It seems to me that certain items only appear in GO HQ when either I don't need them, or I haven't got enough room in my storage to buy them. I have thought this for a while but thought I was probably imagining it so I started making notes of what's on offer and when and I've come to the conclusion that it is true.

And here I thought I was the only one who felt this way! Actually, I don't truly believe that they designed it this way (but it would be possible without being overly complicated, using a simple weighting algorithm). It seems more likely that when the game tells you that you need cheese for a particular shipment, it is also telling many other players the exact same thing, making cheese into a suddenly-rare commodity.[edit 4/12/15]: I've changed my position on this, see newer posts below. If you feel that the answer provided here resolves your concern, please feel free to click accept solution as this may help others with similar issues obtain resolution. XP is greatly appreciated but not required.

@etamni103 wrote: (but it would be possible without being overly complicated, using a simple weighting algorithm). The "simple weighting algorithm" would become far less simple when you have to read the user's mind. How do you know the user is looking for a couch, or merely the lumber needed to build one? How do you know the user is looking for a table that he needs, and not a lock or a dozer part because he's more interested in expanding at the moment than building? Or do you just weight everything you think the user could possibly need? I currently have eight sets of building requirements in my city, with between 3 and 6 item requirements each. A "simple weighting algorithm" would have to weight each of those items, as well as the components used to make them, plus dozer parts and storage parts. That's probably close to everything available in HQ, making the weighting meaningless and the algorithm nothing more than a waste of CPU cycles.I suppose you're right in that it would be possible with a simple weighting algorithm, as long as nowhere in the requirements is it stated that such an algorithm actually also be particularly effective. 🙂In reality, I'm sure nothing is happening. No algorithm, and I'd be willing to bet that the item requirements are equally distributed. It's human nature to try to find patterns where none exist. Earlier I needed three couches to upgrade a building. But I was planning on building them, not buying them. Couches were all over the HQ. So I needed them and there was also plenty of supply. Right now I have absolutely ZERO need for cheese. But I haven't seen a single cheese all morning. Or beef for that matter. Or several other things I'm not looking for. So I don't need them at all, and yet they're still hard to find. There are always a couple of building upgrades that I need to do that require wood, plastic, or metal from the factory. Yet, I can find all of these things easily in HQ because people love to sell the easy stuff. There are plenty of examples where the pattern doesn't hold, but most people aren't paying attention to those times, because they're only noticing when things don't go their way. 🙂Point is, most people can't find what they need right away, and they assume a causal relationship; "I need it and can't find it, therefore it's hard to find because I need it." Those people don't bother to notice that they also can't find things they DON'T need, or that they sometimes CAN find what they DO need. There is no causal relationship, it's a coincidence. Or maybe there's a rogue dev on the team that just wants to watch the world burn, cleverly obfuscating his cheese-hoarding algorithm so that it passes peer review, giggling to himself in the darkness of his corner cubicle.... 😕mileywink:

It 'does' seem that way and, maybe, there's something going on in the background. You never really know for certain.

The evidence suggests very strongly that it is. E.g. Cheese kept showing up for sale tome and again when I logged into GTHQ. I then got a request for cheese in one of my building projects and it hasn't shown up since. Itchy beard.

@jeffk42 wrote:Or maybe there's a rogue dev on the team that just wants to watch the world burn, cleverly obfuscating his cheese-hoarding algorithm so that it passes peer review, giggling to himself in the darkness of his corner cubicle.... 😕mileywink:That was worth one XP all by itself! 😕mileyvery-happy:@jeffk42 wrote:@etamni103 wrote: (but it would be possible without being overly complicated, using a simple weighting algorithm). The "simple weighting algorithm" would become far less simple when you have to read the user's mind. How do you know the user is looking for a couch, or merely the lumber needed to build one? How do you know the user is looking for a table that he needs, and not a lock or a dozer part because he's more interested in expanding at the moment than building? Or do you just weight everything you think the user could possibly need? I currently have eight sets of building requirements in my city, with between 3 and 6 item requirements each. A "simple weighting algorithm" would have to weight each of those items, as well as the components used to make them, plus dozer parts and storage parts. That's probably close to everything available in HQ, making the weighting meaningless and the algorithm nothing more than a waste of CPU cycles.To use a counter-example, would it be possible to make a "simple weighting algorithm" that helps the player find what he/she is looking for? Of course it would be. To keep it simple, let's say that the player has one building needing to be upgraded, and one ship that needs its order fulfilled. The player hasn't built an airport yet. The upgrade needs 8 nails, 3 logs, and 2 meat patties. The ship needs 4 measuring tape, 3 metal, and 2 hamburgers. For each item in the list, the game (or the server) would add +1 to the weight of that item, and +1 to each ingredient in that item. Additionally it would note that the player had not fully expanded the storage or the land, and might add some value to the weight of the expansion items as well. We'd end up with a weighted list that looks something like this: metal +5wood +2plastic +2seeds +1textiles +1animal feed +2nails +1measuring tape +1cooking utensils +1flour bag +1cream +1meat patties +2bread roll +1burgers +1BBQ grill +1storage cameras +10storage locks +10storage bars +10dozer exhaust +10dozer gear +10dozer blade +10Note that I have not given any weight to the quantity of each item needed. Of course, at this point it doesn't look simple any longer, but the game could calculate this faster than a human blinks. The "simple weighting algorithm" would do it's random calculation of what to show in the Global HQ, giving extra chances to the items shown in the list, based on the "weight" assigned the items. Once it selects the item types to show, it would select randomly from among all the advertised sales of those items that hadn't been sold yet, and place them on the shelf. In order to use the process to weight against the items being shown, it would do the same thing, but intead of weighting in extra chances of an item showing up, it would reduce those chances for the same items. Presto, artificial scarcity!Having said all that, I still think the scarcity comes from everybody getting ships and planes that want the same items, around the same time. When that happens, people stop selling those items.[edit 4/12/2015] I've changed my position on this and now believe they are using an algorithm of some kind to weight against what the player needs. Please see my newer posts below. If you feel that the answer provided here resolves your concern, please feel free to click accept solution as this may help others with similar issues obtain resolution. XP is greatly appreciated but not required.

Sneaky algorithm | EA Forums

65 Replies

Anonymous
11 years ago
Approved
I used Dr. Vu to level some of my buildings, and in my effort to rebuild, I've got my stores at full production, and therefore I've not even begun to make the items I need to create a slice of pizza.
In other words, I've been trying to buy a slice of pizza in the global market for over 2 hours now. Not a single slice.
I'm not saying I believe in UFOs or anything (though I really do, I mean if you think about it, they are out there), but I think something isn't quite on the up and up with the market.
Anonymous
11 years ago
Approved
Is it just me, or does the process of identifying them as UFOs, by definition, make them not UFOs? I mean... you've identified them.

It's probably just me.

Anyway, similar situation to you this morning, finding myself in need of 2 pizzas, and not being interested in 6 hours of base item creation, then 5 hours of beef, 3.5 hours of cheese, and an hour of flour (a "flour hour", if you will). I've set one pizza in motion but started shopping for the other. First pizza came in at the 6th refresh, which I actually think is not bad considering how rare pizzas are in the market (no one else apparently wants to spend that many hours on a single item worth only $2500 🙂 ). Haven't started shopping for the second one yet, but I may not put a high priority on it since the beef, cheese, and flour are already queued up in the farmer's market.

Edit: shockingly, went back to HQ just now to see if there was an extra pizza since I still needed one, and got one on the first page! Missed it though, someone else got to it first. But then another one popped up on the first refresh. Best luck I've had in a while trying to buy high demand items. 🙂
2crudedudes
11 years ago
@TheOtherIvan wrote:
@2crudedudes wrote:
@jeffk42 wrote:
If all evidence to the contrary is ignored and only supporting evidence is considered valid, then of course it seems like EA is out to punch you in the face and eat your lunch.

Let's see... Lots of people complaining about an issue vs one guy saying he has no problems.... What 'all evidence to the contrary'? You're the only one claiming that, and you sound like a shill doing so. You don't have a problem? Then what are you doing here? Trolling the forums to brag?
You're not a very careful reader, are you. JeffK is not the only one claiming to have no problem with the HQ. I stated earlier that I have achieved full territory expansion in my 2 cities (levels 14 and 26), and am about to achieve full storage expansion in both as well. I used my level 14 city as a feeder city for dozer parts, but that was just to save some time. And my level 26 city is doing quite nicely with storage items on its own.
EA shills -- we are legion.
So.. 2 people, crucify me. You cannot argue that EA doesn't want you to expand very quickly. The very essence of "time management" games would contradict you. We're just going an extra step and implying that EA is purposely hiding these items. But it's not a jump in logic, because by definition, time management games are supposed to waste your time by making you wait. So it's not only a reasonable assumption, we're seeing evidence of it in the forums. 2 people say 'no that's not true' and I'm supposed to change my mind? I'm not that gullible.
Anonymous
11 years ago
Approved
Most people don't log in to say things are working fine. Naturally, because this is primarily a support forum, people usually come on here to complain.

Most people don't test scenarios that conflict their assumption of wrongdoing, they just immediately assume wrongdoing. As I've stated more times than I care to count, you can't just say "I have problem finding items I need" and realistically expect it to be believed. You need to perform the same tests for the same items when you DON'T need them. You need to pay attention to the times that the things you DO need show up quickly. People aren't doing that, so I am.

If you were really interested in determining the validity of your accusation, you'd pay more attention to these other cases. But you're only interested in suggesting that the trials I've done are invalid because I'm the only one that cares to do them.
Anonymous
11 years ago
Approved
@jeffk42 wrote:
Is it just me, or does the process of identifying them as UFOs, by definition, make them not UFOs? I mean... you've identified them.

It's probably just me.

At that point, they are just unregistered aircraft -- as long as they don't land by the US Capitol building, everything should be OK.
If this helps resolve your issue, please click accept solution as this may help others with the same issue to find a resolution as well. XP is appreciated but not required.
Anonymous
10 years ago
Approved
I am happy to find this thread as I have the same suspicion about this game. BTW I love a good conspiracy theory and am wearing a tinfoil hat right now.
In my completely non scientific experiments, I think I have found a work around for this issue. The market seems to only hide the items you need that you looked at just before opening the market. So for instance I open the hard hat of a building and see I need lumber. I then immediately open the market and there will be no lumber. However if I looked at another building that does not need lumber then go to the market I will find lumber. It's not just the last thing you look at either, It's everything you look at for the minute or two before you open the market. So if I just remember I need lumber but don't open that building I will have better luck finding it.
I would appriciate any any further research to flesh out this theory.
Anonymous
10 years ago
Approved
Haha, okay I'll bite.

I opened up the game and clicked on the first hard hat I saw. Requirements:

2 of those french handbags (good luck getting many of those in HQ)
4 watermelons
4 panes of glass
4 bags of cement
5 minerals
6 screws

I needed glass, cement, and watermelons.

First click on HQ, a few seconds after clicking on the hard hat: Glass was in the list.
Waited for the 30 second expiration. Clicked Refresh in HQ. Found cement in the listing.

Went to a second hard hat. Things that I actually needed more of were: suits, light bulbs, and a Japanese lantern.

Went to HQ. Found 2 cities offering suits and 4 cities offering light bulbs. (And one city offering another glass for the first hard hat).

Of course, there will be things that are more in demand and as such, harder to find. That does not mean conspiracy, it means a marketplace with items in high demand.
f742eb1c5936327
10 years ago
Now, after the latest expansion, try finding anyone selling City expansion items! Everyone wants to expand again!
f742eb1c5936327
10 years ago
@f742eb1c59363275 wrote:
Now, after the latest expansion, try finding anyone selling City expansion items! Everyone wants to expand again!
I'll just correct that statement ... there's plenty of availability of Exhausts and Dozer Blades. Indeed I'm awash with them, and having to sell them to preserve Storage capacity. But Dozer Wheels? No way!! Current stock is 16-2-15, and all I keep getting [on the rare occasions I get a bubble pop-up] is more of the same. So something is holding them back from me.
No surprisingly I never get to buy them at the Global Exchange. I'm on a 10Mbps connection, so it takes up to 10 seconds to open the relevant City's Exchange ... you can guess the rest!
(Edit - oh, another Dozer Blade! How kind!]
Anonymous
9 years ago
Approved
I have exactly the same problem. IS THERE an answer to this? It seems extremly coincidencial that i have been looking for an item for the Mayors contest, and once i had to make it in 3 hrs and i do not need it anymore, then it shows on the world trade.. it is like they want you to have to buy stuff with real money, like a catch

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Sneaky algorithm

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