Production and city mood

My next suggestion isn’t new on PC games. However, citybuilding games won’t use it extensively.

You must think that the availability of certain products in your city, produced or traded as best as you can, is always a good thing.

I don’ agree.

First. On real world, the supply-demand rule says if supply is bigger than demand prices tend to drop; if the demand is bigger than supply price tend to increase.

Some missions of citybuilding games that I’ve played, it was enough pick the most lucrative item to trade, produce it till I drop and expect, comfortably, smooth constant revenue from it.

Second: some items/products have a direct impact on you city/people. A few examples:

Grain

Positive impact: population boost. The number of birth on or city will increase.

Negative Impact: if too much produced/stored the probability of been affected by plague of rats would increase. Entire stocks could be lost.

Vegetables/fruits

Positive impact: better nutrition. Better nourish people live longer and don’t get sick often.

Negative impact: If too much produced/stocked the probability of rotting would increase. Entire stocks could be lost.

Salt

Positive Impact: less time recruiting/training soldiers. After all, salarium argentum, "salt payment" – was the first form of payment to Roman soldiers.

Negative impact: food would taste considerably better. People would consume more food than usually.

Wine

Positive impact: less risk of riots. People would be happier regardless your poor government skills.

Negative impact: drunk or “happier” people tend to work less. Your city production would be affected.

Weapons

Positive impact: you can have heavy infantry and better trained soldiers.

Negative Impact: although lucrative trade route, when available to your enemies they would grow stronger and bolder against you.

Olive Oil

Positive impact: illumination. It might be used as fuel (with a piece of wick you could light up a house). Its extensive use on mines (gold or iron) would allow their production to increase.

Negative impact: Fire spreading. The probability of fire spreading on your city would increase dramatically.

As you can see, managing citybuilding games is no more than careful planning and balance. All produced goods should have positive or negative impact on your city.

We could compensate, however, the negative impact of some goods using others simultaneously: for example, salt and olive oil have been an ancient excellent way to preserve food. The danger of losing stored perishable crops would be reduced.

State and free enterprise

You might think that, reading my suggestions above, the equestrian class would rule the entire economy and profit loads of money from it. This isn’t true.

Although, free enterprise is crucial to an healthy economy, hegemony is always dangerous.

So, how could we avoid it? An example:

When you place an industrial building (potter factory) early on the game, it would be ran 100% by the State. You would employ 50% common people and 50% slaves.

With equites available and willing to join you city, they would start the production and, as an incentive, you would share the industry profits by given them a percentage of the entire production, for example 75/25. They would be taxed (gave you money) on their production share (75%), and the 25% left would be paid on items (potter).

Theses State stocked items would keep your city running on trouble times like natural disasters (earthquakes), city shortages, to satisfy the empire (Caesar) requests and trade if necessary. If sold, their price would be much lower than regular prices, reflecting the less efficiency of the State compared to private entrepreneurs.

Another example. It would be particularly dangerous if you hadn’t the army loyalty. So, they should be pay and fed (with wheat and salt?) at the state expenses.

Finally, you could always ‘control’ (on the Senate panel) the percentage of items of a particular industry given to free enterprise. Too much control (100%) would mean no equites willing to live in your city because of drastic fall of their potential income. The same concept would be applied to the senatorial class on farming.


Next article: Production and city Mood

Roman Society and citybuilding games

As I said before, Imperium Romanum is a simple and enjoyable game. To casual gamers it’s an excellent game to introducing themselves to the Citybuilding world but, to more experience players, it’s not a big challenge. Haemimont is learning and I expect Imperium Romanum II to be a pleasant surprise.

To make the game more challenging and somehow similar to Roman society, I’ve some suggestions:

1) There should be different social classes, more or less, the same that historically composed the Roman society: Consuls, equites, common people, freedpleople and slaves;

2) Early on the game, there would be only common people and slaves. Common people would be tax both on their propriety (houses) and income (salary). Slaves would not be taxed as long they belong to the state.

3) Slaves could be bought later on by common people if they could afforded and, therefore, taxed like any propriety.

4) Production building like farms, which still belong to the state, would deliver their production to the points of sales (markets) and taxed when sold to people.

5) When your city reached to a certain population number, and ordered by the Senate, a “census” would be your mandatory task.

6) This “census” would be performed not by the state but to an appointed (recent) promoted equite or, if the city were appealing enough, to and foreigner equite(s) willing to join your city.

7) This equestrian class would also run your city industry employing common people and slaves. You could control the percentage their working force percentage by Decree. Too much working slaves cloud mean high unemployment (affecting the common people); too much common people ended on slave riots.

8) The equestrian class would bit (buy) your city industrial production, collect tax from people and their propriety and would delivered money to the state. The tax rate would be a percentage you control by decree. Tax to high, would lead to angry people, less profits to the equestrians and high inflation. Too low cold mean lower selling prices of products, less income to state, high stocks and an inevitable loss of degradable items.

9) Slaves could win their freedom, becoming freedpeople, if they achieved recognition on the arena (gladiators). Even more, they could be freed if they could afford to buy their freedom with their own savings (peculium).

10) When your city reached certain number of population and empire recognition, you’d be allowed to promote some city equits to senators or, if the city were appealing enough, to a foreigner senator(s) willing to join your city.

11) The senatorial class could own propriety like farms (initially in the game controlled by the state). They would be taxed on their propriety, their revenue (farms production) and their slaves.

12) If you join to the game random events like drought, inundations, earthquakes, riots, cut commercial routes due to war of sea storm (among others) , I’m sure this game would be quite challenging to hard citybuilding players.

If you think my suggestions are worth of your personal opinion, you are very welcome.

Taxes in the Roman Empire

In the early days of the Roman Republic, public taxes consisted of modest assessments on owned wealth and property. The tax rate under normal circumstances was 1% and sometimes would climb as high as 3% in situations such as war. These modest taxes were levied against land, homes and other real estate, slaves, animals, personal items and monetary wealth. Taxes were collected from individuals and, at times, payments could be refunded by the treasury for excess collections. With limited census accuracy, tax collection on individuals was a difficult task at best.

By 167 B.C. the Republic had enriched itself greatly through a series of conquests. Gains such as the silver and gold mines in Spain created an excellent source of revenue for the state, and a much larger tax base through its provincial residents. By this time, Rome no longer needed to levy a tax against its citizens in Italy and looked only to the provinces for collections.

With expansion, Roman censors found that accurate census taking in the provinces was a difficult task at best. To ease the strain, taxes were assessed as a tithe on entire communities rather than on individuals. Tax assessments in these communities fell under the jurisdiction of Provincial governors and various local magistrates, using rules similar to the old system.

Tax farmers (Publicani) were used to collect these taxes from the provincials. Rome, in eliminating its own burden for this process, would put the collection of taxes up for auction every few years. The Publicani would bid for the right to collect in particular regions, and pay the state in advance of this collection. These payments were, in effect, loans to the state and Rome was required to pay interest back to the Publicani. As an offset, the Publicani had the individual responsibility of converting properties and goods collected into coinage, alleviating this hardship from the treasury.

Tax farming proved to be an incredibly profitable enterprise and served to increase the treasury, as well as line the pockets of the Publicani. However, the process was ripe with corruption and scheming.

In the late 1st century BC, and after considerably more Roman expansion, Augustus essentially put an end to tax farming. Complaints from provincials for excessive assessments and large, un-payable debts ushered in the final days of this lucrative business. The Publicani continued to exist as money lenders and entrepreneurs, but easy access to wealth through taxes was gone. Tax farming was replaced by direct taxation early in the Empire and each province was required to pay a wealth tax of about 1% and a flat poll tax on each adult. This new procedure, of course, required regular census taking to evaluate the taxable number of people and their income/wealth status.

Taxation in this environment switched mainly from one of owned property and wealth to that of an income tax. As a result, the taxable yield varied greatly based on economic conditions, but theoretically, the process was fairer and less open to corruption.

The imperial system of flat levies instituted by Augustus shifted the system into being far less progressive, however. Growth in the provincial taxable basis under the Publicani led to higher collections in time, while under Augustus, fixed payments reduced this potential. Tax paying citizens were aware of the exact amounts they needed to pay and any excess income remained with the communities. While there could obviously be reassessments that would adjust the taxable base it was a slow process that left a lot of room for the earning of untaxed incomes. While seemingly less effective to the state than that of the Publicani system, the new practice allowed for considerable economic growth and expansion.

Taxes in the Roman Empire, in comparison with modern times, were certainly no more excessive. In many cases they are far less per capita than anything we can compare to today. However, the strain of tax revenues was heavily placed on those who could most influence the economy and it would have dire consequences. The economic struggles that plagued the late Imperial system coupled with the tax laws certainly played a part in the demise of the world greatest empire.

You can access to full article on this webpage.

Roman social classes and public display

I want to share with you some interesting facts about Roman social classes and public display. This introductory article will lead you to my final and personal opinion about citybuilding games behavior/interaction.

Rome was a highly hierarchical and class-conscious society, but there was the possibility of mobility between most classes because, by the second century BCE, class was no longer determined solely by birth. There was a large gulf between the wealthy upper classes and the poorer lower ones, although quite difficult, it was still possible to move socially upwards by acquiring sufficient wealth.

Upper Classes

Senatorial class (senatores): The basis for this class was political. This class was dominated by the nobles, families whose ancestors included at least one consul. Senators had to prove that they had property worth at least 1.000.000 sesterces. There was no salary attached to service in the Senate, and senators were prohibited from engaging personally in nonagricultural business, trade or public contracts.

Equestrian class (equites): The basis for this class was economic. A man could be formally enrolled in the equestrian order if he could prove that he possessed a stable minimum amount of wealth (property worth at least 400.000 sesterces). However, if an equestrian was elected to a magistracy and entered the Senate, he moved up to the senatorial class; this was not particularly easy or frequent. Equestrians were primarily involved in the types of business prohibited to senators.

Lower Classes

Commons (plebs or vulgus): all other freeborn Roman citizens. All Roman citizens had the right to contract a legal marriage with another Roman citizen and beget legitimate children who were themselves Roman citizens.

Freedpeople (liberti or libertini): men and women who had been slaves but had bought their freedom or been manumitted (freeing a slave at the will of the owner). They were not fully free because they had various restrictions on their rights and owed certain duties to their former masters, who now became their patrons. They could become citizens if their former masters were citizens and they had been formally manumitted; they were not, however, eligible for public office. This was the one class it was not possible to leave, though the class encompassed only one generation. The next generation, their freeborn children, became full citizens and could even become equestrians if rich enough. Freedpeople had low social status, and most were probably fairly poor, but it was possible for them to achieve some success in a trade, and a few might even become wealthy.

Slaves (servi): system of chattel slavery where human beings were born into slavery or sold into slavery through war or piracy. Slaves were the property of their owners by law, but by custom some slaves (especially urban, domestic slaves) might be allowed their own savings with which they might later buy their freedom. If their masters could manumit them, some mobility into the freedpeople class was possible.

You can access to full article on this webpage.


Next article: Taxes in the Roman Empire

The career path and winning conditions

As a young patrician, you may start your career as a junior officer following, for example, this career path:

Quaestor, Procurator, Aedile, Praetor, Consul, Proconsul and finally, Caesar.

Each mission, besides it own objectives to comply, has some additional winning conditions: personal fortune, prestige and military achievements.

Personal Fortune

The 'Census', allowed the registration of all citizens and their property. It means that besides having good ‘governor’ qualities you must also had had a personal fortune. Your personal salary would be a percentage of your city annual profits. The total of salaries you earn over the years would be your personal fortune. However, throwing games to gain personal prestige or other type of propaganda would be at your expenses.

Prestige

Symbolizes the recognition of your achievements and governor qualities by your people. It could be measured by the percentage of happy citizens on your city.

Military Achievements

The number of victories inflicted on your enemies. It could be measured by a percentage of victories of the total battles fought multiplied by the percentage of survived soldiers that returned home.

For example: 6 battles fought, 5 victories and 1 defeat, 80 soldiers survive over 100 sent to battle:

(5/6 X 80/100)*100 = 67%

The next chart shows an example of winning conditions for each rank. You’d be promoted to the next rank/mission if these 3 conditions were satisfied.

Rank	% Salary	Personal Welth	Prestige	Military Achts
Quaestor	5%	5000	50%	50%
Procurator	10%	12500	60%	60%
Aedile	15%	22500	70%	70%
Praetor	20%	35000	75%	75%
Consul	25%	50000	80%	80%
Proconsul	30%	75000	90%	90%

As a Proconsul you’d only be promoted to Caesar if you had 75.000 Denarii as personal fortune, 90% prestige and 90% military achievements.

Welcome!

Feel free to post your comments, suggestions or ideas about Imperium Romanum (IR) & Imperium Romanum 2 (IR2).

All that we know about the IR sequel is the short announcement of Kalypso Media GmbH:

"Imperium Romanum was the first top ten title of Kalypso and we are very proud to have entered a longterm agreement with Haemimont Games. The studio is one of the most professional developers in Europe and we are sure to further the brand by releasing the sequel next year.", says Simon Hellwig, Managing Director of Kalypso Media GmbH.

"Imperium Romanum II" is a city-building game for PC. The player takes the role of a Roman patrician, a nobleman, who has just started his political career. His ultimate goal is to become the Governor of Rome.

Throughout the game the player can develop his game character by gaining favor with various historical figures such as Julius Caesar, Pompey and Octavian. The benefits provided by these relations are carried over not only for the rest of the campaign but also in free-build maps and multiplayer scenarios.

"Imperium Romanum II" features completely new graphics, new buildings and environments, a new and improved economic system, an improved battle system and a comprehensive multiplayer mode.

"With a lot of gameplay changes, new graphics and features Imperium 2 will even be more successful than it's prequel.", says Stefan Marcinek, Managing Director of Kalypso Media GmbH and adds "Imperium Romanum II will be the first of many top ten hits for us in 2009!".

Key Features :

• Persistent Player Character - benefits gained from completed quests are persistent and can be used on any mission, including campaign, free-play and multiplayer
• Campaign that features 20 maps of historical cities and locations
• Patrons - more than 20 historical figures that offer additional objectives to the player
• Over 60 buildings & 50 units
• Ships and Islands
• New and Improved Economics
• Multiplayer - cooperative and competitive mode
• Enhanced battle system with standard RTS control of the squads
• Grand Monuments such as the Coliseum, Circus Maximus and the Pantheon
• City States - famine, siege, riots, etc.
• Disasters - random disasters such as plagues, fires and earthquakes. All such disasters will be visualized.

'Imperium Romanum II' is scheduled for a release in March 2009."