kelticpete on 4/7/2007 at 04:44
ok. in the manor with the seaman's wife, moira, her hubby left her 500g for the rest of her life.
that is the cost of 5 broadheads. anyone else think that was a bit silly for a "big haul"? i was not expecting thousands, but they should have said, "use this bit to tide you over awhile..." not set you up for life.
jtr7 on 4/7/2007 at 05:15
Yeah, that's fairly common in Thief. Garrett's narration makes it sound like a job is gonna bring in some serious dough, but it doesn't really reap much. Getting 500 gold in a single item of loot is big, but the spending power of the total haul over a whole mission is hyped. Of course, the biggest reward ever promised--which would have swallowed the complete value of all the gotten loot in all the games combined--is never received.:o
If Moira could live out her days on 500 gold, I wonder what it would actually be spent on? She couldn't pay the servants and guards for more than a couple of days, if that. A couple of bottles of wine? Foodstuffs?:erg: :angel:
Solabusca on 4/7/2007 at 06:46
One thing that is completely out of whack in the Thiefverse is the economics of being a thief. No wonder Garrett is constantly on the make - his lockpicks cost him a pretty penny (4000 for the pair, if memory serves), and even a broadhead costs him 100 by the time TDS rolls around (don't forget, it started at 25/broadhead). Add in the fact that he seems to have a few hideouts on the go at any given time, and that he always seems to be behind in his rent, and never seems to spend money on himself beyond mere survival, and you have the makings of a very, very bizarre economy.
Part of the problem seems to be that Garrett's paying black market prices for his gear and selling his ill-gotten loot at a loss, as it's going through fences. Since he's a freelancer, and isn't part of the organized crime groups, he's got to take what he's offered (or steal what he needs). And as such, he's got a harder time getting commissions, relying on the whims of the market and the needs of his fences. Remember, he's working for Cutty when he steals Bafford's scepter, and he's working for Perry when he goes for the Bloodline Opal. The rest of the time, he's either laying low and letting the heat die down from his last job, or waiting on the next big score.
Heh. Given what he pays for elemental crystal arrows, I'm surprised he doesn't pick up some extra coin farming them for weapons-dealers.
.j.
[EDIT: And while looking for something else, I came across (
http://www.fullyramblomatic.com/essays/garrett.htm) THIS little bit of fluff about Garrett's money troubles]
OK, so you spend a whole level sneaking cheekily about someone's expensive mansion slipping gold candlesticks, expensive goblets and the shirt off their back into a big sack with 'SWAG' written along the side. Then before the next level you get to go to Mr. Taffer's Essential Thief Accessories Catalogue Shop and buy fancy arrows and tips and mines and stuff. Thing is, though, you have to spend all the money you stole in the last level, as you can't carry any left over to the next level or anything. Now, it seems to me that Garrett puts all the money he steals back into thieving! I call that a non-profit-making enterprise! He's in a rut. He spends all the money he gets from ransacking houses buying thief tools so he can ransack houses so he can buy thief tools so he can ransack houses. Maybe he should pack it all in and get an honest job instead. Garrett the Bank Clerk? Garrett the Shoemaker? Or even Garrett the Guard?
GUARD: Look at this scar. Know how I got that? Some thief weirdo broke in here a few months back, snuck up behind me, and hit me on the knee with a blackjack!
GARRETT: Oh yeah. Sorry, I was a bit pissed that night.
jtr7 on 4/7/2007 at 07:15
Heh heh. Thanks, Sola', I got a chuckle from that.
Garrett, it seems, just loves thievin', profit or no, no?
ganac on 4/7/2007 at 07:41
And if you think about it, it may cost a few gold pieces extra to whomever his landlord may be to make sure the Watch doesn't come knocking. Of course, there is no steady followable economy when it comes to bribes.
Schwaa2 on 4/7/2007 at 15:32
It doesn't matter though, can you see Garrett on a sunny tropical Isle sipping Mia Tia's?
Neither can I. He probably lets his fence take advantage of him with low prices just so he has a reason to go Thief more often. What else are you gonna do in a nasty old city? I guess he could always base jump off of AngleWatch.
Solabusca on 5/7/2007 at 06:09
Interesting side note: in Receiving, Garrett needs to make rent - in the briefing he goes on about how this is 'amateur night', and that if things get much worse he'll have to go back to picking pockets on the street.
The goal for the night's take? Well, to pay off the landlord for the month and cover incidentals - 850.
Maybe he's just a chronic spender, completely incapable of saving anything - always unable to hold onto any of his ill-gotten loot because of his frivolous ways. Probably spends like a sailor when he's flush.
Oh, and Schwaa... it's (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mai_Tai) MAI TAI's, m'friend...;).
.j.
ganac on 6/7/2007 at 04:39
I believe what schwaa is saying, is that he has a spanish aunt who lives on an island, from which people drink from.
Although I could be mistaken.
jtr7 on 6/7/2007 at 05:06
:o :laff: :p
infinity on 8/7/2007 at 18:14
Maybe this is just the product of serious black market inflation, which does not affect the law abiding markets. Thievery is a profession where profit margins are so small, due to fencing, and high cost of items. What Garrett buys from his merchants are illegal items, and anything that is illegal instantly has I high price tag. So perhaps the guard doesn't need that much money a night for rent and food, because the legal markets which dominate the city haven't inflated as much as the markets that Garrett uses.
Still, 500 gold isn't gonna cut it methinks. :p
