Transfer of cash in multi-faction MP games

[Kirov]

I started my first game in this mode and after a while it came to me that the best use of EC of both factions is to pool it together. You play your turn, spend as much money as you need, then send your entire cash to the next faction. Then that faction can access all the money you have and before the end turn sends its back to the first faction. Simple and efficient, but it got me wondering where is that cash in the mid-transfer? Your faction 2 has sent all the money and is now at zero, your faction 1 hasn't received it yet (you must click 'accept'), so is at zero still. That's the theory, but I'm curious if that's what your opponents see when they have infiltrated you. Are both factions really at zero? Have you ever seen or checked that? And what effect does it have on the power graph? I believe the amount of EC held plays some role there. Do you find it a useful way to manipulate your graph? After all, getting too strong on the charts is always calling for trouble.

[roninscg]

if I remember correctly only when your next faction accept the money, then the money goes to the account of that faction, in other words, the money appears on account of first faction until the other accept transfer.

[Buster's Uncle]

Does the game count income or expenses first for each base while it cycles through them at the beginning of each turn?  You'd hate to have cash flow problems because of starting at zero even if you were running a net profit.  I don't have much experience with going into the negative EC balance, so I don't recall.

[Kirov]

Does the game count income or expenses first for each base while it cycles through them at the beginning of each turn?  You'd hate to have cash flow problems because of starting at zero even if you were running a net profit.  I don't have much experience with going into the negative EC balance, so I don't recall.

Never tested it thoroughly, but I did on occasions go down to zero. My impression is the same as yours, the game goes base per base to check both inflows and outflows and I believe the former come first. So for a long time at least you should be fine, i.e. until you pay only for the basic infrastructure. Then you may want to leave some spare change, which is hardly a problem.

I wonder what's the order of bases checked by the game. My guess would be the build order as seen on F4.

Roninscg, to make sure I understand correctly - faction 1 sees no money on its account (you lose it the moment you start a transfer), but any infiltrator still sees the full amount until it is accepted by faction 2?

Another question then - can you steal cash via probe from somebody who's just wired it? I imagine such a person would be in for a little surprise. Need to put it to a test someday.

One more note to BU and myself - it is actually quite likely that the diplo screen with proposals pops up the very first moment you open your turn. I'm quite sure of this now that I think about it. So you can safely accept the money and cover any expenses you may have. Another thing to verify.

[roninscg]

Roninscg, to make sure I understand correctly - faction 1 sees no money on its account (you lose it the moment you start a transfer), but any infiltrator still sees the full amount until it is accepted by faction 2?

No, the money stays on the account and shows on the account of 1 faction until 2 faction confirm the transfer by accepting the same.
Consequently, infiltrator sees the full amount until it is accepted by faction 2.

this is true for PBEM game, and for IP game I'm not sure 

[Kirov]

You're right, I saw it wrong. I sent cash in our game and could swear it disappeared from my account! Turns out it didn't. You can safely start your turn with sending all the money, then you still have access to it and what's actually left gets wired to faction 2, which can 'accept' the transfer before its own production in order to cover the facs maintenance. Good to know.