Is nobody realizing how hilarious this discussion is?
Am I the only one laughing about the humor of suggesting a professionalized landed bureaucracy?
I mean, sure, it's more efficient. But really, how un-SMA can you get? Land and peasants exist to finance my horse, armor, and guards, damnit!
In Solaria we just appoint the greedy. The theory is their greed will result in them maximizing the return on the land. Then it is just a matter of coming up with a way to part them from the gold. But no one is talking about PROFESSIONAL landed Bureaucracy. There were nobles that excelled in war, and their were nobles that excelled in managing land (or at least appointing stewards that were good at it and not interfering too much) Now since the game has a whole noble class dedicated to land management, it is not a stretch to assume that it is a VALID noble past time, so long as we aren't doing something disgusting like paying them a wage. Or do you want do declare Courtiers to be un-SMA and ban them from Terran?
