Sounds good, and thanks for the response. I understand that this one is designed to be a bit lighter, and targeted at a broader market. I dont know if you are thinking of doing an IT3, but I would personally enjoy a system something like this:
some fixed number of commodity types exist. different planets tend to demand different types or different quantities of commodities, but there is some sort of random weighted fluxuation on demand. the flow (or lack of flow) of commodities to demand markets directly effects the local price.
here is where you can start layering on the detail, depending on how deep you want to get:
distributors sell various commodities, which will need to be purchased and resoled to other distribuors, or directly to planets/markets.
production should not be random. factories should supply distributors at a regular fixed rate. production should be able to be increased by upgrading or building new factories, which carries the risk of oversaturation. factories should have a 'cost to operate' so that if over saturation becomes a problem, and prices drop, those factories are losing money. this would be represented by the closing of factories, (or negative cash flow, if its a player owned factory, forcing the player to decide between operating in the red, or shutting it down.)
factories should be supplied raw materials by farms/mines/whatever that harvests those raw materials. random events or random fluctuation curvesthat effect the availability of these things should effect the operating costs of factories.
even more detail can be added by having factories require components that are built at other factories, which in turn require raw materials. this could progress in a fractile like nature, if desired.
players should be able to purchase or build facilities at any stage of the supply chain, factories, distribution/trade centers (where they can set a terriff on certain goods), or raw material harvestors.
and of course, it should be extensable and modable via text files or spreadsheets
, so players can add in their own commodities, components, raw materials, and factories / harvestors that are required to create those commodities.
and while im dreaming, i want a battlecruiser. in retrospect, this reminds me of a great game that I wonder if anyone has played, Trade Empires. This game is a great hallmark for economic sims, and deserves a look.