Now I dont know if any threads have been written on this but I will quote this from a PSN mag "The economy of "Skyrim" will be better developed than the one in previous games. If you destroy a city's means of income (for instance, by razing their crops), its inhabitants will have to purchase crops from a nearby city, thereby raising prices." THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED

Sounds great!

Then again, I play thief characters a lot, so I'm guessing if you steal stuff, the prices will get jacked up

Sounds really cool, does this mean that if you like a certain city more than the others you can buy all your equipment there and sell all your treasure there and it will become a booming rich city while the others struggle to get by. That would be awesome.

Ah but if everything becomes more expensive shouldn't you be able to sell things for more as well? Well if you could sell your goods through a store I suppose lol.

It would be awesome if there was genuine trade in between towns. For example, if one town produces lots and lots of cotton, it can have businesses focused around making wool and cloth. Traders and caravans can travel from town to town buying and selling goods for profit, or as proxies to export goods from one town to another. These caravans would be well defended, as they would have to fight off highwaymen and bandits. Ideally, a town which has its trade routes blocked (ie: player kills all caravans heading in or out) would get poor and loss citizens until it eventually just disbands. Obviously, the town will probably send people to deal with the threat before that happens, but you can still affect a town's economy by hijacking a trade caravan.

Dragons could also attack trade caravans and stuff. I love games with dynamic economies, and I hope it's well developed in Skyrim.

This sounds really good, it would make people think more about what there going to do.

I'd only support it if destroying a towns economy gave an actual bonus. For example making the guards less efficient.

There should be trade caravans delivering goods and supplies to various towns/cities/villages. If these caravans get attacked (possible quests here) you could rescue them or help their attackers. There should be consequences to the loss of these goods.

THATS NOT A BONUS??

This is the kind of thing that, done right, can really add to a game world. You can keep your crossbows and dynamic snow, this is an area the devs should be putting effort into.

I am in complete concurrence with zen1966, the best games are those that react to the player, not to which the player reacts, that comes later. The idea of a dynamic economy being affected by a dynamic environment is exactly what I've dreamed of in RPG gaming.

Of course it is a bonus. At least if you are a thief or murderer it is.