Trading is useless

[Turtleshot]

Unless you discover everything yourself you can't craft anything. What's the purpose of trading metal and stuff like that if you can meld it into something else?

[Kaios]

Higher quality, more stock, lack of having the recipe for something so you trade for the actual products, etc.

[cobaltjones]

While I think the new "discovery" system is annoying and needlessly complex, it doesn't really affect trading at all....

[spectacle]

Wall-grade steel is going to be hard to sell now. You can't use it unless you make at least one yourself, and if you're going to make steel in the first place then why not make a whole bunch? It's only marginally more effort to fuel 10 crucibles than one.

[Kaios]

Not exactly true. You only need to have made wrought (well bricks too obviously) to gain the recipe for a brick wall corner post. After that anyone can right click a spot where a gate is being built and set it to fill with steel.

Your point still has some truth though for several items.

[TeckXKnight]

While more difficult it is far from useless. The new discovery system adds a lot more steps to the process of trade -- as if you're planning on just buying metal, you'll need to buy a batch of ore first, smelt it, then collect a bar. If you're going for wrought/steel, then you'll need to continue down the chain once yourself. A lot more work for the same product.

Quantity and Quality are still driving factors for trade. Most of what the system does is impair hermits and small groups.

[Onionfighter]

I think the curiosity system should provide more stuff people can trade with each other.

[erozaxx]

Truth is that e.g. for jewellry, you will never be able to make your own, unless you found the metal yourselve. That means gold and silver are useless in terms of trading article, unles it is under evry dirthill for you to discover it. Truth is you can still forge it yourself, smith it into jewellry and sell the jewellry itself... Maybe it will just make the trade more interesting.

Still I would suggest making metals discoverable just by picking from the ground.

[Jackard]

well okay!! thanks for sharing that deduction, internet economist Turtleshot

[BWithey]

Wall-grade steel is going to be hard to sell now. You can't use it unless you make at least one yourself, and if you're going to make steel in the first place then why not make a whole bunch? It's only marginally more effort to fuel 10 crucibles than one.

Wrong.. Run it through a crucible, turn it into nuggets, and back into a bar.. Voila, you discovered the bar.