Good thing I checked in before going to bed it seems.
Diplomacy 5
Economy 5(+1) -> 4
Well, grand sacrifices dings it again. No biggie.
Martial 8->9
This March thing is interesting. Random stat growth in exchange for absorbing our Baby Boom?
Stability 0->1 (confident)
And it's up again.
Art 3->1
Mysticism 2->1
Megaproject costs, nothing to see here. Worryingly low aside
Prestige 4->5
And we're famous!
Written Code of Laws (Copper Age)
Bold, early innovators, the People have established an early written code of laws. While it will undoubtedly change over the centuries, this early establishment of what the rules definitely are with clear guidelines for punishment will serve as an important cornerstone for maintaining stability and clarity of order. Upgrades Enforce Authority to Enforce Law, doubles the strength of one Policy action per turn, and allows for the 'Megaproject support' Policy.
Ooo, Enforce Authority upgrade. Not that we've ever used that before.
And now we can allow our provinces to do MAIN actions on their own.
This is currently the most significant when it comes to Settlements, as Main Settlements are qualitatively better in every respect and costs no more.
The People defined themselves around the care they had for the land and for each other, with the scope of who was a person defined broadly. The People were few in the world, but what mattered most was not who your parents were or where you were born, or even what language you spoke, but that you followed the rules for harmony with yourself, your neighbours, the spirits, and the world around you.
Definitely a quality arising from our constant acceptance of migrants.
Through great effort and disturbance to people who had never really been asked these questions before, the chiefs and shamans had actually written every rule and tradition down, sorted out what they felt was appropriate to keep and what should probably not continue on, actually wrote down what the rules were for everyone, and then made sure to distribute out written copies of what all of the rules were and placed in places where everyone could see them. It would still be up to the chiefs and shamans to interpret the edge cases, but now everyone who could read would know exactly what the laws were.
And now everyone knows the rules.
Well, if they could read it.
As granary stores continued to fluctuate unpredictably, the predictions of consumption and production clearly off in ways that had never been an issue in previous generations. While some of it was that the rains in recent years seemed less strong than they had been, there were still issues of the harvest not being quite right. Although, with more and more people asking questions about the new steles being installed to proclaim the law, it was starting to become clear that one of the biggest issues was who was supposed to do what work. It seemed plausible that there was a large amount of secondary work that the chiefs had once never even thought about that the People were only doing sporadically because they were afraid that they would be punished or taxed for doing it. This obviously needed to be corrected, but they needed more people who could read the law to be able to make sense of everything and make clear that people what was taxable action and what was not, for both the basic person on the ground and for the lower level chiefs who might be confused or corrupt enough to make a hash of the whole thing.
And we hit the classic hitch of the State Economy, which is that people don't do things on their own for fear of getting in the way of the State.
New social advancements have opened up new abilities for the king to direct lower level chiefs, opening up the Policy system
Policies give directive to the provincial chiefs and allow for greater flexibility in provincial actions, including combining the actions of multiple provinces into Main actions and spending resources even if not normally allowed (resource allocation will avoid reducing a stat to below 1). If there are not enough resources to continue a policy the chiefs will take actions to attempt to support continued policy use (usually Expand Economy to make more Econ to pay for things). Changing policies normally requires a Secondary action, but if war is declared can freely switch to the Defence or Offence Policy if so desired. Also, if a Policy runs out of necessary resources it can also be changed during the midterm for free, if desired.
So Policy actions will:
-Upgrade 1 random Policy action to Main
-Allow Provinces to combine actions into Main actions
-Allows Provinces to combine actions to accelerate a Megaproject and The Law upgrade a Secondary into a Main.
--This means we can Quadruple Main a Megaproject if we had the resources to pay for it. And then Kick it. In theory, given a glut of Economy and Stability, we could build the dam in ONE TURN.
This means our provinces can take
two Main actions in pursuit of policy.
Meanwhile, up north Cwriid, the Old Stallion, takes an honourable retirement in favour of one of his sons instead of waiting to die and potentially letting his heirs squabble among each other at the last minute instead of accepting the initial election. His son, Patryn, the New Stallion, remains an ardent supporter of his father's policies, although as more of a shrewd administrator than brilliant warrior and diplomat he seems like he might be able to actually make the laws as is work... if he sees an actual way forward, which he seems to currently not see.
Goddamit Creed.
But he's open to having his mind changed if we can progress.
Of course, the rest of the world will not allow the People to simply be, and events start moving elsewhere. The Dead Priests, long out of the news of the world for the People, have apparently decided that the squabble between the Thunder Horse and the Highlanders is the ideal time to attempt to reconquer territory lost generations ago, although by all accounts they don't do very well in the face of either group, with the Highlanders in particular beating face against both groups, although there are also curious rumours about the Thunder Horse acting very oddly in the far east. The word from the Stallion Tribes is also that new nomadic groups are moving into the area and beginning to harass them, but they will deal with it - although support from the rest of the People would of course be greatly appreciated.
Dead Priest Cockroaches 2, Cock-Again.
Knew they'd be back and it's now a full out three way brawl.
Nomad Cockroaches 3, Locust Swarm.
War is going to be increasingly inconvenient.
Thunder Horse seems to have run into their eastern cousins who ran off to the distance and were never seen again.
Unfortunately, now feeling confident, the Highlanders of course had to send a trade delegation with the explicit intent to bully and harass the People into reopening their trade with them, and only them, actively excluding the Thunder Horse traders from even entering the territory of the People. This has obviously angered a number of people.
Cock
Choose a value to evolve as reward
[] Divine Stewards
Focuses the Law on the Work done for the land. I don't think this needs much enhancement here. It's a highly evolved trait and a Law upgrade here would just focus even more on the megaprojects we're already very good at.
[] Protective Justice
Focuses the Law on Justice. Likely pursues Justice as it's own virtue, which is dual edged of course, but might start granting us special actions from here to lay down the law.
[] Land of Opportunity
Focuses the Law on Charity and Migration. Likely grants us an increased chance of not losing Stability on taking in refugees as we institute laws which handle how to treat and integrate refugees.
[] Harmony
Focuses the Law on Social Order. Might improve Restore Order or help cushion Stability hits
[] Honourable Death
Not very sure what this might turn into. Any thoughts?
Might be a Greater Good Fusion, which is a mixed blessing.
Or it might work out means of REWARDING martyrdom.
[] Nobility in Humility
Results unclear. Link to our recent grand sacrifices?
Policy considerations
[] Balanced
Basically the Trust option. It's a good default if we have multiple different concerns to take care of, as the provinces aren't stupid.
[] Defence
This enables the provinces to build Large walls and Many Watchtowers. A huge boon to protecting us from raiding. However, war declarations also will trigger a free policy change, so we don't need to choose this unless we START a war.
[] Expansion
This...is currently the 'optimal' option. Forest Growth is normally not a good option to take as Secondary as it produces no gains, but the free Main upgrade and the option to fuse actions will make it productive.
And there's basically no reason to Secondary Settlements with this, giving us a great boost in Holy Site growth.
[] Offence
This lets the provinces take War actions, so everyone can raid on their own. Extremely powerful in war, and also enables them to Main chariots and specialists. However, this is dangerous, because almost everything in Offense costs a shitload of Economy
[] Progress
Main Study Actions COST Mysticism, which is paid for by Study Stars.
Art Patronage generates art to fuel Proclaim Glory however.
This is the Idle option. We choose this when we don't want the stats to change lots.
[] Restoration
Grand Sacrifice, Festival, Restore Order and Proclaim Glory.
Very convenient, but also very expensive.
This should only be taken if:
-We're at Stability -2
-We have at least 7 Economy
[] Spirits
Expand Holy Site. Current fastest way to raise Literacy. And unlock more Shrine upgrades due to the Main effect. AND adds Art.
This should be the solution to the literacy problem if coupled to a Main Festival
[] Trade
Expand Trails, More Boats, Trade Mission and Snails
Overall this is what we use to reabsorb the March.
Now to catch up on thread, then vote.
