We need to be able to set up a true trade with someone in a way that prevents people from getting scammed

What I mean is something like this....

I have someone willing to give me something if I give them something in return
so I open a trade window with that person
I place my XXXX items into the window (might be many different items)
I wait for the other person to place their YYYY items into the window (might be many different items)
I click approve
they click approve
the actual trade occurs

this system would make sure that I get what I'm paying for... this is true trading...
NOT "i give you XXX and hope you're trustworthy enough to give me YYY in return"


I know implementation of a system like this would be tricky... it would have to be designed in such a way that it cannot be used against someone to find out if they're online or offline at the immediate moment... or rather... it would have to be designed in a way that if someone is online, it doesn't matter..... maybe limit the people you can true-trade with to only folks that are in your legion or folks your legion has both a NAP AND TP with
find a way to prevent the system from being used to tell if person B is online

What if the trade was then locked in a pending state:

1) You put stuff in the trade
...wait wait wait (depending on whether they're online or not)...
2) Other person puts stuff in the trade, and both parties are notified that a pending trade is ready for agreement
3) Once one person clicks Accept, the items are locked and nothing can be removed unless the other person un-accepts (adding stuff may be acceptable). Notification is sent to the other party that their acceptance is pending.
4) Once both click accept, stuff is transferred.

Nice to have but not essential: a comm specifically for the trade. Save you discussing stuff on ship comms for 5e a pop.

My point being, as it can be handled asynchronously, the online status of the other person doesn't have to be revealed. If it's a genuine trade you'll know they're online and you're probably not looking to jump them anyway. If you're trying to use it to probe, then they can just ignore the trade (obviously, declining a trade would signal that they're online).

Yeah, put those two ideas together and it sounds really good, definitely an improvement for the community.

add a section to the tab that acts like to battle tab where you can see ships but only the ones who have a special, 0-space module on their ship (acquired through a mission) that identifies them as traders , and by clicking them you can initiate trade instead of attack

outstanding trades should be wiped and the items sent to their owners after.... 24 hrs maybe?

Many post asking for trading feature, this really should be done

In the mean time.... DON'T trade directly with strangers... if you find a person you don't know about wanting to trade something with you, find a well known middle-man kinda person that both you and the other guy can trust~ a hassle but...