Since it keeps coming up that we need another overhaul to get rid of the pops-on-tiles system that we (still) have even though we totally got rid of it, I'm going to assume for this post that at some point we will get Economy 3: the Revenge on the Pops.
When that happens, it has always bothered me that "energy" was the currency, especially with so many ways to create energy. Instead, might I humbly suggest TRADE VALUE as the next currency?
Even gestalts mentally account for the "value" of the goods they produce. If not, they would not have an internal market since there would be no concept of trade.
So, trade becomes a storable resource, energy becomes just-another-resource that can float in value, and trade value can be thought of as an abstract of _literally everything_. Two thousand bottles of sweet Caladan wine equals one pound of Arrakis' spice, both of which are hidden behind the generic trade value. It also allows commercial empires to more clearly separate what they do from what a physics-and-generator empire is doing.
When that happens, it has always bothered me that "energy" was the currency, especially with so many ways to create energy. Instead, might I humbly suggest TRADE VALUE as the next currency?
Even gestalts mentally account for the "value" of the goods they produce. If not, they would not have an internal market since there would be no concept of trade.
So, trade becomes a storable resource, energy becomes just-another-resource that can float in value, and trade value can be thought of as an abstract of _literally everything_. Two thousand bottles of sweet Caladan wine equals one pound of Arrakis' spice, both of which are hidden behind the generic trade value. It also allows commercial empires to more clearly separate what they do from what a physics-and-generator empire is doing.
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