Bottlecaps instead of real money...

[Frostbite]

...but noone thinks to capture a nuka cola factory, get it running, and be rich automatically?

Right.

[The Inept European]

Caps emerged as currency precisely because there's a finite number of them. That's the game assumption.

Assuming they found a cap stamping press and all the necessary raw materials to run it - when there has been no national infrastructure for 200 years - they could, but it would just cause inflation and/or a revertion to bartering, so the gain for the counterfeiters would be transitory and minimal.

Far better use of those kind of resources would be to build an ammo factory, something with a clear use value. And conspicuously, nobody within the Commonwealth has done that, which points to the difficulties and challenges involved.

[Chaosium]

You know how to run a bottling plant all by yourself?

Right.

[Fumo Bnnuy n Frends]

nuka world dlc exists.

Also the caps are sorta special. They're backed by, in fallout 1, water caravans and traders as they were used to bottle the purified water. Then it just kicked off.

In NV they tried to go back to both paper money (in the NCR but they got ♥♥♥♥♥♥) and legion coins (made out of silver and gold they were worth their weight in literal gold but also doubles as makeshift ammo for shotguns and junk).

It's also why counterfeit caps were a thing. They WERE easy to replicate but easy to find out sorta so they probably put a stop them. Also Nuka World is owned by traders and most Nuka Cola plants or Sarsparilla plants were probably destroyed or ran out of supplies to make the caps. I guess you could get them up and running but you'd risk getting attacked by surprise surprise raiders and other groups whomst new cap production would threaten their businesses.

tbh caps are like irl money a medium. You can trade say 10 pieces of steaks for 20 bags of rice or some ♥♥♥♥ like that. Batering still exists and the caps are more like a value so you don't get ripped off. But as in NV they showed that money can lower in price like with the NCR money. Legion money is good because gold and silver are useful for both robots and tech as well as other uses in chemistry so smelting it down would be a failsafe vs paper money which would just be useful as emergency TP or cloth. Caps are made of metal so you could use it for ammo but also in grenades ironically.

[{w00t}Trouble]

They had that in F:NV, you're tasked with dismantling the press, however they do also point out it won't work that well based on the caps being obviously new and counterfeit.

[Zotliatlicor]

The problem would be "te get it running..."

How would the low-life raiders manage that? And the Nuka Cola you find you "can" use but it is spoiled (ads rads etc)

[WC4L420]

Originally posted by Chaosium:

You know how to run a bottling plant all by yourself?

Right.

Well hes not exactly saying get the whole plant running. Just the bottlecap press.

You'd think with nuka cola so far up their own asses theyd have a hand cranked press sitting somewhere just for ♥♥♥♥♥ and giggles.

As the other guy said though itd be futile, prices would either skyrocket, or they would revert to trading goods for goods.

You guys think to much into this. Its a fiction rpg, just roll with the punches and have fun. Thinking to much on stuff like this just degrades replay value for yourself.

[YouWinAFREEiPOD]

Originally posted by Chaosium:

You know how to run a bottling plant all by yourself?

Right.

No but I know how to make fusion powered generators, robotics assembly stations, manufacturing facilities, pre-war circuitry, electric-powered networks, water purifying machinery, machine gun and laser and missile turrets, artillery, and grilled radroach.

[Frostbite]

Originally posted by DirtyMeatSack:

You guys think to much into this. Its a fiction rpg, just roll with the punches and have fun. Thinking to much on stuff like this just degrades replay value for yourself.

Thats called having low standards. Fictional or factional, world you build has to be consistent and reasonable. Otherwise i can just flip an imaginary coin and handclap myself while yelling ''i won'' at the same time, being practically the same thing with what you said ''just roll with the punches and have fun''.

Originally posted by The Inept European:

they could, but it would just cause inflation and/or a revertion to bartering, so the gain for the counterfeiters would be transitory and minimal.

Its not like there is an organization overseeing the money flow and exchange rates within wasteland. Random scavenger comes to town, pockets filled with caps, as far i experienced they dont really question where the caps coming from.

[NecroMaster]

In a nuclear apocalyptic universe where most of our old technology is completely destroyed.

I don’t see how all of America agreed to this economic currency system.

Maybe it was decided on before the bombs fell as a precaution to keep civility amongst survivors.

Because America’s government definitely knew nuclear fallout was a possibility.

[WC4L420]

Originally posted by Frostbite:

Originally posted by DirtyMeatSack:

You guys think to much into this. Its a fiction rpg, just roll with the punches and have fun. Thinking to much on stuff like this just degrades replay value for yourself.

Thats called having low standards. Fictional or factional, world you build has to be consistent and reasonable. Otherwise i can just flip an imaginary coin and handclap myself while yelling ''i won'' at the same time, being practically the same thing with what you said ''just roll with the punches and have fun"

What on earth are you talking about?

Standards are subjective to everyone, if thats your position on the game thats fine. Write a bad review and keep looking for the game you want.

Us people with "low standards", according to you, will continue to enjoy the game though. Plot holes, bugs and glitches all the same.

[Grendalcat]

Once upon a time I thought it would be interesting to use Sierra Madre casino chips to replace bottlecaps in New Vegas, if you went the Indy route and became dictator of the area.
They have a fixed value, set by the vending machine in the BoS Bunker where Dead Money starts, and a steady amount produced. One thousand every three days IIRC.

[The Inept European]

Originally posted by Frostbite:

Originally posted by The Inept European:

they could, but it would just cause inflation and/or a revertion to bartering, so the gain for the counterfeiters would be transitory and minimal.

Its not like there is an organization overseeing the money flow and exchange rates within wasteland. Random scavenger comes to town, pockets filled with caps, as far i experienced they dont really question where the caps coming from.

Inflation and currency deflating don't need any central organisation to happen. They happen by Gresham's Law and Adam Smith's dead hand.

But Fallout has no idea of economics. You can roll in to town with one bottle of purified water or 10,000, and you still get paid the same price per bottle. Water, caps, Institute rifles, same difference.

[WC4L420]

Originally posted by Grendalcat:

Once upon a time I thought it would be interesting to use Sierra Madre casino chips to replace bottlecaps in New Vegas, if you went the Indy route and became dictator of the area.
They have a fixed value, set by the vending machine in the BoS Bunker where Dead Money starts, and a steady amount produced. One thousand every three days IIRC.

Yup, but ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ getting into that casino is an annoying ♥♥♥♥♥.

[Grendalcat]

Originally posted by DirtyMeatSack:

Originally posted by Grendalcat:

Once upon a time I thought it would be interesting to use Sierra Madre casino chips to replace bottlecaps in New Vegas, if you went the Indy route and became dictator of the area.
They have a fixed value, set by the vending machine in the BoS Bunker where Dead Money starts, and a steady amount produced. One thousand every three days IIRC.

Yup, but ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ getting into that casino is an annoying ♥♥♥♥♥.

Yeah it was a ♥♥♥♥♥. I used to love clearing it out though.

[fmalfeas]

In Fallout 1, caps were the currency but it was because the Water Merchants in 'The Hub' backed it. A cap was worth a specific amount of drinkable water. The merchants did that because hauling around trade goods hampered their business, so they needed something portable, plentiful enough for use, but where the means of production was difficult enough for the wasteland that counterfitting would be rare.

By Fallout 2, caps were /worthless/ because the NCR had established paper currency backed by gold. Though this came with problems like companies trying to pay workers in scrip, thus effectively enslaving them without officially doing so.

Then Bethesda for some reason decided caps were back, and even coded it into the engine. Thus NV came up with the three competing currencies, though it didn't really fit the timeline. Caps still should have been worthless, but NCR cash, and Legion denarius (actual gold coins) should have been competing.

4 is still using caps for god knows what reason. Given that caps have no inherent value, they'd probably be better served just using pre-war money (which is everywhere in the commonwealth) as the lightweight fiat currency, and come up with a commonly agreed upon metric, like 'bullets per buck' or something to determine pricing.