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Its 9 strips, or 90,000 federation credits for comparison we know a USN Lieutenant erns between 4500 and 10000 UD dollars a year. As for brick vs bar we get no exchange rate from cannon (as oppose to the 20 and 100 from Quark) but the props for a brick are bigger than for a bar for whatever thats worth,Quote:
Originally Posted by SIR SIG
ID use numbers like 3 bares or 5 baresQuote:
Originally Posted by Captain Zymmer
I break the credit down into decicreds and centicreds. I'm basing my evaluation of the credit at a buck on the price of the tribbles in The Trouble With Tribbles. Canon trumps game info, IMNSHO...
This reminds me some discussion we had in my current gaming group when playing AD&D and trying to get an equivalent on what a gold coin (or silver, copper, etc) is worth in current currency. The bottom line was that it was almost impossible to establish a direct equivalence, since the relative value of goods can change a lot over time depending on the technology, the culture, and various other parameters. I expect for instance that, in Trek, a lot of manufactured goods (as opposed to replicated) would get the same increase in price as that we witness nowadays for hand-made (as opposed to manufactured).
I also always assumed that some of the Federation most powerful computers were used to keep track of the change rate with currencies from other powers and establish the value of the credit depending on the overall wealth of the Federation.
the only cannon credit price I have been able to find is season 1 episode 1 TNG. The aforementioned 300 credits a foot for fabric. We also have Hagath's coment about the federation credit being "the smallest unit of currency of any civilization I've met"Quote:
Originally Posted by Owen E Oulton
I can't find that line in the script.Quote:
Originally Posted by AntyCrist
Here's an excerpt from The Trouble With Tribbles, showing that an exchange rate of $1.00 to the Federation Credit makes more sense than $0.01. Even for an unknown pet of dubious pedigree a cent is absolutely ridiculous.
JONES: You're a difficult man to reach, but I have something from the far reaches of the galaxy. Surely you want
(from yet another pocket, the trader pulls a what looks like a ball of fluff.)
BARMAN: Not at your price.
UHURA: What is it? Is it alive? May I hold it?
(Jones puts it in her hand and it starts purring)
UHURA: Oh, it's adorable. What is it?
JONES: What is it? Why, lovely lady, it's a tribble.
UHURA: A tribble?
JONES: Only the sweetest creature known to man, excepting, of course, your lovely self.
UHURA: Oh, it's purring. Listen, it's purring.
JONES: It's only saying that it likes you.
UHURA: Are you selling them?
BARMAN: That's what we're trying to decide right now.
JONES: My friend, 10 credits apiece is a very reasonable price. Now you can see for yourself how much the lovely little lady appreciates the finer things.
BARMAN: One credit apiece.
CHEKOV: He won't bite, will he?
JONES: Sir, transporting harmful animals from one planet to another is against regulations, or weren't you aware of that? Besides, tribbles have no teeth.
BARMAN: All right. I'll double my offer 2 credits.
JONES: Twice nothing is still nothing.
UHURA: If you're not going to take him, I'm going to take him. I think he's cute.
BARMAN: Four credits.
JONES: Is that an offer or a joke?
BARMAN: That's my offer.
JONES: That's a joke.
BARMAN: Five?
JONES: You're an honest man. I'll tell you what I'm going to do I'm going to lessen my price to eight and a half credits.
BARMAN: You're talking yourself out of a deal, friend. Six credits. Not a credit more.
JONES: Seven and a half. Seven? All right, you robber, six credits.
I think that, if the writers had any consistent idea of what the equivalent of a credit was worth, we'd had read it by now.
Too true. Unfortunately, during the production of TNG, Paramount was disinclined to hire anyone who evidenced being a fan of Star Trek. This lightened up with the examples and influence of Mike Okuda, Doug Drexler and notable others. Those writers who were also fans had to keep it under wraps.Quote:
Originally Posted by The Tatterdemalion King
I mean, technically the only official creative-side statement about credits is from Roddenberry, who said "They're stupid and don't exist," so...
Yeah, well, the Great Bird said a lot of dumb things, like he didn't want any familiar aliens in TNG, like Vulcans or Klingons. Roddenberry was very much like Stan Lee, who would make off-hand comments that people would take as gospel, but not remember them and later contradict himself. The simple fact is, he had no real ideas about economics, but a lot of half-baked, not-well-thought-through, knee-jerk opinions.
It does point to the underlying issue, which is that there is no way you can derive an consistent answer on that matter from the dialogue of the show. Anyone defining or desiring credits in an RPG context might as well start with whole cloth.
Whatever the case may be with official values or lack thereof for a Federation Credit, in the FASA game it is stated in the first edition of Trader Captains and Merchant Princes (page 14, immediately above the heading Price List), that the Credit in that game was just a bit less than a 1983 US dollar. Take that for what it's worth - YMMV.
It does bring up the question of what kind of pricing considerations exist in a post-scarcity economy.
We're beginning to see something of this with "organic" and "artisanal" foods and items. There is a sizeable portion of the populace who, it seems, will pay a premium for things perceived to be natural or hand made. In Trek, there are those who eschew replicated foods, like Picard's mother, or who value a hand made meal, like all of Joseph Sisko's customers, as well as those who value items from developing worlds, like Beverly with the Bandi cloth. Sure, the general populace is obviously content with free replicated food and clothing, but there are connoisseurs and collectors, so there will always be some sort of market economy. Picard is a ivory tower intellectual who claims people have outgrown the need for possessions, but note that even he has his non-replicated saddle and his Ressikan flute (which points up that he is actually an elitist hypocrite).
Yes, the economy is arguably post-scarcity/post-capitalist, but there obviously continues to be a need for some means of exchange.