MERCHANT MARINE: THE LIFEBLOOD OF SEAFARERS
For ages, sea trade has been a crucial element in the wealth of communities, cities, regions, and even entire countries.
Even though sea trade can be seen as a powerful factor in bringing wealth to a country, it is also a complex system that, much like the countries that rely on it, is subject to elements that can have far-reaching consequences upon it.
Through the Merchant Marine subsystem, which has been built into the comprehensive Naval System, we intend to highlight this integrated aspect of the economy while keeping micromanagement out of the picture.
Finally, this implementation also gives us the chance to differentiate between land commerce and sea commerce. It’s obvious that the impact of any threat to a country’s Merchant Marine should be reflected in its economic system - the less a country relies on sea trade, the smaller the impact.
MECHANICS
The Merchant Marine is, at its core, a factor that is applied to the trade value of a country, reflecting the naval assets the country possesses. We don’t show “ships,” but instead a qualitative element that shows how effective the present Merchant Marine is in fulfilling the country’s trade demands.
In normal conditions, the Merchant Marine will grow to 100%. This will mean the country has the necessary civilian structure to support its trade.
At the same time, the impact of the Merchant Marine varies widely between countries whose provinces are coastal (total impact) and those whose provinces are landlocked (nil impact).
To determine that impact, the four gameplay elements must be defined:
Merchant Marine Status (MMS): This represents the actual status of the civilian naval assets of the country. It varies between 0 and 100%, where 0 represents a total lack of ships for trading, and 100% represents an adequate level of ships to support the trade capabilities of a given country.
Merchant Marine Replenishment (MMR): The rate at which the Merchant Marine is losing or gaining status (MMS). It depends mainly on the naval maintenance slider.
Merchant Marine Dependency (MMD): This represents the actual impact the Merchant Marine has on the trade capabilities of the country. It takes into account the relation between the number of coastal provinces a country has, and its total number of provinces.
Merchant Marine Factor (MMF): This is the final factor that influences the income generated from trade. It is a percentage given by MMS*MMD. The minimum impact is 0%, while the maximum impact is 75%. So, with a Merchant Marine Status of NIL (essentially 0%), a country can have a maximum trade penalty of 75%.
Special Cases:
Landlocked nations, OPMs, and Minor Holdings are exempt from this mechanic.
IMPLEMENTATION
All four Merchant Marine gameplay elements must be present in the trade area interface, and the MMF should be present in the detailed explanation concerning income from trade.
The Merchant Marine Status should be represented qualitatively in the naval area of the interface with one of four levels:
1 – Adequate
2 – Lacking
3 – Crippled
4 – Nil
An arrow should signal if the status is increasing or decreasing overall.
Any modifiers should be written in green if positive (Merchant Marine Replenishment), or in red if negative (Piracy).
The Merchant Marine Replenishment should be represented quantitatively in the naval area of the interface.
Merchant Marine Factor (called Merchant Marine) should be presented as a liability in the balance sheet if it is not at 100% (no penalty). The tooltip for this line will present the Merchant Marine Status (qualitative), the Merchant Marine Replenishment, and the Merchant Marine Dependency.
Merry Christmas, folks!
Ubik
Un regalo por navidad
