I'm pretty sure it is. I think our options are basically either bankrupting and dealing with the fallout or scraping by until something happens that makes the debt irrelevant (i.e. aliens burning down our creditors, world war, diplomatic actions to reduce debt with foreign countries in exchange for something).
The other options is to use our debt as leverage: "I will declare bankrupt on my debt to you unless you do something I want". That could work too. I still think bankruptcy is our best option.
Since the debt seems to be the main point of contention, I'll provide some more information.
Debt is given as a percentage of your tax base. As it increases, so too will interest. Interest is 1% + 1% per 100% of debt. There is something of a delay (10 turns) to this change so you can 'spike' debt without paying high interest. At the current tax base, debt is 100000. Any income remaining at the end of your turn will go to paying it off. Increasing the tax base will reduce the percentage, but not the absolute value. For example, if you doubles your tax base the debt would go to 500% and have a maximum interest of 6%.
Also, bankruptcy is not a get out of jail free card. The problems it causes will be different, but they will not necessarily be lesser. There is a reason it only has a 50% chance of success. A --- to wealth cannot simply be dispensed with, it is termed 'crippling' for a reason.
Also, bankruptcy is not a get out of jail free card. The problems it causes will be different, but they will not necessarily be lesser. There is a reason it only has a 50% chance of success. A --- to wealth cannot simply be dispensed with, it is termed 'crippling' for a reason.
If your creditors do choose to enforce the debt militarily there isn't much you can do. Your entire military consists of the less competent members of the National Guard, the rest having been drafted into front line combat. A successful bankruptcy would have to be resolved diplomatically, which is why you only have a 50% chance of success.
If your creditors do choose to enforce the debt militarily there isn't much you can do. Your entire military consists of the less competent members of the National Guard, the rest having been drafted into front line combat. A successful bankruptcy would have to be resolved diplomatically, which is why you only have a 50% chance of success.
On the other hand, our land borders are guarded by trusted friends and intercontinental war is hard to wage effectively. I expect losing the islands and maybe Alaska but keeping most of our heartlands intact.
On the other hand, our land borders are guarded by trusted friends and intercontinental war is hard to wage effectively. I expect losing the islands and maybe Alaska but keeping most of our heartlands intact.
[X] [Diplomatic] Begin Talks with XCOM
[X] [Financial] Create Finance Committee
[X] [Industrial] Create Department of Industry
I know the format says put the actions first and diplomatic actions last, but everyone else has done it this way so
@Isaacssv558 I just want to make sure I've got the situation correct in my mind about the debt. At the moment we've got a total debt of 100 000 wealth, and any income we don't spend each turn is automatically spent on paying it off. Interest on the remaining principal on the loan is 1% base +1% per 100% of our GNP is remaining as debt, so as our debt is 1000% of our GNP, or ten times our current GNP, so shouldn't our interest be 11%? Also, does each turn represent a year? If so does this mean we need to make these payments every turn? If so, is this in addition to the expenses figure listed on our nation sheet?
Finally, I looked at our action list. For example -
Repair Highways:
While the highway system wasn't seriously damaged by war, it hasn't received sufficient repairs in at least 5 years.
90%, 500(+20%), 2
Tax Base +5%, Highways -> Good
So I'm guessing that 90% is the chance of success, 500 is the expense in income to implement it, and 2 is the number of turns it will take to complete. My question is, what's the +20% after the 500?
[X] [Diplomatic] Begin Talks with XCOM
[X] [Financial] Create Finance Committee
[X] [Industrial] Create Department of Industry
Can we get the minutia labled for our options? By that I mean have something like: Chance of success -- XX%, Cost -- XX, Reward/Result -- XX
Edit: We get 30% of 10,000 currently as our tax income. Say we took an option that increases our tax base by 5%, does that mean the 10,000 increases by 5% or does the 30% increase to 35%? I would think it would increase the 10,000 by 5% since that seems to represent our GDP, and infrastructure improvements help that rather than let us tax our people more.
As far as I understand, going bankrupt now is not a good idea.
Going Bankrupt lowers our Taxbase by 5000. This is a halving of the taxbase.
An important thing to note is that all our economy improvements increase the Taxbase by a percentage. That means that going Bankrupt also drastically reduces their effectiveness. To illustrate.
Monetarily, the situation is somewhat similar. Bankruptcy will lower our income by 1500. Currently, we only spend 1000 on rent. So, bankruptcy will result in a net reduction of money. That changes when interest raises to 2%.
Hence, at this point I propose not to go bankrupt until turn 7.
As far as I understand, going bankrupt now is not a good idea.
Going Bankrupt lowers our Taxbase by 5000. This is a halving of the taxbase.
An important thing to note is that all our economy improvements increase the Taxbase by a percentage. That means that going Bankrupt also drastically reduces their effectiveness. To illustrate.
Monetarily, the situation is somewhat similar. Bankruptcy will lower our income by 1500. Currently, we only spend 1000 on rent. So, bankruptcy will result in a net reduction of money. That changes when interest raises to 2%.
Hence, at this point I propose not to go bankrupt until turn 7.
Yeah, you're right. It's not a good idea to go bankrupt now, and by turn 7 we'll be better prepared for the eventual fallout anyway. Changing my vote now. Actually, I've ran some calculations and if we're able to increase our base tax by about 50% in the next 10 turns (I think it's doable), we're okay.
As long as we make more money than we have to pay in interest, it's better to not declare bankruptcy. At the earliest at this point that'd be when we hit 2% interest, but we can probably push that to 3%. That's like 20 turns out so things should be very different by then.
Shoulder the debt, try to do what we can to lessen it, muddle along. And we need XCOM committed to helping out us and everyone, not just sealing itself off from the world.
[X] [Financial] Create Finance Committee
[X] [Industrial] Create Department of Industry
[X] [Diplomatic] Begin Talks with XCOM
@Isaacssv558 I just want to make sure I've got the situation correct in my mind about the debt. At the moment we've got a total debt of 100 000 wealth, and any income we don't spend each turn is automatically spent on paying it off. Interest on the remaining principal on the loan is 1% base +1% per 100% of our GNP is remaining as debt, so as our debt is 1000% of our GNP, or ten times our current GNP, so shouldn't our interest be 11%? Also, does each turn represent a year? If so does this mean we need to make these payments every turn? If so, is this in addition to the expenses figure listed on our nation sheet?
There is a ten turn delay per 1% of interest rate. As such, you will reach 2% in 10 turns, 3% in 20 turns, and 11% in 100 turns. This is indeed in addition to the expenses figure. I'll add a precalculated number to the updates for clarity.
Finally, I looked at our action list. For example -
Repair Highways:
While the highway system wasn't seriously damaged by war, it hasn't received sufficient repairs in at least 5 years.
90%, 500(+20%), 2
Tax Base +5%, Highways -> Good
So I'm guessing that 90% is the chance of success, 500 is the expense in income to implement it, and 2 is the number of turns it will take to complete. My question is, what's the +20% after the 500?
[X] [Diplomatic] Begin Talks with XCOM
[X] [Financial] Create Finance Committee
[X] [Industrial] Create Department of Industry
Can we get the minutia labled for our options? By that I mean have something like: Chance of success -- XX%, Cost -- XX, Reward/Result -- XX
Edit: We get 30% of 10,000 currently as our tax income. Say we took an option that increases our tax base by 5%, does that mean the 10,000 increases by 5% or does the 30% increase to 35%? I would think it would increase the 10,000 by 5% since that seems to represent our GDP, and infrastructure improvements help that rather than let us tax our people more.
The bonus would be towards tax base, not tax rate. You'll get options to control the tax rate once you have a dedicated finance option.
As for the minutia, should I label those or continue to use a key (from the info threadmark) to define which position has what meaning?
EDIT: Closing the vote now. The below wins.
[X] [Diplomatic] Begin Talks with XCOM
[X] [Financial] Create Finance Committee
[X] [Industrial] Create Department of Industry
Unrestricted Actions:
[Create Department of Industry]
[Create Finance Committee]
Washington is engulfed in activity as the bureaucracy is reorganized into a more efficient form. While most of the government is untouched, entire agencies, departments, and committees are replaced wholesale in the largest government reorganization since the Constitution. While the new organizations are not exceptionally effective, they are more than capable of shouldering a good portion of the administrative burden.
Diplomatic Actions:
[Begin Talks with XCOM]
Where electronic broadcasts are ignored, a physical delegation is successful. Over a hundred diplomats, scientists, and therapists are sent to XCOM HQ equipped to deal with hostility, confusion, or even PTSD. It takes a few hours, but XCOM is eventually convinced to open their doors. The information obtained is both startling and somewhat reassuring.
It would appear that XCOM's commander was on the Temple Ship when it vanished and the entire organization is in disarray. The heads of research, engineering, and operations are currently debating what to do with the vast amount of technology and military power accumulated over the course of the war. In addition, an experimental gravitation sensor has detected a massive shift in Charon's mass and concerns over a possible alien presence are rife.
Your diplomats have difficulty convincing XCOM to abandon its isolationist stance. However, your therapists prove an immense help to a few particularly bad cases of PTSD. This buys some goodwill and when the expedition leader insists they stay to rectify XCOM's complete lack of therapy XCOM accepts. The negotiations which follow are slow but successful. By the end of the year XCOM agrees to an alliance with the US, although they are still reluctant to share technology.
Cost: 100
XCOM becomes US ally. Remote possibility of XCOM becoming a branch of the US military.
I don't know myself, but comsidering that it is called 'element zero' I would assume that it would (somehow) occupy the 0 place on the periodic table of elements, which would make it very very not-dense.
