Federation Credit - The Federation Credit in Non-canon Works

The Federation Credit in Non-canon Works

The Federation Credit appears in many alternate canons and non-canon but licensed works about Star Trek, generally basing their reference on the appearances of the Federation Credit in the Original Series, and reinforced by their occasional reference in later works.

In the Star Trek RPG made by FASA from 1982 to 1989, it presented the Federation Credit in a method quite similar to modern currency, including pay rates for Starfleet members. Since the most of the products of this Star Trek book line were established before the apparent retcon of the Federation not using money in the modern sense was established, this was done in good faith to be consistent with Star Trek as they knew it at the time.

The Star Trek RPG made by Last Unicorn Games in 1998 through 2000 used the Federation Credit in it, as well as other units of currency mentioned in Star Trek canon, such as gold-pressed latinum, the Bajoran Lita, and the Klingon Darsek. In accord with the ideas put forth later in TNG and in DS9, money was heavily de-emphasized (especially for Federation characters), and it is explained that Federation Credits are only used for purchasing luxury goods which could not be replicated or for special services, since Federation Citizens don't need money to live.

In the Prime Directive game set in the Star Fleet Universe alternate universe of Star Trek, the Federation credit is the basic monetary unit of the Federation, and is used in a method highly like modern currencies.

The Federation Credit also appears quite frequently in licensed, but non-canon, Star Trek novels, especially when the main characters are no longer a part of Starfleet and must tend with life beyond the core worlds of the Federation, such as "The Lost Years" by J.M. Dillard where Leonard McCoy, having recently quit Starfleet (set circa 2270, during the gap between TOS and Star Trek: The Motion Picture), is stranded on a distant planet and attempts to radio the Federation from help and to warn them about a crisis that is emerging, only to find that interstellar communications are difficult and very expensive for civilians, or in "Prime Directive" by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens where Hikaru Sulu, and Pavel Chekov, recently dishonorably discharged from Starfleet and publicly disgraced, can only find work with the Orion Syndicate to raise money to be able to clear their names, for which they are paid in Federation Credits.

The Starship Designer games used the credit as a ration of available resources, as mentioned in the discussion on the nature of credits. Ships, their components, and their crew would cost the player character admiral a number of credits, based on their quality--a faster engine would cost more than a slower one.

The online RPG Star Trek Online uses several currency systems, including universally accepted "Energy Credits", Gold-Pressed Latinum (a precious metal-based currency used by the Ferengi Alliance) and recently, refined dilithium. The various currencies are traded to vendors for equipment and services much in the same manner as in a traditional capitalist economy. The game also features an auction-based "Exchange" that trades in cash. All three currency systems seem to imply a direct link to the value of resources (such as the energy needed to replicate items or the Gold Standard-like valuation of latinum, rather than the abstraction of modern currency systems.