Forum:Caps

In the world everyone uses some sort of currency whether it be paper or precious metals. The fallout world is no exception. But why do they use caps? Yes caps are common but serve no apparent purpose and by today's standards are trash. Doctalen 02:55, October 6, 2009 (UTC)


 * There's no way to make more caps, making counterfeiting impossible, giving them some value. Other than that, it's a purely flavourful design choice. Nitty 03:06, October 6, 2009 (UTC)

"Yes caps are common but serve no apparent purpose" Do cash serve any apparent purpose besides currency today? But besides from that, i think like Nitty, designer choice, and i like it!--CptStarfish 07:51, October 7, 2009 (UTC)
 * Yes, currency is backed by national governments and banks. Show me those in Fallout 3 (Fallout 1 has the Hub, Fallout 2 has the NCR). http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/fallout/images/thumb/4/4a/Naglowaa_se.gif/11px-Naglowaa_se.gif Tagaziel (call!) 09:00, October 7, 2009 (UTC)
 * No. Currency is backed by the fact that if someone handed you a $10 bill, you'd value it the same as you would a Fallout 3 DLC that costs $10.  It doesn't matter if there's a government or a bank as long as you have faith in the value of that paper.  People in Fallout 3 genuinely believe that a 10mm Pistol has the same value as 225 caps, so that is its value in a trade, not because the caps are actually worth that amount but because they can be retraded for other tangible goods that are.  --Sirrah91 09:53, October 7, 2009 (UTC)
 * Economy 101: Currency is worthless if there is no guarantee that 10 credits worth of currency trade for 10 credits worth of goods. Why do you think we have gold reserves worldwide to maintain the flow of currency? http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/fallout/images/thumb/4/4a/Naglowaa_se.gif/11px-Naglowaa_se.gif Tagaziel (call!) 12:18, October 7, 2009 (UTC)
 * The U.S. economy is no longer backed by a gold standard. Returning to one would be virtually impossible, since the amount of U.S. currency in circulation is at least twice the total value of all gold ever mined. The world's currency, especially the dollar, is backed by nothing more than the trust that the public has in that paper, that it will be equally valued by everyone. Fiat currency, which is exactly what caps are. At some point early on after the war, humans who emerged from the Vaults found the Nuka-Cola factory and decided hey, we can all drink this stuff, so let's trade the caps for stuff we want. It caught on and boom, 200 years later, it's the default currency. Strange how that happens. Nightweaver20xx 05:55, November 9, 2009 (UTC)


 * You are knowledgeable about modern industrialized economies, but primitive non-industrialized economies operate differently. Caps are an appropriate store of value.  To quote the Wikipedia article I just linked to (which is surpisingly up-to-date with modern advancements in the study of economics), "[t]o act as a store of value, a commodity, a form of money, or financial capital must be able to be reliably saved, stored, and retrieved - and be predictably useful when it is so retrieved."  Caps can be reliably saved, stored, and retrieved from your house or pockets, and they can be predictably useful.  The main issue is trust: today, most people won't trust currency unless it's backed by a government, which has gold stores to create a real value for the currency (this is debateable, as the US does not have sufficient gold stores to back its currency and the Dollar is only strong because people trust the US government).  In older economies, however, anyone with enough wealth or esteem could sign their name on a piece of paper with a certain value written on it, and the paper could be traded as currency and a store of value.  This can be done today - anyone would accept an I.O.U. from Bill Gates if he forgot his wallet, because he's Bill Gates and we know he can back it up.  In the time since the Great War, people collectively have recognized Caps as a limited resource that is difficult to counterfeit, so they trust each other to hold Caps as a store of value in place of an inefficient bartering system.  All economic theory shows that the Fallout developers got this right.  As long as the vast majority of people in the Fallout universe really think a Cap holds a certain value beyond is physical usefulness, it will remain a viable form of currency and an appropriate store of value.  --Sirrah91 19:28, October 7, 2009 (UTC)
 * Uh, which is exactly what I said? Hub and then NCR backed the currency, giving it value. There's no such backing on the East Coast (or at least no exposition is done on this matter). By the way, Bottle Caps are useless. They don't have any inherent value, except as worthless junk. You can't smelt them, since they're already an alloy and a contaminated, rusted one to boot, you can't hammmer them into any shape, they're worthless. The only reason they're the currency is because they're impossible to counterfeit, unless you have a pre-war cap press. http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/fallout/images/thumb/4/4a/Naglowaa_se.gif/11px-Naglowaa_se.gif Tagaziel (call!) 09:13, October 26, 2009 (UTC)
 * Yes, if the Hub and NCR backed caps on the West Coast, it would be a lot easier for caps to gain recognition as a viable currency. That does not, however, mean it's impossible to have a recognized currency without the backing of a large group.  As I explained earlier, there does not need to be a government backer for any random, otherwise useless object to become a store of value.  If you RP in Fallout 3 (that means not constantly carrying 200+ pounds of goods to fast-travel and unload next time you're above ground) then you'll find that caps are consistent...you spend about as many as you get.  The only reason anyone's questioning Bethesda's ability to add economic balance to Fallout 3 is because they (alright, I do it too) hoard caps well beyond what should be possible if a player doesn't dedicate tens of hours of gameplay just to unrealistic fast-traveling and trading.  In fact, the only reason cap-hoarding is possible is because everyone figured out that merchants restock caps after 3 days.  If Bethesda had left this out the game would be much more balance, if a bit less fun for stat whores like me.  Sirrah91 16:44, October 26, 2009 (UTC)
 * You know, back in the olden days, people would use coins made of precious materials, and that would be the worth right there. However, Bottle Caps aren't precious materials, are they? Well, that's up to the populace. Even poop can be used as currency if everyone wanted to, no matter how stupid it is to us. Therefore, money doesn't need backing from a bank, because it can simply have worth in the actual coin. Also, respawning Bottlecaps simply makes it easier to recover from a major monetary mistake the player may make, therefore saving them from starting a new game. --24.72.49.251 13:19, November 9, 2009 (UTC)