Updated documentation for new Stock Market changes. More rebalancing for recent stock market changes

doc/source/basicgameplay/stockmarket.rst

@@ -51,31 +51,6 @@ bid price. Note that this is reversed for a short position. Purchasing a stock
 in the short position will occur at the stock's bid price, and selling a stock
 in the short position will occur at the stock's ask price.
 
-.. _gameplay_stock_market_spread_price_movement:
-
-Transactions Influencing Stock Price
-^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
-Buying or selling a large number of shares of a stock will influence that stock's price.
-
-Buying a stock in the long position will cause that stock's price to
-increase. Selling a stock in the long position will cause the stock's price to decrease.
-The reverse occurs for the short position. The effect of this depends on how many shares
-are being transacted. More shares will have a bigger effect on the stock price. If
-only a small number of shares are being transacted, the stock price may not be affected.
-
-Note that this "influencing" of the stock price **can happen in the middle of a transaction**.
-For example, assume you are selling 1m shares of a stock. That stock's bid price
-is currently $100. However, selling 100k shares of the stock causes its price to drop
-by 1%. This means that for your transaction of 1m shares, the first 100k shares will be
-sold at $100. Then the next 100k shares will be sold at $99. Then the next 100k shares will
-be sold at $98.01, and so on.
-
-This is an important concept to keep in mind if you are trying to purchase/sell a
-large number of shares, as **it can negatively affect your profits**.
-
-.. note:: On the Stock Market UI, the displayed profit of a position does not take
-          this "influencing" into account.
-
 Transactions Influencing Stock Forecast
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 In addition to influencing stock price, buying or selling a large number of shares
@@ -144,6 +119,48 @@ A Stop Order to sell will execute if the stock's price >= order's price.
           stop executing, and will continue only when the stock's price drops back to
           $5 or below.
 
+.. _gameplay_stock_market_player_actions_influencing_stock:
+
+Player Actions Influencing Stocks
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+It is possible for your actions elsewhere in the game to influence the stock market.
+
+Hacking
+    If a server has a corresponding stock (e.g. *foodnstuff* server -> FoodNStuff
+    stock), then hacking that server can
+    cause the corresponding stock's forecast to trend downwards in value
+    over time.
+
+    This effect only occurs if you set the *stock* option to
+    true when calling the :js:func:`hack` function. The chance that hacking a
+    server will cause this effect is based on what percentage of the
+    server's total money you steal.
+
+    A single hack will have a minor
+    effect, but continuously hacking a server for lots of money over time
+    will have a noticeable effect in making the stock's forecast trend downwards.
+
+Growing
+    If a server has a corresponding stock (e.g. *foodnstuff* server -> FoodNStuff
+    stock), then growing that server's money can cause the corresponding stock's
+    forecast to trend upwards in value over time.
+
+    This effect only occurs if you set the *stock* option to true when calling the
+    :js:func:`grow` function. The chance that growing a server will cause this
+    effect is based on what percentage of the server's total money to add to it.
+
+    A single grow operation will have a minor effect, but continuously growing
+    a server for lots of money over time will have a noticeable effect in making
+    the stock's forecast trend upwards.
+
+Working for a Company
+    If a company has a corresponding stock, then working for that company will
+    cause the corresponding stock's forecast to (slowly) trend upwards in value
+    over time.
+
+    The potency of this effect is based on how "effective" you are when you work
+    (i.e. its based on your stats).
+
 Automating the Stock Market
 ---------------------------
 You can write scripts to perform automatic and algorithmic trading on the Stock Market.
@@ -159,7 +176,8 @@ are hidden, although some of them can be made visible by purchasing the
 Four Sigma (4S) Market Data upgrade. Some examples of these properties are:
 
 * Volatility
-* Likelihood of increasing or decreasing
+* Likelihood of increasing or decreasing (i.e. the stock's forecast)
+* Likelihood of forecast increasing or decreasing (i.e. the stock's second-order forecast)
 * How easily a stock's price/forecast is influenced by transactions
 * Spread percentage
 * Maximum price (not a real maximum, more of a "soft cap")

doc/source/netscript/basicfunctions/grow.rst

@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ grow() Netscript Function
 
         * threads (*number*) - Number of threads to use for this function.
           Must be less than or equal to the number of threads the script is running with.
+        * stock (*boolean*) - If true, the function can affect the stock market. See
+          :ref:`gameplay_stock_market_player_actions_influencing_stock`
 
     :returns: The number by which the money on the server was multiplied for the growth
     :RAM cost: 0.15 GB

doc/source/netscript/basicfunctions/hack.rst

@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ hack() Netscript Function
 
         * threads (*number*) - Number of threads to use for this function.
           Must be less than or equal to the number of threads the script is running with.
+        * stock (*boolean*) - If true, the function can affect the stock market. See
+          :ref:`gameplay_stock_market_player_actions_influencing_stock`
 
     :returns: The amount of money stolen if the hack is successful, and zero otherwise
     :RAM cost: 0.1 GB

src/Constants.ts

@@ -229,7 +229,7 @@ export let CONSTANTS: IMap<any> = {
     ** Working for a company positively affects the way the corresponding stock's forecast changes
 
     * Scripts now start/stop instantly
-    * Improved performance when starting up many copies of a new script (by Ornedan)
+    * Improved performance when starting up many copies of a new NetscriptJS script (by Ornedan)
     * Dialog boxes can now be closed with the ESC key (by jaguilar)
     * NetscriptJS scripts should now be "re-compiled" if their dependencies change (by jaguilar)
     * write() function should now properly cause NetscriptJS scripts to "re-compile" (by jaguilar)

src/StockMarket/StockMarket.tsx

@@ -185,10 +185,10 @@ export function stockMarketCycle() {
         if (!(stock instanceof Stock)) { continue; }
 
         const roll = Math.random();
-        if (roll < 0.2) {
+        if (roll < 0.1) {
             stock.flipForecastForecast();
             StockMarket.ticksUntilCycle = 4 * TicksPerCycle;
-        } else if (roll < 0.65) {
+        } else if (roll < 0.55) {
             stock.b = !stock.b;
             stock.flipForecastForecast();
             StockMarket.ticksUntilCycle = TicksPerCycle;
@@ -214,6 +214,9 @@ export function processStockPrices(numCycles=1) {
     StockMarket.storedCycles -= cyclesPerStockUpdate;
 
     // Cycle
+    if (StockMarket.ticksUntilCycle == null || typeof StockMarket.ticksUntilCycle !== "number") {
+        StockMarket.ticksUntilCycle = TicksPerCycle;
+    }
     --StockMarket.ticksUntilCycle;
     if (StockMarket.ticksUntilCycle <= 0) {
         stockMarketCycle();

src/StockMarket/StockMarketConstants.ts

@@ -2,4 +2,4 @@
  * How many stock market 'ticks' before a 'cycle' is triggered.
  * A 'tick' is whenver stock prices update
  */
-export const TicksPerCycle = 80;
+export const TicksPerCycle = 70;

src/StockMarket/StockMarketHelpers.ts

@@ -98,7 +98,10 @@ export function processTransactionForecastMovement(stock: Stock, shares: number)
 
     // Forecast always decreases in magnitude
     const forecastChange = forecastChangePerPriceMovement * (numIterations - 1);
-    stock.otlkMag = Math.max(6, stock.otlkMag - forecastChange);
+    const changeLimit = 6;
+    if (stock.otlkMag > changeLimit) {
+        stock.otlkMag = Math.max(changeLimit, stock.otlkMag - forecastChange);
+    }
 }
 
 /**

src/StockMarket/data/InitStockMetadata.ts

@@ -672,8 +672,8 @@ export const InitStockMetadata: IConstructorParams[] = [
         marketCap: 58e9,
         mv: {
             divisor: 100,
-            max: 430,
-            min: 400,
+            max: 400,
+            min: 200,
         },
         name: LocationName.AevumNetLinkTechnologies,
         otlkMag: 1,
@@ -750,8 +750,8 @@ export const InitStockMetadata: IConstructorParams[] = [
         marketCap: 30e9,
         mv: {
             divisor: 100,
-            max: 300,
-            min: 260,
+            max: 275,
+            min: 100,
         },
         name: "Sigma Cosmetics",
         otlkMag: 0,
@@ -776,8 +776,8 @@ export const InitStockMetadata: IConstructorParams[] = [
         marketCap: 42e9,
         mv: {
             divisor: 100,
-            max: 400,
-            min: 360,
+            max: 350,
+            min: 200,
         },
         name: "Joes Guns",
         otlkMag: 1,