New Mercantile Update (v.1.2.0.15) quick math

[WeiJayTan]

So, as you guys know, the v.1.2.0.15 patch updated the mercantile mechanics of the game. I did some quick math, and I think I found something that checks out:

Taking a Cave Hopper Steak as the item being sold by a merchant, and a mercantile effective skill of 61 (Six!!):

Starting value when sold by a merchant (at 0 effective mercantile): 1250
Value after mercantile price reduction: 945

Therefore
 (945/1250)*100% = 75.6% [The Cave Hopper Steak is sold at 75.6% of it's original price]
  100%-75.6% = 24.4% [61 effective mercantile provided a discount of 24.4%]
   24.4/61 = 0.4 [Each point in effective mercantile skill gives a 0.4% discount]

Reverse calculation check
1250 - [1250*(0.4%*61)]
 =1250-305
 =945

Interesting... I wonder how the mercantile of the previous versions of the game worked. That is a question only the developers can answer...

[PaposikG6]

Styg has explained the previous system some time before the recent update: https://stygiansoftware.com/forums/index.php?topic=10474.msg42705#msg42705

The base value of the steak is 500 (base values can be checked on wiki) so it appears that new merchant's reaction starts at 250% of base value rather than 200% as was the case previously. 945 value is equal to 189% of 500 so each mercantile point still reduces modifier by 1%.

It is possible that with the new patch certain merchants start with higher or lower reaction modifier as well as the hard cap for price reduction (115% was the cap in previous version, achievable with just 85 points)

[WeiJayTan]

Something interesting I noticed:

Before resolving the Burrower Emergency at Camp Hathor: The value of a Cave Hopper Steak sold by Freddy is 1195 (61 effective mercantile skill).
After resolving the Burrower Emergency at Camp Hathor: The value of a Cave Hopper Steak sold by Freddy is 945 (61 effective mercantile skill).
After killing the Rathound King, the value of a Cave Hopper Steak sold by Freddy is 595 (still 61 effective mercantile skill).

I suppose how a faction sees the player also affects the price of items sold. Nice!