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Rick_Smith · 01-15-2018, 10:24 AM

Hi all,
I have been playing TFT for a long time and I have found that the economy is wonky. Simply, the price of unskilled and semi skilled labour is too high.

A town labourer (with NO skills) is getting $5 / week which includes room and board. He could save up for a shortsword in 12 weeks and a broadsword in 16. It takes a LOT of work to make a broad sword. You need people to create a manage a mine, pump the water out of it, break up the ore and haul it to the surface.

You need people to chop down trees, haul them to a charcoal furnace, bury the wood, fire it, and wait until the wood cooks into charcoal. Let it cool, and then dig out the charcoal. (This is a dirty, tough job and you need a LOT of charcoal.)

The flux for the furnace must be mined.

Move the charcoal, flux and ore to the same place, crush the ore and smelt it. Turn the pig iron into wrought iron or steel. Then you need a highly skilled person to turn a billet of steel into a sword. Then you need to hire someone to carry that blade into the city to be sold.

(And I'm missing a bunch of minor jobs. Where did the glue come from to attach the hilt to the tang? etc.)

After struggling to make the economy work for a long time, I've implemented the following fix. All prices in TFT are ten times lower, except for magic, chemical & alchemical potions, and items of metal. Items with a bit of metal (spear with a metal point, leather armor with a lot of metal buckles), have a proportional reduction in price. The pay for most jobs with only a talent or two prerequisite also have their pay reduced by 10. (Perhaps not realistic, but fighting jobs have pay reduced by 10, but if they are in a fight, they get paid full price for that week as a combat bonus.)

And that fixed it. Food, and lodging are super cheap. A silver piece buys a nights sleep and a couple good meals & drinks in a very nice inn. Hiring NPC's to do jobs for you is cheap.

If you want to ignore most trivial money transactions, then $100 to $200 will pay all food and lodgings for a year. (PC's can pay more if they want to live well.)

And if you ever try to dig in and think about the economy, things just work better.

Warm regards, Rick.

01-15-2018, 10:24 AM	#302
Rick_Smith Join Date: Apr 2014 Location: Coquitlam B.C.	Economy of TFT - Problems and a simple fix. Hi all, I have been playing TFT for a long time and I have found that the economy is wonky. Simply, the price of unskilled and semi skilled labour is too high. A town labourer (with NO skills) is getting $5 / week which includes room and board. He could save up for a shortsword in 12 weeks and a broadsword in 16. It takes a LOT of work to make a broad sword. You need people to create a manage a mine, pump the water out of it, break up the ore and haul it to the surface. You need people to chop down trees, haul them to a charcoal furnace, bury the wood, fire it, and wait until the wood cooks into charcoal. Let it cool, and then dig out the charcoal. (This is a dirty, tough job and you need a LOT of charcoal.) The flux for the furnace must be mined. Move the charcoal, flux and ore to the same place, crush the ore and smelt it. Turn the pig iron into wrought iron or steel. Then you need a highly skilled person to turn a billet of steel into a sword. Then you need to hire someone to carry that blade into the city to be sold. (And I'm missing a bunch of minor jobs. Where did the glue come from to attach the hilt to the tang? etc.) After struggling to make the economy work for a long time, I've implemented the following fix. All prices in TFT are ten times lower, except for magic, chemical & alchemical potions, and items of metal. Items with a bit of metal (spear with a metal point, leather armor with a lot of metal buckles), have a proportional reduction in price. The pay for most jobs with only a talent or two prerequisite also have their pay reduced by 10. (Perhaps not realistic, but fighting jobs have pay reduced by 10, but if they are in a fight, they get paid full price for that week as a combat bonus.) And that fixed it. Food, and lodging are super cheap. A silver piece buys a nights sleep and a couple good meals & drinks in a very nice inn. Hiring NPC's to do jobs for you is cheap. If you want to ignore most trivial money transactions, then $100 to $200 will pay all food and lodgings for a year. (PC's can pay more if they want to live well.) And if you ever try to dig in and think about the economy, things just work better. Warm regards, Rick.