# Factorio Cargo

## Abstract

This system aims to replace cargo's dependence on bounties for making money. Bounties are a fundamentally flawed system that give people something "to do", cutting down on downtime, but that's neither here nor there for this document.

The system I am proposing can be dubbed "Factorio cargo" because of the similarity to its namesake. Cargo will be able to turn raw materials[^1] into products using machinery that will either need to be ordered, or gotten from another departments. With these products, you can either sell them, turn them into a better product, or try to sell them to the crew.[^2]

## Goals
* Remove the bounty system while still allowing cargo to earn cash on their own account.
* Continue to encourage inter-departmental cooperation (with botany, for instance, if a product requires a type of plant to be made)
* Encourage creativity and discourage making the same factory every time, by making prices vary per-and-in-shift (though per-shift swings will be bigger than in-shift)

## Non-Goals
* Encourage cargo to become hermits, only focusing on their factory shift after shift
* Preventing any cargo functionality without a factory; cargo should still have enough money to order *some* things, just not much.

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The civilian bounty system would be torn out entirely[^3], and in its place, cargo would focus more on front-loading their work to make money for the shift.
An average round may look like this:
1. Look at the market at the start of the round, seeing what might be a good thing to produce. You eventually decide on "MCG"[^4], a tier 3[^5] product, since you think its margins look pretty good.
2. You have a bit of machinery to start, in this case a glass cutter. You set this up while ordering some glass and conveyors to get you started.
3. Between the regular management of cargo, you load the glass on the conveyor and set the glass cutter to make "GC", a tier 1 product. Now, it doesn't sell great, but there's a bit of a margin to be made when you consider the cost of the glass. So, you sell the GC being made, and between this and other, regular money-making methods, you are able to buy some more machinery.
4. You buy a metal press and a glass refinery. You set up the glass cutter to feed the GC into the glass refinery via belt, to combine with diamonds to make "GH", a tier 2 product. Then, you set up the metal press to take titanium and make "MI", a tier 1 product.
5. Now, you purchase an assembly array, which you feed GH, MI, and plasma into to make MCG, your initial goal. Looking at the market, it's selling a *bit* worse, but still is very profitable to make. With that, you set up a conveyor to have the assembly array's output end up on the cargo shuttle. Now, as long as the materials keep flowing, either by mining or by purchase, the money will keep being made.

Now, this is not all-encompassing, nor is it exactly what will happen every round. Sometimes, the market (or laziness) might deem it better to just pump out tier 1 products, or maybe everything's bust, so cargo will need to try to sell the useful things to the crew instead.

In addition, it's planned that not everything that the machines take will be obtainable from cargo/mining, such as botany plants or chemicals, encouraging cargo to ask those departments for the materials needed.[^6]

This change would also likely accompany a change of some cargo crates (materials, for instance) to match the intended gameplay design of the factories.

[^1]: Which can be bought like current cargo, but you'll of course be making less money per unit.
[^2]: Not all products have the potential to be useful to the crew, but some certainly will.
[^3]: I don't know how to replace the now-lack-of-money that station crew will have, if you have ideas, please tell me.
[^4]: All things mentioned are placeholder names for the sake of the example.
[^5]: "Tier 3" means that it requires a product that was tier 2, which required a product that was tier 1, which required basic materials.
[^6]: While they *could* just break in and steal what they need, this can be argued of nearly every attempt at cross-department interaction.