Could currencies be implemented?

[Sultan Richard]

I think, with the discovery of Banking, you would be allowed to establish a currency. I don't seriously expect it to be in Civ IV, but what would be the effects on gameplay?

Say, in the first two ages (Ancient and Medieval) you'd have an economic system nearly the same as the current Civ III one. What I'd like to see is that Gold be turned into a strategic resource so colonies can be built on them (I know you can use C3Edit for this; I'd like it as part of the 'default' rule set.)
There will be a major 'twist,' however. Every resource will have a specific value weighed against Gold (or even Commerce points,) and the value will depend on how much of the resource you have, and what the total population of the cities connected to the trade netowork is. This is to measure inflation and trade, but it could be made so inflation is nearly non-existent in the first two ages, to keep the game clean and simple.
Inflation bould be the way how Market bonuses are calculated, by multiplying the Gold/Commerce value of the commodity by the population, and making appropriate adjustments. Inflation would be simulated by having increased cashflow in your trade network, thus by making the values of the goods cheaper (as people spend more so prices go up.)

But, as you develop Banking, you'd be given an option menu, akin to the Government types menu, to: a) stick with the system of Gold as the meduim of wealth; b) Go for a currency that is fixed at a certain rate againt Gold (or even another Civ's currency); or c) go off Gold altogether and have a stand-alone currency.
Option (b) would have it so your currency would be of an equivalent value to x amount of Gold or another currency or another commodity.
Option (c) would have the currency's value derived on the basis of the total commerce points of your civ.
Option (b) could be good for economic 'starter' nations whereas economically strong nations could choose (c). Option (a) could be used to keep constant value.

Why I say this is because buying into another nation's currency would be an investment, that is, that say you were the Chinese (curerency=yuan) and the yuan wan't very strong and you bought some pounds, which were. So, you ask for some pounds (say through diplomacy, or even a 'Reserve Bank' Small Wonder) in exchange for Gold/Goods/Yuan and you keep it for, say, 10 turns. If the investment appreciates, then you sell it off, then it could bring benefit, but if it depreciates, it could mean disaster.

Also, this means you could 'print' extra money if you have options (b) or (c), to maybe to quickly pay off a loan et al but then your currency will hyper inflate immediately, the next turn, then you'll suffer. Also, this allows more fine-tuning of the economic 'machine,' by setting up an IMF or similar and could make victory by economics more 'fun' (who finds Economics fun?!?!? ) Statistics could be presented in the Graphs screen with values of other currencies+Gold, or total commerce output etc. Free trade could be a diplomatic option (but I don't know how it would work... something to do with Commerce points, maybe?) There are a lot of possibilities.

This is probably too complex and too detailed/deep for a Civ-type game, but what would happen if it were? I'm not saying this is a complete outline of my ideas, and if anyone is studying Economics or knows better, please reply.

[Sava]

It would turn the game into an economics game. It is too complex for a game that is designed to be broad and simple. Plus I wouldn't trust Firaxis to code it.

[Atahualpa]

I agree with Sava, this would only make things more complicated without making anything more fun.

[simwiz2]

sounds like a good idea, if it could be made less complicated so it fits with civ better

[Kingof the Apes]

This idea would be too complicated for civ, as it would take away from the main focus of the game. However, it might be interesting if colonies could generate gold, maybe 1/turn, but must be outside your borders to do so.

[Sean]

This is a bad idea. Its too complicated, an in actual fact, unrealistic. With the excepmtion of the last thirty years, the world has used a gold standard, or the Bretton Woods system. It is only recently that it has become free floating. Also, the way you wish to value money is nonsense. Having more of a resourse will just increase the money supply, and DEVALUE your currency. Your understanding of international finance is very poor, I am afraid.

Sean.

[Jethro83]

Don't really like the idea. All I need to determine my economic power is a gold per turn figure. I don't need to know how much of another currency my dollar is worth.

[Sultan Richard]

I don't seriously expect it to be in Civ IV, but what would be the effects on gameplay? ... This is probably too complex and too detailed/deep for a Civ-type game, but what would happen if it were?

I was'nt expecting, nor will I be asking for such a feature. I just wanted to know what would happen if such an idea got implemented.

And Sean-- I am not very knowledgeable on economics (let me get that out of the way . ) But what I meant by :

Inflation would be simulated by having increased cashflow in your trade network, thus by making the values of the goods cheaper (as people spend more so prices go up.)

was exactly what I meant, that values would go down (this is what I meant by 'cheaper'.) It was my mistake (maybe I should have gone to lengths to explain it) but what I meant by price was the "dollars and cents" value of it, not the value of it weighed to whatever.

Again, I didn't seriously expect it to be.

R