The Problem

In pre-U3.00 versions of Hardwar, getting a moth dealer to produce exotic moths, like Swallows and Police Moths, required a lot of trial and error trading with the moth dealer. The core problem was that you couldn't see what the moth dealer had in stock other than the Moths in bays available for sell.

Did the moth dealer need more Sheet Metal or CompComp? There was no sure way to know. Over time, the recipe for getting various Moths produced was refined to a high degree of reliability, but, with version U3.00, there's a whole new method of assuring proper stocking of moth dealers.

Using "GOODS"

The new Terminal Interface's (TI) goods command will tell you what any hangar has in stock, even back stocks that aren't readily visible through the "Browse Stock" button. This is very important when trading with moth dealers because most of their stock was previously hidden.

To use the TI goods command you must first park in the hangar you want to check. Now open the TI by pressing the "o" key (by default). Now just enter goods and a list of the hangar's stock will appear in the larger results window of the TI.

This window will show you how much of each item a moth dealer has as well as the frames and new moths not in a bay. You can see what Moths will be available for sale ahead of time.

What You're Seeing

You'll probably recognize everything you see. Moth dealers, however, have a couple of items you may not be familiar with. One is "Frame SY" or "Frame NT". These are the frames for Moths. They need an Engine, Cell, and Laser to be a "New SY" or "New NT". The "SY" stands for Silver-Y. Here's the list of abbreviations:

SY -- Silver-Y

MM -- Moon Moth

NT -- Neo-Tiger

HK -- Hawk

DH -- Death's Head. In the game the "D" looks a lot like an "O".

PL -- Police Moth

SW -- Swallow

Again, a frame still needs an Engine, Cell, and Laser. To get a frame to a new Moth, you need to provide the Cell and Laser. Moth dealers make their own Engines. They do not buy Engines.

The frames and Engines are made from the other familiar trade items:

CompComp

MachParts

Sheet Metal

Plastics

Ore

Keeping Balance

By checking goods each time you go to a moth dealer, you can make sure you're stocking them with what they need. This prevents them from running out of cash -- the bane of previous methods. Just fill in the blanks. Sell them small batches of what they don't have listed in their goods.

Eventually you'll see a Moth frame made. See to it that a Cell and Laser are available. The dealer will make the engine from the items listed above. This frame will eventually become a "New" moth and put in bay 4 (the bay numbering has changed from beginning a bay 0). Buy the new Moths in bay 4 and keep trading and checking and you'll soon see the frame for your dream Moth.

In all, the trading to get an exotic moth made hasn't really changed. The TI's goods command just lets you be far more accurate in selecting the goods to sell the moth dealer.

It's still best to begin trading with a 3 unit each run of Cells and Laser, unless they already have some in stock. You'll find that only a few Cells, Laser, and Ore are needed relative to the other items. The production hasn't changed, only our ability to see what exactly is happening.

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