Ideas for expanding the trade/business aspect of the game.
I would like to see some renown or skill/feat gain from being a successful trader and owner of workshops. Even if I'm not a renowned general and warrior, being a merchant prince(ss) should make one quite influential. Maybe you could even lend money to lords to finance their endless wars. And if your caravans feed a city, this would make you a big name there (and possibly hated if you overcharge for the daily bread). Think of Crassus from the last time in the Roman Republic. Extremely rich, extremely influential, but as a moneygrubber he was always less respected in comparison to Pompeii or Caesar, still these two relied on his money for their triumvirate to succeed.
As Cascade Hush put it:
"Yeah, renown/influence for trading would be good, especially if it is just a trickle from workshops or only when you do a really big trade.
Also being able to finance a war with a return incentive, risk of losing your investment and possible intrigue based on who you support would be totally awesome."
To put it in bullet points:
* some sort of renown/influence generation from having many workshops and/or caravans, as well as from selling large amounts of much needed wares in cities with huge demand. It shouldn't be much, or it would be easy to exploit.
* an investment and moneylender function. Finance lords for goodwill and possible financial gain. There need to be some negative consequences for forfeiting your loans, or demanding unfair %.
* a monopoly function. If you have cornered the market on grain, you can hold a lot of power, but you can easily generate a lot of enemies and hate if you are inflating prices or witholding wares. Admittedly this last one might be a very tough one to implement, but darn it could add a whole new dimension. To the game.
I would like to see some renown or skill/feat gain from being a successful trader and owner of workshops. Even if I'm not a renowned general and warrior, being a merchant prince(ss) should make one quite influential. Maybe you could even lend money to lords to finance their endless wars. And if your caravans feed a city, this would make you a big name there (and possibly hated if you overcharge for the daily bread). Think of Crassus from the last time in the Roman Republic. Extremely rich, extremely influential, but as a moneygrubber he was always less respected in comparison to Pompeii or Caesar, still these two relied on his money for their triumvirate to succeed.
As Cascade Hush put it:
"Yeah, renown/influence for trading would be good, especially if it is just a trickle from workshops or only when you do a really big trade.
Also being able to finance a war with a return incentive, risk of losing your investment and possible intrigue based on who you support would be totally awesome."
To put it in bullet points:
* some sort of renown/influence generation from having many workshops and/or caravans, as well as from selling large amounts of much needed wares in cities with huge demand. It shouldn't be much, or it would be easy to exploit.
* an investment and moneylender function. Finance lords for goodwill and possible financial gain. There need to be some negative consequences for forfeiting your loans, or demanding unfair %.
* a monopoly function. If you have cornered the market on grain, you can hold a lot of power, but you can easily generate a lot of enemies and hate if you are inflating prices or witholding wares. Admittedly this last one might be a very tough one to implement, but darn it could add a whole new dimension. To the game.