Hello Keith & Firestormxxx,
I have never played Patrician
. 8-10 years ago I toyed with some of the empire type games where you had to set N laborers to gather raw materials which could be used to build other structures that would produce finished goods such as villagers, fighting men, armorers, artillery units and ships. They always seemed end up being a war of production and micro-management.
Using the above context I came to the conclusion that in EIC we would be building/upgrading warehouses, port facilities, government establishments and other ancillary structures at specific port locations. If your going to build and maintain ships you need skilled trades such as shipwrights, sail makers, rope makers and blacksmiths. Hence the need for training facilities. Construction or upgrade of these facilities would enhance a port's capabilities and thus to increase its importance and/or profitability. The only consumable finished product I foresaw were the ships themselves. Although it would be interesting to be required to manage crew quality.
I assumed that we would not have to do the hunting and gathering of the raw materials or manage their collection and disbursement, but rather the man in the middle who prospers by transporting the goods from market to market reaping rewards by managing supply levels.
But that is just my wet dream. Hopefully Kim will sort it all out.
Greg.
