Poll of the Day > What do you think the apocalypse currency will be?

(+) Yeah! (+)

In Fallout it's bottle caps, water world its dirt/plants.

What do you think we should be hoarding?

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Realistically it'll be food and water.

It should be sluts though.

Twinkies

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Coasters

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Lego

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yugioh cards

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I know some people who think it'll be ammo. Heck, even in Fallout I hoard ammo more than caps.

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silver and gold. maybe idk

Solar panels and batteries

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sodium-chloride posted...

Realistically it'll be food and water.

Nah, you don't want your money to be perishable goods, but, it will likely be barter, yes.

Money requires an overall government structure in order to be worth anything, generally.

Dogecoin

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Potable water and non-perishable foods.

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food, water, weapons, other people

sex

old condom wrappers

Dildos

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AA batteries

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Im not even gonna say it


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sodium-chloride posted...

It should be sluts though.

Came in to say slaves, so close enough.
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Pogs.

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sodium-chloride posted...

Realistically it'll be food and water.

It should be sluts though.

Depends on what level of devastation we're talking but I'd wager cigarettes, beer, and drugs will likely be more 'valuable' and tradable for people than other things. Good choices to stock up on but not use yourself.

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Toilet paper.

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Dank memes

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dog meat

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anything basically

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It'll go back to a bartering system

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Same as it is now really.

Ass, Gas, or Grass.

Nobody rides for free.

There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.

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Muscles posted...

It'll go back to a bartering system

Bartering system works great at the size of a bullet for a literal shot of whiskey.

Not so much at the scale of trying to gas up a boat or buy land.

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Smart phones

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aHappySacka posted...

Smart phones

Your smartphone has more prescious metals in it than most emperors and God kings owned.

Shit, anyone that drinks beer by the case or owns a home with aluminum siding has more aluminum than was once atop the great pyramid laying around.

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VeeVees posted...

yugioh cards

I thought the Yugioh cards were what caused the apocalypse in the future?
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Bottle caps

racism

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Pretty sure it'll depend largely on what kind of apocalypse we have and what state humanity is in after it.

Actually I realized your question is slightly flawed. The apocalypse currency will probably be what it is right now. It's post apocalypse I assume you care about.

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shadowsword87 posted...

Nah, you don't want your money to be perishable goods, but, it will likely be barter, yes.

Money requires an overall government structure in order to be worth anything, generally.

Thing is there is a good chance "money" would just be meaningless and we would go back to barter and trade. Which would be anything people can use to survive or ecen just luxury items. Food water guns ammo fishing poles etc for survival items. Playing cards board games instruments etc for luxury items

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The only real currency in the apocalypse is power. The strongest will survive and take from the weak. Money, or even barter, relies on a system that is in place that protects those that are weaker.

When it's every person for themselves and the human race has become as locusts apon the earth, with only the strongest left afterwards ALL resources will become too precious to give up. There will be no, I'll trade my cow for your clean water. It will be, I will kill you for your clean water, to keep me and my cow alive, giving either me (or you) a better chance of survival then if either of us only had one or the other.

So yes, power and death will be the currency in the world at that point. Power to keep what is yours, and take what is there's, and death to reduce the number of people using resources or able to get to those resources before you.

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LuciferSage posted...

Same as it is now really.

Ass, Gas, or Grass.

Nobody rides for free.

There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.

Unless you're being fattened up prior to being turned into strange meat pies.

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I'll be glad to be a woman in the apocalypse because I will def fuck dudes for supplies idgaf

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captpackrat posted...

I know some people who think it'll be ammo. Heck, even in Fallout I hoard ammo more than caps.

Like Metro 2033.

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Unless people are bartering in bullets, I can't imagine that there'd be an actual currency since nothing would be terribly practical. Yes, certain things -- water, food, weapons, medicine, and even people -- would be the kind of stuff people would trade for, but that's more of a barter system than an actual currency. For something to be a currency, it would realistically need to be small enough to easily carry, stay in good condition, and -- because you no longer have a central body regulating the value of a currency -- actually need to be practical. Bullets check off all of those boxes.

Otherwise it could depend on the nature of the apocalypse. Certain things might become commodities or treasured. And the nature of trade could vary greatly depending on how humanity was spread out afterward, or if whatever ended society was still around. In something like Under the Water and Mutated Fishes (which technically was still an ensuing disaster less than an apocalypse, although you still have colonies of survivors and trade where I was reading), basic resources like clean drinking water and food are major issues so nobody would be interested in batering people. However, medicine and bullets would be a big thing. By contrast, in a post-apoc where society is starting to re-establish itself, you could see a return to an actual currency of some sort that wasn't tied to a practical item.

And, in general, I guess it could be a matter of time until a post-apoc society becomes just a new society and a lot of the outlaw stuff goes out the window.

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Zeus posted...

Unless people are bartering in bullets, I can't imagine that there'd be an actual currency since nothing would be terribly practical. Yes, certain things -- water, food, weapons, medicine, and even people -- would be the kind of stuff people would trade for, but that's more of a barter system than an actual currency. For something to be a currency, it would realistically need to be small enough to easily carry, stay in good condition, and -- because you no longer have a central body regulating the value of a currency -- actually need to be practical. Bullets check off all of those boxes.

Otherwise it could depend on the nature of the apocalypse. Certain things might become commodities or treasured. And the nature of trade could vary greatly depending on how humanity was spread out afterward, or if whatever ended society was still around. In something like Under the Water and Mutated Fishes (which technically was still an ensuing disaster less than an apocalypse, although you still have colonies of survivors and trade where I was reading), basic resources like clean drinking water and food are major issues so nobody would be interested in batering people. However, medicine and bullets would be a big thing. By contrast, in a post-apoc where society is starting to re-establish itself, you could see a return to an actual currency of some sort that wasn't tied to a practical item.

And, in general, I guess it could be a matter of time until a post-apoc society becomes just a new society and a lot of the outlaw stuff goes out the window.

This is why I picked cigarettes. They're something a sizable chunk of the population will desire, they're light-weight, relatively durable, even come in 'denominations' of 1 cig and an entire pack. They'll be relatively limited since you need tobacco to make them meaning most people will need to scavenge them up giving them or put in the time to grow the tobacco giving them a direct labor cost and scarcity-limiter. While I see booze and narcotics, in medicinal, recreational, and formally illegal forms (like there's gonna be any laws in the post-apocalypse) as being more 'valuable' they may weigh too much or be too variable in quality to be a baseline.

I don't think bullets will be really used simply because 1) You need to have the right style of gun for it to hold any value and 2) It's value is dependent on a constant need to use guns. While we'll need it for hunting and maybe fending off bandits and 3) Once guns start degrading due to a lack of maintenance they'll be worthless. I doubt we'll be in a situation where a bullet is so needed that it could suffice for a currency.

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LuciferSage posted...

Same as it is now really.

Ass, Gas, or Grass.

Nobody rides for free.

There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.

Yea. Not likely, Firstly any females would not likely be interested in such a system; especially if they are the ones in the dominate position of trade. You're not gonna suddenly get a girl demanding dick in return for her driving you to the next town over. Secondly the male half will be in a serious short-fall because, unless the other person swings that way, they can offer ass all they want and get nowhere. So it really only 'works' if you have a male in the primary position and a female in the secondary or two males with the secondary having a female he can offer up... which is not very viable either way.

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Unbridled9 posted...

Yea. Not likely, Firstly any females would not likely be interested in such a system; especially if they are the ones in the dominate position of trade. You're not gonna suddenly get a girl demanding dick in return for her driving you to the next town over. Secondly the male half will be in a serious short-fall because, unless the other person swings that way, they can offer ass all they want and get nowhere. So it really only 'works' if you have a male in the primary position and a female in the secondary or two males with the secondary having a female he can offer up... which is not very viable either way.

Farmers rise up

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Unbridled9 posted...

Once guns start degrading due to a lack of maintenance they'll be worthless

Trust that people would start making home made guns. Its rare but people have already done such things.

I still stand by it would all devolve to barter and trade among those civil enough to not rob each other.

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mooreandrew58 posted...

Trust that people would start making home made guns. Its rare but people have already done such things.

Making your own guns is not difficult. Bullets are easy to make if you have a source of lead. Making your own gunpowder, now that's a bit harder. Like, where are you going to get saltpeter? And making smokeless powder? Probably well beyond most people's skills. (I know how it's made and it involves using various powerful acids.)

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bow and cross bows would be better no sounds = no one gonna bother or hunt you for stuff

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Whichever objects that are most fundamental to survival at that level of society.

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Fraudulent ballots

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shadowsword87 posted...

Nah, you don't want your money to be perishable goods, but, it will likely be barter, yes.

Money requires an overall government structure in order to be worth anything, generally.

It'll likely be a form of barter, but it wouldn't surprise me if certain bartered items that have inherent value get used as currency. Something like bullets in the Metro games, iron bits in grim Dawn, or Path of Exile's entire economy (PoE's currency items are consumables that can be used to alter your gear in some way). Money only has value because society says it does, meaning sellers can trust that buyers will agree on how much the seller made off of their sale, but things that are easily transported and are universally agreed to be useful can be used as a currency without having to formally organize their value.

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