I think currency issues is that fact that some items are worth stupid amounts of caps. For example pre war money. How can this have such a high cap value in FO4 atleast can be used for cloth but that does't really explain its vaule at all. If you collect enough pre war money you can basically just trade with that witch seems quite silly. The amout of bottle caps you can collect can also be seems to get stupid such as guns costing like 7k caps. How would you carry that many? Maybe if there was some special cap that was worth more or something. However it still does work pretty well as a money system.
I think the biggest problem with the caps system is that we have no clue how much caps people actually own and the value of it. for example mr house says hes spent millions of caps but how would that work. Also we have no clue what the average person would own and how much they would be worth. For example with people in rivet city what would be the average income ? That have to earn at least 50 caps a day to afford two meals and water. However this is mostly left ambiguous. Well also don't know much people make from there jobs for example how much would a caervan guard be paid a day ? If this was explained a bit more i think it would clear up the problem. Also there is some inconstancy in pricing between games. It cost 100 caps plus to stay at megaton hotel for one night where as in NV its like 25 caps for a room a night so it does' really make that much sence.
I think overall if the average worth would be like 400 caps this would make sence. But i can't see how 'poor' wastelanders with less than that would survive at all. As the cost of food ect would be too much
Well, the initial value of a cap is well established : one cap = one bottle of water.
At least, that was the case in the Hub, in California ; a arid, hot place. Makes sense for the western caps to have more value than the ones in a humid, coastline city built on a swamp... Yet, a bottle of water costs 20 caps in Boston, despite being widely available.
Basically, there's not a single reflexion on the demand/supply of goods.
The whole economy is fucked. Look, purchasing a house for life, free of rent and taxes, costs 2000 caps in Diamond City... Basically, 20 to 40 days of normal, farmer work! Then why are people in danger, outside ? Anyone can buy a house, given a little time of work, apparently. And if that means putting yourself in danger, don't worry : two to four days of work could buy a professional mercenary to follow you for life.
Let's put this in perspective with the Slaver's guild, in Fallout 2, where Metzger pays each one of his thugs 800 caps (caps which have a higher value than the eastern ones) for a raid. Buys slaves for around 1000 caps, sells useless old slaves for the same price. For Metzger to make a profit and keep paying his goons, he'd have to sell his prime, young slaves around 4000-5000 caps per head. Which seems coherent, considering the currency value.
In contrast, in Boston, where slaves are supposed to be a rare and expensive commodity (absence of slaver's force such as Metzger's or Caesar's, very few people but extremely dangerous roads), the Gunners buy a slave 100 caps. An IMMORTAL slave mind me -a young, running Ghoul capable of fighting- who doesn't need to drink, breathe, shit or eat, and will stay forever in his prime, 100 caps. 40 times cheaper than a regular, mortal slave who'd need to be fed... 40 times cheaper, IF the currency had the same value.
We know the exchange rate :
NCR : one bottle = one cap.
Boston : one bottle = 20 caps.
The exchange rate is 1/20.
Let's do the math.
An immortal slave is 800 times cheaper than a regular, mortal slave.
Which makes zero sense. As soon as you look a bit closer, you realize that nothing makes sense. It's made up on the fly, with zero reflexion, and it holds together with duct tape. "It just works!"
No shit. It just works until you look a bit closer.
Yeah, yeah, we are not supposed to pay attention to details, blablabla. Enjoy this theme park from afar etc.
The thing is : when anything is solid, and trustworthy, there's nobody to tell you "Don't look at that ! Don't look closer ! Just... stay away, enjoy the view". When it happens, this is precisely when you HAVE TO look closer, because there's something wrong and someone plays you for a fool. Can be applied to everything.
