Dynamic Economy and Trading

 Essentially, I was thinking about implementing a trading system into my game. Basically, you can load up purchased ships with varying kinds of cargo, and then transport it across oceans and lakes to different parts of the world to sell for profit. The game will have it's own naval combat system. It's going to be action-based, in contrast to the game's turn-based nature. One button will be binded to your left cannons, one to your right, You can ram, outmaneuver, shoot, board, and sink opposing ships, very similar to the Pirates of the Carrabean gba game, if you've played that. You can also raid enemy ships, and take them as your own. However, aside from random pirate attacks & enemy attacks, what other things could I do to make this trade system more entertaining?

First of all, that sounds pretty cool. Always been a fan of strategy / management elements in RPGs.

Now, things that could make it more interesting... hmm...

(I'll add some more if I get any ideas)

- Events! Like let's say that you're normally selling iron for X. Suddenly some nation is at war and for the duration of the war the prices go up to 2X, but there are more enemy ships and they will attack you if you help the other nation, etc.

- ''International'' relations - let's say that you're trading with the French or something, selling them wine for example. In the port you get a pop-up from a Spanish spy asking you to poison some of the wine - you'll get the cash for sale + cash from the spy, but your relations with France will be lowered. If they get too low you'll have a new enemy. Having good relations could maybe unlock new upgrades and items to buy in ports of that nation.

What's your setting btw? Realistic? Fantasy? It's pretty hard to come up with more stuff when you don't know if there is magic or not  ;)

Great ideas, actually. Setting-wise, it's a very political-focused fantasy rpg (Yes, with magic), so I really like the idea of sabotaging other nations like that.

Things you can do:

Have some type of futures trading.  Even in the Renaissance, bankers would often issue letters which represented the value of, say, a shipload of wheat.  The player could basically bet on his/her skill, perhaps by putting money on the line.  Or perhaps get into bidding wars with other traders over the right to get and sell a shipment.

The futures trading would go like this:  Player can get a set amount of money from a Bank, which is really a loan that is paid back with a shipment the Bank lists ("Get 20000 G for a shipload of barley, delivery within 1 year, 5000 G penalty").  If the player does not get the item within a time limit, they lose the money plus a penalty and may even go to debtors prison (i.e. Game Over).

Of course, a trader COULD go far overseas and get something exotic.  Perhaps they have a 5 year shipment of barley worth 20000 G with a 5000 G penalty if barley isn't delivered....but in 3 years their fast clipper ship can get to and from the Orient with a rich load of Spice worth 80000 G if all goes well...so they take the barley contract to pay to outfit their ship for the Spice contract...

Too bad there be monsters in the waters...or hurricanes...and NO weather forecasts exist in that time period...

And, if the player stiffs a certain Bank too often, the Bank will refuse to trade OR will raise the penalty drastically OR offer a much lower price.

So the player could become a rich trader if s/he's willing to take some serious risks.

Or Privateering!  If the player does favors for governments, they might issue Letters of Marque which were basically government sanctioned piracy.  Of course in game the Letters might have terms such as "Attacking any Spanish ships immediately rescinds these Letters" (as they were issued by Spain)

All kinds of fun stuff you can do with that time period.

I'm planning something along those lines too, with the player on the production end, though.

I'm planning on having prices steadily rise if nothing is getting sold, with random events that would reset the price (simulating them going to another source) or make it skyrocket. Something along those lines needs to exist for the system to work, though I'm sure you know that. Another way I have seen it done is with the port keeping stock and the prices being linked to the amount in stock.

Crossing the "Golden Age of Piracy" setting (when most of these style of games are set) with a magical setting could lead to a lot of interesting game play. Sea monsters, ghosts ships, curses, etc.