Lo-Fi Games

I think the use of mark ups varying in different cities is a clever and easy way to deal with item prices. However I would love to see a system closer to what is in mount and blade.

That system reduced prices if the local market was saturated with that particular item and increased prices if it was rare. This lead to caravans and PC's who played as merchants to take certain routes picking up and selling certain items as they went to maximize profit. It also turns some cities along those routes into trading centers that can become prosperous.

This also adds the additional element that you now have routes that have heavy trade traffic that can be interrupted by bandits or opposing factions. Interrupting trade will have an impact on cities economies and drive prices up.

I think this would work very well in Kenshi.

Several months ago I got a hold of a game called X3 and they had various mechanics for supply and demand. Everything was fantastic but eventually the player could work up enough resources to effect and eventually control the supply and demand to the point that they simply could make no risk money and be able to afford pretty much anything they want.

I haven't played Mounted and Blade yet so I cannot compare the two or know exactly where your coming from but I do know that there needs to be steps taken to avoid the possibility of the player having absolute control over the supply and demand without some sort of lash back from other factions that don't wish to pay a fortune to get the essentials that they need.

In the real world there are many policies, regulations, laws, and general uproars to monopolies. This needs to be simulated in the game in some way but I'm not exactly sure what to suggest for Kenshi.

I think the appropriate response would be war from other factions. Trade wars have a historical precedent. The non-player factions just need to have the game mechanics in place to deal with market manipulation. Whether that is using force to put you out of business or troops to take control of a resource they need or bargaining and setting up an agreement of some sort.

I should also note this would probably only work if there is a way for every item to be made and every resource obtained. That would mean cities would need there own mines and farms worked by their population and crafters and shops to turn them into consumable goods.

Reference time. Please take a moment to flip through these threads:
Will the economy be as complicated as the X-series?
Patrician 4 style auto trade routes

You do realize that by putting a link to one of my threads on another thread can doom this thread, don't you?