◤ The Economy System
The forum operates a functional Economy System to add monetary value to the roleplay. This in turn creates new roleplay opportunities as countries and companies are able to visually manage their financial positions. You can see the full system via the Economy link on the side bar. The system itself is broken down into five key elements:[1] Overview
This provides an overall preview of the in-worlds economic situation. Highlighting some statistics at the top such as the USD in circulation before listing each player country, their population, development index and GDP information but most importantly; the State Treasury, which is the available balance the country has to spend.
[2] Transactions
Any in-game financial transactions that take place will be listed here. This ranges from paying other players to building equipment or infrastructure. Transactions will only appear in the list when invoicing is complete (the process of transferring information from the forum onto the economy, which is carried out by the Community Support Team periodically). This then feeds into other elements of the system to calculate the country or companies finances.
[3] Corporate Accounts
This serves as the private-entity equivalent to the Overview, providing a list of private companies or bank accounts that are separate to their respective governments. Providing their available balance and networth. These can be established by any player but must be roleplayed and treated as separate to their government. These do not include state-owned entities.
[4] Stock Overview
Not unlike the Stock Market, this provides a list of private businesses and their worth which is calculated based on the assets that the company has. This calculates the value per share and identifies what companies or countries have a stake in that business. this will only include shares that have been purchased in-game.
[5] National Tabs
Every country that is been controlled will have their own tab, named after their country. This provides a more comprehensive insight into their financial positioning by compiling all data for that country into one location. Listing any Transactions, Investments, Military & Intelligence Operations, Infrastructure and a Financial Dashboard for you to review.
◤ Overview
The Overview lists all active countries (those controlled by players) and a basic summary of the worlds Economy. There are four 'dashboard cards' across the top of the Economy that display:- Controlled Population, which is the total population based on active countries.
- USD in Circulation, the grand total of all USD in circulation.
- World GDP, the sum of all countries Gross Domestic Product.
- Next Tax Period, the next out of character date where your country will receive taxes. This is calculated to be every 3 in-game months.
◤ Overview, Development Index
The Development Index is a rating given to each country that is automatically determined by the GDP Per Capita column. This Index shows the overall state of your countries population, some of the indicators included are: health, education, affordability, lifespan, unemployment and crime levels. For example, a Very High Development Index will have a much lower crime rate than a Very Low Development Index. Please see the table below for the Indexes, the criteria and description:| Development Index | GDP Per Capita | Description |
| Economic Collapse | < 0 | GDP cannot be measured due to extreme poverty. |
| Very Low | > 0 and < 50 | Very poor standard of living, no accessible technology infrastructure, healthcare, education or other services. Crime is strife. |
| Low | > 50 and < 250 | Poor standard of living, some people have access to technology, healthcare, education and other services. High crime and unemployment rates. |
| Medium | > 250 and < 750 | Average standard of living, most people have access to technology, healthcare, education and other services. |
| High | > 750 and < 1,000 | High standard of living, a developed economy and technological infrastructure with access to the latest advancements, health care, education and other services. |
| Very High | > 1,000 | Very high standard of living, easy access to the latest technological advancements, enjoy good healthcare, education and other services. |
◤ Overview, State Treasury
The State Treasury is your current balance. This is the monetary figure that is adjusted when you buy or sell goods and is perhaps the most vital piece of information to know to be able to manage your countries finances. There are a number of ways that the State Treasury is affected:+ Taxes | + Scrap Items | +/- Money Transfer | - Buying Goods | - Military Operations & Exercises |
Taxes are automatically applied every 3 in-game months (6 out of game weeks) and are calculated by taking your tax rate, multiplying it by the population to give a base figure. A percentage of this figure will then be subtracted which is automatically decided based on the population. This subtracted value accounts for your 'running costs' which is the basic upkeep of your countries government and vital services to save you valuable roleplay time!
Recycling is an option that can be used to remove equipment from your arsenal. This is the equivalent of selling a product for scrap metal, and you will receive payment for doing so. Another alternative is to sell it to another player to make more money which can be done via Trade and Commerce.
Money Transfers can increase or decrease your State Treasury depending if you're the recipient or sender. If you are sending money to another player, you must use the Transfer Money form. If you are receiving, then the other player must be the one to submit the form. In this scenario, you will then need to open their thread and respond to it to confirm you have received the money they have sent. Otherwise, this will not be given to you.
Buying Goods includes: Purchase Orders, used to build products yourself and must be in compliance with the Getting Started Guide. Recruitment is used to hire new personnel for your Armed Forces or other agencies. National Projects to construct Infrastructure such as new Hospitals, Roads or other projects which will impact your Gross Domestic Product. Upgrade Project is used to change existing equipment to another variant, for example, a Tranche 1 Eurofighter Typhoon to a Tranche 2 variant. Any Purchase Orders that are Encrypted will cost an extra 20% of the total price.
Any Operations you commence for Military or Intelligence Gathering is automatically costed by the staff team, these are any threads you post in the Military & Intelligence sub-forum. You can see your operations and associated costs for your country on your National Tab. These costs are applied every in-game month (2 out of game weeks). In order to conclude an Operation to prevent these fees, you must respond to the thread to roleplay the operation ending AND change the thread prefix to 'CLOSED'. Failure to do both will result in payments still been made.
◤ Overview, Gross Domestic Product
Gross Domestic Product, commonly known as GDP is an indicator as to your countries financial health and is calculated by a number of factors using the following formula:Gross Private Investment + Government Investment + Government Spending
Gross Private Investment is the networth from private entities that are based in your country. For example, if BAE Systems had a networth of $20bn and was based in the United Kingdom and United States then the Gross Private Investment for both would be $20bn.
Government Investment is the sum of all state-owned shares. For example, if the United States had a 2% stake in Boeing, the value for that percentage would go towards the GDP. Other government investment includes Infrastructure Projects such as Road Improvements.
Government Spending is the value of the State Treasury.
Your countries GDP standing is displayed across three columns: Gross Domestic Product itself which is the overall value. The GDP per Capita is the Gross Domestic Product divided by the Population, essentially, this is the GDP per person. Whereas the GDP Share column is the overall share percentage of your GDP in relation to the rest of the world; giving you a better understanding of your position in the international market.
◤ Transactions
The Transactions tab is essentially an audit and a way for the system to understand what money is moving where. This will list the Invoice date (When it was added to the Economy System), the Account which can consist of either a country or private entity. It will then display the type which could vary depending on the type of transaction which are categorized by:- Purchase Order
- Recruitment
- National Project
- Upgrade Project
- Money Transfer
- Scrap Items
- Economy Correction
◤ Corporate Accounts
Not unlike the 'Overview', this provides a list of private entities in the form of a Business Account or Bank Account and who the accountant is for that organisation. Anyone can make a Bank or Business Account via the New Account form on the sidebar but this must be treated entirely separate to your government; it cannot be state-owned. There are three options when creating a business account, you can either:[1] Start your own Business
This would not include any real life name, logo or products. It is down to you to find a way to make money to sustain the business and raise money. This can be done through loans or grants and deciding what to sell is at your discretion. You will only make money by having these services or products bought from other players.
[2] Buy a Business
You can raise a support ticket with the 'Economy' category and request a price to buy an existing company in real life, providing it's origin is your country. For example, if you wanted to buy any percentage of Boeing, you would need to be the United States of America. The Staff Team will then give you the price for the company which you can then Transfer and own all or part of it to use as a non state-owned entity.
[3] Buy an existing Business
Some players already own real companies, for example, Nexus Group owns BAE Systems in-game. You could contact the player who owns the company you're interested in and see if you can negotiate a deal to procure some or all of the company. You can find out who owns what company via the 'Stock Overview' on the Economy System.
The two important columns of the Corporate Overview is the 'Available Balance' which is the value adjusted based on any revenue and expenses, meaning the balance held by a business is generated by in-game sales. The next column is the 'Networth' which is calculated by the total worth from the Stock Overview. This value is part of the Gross Domestic Product for countries as the Gross Private Investment. If a company has any form of: factory, warehouse, office, etc; in a country then the Networth will be applied to that countries GDP. Only business accounts have a Networth, bank accounts do not.
Bank Accounts can be used for anything that remains separate from the government, but is not a 'Business', such as Terrorist organisations but again, these would require consideration on how to get funded.
◤ Stock Overview
We're fairly unique in the sense we have a stock market, often changing in response to the game situation. This outlines the initial value of stock; how much someone has paid for the company and/or product, followed by it's current value which can be worth less or more. A number of factors determine the current value of stock including how healthy your accounts are, how you behave on the forums and whether you have multiple shareholders. When you purchase stock, your name will appear under the acquisitions column.This is what we call a Shareholder and these take precedence against a default owner, regardless of how little you purchase. Shareholders can purchase up to 100% stock in a company or product, making them the sole proprietor. One of two things will happen, the individual will own all the products that the company manufactures, including the ownership of it's subsidiaries or they will own the intellectual and property rights of a single product. When a player purchases stock to this manufacturer, they only have access to the remaining products and not to the product they already sold. This is a sure way of keeping an important product safe from others.
You can only purchase stock from the default owner, which makes acquiring them difficult. You can contact them, but they can only sell the stock once they own it themselves. For those reasons, you could be paying three times as much as they must pay. They might want a higher percentage of profits or you may be fortunate to have someone who wants very little. You will not know the initial value of this company or product, so you'll find out how much extra you've paid when the details are input to the stock market. Once you have stock, you can do one of two things with it. Keep it or sell it. This is an excellent way of making an even larger amount of money, because the value of the company could rise the moment that stock is exchanged.
We're going to use an example to explain how you purchase or sell shares using the United States as player A, Sweden as player B and Lockheed Martin:
[1] Player B has contacted player A in-character to request 25% of Lockheed Martin. Player A does not have stock in Lockheed Martin yet.
[2] Player A must submit a Support Ticket asking for the value of Lockheed Martin, so that he can determine how much 25% will be sold for. For this example, 25% is worth $1,000,000,000
[3] Player A must transfer $1,000,000,000 to Modern Nations to make any purchase for Lockheed Martin official.
[4] Player A will explain to player B that 25% of Lockheed Martin has an asking price of $1,740,000,000. This means Player A is receiving an extra $740,000,000 in profit.
[5] Player B will transfer the money to player A in exchange for 25% Lockheed Martin. Player B will need to submit a Support Ticket to inform the Administrators.
[6] The Administrators will add player B to the stock market.
◤ Nation Tabs
Every country has their own tab on the Economy System, this is known as a 'Nation Tab'. It's a summary page just for that specific country and allows more control and visibility for a countries Economic stance. It's automatically updated based on other aspects of the Economy and promotes transparency in terms of what information can be seen.