Attempting to Fulfill the Plan: GDI Edition
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
The big obstacle is that the only known method of getting suitable energy density into the power pack is to use exotic tiberium derivatives. Nod doesn't mind, but we do.
We're unlikely to have 'proper' infantry scale railguns/coilguns until we start going down the Eezo tech line
Based on what we've seen a few times from updates, going all the way back to early updates, we have a significant surplus of precious and rare metals, right? Like, gold and presumably silver, maybe even platinum, are incredibly cheap and treasury has vaults of the crap because GDI can't use enough of it.
That kind of says to me the private sector should have or could have thriving jewelry businesses and craftsmen with plentiful raw materials filling a niche in the economy that we modern people would associate with cheap plastic crap. Metal is cheap has been a common refrain in this quest, so the culture that would follow on from that would have plentiful metals for decorative purposes of all kinds. Fears of radiation would mean that rad-safe areas could relax with adornments that wouldn't be safe in tib-infested areas, if that's a thing.
I don't think this has any impact on Treasury operations beyond releasing excess material, I just had this thought on GDI civilian culture.
That kind of says to me the private sector should have or could have thriving jewelry businesses and craftsmen with plentiful raw materials filling a niche in the economy that we modern people would associate with cheap plastic crap. Metal is cheap has been a common refrain in this quest, so the culture that would follow on from that would have plentiful metals for decorative purposes of all kinds. Fears of radiation would mean that rad-safe areas could relax with adornments that wouldn't be safe in tib-infested areas, if that's a thing.
I don't think this has any impact on Treasury operations beyond releasing excess material, I just had this thought on GDI civilian culture.
What we consider precious metals, GDI is stuck between considering dross and useless bulk metal. Most likely, most of our wiring that isn't superconducting is silver, and the actually valuable material is wood. Especially rare woods.
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
Yeah, and you'd certainly see "bulk cheap costume jewelry, but with real gold and in greater masses" showing up.
The big question is whether this results in a change of aesthetics to favor display of it. Because on the one hand, lots of shiny metal does look nice and cultures with plentiful supplies sometimes DO use a lot in decorative roles- the native societies of South and Central America have plenty of examples. On the other hand, there's also the clash between "was a status symbol" and "no longer is," which often results in otherwise nice and desirable things being relegated to the status of "trashy" and getting discarded.
The big question is whether this results in a change of aesthetics to favor display of it. Because on the one hand, lots of shiny metal does look nice and cultures with plentiful supplies sometimes DO use a lot in decorative roles- the native societies of South and Central America have plenty of examples. On the other hand, there's also the clash between "was a status symbol" and "no longer is," which often results in otherwise nice and desirable things being relegated to the status of "trashy" and getting discarded.
BoSPaladin
The Paladin
Honestly? Remember near the start of the quest when we had the treasury release the emergency reserves?
I don't think we actually had all that much metal wealth stacked up, I'd be surprised if we hadn't rebuilt any, but honestly, our entire playstyle operates on reinvesting that resources straight back into the economy.
Iron, steel, other metals used for industry and so on. And a lot of gold and other stuff for electronics.
There's probably been some released and jewelery and whatnot on the private market and probably even the treasury getting in on it by minting and releasing coins for collectors.
Just, when I think of what kind of 'liquid wealth' GDI citizens have? My thoughts drift to things like a high end phone or other electronic devices. Or a stash of high quality MRE's or other rations. Alternately a car would be a major show of wealth for most. Along with possibly firearms for at least some blue zones.
wedding rings are of course a timeless classic. But jewelery as a show of wealth is a result of a specific set of circumstances that it has a certain amount of inherent value in the metal and stones, and it's kept close to yourself and is easy to show off and also trade in an emergency.
Looking at GDI's current situation. A few golden chains or bracelets or what have you aren't as useful. Someone with a high quality zone suit, particularly in former yellow zones or areas that were formerly blue zone border towns. Vehicles. Emergency rations. Medical supplies. Guns and ammo. Those would be my go to forms of wealth, things that are useful and likely to be in high demand in an emergency.
Beyond that, GDI has a fully functioning banking system, so a lot of people probably just have their wealth in a savings account and/or invested in local co-ops or as shares in larger businesses.
I don't think we actually had all that much metal wealth stacked up, I'd be surprised if we hadn't rebuilt any, but honestly, our entire playstyle operates on reinvesting that resources straight back into the economy.
Iron, steel, other metals used for industry and so on. And a lot of gold and other stuff for electronics.
There's probably been some released and jewelery and whatnot on the private market and probably even the treasury getting in on it by minting and releasing coins for collectors.
Just, when I think of what kind of 'liquid wealth' GDI citizens have? My thoughts drift to things like a high end phone or other electronic devices. Or a stash of high quality MRE's or other rations. Alternately a car would be a major show of wealth for most. Along with possibly firearms for at least some blue zones.
wedding rings are of course a timeless classic. But jewelery as a show of wealth is a result of a specific set of circumstances that it has a certain amount of inherent value in the metal and stones, and it's kept close to yourself and is easy to show off and also trade in an emergency.
Looking at GDI's current situation. A few golden chains or bracelets or what have you aren't as useful. Someone with a high quality zone suit, particularly in former yellow zones or areas that were formerly blue zone border towns. Vehicles. Emergency rations. Medical supplies. Guns and ammo. Those would be my go to forms of wealth, things that are useful and likely to be in high demand in an emergency.
Beyond that, GDI has a fully functioning banking system, so a lot of people probably just have their wealth in a savings account and/or invested in local co-ops or as shares in larger businesses.
Yes, but I never thought the jewelry would be for anything other than aesthetics and some appreciation of how much society has changed that what wars were fought over a couple centuries ago is now industrial waste. There's also aesthetic value in the metals themselves and their alloys and treatments. Treasury also, on our watch, never did much with metal stockpiles specifically. The stockpiles we released in the bad old days were capitol goods, not metal stockpiles. Boyle was noted as being a bit of a goldbug, so presumably there's been plenty of metal just sitting there. I'm just proposing a bit of civilian cultural expression.
Since not even a fraction of a percent of GDI population is in space, I wasn't thinking of them. However, the cheap metal is only going to be applicable in places with significant tib mining.
Yeah, we have co-ops in the civilian economy that are making consumer goods. I could easily see some of those making various forms of jewellery and other things out of precious metals.
I figure they'd be relatively cheap compared to IRL due to the materials being dirt cheap, you'd basically just be paying for the labour.
I figure they'd be relatively cheap compared to IRL due to the materials being dirt cheap, you'd basically just be paying for the labour.
And the labor would be the only thing you'd pay for, or nearly.
Sort of yes but mostly no.
Currently at least, every metal we want can be produced in absurd bulk from tiberium, and shipped wherever we need it in the quantities we need it. We have Moon mines, yes, but those don't really compete in cost with our tiberium refining production. If we do get to a point where we are effectively colonizing space, we may see bulk construction metals drawn mostly from local raw materials, but everything rarer would be shipped in and still be absurdly cheap for our current, IRL understanding of things.
KnightDisciple
Love God. Do Right. Fear No Man.
- Location
- Midwest, USA
I mean, yes some of the current expense of gold, diamonds, etc is due to scarcity, and certainly at least some of the clamoring/envy of these things is due to said expense.
But, like, gold looks nice, and gold is remarkably resilient in terms of day-to-day use and wear; while gold jewelry can tarnish it's certainly gonna stand up well. Diamonds look pretty and are hard to break. Etc etc etc.
I'm genuinely excited about the medical advances. The answer to "fox ears when" is "once we can replace the face of someone who had an electrical transformer take their original in an explosion". Like, it's been pretty big news that doctors in the USA, less than a year ago, did a face-and-eye transplant; it's an amazing feat but it's a fraction of what biosculpting can do. And with biosculpting, no immunosuppressants should be required!
But, like, gold looks nice, and gold is remarkably resilient in terms of day-to-day use and wear; while gold jewelry can tarnish it's certainly gonna stand up well. Diamonds look pretty and are hard to break. Etc etc etc.
I'm genuinely excited about the medical advances. The answer to "fox ears when" is "once we can replace the face of someone who had an electrical transformer take their original in an explosion". Like, it's been pretty big news that doctors in the USA, less than a year ago, did a face-and-eye transplant; it's an amazing feat but it's a fraction of what biosculpting can do. And with biosculpting, no immunosuppressants should be required!
Dmol8
The Undead Unhinged Lunatic of the Web
- Location
- Belgrade,Serbia
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
OK since people apparently don't know these things:
- Diamonds are expensive because there is still in place an international diamond cartel which inflates the prices trough it's monopoly power.
- Gold only has the value it has today because it used to be the metal people would tie the value of money towards and the presence of much more volatile and lucrative speculator markets keeps it's price mostly stable and boring.
- Scarcity even today in our world is more of a logistics problem than it is a supply problem to the point that 800 million people are at food risk today with 8 billion people alive instead of 1 billion people at food risk with 6 billion people alive in the 90s.
- Diamonds are expensive because there is still in place an international diamond cartel which inflates the prices trough it's monopoly power.
- Gold only has the value it has today because it used to be the metal people would tie the value of money towards and the presence of much more volatile and lucrative speculator markets keeps it's price mostly stable and boring.
- Scarcity even today in our world is more of a logistics problem than it is a supply problem to the point that 800 million people are at food risk today with 8 billion people alive instead of 1 billion people at food risk with 6 billion people alive in the 90s.
And none of those things are an issue for GDI, hence jewellery probably being pretty cheap.
Also, as an addition to point 1, we can easily make artificial diamonds that are just as high quality as any that can be dug out of the ground but they're considered to be less valuable basically because the diamond mine owners don't want to go broke
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Look up soupemporium on YouTube. It seems the diamond cartel might be a bit outdated.
Haven't looked things up for myself, can't state whether he's correct or not.
Haven't looked things up for myself, can't state whether he's correct or not.
Pre-Tiberium precious metals are definitely no longer precious, or at least have been "downgraded" to industrial metals rather than representing an extremely dense form of wealth. All our wiring is canonically silver, for example, it's just another random industrial metal like aluminum or iron. There's still useful material properties that give the precious metals industrial/aesthetic applications, and some lingering cultural inertia probably hanging on particular with older generations, but any scarcity-driven value has long since been obliterated since it's as cheap as dirt. The post-TW3 government definitely isn't storing any wealth in the form of precious metals (beyond industrial reserves of silver next to all the titanium and aluminum or whatever), and Boyle being really into the gold standard was supposed to showcase how crazy and out of touch with the economic realities of the Tiberium era he was.
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I'm also curious what random thi gs we'll end up using 'precious' metals for now the supply is huge.
As an example of what I mean, it used to be that aluminium was one of the most valuable metals on earth due to its rarity. Some kings had aluminium cutlery and even that was seen as ostentatious. Then they figured out an easier way to refine it and now we use it in disposable drink cans. I wonder how gold, silver and platinum can be used for things we wouldn't dream of currently
As an example of what I mean, it used to be that aluminium was one of the most valuable metals on earth due to its rarity. Some kings had aluminium cutlery and even that was seen as ostentatious. Then they figured out an easier way to refine it and now we use it in disposable drink cans. I wonder how gold, silver and platinum can be used for things we wouldn't dream of currently
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
Gold and platinum are good for containing a lot of things because they have low melting points (though gold, at least, is very dense and has a low melting point, which can be issues). Silver, as noted, is a really good conductor of electricity.
I also note that the part where we probably have nigh-unlimited supplies of things like the rare earth elements may be even more impactful than all the gold and platinum.
I also note that the part where we probably have nigh-unlimited supplies of things like the rare earth elements may be even more impactful than all the gold and platinum.
They wouldn't be getting the tiberium from us because whatever ship they will try to do it in will become nothing but metal micro meteorites from the security forces that are given the right to shoot first at any unauthorized ships or anyone suspicious looking.
STG Agent: "Excellent, we have finally made it through all 5 layers of security. Now we can get a sample of Tiberium"
GDI 6th layer of security: "Allow me to introduce myself"
- Location
- his hidden lair
I mean, even the peak, cutting edge stealth of the tantalus drives in ME is more emission control than blanket stealth, and the codex even calls it out as being visible still iirc. GDI security measures are definitely going to be rated to tackle that sort of thing.
especially since reactionless drives (and thus minimal emission based stealth) is much lower hanging fruit for us than it is for Eezo based technology all things considered.
especially since reactionless drives (and thus minimal emission based stealth) is much lower hanging fruit for us than it is for Eezo based technology all things considered.