Each Type of company would be able to open "product lines" associate to its "root" resource (how to do it must be defined, but probably could be done by achieving related resource (gold/culture/research/production) tresholds, building specific builidings, or spending an appropriate GP to speed it up). So each corporation type will manage up to four "brands".
"Merchantile" Corporation
Financial Products
c5trade
Fashion/Jewelery (+
)
Energy (+
)
Food Products (+
)
"Artistic" Corporation
Media/Broadcasting
c5happy
Fashion/Jewelery (+
)
Electronics/HighTech(+
)
Infraestructures/Architecture (+
)
"Engineering" Corporation
Heavy Machinery
c5production
Chemicals/Pharma (+
)
Energy (+
)
Infraestructures/Architecture (+
)
"Scientific" Corporation
Education/Research
c5science
Electronics/HighTech(+
)
Chemicals/Pharma (+
)
Food Products (+
)
So, this is the layout... ¿which is the game?
- Economic victory will be achieved by supplying the four products in your company to all civs and city states (monopoly).
- To supply products, you must have enough primary resources (belonging to your civ or being traded), so we have an initial rationale for corporations influencing diplomace or even generating wars for resources. Note:
(resource assignement to manufactured goods would be probably one of the most complex balancing factors).
- A civ or city state will select only one main supplier for each kind of product. As you can see, any pair of company types always shares a sales good, so competition is always ensured, whatever the corporations founded. Trade agreements with city states to be supplied by your corporation comes into play (or with other civs to ease your/their position as resource provider)... Spending gold in marketing to outplace other established brand might be a possibility as well.
- Your selected policies might influence tii: on order-communist like policy you might force your civ and allied city states (by "spending" influence) to use your product. On a capitalist-like policy you may have an edge in marketing or reduced corporation costs. Not sure what to give for autocracy, though...
- Banning products (or benefiting a competitor via a trade agreements) will not always work, first due to the resource caps... and second due to corporation mainenace: Scale economy should be represented in a way depending on the civs/city states/population you are suppling producing goods in your corporation either costs money to your civ (low number of population/civs supplied), breaks even or brings money to your civ (high number of population/civ supplied). If you are loosing too much money due to your company not having market penetration... you (or your producer) may need to close the production of a specific good... giving an opportunity to other civs to position themselves as suppliers (if they have enough primary resources to do so, tough)
- Additionally, corporations may have a religion-like layer providing "corporation owner" benefits to the Civ which owns the corporation, and "manufactured good" benefits to each civilization that uses a determinate product. These might be, as in religion, selectable for a list. --> I.E. your "infraestructure/architecture" supplier brand might be specialized in transportation systems (reducing road and transportation city improvements maintenance costs), in large-scale terraforming (high reduction on worker improvement costs), or in urban architecture (bonus production and/or extra culture to city improvements or wonders). Unlike religion, it would be possible to get a specific bonus on more than one corporation/product, but might be associated to an specific resource or to additional corporation spreading cost.
Therefore, to
win an economic victory, you must:
-Use a GP Build a corporation
-Develop four product brads
-Find enough resources to provide manufactured goods for all world population
-Win market share to the competency trough advertising, diplomacy - or whiping them out (destroy competitor civ or at least cut their primary resource supply). You must have as well enough financial muscle (gold) to support advertising and less-than optimal production.
To
defend from an economic victory, you must:
-Build a counter-corporation that can mantain itself and supply at least to yourself one of the leader corporation products. (to make the corporation rentable, you should either make use of your gold, or try to spread at least to allies).
-Or help an ally (or enemy) other than the leader corporation owner than can do this and help him by facilitating introducing their products in your civ.
-Excercise ban/embargos on the leader corporation owner civ so it cost more to them to spread to your civ (diplomacy penalties, tough).
-Destroy the leader corporation or cut its primary resource lines.
If noone goes for economy victory, you can still:
-Try to have gold benefit from your corporation by gaining market share on some products
-Select corporation benefits that fit your playstile (or facilitate operating in your civ to corporations from other civs that have the benefits you want).
If you read up to here, ¡congratulations! and ¡thanks! (I was not sure anyone would do)
. Please feel free to comment -- and if you are a Firaxis producer and like it, I would not mind you using it (a free copy of the 2nd expansion that uses this corporation system would be apprectated, tough
)
Not really pushing to discuss this in detail tough, just trowing the idea. If you find it interesting, feel free to develop.
But in Pitboss or PBEM, micro is king
. So if you play a lot of those games, you possibly might appreciate Espionage, Corporations, Religions a lot more. I know I do... And I do
