What are we using for currency (apart from cash cards)

[Bidyhackier]

AFAIK the lore says the government made all money be turned on cash cards,so how i am bartering with npcs before i even got a cash card? bottle lids?

[Coolthulhu]

"Credits"
The idea of cash was most likely a placeholder. I’m trying to phase it out, but a fair bit of code depends on it.

This weird cash thing has few unusual properties:

[ul][li]It can be stolen by a person adjacent to you, meaning it must be at least partly physical[/li]
[li]It can be stored by a naked person, meaning it must be at least partly non-physical. Or at least nontoxic.[/li]
[li]It can’t be retrieved from a corpse[/li][/ul]

[pisskop]

Apocobucks, son

[X-PLODE]

Call the money Zeny.

[mco]

It can be stolen by a person adjacent to you, meaning it must be at least partly physical It can be stored by a naked person, meaning it must be at least partly non-physical. Or at least nontoxic. It can't be retrieved from a corpse

Removing cash altogether and replacing it with pure barter would fix all these problems. All items still would have their value, but if you made a deal - that’s it, you exchange items and any loose change is lost.

By the way, a lot of items have really weird cost. Medical supplies and ammo are underpriced, a lot of junk, clothing and makeshift items are overpriced. I have to confess, i keep a bunch of skinny ties, collar pins and other 0 volume junk as a trading fodder.

[pisskop]

removing credits makes npc followers more of a hassle to manage than they already are

[Coolthulhu]

removing credits makes npc followers more of a hassle to manage than they already are

Actually, credits are one of the reasons why NPC trading has to be this weird.
Once there are no credits, trading with minions will be free.

[BeerBeer]

If we do away with credits and cash cards, how will we then operate gas pumps or vending machines?

[Coolthulhu]

If we do away with credits and cash cards, how will we then operate gas pumps or vending machines?

Not cash cards, just NPCs caring about some weird abstract money floating around or being only on bank account.

[pisskop]

well for regular npcs thats fine, but Id like to see some kind of currency, at least for factions andor shopkeeps

bullets?
Asprin?
Multivitamins?
credits on credit cards?

all of those do work.

[Solusphere]

How about soda can tabs?

[Logrin]

I think we’re forgetting some of the most obvious currencies in favor of cooler ones…

Clean Water - Even with the means to make it oneself a surplus is always preferable. Easy to test and measure how much you’re getting, which is essential to a currency.

Fuel - For obvious reasons gas, deisel and batteries are high premium commodities. Like water they are simple to quantify and store.

Containers - You might yuck it up, but RESEALABLE plastic bottles, tin cans and jars might be more valuable than their actual contents. It’s actually quite difficult to live comfortably without them and surprisingly labor intensive to make replacements.

Credits - Should probably be NEAR WORTHLESS unless implementing a faction whom have set up HQ in an automated luxury apartment with robo-security that’ll evict them if rent doesn’t keep coming in. The gas station argument would have merchants saying “Come back when you’ve got the gas” etc.

[BeerBeer]

Also, gunpowder.

Anyway, cash could be eliminated from trade and we’d still have plenty of other materials and substances to finetune and balance the trades. All the liquid and powdery substances can enable that.

[pisskop]

you dont want a currency based around a wholly practical material.

i suggesrst whole bullets because Underrail, they are hard enough to find and reauire effort/tools to make.

that it gives us an excuse to phase dow n the frequency of standard Zeds carrying preZ bullets is merely imcidental.

[Logrin]

The problem with bullets as currency would be settling on the value of each type of ammunition. With considerations on rarity, difficulty to reproduce availability of the weapons that use them etc.

Then we’re right back to using an estimation of worth again.

I do earnestly think uncontaminated water is the most sensible ‘accepted everywhere’ solution, seeing as you can’t go more than a handful of days (at best) without it.

[deoxy]

[quote=“Logrin, post:15, topic:12070”]The problem with bullets as currency would be settling on the value of each type of ammunition. With considerations on rarity, difficulty to reproduce availability of the weapons that use them etc.

Then we’re right back to using an estimation of worth again.

I do earnestly think uncontaminated water is the most sensible ‘accepted everywhere’ solution, seeing as you can’t go more than a handful of days (at best) without it.[/quote]

Except that it’s WAY too easy to get at the moment. Even without a purifier, sit by a river with a little pile of wood, a pot, and a 55 gallon drum, and make “money”.

[Bumpkin]

Currency should just be chit/scrip/letters of credit from the refugee center (and only accepted in THAT refugee center and maybe the town they have you build).

[Rot]

The problems of the ‘clean water’ or bullets or meds, containers ,etc. are as listed:

Weight, not having a fixed amount of value and rarity.

Water is too heavy, clunky and unweildy to carry around, I mean who the hell wants to haul 30 55 gallon drums across the state to trade?
Also, as someone said, water isn’t that hard to process, I mean this isn’t Fallout where non-irradiated water is rare and has a good form of value. Not saying clean water doesn’t have value, however - There’s a reason why money was invented.

For example, in the ancient times, wages were payed in grain - Shekels are a form of currency that used to represent a bushel of barley. There it is, it’s more practical to have a set value on an item and to have something unencumbering to carry and preferably doesn’t rot away.

More on it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzaTP6s_HcY

I’m thinking that you shouldn’t completely eliminate cash, but instead make a new system. (so to speak)

I find it weird that money bundles are merely trade fodder/junk and that no-one has wallets or something. No paper money, no bills, nothing.

I’m pretty sure after the cataclysm the paper money wouldn’t immediately lose their value - I mean, the easy to carry, they had a lot of value pre-cataclysm, they’re pretty inflation resistant, and they’re damn hard to fake.

I’m saying take a thing from fallout and put like a counter on the top right of the inventory to show how much money you have in a wallet or purse or whatever, and if you don’t have it as a stacking item in the inventory.

[Coolthulhu]

I do earnestly think uncontaminated water is the most sensible ‘accepted everywhere’ solution, seeing as you can’t go more than a handful of days (at best) without it.

It can be trivially mass-produced by those with relevant equipment, is far too cheap to be a currency, fluctuates heavily based on proximity to water sources etc.

[TacticalPteridactyl]

you dont want a currency based around a wholly practical material.

Pisskop has a really good point here. Gold was not the global currency standard for thousands of years because of its practical use value. Only recently has it developed any (as a highly conductive material), aside from its value to artists as a soft metal. Completely useless in tools. Only useful for adornment. But rings have traditionally been used to mark social status and particularly allegiances to some king or other. Gold implies authority, and its rarity helps to protect against forgeries of said authority.

Everyone who is living has water, so this is not a sensible currency. Similar arguments can be made against other practicals.

…

Without a faction to provide security / authority, currency can’t really have any meaning, and a barter system is more sensible. Problem with codifying a barter system is that the value of any given object can vary wildly depending on circumstance, and the in-game AI is definitely not advanced to the level that it is able to assess short- and long-term needs.