i think the free market is the best idea proposed.
granted the first month prices will go crazy minerals going for god knows wat and such BUT after a cirtain amount of time it will stabilise, more will go miner cos the higher mineral prices, more will go agri empires cos food will spike more often and more will go CG miners cos goods will be more lucrative due to silly people buying them for over 4 per (trust me it WILL happen) and less empires going the lowest income style in the game (comm)
it wouldnt be too hard to change, just remove the ceiling cap on markjet postings and its done. so wat if ore is going for 100k a unit? if u really need it u can strip mine explored/captured colonies for it. minerals too high for u? do some mining research to get ur own proiduction up if ur that desperate.
it will make for a more dynamic market just like 90% of the other games i play. and it works well there, its all cyclic, peaks and troufs. in the end the median will average out to be an acceptable level. people will be prepared to spend XXX for minerals, once its past that they stop buying and the market stagnates, people are forced to sell for cheaper to get teh sale, the market drops or even crashes, then once reaches `acceptable ` levels dfor other empires it will start to rise and repeat the cycle till its broken somehow be it by a UW or a total market shortage were its all posted as rediculas prices
would make playing the market alot more interesting ill give u that much