Analysis
Choose a philosophy
[] [Law] Honour the gods - Pretty clearly just has people be more religious. Arguably leads to a stronger respect for our spiritual, probably social, and possibly honor values. Makes us more competitive w/ TS but not preferable for the secularists. Priests might become judges. Least likely to be chosen by us voters.
[] [Law] Maintain stability - Reduces stability loss, obviously. Makes us a bit of a police state, though, and likely increases the level of unrest/corruption necessary for the king to hear about it. Likely to be somewhat heavily focused at the enforcement level with moderate leeway given to judges. Probably will trend more toward heavier punishment.
[] [Law] Balance of interests - I.e. rich person v poor person, industrialist v worker, government v individual, native v foreigner. Most balanced choice overall, but regrettably is the easiest to sway away from its intended purpose. Likely to be more deliberative. Likely to lean toward an antagonistic system of justice.
[] [Law] Community health - Focus on societal health and the good of the many. Nice over the very long term, probably making us a more stable gov and resisting corrupt acts. Bad if those corrupt acts can be painted as being ultimately for the greater good. Bad if oppressing a group is considered necessary. Basically just all the upsides and downsides of Symphony and Greater Justice. Likely to be deliberative initially but not on a very case-by-case basis. Might be more like Japanese law.
[] [Law] Flexibility - Makes the law easier to adjust to the times. Good if we plan on rapidly developing novel products in the future. Bad if we want consistency, whether as far as social values go or as far as internal laws go. On the upside, catching problems once realized is easier w/ this choice. May depend partially on precedent/case law rather than formal written law.
[] [Law] Practicality of enforcement - Basically just asks for corruption to continue. Practicality of Enforcement essentially disallows any intense investigations and consideration of subtle aspects of an individual case.
How can taxes be paid?
[] [Tax] Coin only - Theoretically the least complicated, but causes the most reliance on metal supplies. Will benefit the cities the most initially and cause a shitton of trouble to begin with but once sufficient metal is acquired and distributed it will simplify our system immensely.
[] [Tax] Food or coin - Lets people pay in food and coin. Buffers downsides of coin out by allowing people who don't live near the cities - and thus are likely to be able to grow food - to pay in that instead. Partially cancels out the benefits of coin-only (i.e. widespread currency usage) by reducing incentive to acquire coins. Major downside to food is that it has variable value (especially w/ luxuries like wine, which depend on terroir) and is prone to spoilage. If the government prefers coin, we will need to resell the food, possibly for a lesser value. I.e., this is asking for trouble but balances out most immediate shocks.
[] [Tax] Labour or coin - Pretty much the same as above in regards to the spread of currency and buffering of shocks. IMO, labor is preferable because having taxes as food will just prompt the poor to go hungry if they don't have coins. Labor can't really rot, but utilizing it requires more oversight in the form of clerks or managers going out among the people rather than just managing food in a warehouse. Upside, though, is that no one can lose their body and we already know how much a blacksmith's time is worth vs. a farmer because we already are paying them by their job.
[] [Tax] Food, labour, or coin - Most complicated, has all of the upsides of the different systems and their downsides. Totally screws over any attempt at universality, but multipolar economies are arguably the most immune to disruptions.
Can food be sold?
[] [Food] Food should not be traded outside the kingdom, except perhaps in times of crisis - Keeps us how we are now. Reduces ability to capitolize on excess econ by turning it into wealth/diplo w/ ease.
[] [Food] When granaries are full, those with excess should be able to distribute the fruits of their labour as they see fit - Makes sure that we possess enough to feed everyone, but still allows us to trade away econ. Limits our ability to do the latter freely, however, which will probably be irritating at some point in the future.
[] [Food] The crown will maintain emergency supplies through taxation, the rest is not their concern - We can freely trade away food up until ~0, but exposes us to the risk of trading away food until 0. Pushes a bit toward a free market as the crown is basically saying "we'll take care of this, you take care of yourself."
Change the heir?
[] [Heir] No, compromise is good (Mediocre Admin and Martial, Average Diplo) - Literally the most boring option but everyone is pretty happy with it, because that is pretty much the only upside.
[] [Heir] Let the wise lead us (Poor Martial, Mediocre Admin and Diplo, Heroic Mystic) - Gives us some nice tech growth, but moderately bad otherwise. Not *super* bad, though. Only martial is worse than the other two have, and if all of the stats are summed this pick has higher than the other two due to the sheer strength of that heroic mystic.
[] [Heir] A strong general is needed in these times (Mediocre Admin and Diplo, Excellent Martial) - Good if we expect war on the horizon, which tbh we do. But not heroic, and we all love dem mystic heroes.
Upon completion of the law, choose a bonus
[] [Bonus] Upgrade government to Classical Elective Monarchy - Gives us that good old government upgrade shit. Probably can be gained by other means, but is pretty nice.
[] [Bonus] Gain new Social Value slot - Lets us keep Wildcat Prospecting and fish for a new value from our neighbors. Depends 100% on if you like WC or not. We can probably get this through a golden age.
[] [Bonus] Randomly upgrade a value - Upgrades one of our values which, let's be honest, have an even bigger impact on our civilization than our government does. This can probably be gotten through a golden age, however.
[] [Bonus] Enter Golden Age immediately - Why would you vote for this? We can get it by just hitting 3 stability (takes a secondary) and getting max in 2 stats (hello +12 econ per turn) and then sitting there for a full turn. If you pick this you should feel ashamed.
[] [Bonus] Gain at least two tech upgrades (Admin and Social biased, exploding rolls) - Technology is literally the bomb. Haha, punny. But seriously technology is radically awesome. ESPECIALLY admin and social based technology which are far, far, far, far, farx1000000 harder to get than materials and martial tech, mostly because we just understand which actions will get us them. Pick this if you're not picking gov.
Personal Preferences
[] [Law] Balance of interests
[X] [Law] Community health
[X] [Tax] Labour or coin
[X] [Food] When granaries are full, those with excess should be able to distribute the fruits of their labour as they see fit
[X] [Heir] Let the wise lead us (Poor Martial, Mediocre Admin and Diplo, Heroic Mystic)
[X] [Bonus] Upgrade government to Classical Elective Monarchy
[X] [Bonus] Randomly upgrade a value
[X] [Bonus] Gain at least two tech upgrades (Admin and Social biased, exploding rolls)
Can't really decide between these two for law.
Balance of Interests is obviously, well, balanced. But it's easier to imbalance as one side grows stronger. Community health is kind of better societally but is rather vague and might work to further suppress individuals. I think I like it more, though.
Labour or coin so that the penniless can pay in labor. Paying in food just sounds weird to me.
As long as we ourselves have food, there's nothing wrong with selling it. Other than that it might impact our ability to hit and maintain Baby Booms, that is.
Mystic Hero ftw.
Torn between the government upgrade (useful), value upgrade (potentially more useful) and the tech upgrade (potentially the most useful, but highly roll dependent). Probably the gov upgrade will win. >.>
