satisfaction level in a given ship's happiness/interest display. The ideal appeal level is discussed a lot in other threads, of course.

-- stay

I wondered this question myself, but upon hearing the answer, isn't it just extra information?

The only way you could alter this is by upgrading your station, changing appeal, or restoring the condition of a station. Those three things effect both the customer satisfaction and the amoung of money he spends. But since the latter affects gameplay and the former doesn't, why even reveal that information?

It would be interesting if it had a long term effect, such as creating more demand for that item, like a word of mouth recommendation passed onto their friends.

Yes, but it's the extra information that tells you what changing your extension's appeal *does*. I spent a few hours earlier tonight messing with all the sliders to figure out where the optimum levels are, and without the need-fulfillment number, it would have been really hard to get a feel for that.

(Other analyses may differ, but mine says "max your appeal"... which means "cheap" and "treasures" on all trade extensions.)

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I reject your reality, and substitute my own.

So, does this number not interact directly with how much "filling up" a customer does?

Here's how I envision it:

Customer A arrives wanting 60 points of social satisfaction.

He sits down at the Singles Line and pays out $12 for 12 points of satisfaction. So, after 5 tics (or is it ticks), he'll have paid $60 and sated his 60 points of need. So, he leaves.

But if he sat down at a different Singles Line and was paying $12 for 10 points of satisfaction (because you adjusted the appeal settings,) then you would net $72 for 60 points of satisfaction, a profit of $12 over the other example.

Am I far off-base, Stay?