Economy & Upgrades
Dredge's economy is deliberately simple — one currency plus two material types for upgrades — because its real complexity is smuggled in through multipliers on time and space.
Value modifiers
Freshness: the time tax on profit
Fish decay one condition level per 12 in-game hours (Fresh → Stale → Rotting → worthless Rot that still occupies a grid cell). This is the economy's bridge to the Time System: distance from market is a literal discount rate. Far zones offer valuable species, but the sail home eats their value — unless you buy freezer-adjacent tech or exploit the trawl net (fish in nets never rot, a genuine balance hole).
Infection (35% value, locked, contagious to neighboring non-aberration fish) is the panic system reaching directly into the wallet: a night attack doesn't just damage the hull, it devalues the cargo you stayed out to catch.
Sinks and gates
- Upgrades are the only meaningful sink: hull tiers (which enlarge the grid), engines, rods, lights, plus research parts for equipment tiers.
- Progression is equipment-gated, not level-gated. New zones need specific rod types (hadal, abyssal, etc.) and enough speed to survive their hazards — so every purchase reads as access, not stat inflation (Regional Design).
- A small starting debt to the Fishmonger tutorializes the sell loop and gives early play a direction.
Assessment
The multiplier web (freshness × size × trophy × aberration × infection) means two identical species can differ several-fold in value — enough texture for interesting cargo triage in the grid without a market simulation. The weakness is the sink side: once the boat is maxed (very achievable before the story ends), money has no remaining purpose and the entire earn half of the loop decays into ritual — see Late-game Problems & Fixes.