Economy

[kringtheking]

So I have been thinking about the large scale economy that Kenshi might have. I have checked the future plans and suggestions area on the forums but didn’t see much pertaining to the economy. I figured I would add my two cents and see what kind of feedback I get. I am a big fan of Eve Online and its economy so a lot of my ideas are based on that. Also note that I will discuss several ideas connected to the economy but are distinct in their own right. Please feel free to comment and offer suggestions on any of the following ideas. Please if you have a question about something, continue reading because in some places I introduce ideas and then expand on them later.

Large scale economy

With all the potential that Kenshi has it would be a shame for the game to have a fake economy where items materialize out of thin are as they do now. I would argue for a realistic economic system where every item in game needs to be produced my raw materials which need to be mined/farmed/gathered. Other than seeded resources at the start of the game, all materials, weapons, armor, and food would be produced in the game.

Resource gathering

I would assume that ore will be added into the game for weapon crafting and I do not know how that would be done but I would guess it would be similar to how the stone mine works. I would instead, add a fixed number of ore mines in the world. While there would be a fixed number of mines, the mines themselves would be infinite. They would be in different sizes which would determine how many workers can use them and their output. The large mines would only exist for existing cities. Medium mines would be scattered around the landscape and largely untapped at the start of the game. The number of medium mines would be greater than large mines but still rather rare, say only 50% more medium mines than large mines. Small mines are plentiful and located throughout the world.

My ideas would be to add three types of ore; Iron, Copper, and Gold. Iron would be the most common and the cheapest materials and would be the only material needed in lower tier weapons and armor. Copper would be used with Iron to make better tiers of weapons and armor but would be less common and more expensive. Finally gold, the rarest ore in the game. I would only have one large mine, located in the center of several powerful factions to encourage warfare. Also no small gold mines would exist. Gold would be needed in the highest tiers of weapons and equipment and for research.

Stone mining would be slightly altered so that stone mines can only be built near terrain where stone would actually exist. This would eliminate stone quarries in the middle of plains but would allow stone mines to be built close to most cities and where small and medium mines would be located.

Weapon and equipment degradation

While I am not a huge fan of degradation in games it would be necessary in order for there to be a constant need for raw materials. This feature can be simple as a weapon or armor having a fixed number of uses. Once it reaches its limit it breaks and can no longer be used and must be sold for scrap or reprocessed. Also weapons and armor would have four stages of condition; new, used, rusty, and broken. The condition would be determined by number of uses. A simplified example would be new condition would be between 0-100 uses, used between 101-200, rusty between 201-300. A rusty weapon would have a chance to break at every use and would break automatically at 300 uses in the example I gave before. New weapons would be at their full stats while the stats diminish when they fall to used or rusty condition.

Some kind of recycling machine would need to be added to the game where broken weapons and armor could be put into and reprocessed. After being reprocessed the item would be destroyed and some of the raw materials could be salvaged. The amount of raw materials would depend on item condition and tier but the amount of reprocessed ore would need to be relatively low so not to flood the market after a while and crash ore prices.

Cities/fixed resources

I mentioned earlier about cities and mines and I would like to expand on that. Most cities exist because of an economic importance, not just because they were placed there long ago. The cities in Kenshi should all have some economic significance. That is why I would attach a large mine to most of them and then specialize their production around what ore that mine is producing. If a city is located on an iron mine then it will mostly produce lower tier items while a city on a copper mine would have relatively more shops producing higher tier items. The city that sits on the gold mine will be incredibly wealthy and produce higher tier products. By no means is production in a city restricted to what its mine produces but a higher tier shop in a city with an iron mine must rely on trade for most of their materials. Not all cities will have a mine to focus their production. Some will be located on fertile land where farms produce much higher yields of food making these cities the breadbaskets of the world.

Larger populations

A working economy needs many more worker (NPCs) than what are in the game right now. Cities would not only need guards and shopkeepers but people to work in the mines, people to work for the shopkeepers, people to run supplies from the mines/farms to the shops or wherever production is being done and so on. As it stands right now towns have tiny populations that are very unrealistic (a complaint I have with most video games).

Food and water

I have noticed the debate of having hunger and thirst in the game and I don’t want to get into that debate too much but it would be necessary to add a hunger system to go along with the economy. Some cities would focus on food production and could supply other cities with food for raw materials. I would not restrict where farms can be built but I would make farms output in most non fertile areas that so only enough food is produced to sustain a small population. Most cities would be able to produce some food but more would be needed to supply a larger population. This fuels trade between cities as well as interesting scenarios for sieges. If a city is too strong for a direct military attack an effective siege could be employed to weaken the defenders enough to give the attackers an advantage. Also an allied faction could try to sneak food into the city and sell it at a huge profit as well as helping its ally.

[Clawdius Talonious]

So I have been thinking about the large scale economy that Kenshi might have. I have checked the future plans and suggestions area on the forums but didn’t see much pertaining to the economy.

There are in fact several threads pertaining to this subject already, many of them aren't very old. I believe that the economy is intended to be fleshed out fairly well, however Chris makes a habit of keeping fairly quiet about what is coming out more than a patch or two from now, as he may play around with some mechanics and find they don't offer a whole lot in the way of fun. Thus, to prevent people complaining that something that was "promised" wasn't delivered on, he tends to keep pretty quiet about long term goals, other than making the game an awesome sandbox with limitless potential.