Real-Time Currency Conversion

[Starwhip]

At the moment, you can only convert Science to Rep, or to Funds, or Funds to Rep, etc, if you have the appropriate strategy active. But if you get all the science you need, or forget to activate 100% conversion once you've unlocked the entire tree, you might get stuck with 5000-odd science points that can't be turned into something else.

There should be a way to convert X Science to Y Funds, or back again (With tax, of course! You shouldn't be able to just swing your wealth around to anything, ESPECIALLY REPUTATION, without penalties). In fact, I think that the reputation system would have severe drawbacks if you TOOK something from reputation.(You get a loan, for example, or stole someone else's research and they hate you now.)

I would suggest having a lower rate of conversion, as to balance it with the current system. I.E. you don't get as much as you would with the same conversion as a strategy.

[Wabbit]

Well... Er... No.

[Red Iron Crown]

Well... Er... No.

That's not much of a response, why don't you tell us why you don't think it's a good idea?

Personally, the OP's idea is how I thought currency exchange would work when it was first revealed. It would be nice to buy a few science points to unlock the next node without committing to a strategy, for example.

[SaturnV]

Science and reputation are not CASH. The strategy works because those amazing kerbals found a way to gain extra rep/sci/fund by sacrificing another.

Example they bargain hard to reduce the cost while losing some rep. How can you SELL your reputation directly for kredits? Or is it possible to BUY reputation directly with shinny kerbal coin?

If that works, the president of U.S.A. should told us the price of it so we can BUY it if we have enough money.

[Red Iron Crown]

How can you SELL your reputation directly for kredits? Or is it possible to BUY reputation directly with shinny kerbal coin?

You could sell your reputation by allowing your name to be used on shoddy merchandised products, or selling ad space on your spacecraft. You can buy reputation by paying for an awareness campaign that spreads your space program's vision.

[Starwhip]

You could sell your reputation by allowing your name to be used on shoddy merchandised products, or selling ad space on your spacecraft. You can buy reputation by paying for an awareness campaign that spreads your space program's vision.

Exactly. You run "advertisements" that aren't really there in the game, in order to increase your reputation among... well, whoever it is out there in the invisible towns of Kerbin. Or you borrow money from a big corporation, which might only decrease your reputation if you fail a mission, for example. If you succeed it boosts your reputation slightly, and you can borrow more money the next time.

Science, well, you can sell it for sure. (Have some data!) Buying it.... eh, maybe not.

Then again, there is supposedly some new balance coming out Soon.

[Sirrobert]

And you can directly sell use of patents. Or hire external services to directly do some research for you.

It should be very inefficient though

[Starwhip]

And you can directly sell use of patents. Or hire external services to directly do some research for you.

It should be very inefficient though

Precisely. It would be used, in my opinion, for impromptu decisions, rather than a second system. A strategy would pay more than the conversion.

[Guest]

+1 I endorse this service/product. This is how I thought it would work in the first place.

[Sirrobert]

Precisely. It would be used, in my opinion, for impromptu decisions, rather than a second system. A strategy would pay more than the conversion.

Like when you need need just 20 more science to get that one last part you need to complete your masterwork.

You could either send a 20k mission to the Mun, or spend more funds, but no time, to unlock it directly

[Starwhip]

Like when you need need just 20 more science to get that one last part you need to complete your masterwork.

You could either send a 20k mission to the Mun, or spend more funds, but no time, to unlock it directly

Fair point. Perhaps science should only be a one-way trip, from science to funds, or have some other conditional clause to get science.

"Send these parts to X location on Kerbin."

[dlrk]

Buying and selling Science with Funds is a good idea, the question is what the exchange rate should be.

[KrazyKrl]

Yes, buying and selling your resources should be made available. But go into some sort of "ongoing operation." Something like a "science per day" buff that can stack with itself, and have a duration.

i.e. Trading off science for funds takes 1 kerbal month; over some threshold the science takes extra months to complete. The catch is, a diminishing returns formula for the "tax" on the science. Something like

(Tax = (Sci / (Sci+(Mathf.Round(Sci/10))+1)))

You can raise the taxation on yourself to make the buff diminishingly more effective.

I know that time based mechanics suck because of time warp; but if you have currently running missions, the steady income over time of some resource could be more beneficial than some lump sum. (Or you could tax something like 50% of the funds to get it converted instantly.)

Edited February 5, 2015 by KrazyKrl