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Economics, and Free Market forces. 'free' buildings

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Economics, and Free Market forces. 'free' buildings

from Elemental Forums

Goodmorning all,

I was thinking, in all the TBS civ builder games you build each and every building, in each and every town (except if you intentionlaly don't build certain buildings becasue they are useless in that town).   By the end game this  often makes founding new towns . . .somewhat daunting.  Think Moo2 vy the time you can build planets, starting a new town really is a questionably worthwhile endever, getting it up to speed takes so long and requires so much human time(due to bad AI, this won't be a elemental problem but it's a point of referance), that sometimes it's not worthwhile.

So i was thinking what if the game had a private/free market functionality.  

for example, you finsih banking technology, but in one of your smaller towns you didn't actually get around to building a bank yet (busy, war, whatever).  If the 'Private financing' exsisted, you may get approched with an offer, One of your rich citizens will privately pay for the contrustion and maintanance of a bank in that town, but would keep 5% of the bonus profits  so instead of building a bank and making 50% bonus money per turn you would get 45%(or 35% whatever the balancing needs), 

Additional possible side effects of allowing the market to build buildings:
     When the market builds stuff they ALWAYS profit, so they always have MORE money to build new buildings if you let them,

     A Gap grows between the rich and the poor, the more you allow free market forces to build your empire, leading to unhappyness if it becomes too uncontroled
    As the number of buildings not directly under your control mounts, you can choose to Nationalize them (more luck doing so during times of war and strife). But risk public outcry, and significant diplomatic penelties to other factions who have strong free markets. 
    Strong free markets can put pressure on your chanller to conceed to demands (by guilds [lobby groups]), 
    Additionally Free market money can move between towns, and maybe even between fractions so money you let be taken out of your profits ends up being used to build enemy buildings.

So when you are building a new town, or just too busy to build infistructure, you have the stratigic choice to build all the buildings nationally, or allow them to be build for you, for free (in additional to whatever your building in the town) but loose some(/most?)  of the benifit of the building in that town and incidently strengthening the free market forces within your faction.  


What does everybody think?
Robbie Price

10,151 views 28 replies
Reply #26 from Elemental Forums Top

Goodmorning all,

I agree with a system somewhat like what Iwarmonger is suggesting. 

A non directly controled agent using thier own money in a city  you contructed to turn a profit for themselves by building buildings you would normally have build but not got around to doing so yet do to other pressing matters(with your premission).


Then all that's needed is some fair and ballanced way of discuraging this system because otherwise it's just free buildings,

Alternate suggestion of how to include stratigic choices on weather or not to premit building are welcome.

take care all

Robbie Price

Siege of Centauri
Reply #28 from Elemental Forums Top

I think the advantages and disadvantages of such a system have both been pioneered before, just in varying ways.  The advantages consist of greater prosperity for your inhabitants, a larger tax base for yourself, and of course the construction of buildings that you don't have to actually pay for.

The disadvantages of such a system include increasing quantities of wealth that are out of your direct control, factionalisation of your internal political structure (after all, the characters who build buildings and strongpoints within your border will have interests, goals and loyalties of their own... more wealth makes them better able to pursue those despite you), and then increasing amounts of livable area (which is apparently a precious commodity in this game) taken up by buildings that, while profitable, you wouldn't necessarily have built yourself.  Destroying said buildings should be possible (eminent domain!), however that should significantly decrease the loyalty of the entire family to whom the building belongs, and in the case of a family fortress located within your nation may require a siege and the outright hostility of the entire family (causing possible intrigue, rebellion, possibly even civil war depending on how extensive and connected that family is).

Victoria Revolutions did parts of this very well, with capitalists in a Laissez-faire style of government building large numbers of factories (assuming they have the money to do it) based largely upon demand for the product, but almost entirely consumer and to a lesser extent industrial goods.   If you want armament factories or factories to produce a resource that isn't particularly profitable but is important not to rely on foriegn suppliers for you would need to construct it yourself.