[CF List] The 'dis'economy of crossfire

[Andreas Vogl]

Hi Kurt,

You are completely right: The economy of CF is crappy.

The problem is, the entire system is messy. There's no
"magic button" to cure the economy system. We sure can
try to improve it though, step by step.

IMO, one of the root problems is that object values in CF
are defined in CONFUSING base-values that don't give any
clues to the real thing. No mapmaker ever gets a feel
for values.

Second, you have correctly noticed that high level players
lack urgments to spend any of their huge money-piles.
It is normal for RPGs that players accumulate money while
advancing in levels. I see no good way to prevent that.
Usually, this is counterbalanced by an appropriate rise
in "cost of living" for high level players.
That's something we are definitly missing in CF.

I believe on of the best ways to improve the situation
would be introduction of equipment-duration and -repair.
E.g. weapons/armour would get "used-up" during battle, a
few times a day they need to be repaired for money.
Hence, the better your equipment gets, the more money you
spend for the occasional repair. Top-level artifacts could
consume millions of platinums to repair.

This would regain high-level players a sense for money and
at least stop them from littering money wherever they go.
As a side effect, it is the IMO prefect way to prevent
newbies from using overpowered equipment: They just couldn't
afford the repair cost. Simple and painless.


Certainly, trying to fix the most disrupting economy-bugs
is also a good idea. At least the bonecrusher-value and broken
exchange rate you pointed out should be fixed.
I assume nobody sees a reason against doing that?

Your ideas about shop-capacities and generator-loot are
interesting too. However, I personally think that would
get too complicated, without solving the "root-problems".

Andreas