by Haron » Fri Jan 06, 2017 8:09 pm
Right now most nations may not have 10 players for each port, but they could easily get that. In my opinion, several nation have a suboptimal port portfolio, but that's another matter.
160 credits may sound like a lot. Compare that, however, to what it cost Egypt to rebuild after the latest attacks on their population and influence. Such cards should be unfeasible to have going continously, and should be for emergency use only. And then, they would be worth a lot. If it was meant to be possible to use it continously, the price may be fine. I think it should NOT be for such use, though, and so I think it's too cheap, and the duration too long.
As for port income: One thing is that ports bring income through benefits (particularly the Duke trade bonus, which is extra important for gold smiths) in addition to the tax. Another thing is that some ports (mainly Egyptian and Bermudan) currently are rather small. A port can get as large as 2B people. That gives a very decent income. And is very much worth protecting against Black Death.
A detail is the nation missions, which you also mentioned, but I'm not too concerned about that. I'm sure it would be possible to find a way around it.
Finally: This would make taking over ports more difficult, at least unless the offensive use is included (block ALL voodoo against a port - with a certain probability). There is already way too little fighting over ports, and the few small attempts that are made are quickly repelled (although at a high price). I would like to see MORE fighting over ports, not less.
Like I said, though, I agree that a "mindbar" for ports may be a good idea. But I think it should have both a defensive and offensive use (block ALL voodoo against port - with a certain probability), and that it should be more expensive and have a shorter duration than suggested.
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