Economy changes

[Mit]

Hi,
I'm currently working through a bunch of changes that will have a significant effect on how the game economy works. Some changes are for broad macro-economic reasons, some may be dropped or changed after testing, numbers may be tweaked. Not sure when this'll roll out but so none of it is a surprise:

1) New players will start with no cash
2) First skill will no longer be free for new players (though will still be learned immediately).
3) Income tax on all wages paid (will probably be 50%) - So if an employer pays min wage (22d), the amount received by the employee would be 11d.
4) 'Passive' labour rate will be significantly reduced, with one labour cycle being completed every 12 game cycles (i.e. for passive labour, production occurs once every 2 hours).

Active employment will be added as discussed in a separate thread, and will allow players to work multiple buildings.

Changes for new players are intended to make the startup process more linear and lead to the addition of a tutorial flow : New players will be directed to the town trades screen to earn cash initially, encouraging them to transfer items from building to building. Once they have enough for a skill they'll be directed to the school, then shown how to earn money through jobs.

Feedback and suggestions welcome as always.

[VDZ]

Changes look promising and should significantly decrease the economy's reliance on new player influx. If I understand correctly newbie initial capital comes from transporting the 100 free import goods?

2) First skill will no longer be free for new players (though will still be learned immediately).

Does this apply to all skills, or is it still limited to basic/quickly learned skills? Being able to learn 'Build Science' immediately (instead of taking over 11 RL days) would still provide a big incentive to 'bring in a friend' (genuine or not).

[Mit]

Just the basic skills - New players still must choose from the limited range (Farmer, Factory Worker etc) when they get their first.