Okay, so now I could use your help. With the basic supply & demand model implemented, most of the rest of the
coding is just copy&pasting in the appropriate places. That leaves the writing, and I could use some assistance, especially from people who know more about medieval times than I do.
Here's how the player will experience the system: a few of your provinces will be trade good producers (not many). Each such producer will have a quality rating from one to four, representing the relative attractiveness of the goods. The holding within the province that produces the good will earn bonuses to tax revenue based on the quality of the goods, your trade practices tech, and the demand. Lots of rich provinces linked together by merchant republic trade networks means a large demand, competition from other producers means a smaller one. Merchant republics will also get bonuses to their trade income based on the trade goods flowing through their network. If you don't want to pay attention to all this, all it will mean is that a few provinces are relatively more valuable than others.
First, I need to decide on the list of goods, and where they're produced at the start of the game. I'm thinking 8-12 is a good number, with some specialization by region - so Europe produces stained glass, India produces spices, etc.
Second, I need to decide how big the bonuses should be. Merchant republics are already overflowing with gold, so I may need to mod them to reduce their base income to compensate.
Third, I need to figure out the distribution of the good producers at the start of the game.
And fourth - the big one - I need events to create new good producers and, temporarily or permanently, improve the quality of existing good producers.
Together, this amounts to a bare minimum, zeroeth-generation trade system. Once the zero-gen system works, I start with features for the first-generation:
- Events to destroy good producers and/or reduce their quality, temporarily or permanently.
- Actually own the producing guild as a merchant patrician, instead of merely taxing it.
- Intrigue to sabotage your commercial rivals - or collude with them to fix prices. Possibly a secret society?
- Long-range merchant expeditions.
- Integrate all this into the Business focus and other existing game elements.
Brainstorming, criticism, and any other forms of help greatly appreciated.