Port Governors

[Roberts]

Whats the gain for a pirate? I will not stop asking questions about The Pirate Side : Until, you guys work on it : And stop denying changes to pirates.

[Barnabas Sackett]

The economy has to be strong for pirating to become very profitable, so i see this as a help in the direction of profitable piracy, in the long run

[Barnabas Sackett]

I think nations should be able to raise npc defenses for ports, and that battles should have more of an effect on port control, meaning maybe not just influence being the game changer, but a number of successful battles or the number of battle fleets in a port adding/taking away influence. Maybe port npc defenses being taken down would give the aggressor an influence boost in that port. Don't know, just something to think on

[Sir Henry Morgan]

I agree that port defenses, etc. are a part of port control, but one step at a time. This is a great, big issue!

First, give the port control some value, i.e., economic value. Captain Jack's version of assigning governors is a good start; he has shown two ways to do so. If there is a way for a Governor to gather a bit of swag for his role as governor in addition to the treasury (or king) the more important the port.

Right now, ports are bought with influence. I like the idea of a "populous sentiment rating:" an alogrithym that measures the pulse of the population. If there is:
1.) ample supply being brought into port for the population,
2.) ample resource being sold and shipped from the port for the population,
3.) a nice tax rate on the population (right now they are all maxed out at 10 gc per paying individual),

this would be a great place to start. Other factors that could affect it is the number of skirmishes and plunders that are taking place in the port would affect the well being of the port. The hostility ratings would come into play for this as well, whether generated from NPCs or real players.

The higher the sentiment rating, the higher percentage of population that pays taxes - the lower the rating, the lower the percentage of tax paying citizens (and vice versa).

Now the taxes and tariffs issued by the governor come into play. The governor could issue the missions he needs, raise or lower taxes on items bought or in the port, working to generate profit and a higher sentiment rating. The buildings Danik proposed would help boost this effort, with funds being issued from the national treasury by the council. (Or loans taken by the nation to build them.) What is being built is not a building but a bureacracy within the port to improve sentiment and profit. Part of this would be a daily up-date expense. If port control changed, this bureacracy would crumble, or be defunct. It would need to be totally rebuilt, therefore, the buildings would change hands, with new personel.

Tariffs could encourage or hamper certain countries from trading the port.

After the economic value comes into play, the next step will be to convert influence into infrastructure - port defenses, militia, etc. As long as we can purchase influence, voodoo and gold coin will be the weapons of choice. Influence would be better used to improve the sentiment rating, perhaps.

Just some ideas I have - for what they are worth.

[ChaIbaud]

bump

[Barnabas Sackett]

Wow, totally missed Sir Henry Morgans post, good points.

[Psychodad]

+2

[Captain Jack]

These ideas have been swirling in our minds for a long time now. We have not forgotten about them.

[Barnabas Sackett]

Awesome