Since we are here, we all love our post-apoc something fierce (or at least I hope we all do). That being said, what is your favorite currency in the post-apoc genre?

Military grade bullets?
Caps?
Something else?

For me, my favorite post-apoc currency is the Banker Poker Chip (simply called 'chip') in the Fallen Earth universe. The Banker's faction (before they were actually a faction and in charge of regulating an economy), during the Fall, had apparently raided a Las Vegas Casino for their poker chips, for whatever inane reason. About a hundred years later, the poker chip is the staple currency (besides bartering) in the Grand Canyon Province in Arizona.

The currency works like this:
White chips: value of 1 chip.
Blue chips: value of 100 white chips.
Red chips: value of 100 blue chips (or 10,000 white chips. Much easier to carry around 100 blue than 10,000 white, so you can see how practical the chip is compared to other currencies in other games, such as the cap).
Yellow chips: value of 100 red chips (1,000,000 white chips, or 1,000 blue chips).

One blue chip can feed a single person for several days (a loaf of bread may be about 25 white chips), while a small pistol may require ten blue chips at the very least, depending on the buyer and seller and what the cost of materials are, as well as other factors.

So tell me, what is your favorite currency in a post-apoc universe?

(Believe it or not, the next chapter of my story will actually make this post somewhat related to Equestria).

2099706

Military grade bullets?

How did you know?

But yeah, I like the MGR currency of the Metro series the best. The idea that your money can be used for something other than purchasing goods is a very cool concept. And, given the harsh world of Metro, it makes sense for pre-war bullets - rare objects that can save your life - to be highly valued.

It's very interesting: the more MGRs you have, the more powerful you are, in both an economic and militaristic sense.

2102269 I feel that old-world bullets being a currency makes more sense than bottle caps.

2099706

I'm going to say caps since i seen to have developed the desire to pick them up automatically and the fact that I've got 400+ caps in a little wooden box

2103008 That wooden box must way a whole lot. Chips are superior, mang. Gotta decrease dah weight.

2099706

As impractical as it may seem in the Fallout setting, caps are easier to come by than poker chips. Now ammunition as currency thats a little more plausible.

THen again, if Fort Knox is still intact no reason why modern day money shouldn't still be used after the apocalypse.

4068877 Not when there is a a group manufacturing them. The problem with caps and pre-war/apocalyptic money is that they can be found anywhere, so their value isn't as regulated as a currency that is overseen by a specific group.

2099706 Screw currency, a barter-trade system is they way to go.

4169861 That doesn't always work, though. Not everyone can carry three goats with them at all times, and sometimes all you want is some string. A goat for some string isn't a good trade.

4173648 That's why you include services, such as: "Hey I don't have anything to trade, but if you give me enough supplies to make it to the next town, I'll help you with whatever work needs to be done around here for the next few days."

4173687 People lie, man. Why would you trust a random person asking for three goats, and then "promises I'll pay you back some time".

4180067 I never said, "promises I'll pay you back some time". You either have something to trade on you, right then, or you perform some kind of useful task or service to them, right then.

4180262 Solid bartering is still an ineffective system, despite how "post-apocalypsey" it may seem. For people who are traveling currency is by far the best way to go, and using a system where light, easy to manage tokens (which are backed by actual things that have value) would be infinitely more useful.

4181459 How about an economy, where both are allowed?

4182005 You can't stop bartering, but if you have money as a currency, there are no official rules for bartering, and it's all up to the interpretation of both parties in a deal to decide how much something is worth. Once you go with an economy based on a currency that has a value backing it, most people aren't really going to be carrying around goats for services.

4183280 What's with you people and goats? Food is a far more practical source of barter, along with weapons, gas, clean water, and rare items.

4183439 I'm using goats as an example for something that takes time and effort to transport, as opposed to money.

2099706 in my wasteland there is no really a standard currency, but the most one that is kinda standard is gold and silver coins.

In the wasteland of North America almost every faction of their own type of currency.

The Blood Stones use glass marbles as there currency that the rarer the type of marble the more valuable it is. well most use coins and paper and other use digital like bitcoin