6.1 Calculation of market prices

When selling goods on the market, the **market price** decides how much money you receive. The price varies from product to product. Products that are produced from other products (e.g. alcohol, planks and toys) are more valuable than raw materials (e.g. oil, wheat and wood).

## Daily price calculations

The price of a commodity can never drop below 5 iKr or rise above 150 iKr.(1)

Prices do not change the first 4 days of a new round.

The game's commodity prices change at midnight based on the total amount of each commodity produced that day. The game uses a multiplication factor (the X column on the "Trends"/"Calculation of Market Prices" page) to calculate adjustments in commodity prices in an effort to keep the production of all shop goods fairly equal, in addition to balancing the production of lower level commodities. This is achieved by increasing the market price of underproduced commodities and lowering the market price of overproduced commodities.

At midnight, the game calculate a 'value' for each commodity by multiplying the multiplier and actual production. Then it calculates the average 'value' for all goods. The 'value' of each commodity is then divided by the average value to find the percentage. For the Sweden version, this percentage determines whether the price of the commodities will increase or decrease, and to what degree. For the US version the standard deviation is calculated and used instead of the percentage.

The degree of price change depends on the level of each product (see "The categories and levels of goods"). Naturally, a product that has gone through several stages of production is worth more than a raw material.

* The price change of level 1 products range from -3 to +3.
* The price change of level 2 products range from -6 to +6. The price of these goods has the potential to change twice as much as the level 1 products..
* The price change of level 3 products range from -9 to +9. Thus, their prices can change three times as much every night as level 1 product..

To see a prediction of the development of market prices, you can check the "Trends" page. There, you will see the percentage that decides price changes calculated for all products. A low percentage means the price will rise. A percentage above 100% means the prices will fall. A percentage of exactly 100% will create no change.(1)

Uses the standard deviation to adjust prices. This is how much the prices will change for a level 1 product:
* Over 2 StDevs = -3 price change
* 1 to 2 StDevs = -2 price change
* 0.1 to 0.9 StDevs = -1 price change
* -0.1 to 0.1 StDevs = No Change
* -0.1 to -0.9 StDevs = +1 price change
* -1 to -2 StDevs = +2 price change
* Less than -2 StDevs = +3 price change

For level 2 products, multiply the price change by two, and for level 3 products, multiply the change by three.
Uses the calculated percentage to adjust prices. This is how much the prices will change for a level 1 product:
* 0 to 33% = +3
* 34 to 66% = +2
* 67 to 99% = +1
* 100% = 0
* 101 to 133% = -1
* 134 to 166% = -2
* 167 to 999% = -3

For level 2 products, multiply the price change by two, and for level 3 products, multiply the change by three.

Here's a pricechange example using only clothes, thread and cotton:
* 800 clothes production x 4 multiplier = 3200 value / 3600 average value = 89%
* 1800 thread production x 2 multiplier = 3600 value for thread / 3600 average value = 100%
* 4000 cotton production x 1 multiplier = 4000 value for cotton / 3600 average value = 111%

average value: 3600 which comes from (3200+3600+4000) / 3

* The 'value' of clothes is below average, thus the percentage is lower than 100% and the price will rise +3.
* The 'value' of thread is exactly average, thus the percentage is 100% and the price will not change.
* The 'value' of cotton is above average, thus the percentage is over 100% and the price will fall by 3.

The game does this calculation while including all the products in the game all at once.

More examples to illustrate how prices change:

What was the average production of each commodity?
3 000 / 15 = 200 units.

By how much did the price of wood change?
(250 x 0.5) / 200 = 62.5% = +2 iKr/unit.
By how much did the price of furniture change?
(30 x 4) / 200 = 60% = +2 iKr/unit. Furniture is a third level commodity. This means the change is multiplied by 3. +2 x 3 = +6 iKr.

What about sausages?
(180 \* 4) / 200 = 360% = -3 ikr/unit. Sausages is a second level commodity, therefore the change is multiplied by 2. -3 x 2 = -6 iKr.

What about wheat?
(180 x 0.667) / 200 = 60% = +2 iKr/unit.
What about fresh fish?
(100 x 2) / 200 = 100% = +0 iKr/unit.

What about flour?
(80 \* 2) / 200 = 80% = +1 iKr/unit. Flour is a second level commodity. This means the change is multiplied by 2. +1 x 2 = +2 iKr.

## More Multiplication Factor Information

The multiplication factor for each commodity is displayed at the X column on the "Trends" / "Calculation of Market Prices" page in the game.

All finished goods (those sold in shops: bread, clothes, gas, etc) have a multiplier of 4 (the X column), this way the game tries to have these shop goods produced in near equal amounts. Why do they have a multiplier of 4? That's just an arbitrary number they used which works out good for the math. The important part is the ratio between these multipliers and the other goods' multipliers.

The other goods multipliers are calculated by how much is required to supply 1 finished good to the shop. To produce 1 clothes requires 2 thread which requires 4 cotton. So we get:
Clothes multiplier = 4 base multiplier / 1 required = 4 multiplier
Thread multiplier = 4 base multiplier / 2 required = 2 multiplier
Cotton multiplier = 4 base multiplier / 4 required = 1 multiplier

Example with wood products:
* Newspaper multiplier = 4 base multiplier / 1 required = 4 multiplier
* Furniture multiplier = 4 base multiplier / 1 required = 4 multiplier
* Paper multiplier = 4 base multiplier / 2 required = 2 multiplier
* Planks multiplier = 4 base multiplier / 2 required = 2 multiplier
* Wood multiplier = 4 base multiplier / 8 required = 0.5 multiplier

Example with stone products:

* Marble multiplier = 4 base multiplier / 1 required = 4 multiplier
* Stone multiplier = 4 base multiplier / 3 required = 1.333 multiplier

We require 3 stone: 2 to produce marble plus 1 for the shop

(1) Changed in Round 4 of 2008.

## Initial prices

At the beginning of a new round, the initial goods prices are random based upon:

* 1st level goods = old default price + random (0 to 5)
* 2nd & 3rd level goods = 2 \* lower level price + random (8 to 12)

 Wood | 14 to 19

Other languages:
Portuguese
Swedish