EMPIRES runs on two kinds of money. Credits are soft, earned in-world, spent in-world, printed and burned by design. Unbiquadium is hard, scarce, settled to your vault, and the only thing that crosses the world’s border. Between them stands one door: conversion.
01Soft inside, hard at the door
Everything routine prices in Credits: fuel, repairs, survey fees, wages. That keeps the daily loop insulated from speculation, your maintenance bill cannot double because of a market mood. UNB is reserved for the things that are genuinely scarce: land charters, permit auctions, and settlement to the vault.
Every faucet that prints Credits has a sink that burns them, and the conversion rate to UNB is driven by that balance, not by a dial in an office. When Credits pile up, the door gets more expensive. The economy argues with itself so we don’t have to.
02What the vault sees
Conversion is deliberately lumpy: batched windows, posted rates, a visible queue. Instant conversion would make every Credit price a UNB price in disguise. The delay is not friction for its own sake, it is what lets the inside economy breathe on its own schedule.
Numbers, curves and the full faucet–sink map are on the drafting table for a longer dispatch. Ask your questions below, the economy desk reads everything.
