TEC might have currency as for the others. I would suspect that when your on the run from the apocalyps you dont really care about a money system, you just want to live. And when your able to mind control people then you dont really need it.

Black market would be fun.....

Credits, Metal and Crystal are the resources in the game. They're used by all races.

Money (of any sort) always matters. Even if you're a totally phylosophical person it will matter when you are hungry and want to buy something to put into your mouth. You can say that Vasari use cristals instead of money, but in this case cristals ARE money. Money is not something that is neccessarily printed on paper.

Unless a civilization only trades goods for goods (which is hard to envision with civs as developed as these are supposed to be, spacefaring and all) some sort of exchange mediator is needed. Whatever it is, it is called money (in English).

If they are advanced I am sure they have come up with a good foreign currency exchange system

actually currency exchange would be awesome

Think about it - the better your civilization does the more your stuff is worth - if your winning the war your currency would increase - if your losing it would decrease... but hey it doesn't exist so no worries!

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Thats a totally unrealistic way of currency exchange.

The way things happen in our world, is the supply and demand factor. Hard currency over soft currency. Plus, you need some kind of medium of exchange(gold or silver), but I think we can make it work on other principles.

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Ah ha! Cleverly countered by moving to World War 2!

in relation to the Confederate and Union currency... the exchange rate fluctuated wildly based on who was perceived to be winning... This is also why the United States has paper money today as at the time paper money was printed by the governments of both the Union and Confederacy in order to pay for the war...

now in relation to sins - Assuming each government had there own credit system (which they don't I've stated this is a mute point earlier) then one would assume that traders would want to invest in whichever currency is currently perceived as being the most stable and having the greatest safeguard of ones money (hence the shirking dollar when compared to the Euro but the dollars continued strength against the Mexican Peso) - further more remember that during WW2 German currency became worthless (for those of you who live in Germany that sentience now officially reads "further more, remember that during the 1930's through 1945 nothing happened in Germany and as such German currency was weakened" apologies I couldn't help myself)

I know the example above is brutally simplified and that other things do effect the value of currency but I'm trying to make an example as to how winning or losing a war and based on empire size - how ones money would be affected in a real world market during a war...

Care to go even more resent? I'd be good money that whatever currency is in use as the national currency in Afghanistan or Iraq is even more valueless then its been in a long time.

Just necause you don't see it doesn't mean it's not there. Raw materials of all sorts are always needed by everybody unless one of them is an energy being. Suddenly these materials become the currency. Not to mention the technology exchange.

Maybe a barter system.

Ill give you fifty crystals for some ore

i don't recall you pointing it out even once...

Trading goods for goods is possible (known from human history and our childhood) yet unpractical when speaking about a lot of different goods and large quantites. But definitely possible.

With raw materials bearing independent value for each race (caused by the different technologies) nothing changes. Today different countries value materials very differently, mostly dependant on their presence and quantity. But the market shapes the prices. These prices are paid with the money the seller is willing to accept and the bidder is able to give.

What we are talking about with this game is not at all uncommon to the situation on Earth today. What happened is the establishment of "world currency" in which most huge transfers happen, currently $ and more and more €. You don't see barter system (there are exceptions, naturally) because it's impractical - although different countries value goods differently.

But that does not mean the game couldn't have barter system. Offer/demand work just the same.