Increase raw material demand

[therealevan]

Why do I feel like it's useless to have a company only harvest raw materials? Even when the market share breaks $15M the supply/demand concept is an issue. Do I have to play without seaports to have a company be profitable in raw materials?

[Alan Doyle]

Why do I feel like it's useless to have a company only harvest raw materials? Even when the market share breaks $15M the supply/demand concept is an issue. Do I have to play without seaports to have a company be profitable in raw materials?

I agree that it is often the case that raw material units (mine/well/logging camp) lose money due to

1) The minimum quantity extracted, even using only one extraction unit, can still outstrip demand
2) The AI rarely buys raw materials from the player, even if prices are reduced to rock bottom bargains and quality exceeds seaport/AI firm

If demand cannot be increased at code level perhaps extraction could be scaled through a "utilization" slider that directly affects the number of workers and therefore the rate of extraction?

Just a thought but scaling back extraction loses X amount of expertise so a player can't simply scale back without consequence? Profitability of firm would be something like:

Sales - (Base cost + utilization slider setting workforce cost)

[David]

In the latest version 2.6.16, it is now possible to create new products that utilize raw materials by using the new MOD capability of the game.