Economy

## Description

Good economic management is essential if victory is to be achieved. Galactic Credits are the main means by which it is possible to buy and sell units, structures, upgrades, etc. Two numbers are of crucial importance in a campaign. The first is your current treasury, whilst the second is your income per week. This second number is the most important of the two, since an increase here of only 100 credits will of course translate into an additional 1000 credits for your treasury over the course of ten weeks.

**This page summarises the different ways in which credits and income can be gained and lost. Particularly significant methods are illustrated with exclamation marks either side of the method in question.**

A few general points are listed below:

* **Individual Systems** - An individual system may well end up with a substantial negative income, whilst another might have a substantial positive one. For the most part this is unimportant, but it will of course mean that the sudden loss of one of these locations will have a significant impact on your overall budget. Hovering the mouse over the income of a planet will show you all of the different positives and negatives impacting its total value, and the same can be done for your overall campaign income. Note that an accurate value for the income of an enemy planet can only be seen if a friendly unit is in orbit of it.
* **Damaging Enemy Income** - Income sources need to be protected from the enemy. Equally, it is possible to damage your opponent by attacking their income sources. However, be warned that this is slightly less effective against the AI on higher difficulties, as it receives income modifiers.
* **Investments** - The making of investments is an essential part of gameplay. It will cost credits to build a credit producing structure. When doing this, ensure that the structure in question is in a defensible location. For example, a Tibanna Gas Refinery costs 5000 credits to build, and produces 350 credits a week. It would therefore have to remain intact for 15 weeks before it can produce a net profit, although it could still be sold during this time. Investments can also be indirect, for example the purchase of troops in order to capture a particularly valuable world.
* **Credit Reserves** - It is advisable to retain some degree of credit reserves, to be spent in an emergency. It costs credits to purchase turrets and upgrades in battle, for example, and to call in reinforcements when shipyards are attacked. The extent of these reserves will depend upon the overall campaign situation. In the early game they probably need only be around 2000 credits for turret purchases, as the majority of funds should probably be invested to increase income, but this value will increase substantially as the game goes on.

## Long TermIncome Sources

* **BASE INCOME** - This income is the standard number credits provided by an individual system. This information can be found in game and on the pages for different systems.
* **GOVERNORS** - Heroes with the governor bonus provide income in the form of a modifier in relation to the base income of a system.
* !**STRUCTURES!** - Various structures produce income. This can be in form of a modifier in relation to the base income of a system, or in a set amount of credits. Many provide a combination of the two. The income provided by some Black Sun structures fluctuates over time.
* **SMUGGLING** - The Rebel Alliance has the ability to deploy Alliance Envoys to enemy worlds in order to siphon off enemy income. Remember to check the actual income of an enemy system by placing a unit in orbit since it is possible to lose money if a target system has a negative income.
* **FREIGHTERS** - These units provide income but take up a significant amount of population cap. They will move between friendly systems of their own accord and so may put themselves in dangerous locations. There are three variables that are used to determine how much money a freighter will make:

1. First is the size of the freighter. The two freighters have a multiplier attached to them. The small freighter has the base multiplier of 1x, while the larger freighter has a multiplier of 2.5x. This means that the larger freighter will take what the total would be and multiply it by 2.5.
2. Second is the amount of economic structures on the planet it is heading to. Each economic building, both in space and on the ground, provides a 1x multiplier. This means that, for example, an Imperial planet with a Mine, Governor's Palace, and a Small XQ-1 Station has a multiplier of 3x.
3. Finally, the distance between the planet that the freighter is leaving and the planet it is going to determines the base amount of credits. For example, say that the distance between Coruscant and Fresia is 200. This means that when the freighter arrives, it will bring a base total of 200 credits. After it arrives at its destination, the multipliers are then added together to receive a final multiplier, which is then multiplied by the distanced travelled to receive the total number of credits the player will receive.

Here is an example of this in action: A large freighter is traveling from Kuat to Aargau, which is a distance of (only used for this example, not exactly the distance in game) 300. Aargau has a Imperial Palace and a Large XQ-3 Station, giving it a modifier of 2x. The equation performed by the mod is therefore 2.5 (large freighter) + 2 (1 for the Imperial Palace, 1 for the XQ-3 Station) to get a final multiplier of 4.5. From here, the equation is simply 300 (total distanced travelled) x 4.5 (final multiplier) to get a final answer of 1350 credits that the player will receive. The Freighters can therefore be of great value if worlds are well built up, the population taken is free to use, and the freighter can be kept safe on its journeys.

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT FREIGHTER CALCULATIONS CAN BE FOUND HERE: Freighter Calculations

* **!CORRUPTION!** - The Black Sun have the ability to spread corruption across the galaxy. See the relevant page for more information.

## One-Off Credit Gains

* **MISSION REWARDS** - The completion of missions often provides one off cash boosts.
* **IN BATTLE REWARDS** - The capture of an abandoned mining facility provides 800 credits, and a bounty is often given for the destruction of opposing civilian structures or the dens of troublesome wildlife.
* **SALVAGE** - Ownership of Ord Mantell or Raxus Prime, or, if playing as the Black Sun the presence of the right mercenary, corruption type or upgrade, will give a salvage bonus for each enemy unit or structure destroyed in a tactical battle, with more valuable units providing a higher bonus.
* **SALE OF ASSETS** - Right clicking on a unit or structure displays an option to sell it for a fraction of its purchase price. This is not advisable in most circumstances.
* **ONE TIME CAPTURE BONUSES** - A small number of credits is awarded the first time a system is captured from the enemy.

## Long Term Income Losses

* !**UPKEEP!** - Many defensive or production structures have an upkeep cost listed in their description.
* **ENEMY SMUGGLERS** - Alliance Envoys may be deployed on your systems to siphon your funds. Their presence will be shown by a credit symbol on the affected planet, and their arrival will also result in a verbal cue, for example 'profit margins will be high'. Upon hearing this, the player should pause the game and immediately recruit a Black Sun Assassin or ISB agent to eliminate this threat.

## One-Off Credit Losses

* **MISSION** **COSTS** - Some missions require the player to stockpile credits in order to pay for listed units.
* **IN BATTLE PURCHASES** - Credits can be spent in battle to purchase turrets and upgrades. These will persist between battles if the battle is won.
* !**UNIT / STRUCTURE PRODUCTION AND HERO / MERCENARY RECRUITMENT!** - Units, structures, agents, mercenaries and some heroes can be purchased using credits.
* **AGENT PAYMENTS** - One off payments must be provided for agents to assassinate targets and for Black Sun Saboteurs to spread corruption.