Breathing life into Megacorporations - new mechanics: Brands

  • We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.

Me_

Myself
83 Badges
Jan 14, 2011
9.895
14.187
  • Crusader Kings II
  • Europa Universalis: Rome
  • Europa Universalis III
  • Europa Universalis III: Chronicles
  • Hearts of Iron III
  • Stellaris: Galaxy Edition
  • Cities: Skylines
  • Europa Universalis IV: El Dorado
  • Europa Universalis IV: Pre-order
  • Crusader Kings II: Way of Life
  • Europa Universalis IV: Common Sense
  • Crusader Kings II: Horse Lords
  • Europa Universalis IV: Cossacks
  • Crusader Kings II: Conclave
  • Europa Universalis IV: Mare Nostrum
  • Stellaris
  • Victoria 2: A House Divided
  • Stellaris: Galaxy Edition
  • Hearts of Iron IV Sign-up
  • Stellaris Sign-up
  • Hearts of Iron IV: Cadet
  • Crusader Kings II: Reapers Due
  • Europa Universalis IV: Rights of Man
  • Stellaris: Digital Anniversary Edition
  • Stellaris: Leviathans Story Pack
  • Hearts of Iron IV: Together for Victory
  • Crusader Kings II: Monks and Mystics
  • Hearts of Iron 4: Arms Against Tyranny
  • Europa Universalis IV: Wealth of Nations
  • Crusader Kings II: Charlemagne
  • Crusader Kings II: Legacy of Rome
  • Crusader Kings II: The Old Gods
  • Crusader Kings II: Rajas of India
  • Crusader Kings II: The Republic
  • Crusader Kings II: Sons of Abraham
  • Crusader Kings II: Sunset Invasion
  • Crusader Kings II: Sword of Islam
  • Europa Universalis IV
  • Europa Universalis IV: Art of War
  • Europa Universalis IV: Conquest of Paradise
  • 500k Club
  • Europa Universalis IV: Call to arms event
  • For the Motherland
  • Hearts of Iron III: Their Finest Hour
  • Hearts of Iron III Collection
  • Europa Universalis IV: Res Publica
  • Semper Fi
  • Sengoku
  • Victoria 2
  • Victoria 2: Heart of Darkness
Did you ever play the Megacorporations included in the Megacorp DLC. If not, you haven't missed much. If you do, you may have noticed that they play almost exactly like ordinary civilizations. Yes, there are the branch offices and some balance differences, but overall they do not at all feel like corporations. The player makes no corporate decisions. You do not check growth charts, decide on marketing strategy or ponder sales figures. All you do is plop a branch office every now and then and then build 2-3 buildings there over a century.

I know this is pointless as the Devs aren't going to revisit an old DLC with new major feature, so think of it as a Stellaris 2 idea.

The idea was born of the question: should Spiritualists have religions. I don't know, but should megacorporations have brands? Yes! Yes, they should.

Brands

Upon empire creation you would choose the Main Brand of your megacorporation. Think Coca Cola for, well, Coca Cola or KFC for Yum!

Main Brand is the core concept of this whole idea. A Main Brand is defined by its name and type.

Brand.png

Each megacorp would only have 1 main brand. The name is just for show, the tyoe is important as the type would influence the presence of your brand.

What is Brand Presencs? Well, say goodbye to the old half-empty corporate tab. Now every planet of a non-gestalt empire would have it and it would show the presence of various brands on the planet.

Brand Presence.png


Usually, the generic "Domestic" brands would have the biggest presence. They would always be present by default in generic empires and they are in a way "wasted money". Hovering over the Brand would say which empire owns it and what its Brand Presence Equilibrium and Brand Presence Growth are.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: none of the Brand Presence would affect the output of the owner of the planet. This mechanic is exclusively for the Megacorporations to compete over for their financial (and other) benefit.

The Brand Presence would not be limited to the empires you have commercial pact with. In fact any of the following deals result in increase of brand presens, in order of their strength:
- Opern Borders
- Research Agreement
- Migration Treaty
- Federation
- Commercial Pact

In addition the brand presence would be increased by Dominant Ethics on the planet, the Civics of the megacorporation and having a Branch Office.

What those effects would give is increase Brand Presence Equilibrium or Brand Presence Growth. Brand Presence Equilibrium affects the values that you would tend towards. E.g. if the planet has 3 brands:

Domestic (which would always have same Brand Presence Equilibrium) of 50 (numbers not final)
Cool Drinxz with Brand Presence Equilibrium of 20
Guns4Hire with Brand Presence Equilibrium of 10

Then they would tend towards:
Domestic share of 50/(50+20+10) = 62,50%
Cool Drinxz share of 20/(50+20+10) = 25%
Guns4Hire share of 10/(50+20+10) = 12,50%

With a speed of X (e.g. 1% of target value - numbers not final) per month that could be affected by other factors.

Dominant Ethics effect

Dominant Ethics would be the ethics with the biggest presence of the planet. Each ethics would have 1 type of brand associated with each that sales best. Domestic by default has no type. If you have the right type, your Brand Presence Equilibrium would get a boost.

E.g. (ideas not final)

Ethics.png

Additionally, there would be a special type: Knock-off products available to the Criminal Heritage megacorporations that would not benefit from any ethics.

Having a Branch office would give a strong boost to both Brand Presence Equilibrium and Brand Presence Growth (meaning you would reach the equilibrium fast).

Additionally, varius Civics of the megacorporation would would boost the Main Brand, provided it's of the right type. E.g. Media Conglomerate would give your Main Brand +5 10% Equilibrium and Growth provided its type is Media, Private Prospectors would give bonuses to Transport, Private Military Companies would help Military Brands.

What would be the point of all this? I will explain in another part about Brand Exploitation, Marketing Campaigns and Management Board.
 
  • 3Like
  • 1
  • 1
Reactions:
Upvote 0
Brand Management

Brand management would be the core aspect of the megacorps gameplay.

Each planet with the presence of our brand would contribute part of its trade value, based on the share of this brand on a given planet to the overall Brand Value.

Brand Management.png


Brand Value would then be used based on Brand Exploitation policy. The policies would include effects such as:

Profiteering - generating energy based on Brand Value
Investing - increasing Brand Presence Growth, good for starting your brand.
Diplomatic influence- increasing diplomatic weight of the megacorp
Ethics spread - makes Brand Presence on planets increase pull towards the Megacorporation's own ethics.
Brand promotion - increases relations (monthly) with empires that have planets with our Brand present
and possibly some more

Brand Management would also include the selection of leaders for the Board of Directors. Those would include:

the CEO - the ruler
Chief Financial Officer - a governor
Marketing Director - a scientist
Supply Chain Director - an admiral
Security Director - a general

Each of those leaders would provide some bonus based on the level and sometimes traits (there could be extra effects from base traits or extra traits available only to megacorps, ideally some traits would be helpful provided they work toegether with your Brand's type). The specific directors would also be more or less important based on your Brand's type.

the CEO - gives bonus to Brand Growth Speed based on level
Chief Financial Officer - increases income from Brand Exploitation policy, boosts Brand Presence Equilibtrium of Food&Beverages and Clothes type brands based on level
Marketing Director - has special role during Marketing Campaigns, boosts Brand Presence Equilibtrium of Media and Electronics type brands based on level
Supply Chain Director - lowers cost of Branch Offices, boosts Brand Presence Equilibtrium of Resource and Transport type brands based on level
Security Director - slows growth of other Brands on planets with our Brand present, boosts Brand Presence Equilibtrium of Military and Pharmaceuticals type brands based on level

Brand Management interface would also let you change your Main Brand via Rebranding. Doing so would be costly (say 100 influence plus lowering the current Brand Presence on all planets by a quarter), but it could be profitable in the long run to change the brand type (you could also change the name, but that's just cosmetic).

Finally, this is the menu where you could launch Marketing Campaigns.
 
Last edited:
  • 1
  • 1Like
  • 1Love
Reactions:
Marketing Campaings would be a set of event chains revolwing around competing with other brands, sreading your brand and using your brand for other goals.

Starting a marketing campaign would star with a choice of the scope of the campaign. It could be galaxy-wide or only affect a specific empire. The choice of scope would affect the initial cost of the campaign.

Over the course of the campaign you would be presented with choices regarding the methods employed. You could try to focus on promoting your brand or pursue negative campaign against other brands.

Marketing campaigns could have effects reaching beyond the brand itself, influencing your relations with other nations and other megacorporations. Marketing campaigns could also include interaction with Branch Offices, such as establishing new ones or adding modifiers to planets with Branch Offices.

The Galactic Community

The Galactic Community would be another area for inter-corporation competition. The Galactic Community would be able to pass resolutions boosting or decreasing the Brand Presence Equilibrium of various types of branches. The economic sanctions would also include an effect of decreasing the Brand Presence Equilibrium of brand of megacorporation that is in breach of galactic law.
 
Last edited:
  • 2Like
  • 1
Reactions:
I really like all of these ideas!!! They add more flavor and fun for MegaCorps and are really cool in general.

Also, a combination of ethics and civics should unlock certain brand types. These brand types could be Galactic Guns or outer space refineries, etc.
 
Frankly, I'd handle brands as a type of faction. Exactly like how I'd imagine a religion system, brands wouldn't be tied only to your empire, which would allow you to exert influence in territories you don't control. Think about how Google can influence laws passed in countries outside the US for example.

My feeling is, what does a Megacorp care about an Imperialist or a Traditionalist faction? They only care about profit, and they're not restrained by borders.