a hyperthetical situation

[Civkid1991]

<Sigh> Demicrats? Sort of underlords? Demi = "kind of" Crat = Type of rule.
Demicrats is "sort of rulers".

Wait......actually i think this might be more accurate than Democrat.

I'm officially joining the Demicrat party. Im with you kid.
-Qes

Woops! sorry about that spelling mistake. I'm doing so much at once i have no time to think about spelling!

 

[Chandrasekhar]

I'm pretty sure it just increases at a stable rate as the game continues, based on difficulty level and speed. More than that, I can't tell you.

 

[Sareln]

Wow, the things you miss when you sleep in until 1:00 PM Local Time (Yay California). Err, yeah... though I be an American I can also converse somewhat passably in German, and less passably in Japanese and Thai. But no, when I'm organizing the cabal I need to take over the world... I'll know where to look.

 

[dreiche2]

well I searched the forums and someone somewhere said it would be proportional to your total expenses and to the time passed. And I haven't found something about its increase being capped

 

[QES]

THe thing that bugs me the most about inflation is that it is almost ALWAYS higher than the total amount of the rest of my expenses (not counting research). Maintenance is lower than inflation for me a goodly portion of the time. So, CLEARLY my mints are working over time and I need to cut back on production of coin, and raise the federal reserve rate.
-Qes

 

[Sureshot]

how about that as a future tech, a inflation reducer... we got magic, we should be able to reduce inflation somehow

 

[QES]

@Sureshot

Maybe, but really inflation is a product of economics....not something you can wisk away, the inflation would simply change form. If you use magic to balance perfectly how much coin is floating around a kingdom constantly at any given time........maybe.
Elsewise its (inteneded to be) just a natural consequence of the ebb and flow of supply, demand and availablility of goods, coin and credit.

However, if you know of an incantation that will raise my credit score, im all ears.
-Qes

 

[dreiche2]

ya but it limits your possible gameplay time somehow and that's no fun IMO. Also, it's not really realistic (I'm no ecomonist though) that at some point all research stops and everything in the world gets disbanded because of inflation, is it?

 

[QES]

I've heard crazier economic theories in RL than "Magic" so i'm not willing to simply throw the idea away. There might be something with "inflation" we can deal with, but honestly I think that Civic options should deal more with it.

Shouldnt some civic options have more or less inflation? And it should somehow be different than merely maintenance.
-Qes

 

[Sureshot]

there must be some ways to combat inflation, after all, its not even a physical force, its based on abstraction of goods... i mean, if i was a pig farmer and offered a corn farmer some pigs for corn, theres going to be no mention of inflation.

 

[Civkid1991]

I've heard crazier economic theories in RL than "Magic" so i'm not willing to simply throw the idea away. There might be something with "inflation" we can deal with, but honestly I think that Civic options should deal more with it.

Shouldnt some civic options have more or less inflation? And it should somehow be different than merely maintenance.
-Qes

I agree... but we may need to do some more research on this and we also have to think about how this is going to work when its coded. (*Runs off to wikipedia*)

 

[dreiche2]

now that you say it Sureshot, isn't inflation simply that the worth of money decreases? But that doesn't mean that the *effective* amount of money / spending capacity one/a government has decreases over time... so "inflation" might be just an excuse for the devs to include this mechanic in civ 4.

what is the use of it in civ 4 anyway? Probably a simple way to balance out increase of income during time (though there is already a balance cause everything gets more expensive, but this might have been an easy way to fine tune it without overhauling everything)

still think there should be some cap...

 

[QES]

there must be some ways to combat inflation, after all, its not even a physical force, its based on abstraction of goods... i mean, if i was a pig farmer and offered a corn farmer some pigs for corn, theres going to be no mention of inflation.

Actually there is. If it got easier and easier for him to raise corn, but not any easier for you to raise pigs, you would naturally start to demand MORE corn for your pigs. And if you were willing to withhold unless your new price was met, youd prolly get it. Hence inflation.

This is a fundamental problem with the notion of currency....its arbitrary and is intended to indicate the amount of "valued work-hours" have been spent. When different objects are valued differently (and often not utilitarianly) they adjust in relation to one another. Because everything is in relation to everything, naturally when things become more or less easier, adjustments are made. If everyone starts making more money, prices go up. If everyone starts producing more trade goods, prices go down. But, in relation to each other, prices will rise if there is a disproportionate increase in a sector of economies.

THis is a bloated way of saying, As long as you and your buddy constantly make the same amount of stuff equally.....inflation wont occur.
To "hamper" the invisable force (which In my opinion makes it harder to combat) one would have to maintain a stability of production, and allow all productions to increase (if at all) at an appropriate ratio.
-Qes

 

[Civkid1991]

And what about tax... i remeber (although i haven't played civ for the pass two days, *gasp*) there is a tax system... i was thinking maybe there should be a cap for that too.

 

[Chandrasekhar]

Hah, how about a civic option that makes it illegal for people to produce more than their daily quotas of whatever it is that they make!?

 

[QES]

@Chand~
How would that look?

@Civkid
Thats what your Research Rate/Culture Rate is. Although the amount you tax is not negotiable.
-Qes

 

[chocmushroom]

@Chand~
How would that look?

-Qes

Like a communist economy is the best I can think off, but in fantasy terms I don't see how inflation can work.
A Dragon keeps all it's money to itself, mages create items from nothing or transmutes them. Worse of all, Inheratance tax (something I Don't agree with in this country anyway) How would that work. You live, you earn money & pay tax, go out and find a monsters lair, take their money, go back home & get another tax audit! A mage who's life you saved makes you a nice magical weapon, you get taxed on it. Then you die on an adventure, leave all you stuff to your family and they get taxed on it....... Then a nice priest brings you back from the death, what then, a Re-living tax and a tax on getting your stuff back again? Just not fair. Would you need another tax number, as the one you had now belongs to a dead person, but with a new number at your age, you must have not been paying taxes before, so they arrest you and lock you up for non-payment of taxes Just seems like there is no way to win

 

[Chandrasekhar]

Like a communist economy is the best I can think off, but in fantasy terms I don't see how inflation can work.
A Dragon keeps all it's money to itself, mages create items from nothing or transmutes them. Worse of all, Inheratance tax (something I Don't agree with in this country anyway) How would that work. You live, you earn money & pay tax, go out and find a monsters lair, take their money, go back home & get another tax audit! A mage who's life you saved makes you a nice magical weapon, you get taxed on it. Then you die on an adventure, leave all you stuff to your family and they get taxed on it....... Then a nice priest brings you back from the death, what then, a Re-living tax and a tax on getting your stuff back again? Just not fair. Would you need another tax number, as the one you had now belongs to a dead person, but with a new number at your age, you must have not been paying taxes before, so they arrest you and lock you up for non-payment of taxes Just seems like there is no way to win

That's what I was thinking, as well. Probably everything would be really cheap, but there wouldn't be nearly enough of it. Now about the taxing, why do you think there are so many evil lords taxing their peasants into oblivion? It's because they all decided that dealing with adventurers and magic users and such would take more effort than the gold they would get... that and the fact that if they put too high a tax on a magic weapon, its owner might use it on them...

 

[QES]

With all this taxing going on, youd think robin hood barbarian characters/heros would show up to rob you blind and pay back your poor people.

(Inheritance Taxes in RL are too low IMHO.)
-Qes

 

[Chandrasekhar]

Heh, this is dark fantasy here. Robin Hood steals from the baron, sure, but then he goes and spends the coin on a drinking binge or something.