1. When a city begins selling a trade good, the expiration timer does not
begin ticking until a market is established for that good in at least one
other city. Therefore, the trade good will persist forever if no one ever
finds a market for it.
2. Whether a city will buy a trade good is detemined when the good is
created--skill at 733 does not affect this, and the answer does not change.
(This point clarified by Rich on the g2-list).
3. We can verify that when a trade good expires, one additional sale may be
performed at the buying end. In our experience, the selling market line had
disappeared and the buying market accepted one more load. If the good is
bought in more than one city, you may be able to sell one load at each
destination--that needs to be confirmed.
4. Originally, when a good disappeared from the selling city, the buying
markets disappeared immediately as well. Rich accepted and implemented the
suggestion that the buying markets persist for a variable few turns after the
selling market disappeared, giving a trader the possibility of selling his
last load of goods, but not guaranteeing failure or success. This change in
the "buy goods timer" was implemented for goods created after the code change,
but not for goods already present.
Examples: the beans at x83 have been for sale since turn 14. The 5 cities
checked so far don't want them; until a buyer is found they will remain for
sale. Once a buyer is found, the buying market will disappear the same time
as the good disappears from x83, because it was created before the code
change.
The purple cloth at t10 was created after the code change. When a market is
found for it, the buying market should persist for several turns after the t10
stops selling it.
Yours,
Lord Maltar
Rimmon Musketeers