Having a collection of skilled individuals who guide and direct the faction
takes Olympia back to a more personal environment. Skills would only relate
to the individuals, rather than to the hordes of unwashed hirelings on the
local unemployment queue.
Hirelings still account for the majority of what goes on and it requires
that more leaders and individuals gain leadership and management skills so
as to be able to gather the manpower required to do whatever we need
(build ships, towers, armies etc).
Other skills could become more necessary e.g. Oration to gather hirelings,
charisma training to inspire confidence etc.
The command structure becomes more complex, as we then need
USE skill days men gold extra-options-required
where skill = skill number to be used
days = number of days to be worked
men = number of men to be hired (there may not be enough available)
gold = amount of gold to use in the hiring/construction (there may
not be enough money allocated for the job or in pocket)
extra-options-required = any extra we need to specify.
Assuming that to do nearly anything requires some minimal skills, eg some
shipbuilding training, some mining experience etc. Hence all hirelings can
be assumed to have a common minimum skill, otherwise they don't apply for
the job.
If we set a rate of 1 Gold = 1 minimum skilled person, then, if we offer
more money, we actually get better results, the skill of those we hire is
better and the men/persons work harder and achieve more. This will also be
factored by the availablity of the appropriate skills in the area. Finding
shipbuilders in the middle of a desert may be a cost factor of 10, and
finding them in a port is the base factor of 1.
They all work for the specified number of days, until the project is
completed or until their wages run out.
Or do we just drop the 'men' totally and just throw money at the problem,
ignoring the workers completely.
The problem is, how do we manage the supply of all the gold necessary ?
It seems that to hire the men necessary to do all your work, you will have
to be earning significantly more. This means that if you hire men to cut
lumber, all the lumber must go to the hirer who then needs to sell it all.
For all this to work efficiently, the market system MUST be made more
efficient, as, apart from mining or entertainment, the main way of making
money is to make things and sell them.
Presumably, if you want to hire men to provide entertainment, you need some
way to ensure that the area already has some people skilled in such things.
Otherwise the individual has to do it all himself or ends up with useless
entertainers. This is good for wandering minstrels who don't need a team,
but is not so good for a travelling circus.
Or do all the requirements for skilled helpers vanish and all income is
purely dependant on the skill of the hirer and the amount they are willing
to spend ?
Thoughts and inspirations welcomed.
Rob McNeur
Rob@ccc.govt.nz
(now returned to life and liberty !!)