Realistically, would Caps be a viable currency?

[THE PETROL BRIGADE]

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[Morrandir]

Originally posted by Bansheebot:

Fallout abandoned caps as currency after Fallout 1, but then bethesda was like "but it so post-apocalyptic!!!1!!"

I imagine the only reason it was in New Vegas was for consistency and there wasn't any major governing body that could enforce or produce a standard currency. There were NCR dollars and legion Silver/Gold coins, but the engine itself can't really follow those denominations so they were treated as Trade Items valued in Caps.

yes because DC and Boston are under the jurisdiction of the NCR. And as for FNV, the NCR or the Legion are not controlling the Mojave yet, unless you side with them, and then maybe they replace bottle caps, but as the game ends there we don't know.

but the answer the OP, one dude IRL at least managed to buy Fallout 4 with bottle caps

[Bansheebutt]

Originally posted by Morrandir:

Originally posted by Bansheebot:

Fallout abandoned caps as currency after Fallout 1, but then bethesda was like "but it so post-apocalyptic!!!1!!"

I imagine the only reason it was in New Vegas was for consistency and there wasn't any major governing body that could enforce or produce a standard currency. There were NCR dollars and legion Silver/Gold coins, but the engine itself can't really follow those denominations so they were treated as Trade Items valued in Caps.

yes because DC and Boston are under the jurisdiction of the NCR.

but the answer the OP, one dude IRL at least managed to buy Fallout 4 with bottle caps

I guess you're trying to be sarcastic but your reply doesn't really make sense in any context.

The only reason Bethesda uses caps is because Fallout 1 had them and they think it's such a super PA thing, because they're so obsessed with remnants of the Pre-war world.

The problem is that they have no logical basis. We're expected to believe that everyone in the entire Capital/Commonwealth held a meeting at some point and all agreed to a fiat currency because reasons.

Originally posted by Morrandir:

yes because DC and Boston are under the jurisdiction of the NCR. And as for FNV, the NCR or the Legion are not controlling the Mojave yet, unless you side with them, and then maybe they replace bottle caps, but as the game ends there we don't know.

You might notice I mentioned this.

[Morrandir]

Originally posted by Bansheebot:

I guess you're trying to be sarcastic but your reply doesn't really make sense in any context.

The only reason Bethesda uses caps is because Fallout 1 had them and they think it's such a super PA thing, because they're so obsessed with remnants of the Pre-war world.

The problem is that they have no logical basis. We're expected to believe that everyone in the entire Capital/Commonwealth held a meeting at some point and all agreed to a fiat currency because reasons.

why did fallout 1 have them?

and saying that fallout 2 didn't makes no sense as it was the NCR that replaced them.

ps: if the wasteland survival guide can make it to the mojave in a couple of years, bottle caps can make it to the east coast in a couple of decades.

[Freeman71]

Originally posted by Papa Lazarou:

Paying over 10,000 caps for a weapon. Who the actual fc-k has time to count that sh*t?

Edit : I kind of worded the question a bit wrong. I was just wondering if a post apocalyptic scenario were to happen would something like Caps still be a viable currency.

I think they could sure. Anything could be deemed currency in dire times. Salt at one time was more valuable then most things. However bottlecaps in general would be heavy, and easily manufactured. Given the way our world's headed we may find out soon enough.

[Bansheebutt]

Originally posted by Morrandir:

why did fallout 1 have them?

and saying that fallout 2 didn't makes no sense as it was the NCR that replaced them.

ps: if the wasteland survival guide can make it to the mojave in a couple of years, bottle caps can make it to the east coast in a couple of decades.

Fallout 1 had them because there was no major governing body like the NCR that could produce and enforce a standard currency.

The NCR is a Major Governing Body with the power to produce and enforce its own standardized currency.

Also, the main point is that Caps in fallout 1 (and future NCR dollars) were backed by a resource. In the case of caps, Water. There was a reason for the non-united wasteland to agree to that standard. Caps could guarenteed be taken to a place and exchanged for Water.

You really want to treat the WSG like it's something relevant?
For one thing, the west coast would be laughing at how backwards the east coast was for needing such a thing in the first place.

[F A B L E D]

Absolutely ^^

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/fallout-fan-who-sent-2000-bottle-caps-to-bethesda-/1100-6428452/

[Engimage]

Bottlecaps will never become currency cause of poor durability. They are made of tin which will generally corrode over say 10-15 years to unidentifiable junk. There is absolutely no chance they could last for 200 years as it is theorized in this game. Real currency coins are made of a special alloy which will not corrode by most natural liquids and gases while tin corrodes by water and even simple humidity which is there by default.

I remember ironic picture from F1 (or F2 don't remember exactly) where there was a well with bottlecaps on its bottom which if you pick will decrease your luck. A pure example of a fantasy cause those caps would corrode in a month lying on the bottom of a real well.

[Mumboejumboh]

Originally posted by Bansheebot:

The problem is that they have no logical basis. We're expected to believe that everyone in the entire Capital/Commonwealth held a meeting at some point and all agreed to a fiat currency because reasons.

Well, the Hub started using caps as currency and it gained validity due to the whole water merchants deal going on. If you have something that people want (i.e. something valuable) and there is no established currency (i.e. post apocalypse) then you can establish your own currency. Due to the prolific volume of Nuka Cola they started using caps as a currency.

However merchants in the Fallout games operate on the barter system with caps simply being a unit of value. Purchasing a gun worth 3000 caps would only require you to HAVE that many caps if you didn't have a thing or things of equivalent value.

In essence it's just one of those things about Fallout that doesn't make complete and total sense, yet it makes more sense for caps to function as a unit of value in a barter system than it would for the currency of a nation that no longer exists.

[drewradley]

Originally posted by Arusmis:

I think they could sure. Anything could be deemed currency in dire times. Salt at one time was more valuable then most things. However bottlecaps in general would be heavy, and easily manufactured. Given the way our world's headed we may find out soon enough.

Wouldn't matter if they were manufactured if their value was based on the metal weight and not some arbitrary amount assigned to them. Coins USED to be worth their weight in whatever metal they were made out of.

[Morrandir]

Originally posted by Bansheebot:

Originally posted by Morrandir:

why did fallout 1 have them?

and saying that fallout 2 didn't makes no sense as it was the NCR that replaced them.

ps: if the wasteland survival guide can make it to the mojave in a couple of years, bottle caps can make it to the east coast in a couple of decades.

ps: if the wasteland survival guide can make it to the mojave in a couple of years, bottle caps can make it to the east coast in a couple of decades.

Fallout 1 had them because there was no major governing body like the NCR that could produce and enforce a standard currency.

The NCR is a Major Governing Body with the power to produce and enforce its own standardized currency.

Also, the main point is that Caps in fallout 1 (and future NCR dollars) were backed by a resource. In the case of caps, Water. There was a reason for the non-united wasteland to agree to that standard. Caps could guarenteed be taken to a place and exchanged for Water.

You really want to treat the WSG like it's something relevant?

and DC and the commonwealth do not have governing bodies either, and the WSG is relevant because it shows that there is contact between the Mojave and DC. Bottlecaps as a form of currency somehow made it to the Mojave, there is no reason for that concept to not have made its way even further to the east coast over the huge amount of time that has passed since bottle caps were first implemented as a form of currency on the west coast.

Likewise, in the real world coins as a form of currency originated in one place and spread out across the world.

[Bansheebutt]

Ugh.

Again.

Caps in Fallout 1 were backed by a tangible, universally useful resource. Water.
The caps themselves were worthless, it's what they represented that gave them worth. If you found a cap, you could take it to the Hub and exchange it for water. When you bought something with a cap, you effectively bought something with Water.

The NCR had money backed on gold, which was approapriate for the now fairly civilized space they controlled. By the time the switched to a fiat currency (A system of exchange based entirely on mutual respect to that system.). The NCR were well powerful enough for NCR citizens to logically respect it.

In the Capital and the Commonwealth there is nothing of this sort. There is only the apparent belief that everyone simultaniously agreed to use caps as a fiat currency.
In a place as war-torn and disorganized as both those locations, that's an asinine expectation.

Also, if you really want to read deep into the wsg, then we have to acknowledge the wsg found in new vegas does not assist with any of the tasks that had gone into its research in fallout 3, nor is there any indication that they are the same text. They only use the same model, which in all likelyhood only because it served as a good model for the new Survival skillbook.

Originally posted by Mumboejumboh:

Well, the Hub started using caps as currency and it gained validity due to the whole water merchants deal going on. If you have something that people want (i.e. something valuable) and there is no established currency (i.e. post apocalypse) then you can establish your own currency. Due to the prolific volume of Nuka Cola they started using caps as a currency.

The Hub was on the West Coast, not the east. There were never any indication of Water Merchants or any other resource holder giving the east coast population centers a reason to agree on the value of caps.

[Morrandir]

sorry thought you were replying to me

[Morrandir]

btw, afaik, caps in each region do not have the same monetary value, caps are like minted coins, there is no reason for that idea to have not spread to other regions of the former US.

[Sleeplessgamer]

Stones were once used as currency , caps could be a viable currency in a post apocolyptic world or shoe laces even old currency could still be used. It likely would be trade with no currency if trade even happened. More than likely people would kill each other instead of trade due to our industrialization of basic necessities and polution of the natural ones.

[Rafael Freeman]

People have used conch shells for money, so using bottle caps isn't that far-fetched.

This is not canon in anyway, but this is what I imagined:

When I was a kid, there was an action were some bottle caps had a code. Three bottle caps with the same code would give the chance to win a price. People stated collecting and trading bottle caps until people got bored by it and the action stopped.

If something similar happened in the Fallout universe, this would explain why there are pre-war bottle cap stashes and why people thought about using bottle caps in the first place.

Bottle caps are ideal, because they are scares enough to represent value and there are enough of them to be practical. If they have been hoarded before the war that would also help: there is an even distribution instead of a few garbage dumps that can be mined.

Presumably there is some system so that people don't have to lug single bottle caps around if they want to buy something with a value of a 1000 bottle caps.