As an overview, the mining economy works like this: A miner starts the game with a mining voucher in his backpack which gives him a set amount of mining points which allows him to purchase his starting equipment, as he delivers materials(i.e. Does his job) he earns more points to buy new things and new equipment.
Now applying that to other jobs we get "x job starts with y amount of nanocredits which can be used to purchase m, n, or b equipment, as he completes the [Job mechanism] he earns more nanocredits to purchase different, more powerful/more useful equipment to do his job." This is the central mechanic is how the economy will allow for us to actually balance different equipments around their utility and most importantly reduce the servers reliance on the hackneyed and jury-rigged R&D system for balancing our cooler things, meaning we both get more cool stuff and see that cool stuff more often because instead of relying on some far away, maybe incompetent, scientist who may or may not exist it is instead made to rely on your competence.
The inclusion of an economy also adds a OOC motivation to the game other than antag greentext, something that has long been sorely needed and will provide opportunity for emergent roleplay.
Now that why it exists is established let us move on to how we can implement it properly into the game.
I think that each job should have a set starting amount of cash in their account and a set stipend that filters into their account per pay period along with some mechanism to add more cash as they do their job. The purpose of this thread is to brainstorm how this should go about along with other ideas of how to implement an economy into tg code.
One of the most important departments in this is of course cargo. I foresee cargo switching from a game of "I PRESS THE BUTTONS AND MOVE THE THINGS" to a drugwars!-esque game of arbitrage where the price of certain items fluctuates from time period to time period, where you can stick to the white market and play things nice and fair or go into the black market by switching your ordering board to broadband where there are higher profit margins and rare/unique/illegal items but it carries the risk of having unsavory things come over on the cargo shuttle as well. The also could exist a set of random contracts that you can buy into and have to send back a certain set of items in a limited time period or lose the collateral you invested in the contract.
Engineering is tough to toss into this but could have a factorio-esque system bolted onto it where they build assembly lines to mass produce goods from set designs that are either purchased by cargo on the open market or developed from Science. They could also sell power from their !!EXPERIMENTAL ENGINES!! via !!GIANT SPACE LASER!! thus encouraging them to make more engines and more things.
Science should have the most variable ways to make money, slime growing, xeno-archeology, anomaly capture, and away missions should all be high-skill high-lethality high-profit jobs involving various puzzles to solve and reality TV al la survivorman for the crew to watch via helmet cam in the bar.
Medicals' job is pretty clearly the maintenance of the crew but it could also be a place for the crews augmentation. The only place on the station that has a operating theater in it medical can give integrated toolsets to the engies, eyelamps, blood filters, artificial hearts that allow you to run faster.
Service already grows strange plants that are transformed into even stranger food and drink which can be sold to crew and cargo alike. Being the *Arr Pee* center of the station I suggest integrating the holodeck even more into the department, allowing for an exhibition hall where the department can charge admission to and sell purses for tests of skill, speed, and robustness. Maybe becoming a gambling mecca with bookies allowing bets to be placed on the outcome of boxing matches, poker games, and holo-gladiatorial bouts.
Security of course can now both charge people with crimes and for crimes! Throw em in the gulag if they will not pay and sell their sweat and tears to cargo!
Secs' job is to make sure that the rest of the departments play nice, I could likely dig up something on how an-cap cops work if you want.
Clown and mime work by busking and being entertaining.
Chaplain impounds your dead body
Now one of my more interesting ideas is that one vending machine somewhere can have a special code entered into it and sell illegal goods to the general public, contraband like syndie gear and voice changers and such just to obfuscate actual syndie activity. The activation code and location is distributed at random to everyone at roundstart and as you join the round so long as you are one of the lesser jobs.
Praise Capitalism! Through globalization encourage RP!
