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DF Suggestions / Ricardo's Difficult Idea
« on: March 28, 2012, 08:39:04 am »
For a (long) explanation of this, see this paper by Paul Krugman:
http://web.mit.edu/krugman/www/ricardo.htm
For a TL;DR version:
Trade makes everyone richer because different places have different advantages.
What does this mean for Dwarf Fortress? It's quite simple. Right now, fortresses can do anything that anyone else in the world can do just as well as them. They can grow crops above and underground as well as anyone else, can fish and hunt just as well as everyone, and mine and produce metal goods as well as anyone else. Within a few years of your fortress being set up, exports from a typical fortress overwhelm the wealth of their trading partners. Except for a limited range of location-specific goods like flux or plaster, you gain little advantage from trade.
This doesn't make sense. Creatures that live underground shouldn't be able to produce aboveground crops in a tiny patch of land more cheaply than aboveground creatures with fields and fields set aside for production. At least, there should be some kind of production modifier that makes trading these goods worthwhile. Similarly, the bins and bins of cloth the elves bring should have greater value than they do; clearly they can produce cloth more cheaply than dwarves, and this needs to be reflected in prices and usefulness of trade.
When Toady gets to working on the economy in greater depth as part of the caravan arc, this idea - differing values of production for different areas, depending on geography, natural resources and the skills of the populations involved - is crucial to delivering an economy that makes sense. Even the vast dwarven halls of Dirtfall, my current fort, should be reduced to trading with the elves to receive something they can't make as cheaply themselves; having one fortress beat the entire world's economy in this way seems odd.
Parts of this are covered in some Eternal Suggestions - e.g. 226 - and in several threads, such as:
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=96858.msg2787781#msg2787781
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=104428.msg3087580#msg3087580
However, this is broader than its component parts, and refers more to the mathematical underpinning of trade and the way in which the eventual markets function. Like trade specialisation, comparative advantage may require specific code to make it work.
http://web.mit.edu/krugman/www/ricardo.htm
For a TL;DR version:
Trade makes everyone richer because different places have different advantages.
What does this mean for Dwarf Fortress? It's quite simple. Right now, fortresses can do anything that anyone else in the world can do just as well as them. They can grow crops above and underground as well as anyone else, can fish and hunt just as well as everyone, and mine and produce metal goods as well as anyone else. Within a few years of your fortress being set up, exports from a typical fortress overwhelm the wealth of their trading partners. Except for a limited range of location-specific goods like flux or plaster, you gain little advantage from trade.
This doesn't make sense. Creatures that live underground shouldn't be able to produce aboveground crops in a tiny patch of land more cheaply than aboveground creatures with fields and fields set aside for production. At least, there should be some kind of production modifier that makes trading these goods worthwhile. Similarly, the bins and bins of cloth the elves bring should have greater value than they do; clearly they can produce cloth more cheaply than dwarves, and this needs to be reflected in prices and usefulness of trade.
When Toady gets to working on the economy in greater depth as part of the caravan arc, this idea - differing values of production for different areas, depending on geography, natural resources and the skills of the populations involved - is crucial to delivering an economy that makes sense. Even the vast dwarven halls of Dirtfall, my current fort, should be reduced to trading with the elves to receive something they can't make as cheaply themselves; having one fortress beat the entire world's economy in this way seems odd.
Parts of this are covered in some Eternal Suggestions - e.g. 226 - and in several threads, such as:
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=96858.msg2787781#msg2787781
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=104428.msg3087580#msg3087580
However, this is broader than its component parts, and refers more to the mathematical underpinning of trade and the way in which the eventual markets function. Like trade specialisation, comparative advantage may require specific code to make it work.