Resource Market / Exchange Resources - No DM Cost For Switching Resource To Be Traded

The title says it all. When you switch the resource you want to trade using the Resource Market / Exchange Resources system, it shouldn't cost additional dark matter. You've already paid for a trade, you just decided to switch what you wanted to trade.

In my case, I got confused about whether the resource I chose from the menu was the one I was trading with or the one I was trading for. I wanted a quick bump of crystal to get my research fix so I chose metal. Then I second guessed myself and switched to crystal because that's what I wanted, only to realize I'd been right to begin with that I had to choose metal in order to trade for the crystal I wanted. You see the confusion now? So I spent 10,500 DM for 1 trade when I should have only spent 3,500 DM. There shouldn't be a situation where the game just takes DM away from you in return for nothing and that is literally what happened in this scenario.

Quote from Ikinboy

You've called a specific merchant to buy a specific resource. It is different from calling a generic trader. There's already a tooltip that tells you exactly what will happen too.

The whole swapping between resources in a merchant opens up an issue of rates:

Will the rates be fixed?

What if I want to call another of the same merchant to change my rates? Surely I should pay for that? Why is this different? I've not gained anything from the first call, but then I've gambled that my second call is better but it could be worse?

Quote from Astral_Codex

Obviously I didn't _mean_ to only get a 3:1.95:0.90 metal merchant, I wanted a 3:2:1 metal merchant but was confused! /s

Quote from SnowWolf

it would be really helpful when you find merchants on expeditions as well, would make them more useful.

Good points everyone, so what about this: This only applies when you buy the merchant with DM and if you decide to switch then you can choose to get a preset, less than ideal rate for free (can think of it like they all work for the same company but now you have to cover their travel costs so you get a worse rate) or you can spend DM again to "roll the dice"? At least then you still get punished if you made a mistake with a worse rate but you haven't wasted DM for nothing?

I've requested an update to the main post to reflect the better clarified explanation in my last post, thanks for the constructive criticism!

Quote from Ikinboy

Whilst the amendment makes it more usable, I'm still unclear on why/when someone would use it.

Generally, people are using the merchant to obtain the best possible rate for trade. So if they chose by accident, why would they swap to the resource they meant to trade for a guaranteed bad rate? I'd imagine the human interaction would be to re-roll anyway because you want as close to 3:2:1 as possible.

For emergency situations when someone is low on DM. Some people pay in once then try to make their DM last, so while it may seem insignificant to those who are just like "just buy more DM", for those who are more conservative in their spending every bit of DM that they don't spend matters to them. Plus, again, the point of technically paying for something you're getting nothing out of just shouldn't happen. If someone wants to reroll then they should have that option, but if someone just wants to conserve their DM then they should have the option of a less ideal rate rather than nothing. It's impossible to predict every situation this might matter in but I know when the trade system was first introduced way back when this same issue was brought up a lot because people were making mistakes with the system because it was new to them. I think we've all just gotten so used to the system the way it is that we've accepted it when, really, this aspect of it was bad from the beginning and continues to be.

Or make it so we don't have to send away a trader to bring in another, so you can have an available metal / crystal / and deut trader all at the same time, that way you're not losing anything by switching the resource you want to trade. You can still reroll each individually too. This would also be fine, at least you're not losing anything in this case which is the main issue that needs to be addressed. Actually, this might be the better way to handle it now that I think of it. If those opposed to the initial proposal like this idea better then it may be better to close this topic and start a new one.