Oolite Bulletins

I played two or three MMORPGs, so I'm used to the "grinding" as they name it. MMORPGs players sometimes complain about it. But I think that in the end, it's OK if it's enjoyable. It may even be a little bit boring sometimes; it makes the level-up or the new piece of equipment that you've been "working" for (that's the word they use - kinda strange for a game, heh?) more rewarding. However, every player is different so balancing an OXP such as yours either mean to balance it for an imaginary average player or to balance it according to your tastes. I just realized that the latter option is probably the best.

If you want the loan to be only used to buy a new ship, maybe you can require the player to have a certain amount of credits in order to contract a loan (softer version: compute the max loan based on the player's wealth) - isn't it what banks do after all?

I was used to grinding myself (and the reward in the end is a great feeling (so "working" is a fitting term for that type of gameplay in my dictionary )), but I somehow lost my taste for it. Maybe those click'n'manage flash games (those where you have to log in ever few hours) and economy style browser games, I used to play for a while, spoiled it for me. Or it's another case of change of taste of a human being that may occur every seven years. Who knows?

A loan given be the amount of money the player saved. Sounds fair.