New Paradox Tinto Game - "Project Caesar"

[Josephus]

Never mind EU5, this is basically Vickie IV (in an earlier, pre Vickie era).

Other important aspects
Every building requires employed pops to function as well, and those that require "upper class" pops like burghers, clergy, and nobles, also increase the potential for them in the location, making pops slowly promoted. This can be slightly awkward as powerful nobles or clergy construct more buildings that make them more numerous and powerful.


Producing buildings that are not profitable will be closed, and pops will work in other buildings, however, you can always subsidize a building if you require the goods or other benefits it gives.

Speaking of profit. The profit of a building is added to the Tax Base of a location, split among the power of the population in the location.

You can always close and open a building, if you want to manipulate prices, or if you want your pops to work with other things, and you don't want to destroy a building permanently.



Also this game seems like it's going to be super ambitious. I think it may be a couple years away from full development.

[Valmy]

Being so focused on production and manufacturing seems a little anachronistic. I mean I know that kind of thing did happen in that era but it was mostly crafts people and guilds and such not manufacturing buildings. A game in this era should be more focused on trade, as the EU series has historically been.

Not a fan so far.

[crazy canuck]

It's a good point.  Will the model of how things are produced within buildings change with technology?  That would be cool.

[Sheilbh]

It's a good point.  Will the model of how things are produced within buildings change with technology?  That would be cool.

I feel like it would need to - and to an extent also your control. But it's always the challenge of EU4 is that it covers late medieval to Napoleonic and I'm not sure you can really do both well. I solve this by almost always getting bored by/never playing past 1600 or so

Although again that goes to the wider point of there being a western/great divergence teleology to EU4.

[Syt]

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/developer-diary/tinto-talks-10-1st-of-may-2024.1673745/

Let's start with the markets themselves. These are dynamic and will change through the playthrough, as countries can create new markets and disband their old if they so desire.

Each market has a center in a location, and the owner of that location is in control over that market.

Every location and coastal seazone will belong to the most fitting market, which depends on the market attraction of the market, the distance between the location and the market center, diplomatic factors, and more.

A market has merchants, who have a power depending on buildings and maritime presence in the market, and a merchant capacity which depends on the infrastructure for trade that country has in that market. The Merchant Power impacts in which order exports from a market are executed, as there is not an endless supply of goods in a market. The Merchant Capacity impacts how much goods the merchants can ship.

As you can see in the market screenshot, every good has a local price, and a supply vs demand value as well, let's take a look at the beer price in the next tooltip.

Prices change every month towards the Target Price, which depends on the supply and demand of the goods in the market, and the current price stability. Price stability can change through the ages as well.

Supply & Demand
The supply of each good in a market depends on several factors.
The output from RGO's
The output from buildings
Base Production
Burgher Trades

So what is 'Base Production'? Some goods like clay, lumber, sand and stone are produced in every market, without the need for specific RGO's, even if an RGO with that raw material can produce much more, and there are buildings that can be built to provide these as well.

Also, your burghers will trade on their own, if they have the capacity for it. They will attempt to address needs within the market, and can trade in a slightly shorter range, thus enriching their estate. There are laws and privileges that impact them, like the "Trade Monopolies" estate privilege that the Hanseatic League has granted in the earlier screenshot, which reduces their own merchant capacity by 25% to increase the capacity of the burghers by 100%

So what about demand? This is primarily from the maintenance, input, and construction of buildings, recruiting and maintaining armies and navies, and the demands of the population, but there are more sources as well.

Of course, trades themselves impact supply and demand as well.

You can use your merchant capacity in a market to either export a good from that market, or import a good from another market. Of course that market needs to be within your trade range, which is not world-spanning in 1337.

A trade is a variable amount of goods shipped from one market to another market, purchasing it for the local price in the exporting market. The longer the distance between the markets, the more capacity each good will require to ship, and higher the maintenance costs will be.

Trades have an impact on the last land location they are in before leaving the market, and the first one they enter in the importing market, giving boosts in development to them over time. A trade always has to trace a path on the map.

There are also the Sound Tolls, if you pass through Öresund or the Bosphorus to consider.

Diplomacy and Trade
There are many diplomatic factors that impact the trade and market mechanics of Project Caesar.

First of all, you can "Deny Market Access" to a nation owning a market, which will reduce the attraction of their markets on your locations, but also make anyone with merchants in those markets upset with you.

You can also request and/or offer market access preference making it likelier for a country's locations to belong in a certain market.

If you dislike paying Sound Tolls, you can always try to ask for exemption for it through diplomacy with the country controlling the strait.

Some countries have isolated themselves completely, so you need to negotiate a specific exception to allow you to export or import from their markets.

There is also the possibility to embargo a country, which would block the merchants from that country to trade in your markets, and also to not be allowed to move through your country. Of course, this a legit casus belli, so use with care.

Other aspects to Trade
Each market can have specific goods banned for export or import, with one common example being that muslim markets will ban import and export of wine, beer and liquor.

We mentioned in an earlier Tinto Talks that Markets will have stockpiles, so that surplus can be stored for a rainy day. There are buildings that will increase the amount that can be stored.

There is also food in the markets, with prices adapting to the supply and demand of food as well.

There are also automation options where you can assign trading completely to the AI. You can also lock some trades so that the AI will not interfere with them.

Stay tuned, next week we'll be talking about mercenaries, levies and regulars!

Seeing the Hansa and the Riga market here this mostly makes me wish there was a modern version of Hanse or Patrician.

[Syt]

 

[Tamas]

This will either be the greatest thing ever or a trainwreck that will make Imperator 1.0 look good.

[Josquius]

I'm a bit more optimistic. I think if it is heading down the trainwreck path it will have a tonne of stuff cut and be less than it promised but OK.

 

Seems sensible to me, why else mention it there?
It could just be something as little as you get a bonus for trade in shared/similar language centres or ups the odds of provinces being included in them.

[garbon]

I'm a bit more optimistic. I think if it is heading down the trainwreck path it will have a tonne of stuff cut and be less than it promised but OK.

 

Seems sensible to me, why else mention it there?
It could just be something as little as you get a bonus for trade in shared/similar language centres or ups the odds of provinces being included in them.

As I said earlier this is what Magna Mundi had promised. Endless set of features covering all of the minute details. One big plus this has going for it here is that Johan is a veteran game designer not just a motley crew of modders.

I wonder if this game will be fun. It certainly seems like it will be the most impenetrable game for people not familiar with paradox games.

[Syt]

With all these systems they plan to implement it's either too complex to meaningfully manage yourself in a game that aims to span 500 years. Or you automate it and don't bother at which point - why bother and not abstract it?

Feels like a Johan dream project, and not sure whether I'm impressed or turned off by this kitchen sink approach.

[The Minsky Moment]

My understanding is that idea is that production and distribution mostly run themselves, but the player can step in and try to grab lucrative trade opportunities.  E.g. assuming the spice trade goes into Alexandira, Venetian merchants would try to control those trades from Alexandria-Venice and then Venice to other European markets.  Similar to how it worked in prior EU games except that instead of a more abstracted system where trade centers are assigned an overall value and resources are expended to get a power percentage in the center, you send merchants to make specific trades in specific goods. I.e. something you would probably automate if you were playing a larger power where trade income is not a big proportion of total income but would micro if you are playing a city-state or trading republic.