Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[haftan]

I dont know where this belongs but here is my question (skip to the end for a summary).  How will the world economy work?  We all know how trading works right now but when we and they move armies will they have needs like rations, weapons, animals, etc?  Because thats all they ask for now, they dont really have other needs than for war.  You need demands or wants to run an economy.  So my thought is what if their leaders demand luxury items?  Its been mentioned before but it could be implemented in adventure mode as well.  That king wants a marble earing or silver crown no matter how you get it.  And they could send trading missions knowing where to get it and if they dont then they send an army.  This is separate from politics, or racial grudges.  just basic economics.

So other races nobles should demand of their peons just as dwarf ones do.  Which would make the world economy go 'round. or does it?

[herrbdog]

Interesting... also a world economy could have an effect on prices and values of objects. Why is platinum expensive? Because it is rare. If a bunch of mines are created to mine solely platinum, its value would drop as the market is saturated. If you ignore the copper to beeline for platinum, then copper's value would rise as well.

[Svirfneblim]

It should be abstracted in fortress mode.
Other civilizations should simply have some items they value more than others, just like they already have now. Having them attack because you didn't give them an item would be excessive, I think.

But it would be interesting if a caravan could tell you what their king likes the most and you could get extra reward for providing such a thing. Maybe sending a king a proper gift would make the king send you a different gift in return?

[haftan]

Exactly.  Because right now there is no incentive to trade in some things.  In the game now what would you rather have: silver sword or steel sword?  What should be worth more?  Whats worth more in real life? rarer metals typically.
It wouldnt affect prices in your fortress just in the outside world.  "You say they are selling swords half off in Heavyrock mountain? Im there!" then you send a caravan.

[JT]

The most delicious irony here is that a steel sword is rarer than a silver sword in the game, because it's harder to make a steel sword.

[Asehujiko]

how do humans react normaly if you chasm the caravan? will they ignore it like they seem to do when you splat them with a bridge? will they start sieging your magma lake? or do they just not show up again?

[herrbdog]

Dunno, but they don't seem to mind when you sell them a 'Human Skull Totem'.

[itylus]

I agree that having an "abstract economy" out there rather than simulating the whole thing in Fortress mode is probably wise... but I still would like to be able to see somewhat realistic economic effects. For example, I've just been reading a book about Icelandic farmers, "Independent People"... and they're all thrilled about WW1 because over the whole period of 4 years then the relative price of agricultural produce has gone up... so for those staying out of the war, and who can produce food and cloth and so on, there's a big benefit. I also imagine that in time of war the fortress would be much more likely to have large numbers of immigrants (refugees) or possibly even raiding parties coming to demand that food and weapons be handed over. Similarly, a particularly hard winter might increase the value of food relative to craftwork, while in times of abundance then there would be more of a market for luxuries.

[axus]

Global economy would have to produce things as well as consume them.  And rational groups produce things that are in demand.  Demand is for things that are scarce or getting consumed quickly.

I would think the humans would be good at producing a lot of food, more than they consume.  They probably consume more weapons and armor than they produce.

Consumption is really the driving force, if nobody is buying crafts would you bother making them?  What things do dwarves consume a lot of?  Mostly wood and ale.  Nobles are the only ones collecting expensive jewelry and statues, you'd need more advanced civilizations to demand that (elves).  Wars would increase the demand for weapons and armor, peaceful groups would not have much demand... good thing these worlds aren't very peaceful.

Humans probably produce a lot of wood, ale, and food.  But if nobody is buying they won't make as much.