Economy

[Money]

I was just wondering how people felt about the economy of Cantr

[CantrFreak]

What economy? Most trades that happen are equal and so neither sides profit. They just exchange resources that the other needs. At least, thats what I think.

[Money]

Well If you have alot of one thing and trade it for the other thing you do not have then you are doing quite well. You just got something for something you do not need.

[Tiamo]

If one person has surplus resources of some kind, and another person has some other surplus, trading the surplusses could benefit both. That is the essence of trade, and a key element of economy.

But economy is more. Labour, production, consumption, infrastructure, transport, even the use of knowledge and skills are all part of the economy.

Most of those elements are also part of Cantr. However, Cantr is too detailed and too slow for systematic trade to develop. Too much depends on temporary activity by just a few players. Also, the key resources are so well spread and abundantly available that virtually all communities are self-supporting. Trade is not a key factor for survival.
Communities, even individuals, can exist in Cantr by just harvesting basic food. No economy is needed for that...

[Dogonabun]

You also can't measure Cantr as a whole- some places are poorer than others. You can't say that Aki island and Burgeo have the same economy, just like you can't say that America and Russia have the same economy

[CantrFreak]

Aki's economy is based off of steel. There, steel and iron = power. I think Burgeo is just a place where people come and take stuff bringing it back home. Probably the closest thing to inter-island trade I've seen so far.

[Money]

Well technically speaking Economy does include self-supporting villages. I think that we have a good economy going on, though quite a few people would be out of a way of life if even one group of people became more organized.

[Newguy]

If there were fewer and larger government systems that could maintain control of areas that would also be an easier way to control the economy. And some towns let people take what they want at any time, so there is no point to trade in that town.

Also, a town can farm all its resources as though everyone shared them. If I were a farmer, I would own all the cotton in that town and people would have to pay me for it. But in cantr, everyone can farm and no one claims ownership of certain resources. Resources have to become privatized before a good economy that would encourage any form of industry could be accomplished.

[nacistas]

i think there is no such thing as economy in cantr.
everyone can look in wiki at the gathering rates and everyone trades only at those rates. have you tried trading something twice more expensive? it's impossible!
even building queries is useless. people come to you, say "i worked one day for this resorce, and you worked one day for that resorce, lets trade" no mater that you used quaery or a shovel, and he only hands. also transportation is some kind of X zone. you can't calculate it's price, so people think it is for free. you build a ship, sail to other island and trade at the rates of wiki. omfg!!!!
where ever i try to introduce some trading rules or money, there is great opostion for these ideas. people just love equality, komunism or simply don't care

[Newguy]

Build an army and destroy them!

[Tiamo]

Nacistas, as i stated earlier, there IS some kind of economy in Cantr. What you miss is a money based CAPITALIST economy.

The common availability of basic resources is dictated by the game system. Anyone can start collecting, digging or harvesting them, it is VERY hard to stop that.
Trade prices based on need, not cost, can only evolve when some resources are (semi-)monopolized. None of the main resources (like wood, stone, iron ores, coal, rubber) are. Imagine you control the only source of wood on your island...

There IS economy in Cantr, but the game system prevents it from evolving into anything complex. Pretty much like any social system you can think of. There is no real need for it (within the game), so it doesn't exist.

B.t.w., the cost of transport would be the time spent on it. That is calculable.

[Tiamo]

Newguy, building an army is just as difficult as setting up a broad government, or long-term trade.

[Newguy]

Let my armies be the rocks and the trees, and the birds in the sky!

[Money]

What people dont realize is that if groups group harvested resources they could harvest more then individual traders can. They could corner the market of said resource because they can harvest more then any other group can.they could also sell it at cheaper prices becuase it is so easy to get.

[wichita]

I see a lot of locations that used to have economic potential, but have been driven stagnant by development. Once you build something in Cantr, it stays built. It never goes anywhere.

I'm kinda trying to figure out why characters still make iron and steel in game. I guess it's sort of a Cantrian equivalent of conservatism. "We make steel because the oldspawns made steel, and the oldspawns before them." You usually don't need to make a fresh tool or weapon, because you can just find a nearby old person who can equip you - if you can get them to wake up, I suppose.