Summary: Profit/cost sharing between lords and knights
Details: I get the impression that people dislike the food system. It’s seen as an inconvenience instead of the essential part of medieval society that it should be. Rather than scrapping the system altogether, I’m proposing the following feature request with two options.
Option 11.
Knights get paid a pro rata share whenever their lord sells food at the market. The knight’s share is based on the size and efficiency of their estate, i.e. how much food they contribute to the Lord’s granary. E.g.:
- Sir Galahad and Sir Lancelot’s estates are each 25% of the region with 100% productivity. They contribute 250 bushels each to the region’s output.
- Lord Byron’s estate is 50% with 100% productivity, and contributes 500 bushels to the region’s output.
- Lord Byron sells 500 bushels at the market for 200 gold
The profit is divided thusly:
Lord Byron: 100 gold = 0.5 * 200
Sir Galahad: 50 gold = 0.25 * 200
Sir Lancelot: 50 gold = 0.25 * 1,000
2.
The Banker receives an administration fee for executing trades on behalf of lords. The banker’s fee can either be fixed across the board, or set by the banker.
Option 2:1.
Make granaries belong to a specific estate within the region. Knights are responsible for managing their upkeep and supply. Lords can manage granaries in vacant estates.
2.
Knights transfer food to the Lord’s granary and get paid a set rate. There are a number of possible ways to determine the rate:
a. Lord’s prerogative
b. Banker’s edict
c. Establish a built-in across-the-board rate for all regions
d. Floating rates that adjust according to seasons and other supply-and-demand factors
3.
The Banker receives administration fee for executing trades on behalf of lords. The banker’s fee can either be fixed across the board, or set by the banker.
Likewise, the lords and knights in the purchasing region would share the cost of buying food, according to their estate size, by deducting it from their tax revenue.
Benefits:
· Provides an incentive for knights to take an estate in a rural region.
· Ensures that the rural regions don’t get shafted when the banker sells their food.
Might increase interactions between lords and knights.
Possible Downside: Some may argue that this kind of system can be implemented by players without a feature request. The problem is that it’s not that easy to transfer gold. It would require copious record-keeping and frequent trips to the capital, making it too onerous to work. In the case of Option 2, there’s the question of what happens if a knight withholds food from the Lord’s granary. My answer is: Let them sort it out. They can argue, barter, threaten, etc. but if they can’t resolve it amicably, the lord can always have the last word by kicking the knight out and seizing control of the vacant estate.
