New Poll: Should We Rush a Single Harbour?

[Zur]

There has been considerable support for a single harbour to be rushed. I feel it is my duty as trade deputy to hold a poll, and quickly since at this time, external resource trade is a possibility.

Pros:
1. Can generate income immediately from exports (see Trade Dept. thread).
2. Can build veteren ships there.
3. Can trade luxuries to China immediately to help forestall/prevent invasion.
4. Possibility of buying silks from India if economical.

Cons:
1. Need to spend 244 gold in Shailo.
2. Potentially disrupts production in Shailo.

Popular opinion is that 2 harbours should not be rushed:


I am not sure why Shailonegha was chosen over New Falcon's Haven, so I have not reflected this in the polls. Assume the city in question is Shailo unless otherwise stated.

How would the expenditure be split between the budget?

Other related threads:
Domestic Dept. pg. 2

Edit: Min. time taken at present; 9 turns in Eyr/New Falcon's Haven.
Shailo would take 13 turns to build normally.

Let me noe if I should include anything else in this post (eg. plans to build a harbour normally) and I will edit it.

 

[Cyc]

Question Zur. Precisely who will be paying all this overtime and precisely how will they be coming up with the money including paying it back if borrowed?

 

[chiefpaco]

I think you should include the:
- build time for a harbour in the city you propose rush it.
- (possibly) shortest build time for a harbour anywhere in our empire (i.e. how fast could we build a harbour somewhere).
- department whose budget is prepared to spend this much.
- (possibly) why that department must borrow & from where.

 

[Zur]

Since this is a complex issue with many factors, I will deal mostly with monetary/trade issues here.

Compared to building conventionally:

Building in: Shailo
Cost: 244 gold
Benefits:
1 more lux for 13 turns
100 gold X 2 nett exports = 200g
saves 5X13=65 shields

Building in: New Falc. Haven
Cost: 180 gold
Benefits:
1 more lux for 9 turns
100 gold X 2 nett exports = 200g
saves 5X9=45 shields

NB. Luxury is silks from India. This is a potential benefit if we can get it economically.
NB. 100 gold per luxury export. Conservative estimate (see trade dept. thread). 3 exports and 1 import -> 2 nett exports.
(see trade dept. thread for details of 3 exports)

Edit: btw, more luxuries will also mean higher productivity.

See also top post for more costs/benefits.

 

[Zur]

Whew! that's enough maths for the moment! :ripper:

I agree that 244 or 180 gold is a large sum, but if the 2 net export deals go thro, we could recover 150-200 gold conservatively, which we could repay to the departments we borrowed from the next turn. For rushing in Shailo, I suggest borrowing 53g from treasury (10% of current cash), 20g from military since we are helping with ships and 171g from FA since we are helping to improve relations and which we would repay the bulk if the deals go through. This means postponing the establishment of embassies for 1 turn, unfortunately. I hope this will not be a critical issue. (we need the support of the Foreign Affairs Dept. here!)

It would be a pity if this plan does not go through due to budget constraints since the numbers indicate that we could save shields at little or no monetary cost overall.

A potential problem is whether we could get deals at these prices. Worth some discussion here.