Trading & Economy

ASTRA features a fully player-driven economy. Every station has its own independent marketplace where players create buy and sell orders. There are no NPC shops — all prices are set by players.

Player Marketplace

Each station has its own order book. Prices at one station may be completely different from another — this price difference IS the gameplay. Buy low at one station, haul to another, sell high.

Creating Sell Orders

1. Dock at a station
2. Open the Marketplace
3. Select "Create Sell Order"
4. Choose item and quantity
5. Set your price per unit
6. Pay the listing fee

Items are removed from your inventory and held in escrow until sold or cancelled.

Creating Buy Orders

1. Dock at a station
2. Open the Marketplace
3. Select "Create Buy Order"
4. Specify what you want to buy
5. Set your price per unit
6. Credits are held in escrow

When another player fills your order, items go to your bank.

Fulfilling Orders

• Sell to Buy Orders — Instantly sell to waiting buyers at their price
• Buy from Sell Orders — Instantly purchase listed items at seller's price

Marketplace Fees

Fee Type	Rate	When
Listing Fee	1% of order value	Paid upfront when creating an order
Transaction Fee	3% of trade value	Deducted when a trade executes

Order Limits

Parameter	Value
Max active orders per player	50
Max quantity per order	10,000
Order expiry	30 days
Min price	1 credit
Max price	1,000,000,000 credits

Offline Trading

Marketplace orders can be fulfilled even when you're offline. Items and credits are exchanged automatically!

Market Liquidity

To ensure markets aren't completely empty, two systems provide baseline liquidity:

• Alpha Liquidity Bot — A temporary testing feature that seeds basic buy/sell orders at stations. Will be removed after alpha.
• Drone Pool — A permanent system where station drones deposit mined resources as sell orders, providing ongoing supply.

Ship Trading

Ships are traded on the marketplace like any other item, but with special rules:

• Ships are checked against your ship bank (fleet), not cargo
• You must be docked to list or receive a ship
• Ship condition (hull damage) is preserved through trades

Trading Tips

• Compare stations — Each station has independent prices. A resource worth 5 credits at Haven might sell for 8 at Frontier Depot.
• Haul for profit — Buy resources cheap in safe constellations, transport them to dangerous constellations where demand is higher.
• Watch the spread — The gap between the highest buy order and lowest sell order is your profit margin.
• Manage risk — Don't carry too much valuable cargo through dangerous zones. Bank your profits regularly.
• Location matters — Goods don't teleport. Someone has to physically move them between stations.