NanoDot

I cannot imagine how that will work in practice, unless the DU population starts shrinking. Freezing the money supply freezes economic growth.

1. There will be market bots on the arkship that will buy items (most likely mined resources only) from players. That would mean that the ONLY way to get money in the early days will be to either: mine ore to sell to the arkship bots ...or rob miners of ore that can then be sold to the arkship bots. 2. Inflation will start immediately, because the money supply will start increasing immediately. EVE managed to keep the average player shielded from the effects of inflation, even though it has two GIANT money faucets (NPC missions and ratting in belts). That'a because there's a very low barrier to entry in the manufacturing of T1 (common) items in EVE, which means cut-throat competition and low prices across the board, as 100's of player manufacturers all try to undercut each other's prices. However, the inflation in EVE was quite obvious when you looked at the prices of "rare drop" NPC modules though. I have no idea how difficult it will be to become a "manufacturer" in DU, but I get the feeling it will not be as easy as it is in EVE. Mass production is easily accessible to everyone in EVE, which results in huge competition and very low profits on common items.

I share the OP's concerns. Hiring a player or player group to provide "security" is a very popular suggested solution. It's a myth, however. In reality, hiring players to provide security won't be remotely viable for anyone but the largest org's. No player is going to guard your cabin in the woods for an hour or two. Watching paint dry will be a more exciting activity in comparison. And paying that guard would mean at least matching their potential earnings from other game play activities. Not to mention that you'd need 24/7 guards... it's just not going to happen. You could also cover your cabin in multiple gun turrets, walls, traps, etc. (ruining the aesthetics), but static automated defenses are notoriously unreliable when faced with a patient and inventive aggressor. The RDMS rules defined in your territory control unit (TCU) will protect your structures from "casual trolls" editing your stuff, but it won't prevent destruction/theft of your stuff. But TCU's are supposed to be expensive and hard to build, so they might not even be a practical solution for solo players or even small groups, especially in the early months after launch. Your best bet is to join a reasonably large player org and build within the "safety" of their guns and defenses. However, it's impossible to predict the risks in DU at this early stage of development. Much of the detail has not been finalised yet. It sounds like there will be a relatively high "opportunity cost" to everything in DU. Casual trolling for lulz may even turn out to be a very costly hobby.

Perhaps NQ can create a special TU that only works in the arkship safezone. Only allow 1 of these to be deployed per account, and make it so that they have very limited delegation options. I'm not sure that I like the idea of the biggest org's having 100% safe primary bases (corporate HQ's, warehouses, manufacturing facilities and arsenals) in the safezone, while the rest of the player base has to deal with security issues in the "open world". The big org's will be far wealthier than the average citizen, so the proposed escalating rental costs for claiming multiple hexes in the safe zone is unlikely to present a significant hurdle. There are also a multitude of "workarounds" that can be used to claim vast tracts of land for the use of one group. The arkship safezone is supposed to be a place where new players can find their feet and prepare themselves for their life in the open world. It should not be a place where powerful organisations can potentially setup bases that are not able to be attacked, whilst the peasants are cast out into the wilderness to fend for themselves...