Lord Draculea

o/ FTW!

Case closed.

If you would like to join a trade circle in the White sphere, you can contact me in game or leave a message here. Experienced nations will be preferred.

PM sent.

Thanks for the trade! Actually, this is progressing better than expected... One more slot available for the time being. Anyone?

3 slots open.

Hi, please see this: How soon do you think you can get the FAC?

I am offering 18 million for 300 tech, on a permanent basis, to proficient tech sellers. A proficient tech seller is, in my view, one who: - has the Federal Aid Commission; - does not waste their and their partners' slot days by delaying their tech payments when they are due. A 18/300 deal shall follow the pattern: 9 mil. --> 100 tech --> 100 tech --> 9 mil. --> 100 tech. Any interested & qualified tech seller is welcomed to contact me here or in-game. First round is on me! :-D

Great!

Congrats us!   o/

Strangely, it never happened to me to encounter a default of a seller, or even a tech delay of more than 2 days (and I think I had just one case of a 2 days delay), from any of my sellers, despite the fact that I've made all my deals at 6/200 or 9/200. I guess it takes some investment of time and communication to get to know your possible partners before dealing with them... Or maybe I'm just lucky.  ;)

However, you used to be a tech buyer. E.g. you couldn't have got the Scientific Development Center unless you had 3,000 tech at some point.

Why is that? Why do you hate that?

Thanks for your well-argued answer.   I guess the central point of this topic (at least in my reading) revolves around the concept of "fairness". To be considered as "fair", the price of technology should maximize the utility of tech vs. money transfers both for the sellers and buyers. As we agree that the primary concern of most buyers (maybe with the exception of fresh ones) is not money, but rather the efficiency of their slot usage, it seems likely that the point of equilibrium should be reached at a $mil./tech rate of 6/100 (w/o the FAC), or 9/100 (w/ the FAC). (And btw, this logic also indicates why rates such as 12/100 or 18/100 couldn't be viable.)   O course there may be alternative (but similar in substance) methods of ensuring a fair and mutually beneficial interaction between the buyers and sellers, and no doubt there are many well-organized alliances running their own nation building programs (in times of peace) aimed at addressing their needs as a whole. Such programs should anyway enable a cash flow for the small nations similar to what they could achieve by tech dealing at fair rates (as above described). If that's the case, then "fairness" is ensured. Concerns should legitimately arise only in those case where unfair rates (for the sellers) are artificially maintained, typically by taking advantage of the sellers' lack of information and/or alternative trading options. And that's where the concept of an alliance of tech sellers (a "Syndicate") would become a plausible political construction.     Two arguments here: 1) usually, the low NS nations of a traditional alliance are eager to build up their NS, so it may be a bit difficult to find the needed number of wonder-heavy nations willing and able to take the job; 2) even if the needed number of nations within the targeted NS range could be found, you seem to overlook such possibilities as: a) the attacked alliance gets war help (without having to ship tech) from a protector; or b) that the attacking part gets itself countered by the protector, and a full-scale war emerges. Being an alliance of low NS nations doesn't mean they should be dumb and not develop a wise & adequate foreign policy and system of treaties. :)

  Really? Poor me, I've always thought the Chinese system actually started to work a bit better as soon as some of the basic communist principles were thrown out the window... :D   So the Chinese system is the future of the world? I'd be ready to believe that, if you could show me one example of a major breakthrough or innovation that modern China has brought in any sphere (fundamental science, original technology, maybe some social innovations that would be envied by the rest of the world)... Anything! Except copying the technology from the West and the socio-economic model from the Soviets (and taking 50 years to realize it's wrong)... :D