Guide To Being a Merchant in Star Army

In Star Army, you can play as a business or business owner.

To be a successful merchant in Star Army, you'll need three things:

1. Products or Services
2. A catalog page
3. An RP thread

Here's a Business Template you can use for your wiki page.

You want something useful and novel to offer your customers. This could be:

• Something you make (an item); for example, food supplies for starships
• Something you do (a service); for example, starship repair

Coming up with unique products or services that interest people is probably the most challenging part of creating a business in SARP. These could be items or services their characters might find useful or you could market to factions.

First, as you choose your market niche, consider your competition or lack thereof. Many factions have internal, government-run entities that handle their needs, particularly for the military. For example, Ketsurui Fleet Yards handles the vast majority of starship design and construction for the Yamatai Star Empire. It can be therefore be very difficult to get a foothold in national-level military supply contracts. There is a huge glut of military manufacturers in Star Army compared to other types of businesses.

Second, consider what is in demand. Water and basic Food are always needed.

Here's what's in demand in the Yamatai Star Empire:

1. “I think Star Army is ripe for a farming company. We have 21309812 arms dealers but nowhere we can buy bulk Navy beans.” – Wes
2. Clothing shops
3. Jewelry stores
4. Food/restaurant chains (Pizza, burgers, Fried Chicken, subs, Mexican, Chinese, Japanese, German, ice cream vendors)
5. Civilian Barber shops and/or Beauty Salons
6. Florists
7. Car Dealerships
8. Shoe store
9. Blanket and bedding shop
10. Souvenirs and Gifts
11. A tavern/bar chain
12. Office space
13. Bus terminals
14. Furniture stores
15. Laundromat chain
16. Dry Cleaner chain
17. Movie theaters
18. Taxis (Commercial transportation)
19. Banks
20. Grocery Marts
21. Bakery chain
22. Apartment complexes
23. Brothels

The above are basically untapped niches that are wanted on or near every Star Army of Yamatai facility so they're almost guaranteed to spread across the universe!

What's not wanted:

1. Slavery (illegal)
2. Mercenaries (illegal)
3. Tobacco products (illegal)

1. Check Nepleslian Businesses for existing businesses and find an opening!

Your catalog page is an article on the wiki where the items and their prices are listed in one place.

Things to make your catalog great:

1. Have a few paragraphs that tell customers about the store and its history.
2. Pictures are a huge boost. People love being able to put images of the products on their character inventory.
3. List key details and feature of the products or services, and customization options.
4. Have reasonable prices.

1. The Star Army Clothing Store is a good example, with prominent pictures and prices.

The best places to put a storefront thread are in a communications network forum (if you are basically a mail-order business) or the Open Roleplaying Forum (if you want players to be able to visit in person).

Give the costumer a good roleplaying experience with memorable NPCs and good customer service.

If you want to make a product for an existing corporation, business, or merchant, the general rule is to talk to whomever owns the company that you plan to submit something for. It is possible that:

1. They may already be working on something similar, in which case perhaps collaborating, or brainstorming together would be a good idea
2. It may be something that they do not want their company to make
3. They may provide you with some input on how to create it and have it fit within their product line.