Negotiations for contracts are simple and at least work. However, they become incredibly useless later on! You can get the contract to a point where it does nothing but benefit you to the maximum degree, and the company behind the contract can’t do anything! I have a potential solution to make contract negotiations more dynamic and less… ending.
What can be done? Make the company behind the contract have counter negotiations! It’s as simple as that. Here’s an example: A food catering company wants to negotiate. They demand “we will raise our prices or we will no longer do business with you!”
You now have two options on how to deal with this. Give in to their demands and accept higher prices, or attempt to use your negotiation points to ask them to call off the demand. If it succeeds, you keep the current prices and stay in business. If you fail, the contract is ended and you’re not allowed to do business with that company for… one in-game year, maybe?
Alongside this idea, it would be great if the occurrence rate was based on how changed up the prices are already. Are you absolutely sucking a company dry with unnaturally low prices? Expect them to call you up soon!
This concept would make contracts more risk/reward and not a one way road to abnormally cheap prices. You will have to fight with companies to get the good prices!
Of course, if you do not wish to deal with this, there is always the auto-negotiator, which, if this does get implemented, would always attempt to keep the contract in business to not be a burden to the player.
And that marks the end of my concept. Makes contracts more dynamic and interesting, as well as preventing the player from capitalizing on contracts to a degree where it would be considered game breaking.