Economy effect Commerce rating modifier

[Alpha Centauri Bear]

Greetings to all SMAC/X fanatics.
I am trying to figure out what exactly Economy effect Commerce rating modifier does. Any help and guidance is appreciated.
Specifically, I am curious how exactly raw energy income changes if say Commerce rating is increased by 1?

I searched description and internet and found information about Economy effect and Commerce formula but nothing on the topic.
Economy effect description doesn't say how Commerce rating is applied.
Commerce formula doesn't say how Economy effect Commerce rating changes the calculation result.
I also checked Morgans with their Economy bonuses but they seem to be a mix of various custom bonuses. I am not sure they are directly related to Commerce rating.
I also checked how Planet Governor affects the commerce. The effect is clear (+1 energy per each trading city and per each trading faction). However, it doesn't mention Commerce rating. So I am again not sure if it has the same mechanics.

Thank you everybody.

[bvanevery]

I can't hope to provide clarity but I can provide clues.  This is the ECONOMY section of alphax.txt:

Code: [Select]

#SOCECONOMY
-3, -2 energy each base
-2, -1 energy each base
-1, -1 energy at HQ base
 0, Standard energy rates
 1, +1 energy each base
 2, +1 energy each square!
 3, +1 energy each square; +1 commerce rating!!
 4, +1 energy/sq; +2 energy/base; +2 commerce!!!
 5, +1 energy/sq; +4 energy/base; +3 commerce!!!!
So the ordinary max of jacking up Commerce would be +3.  Now, a funny thing happened in my mod when Morgan was given +2 ECONOMY, and then did Free Market for another +2, and also Democratic for another +1.  Maybe he had Wealth too for another +1, I forget.  Anyways, he paid 1000 credits and tried to corner the energy market in midgame!  I was like WTF?  Somehow all of his bonuses allowed him to try to corner the energy market for the minimum cost to do so.  I thought that was totally ridiculous, so I got rid of the Democratic bonus to ECONOMY.  Seems to have been problem solved ever since.

Today I ran a test game of various AIs.  The Gaians got a large continent to themselves.  Suffering no military interruptions, they eventually won the game by Transcend.  On the lead-up to that, they were making so much money that they seemed to pay to corner the energy market multiple times in a row.  Like they were stacking turns for that to happen instead of waiting for it.  Expenditures in this regard were on the order of 10K..15K credits, what I'd consider normal for a very late game cornering.

[Alpha Centauri Bear]

Well, I am lost with Commerce rating as well. There are only two theories in my mind.

• Commerce rating bonus add so many energy to each existing commerce city record as the level of this bonus. That is "+3 commerce" bonus would add +3 energy to each commerce record in each city from my side.
• Another theory is that this rating changes some variables in commerce calculation formula. In this case change in commerce can be anything.

[Induktio]

http://alphacentauri2.info/wiki/Commerce_(Advanced)

Commerce is computed base by base between human factions with Treaties and Pacts, as follows:

    All bases for each faction are ranked from top to bottom by Energy output.
    Bases are paired off from top to bottom. If one faction has more bases, these are ignored.
    For each pair of bases, sum the combined economic output and divide by eight, rounding up.
    Double this value if a Global Trade Pact is in effect.
    For each individual base, the commerce formula is as follows: (ValueFromStep4) × (CommerceTech + 1) ÷ (TotalCommerceTech + 1) .
    CommerceTech is the total number of economic technologies discovered, plus faction & Economy bonuses.
    TotalCommerceTech is the total number of economic technologies discovered by all factions.
    Now, using the value from step five, divide by two if no Pact (only a Treaty).
    Add one if Planetary Governor.
    Reduce to 0 if sanctions are in effect against either faction.

In the standard game Morgan should have an intrinsic +1 CommerceTech modifier in addition to any normal bonuses they would get from an increased Economy rating.

[Alpha Centauri Bear]

So "CommerceTech" is the Commerce Rating? So +1 Commerce Rating would add to "CommerceTech" variable there?