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.

Banking

TSeeker — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 07:59:06 +0000

In Beta 6, an empire’s primary cash reserve is limited to at most 2 billions. All cash earned after this limit is reached will be wasted. In addition, 75% of the empire’s main cash reserve is split between its planets, the exact proportions depending on the planet’s category. When a planet is taken by an enemy, this cash is removed from the victim’s bank; most of it is wasted and just disappears, while a small portion is taken by the victor.

Communications technologies associated with banking technologies allow an empire to access the interstellar bank. This intergalactic facility allows empires to donate money to each other and to get loans, and provides them with two additional accounts onto which they can deposit their money for short- or long-term savings. All of these services depend both on the amount of interstellar bank buildings owned by the empire as well as their type.

Donations

Donations are the most basic type of service provided by the interstellar bank. This service allows empires to donate money to each other. The transfer is instantaneous, but is subjected to a relatively heavy tax; the more interstellar banks the donating empire possesses, the smaller the tax, although it never gets below 20%.

Short-term savings account

This type of account provided by the interstellar bank is the second most basic service available. It allows players to deposit up to 10 billions, and generates relatively low interests. Up to 10% of its contents or, failing that, up to 100 millions can be recovered every 24h, but a heavy tax is applied. In addition, to allow such a fast recovery of money, the local bank buildings store a part of this amount, which means that, like the main cash reserve, some of it can be lost in case of an attack.

Loans

The third level of services provided by the interstellar bank are loans. The interest rate for the loan depends of course on the amount itself, the delay before the empire has to start paying back, the daily amount of money the empire pays back, and the number and type of local bank buildings in the empire.

Loans are only payed back if the player has at least one bank building, and are put on hold if no bank buildings are available anymore. When a bank building is again available, the interest rate is higher than it was before.

Long-term savings account