8.0 KiB
Economy (currency, trade, sinks)
Vision for how value is created, destroyed, and exchanged: faucets, sinks, prices and fees, player trade, and live balance—without re-specifying item shapes or recipe execution (those stay in items.md and crafting.md).
Policy & KPIs: E3.M5 — EconomyBalancePolicy encodes EconomyPolicy, PriceBandRule, FaucetSinkRatio thresholds; ties to E3.M4 — SinkAndDurabilityLifecycle and alerts via E9.M2 — KpiDashboardsAndAlerting; later E9.M3 — LiveBalanceControlPlane.
Trade & settlement: E8.M3 — PlayerTradeAndMarketplace (MarketListing, TradeOffer, SettlementEvent)—supports crafting economy per Epic 8 — Social / trade.
Reward paths: E7.M2 — RewardAndUnlockRouter (missions, bundles); E5.M3 — EncounterAndRewardTables (loot). Parity guard: E6.M4 — RewardParityEnforcer (PvP ↔ PvE/craft equivalents).
Production spine: gathering.md → crafting.md → items.md. Progression payouts: progression.md (mission rewards vs combat encounter pipes). Epic 3 loop: Epic 3 — Slice 4 (sinks + policy) for pre-production economy tuning.
Gig vs skill (economic identity)
- Wealth and supply mainly flow through skills (gather, process, make), items, trade, and missions—not through gig level. Gigs gate combat use of much gear, not the right to craft or sell (Seams, items.md).
- Combat encounters → gig XP by default; they are not the primary faucet for skill economy unless we explicitly add loot or currency on the encounter table (progression.md).
- Mission / contract rewards may inject credits, items, or skill XP as scripted payouts—separate from “the fight trained my fab skill” (progression.md, skills.md).
Faucets (value entering circulation)
Design lenses (exact tables data-driven):
| Source | Role |
|---|---|
| Gather nodes | Raw materials into the loop (gathering.md) |
| Loot / salvage | Drops and world pulls (items.md Acquisition) |
| Craft outputs | New usable goods from benches (crafting.md)—creates items, not necessarily net currency |
| Mission / vendor payouts | Injected currency or items for story and progression |
| Trade | Redistributes existing stock; may pair with currency changing hands via fees or prices |
Sinks (value leaving or being taxed)
| Sink | Role |
|---|---|
| Consumables | Ongoing churn (stims, ammo-adjacent, etc.) |
| Durability, repair, destruction | E3.M4; death stakes: death-loss-recovery.md; items.md open questions |
| Fees | Listing, transfer, clinic / service fiction—open rates; PriceBandRule in E3.M5 |
| Currency dumps | Fast travel, licenses, rep gates, optional sinks for inflation—open catalog |
Direction: prototype should prove at least one meaningful durable sink before leaning on auction-house scaling (Epic 3 — Slice 4 intent).
Currency and wealth readability
- One primary player currency vs multiple (regional, corp scrip, crypto fiction)—open; UX must stay readable (items.md tooltips discipline).
- Wealth fantasy includes stockpiles, loadout value, workspace access, and social flex—not only raw balance.
- Binding, insurance, theft, and security tiers change effective supply—see items.md Open questions, death-loss-recovery.md, risk-security-bands.md.
Trade and prices
- Craft-for-others and face-to-face trade are valid; buyers need not equip what they buy (items.md Trade, Seams).
- Market vs direct trade—open product split; E8.M3 owns settlement contracts.
- Craft vs drops vs PvP rewards should stay comparable where E6.M4 applies—parity is a gate, not the full fun story.
Module map (economy-focused)
| Module | Role | Ties to this doc |
|---|---|---|
| E3.M5 | Policy, ratios, price bands | Tuning hub |
| E3.M4 | Durability, repair, item sinks | Demand for mats / craft |
| E8.M3 | Listings, settlement | Exchange |
| E3.M3 | Items in motion | All trades |
| E7.M2 | Quest/mission rewards | Faucets |
| E5.M3 | Encounter loot | Faucets |
| E6.M4 | Cross-path parity | Fairness |
| E9.M2 | KPIs, breaches | Ops visibility |
| E9.M3 | Live knobs | Later balance |
Decisions log
| Topic | Direction | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Crafting as primary lane | Player-made output stays relevant; not “drops only endgame” | Agreed (Epic 3, items.md) |
| Trade without gig | Buy/sell craft products without matching combat gig | Agreed (items.md, Seams) |
| Mission vs encounter payouts | Skill/item/currency from missions is explicit reward design—not default combat skill XP | Agreed (progression.md) |
Open questions
- Starter wealth and new player cadence vs inflation in mature shards.
- Regional or instance markets vs global listings—latency and exploit surface.
- Tax, laundering, corruption fiction vs systems cost.
- RMT / TOS stance—product and legal, not covered here beyond “server-authoritative economy.”
Where to read next
| Topic | Document / module |
|---|---|
| Item buckets, rarity, trade seam | items.md |
| Gather / craft production | gathering.md, crafting.md |
| Hybrid XP / reward pipes | progression.md, skills.md |
| Epic 3 slices (incl. sinks/policy) | Epic 3 |
| Social / corp context for trade | Epic 8 |
| Death, durability, PvP loss | death-loss-recovery.md |
| Security tiers, PvP eligibility | risk-security-bands.md |
| Zone identity (trade hubs, black markets) | zones.md |