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I don't have any carbonite but I know where reserves lie, but I have to have carbonite to build a mining station. Some of my allies with FTA have it, can I trade directly for it? If so, how?

EDIT: some of my ships are en route back with carbonite, so I guess when it gets here I can go ahead and build a mining station of my own. Still would like to know if you can trade directly with other factions or traders.

You can't. Pray the correct working of algorithm of trade automation.

It finally worked itself out after several years of game time. I couldn't build any stations or ships until it did. The instant I got some imported carbonite I was able to build my own mining station and the crisis was solved. It's too early in the game to see if it put me too far behind to win. That's too bad that as part of negotiations you can't directly trade for a commodity.

With trade you are basically at the whims of the freighters (yours and independents) to prioritise the resource. It will happen eventually but can take a lot of time.

- Look at the planet types nearby that may have that resource (Carbonite may be at Carbonaceous worlds etc) and see if any of these planets have hidden resources. Send Explorers to keep surveying to expose the hidden resources. This will make it easier for your mining ships to mine at this close location.
- Check your Construction ships and see if any of them are carrying what you need. Stop what they are doing and get them to off load at the planet you want.

Known Location of Resource
If you know where a source is and you can get control of it (in yours or neutral space) your mining ships should also eventually make their way there and mine the resource. If your empire is a Merchantile guild you specifically can order them to mine at that location.

If this still isn't working and you need a specific amount you could try this:
- Set all your Private sector ship designs to manual design and obsolete (so they won't be built automatically).
- Cancel any queued build orders.
- Find some ships that have been constructed with the resource you need.
- Retire the ships at the specific planet you want to have the resource. I think you will get about half the construction resources back.

No Known Location of Resource
If you have surveyed the near systems and can't find the resource you may need to cheat and use the game editor to add some to an existing planet. This may be something you need to do if you start with a Harsh or Trying home system. A Normal or better home system should have all the basic building resources in-system - some of them may be hidden requiring a deeper level of exploration.