Fur Hats!

[moriety]

Just found an interesting article regarding the price and demand of just one product exported from North America to Britain in colonial times- contrary to the awful system in both the original Col and this version, demand and prices rise vastly rather than drop dramatically:

http://www.georgianindex.net/America/Hats/Beaver.html

Perhaps Euro prices should all start at 1 and gradually rise to 10/11 instead?

(21 shillings= 1 guinea, and back then a person was hung if they stole goods worth more than half a shilling (6 pennies) to give you an idea of just how valuable the beaver pelts were)

I did notice in another article that untill the Molasses Act (?) the colonies were exporting rum in significant quantities, which resumed after protests. Rum was the staple drink of working-class town and city dwellers in England during this time (cider and beer in the countryside) as the water tended to kill you, whilst distillation made it safe.

The Royal Navy also expanded dramatically during this time and the key liquid-based ration was also rum- made primarily from Carribean molasses (sugar).

I'm trying to search for the prices of the colonial goods sent to England during this period to get a better guage of the market back then, but having little luck on the net, so if anyone has a link or book they know of.....

Toby

[PrinceMyshkin]

Toby talking about sugar, are you missing the savannah tiles?

Yeah, sugar and food, could actually be possible!

[moriety]

I can live with the loss of a terrain type, but this comment within that article struck me especially:

"Britain exported several hundred thousand pounds worth of beaver hats per year to other European nations. In 1700, 69,500 beaver hats were exported from England and almost the same number of felt hats. By 1760, just over 500,000 beaver hats and 370,000 felt halts passed through English ports. Over the seventy years from 1700 to 1770, 21 million beaver and felt hats were exported from England."

Each hat was worth more than several months of an an average craftsman (Journeyman) wages, never mind the unskilled factory/mine workers- I'd love to know what the pelt was sold for to the British traders.

To create a realistic market based on real goods and products that were available at the time, and then scale it to the game- now that is a project too far, but this second round of Col, now I'm older and wiser and bored! but got me thinking about it- alas this was the single article I could find that mentioned actual price differences over a part of that 200 year period. The EU series (well, I and II at least) did a good job of highlighting what a given province produced, but the price was set within the game mechanics.

Damn, I sound like an utter nerd- all because I'm annoyed the market still isn't fixed.- I just want a depiction of the real market they had to deal with, after all, it's my "cousins" war of independence they had to have whilst we in Britain were cowed.

The Colonies ran a deficit throughout the Colonial history- the 4 taxes (Commonly referred to as the Navigation Taxes) that were imposed and then withdrawn were to help pay for British Army troops and Royal Naval vitualisation within American waters, stationed to help the Colonists- by accident, as it wasn't untill the King lost the 13 Colonies that Parliament actually woke up to the idea of managing a colonial empire traders had founded, and conditions in the UK made it desirable to depart from- 200 years prior.

I'd just like the real US/Canadian-Europe market simply modelled in a better manner than random falls amongst the certain falls (gravity I guess)- The real market in Col would start high for furs and stay there whilst production would fall.

Rum would be constant throughout the game- 5/6 would sound right, not realistic though- 1/1 for this product would be honest.
Furs (coats): start at 1 rising to 19
Cloth: not historical, cotton was the crop, even in the US Civil War- and it bankrupted the CSA and starved to death many cotton workers in the Northern English Cities in this war: Sticks at 8, but starts at 1 as well- not least as it had to break the woollen industry- which it did.
Gold (not Silver) as another player mentioned: Starts 19 ends at 10.
Cigars: starts at 1 ends at 6. Like tea, it became affordable even to tradesmen, and was the "in thing". The vessel "Cutty Sark" in Greenwich, London is a testiment to the trade- why she was built and why her speed mattered.

Wow, no longer worrying about what product fell in price as the game turned.......priceless

Toby

[PrinceMyshkin]

Toby,

To be honest, I would be in favor of a more stabilized market with better price recoveries and price minima for manufactured products.

[moriety]

Yep,
Upon reflection the entire mechanics of the game are geared to getting many colonists into the new world early in the game- this version would slow down that process massively and would require an extension of game turns unless cross production was tweaked.
Balancing the falls in prices with the size of the REF versusus the ability to produce Continental troops is probably the key, I'd be happy to test on this if Dale needs anyone, but I'm currently starting to itch about completing my shelved ACW game!