You think too much in balance and gamey terms.
That is not how the worlds of BM were built.
The original numbers (which have since been changed many times, though) were created in a painstaken process of dedicated research into medieval history, economics and details of farming and trade, which culminated in an hour or two during which I sat down with the database in one window and the map in another and looked at the regions and simply made up numbers for them that kind of felt right.
No, seriously. There was no research or any balancing or calculations of bla, whatever. I looked at the regions and said "hm, ok this looks like fertile farmland, let's give it a good food score".
Because, let's face it, that is largely how the real world works. There are so many factors determining fertility of an area that from a higher level, it looks pretty much like someone pulled it out of a hat.
I wasn't criticizing or saying it should be otherwise.
You made a system. You added certain inputs. I don't presume you intended for it to be precisely balanced or ordered. I believe that it will find a way to equilibriate and self-order anyways. I like to see what fundamentals there may be, and what effect they might have. This particular case seemed interesting because it actually yielded significant correlations, and also seemed like it could add some RP depth. Again, players can have a measure from the game mechanics letting them know how fertile/prosperous their lands (though, in this case, not necessarily their people) actually are/could be.
I actually consider it quite logical. Those that are wealthy have easier access to better technology and agricultural tools. Just like in the real-world: food production per surface is much higher in the industrialized countries than in the agriculture-based economies.
Yea, the high-tech didn't exist back then, but even the most primitive of tools or methods of culture made all the difference.
Could be. I wonder if data on agricultural productivity per acre and capital intensity for the Middle Ages is available, or any kind of proxy variable? I'd wager it is, but not all in one place, and I don't really feel like looking for it all right now.
