With all the talk about making pirating more profitable and such got me thinking about the way the game works in regards to money and how we make transactions at different stations. Obviously all the nations started out as one large colony of people, but, as the backstory tells, they all devided and started to colonize the now known univers. The thought that came to my mind was how is it that we have a universal exchange of money, even with a war going on between to nations, and also at the same time a pirate nations not recognized by any of the three major powers.

My idea is that there be a centralized banking institution that your money is stored in for each nation. You have access to it at any station that is at least neutral with your nation, meaning that you would not need to "carry" any money with you to make a transaction at said station. At the same time, this would allow us to start carrying money onboard our ships for transactions that need to be made in nation space other then your own, or, at a non-recognized stations such as Corvos.

This adds some benifits as I see it, and perhaps we can all flush this out a bit more. One, there is more incentive not to die when flying deep into unfriendly space as you do not want to loose your wallet full of cu's if you were to die. Two, It would give pirates a way to take money without having to have the trader use the /givemoney command, and could potentially make them more profit if a trader or combat pilot was carrying a lot of money & a lot of valuable cargo.

Suggested Monitery Regions:

Serco Nation- UIT : Grey
UIT- Grey : Serco : Itani
Itani Nation- UIT : Grey
Corvos- Cash Only Transactions

Serco Bank Accounts are accessable from UIT and Grey space stations, while purchasing made in Itani or Corvos space are all "Cash on Delivery", and payed in Cash for missions completed.

UIT Bank Accounts are accessable in all nation spaces stations, while purchasing made in Corvos space are all "Cash on Delivery", and payed in Cash for missions completed.

Itani Bank Accounts are accessable in UIT and Grey space stations, while purchasing made in Serco or Corvos space are all "Cash on Delivery", and payed in Cash for missions completed.

This could also later on be tied in with guild bank accounts for ease of giving money to guilds and guilds to players.

[Edit]
As an afterthought, for those who use Corvos as home, and this could be universal as well, you could store money in holds as you would cargo units. Thus being able to "bank" your money with Corvos (kind of like a treasure chest).

I would like to hear what others think of this, as this is more of a long term concept. Don't be shy I'm not going to be an ass on this one =)

http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/8919

Did not see macguys post about banks before I started this topic, though he did not outline an idea like I did, I thought I'd add his link to this as well.

Umm, i dont like the idea of losing all the money i have one me. I just meant put some money into an account insted of having it on you and ending up spending it. Not having the money i have on me drop out like a cargo unit!! That wouldn't go over well with many people(at least I don't think so). What do you people think?

What about an exchange rate that ascends or declines based on that week's CtC victor?

You only need to carry money if you were to trade at a station that does not have access to your primary bank account. So unless you (UIT?) were trading in Corvos you would not need to carry any money at all.

A great addition Ctishman, I like that a lot, but then we would actually have to track different types of currency, and that might be more then everyone would be willing to put up with. Perhaps sticking with a common unit of money would be best and have a rate of intrest on money that's been banked for that nation that won CtC for a given week.

I actually really like this idea. It makes the black markets in grey much less accessible, as players would need to bring the funds that they needed on their ships into grey.

It makes pirating much more interesting, since If I catch you on the way to Corvus to pick up a rack of swarms or whatever, it wouldn't just be your time/cargo/ship that you would be losing, it could also be your grey space pocket money.

My only issue, is a problem that I already see, which is new players homing at corvus.

What happens if they home at corvus, take their money out for a spin and then get sploded? Flying a bus back to nation space can be very frustrating, and its a mistake that new players often aren't warned about.

I don't think players should be able to home at corvus before understanding what that entails. Maybe a level req, faction req, something. It's just a dangerous idea.

I won't grief people, but its very frustrating trying to patrol a route when the guy you just killed comes to Sedina B8 again
in the same slow wraith full of cargo. I either let them through and take a hit to my rep. Or blow them up and receive the inevitable "YOU JUST BLEW ME UP".

People who live in grey space generally have the forethought to not get into that kind of situation, but new players often don't realize.

Another great point. Perhaps like you said Shape, not allow the homing of Corvos stations unless a "respect" faction has been build up. To me that makes the most sense. Why would the pirates let you set their base as home if your still a green pilot with limited experience, not to mention that you have done nothing or very little for them.

[EDIT]
What if newbies were not allowed to rehome untill a certain level. This would allow them the opertunity to still venture out if they so choose and the worse that will happen is that they die and end up back in nation space safe and sound?

It seems like you should just do this for all factions, not allow a player to home there until they have built themselves up to respect.

I agree, homing is something that should only be gained though faction increase to the point of respect or higher.

Other then that is there any other issues with the way in which I have suggested banking and money?? I think this would really add something to the game. Having the oppertunity to kill someone and potentially take what ever money they have on then is not appealing to any of you other then shape??? I'm amazed. :?

Well, I dunno about taking their money when you blow them up. I kinda imagined it as being less resilient than cargo, and just sorta going POOF into the blackness of space.

well that seems like a bit of a waste to me, though the life span of the "money" crate could be shorter then the rest of the cargo, and possible glow in a different color to make it more distinctive. But that's all trivial, I'm more concerned with the way the transactions between different factions are handled. Having to think ahead if your going to be heading into territory where you might need to have money with you verses staying in territorys where you have access to your bank account, and what amount to take and what's comfortable to loose if you happen to run into pirates or a strong bot or npc pirate or something like that.

BUMP, I still think we just need a place to put money, not lose it if we die.

Ok, so minus loosing money if people blow you up, what about the rest of the idea. Having to still carry money with you to purchase things in hostile territories, or places that would not have access to your banking network. If you die the money just shows back up as money on you and not in your bank account. Though I'm still for loosing it, makes money worth something then.

But, it also makes doing ANYTHING in gray space or non nation space pretty damn annoying. You'll never know how much money you'll need. It won't put so much on the value of money as it will put guesswork into how much money you'll need to be carrying on you.

As for everything else, I like it. LIke not having corvus,xi xang, etc having banks unless you're admired would prove just as challaging, and put more value into carrying certin amounts of money, without making it stressful.(for fear of loosing it due to dieing.

Annoying, because as it is now it's super easy, and everyone likes easy. I'm looking for something that's going to get me more involved with what I'm doing. Having to actually THINK before I leave a station, to make sure I have everything I need, including money.

This system of exchange that I've suggested almost NEEDs to be instituted at corvos IMO, if nothing else. If the corvos base is suppost to be secret or at lease not well known then they are not going to be sending out bank transfers all the time. They are going to give you cold hard cash, accepted anywhere you go. And if your going to buy from them and they don't have an atm machine or a card swiper, how are you going to pay for your goods? CASH.

This idea never really made things that much different except that if you were a Serco and trying to buy stuff in Itani space or Corvos it would be more difficult, not impossible, because they are not going to accept your credit, they want there money now and in cash.

For the UIT you only would need to use cash at Corvos.

And for the Itani, same as Serco only in Serco space and Corvos station.

So you make one big trip with a bunch of cash and leave it at a corvos station and now you have corvos credit, that doesn't seem that hard now does it.

I don't mean to write this just to be annoying, but what's the point of having cash if nobody can pick it up when you die, and you don't lose it when you die? You might as well put your whole bank acount in cash, and carry it everywhere!

Thank You Person. Thats what I would like to be like, but there are nay sayers that like it the way it is, nice and safe.

Person: nah, I was saying that the money should be lost to everyone, not just the player. Since that would prevent pirates from simply blowing up a player to get their cash.

That way, the pirate can warn the player, and the money that would be lost forms an incentive to pay, rather than the payoff itself.