4 Stage Currency Extension

With the current system there are basically 2 stages to currency; credit and minted currency with limited control over credits most players will transfer to some sort of backed currency as soon as possible. What I am proposing is a 4 stage currency system.

Stage 1: Store Credit Same as is currently implemented in the game other than maybe a few QOL changes to usability/functionality.

Stage 2: Coins This currency would work similar to how minting works but instead of destroying the item it would press a metal in some machine that has a value. These created coins would be worth something based on the respective metal they are made from ie, gold, copper, and iron for each denomination with gold being worth the most due to rarity. Once stage 3 of the economy is implemented, these coins can now be melted back down into their metal bar equivalents to reclaim the "lost" metal. Incentive to go to coins is in the fact that it is now a global currency instead of useful for one person's store.

Stage 3: Paper Bills This would be a new stage that forgoes using coins which are heavy and expensive to have tied up for a currency and instead uses paper milling specialty to create bills from paper and ink (new item maybe fished from ocean from squids or later on created synthetically from a new chemistry specialy). The paper milling specialty would reduce the cost (ink and paper) and time to make each bill in a new money printing machine. This would increase overall usefulness of paper milling and give an item sink to paper which becomes overly abundant from lumber production. Incentive to progress to paper bills is that the lost metal is returned and replaced by a very cheap item to produce. Also no need to carry heavy coins around when they want to go shopping.

Stage 4: Cryptocurrency This will be the endgame item and will work similar to how money is currently "stored" in game. It is simply in an account with owners who have access to it and can transfer money in and out of it. This currency creation would be created by turning in bills to a bank and it being exchanged to this electronic currency. Heavy regulation by the government would be required. Access to this would require a computer and possibly cables connecting them initially. Maybe launching a satellite for global access could be a one time cost incentive that wouldn't require landlines anymore. Incentive to progress is based on the fact that one does not need to carry a physical currency on them anymore so no more forgetting your money.

General Notes: Other than the credit->coin transition would need some way to convert one currency to the other. A way to overcome this is by using the bank to exchange currencies for each other.

This endgame stage would require a longer playthrough to be logical to proceed to, this would need to be incorporated with another suggestion (different suggestion and currently writing) that extends the endgame after the meteor is destroyed. Quick sneak peak: once meteor is destroyed everyone must work together to fix the environment back to its original stage after having havoc wrecked to it from the players trying to destroy the meteor. This would extend average playthrough time to 60 days. Link: https://github.com/StrangeLoopGames/EcoSuggestions/issues/877

Cons:

Setting up a economy takes a lot of time, effort, and cooperation between players so changing it 4 time would be catastrophic to the economy.
Would be hard to provide incentive for players to advance past each stage due to time and resources it takes to set up each stage.

Pros

very useful system as it will make the economy easier to use as each stage is progressed past
more unique and maybe would warrant having a player on each server dedicated as an economist
more usefulness for paper milling specialty and gives use for paper(wood pulp) as it is a byproduct that often back ups
gives more usefulness to fishing or hunting regarding needing squids or later on the new specialty chemistry

Definitely like the idea of currency having more stages, and a paper sink is a good one. Trick would be making coins have weight. Maybe transfer dialog requires a bank instead of being available from anywhere. Good ideas here, will think about it. Definitely going to add fiat currency from governments.

Devil's advocate here.

The greatness about ECO is the total freedom/lack of predefined rules in what defines the society. By adding this as a static "tech tree" one advances, it's as if you're suggesting that digital capitalism is the inevitable course of history...

Marx and Engels are rolling in their graves. Have the option, but definitely don't let this become an 'inevitability' of game progression.

Making coins have weight, and paper bills have durability, and maybe having digital banking require technological support and being susceptible to different kinds of fraud might mitigate the 'inevitable progression' but give each option benefits and drawbacks. It's much easier for a government to print money when it's digital, and this can be a good or a bad thing depending on who's in charge - alternatively, it's very hard to have out-of-control inflation with gold coins. A digital currency might not require you to have currency on hand at all - you could simply refer to your centrally-administrated bank account. Of course then you need central administration - convenient, but requires infrastructure.

The currency might retain all of the properties of the underlying item. Being able to melt gold coins to make electronics, or to burn paper bills for fuel when there's hyperinflation would allow for more of those economic behaviours that make things interesting. There's also the potential for laws governing the treatment of the coinage - outlawing its use for anything other than currency, or similar. It also makes currency choices more and less practical - tailings currencies could totally be allowable, but they should totally pollute.

On a similar note, the current player credit is hugely powerful - infinite, trackable, almost entirely reliable and predictable etc. - it's basically a fiat currency run by an individual. Further requirements for record-keeping and the possibility of reneging on credit, or easily changing its value might add some additional drawbacks to this system. Even the need for player credit record-keeping in the form of an account book for each player credit would add something tangible to this process. There's a reason IOUs are difficult to administrate, and it would be interesting to capture some of that.

Some of these things seem similar to #453 - just so these things are linked.

Additionally, as it occurred to me - these is a synergy with the practicality of taxation or charging for goods and services.

If you have a currency in gold coins, it is difficult (or impossible) to charge a fraction of a coin - you might decide to collect an amount in larger amounts (sales tax might be calculated on each whole day's trades, rather than each individual transaction) and you might make decisions about how to account for the indivisibility of a gold coin. Do you round up to the nearest coin, or down? Do you only sell wheat in units of 10 or similar? It might also be impossible to make 10,000 gold goins out of one bar, since they would each be too small - this might encourage you to use less-valuable materials to make lower-denomination coins. A digital currency might also be much more flexible in terms of tracking minute fractions of a denomination, and be more attractive as a result, even given the infrastructure/rollout costs.

Also: Taxes denominated in physical currencies might need physically collecting from stores - this creates a possible occupation to collect those funds for the government. Digital currencies could be drawn directly, or transferred remotely. Player credit could be taxed (assuming government powers allow), but the player can always adjust their prices, issue more/less credit, or write off the credit the government has taken at their leisure.

Making a system reason why you might upgrade a currency, rather than it just being expected, would certainly be preferable, and allow the drawbacks and benefits to be weighed. Most places run multiple currency systems concurrently, and it might be interesting to continue to hoard gold coins while also running a digital bank account. A stash of bullion is still valuable today.

StrangeLoopGames / EcoSuggestions

4 Stage Currency Extension #876