Trade is a social interaction verb. It is a structured negotiation through which agents attempt to satisfy their Needs or achieve their Goals by exchanging items of perceived value.

Within ATET, Trade is not an economic system; it is a social one. It is not a transaction of objective worth, but a conversation about subjective desire. The value of an item is not a fixed number, but a dynamic story told by the internal state of the agents involved.

The Philosophy of Subjective Value

In the world of ATET, there is no universal currency like “gold.” An item’s value is fluid, situational, and calculated in the moment by an agent based on a composite of its internal state.

• Value from Need: The primary driver. An item that directly addresses a critical Need (e.g., a medkit for a wounded agent) is perceived as priceless. Its value is amplified by the urgency of the Need.
• Value from Belief: An agent’s Beliefs and Faith color their perception of value. A holy symbol is invaluable to a devout follower but worthless to an atheist. A piece of “heretical” technology might even have negative value to a Luddite, who would refuse to take it under any circumstances.
• Value from Skill (Potential Value): An agent’s Skills determine their ability to recognize an item’s potential. A lump of raw ore is scrap metal to a farmer, but to a master smith with high Metallurgy skill, it is the basis for a masterwork weapon and therefore highly valuable.
• Value from Memory (Sentimental Value): An agent’s AgentMemoryStore can attach personal, narrative value to an item. A battered, mechanically useless locket might be an agent’s most prized possession because it is linked to a cherished memory, rendering it untradeable.

The Mechanics of a Trade

A trade is not a simple menu transaction; it is a dynamic, turn-based negotiation that operates as a specialized form of Converse.

1. Initiation: An agent (player or NPC) with a Need it cannot fulfill on its own may generate a Goal to seek a trade. It will approach another agent it believes might possess the desired item or be receptive to an offer.

2. The Barter Interface: When a trade is initiated, a dedicated UI appears. This interface visually represents the two parties and their offers. The player does not see a grid of the NPC’s full inventory. Instead, they see only the items the NPC is willing to show them, a decision influenced by the NPC’s trust in the player.

3. The Offer and Evaluation: One party places an item or a set of items into their “offer” slot. The other party then runs a silent, internal “appraisal” of the offer. They ask a simple question:

“Is what I am being offered more subjectively valuable to me, right now than what I am being asked to give up?”

This evaluation is a complex calculation based on the four pillars of subjective value.

4. The Response (The Core Loop): The NPC’s response is the heart of the system.

• Accept: The NPC perceives the trade as fair or advantageous. The deal is struck.
• Reject: The NPC perceives the offer as poor or insulting. This can damage the social relationship. They may end the trade or simply wait for a better offer.
• Counter-Offer: The NPC rejects the initial offer but proposes a modification. This is where the negotiation truly begins. Their counter-offer reveals information about what they truly value. For example: “I will not trade my water purifier for your scrap parts… but I see you carry a Geiger Counter. I have a Belief that the nearby ruins are irradiated and a Need for Safety. Add the counter to your offer, and we have a deal.”

The Role of Skill and the Player’s Experience

The player’s success in trade is determined by their ability to understand the other party’s internal state. This is where the player’s Skills become paramount.

• The Trade Skill: This is the master skill for this system. A higher Trade skill grants the player more Insight-Value.

  • Low Skill: The UI is opaque. You have to guess what an NPC wants, and their valuations seem arbitrary.
  • High Skill: The Subjective Interface provides crucial, actionable intelligence. When you open the trade window, items in both your inventory and the NPC’s visible offer might be highlighted with intuitive tags: “Highly Valued by Them,” “They Consider This Junk,” “Sentimental Item - Will Not Trade.”

• Supporting Skills (Insight): Other skills provide context. High Medicine skill might let you diagnose an NPC’s hidden sickness, revealing their desperate Need for your medkits. High Engineering skill lets you recognize that the “worthless junk” they are offering is actually a rare, vital component for a high-tier craftable item.

• The Social Game: A player can use the Converse system to influence a trade before it even begins. By telling an NPC a compelling Fiction about how rare and powerful their “worthless junk” is, they might temporarily inflate the NPC’s Belief-based valuation of it, allowing for a more favorable deal. This makes trading a rich, multi-layered social puzzle.

The goal is to make every trade a unique story: a story of desperation, of mutual benefit, of clever persuasion, or of cynical exploitation. The player who masters trade is not the one with the most money, but the one who is best at reading and understanding the hearts and minds of others.