Thanks, Cook.
I've been giving some thought recently to the overall game economy- again, mostly pie-in-the-sky, for now, but (hopefully) useful as thought experiment.
Code:
RESOURCES
Agriculture: Protein, Carbs, Greens, Rations.
Industry: Ores, Parts, Plastics, Antimatter.
Health and Recreation: Spices, Medicine, Soma, Media.
Infrastructure: Energy, Water, Life Support, Data.
Note these are all bulk commodities, as distinct from items bought and tailored for personal use: those wouldn't show up in warehouses.
* Protein, Carbs, Greens and Spices can all be processed into either Rations (preserved foodstuffs) or Soma (booze, and/or other mild recreational narcotics.) Spices can also be processed into Medicine. Carbs, Greens and Protein can be either farmed or hunted, and having a variety improves citizen health.
* Energy helps to run industry, and is provided by Reactors. Reactors run on Ore (i.e, nuclear isotopes, fossil fuels, produced in Mines) and can produce Antimatter as a biproduct. Antimatter boosts the efficiency of weapons, ships and armour.
* Carbs or Ore can be processed into Plastics, and Ore and/or Plastics (or, ideally both) can be processed into Parts. Parts are used during the construction of ships and buildings, weapons, armour- everything industrial really.
* Plastics can be processed into garments, and also Media (propaganda, newsreels, advertising, graphic novels, holograms and other 'pulp' entertainment, along with science and/or commercial journals.) Media production benefits from the successful completion of missions and from foreign Media (so that citizens have sources of news.) Data (i.e, internet bandwidth) emanate from your Archives and improve the effectiveness of research and entertainment.
* Water and Life Support (i.e, waste and air reclamation/recycling) may only be important under harsh planetary conditions/severe overcrowding. However, they also reduce squalor and improve the output of agriculture. Both are provided (along with a little Energy,) by your Vault system (which doubles as an emergency refuge.) Reclamators can boost Water production.
* The effectiveness of- and price commanded by- a given good depends on it's type and quality: even humble Rations could sell for a high price if they're made from good stuff and processed with skill. However, Greens, Spices, Media and Antimatter tend to be the biggest earners.
* Infrastructural goods aren't stored in any specific location, and don't require transport, but there needs to be a certain 'amount' of it generated within the settlement as a whole. They are expected to be provided free of charge, don't vary in quality, and can neither be imported nor exported.
* Interplanetary trade in most 'luxury' goods is monopolised by the Spacers (this amounts to any 'personal' items, plus Greens, Spices, Media, Antimatter, and any goods with a quality of 4 or greater. The only other way to import or export such goods is through the Runners, and they'll charge an arm and a leg.) Carbs, Plastics, Ores, Soma, Energy, Water and Life Support can often be cheaply synthesised by the Keepers or Shapers.
* Artificers oversee all Reactors, Mines, and Vaults. Ecologists oversee all Farms, Hunting Camps, Solar Arrays and Reclamators. Physicians oversee the Archives.
Although it seems very rigid, the economy mechanics I'd imagine are actually relatively 'elastic'- having the 'raw materials' for production of a given good makes the process
easier (or faster, or higher quality,) but isn't strictly essential to get the job done. (e.g, if you lack Ore, you can still make Parts- but delivering Ore to the Artificer substantially improves the quality of the finished product. Otherwise, it's assumed they scrape together what they need from scrap metal, or the like.)
Similarly, your citizens and heroes don't absolutely
need food and water to survive- but if they go without it, their health and morale will suffer, so that they incur penalties to their skill checks and do everything less efficiently. This gives the player a little leeway in establishing the neccesary 'creature comforts' for their settlement without suffering total collapse (and reduces the consequences of slipups in the AI.)
I've been pondering whether it's really worthwhile modelling an economy in this much detail, but I've eventually come to the conclusion that struggles over vital resources or bulk goods in some form have been important aspects of setting (or just plain plot-related McGuffins,) often enough in the genre that it's probably worthwhile. Examples: Soylent Green from, well, Soylent Green, Soma from Brave New World, Tiberium from C&C, the Spice (most notably) from Dune, Unobtainium from Avatar, Dilithium from Star Trek, trafficking in rations, parts, medicines, ceramics, etc in Firefly. Economics can be important because it gives people something worth fighting for.
"Fish! And protein! And plankton! From the sea!" -Box, Logan's Run
Recently read The Left Hand Of Darkness by Ursula le Guin and Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson. I thought the former was an interesting counterpoint to Dune (an ice-bound world with no large-scale wars or gender division, with the Ekumen as a benign mirror to the Spacing Guild.) Red Mars seems 'Hard' SF in the tradition of Verne- the science is conservative to the verge of being uninteresting, but it's mostly about the character drama and social side-effects regardless, and it does delve well into the role of ecology and genetics in terraforming.
