Simplify Food/Gold/Trade

[Eldargard]

I was thinking about the whole food/gold distribution issues being talked about and had a thought. Suppose that for each realm the total food produced in all regions is totaled up, the total food needed by all regions is totaled up and the two numbers are compared. If the food produced is equal to the amount needed, everyone is fed. If it exceeds the amount needed, everyone is fed and the extra goes into a central storage under the control of the Banker. If there is not enough, the missing amount is split amongst all regions and the regions suffer the effect of the shortage (a 10 region realm is missing 100 bushels so each realm is treated as having 10 fewer bushels than needed and the appropriate penalties are applied). This all happens automatically in the background. At the same time Cities have their gold production reduced and rural gold production is increased to reflect the spending/earning going on.

The idea is to keep food producing regions important but remove the need to do much in managing it. If your realm does not produce enough food you can either try to increase the production of regions, buy another realms surplus or capture more land/get rid of land. All the intra-realm trading still occurs but is abstracted. It is simply assumed that the food is being redistributed, that the rural lords are cashing in and the city lords are spending. It all just happens. Region maintenance is still important as loss in production will harm the realm. Player directed trading still happens on an inter-realm level. It also Gives the Banker something more direct to do.

[Zakilevo]

I don't believe the current system is that complicated.

Also, the idea of having a central storage was rejected multiple times.

[De-Legro]

I was thinking about the whole food/gold distribution issues being talked about and had a thought. Suppose that for each realm the total food produced in all regions is totaled up, the total food needed by all regions is totaled up and the two numbers are compared. If the food produced is equal to the amount needed, everyone is fed. If it exceeds the amount needed, everyone is fed and the extra goes into a central storage under the control of the Banker. If there is not enough, the missing amount is split amongst all regions and the regions suffer the effect of the shortage (a 10 region realm is missing 100 bushels so each realm is treated as having 10 fewer bushels than needed and the appropriate penalties are applied). This all happens automatically in the background. At the same time Cities have their gold production reduced and rural gold production is increased to reflect the spending/earning going on.

The idea is to keep food producing regions important but remove the need to do much in managing it. If your realm does not produce enough food you can either try to increase the production of regions, buy another realms surplus or capture more land/get rid of land. All the intra-realm trading still occurs but is abstracted. It is simply assumed that the food is being redistributed, that the rural lords are cashing in and the city lords are spending. It all just happens. Region maintenance is still important as loss in production will harm the realm. Player directed trading still happens on an inter-realm level. It also Gives the Banker something more direct to do.

How to handle food looting?
So now instead of having the option to allow a region to starve for the greater good of the realm, all regions suffer which could result in a downward spiral that is difficult to change as production in rural regions drops due to starvation. What about if you have TO'd a enemy city and wish to run it into the ground by denying it food?

On the plus side, feeding new rogue regions you just took over would be a lot easier.

[Eldargard]

A few thought. First, the system might not be simpler but it is hands off. Lords do not need to do anything. It happens in the background. Second, excess food does not need to be stored centrally. It is controlled by the banker but it can be distributed and stored wherever. Regarding distribution of suffering, I thought it might be possible for the Banker to be able to set a predefined action to take in the case of a shortage. Something like : "Distribute Food Equally", "Feed Cities first" , "Feed Rurals First" or "Set Manual Distribution Order" and allow the banker to granularly give all regions a priority and have food distributed in the order specified. Distribution of excess food can be handled in a similar way.

Looting happens like normal. If you enter a region that would usually produce 100 food and loot it like mad it does not produce as much food and the realm has to deal with the loss.  With that in mind I would have each region produce X gold and X food. The increase in gold received by the rurals should be based on the amount of food produced. So If I usually produce X food but only manage to produce half as much due to looting I only get X/2 gold from foot and whatever I should from direct gold production.

Like I said, the idea is to abstract food/gold/trade so that it is largely hands off. As a region lord it is primarily my job to keep the region producing at high levels. Buying, selling and storing food becomes a thing that just happens.

[Eldargard]

Now that I think of it, this can pretty much happen already if all the Lords simply allow the Banker to manage their food. This would simply make Banker managed food is the only option and simplify the process for the banker. Not much value here.