I've been playing Hardwar in an interesting way lately. I've been playing an online-type game offline. In this game I've got the AI pilots and Moth Hopping turned off. This makes me the only pilot on Titan. The LOG of this file is very telling. It's not plugged with AI pilot activity. Below are some of the more interesting finds I've made so far.

Some General Notes

The Prison Mines, Water Purifiers, and Sewage Control Plants never run out of product. They produce their products directly from the planet. Prison Mines makes Ore, ConstMat, and Gems. The Water Purifiers and Sewage Control plants make Pure Water and Chemicals. These are the most basic items on Titan.

All other businesses can be run out of stock. There was a report about Downtown Recycling suddenly getting some "mystery" SheetMetal after being starved of Ore. I've figured out what really happened. All of the businesses are started with a backstock. When you buy them out of a certain item, they can restock from their backstock to some degree. Eventually they'll run out, even Downtown Recycling.

NOTE: Remember that I'm the only pilot in this game and there's no way for anyone to get stocked without me running it for them. Plus, there ain't no Scrap Metal. All of the recycling joints can be put out of production.

Downtown Moths

I've really just gotten started trading with Downtown Moths. I was stunned to discover that they make Pods. I knew they made Engines, but, Pods? News to me. And, they make a lot of them. Here's the entry from my LOG:

DAY:4, TIME:02:57:56 -> "Downtown Moths" manufactured 2 Engine #2.
DAY:4, TIME:02:57:56 -> "Downtown Moths" manufactured 2 Engine #3.
DAY:4, TIME:02:57:56 -> "Downtown Moths" manufactured 1 Small Pod.
DAY:4, TIME:02:57:56 -> "Downtown Moths" manufactured 1 Medium Pod.

No wonder they run out of money before they make a Moth. How do they trade the Pods? I've never seen one for sale at Downtown Moths. I've never bought a Moth fitted with a Pod. What gives? Any suggestions?

Anyway, I've run them out of cash and the LOG claims a HK was manufactured and an MM Frame was made. Well, if the HK (Hawk) was made, why haven't they rolled it out for sale. Will I have to buy the original one first? (I haven't done any buying from Downtown Moths.) Here's the LOG entry:

DAY:4, TIME:04:57:52 -> "Downtown Moths" manufactured 1 New Moth HK.

The LOG also indicates that Downtown Moths consistently needs a little less SheetMetal and only about three-quarters as much CompComp as MachParts, and Plastics. You might want to scale down to trading seven or eight Sheet Metal and CompComp per regular run. A regular run would include 10 each of Plastics and MachParts.

You should also be selling 2, not one, each of Cell and Laser. The Cell restriction schemes still work and are the best manipulation we've come up with. I've previously reported that you should sale only one of these items per run, but the LOG shows a consistent need for more. Maybe this heavier Cell and Laser trading encourages them to produce Moths instead of Pods.

The bottom line to all of this is that the behind-the-scenes production at Downtown Moths is more complex than any of us first realized. I'm surprised we've been able to get the Moths we have. Way to go, us!