Developer Log #3 - Building an Economy

[LiarFox]

Shadow Empire Beta is open! Join and help us polishing the game[www.matrixgames.com]

In the previous Dev Diary we discussed Military Conquest. Which is without doubt a very important activity.

However to supply your Armies of conquest, to produce Replacement Troops or to raise new Formations you’ll need Industrial Points and Resources. Here the Economy part comes in.

Assets
At game start with the default options you’ll have a tiny but usually functional economy.

[img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/35978598/744aa7ab18d4d30cf7451491a8bf3bb84fcf4eb0.jpg[/img]

Here in the bottom you see the Assets present in your initial Zone. There are different kinds of Assets you can have.

1. Public Assets. These are the ones you can construct yourself using the Construct Order. They require you to pay and feed Workers. You have full control over them.

2. Private Assets. These have been constructed by the Population of your Zone and are not in your control. The Private Economy makes its own decisions on what to construct. However almost all Private Assets send a part of their production to you as a Tax.

3. Free Folk settlements. The Free Folk are people who live in the territories you claimed but who remain independent and have not yet joined your Population. If your economy is running well and your Population is happy they will join you in large numbers. Especially in the early game, they are a key source of Population increase.

4. Hex Feats. These are special artefacts or sites that provide a simple and fixed bonus to a site.

Except for Free Folk settlements all Assets can require input and will provide output.

5. Input is the Resources and/or workforce that the Asset has consumed to produce or perform its task.

6. Output is what an Asset has actually produced.

Game Start
In the game start example used in the screenshot above we are receiving 132 Food from the Private Farm which is enough to feed our initial Workers. 100 Workers require 1 Food. We have plenty of Energy arriving from our Hex Feat, a damaged but still functional Galactic Republic Generator.

[img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/35978598/468f9d0477efa4f0f5c7bb1873ace6fdad051b77.jpg[/img]

In the Items Tab of the Zone we can see this as well. The Zone is only producing Surpluses. Or in other words: consumption is lower than production. Most of the surplus (if some Zone reserves are not merited) will be send to your Strategic HQ (SHQ).

[img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/35978598/73963005ea2d8adeebe1e6d2444cced3b653ae32.jpg[/img]

We can see these items have arrived in our SHQ above. The Items in our SHQ can be used to produce Replacement Troops and to raise new Formations. Also the SHQ can sell the Items to the Traders. (or buy from them of course)

Constructing Assets
After playing some turns and maybe raising some Troops you might realize you need more Items like Industrial Points or Food.

There is (even at low tech level) plenty of choice of Assets you can build. In the example below I selected the Construct Order and am going to choose to start construction of an Industry Asset.

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In the construction window the Construction Costs are shown as well as the Input & Output of the Asset when it is completed.

[img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/35978598/46282179119fc12cb3889126a71ac6b9ede11327.jpg[/img]

t will take several turns to complete the construction of the Industry Asset. Note that it requires lots of Metals.

Different Public Asset Types
Click on an Asset (in bottom or in popup) to get more information on it.

Notably there are Asset Types that can be built only in your City Hex (like Industry or Bureaucratic Offices) and Assets that can be built anywhere.

Mines can only be built on top of Hexes with their corresponding Deposits. Wind Traps only in mountain Hexes. And Volcanic Taps only on volcano Hexes.

Trading
In this game example I am only producing about a 100 metals a turn. While completing the Industry Asset requires 1500 metals. I could have constructed some more Scavenging Assets first, or maybe a Metal Mine (if i would have found deposits), but here Trading can come in handy as well.

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Using the Trade Order a SHQ can sell excess Items to the Traders.

[img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/35978598/46282179119fc12cb3889126a71ac6b9ede11327.jpg[/img]

And use the proceeds to buy the Metals that we need.

Keep in mind that prices go up with an excess of demand and go down with an excess of supply. The Traders of your Zones also trade with Zones owned by other Regimes and there is a real planetary economy running.

Workshops
In case you can’t find Machinery with the Traders you can use your workshops to produce them. Eventually you will have to construct Heavy Industries to fabricate machines in a more efficient fashion.

The Workshops can also be used to make Ammunitions. Which you’ll only need once you get in a shooting war. Especially offensive combat consumes a lot of Ammo.

Credits
To pay more Workers (once you have more Assets) or to buy from the Traders what you need, you’ll need Credits. A key source of obtaining these is from Taxing your Zones.

[img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/35978598/9acb72fc7a0e5de2e506337986bc9aae55420c40.jpg[/img]

You receive Service Tax and Income Tax from your Population. Other taxes in the game are Sales Tax that will be paid by the Traders and Tariffs that will also be paid by Traders if they engage in Imports/Exports.

However, keep in mind that the more you Tax your Zones the more you’ll stifle the development of the Private Economy.

Private Economy
There is some detailed modelling going on of the Private Economy and your Population will save credits and food (for emergencies) as well as invest their saved Credits in new Private Assets. Furthermore they’ll spend Credits on fabrication and consumption of luxury goods. They’ll even be able to Mothball or Close Assets when there is not enough Population to man all Assets. What you need to know for now is that this is all mostly beyond your control.

The only ways you can impact the Private Economy is by taxation, providing emergency Food and investing Credits in the Private Economy (through calling your Governor and giving Zone Orders). Though plenty of Stratagems and Decisions also can have an impact.

The Private Economy is a great source of Quality of Life (QOL) for the Zone because the moment the Population is in the safe zone concerning Food production the Population will be focussing a lot on Health, Education, Entertainment and Security Assets. They want to have a nice life.

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Here above an example of some typical early Private Assets. Note the Arena and the Museum which provide Quality of Life points that will eventually raise the Civilization level of your Zone and as a consequence determine your Empire’s Civilisation Level.

You can usually only build one Asset per Hex of a certain type. If there is already a Private Asset in place in your Hex that is blocking you from constructing a Public Asset you have the option to nationalize it. This costs some Credits and might very well cause some unhappiness but will gain you the corresponding Public Asset.

[img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/35978598/ac0a86d2cc56740f96d37a50b7d29f6dcaf02e25.jpg[/img]

Here the Private Scavenging Asset is nationalized (500 Credits of cost) into the Public Recycling Asset.

Asset Levels
Almost all Assets can be upgraded.

[img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/35978598/021c63f2b5ee75677a5ec55a6a0f0a9a14466e77.jpg[/img]

But keep in mind that the highest Asset Level available for upgrade is the same level as the Level of the City. So small villages can only construct Assets upto Level 1 for example. Where huge cities can go all the way up to Level 7.

But do note that there is a second limiting rule and each Asset Type is limited either by your Regime’s Tech, Admin or Civilization Level. For example Bureaucrat Offices Level is limited by your Civilisation Level and Industry Level is limited by your Tech Level.

Governors
Keep an eye on your Relation with your Governor.

[img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/35978598/14771eb768e145f0132627ae894ae43be750833e.jpg[/img]

If the relation is above 50 you get a sizable production bonus, while it being below 50 gives a penalty. Consider paying Governors well (you can set salaries by calling your secretary).

Apart from your Relation with a Leader, also consider which guy to pick for governor as his Skill set can impact production positively as well as help a lot with some troubles that can occur in Zones.

Take care with events… as a lot of bad stuff can happen if Unrest is high or Happiness is low. Strikes, Protests can impact production. A strong army presence in the City of the Zone or an able Governor with good Interpersonal Skills can help a lot to mitigate negative effects.

Production Modifiers
Keep an eye on production Modifiers. Already mentioned are Governor Skill and Governor Relation, but there are some noteable others.

In case of Mining the Ease of Mining of a Deposit plays an important role. Some Deposits are not easy to extract because for example they are deep or in difficult geological layers.

But also in the case of Open Agriculture. Here the temperature and rainfall of the season will play a role. As well as Planetary conditions as Atmospheric compatibility and possible Biohazards.

Last example: Wind Traps for example perform better if there is more moisture in the air on your Planet.

Be sure to always read the description of an Asset Type before constructing it to avoid disappointments.

Mining
There are a number of resources that have to be mined to obtain them. These are: Metals, Rare Metals and Radioactives. On waterless Planets mining Water deposits is also a good idea.

It is important to know that you can only construct a Mine on top of a Deposit. And you need to find these Deposits first. This requires you to either add an Economic Council (with the Prospecting Task) to your administration or to appoint a Governor that has the Prospecting Skill.

Logistics
There will be a separate chapter on Logistics. Especially once you have multiple Zones you need to pay attention to the Logistics as one Zone might produce surpluses for the shortages of another Zone. But for your single Zone you’ll just need to keep track of one thing concerning your Assets.

For a Public Asset to have unimpaired production or construction progress it needs to be on a Hex that has at least 100 Logistical Points for each Asset Level at the start of the turn on its trajectory to its City. (for Private Assets its only 50 Logistical Points per Asset Level)

[img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/35978598/489ea61730cb2e572dded1525ccc6ca3bdae6b8e.jpg[/img]

Above we see the Logistical Points at the start of turn. And we can see that the road from the Farm Level 1 in Monroe to its City (Junotop) has always at least 193 Logistical Points. Its production is at 100%.

Workers
You need enough Workers in your Zone to fill all the positions at your Public Assets. The default mode of Worker recruitment is to recruit if shortage and fire if surplus. However you can fine tune your Zone Worker policy by calling your Governor and giving him Zone Orders.

[img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/35978598/0d93bf2dfe09d84c46ba758fe85cd8d3a2962077.jpg[/img]

You can also improve the Workers’ salaries which will help a lot in improving their happiness as well as with their recruitment.

You should keep a special eye on if you are not paying your Workers less than the average revenue made by your Population in the Private Economy. Because that might tempt Workers to quit and seek their fortune working in a Private Asset.

Techs
Many Assets can be unlocked or benefit from increased production by adding an Economy Council to your administration.

[img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/35978598/cb10968ba759e96d707ac6cd0c56a699ea3633e8.jpg[/img]

If you have the Bureaucratic Points (BP) to spare you can discover and research plenty of more civilian Techs (compared to the Military Research Council) here.

[img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/35978598/eadb2829f7966dc6a49eff5d360d5c26b2a7f412.jpg[/img]

Note in the Tech tree that early Assets you can unlock are: Power Plant, University, Solar Panels, Hospital, Barracks and a whole family of Storage Assets. The “Ec” in the screenshot above notifies you need the Economic Council to discover and research the Tech and the “Mi” notifies you need the Military Research Council.