E4 Conception
Heres an idea I had for economy that would fit with the standard maps (rather than daft or Symphonys de novo creations), based on a number of peoples ideas that I cant be bothered writing out credit for, if you think you deserve it you probably do
The E4 system has two components Map and Stat line, all the necessary information is contained in both sections stat line, but the map has the advantage of telling you where everything is, and the stat line has the advantage of showing everything in one place. It is currently set up for industrial play, but the simple expedient of removing the industry line will convert it for other ages.
The Stat lines
There are 3 different lines in the E4 system, the first being the
economy line which goes;
Economy (Extractive&Agricultural/Industrial/Tertiary/External) - $ ($/$/$/$)
Here, extractive and agricultural represent extractive industries such as mining and forestry, agricultural represents agriculture production of course. Each EP in this section will correspond to an
Economic Unit on the map, with the exception of fisheries, which will be shown on the map as circles in the ocean that are one of your states colours (1 circle = 1 EP).
Industrial represents manufacture and processing of raw materials and is shown on the map as
industrial centres (blue outlined cities). 1 EP in this section is equal to one industrial centre, but there will probably be a few extra showing lower concentrations of industrial activity spread throughout the minor cities of the Economic units.
Tertiary represents internal trade and services, on the map cities important in trade or services will be given a
red outline and called trade centres, each TC is worth at least 1 EP in this column, but there will be other EPs representing more nebulous things.
External is what your nation gets selling its products and services and doing transhipping, its not shown on the map, and if you conquer a trade partner then their section of external trade will obviously move into your Tertiary column.
Next is the
taxation line, which simply goes;
Taxation Tax taken/Gross national income
This is pretty simple and set by the player higher tax fractions will give you more EP to spend but cause growth to drop (unless you reinvest it), and make you unpopular. I may merge this line with the Economy line in the future.
Next is the
industrial line, which goes;
Industry State Controlled/Total national production
This shows how much war material your nation can produce, Total national production is directly proportional to the industrial section of the economy, but I havent decided the exact proportion. Basically here for things like building ships and tanks and supplying modern armies you spend EP you get from taxation, but you cannot spend more than your controlled industry rating (cant have cows making bullets after all
). Naturally you can nationalise production, but at the cost of lowering natural grow significantly.
Squeezing the Economy
So you have taken all the taxes you can and you still want more? Much like the sacrifice of economy levels under the old NES2VI system you can get extra money by seizing permanent assets. Basically you gain extra EPs equal to 20% of your total economy, but at the cost of having all sectors shrink by 10%. EPs are rounded down.
The Map
The map is nearly exactly the same as the NES2VI map systems, with the major difference of each nation now having three or more different shades of colour within its territory. The lightest colour represents unproductive land that doesnt contribute to the economy, whilst the various shades are just to distinguish Economic units, with each patch giving rise to one EP in the Extractive&Agricultural column (thus obviously small patches are better
, showing higher density of development). The shades are subtle, and intended to be so as theyre not useful unless discussing territory changes, or development plans. When you conquer new territory it will start off in the light unproductive colour until it is integrated into your economy.
Some other notes of difference white centres indicate capitals, half white centres show regional or colonial capitals, political subdivisions still shown by thin black lines.
Two Examples;
1) England would have an economy of 7/7/5/3 (lets say it has trade of 3 eh
), giving a total of 22 EPs to play with, of which 8 are currently acquired by the state. This is a diverse and powerful industrial economy.
2) Egypt has an economy of 8/0/1/2* (again made up), giving 11 EPs to play with and showing a highly agrarian economy situation.
General
Both EP and State controlled industry can be traded.
This also gives an impression if a particular nation is self sufficient for food or not by comparing its population with its agricultural economy.
