Stock markets (1/2)

TSeeker — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 10:00:56 +0000

Beta 6 introduces an optional system of stock markets which, while usually being beneficial as they increase revenues, also happen to create a small risk of economic depression. A planet’s stock market normally affects only the output of industrial factories – however, some laws allow the planet’s base income to be indexed on its value (of course, this is a “use at your own risk” situation )

Stock market buildings

Of course, in order to use the stock market system, specific buildings have to be constructed. There are two categories of buildings that have an influence on the stock market system.

The first category contains the actual stock market buildings; only one such building can be constructed on each planet. The category contains four “levels”, each level providing higher benefits and lower risks.

Planetary stock market	Stock markets are the basic foundation for the formation of an economy. The Planetary stock market provides the most basic service and market trends, allowing the income of the planet to increase. However, like with most processes, it can sometimes produce negative growth.
Interplanetary stock market	The upgraded version of the planetary stock market connects the information with other neighbouring planets creating a more stable system of employment and market factors. It is better adapted at keeping the market in positive growth than it’s predecessor, although still suffers from negative growth at times.
Imperial stock market	Using indicators and markets across the empire to predict and formulate growth patterns, the Imperial stock market has better control of the market producing more periods of positive growth than the Interplanetary stock market, but cannot eradicate negative growth.
Universal stock market	The best stock market available, the Universal stock market is incredibly powerful in keeping the market in positive growth, drawing on information from all other planets in the universe to generate the market and help direct it. Unfortunately markets tend to still be unpredictable and occasionally produce negative growth.

In addition to the stock market itself, an economic simulator can be constructed (providing that one is available, of course); economic simulators are supercomputers which specialise in trying to predict the market’s tendencies, therefore anticipating problems and helping solve them. Like the stock market building, only one economic simulator might be built on each planet.

Stock market analyser	By predicting the overall trend shown in the stock markets, the output can be carefully regulated to increase the productivity of the entire planet. It requires a lot of labour and some nifty technology to build.
Stock market Oracle	Called the “Oracle” because of its uncanny accuracy in predicting the trends of the market and planetary output, this large supercomputer is a step up from the heavy, labour-intensive stock market analyser.
Market biosimulator	Even the most complex and detailed supercomputers cannot comprehend a change in the system that may not have been encoded within its programming. By adding a biological element the biosimulator accuracy is remarkable, but requires vast amounts of technologies to pull it off.
Quantum biosimulator	Further improving on the technology used in the Market biosimulator, this ultimate market prediction computer uses its own “copies” in alternate universes to simulate even more potential situation, resulting in an unprecedented prediction rate and accuracy, while using slightly less space on the planet’s surface.

Regulating stock market usage

While the stock market’s output cannot be affected directly, players can control how it is used through two sets of laws. The exact names of these laws have not been determined yet, but the principles are described below.

One of the sets controls the nationalisation or privatisation of the planet’s industry. When the industry is nationalised, the state gets the full benefits from the factories’ production, but the stock market has no influence over these benefits. The higher the privatisation level, and the lower the direct benefits for the empire; however, since the stock market’s value affects the output, these benefits are sometimes heightened. With the lowest level of privatisation and the lowest level of stock market building, the benefits will range between 95% and 105% of what they would normally be; on the other side of the spectrum, the benefits will range from 89% to 135% of normal (the potential loss is higher, but it is more likely to increase the overall benefits). One last option remains – a law which can only be obtained by empires with the “Sneaky” alignment. This law allows the state to pretend the industry is controlled by the private sector, while actually owning it through a set of holdings and fake companies. In this case, the benefits will be between 96% and 145% of normal.

The second set of laws allows players to privatise their planets’ tax collection infrastructure. This will affect the planets’ base income, indexing it on the stock market.

Next time, on the LWB6 blog…

This post explained the basics of the stock market system – how it is enabled and how a player interacts with it. Next time, we’ll take a look at how it actually works.

Military factories vs. industrial factories

ju — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 09:28:22 +0000

In Beta 5, factories come in two different models. Industrial factories are factories producing goods which are then sold thus making money in a transparent manner for the user. Military factories allow to construct turrets and ships.

This quite simple design – separation of factories between two kinds – sounds logical at first: the machines required to produce ships are obviously not the same as the ones producing clothing, for instance. However it lead to numerous flaws.

Indeed, in war time, everyone would love to have more military factories to build ships faster, whereas in peace time, military factories only represent a cost and seldom produce anything.

Moreover some players have the (bad?) habit of dedicating some planets to industrial production and some others to military production. This leads to the painful “military planet to industrial planet conversion” (and vice versa) process. Difficulties here are linked with the limit on the number of factories which can be destroyed in 24h, limit which was added to prevent players from “raping” planets they took from other players in war time.

We’ve thought about it for some time and came to one simple conclusion. What are factories? Well, mainly buildings with more or less specialised machinery. Transforming an industrial factory into a military factory would only require replacing part of the equipment.

Therefore in Beta 6, there won’t be distinct buildings for military and industrial factories. You will get to build factories – which will come with several upgrades depending on technologies. Once built, factories will be assigned a building task, either military or industrial. Transforming a military factory into an industrial factory and vice versa will only take time and require to pay a fee corresponding to the change of equipment, and depending on the upgrade level of the factory.

What do you think of the proposed solution to the exposed problem?

What kind of upgrades can you think of for factories?

LegacyWorlds Beta 6 » factories

Stock markets (1/2)

Military factories vs. industrial factories