OK, I have now read all of this... It is a lot to take in, but very interesting.
Quote:
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Commodities should be associated with particular celestial bodies: planets, asteroids, stars, etc. Everything available in the sector is exported through the station
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(and the other ideas associated with this line of thought)
This sounds more like the outline for an entirely new game, rather than an addition to AI. It is interesting, but in my opinion, not within the scope of (this version of) the game. Perhaps AI2?
You are right that a lot is abstracted. What you see in the sector maps is just the stuff that you can interact with. You can assume there are colony worlds, other ships, non-interesting space features, etc. scattered everywhere, but they are of no gameplay consequence. The original design of AI was very concerned with ease of interaction and instant rewards. Things that don't do anything immediate generally aren't shown.
Here is something your economic analysis has not mentioned, but I feel safe in revealing: The game keeps track of what you buy and sell, and adjusts prices accordingly. Buy a lot, prices go up, sell a lot, prices go down. Perhaps the effect is too small to notice. Perhaps you won't notice it until you find a shipwreck full of transuranium, plunder it, sell it off, and then the price drops.
All that said, I do intend to refine the trading aspect. Some good ideas have been put forth here. I also plan on a special type of quest that will affect the actual prices of commodities once completed
