Trade

Trade is a deep-space conversion mission. You send a cargo fleet carrying one resource, choose a different resource you want back, and let the fleet sit in deep space while the game rolls periodic exchange attempts.

Trade is strongest when you understand two things:

it is a hold mission, not an instant swap
every successful tick only converts part of what you still have left

Quick Rules

Rule	Value
Mission ID	13
Target	Deep space at position 16
Return trip	Yes
Tick interval	Every 30 minutes while holding
Launch requirement	Hold time is required
Unlock	Moon Base research level 1
Required ships	At least 1 Small Cargo, Large Cargo, or Colony Ship
Allowed sell resources	Metal, Crystal, Deuterium, Fuel Cells

Launch Requirements

To launch a Trade mission, all of these must be true:

You choose the Trade mission in a system, and the game sends the fleet to deep space at position 16.
You set a hold time. Trade will not launch as a zero-hold mission.
Your Industry convoy includes at least one Small Cargo, Large Cargo, or Colony Ship.
Your convoy carries exactly one sell resource:
- Metal
- Crystal
- Deuterium
- Fuel Cells
You choose a different resource to receive.

If you try to launch with mixed sell cargo, or you ask for the same resource back, the launch is rejected.

How A Trade Tick Works

Once the fleet arrives, it enters the Trade Hold phase. Every 30 minutes the game runs one tick.

Each tick has a 25% chance to succeed.

Failed tick: you get a status message and nothing changes.
Successful tick: part of your remaining sell cargo is converted into the resource you asked for.

The Trade Formula

On a successful tick, the mission uses these steps:

sell_this_tick = floor(remaining_sell_resource × 0.25)

base_received
  = floor(sell_this_tick × (want_ratio / sell_ratio))

trade_bonus
  = floor(base_received × random_bonus_percent)

random_bonus_percent = 1% to 25%

boosted_trade_bonus
  = floor(trade_bonus × fuel_cell_reward_multiplier)

scaled_trade_bonus
  = floor(boosted_trade_bonus × universe_score_scaling)

final_received
  = base_received + scaled_trade_bonus

Universe score scaling adjusts only the bonus portion. The base market exchange is always kept at the regular live exchange ratio:

If you are below the average overall score of the top player in each of the four research focuses, Trade rewards scale up. If a focus has no scored leader yet, that focus contributes 0 to the average.
At 0 score, Trade rewards can be up to 2x.
At the focus-leader average, Trade rewards are 1x.
Above the focus-leader average, Trade rewards scale down quickly.
At 200% of that average or higher, Trade rewards are reduced to the 1% floor.

What That Means In Plain English

The mission only sells 25% of what is still left.
The exchange rate uses the current live Exchange ratios.
Every successful tick also gets a random market improvement between +1% and +25%.
If you paid a Fuel Cell reward boost on launch, that multiplier scales the random trade bonus, not the whole conversion amount.
Universe score scaling then adjusts the bonus amount only, so Trade helps players catch up without reducing the regular market-ratio exchange.

Because the mission always sells a quarter of the remaining stack, the largest conversions happen early and later ticks get smaller.

Cargo Capacity Matters

The new resource is added back into the same fleet cargo.

If a successful trade would push the fleet above its real cargo capacity, the mission is trimmed back down to fit. In practice, that means extra value is lost.

For that reason:

larger cargo fleets perform better on long Trade holds
Colony Ships can launch Trade missions, but their cargo space is usually best saved for flexible Industry support rather than routine market runs
short holds are safer when your cargo space is tight
Fuel Cell boosts are wasted if your fleet cannot carry the result

Deuterium And Fuel Costs

If you choose Deuterium as your sell resource, that carried deuterium is still treated as cargo, not flight fuel.

At launch, the game first counts any loaded deuterium toward the required mission fuel inside the fleet's cargo budget. If that loaded deuterium is not enough, the convoy automatically pulls only the missing shortfall from the origin world. Any deuterium above the fuel cost stays on the trade convoy as carried cargo after launch fuel is consumed.

That means you can:

launch as long as you have enough cargo space for the real launch load
let the origin world cover only the fuel shortfall when needed
load extra deuterium beyond the fuel cost
trade that extra carried deuterium away later during successful ticks

See Fleet Mechanics for the travel and fuel rules behind that.

Fuel Cell Reward Boost

Trade uses the reward-style Fuel Cell boost, not the speed boost.

You can spend up to 100 Fuel Cells when the mission launches, but that spend shares the same 500 Fuel Cells per calendar day player cap with other reward-style Fuel Cell mission boosts, Sensor Phalanx scans, and Jump Gate activations.

The multiplier is:

reward_multiplier = 1 + min(5, fuel_cells_spent / 20)

That creates these breakpoints:

Fuel Cells Spent	Trade Bonus Multiplier
0	1x
20	2x
40	3x
60	4x
80	5x
100	6x

This multiplier applies to the random trade bonus on every successful trade tick for that mission.

Worked Example

Suppose you send a convoy carrying 400,000 Crystal, ask for Deuterium, and spend 100 Fuel Cells on launch.

Your reward multiplier is:

1 + (100 / 20) = 6x

On the first successful tick:

sell_this_tick = floor(400,000 × 0.25) = 100,000 Crystal

If the live Exchange ratios produce a base result of 42,000 Deuterium and the random bonus rolled +20%, then:

trade_bonus = floor(42,000 × 0.20) = 8,400

final_received = 42,000 + floor(8,400 × 6) = 92,400 Deuterium

Your convoy would then continue holding with:

less Crystal left to sell on future ticks
more Deuterium already loaded in its cargo hold

Strategy Tips

Use Trade when you can leave the fleet out long enough to get several ticks.
Bring more cargo than you think you need if you plan to use Fuel Cell boosts.
Expect variance. A long hold can still have a streak of failed 25% rolls.
One large single-resource stack works better than trying to make a small hold do too much.
If you want stable results, Exchange is the predictable market option. Trade is the riskier, higher-variance alternative.