On replacing Expansion Credits

[Carl Jackson]

Second of five questions posited by Scott last month over here.

I was hoping to include Shy in this discussion, but I really don't know when he'll be back, so I'll start it now with my own ideas that are pretty poor.

A lot of people say they're still interested in Archipelago, but none of them feel any motivation. This isn't anyone's fault; if the system were good, it would make people want to participate. I don't know how to make the system better, but I'm open to just trying everyone's random ideas that I shot down before and seeing if any of them work. In particular:

2. Harvey wants to get rid of ECs. I'm willing to try anything at this point, but what would replace them? How would such a system work?

Please post your ideas for replacement systems here.

[Kaiser Reynardine II]

I honestly thought ECs were a good idea, but I think the problem lies in the incentive and the volume. We gave out a large number of ECs, and only a few people used them. They just sound a bit useless to people like me who want just their little plot of land. No desire to expand, no room to mark new cities, the only outlet for them to me was pumping them into the world capital development fund.

The system itself is functional, but its role needs to be reexamined.

[Demon of Fides]

I think the problem with the EC economy is that anything worth buying is worth thousands upon thousands. Pooling assets is not a good way to achieve this, ergo everyone is stuck with what little they have. This stagnant state just causes frustration, since the only new injections of funds come from competitions, most of which is in-character for some nations (i.e. The Favoured, Colony, etc) not to enter because it gives out information we don't want others to have, so we are punished for role-playing.

Mind you, you can't keep everyone happy, so my main complaint is the uselessness of ECs in small amounts.