Some tools like the neutron displacer are so costly that no newbie can dream to use them.
What is the point of making a whole part of the game only accessible to very high level players when only a very small change could allow lower level players to use the trade skill and still can keep everything in balance ?
As it stand now, it seems that the cost of each tool is very close to something like (with 'k' different for each tool):
k *QL^2
(I'll post the precise formula once I have it figured out)
In order to make those tools more accessible to newbies, the price for these tools should be based on QL^3 with the constant changed so that the price for the tools needed for building a QL133 crystal is unchanged.
(That is : lev34 PPE, lev67 Isotope, Lev67 Neutron-D)
This would imply that the cost for tools limited to building :
QL200 crystals would be : +50%
QL133 crystals would be : +00%
QL66 crystals would be : -50%
QL33 crystals would be : -75%
compared to the prices as they are today.
(e.g : tools for level 33 would now cost 1/64 of the tools needed for lev 133 whereas they previously costed 1/16 of their 133 counterparts)
Of course, this scheme can be adjusted in many ways (the exponent can be set to something between 2 and 3 or some the inflexion point moved away from QL133 and/or a linear factor added so that very low level items are not TOO cheap.)
This new price scheme would have the advantage of encouraging engineers to buy intermediate levels tools before they one day get the money to buy the top notch ones. It would also create a market for second hand tools.
I know that this bunch of maths is perhaps already making some of you puke but please note that this price scheme would not be inherently any more complex than the present one, it is just the comparison that is a bit tricky.
An alternative idea would be to create "item banks" for orgs where members could rent tools or make gifts.
Comments ?