A way to be updated on merchants' goods

[Run-0]

I usually like to go to merchants to see what they are selling, and especially to see what I can sell to them, but I limit myself to merchants who are close to my house because this process requires a good walk and time.

If I'm not mistaken, there is a mod that shows merchants' stock on the map, but it's a solution that doesn't fit the Vintage Story vibe in my opinion, but it is a convenient solution.

I was wondering if they could add a mailbox or something like that to the game, which we could build, and with that, open up a dialogue with merchants, giving us the option of receiving letters with information about merchandise updates and stock renewals.

So if we found a merchant who we were interested in the products he sells or who we knew was a good merchant to sell products to, we could activate this option in his dialogue and every time his stock renewed we would receive a letter in the mailbox informing us of the products available for purchase and sale.

[Facethief]

While I don’t play with lore enabled, this seems like a good idea. I’m not sure about mailboxes, as that’d take some explaining, but maybe a smoke signal could at least let you know that they’ve received new stock. Maybe you could even set up a wishlist and give them a homing pigeon, and they’ll send the pigeon over with info on what they now have.

[LadyWYT]

This is one of those ideas that you didn't know you wanted, until you happened to read about it. Asking a merchant to send you a letter about their latest stock would be very nice, as it's a bit aggravating to make the trek to a nearby wagon only to find out they won't buy anything you brought, and they aren't selling anything you want.

Of course, I would wonder how they get the letter to you, exactly.  There's not exactly a functional post system. The traders do seem to be somewhat organized though, so perhaps there is some sort of Jonas contraption that they can use to send lists of goods. You could either craft the contraption yourself, or purchase one for a small fee. It adds a nice immersive way of implementing this idea, while also giving more use to the various bits of Jonas tech that are currently...underwhelming.

[Run-0]

On 7/5/2025 at 3:08 PM, Facethief said:

While I don’t play with lore enabled, this seems like a good idea. I’m not sure about mailboxes, as that’d take some explaining, but maybe a smoke signal could at least let you know that they’ve received new stock. Maybe you could even set up a wishlist and give them a homing pigeon, and they’ll send the pigeon over with info on what they now have.

Yes, a mailbox was the first thing that came to mind because it's the way I'm used to in real life, but I've even thought about having a bird come and deliver the letter, like on a bird perch or something. It's the kind of situation where I think we throw out an idea and other people develop it. But I think even a mailbox would fit into the game, but I'm sure there's a better way that fits the game.

[Facethief]

On 7/5/2025 at 7:00 PM, LadyWYT said:

Of course, I would wonder how they get the letter to you, exactly.

Pigeon domestication!

[LadyWYT]

9 minutes ago, Facethief said:

Pigeon domestication!

Or I mean...mechanical "pigeon". Not only do you not have to domesticate it, but if one was feeling evil...rare flying enemy.  I think I'd rather have the natural domesticated pigeon. 

[Never Jhonsen]

What is it with flying mechanics going corrupt in this game? Something's wrong with the air it seems. That'd be the second mechanical bird to go bad

[LadyWYT]

2 hours ago, Never Jhonsen said:

What is it with flying mechanics going corrupt in this game? Something's wrong with the air it seems. That'd be the second mechanical bird to go bad

I dunno. Would have to ask Mr. Falx, assuming he can ever be found.

[DianaDeer]

Personally I would much rather see this added as a straight-up QoL feature rather than as a new mechanic; my main annoyance with traders is that there's no simple way to keep track of basic information about their stock even after having spoken with them recently ("wait, was this guy buying *Golden* Necklaces or *Noble* Necklaces?", "has the commodities trader changed their stock yet?"), so the way I'd implement it is to make it so that speaking to a trader adds or updates a minimap waypoint containing information about *either* their current stock + how long it's going to last (if their stock hasn't changed since the last time you interacted) *or* a simple message reminding you that they have new stock, which is basically information a player could keep track of in vanilla already if one bothered to write this stuff down every single time they interacted with a trader.