## The Basics The economy is composed of many moving parts, specifically four resources (the commodities) as well as credits, which are collectively referred to as capital. The economy itself is a relatively free market, and has an underlying logic to it. The bank does not have an unlimited stockpile of resources; resources are added to the economy each round through the production of peoples nation. If nations get smaller, the total growth of the economy shrinks. The bank gets money and resources to finance its loans and market items through your spending. All money stays in the economy in theory. Thus when you buy a warship, those people don't disappear. The bank may later choose to loan that population out, put it on the market, or keep it off the market. ### The Resources There are four kinds of resources in the game, besides credits, which your nation can produce, and which are used to maintain your fleets, build new ones, fund operations or projects, and conduct trade. The four types of resource are: 1. Population - the people you are ordering to do stuff. Crews come and go, people need to be hired for jobs, all those sorts of things are represented by Population. 2. Production - Production is your ability to build things. Ships need to be maintained or build, schemes and plans need resources to be accomplished, these are all things production contributes to! 3. Food - Your people need to eat! Can't have people to do stuff if they're not being fed. If you don't have enough food, or money to buy food, your people will migrate to other areas and you'll start finding your ships refusing to follow orders. 4. Fuel - Your ships don't run on dreams! They need gas in the engine to run the fleets, to power your factories, and to do pretty much everything! ### Credits Credits are money. They grease the wheels of trade deals, and can be used in lieu of resources to fund upkeep or production of ships, or schemes. Not only are credits used to fund your fleets and schemes, they're also used for buying yourself food and drink. Representing the corruption of the elite, dine yourself on your peoples dime - after all, if the leader isn't living in luxury, how could they possibly lead? ### Getting Capital How do you collect these fine things? The answer is simple but complicated. The simple answer is, you go ask Barbara in The Office for your resource at the start of the Free Period. The complex answer - how that number is calculated - is explained below. If a system is marked with a green circle on the map, or says it produces food in the [[;) Worlds in the Sector]] chart, then it produces food equal to 3 * your tech level. _For Example, if you're tech level 3, and you have an agri world, it produces 4 food._ If a system is marked with a yellow Trapezoid on the map, or says it is technologically advanced in the [[;) Worlds in the Sector]] chart, then it increases your tech level by 1. If a system is marked with a Purple Parallelogram on the map, or says it has a high population in the [[;) Worlds in the Sector]] chart, then it produces population equal to 4 * your tech level. _For Example, if you're tech level 3, and you have a high pop world, it produces 4 population._ If a system is marked with a Gray Gear on the map, or says it has production in the [[;) Worlds in the Sector]] chart, then it produces production equal to 2 * your tech level. _For Example, if you're tech level 3, and you have a high pop world, it produces 3 production._ If a system is marked with a Cyan 3 Pointed Star on the map, or says it is a rich world in the [[;) Worlds in the Sector]] chart, then it produces credits equal to 50 * your tech level. _For Example, if you're tech level 3, and you have a high pop world, it produces 150 credits._ If a system is marked with a Orange Shape on the map, or says it has fuel in the [[;) Worlds in the Sector]] chart, then it produces fuel equal to 1 * your tech level. _For Example, if you're tech level 3, and you have a high pop world, it produces 3 fuel._ Otherwise, each world you control gives you 1 * your tech level credits. _For Example, if you're tech level 3, and you have an otherwise empty world world, it produces 3 credits._ ### Upkeep Your fleets need resources to be maintained! You need people to replace the crew who've quit or retired, you need food to feed the crew, you need to maintain your fleets, and you need to fuel the damn thing. The upkeep cost of a fleet depends on its tech level. The upkeep cost is payed out when submit a fleet order to the Game Master. **Note that if you don't pay upkeep for a fleet, they won't follow your orders and might go rogue.** #### Non Fleet upkeep You also have to pay upkeep for each Poor World (Cyan X) equal to 10 * your tech level. _For Example, if you're tech level 3, and you have a poor world, it costs you 30 credits._ For low population (Purple Square) worlds you have to pay 1 * Tech Level /2 population for upkeep.. _For Example, if you're tech level 3, and you have a low pop world, it costs 6 population._ Low Tech Worlds (Yellow Octagon) reduce your nations tech level by 1, down to a minimum of 1. Non-Industrial World (Grey Leaf) this planet lacks industry, it consumes 1 * tech level/6 Production to upkeep. Non Agriculture (Green fire) this planet can't support food, it consumes 1 * tech level food The price of non fleet upkeep is factored into the money you get from barbara for your resources. if you have negative income, this results in negative in game events towards you.