Topic: randomized syndicate orders
Could we get more texture to the game by randomizing the NPC orders a bit?
A mean-reverting random walk is something like: An urn is filled with some mix of white and black balls. Repeatedly pick a ball at random and change it to the opposite color. The number of black balls at any given time wanders around, but if it is high then it is likely to go lower, and if it is low, then it is likely to go higher.
Changing the flat infinite orders to randomly moving ones (particularly mean-reverting random walks) would add some nice texture to the economy of the game.
If the limit of the range of the randomized syndicate orders are equal to the current flat infinite orders, then it's not a buff - previously players always got the best price, now on only on very good days they get that price.
You might even allow the randomized syndicate order to go beyond the current price (40 nic per charge instead of 45? madness!). By moving the order back towards the current flat price, based on the volume that people transact with it, then the rate of the 'market timing spigot' is bounded. The devs would be able to say "The players can get at most N unusually-cheap charges (or whatever) per week out of us by timing the market, but we're okay with that".