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Economic/Trade model
Over at the Civ3 forum, The Joker suggested I post my thoughts on an economic model. Ever since I heard the news about civ3, I have spent hours thinking about ideas to improve the civ genre.
What I will propose here is the best of all my thoughts into a coherent economic and trade model. I hope you guys find it interesting.
INTRODUCTION
Before I talk about the actual economic/trade model, I want to lay the ground work.
This model uses real population which is divided into 3 basic social classes:
-peasants
-city dwellers
-soldiers
peasants work all the tiles in the city radius equally, thus producing a little of each ressource that is avalaible. So, the player never needs to place population in the city radius to produce ressources. The computer adds up the amount of ressources for every tile in the city radius. This gives you the total amount of each ressource that CAN be produced. (For ex, 1000 stone, 2000 food, 130 gold) Before, settling a new city, the player would see what the total amount of each ressource would be for that city radius. This would help the player (and probably the AI too) pick the best spot for any new city.
The number of peasants, technological level, SE, and terrain improvements would determine the percentage of each ressouce that is ACTUALLY produced.
To keep it simple, I have 6 basic ressources:
-food (needed to sustain population)
-wood (needed to build primitive city improvements and military units like archers)
-stone (needed to build early city improvements)
-metal (needed to build bronze age and later units like legion or tanks)
-oil (needed to sustain modern units and buildings like tanks and power plant)
-gold ( serves as money!)
The players always would starts with villages (population is entirely peasants, no city dwellers). So, they could produce ressources, build early armies, exchange ressources for another. Villages would not have any city improvements.
My model tries as realistically as possible to represent how historically villages "evolved" into cities. To have a village become a city, it needs city improvements, and to have those, peasants must be "converted" into city dwellers. Peasants will AUTOMATICALLY "convert" into city dwellers when the village has gold. (My model is theorizing that money is the main factor in the transformation of villages into cities)
You will see how this process actually works when I discuss the Economical/Trade model itself which I am now ready to do.
ECONOMICAL/TRADE MODEL
I will define the term "economy" in this model as the amount of gold that a city receives each turn.
A city can receive gold in 2 ways:
-directly from a gold mine.
-trade by selling a ressource to a city that already had gold.
(NOTE: this model implements the concept of currency flow. Cities with gold mines will "generate" gold and pass it to other cities through trade. So, as cities buy and sell, they will quickly pass along gold that originated in a city with a gold mine)
Next, part of the total amount of gold that a city receives will go to the player through taxation. The rest will go in the city's coffers. The city will automatically spend some of that money to buy ressources it needs. (See trade model down below for further info). After the city has traded, the remaining gold is put in the "JOB POOL" and used to convert peasants into city dwellers and maintain them. If there are city improvements that the city does not have yet, then each new city dweller will AUTOMATICALLY begin construction of a city improvement with avalaible ressources. (NOTE: several city improvements will be built at the same time, so the player does not need to worry that the city is focusing on the wrong city improvement). If all city improvments are built, then new city dwellers will simply be added to an existing city improvement. The more people work in a city improvement, the more benfits it produces for the city as a whole. For simplicity, all city dwellers have a single salary. The computer calculates how many city dwellers there can be by dividing the amount of gold in the JOB POOL by the salary. This will give it the number of jobs the city can support. So, if the gold in the JOB POOL increases then the number of jobs is increasing and peasants will be converted into city dwellers to fill the additional jobs. So, NEW city dwellers will only be created if there is still enough money in the JOB POOL after the existing city dwellers are paid.
So, this model allows cities to be born and grow by themselves based on a fairly realistic economic model. There can ECONOMIC RECESSIONS (when the amount of gold coming in decreases), and ECONOMIC BOOMS (when the gold coming in goes up every turn).
The model also has the concept of UNEMPLOYMENT. When a city is producing the maximum amount of ressources that the city radius will allow (technology can increase that limit), then it has reached the maximum number of peasants. New population will become city dwellers if there are jobs. Otherwise, they will AUTOMATICALLY move to the next city if that city has jobs. If not, then the population will become UNEMPLOYED. If the gold in the JOB POOL decreases, then city dwellers will become UNEMPLOYED if the next closest city has no jobs, and the city has reached its peasant limit. If the next city does not have available jobs but the peasant limit has not been reached, then the city dwellers will be downgraded to peasant.
TRADE MODEL
TRADE is divided into 2 types:
-local trade
-"empire" trade
local trade is what cities do automatically. Cities AUTOMATICALLY set up trade routes between themselves. (foreign cities are eligible if the other civ has a peace treaty or better with you. Foreign civs who are at war with you can never have a trade route with one of your cities, and existing trade routes are severed when war is declared). The rules for setting up trade routes are:
-Supply/demand compatibility
-distance
This trade model is based on Supply and demand. Any surplus that a city has in a specific ressource is AUTOMATICALLY placed in the city's SUPPLY box. Any ressource deficit is AUTOMATICALLY placed in the city's DEMAND box. When a trade route is set up, a city AUTOMATICALLY buys and seels based on what is in the SUPPLY and DEMAND box.
Each ressource has a PRICE at which it is sold and bought. This PRICE will fluctuate based on SUPPLY and DEMAND. (the computer adds up the total SUPPLY and DEMAND of all the cities in the game to calculate the PRICE. So, there is only one PRICE for each ressource that all civs buy and sell at).
EMPIRE TRADE is trade that the player conducts on a diplomatic level with other civs. The player can set up TRADE PACTS and agree to buy/sell certain ressources and weapons every turn with another civ. (NOTE: the player can trade ressources or weapons. Cities are only allowed to trade ressoures)
When we combine the ECONOMIC and the TRADE parts of this MODEL, I think we have a simple but realistic system that allows trade and economies to fluctuate on their own, and based on realistice factors.
WHAT DOES THE PLAYER DO!
You are probably thinking what does the player do since all this is done automatically to avoid micromanagement. I am glad you asked:
The player has several ways to indirectly affect the model and a lot of direct ways.
1) Indirect actions
First, the player sets the tax rate.
Also, the player sets a domestic tribute on each ressource. DOMESTIC TRIBUTE is a % of what each city produces in ressources that will go to the player instead the city. It is like a tax but on the ressources instead of gold. Contrary to civ2 or SMAC where the player uses whatever ressources the city produces in order to build stuff, the city automatically will build stuff (as we have seen) with the ressources it has after paying the tribute. So, in order for the player to be able to build stuff like Wonders (which are always built by the player never by cities), terrain improvements, units, certain city improvements (not all city improvements are built by the city), as well as trade ressources with other civs, the player needs to get ressources somehow. The main way the player will collect ressource is throught the DOMESTIC TRIBUTE. The other ways that the player can get ressources is through EMPIRE TRADE and tribute from foreign civs.
The player sets INTERNAL TARIFFS and FOREIGN TARIFFS. internal tariffs are % of money from local trade that the player takes. Foreign tarrifs are the same thing except only on trade between one of your cities and a foreign city.
The player also sets TRADE RESTRICTIONS. These are % of a cities ressources surplus that it must keep in reserves, that it cannot trade. This is very useful not just in making sure that cities have a reserve in case of emergency but also as a way for the player to indirectly control SUPPLY and therefore the PRICE.
(NOTE: TRADE RESTRICTIONS, TARIFFS, and DOMESTIC TRIBUTES, by allowing the player to regulate trade and SUPPLY, will allow the player to engage in TRADE WARS with other civs. For example: force up the price to make a competitor unable to afford a ressource it might badly needs. Set up tariffs against a civ you want to hurt without actually declaring war. I think that trade wars are a very important aspect of History that must be included in a civ game)
The player can also NATIONALIZE or PRIVATIZE the different kinds of city improvments. The different types are of course, economic, industrial, research, social etc. The player never nationalizes or privatizes individual city improvments, always types of city improvements. nationalization means that that type of city improvement will be built by the player not the city. Privatization means that that type of city improvment can only be built by the city itself. This allows the player to customize during the game the level of micromanagement.
2) Direct actions.
This refers to what the player gets to do directly. Obviously, the player completely controls diplomacy and SE and armies,etc. What "direct actions" refers to specifically is what the player does with the ressources collected. With those ressources, the player must build armies, build and maintain city improvements that are NATIONALIZED, build Wonders, and trade with other civs. This gets back to the traditional aspect of civ. The managment part where the player builds stuff. That is what the player must do with those ressources. Cities will also ask the player for ressources if they are unable to solve a deficit through trade. I think this will increase the role-playing aspect of the game when you get a message from a city mayor asking for help. So, this model will allow the player to do a lot more than just set different tax rates.
CONCLUSION
My model is certainly not as complex as The Joker's econ model but I think it is sufficiently realistic and not too complicated.
It models the birth and growth of cities, real economies, supply and demand, and ressources that are important to build specific buildings. Like in real History, your civ will have to trade or conquer to get crucial ressources!
I hope you found my model interesting. Please don't hesitate to ask questions or comment.
------------------
No permanent enemies, no permanent friends.
What I will propose here is the best of all my thoughts into a coherent economic and trade model. I hope you guys find it interesting.
INTRODUCTION
Before I talk about the actual economic/trade model, I want to lay the ground work.
This model uses real population which is divided into 3 basic social classes:
-peasants
-city dwellers
-soldiers
peasants work all the tiles in the city radius equally, thus producing a little of each ressource that is avalaible. So, the player never needs to place population in the city radius to produce ressources. The computer adds up the amount of ressources for every tile in the city radius. This gives you the total amount of each ressource that CAN be produced. (For ex, 1000 stone, 2000 food, 130 gold) Before, settling a new city, the player would see what the total amount of each ressource would be for that city radius. This would help the player (and probably the AI too) pick the best spot for any new city.
The number of peasants, technological level, SE, and terrain improvements would determine the percentage of each ressouce that is ACTUALLY produced.
To keep it simple, I have 6 basic ressources:
-food (needed to sustain population)
-wood (needed to build primitive city improvements and military units like archers)
-stone (needed to build early city improvements)
-metal (needed to build bronze age and later units like legion or tanks)
-oil (needed to sustain modern units and buildings like tanks and power plant)
-gold ( serves as money!)
The players always would starts with villages (population is entirely peasants, no city dwellers). So, they could produce ressources, build early armies, exchange ressources for another. Villages would not have any city improvements.
My model tries as realistically as possible to represent how historically villages "evolved" into cities. To have a village become a city, it needs city improvements, and to have those, peasants must be "converted" into city dwellers. Peasants will AUTOMATICALLY "convert" into city dwellers when the village has gold. (My model is theorizing that money is the main factor in the transformation of villages into cities)
You will see how this process actually works when I discuss the Economical/Trade model itself which I am now ready to do.
ECONOMICAL/TRADE MODEL
I will define the term "economy" in this model as the amount of gold that a city receives each turn.
A city can receive gold in 2 ways:
-directly from a gold mine.
-trade by selling a ressource to a city that already had gold.
(NOTE: this model implements the concept of currency flow. Cities with gold mines will "generate" gold and pass it to other cities through trade. So, as cities buy and sell, they will quickly pass along gold that originated in a city with a gold mine)
Next, part of the total amount of gold that a city receives will go to the player through taxation. The rest will go in the city's coffers. The city will automatically spend some of that money to buy ressources it needs. (See trade model down below for further info). After the city has traded, the remaining gold is put in the "JOB POOL" and used to convert peasants into city dwellers and maintain them. If there are city improvements that the city does not have yet, then each new city dweller will AUTOMATICALLY begin construction of a city improvement with avalaible ressources. (NOTE: several city improvements will be built at the same time, so the player does not need to worry that the city is focusing on the wrong city improvement). If all city improvments are built, then new city dwellers will simply be added to an existing city improvement. The more people work in a city improvement, the more benfits it produces for the city as a whole. For simplicity, all city dwellers have a single salary. The computer calculates how many city dwellers there can be by dividing the amount of gold in the JOB POOL by the salary. This will give it the number of jobs the city can support. So, if the gold in the JOB POOL increases then the number of jobs is increasing and peasants will be converted into city dwellers to fill the additional jobs. So, NEW city dwellers will only be created if there is still enough money in the JOB POOL after the existing city dwellers are paid.
So, this model allows cities to be born and grow by themselves based on a fairly realistic economic model. There can ECONOMIC RECESSIONS (when the amount of gold coming in decreases), and ECONOMIC BOOMS (when the gold coming in goes up every turn).
The model also has the concept of UNEMPLOYMENT. When a city is producing the maximum amount of ressources that the city radius will allow (technology can increase that limit), then it has reached the maximum number of peasants. New population will become city dwellers if there are jobs. Otherwise, they will AUTOMATICALLY move to the next city if that city has jobs. If not, then the population will become UNEMPLOYED. If the gold in the JOB POOL decreases, then city dwellers will become UNEMPLOYED if the next closest city has no jobs, and the city has reached its peasant limit. If the next city does not have available jobs but the peasant limit has not been reached, then the city dwellers will be downgraded to peasant.
TRADE MODEL
TRADE is divided into 2 types:
-local trade
-"empire" trade
local trade is what cities do automatically. Cities AUTOMATICALLY set up trade routes between themselves. (foreign cities are eligible if the other civ has a peace treaty or better with you. Foreign civs who are at war with you can never have a trade route with one of your cities, and existing trade routes are severed when war is declared). The rules for setting up trade routes are:
-Supply/demand compatibility
-distance
This trade model is based on Supply and demand. Any surplus that a city has in a specific ressource is AUTOMATICALLY placed in the city's SUPPLY box. Any ressource deficit is AUTOMATICALLY placed in the city's DEMAND box. When a trade route is set up, a city AUTOMATICALLY buys and seels based on what is in the SUPPLY and DEMAND box.
Each ressource has a PRICE at which it is sold and bought. This PRICE will fluctuate based on SUPPLY and DEMAND. (the computer adds up the total SUPPLY and DEMAND of all the cities in the game to calculate the PRICE. So, there is only one PRICE for each ressource that all civs buy and sell at).
EMPIRE TRADE is trade that the player conducts on a diplomatic level with other civs. The player can set up TRADE PACTS and agree to buy/sell certain ressources and weapons every turn with another civ. (NOTE: the player can trade ressources or weapons. Cities are only allowed to trade ressoures)
When we combine the ECONOMIC and the TRADE parts of this MODEL, I think we have a simple but realistic system that allows trade and economies to fluctuate on their own, and based on realistice factors.
WHAT DOES THE PLAYER DO!
You are probably thinking what does the player do since all this is done automatically to avoid micromanagement. I am glad you asked:
The player has several ways to indirectly affect the model and a lot of direct ways.
1) Indirect actions
First, the player sets the tax rate.
Also, the player sets a domestic tribute on each ressource. DOMESTIC TRIBUTE is a % of what each city produces in ressources that will go to the player instead the city. It is like a tax but on the ressources instead of gold. Contrary to civ2 or SMAC where the player uses whatever ressources the city produces in order to build stuff, the city automatically will build stuff (as we have seen) with the ressources it has after paying the tribute. So, in order for the player to be able to build stuff like Wonders (which are always built by the player never by cities), terrain improvements, units, certain city improvements (not all city improvements are built by the city), as well as trade ressources with other civs, the player needs to get ressources somehow. The main way the player will collect ressource is throught the DOMESTIC TRIBUTE. The other ways that the player can get ressources is through EMPIRE TRADE and tribute from foreign civs.
The player sets INTERNAL TARIFFS and FOREIGN TARIFFS. internal tariffs are % of money from local trade that the player takes. Foreign tarrifs are the same thing except only on trade between one of your cities and a foreign city.
The player also sets TRADE RESTRICTIONS. These are % of a cities ressources surplus that it must keep in reserves, that it cannot trade. This is very useful not just in making sure that cities have a reserve in case of emergency but also as a way for the player to indirectly control SUPPLY and therefore the PRICE.
(NOTE: TRADE RESTRICTIONS, TARIFFS, and DOMESTIC TRIBUTES, by allowing the player to regulate trade and SUPPLY, will allow the player to engage in TRADE WARS with other civs. For example: force up the price to make a competitor unable to afford a ressource it might badly needs. Set up tariffs against a civ you want to hurt without actually declaring war. I think that trade wars are a very important aspect of History that must be included in a civ game)
The player can also NATIONALIZE or PRIVATIZE the different kinds of city improvments. The different types are of course, economic, industrial, research, social etc. The player never nationalizes or privatizes individual city improvments, always types of city improvements. nationalization means that that type of city improvement will be built by the player not the city. Privatization means that that type of city improvment can only be built by the city itself. This allows the player to customize during the game the level of micromanagement.
2) Direct actions.
This refers to what the player gets to do directly. Obviously, the player completely controls diplomacy and SE and armies,etc. What "direct actions" refers to specifically is what the player does with the ressources collected. With those ressources, the player must build armies, build and maintain city improvements that are NATIONALIZED, build Wonders, and trade with other civs. This gets back to the traditional aspect of civ. The managment part where the player builds stuff. That is what the player must do with those ressources. Cities will also ask the player for ressources if they are unable to solve a deficit through trade. I think this will increase the role-playing aspect of the game when you get a message from a city mayor asking for help. So, this model will allow the player to do a lot more than just set different tax rates.
CONCLUSION
My model is certainly not as complex as The Joker's econ model but I think it is sufficiently realistic and not too complicated.
It models the birth and growth of cities, real economies, supply and demand, and ressources that are important to build specific buildings. Like in real History, your civ will have to trade or conquer to get crucial ressources!
I hope you found my model interesting. Please don't hesitate to ask questions or comment.
------------------
No permanent enemies, no permanent friends.
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