Road tax exemption

[Ninth Hour]

How does it work? I have level 3 and level 4 rep with the Churches of Sergorod and Ahskul respectively. At those levels, you apparently gain a partial road tax exemption (it's mentioned in the Factions page).

However, when I encountered the tax collector on the road, there was no option to request a partial exemption. Was it automatically applied?

And if so, do the exemptions from different factions stack?

I was unsure if the exemption was active, as I was still asked to pay 100 bross, prompting me to slaughter my way of out the situation (as usual).

[Cisco2950]

Not sure it works with the churches.

[MrSean]

Road tax exemption no longer seems to work in my new game. I'm also paying 100 bross at the moment. :(

[Flip360]

Those dong munchers are trying to extort 150 bross from me -_-

[MrSean]

150 BROSS!! That's highway robbery.

[Ninth Hour]

Originally posted by Cisco2950:

Not sure it works with the churches.

Well, the factions page explicitly mentions partial exemption as one of the benefits at my current reputation tier.

Thankfully, you can murder the tax collector and get away with it, as long as you promptly pay a fine (both by seeking out the authorities and by paying the guards on your way out of a major city).

[Lost Pilgrims]

Hey All,
the way it works is that exemptions have thresholds. So a Tier 3 standing is good for up to x bross, Tier 4 up to y, while Tier 5 is wholly exempt.
So if you do not have an exemption that means you have more valuables than that your exemption covers.
Hope this helps, cheers,
The Lost Pilgrims Team
P.s: FYI we have an idea how to perhaps redesign taxing in the future but that will need to be prioritized against the other improvement ideas so will see if and when we will get to it.

[Icepick]

The road tax is so absurdly high and so frequent for me that I just started executing them every time they try and take it from me. 100+ Bross every time I make the trip from TZS to Deven is unsustainable, and the criminal penalties for killing them are so low that with the money you loot from their bodies, killing them is actually a net profit instead of a massive, massive loss.

[Lost Pilgrims]

Originally posted by Icepick:

The road tax is so absurdly high and so frequent for me that I just started executing them every time they try and take it from me. 100+ Bross every time I make the trip from TZS to Deven is unsustainable, and the criminal penalties for killing them are so low that with the money you loot from their bodies, killing them is actually a net profit instead of a massive, massive loss.

Almost all of them are lackeys of the big factions and on their bidding overtax many-many times the actual tax rates to purposely push independent comitati into financial ruin. So yeah, those corrupt bastards had it coming. :D
/That said, criminal record expunging will get a bit more expensive in the future./

[Ninth Hour]

Originally posted by Lost Pilgrims:

That said, criminal record expunging will get a bit more expensive in the future./

I knew this was coming.

In many ways, this game reminds me of that old Microprose title, Darklands, which offered a similar multiple choice style of gameplay. Darklands, too, had figures similiar to the tax collectors- corrupt clergymen who patrolled the roads with an armed retinue, demanding "donations".

If you attacked them, you suffered a loss of Virtue (an important stat/resource in the game), since they were representatives of the Church and were viewed as righteous, regardless of their conduct.

The only way to escape, with no negative consequence, was to either pray to a Saint or, if your party had a high level of fame, talk yourself out of the situation.

Vagrus does not offer you even this option. Perhaps high renown and persuasion should allow you to obtain an exemption. Otherwise, your only 3 options are to pay an unsustainable fee , fight your way out, or reload your game.

[kedvesimre]

Originally posted by Lost Pilgrims:

Originally posted by Icepick:

The road tax is so absurdly high and so frequent for me that I just started executing them every time they try and take it from me. 100+ Bross every time I make the trip from TZS to Deven is unsustainable, and the criminal penalties for killing them are so low that with the money you loot from their bodies, killing them is actually a net profit instead of a massive, massive loss.

Almost all of them are lackeys of the big factions and on their bidding overtax many-many times the actual tax rates to purposely push independent comitati into financial ruin. So yeah, those corrupt bastards had it coming. :D
/That said, criminal record expunging will get a bit more expensive in the future./

Considering how tough the encounters are (raiders/beasts/others) even the big houses are losing their comitati which requires some source of replenishment. And the large amount of supply run tasks suggest that they constantly need freelancers doing their jobs. Meanwhile they overtax those freelancers to bankrupt them before they can be adopted by one of the factions. And that's the status quo for a while. How is this economy sustainable for centuries?

[Lost Pilgrims]

Originally posted by kedvesimre:

Originally posted by Lost Pilgrims:

Almost all of them are lackeys of the big factions and on their bidding overtax many-many times the actual tax rates to purposely push independent comitati into financial ruin. So yeah, those corrupt bastards had it coming. :D
/That said, criminal record expunging will get a bit more expensive in the future./

Considering how tough the encounters are (raiders/beasts/others) even the big houses are losing their comitati which requires some source of replenishment. And the large amount of supply run tasks suggest that they constantly need freelancers doing their jobs. Meanwhile they overtax those freelancers to bankrupt them before they can be adopted by one of the factions. And that's the status quo for a while. How is this economy sustainable for centuries?

That's the point, though. All faction goods via tasks are tax-exempt. So independents are pushed to take on their faction jobs instead of trading on their own. Then they get under the wings of one of them and become tax-exempt (up to a value limit based on tier) for their own trade stuff too. Thus, they get enough comitati to carry their stuff they would not if there was no 'encouragement'.

[kedvesimre]

Originally posted by Lost Pilgrims:

Originally posted by kedvesimre:

Considering how tough the encounters are (raiders/beasts/others) even the big houses are losing their comitati which requires some source of replenishment. And the large amount of supply run tasks suggest that they constantly need freelancers doing their jobs. Meanwhile they overtax those freelancers to bankrupt them before they can be adopted by one of the factions. And that's the status quo for a while. How is this economy sustainable for centuries?

That's the point, though. All faction goods via tasks are tax-exempt. So independents are pushed to take on their faction jobs instead of trading on their own. Then they get under the wings of one of them and become tax-exempt (up to a value limit based on tier) for their own trade stuff too. Thus, they get enough comitati to carry their stuff they would not if there was no 'encouragement'.

Then why am I taxed when I only carry faction goods?

[Lost Pilgrims]

Originally posted by kedvesimre:

Originally posted by Lost Pilgrims:

That's the point, though. All faction goods via tasks are tax-exempt. So independents are pushed to take on their faction jobs instead of trading on their own. Then they get under the wings of one of them and become tax-exempt (up to a value limit based on tier) for their own trade stuff too. Thus, they get enough comitati to carry their stuff they would not if there was no 'encouragement'.

Then why am I taxed when I only carry faction goods?

Your personal wealth. They are taxed at way lower rates but beasts, items, etc all make up the basis for the tax amount. Tax collectors get, of course, good tips on whom they should stop. If you are spotted and get snitched on being wealthy without a strong faction affiliation they start to 'look into' the matter deeper.

Also, in a technical speak which may not apply to your situation: what we often see is that players walk around hundreds or often in even thousand+ silver worth of items without knowing.

[Flip360]

In the future, I'd like the ability to pay our taxes to the authorities directly like we do with the fines as a way to get around the road tax extortion and avoid gaining criminality.

[kedvesimre]

Originally posted by Lost Pilgrims:

Originally posted by kedvesimre:

Then why am I taxed when I only carry faction goods?

Your personal wealth. They are taxed at way lower rates but beasts, items, etc all make up the basis for the tax amount. Tax collectors get, of course, good tips on whom they should stop. If you are spotted and get snitched on being wealthy without a strong faction affiliation they start to 'look into' the matter deeper.

Also, in a technical speak which may not apply to your situation: what we often see is that players walk around hundreds or often in even thousand+ silver worth of items without knowing.

Personal wealth tax every week? WTF?

Don't you see that the (economic) system makes bankrupt independent comitati before they are even able to join to one of the trading houses? Considering the huge amount of meta knowledge and save-scumming required to avoid banktruptcy, this world's economy is unsustainable and makes the world itself nonsense. Or should I beleive that these skills are avilable to the other comitati who becomes the pawns of the trading houses?

I feel that the game mechanic is hard for the sake of hard in a sterile world (game), instead of being hard consistent with the world and its lore. The more I play the game and read the forums, the feeling is getting stronger.