So, this has come up in some post-game discussion, and I want to make sure everyone is aware of some of these consequences. I will admit this is somewhat driven by my desire to say, “hey! Don’t screw everyone else over because it seems funny!” but I also admit that the bigger problem is likely that people don’t know what kinds of things are harmless fun and which kinds of things are potentially hurting everyone.
This post is out-of-game so I can use a relaxed tone for clarity.
So…trade routes. I’ll go through some boring stuff and then tl;dr at the end.
Cities have industries that produce goods for export. Currently, Oak Harbor has one: lumber. We’re working on mining and maybe luxury foods (cheese and alcohol), but right now, we only have one that is fully operational and exporting. We export our lumber to Kresa and the Ternacenti.
Cities also have sizes. Oak Harbor is baaarely size 1, which is about a thousand people. That’s right. There are a thousand other people living and working here. And then there’s this ~50 person nub of murder hobos that are us. We are not the majority of Oak Harbor.
And now some math. Cities can have a number of import trade routes equal to half the number of their export trade routes plus their size.
So, for Oak Harbor, that’s 1 export, divided by 2 = 0.5, plus size 1, equals 1.5, rounded to 2. We can import two goods.
Right now, we are importing Spices. Spices let us do one of three things:
- Scavenge is much better (this is the one we’re currently using)
- Holly is a Heal All for herbalists instead of a Heal 2
- Something else that Yorick informed me was not good enough to consider
We can switch that every game, and the Town Council chooses. We’re currently doing Scavenge, and I don’t see it changing.
I have recently filled our second slot with Hides. What do Hides do? No idea. Staff will tell the Town Council next game, and they’ll give us another town-wide buffs.
Town wide buffs are awesome! The Scavenge bonus is, I’m told, pretty considerable. I’m excited to hear about Hides. And if we get both mining and luxury foods off the ground, we can get a third.
Ok. This is the tl;dr
We barely have enough to cover our trade routes. If we lose any of population or lumberjacks, we will lose all of our town-wide buffs. That’s Scavenge and also whatever Hides give us.
So:
- when you hear about plots destroying farming or scaring refugees or providing refugees with housing or anything like that - that’s population! Help out! Keep people in Oak Harbor! We are so close to the edge, it would be easy to fall below 1000 people
- when you hear about the lumberjacks being in danger - help them! We need them!
- also, please please please don’t intentionally send monsters to harass the lumberjacks or kill them. We really are a small minority of murder hobos who get to eat food because Oak Harbor has lumberjacks that give us an economy. Be nice to them!
If you have any questions about trade routes, let me know.
Brian