Age of History 3: Dynamic Economic Model

**qxz** · June 28

Dynamic Economic Model:

While I greatly appreciate the enhancements made to the economic model in Age of History 3 compared to its predecessor, Age of History 2.
I believe there is still significant potential for further refinement and improvement.

Core Components of the Economic Model:

Resource Production and Management:

The resource system in the game is already highly refined and nearly perfect; indeed, I found it challenging to identify any immediate improvements. However, I would like to propose a few enhancements that could further elevate the system, promoting a more dynamic and fluid economic experience.

Resource Categories:

Each resource currently existing in the game should be placed in their unique and specific categories.

Natural resources as one of the options, including within itself resources like copper, iron, oil and timber.
Agricultural products, including different grain and livestock perhaps.
Manufactured goods, this would be the clothing, furniture and various other manufactured goods requiring production and synthesis.

Each resource within a category could be of luxury or a common good. This would represent the market price for each product. Luxury resource like wine or tobacco would be relatively expensive in contrast to common resources like regular clothing and furniture.

Production Facilities:

The game in its current state fails to utilise the resources effectively. The only purpose of resources right now is just sales. I propose a system of simple production which ties into the building mechanic already in place.

Players could build and upgrade facilities like mines, farms factories and refineries. Each building serving its distinctive purpose - extraction and production of resources. I find it difficult to wrap my head around how resources are scattered around the map, without any need for the player or AI to extract the resources first, and then having the free use of it.
Facilities such as factories may require different input compared to mines which might not need any input besides population in a province. For example, a textile factories may require products like different kinds of fabric and textiles in order to produce clothing.

Each upgrade of a facility will enhance its effectiveness to utilise the input resources for higher yield of output product, and perhaps require less population to function.

Resource Depletion:

The game could offer an optional setting for natural resources to deplete, reflecting the real life problems we will and are facing - lack of resources. This might encourage the player to aggressively expand outwards in search of resources, engaging in combat for resources.

Global Market and Trade:

The game needs trade. It cannot reflect a good dynamic economical model without trade. The world runs on trade. No country can be self-sufficient, it requires import and export to fuel its economy. Trade can be incredibly simple, with just a click of a button, the player may unlock a trade route with a neighbouring country.

Trade can introduce various other optional mechanics such as:

Raiding; stealing of resources through land.
Blockades.
Serve as diplomatic catalysts for war.

This would not only improve economical aspect of the game, but also the conflict aspect of the game. Trade is a weapon of war.

Players may impose tariffs on import or export for a specific good. The player may wish to protect their supply of natural resource, as they cannot afford to invest into another functioning mine or the resource will deplete soon, so the player imposes a protectionist tariff (some what reflecting the historical Corn Law).

Or it could be the opposite...

The player may have an abundance of iron required to produce a specific manufactured good, so they impose an export tariff, reducing the cost of trade but enlarging the market share of the country making more trade routes.

Economic Policies and Government Intervention:
Economic Policies and Taxation

Taxation and Subsidies:

Players should have the ability to implement specific tax policies akin to those found in the law category. These taxes could be imposed on income, corporations, trade, and goods, thereby expanding the range of options available for generating additional revenue.

This would enable players to strategically tailor their economic policies to optimize gold earnings, reflecting a more nuanced and sophisticated approach to fiscal management.

Financial Systems:

The game already includes loans as a means of financing your activities, so why not extend this feature to allow players to provide loans to other countries? To facilitate this, players could establish a new economic building – the Bank.

This building, which would be unlocked through technological advancements, would enable players to offer loans with customizable interest rates to other nations. By directly controlling these interest rates, players could strategically maneuver to make other countries financially dependent on them, thereby enhancing their influence and power within the game.

Foreign Investment:

Allow players to invest in foreign countries by constructing new buildings. Certain nations may possess resources that are scarce or unavailable in the player-controlled territory. To capitalize on these resources, players could establish mines, refineries, or other facilities within these foreign countries.

The extracted resources would then be added to the player's stockpile. Meanwhile, the host country would benefit from the investment through financial gains, receiving a percentage of the profits generated by these facilities. This mechanism would foster a complex and interdependent economic landscape, enriching the strategic depth of the game.

Edited June 29 by qxz
Further additions for the Economic Policies.