Part 1: an Introduction
I have played the game a few times and what strikes me is that the need to secure resources seems to limit itself to oil in the late game and to a lesser extent Rubber, Iron, Coal and Electricity (the latter two mainly because the demand grows explosively). The biggest challenge is currently to scale up production as fast as possible. I don't find any challenge to secure strategic resources. In reality there were many challenges for countries to secure strategic resources : a raw material was limited, one country had a monopoly on a certain product or there is a rapid change of raw materials needed due to the development of new technologies. Suddenly a raw material is no longer that important and your economy is crashing vs. an economy is booming because they sit on a 'hidden gem' (such as with the oil in the Arab countries in the 20th century).
This is too simplified in the game, everyone has access to all means to bring the economy to unprecedented heights. All that is still needed is to scale up production and incorporate the few states you need for oil and rubber. A tactic that I use is to colonize Celebes early (which is possible regardless of which country I play) and then use Celebes as a springboard to conquer East Borneo and New Guinea (Oil and Rubber secured!).
In a few subsequent writings I want to provide a few improvements to make this system more challenging and interesting.
Part 2: fertilizer and food securtity
The 19th and 20th centuries were characterized by enormous population growth. This population growth had never been possible without the substantial developments in the fields of agriculture and fertilizers. However, this did not go without a struggle there was a huge demand for different raw materials needed for the production of fertilizers.
This is insufficiently expressed in the game. In the beginning you generally build Livestock Ranches to keep up with demand. By the time your fertilizers get tight, the Chemical Plants kick in. To keep the Chemical Plants running, you are mainly dependent on Sulfur, Iron and Oil. Apart from Oil, the other two products are plenty available. You can generally produce more than enough fertilizer. In my current game as the United States I only have to use 15% of the Sulfur Mine Slots to produce enough Sulfur. It is therefore primarily a matter of ramping up production and much less a matter of securing resources.
In reality, at least until the beginning of the 20th century, there was an intensive race going on to secure rescources that were needed for Fertilizer. The Livestock Ranches did not deliver enough fertilizer at the beginning of the 19th century. To supplement the shortages, the very scarce guano was used. Guano was mainly produced by Peru, so Peru experienced a period of rapid economic growth and stability. At the same time, this was also a curse, because the supply was very limited and became exhausted or fought over. Gradually, other sources such as Phosphate Rock in Morocco and Saltpeter (Chile, Peru and Bolivia) became important. Potassium (Saskatchewan and Belarus) was also used. So it was not as simple as building enough Chemical Plants. Several wars were fought for these resources such as the Chincha Islands War and the War of the Pacific. The United States claimed every island where bird droppings were found and France secured the Phosphate Rock Production in Morocco.
In short: without fertilizer no food security, without food security no stability and no growth without stability. In my opinion, a lack of food security should also influence the Birth- and Mortality Rates, Radicalization, Party Clout and so on. Food security also brings me to the third part: strategic reserves. I think that a dynamic of having to secure some resources by force or by trade should be more important for a lot more products to keep things more interesting.
Part 3: strategic reserves
To secure food security you should be able to build up strategic reserves. An example of this are the resources needed for war such as Ammunition, Arms and Artillery. The production of these goods is generally not profitable and if the war has breaks out your production falls short because production is not prepared for wartime demand. My current solution for this is to subsidize a large production of these resources so that I don't have a sudden raise in costs or a lack of supply when a war breaks out and I mobilize my army.
In this case, it would be more logical to construct a strategic reserve with which you can increase the demand in peacetime to build up a stock so you can absorb the increased demand during a war. For example, you could set a minimum price from where a certain product is purchased as a strategic reserve and a maximum price from where a certain product is added to supply side of the market out of the strategic reserves. The prices will fluctuate again when the reserves are no longer supplemented or when the reserves are exhausted.
The same also seems logical to me for food, but those reserves should also gradually run out due to the spoilage of products. Perhaps something like that should also apply to war products because they are outdated.
It would also be logical for other products such as coal and oil to have a strategic reserve so that it is possible to absorb blows from, for example, suddenly set embargos or shortages. Electricity of Transportation, on the other hand, are not logical as a strategic reserve. In addition, I also have difficulty with the global presence of resources in a single market (or in this case a global availability of reserves), more about that in the next part. Maybe capturing a certain strategic reserve of production site could become a wargoal in dire circumstances.
Part 4: localized markets with their own supply, demand and reserves
The way in which the market is set up is that every product that is produced is currently globally available for that market. I would rather see that overseas areas (at least partly) use its own (colonial) market that is integrated to a certain extent in the market of the 'market owner'. An example of this is the Cultuurstelsel in the Netherlands where the farmers in the Dutch East Indies were obliged to use 20% of their Arable Land for products that were in demand in the "main market" of the Netherlands. In combination with the aforementioned food security this could also lead to food scarcity in the Indonesian market because local food production comes under pressure. This gives you a trade -off: you can optimize production in a certain market for the main market, but as a trade off you may have a problem with food production in another market. Which in the worst case could see radicalization or separatism as a result. You might be able to compensate for this by selling food back at a high price, but that can be unpopular. With this dynamic you can also simulate the situation that lead to the Boston Tea Party (although that is before the timeline of Victoria 3). Another problem that you solve with this is the global availability of electricity which I think can be better portrayed by a system with local markets within a larger global (colonial) market. The trade between these internal markets could also be disturbed by intercepting convoys and improved with the construction- or use of the Suez- or the Panama channel.
Having local stocks of resources could also have an impact on where a certain product is produced and in supply or demand. If you have oil, this must first be transported to the market where the oil is used with convoys. This also creates a certain price dynamic around Supply and Demand in the internal market or maybe local shortages or challenges.
Part 5: heating
The latest that intrigues me is the absence of seasonal demand for certain products. I would like to see the need for heating have a (seasonal) influence on the wellbeing of Pops as well as have some other impacts. For example: the Netherlands (my own country) is primarily known for its polders and the gaining of new land. Less known is that the Netherlands has largely been excavated for its own energy requirement before better solutions were available. The product with which the energy requirement was resolved? Peat is the answer. Huge areas of agricultural land were lost due to the winning of peat in "veen" areas. This created large lakes in the Netherlands that were later reclaimed as polders when the Netherlands started using other products to heat themselves.
Other products that could be used for this are wood, coal and perhaps oil. I think Heating Demand gives an extra dimension that is to this day an issue (at least in Europe). You could also spread the demand for heating over the entire year, then you will not get any crazy fluctuations in prices (which could also be taken care of if strategic reserves get implemented).
Part 6: something salty is missing
Salt it is. I believe it is one of the most important resources missing. Salt has many uses, for example it could be a way to preserve the Food strategic reserve to give it a longer lifespan before spoilage. There are probably some others uses. I get that not every product can be a seperate thing, but I'm really missing the salt.
I have played the game a few times and what strikes me is that the need to secure resources seems to limit itself to oil in the late game and to a lesser extent Rubber, Iron, Coal and Electricity (the latter two mainly because the demand grows explosively). The biggest challenge is currently to scale up production as fast as possible. I don't find any challenge to secure strategic resources. In reality there were many challenges for countries to secure strategic resources : a raw material was limited, one country had a monopoly on a certain product or there is a rapid change of raw materials needed due to the development of new technologies. Suddenly a raw material is no longer that important and your economy is crashing vs. an economy is booming because they sit on a 'hidden gem' (such as with the oil in the Arab countries in the 20th century).
This is too simplified in the game, everyone has access to all means to bring the economy to unprecedented heights. All that is still needed is to scale up production and incorporate the few states you need for oil and rubber. A tactic that I use is to colonize Celebes early (which is possible regardless of which country I play) and then use Celebes as a springboard to conquer East Borneo and New Guinea (Oil and Rubber secured!).
In a few subsequent writings I want to provide a few improvements to make this system more challenging and interesting.
Part 2: fertilizer and food securtity
The 19th and 20th centuries were characterized by enormous population growth. This population growth had never been possible without the substantial developments in the fields of agriculture and fertilizers. However, this did not go without a struggle there was a huge demand for different raw materials needed for the production of fertilizers.
This is insufficiently expressed in the game. In the beginning you generally build Livestock Ranches to keep up with demand. By the time your fertilizers get tight, the Chemical Plants kick in. To keep the Chemical Plants running, you are mainly dependent on Sulfur, Iron and Oil. Apart from Oil, the other two products are plenty available. You can generally produce more than enough fertilizer. In my current game as the United States I only have to use 15% of the Sulfur Mine Slots to produce enough Sulfur. It is therefore primarily a matter of ramping up production and much less a matter of securing resources.
In reality, at least until the beginning of the 20th century, there was an intensive race going on to secure rescources that were needed for Fertilizer. The Livestock Ranches did not deliver enough fertilizer at the beginning of the 19th century. To supplement the shortages, the very scarce guano was used. Guano was mainly produced by Peru, so Peru experienced a period of rapid economic growth and stability. At the same time, this was also a curse, because the supply was very limited and became exhausted or fought over. Gradually, other sources such as Phosphate Rock in Morocco and Saltpeter (Chile, Peru and Bolivia) became important. Potassium (Saskatchewan and Belarus) was also used. So it was not as simple as building enough Chemical Plants. Several wars were fought for these resources such as the Chincha Islands War and the War of the Pacific. The United States claimed every island where bird droppings were found and France secured the Phosphate Rock Production in Morocco.
In short: without fertilizer no food security, without food security no stability and no growth without stability. In my opinion, a lack of food security should also influence the Birth- and Mortality Rates, Radicalization, Party Clout and so on. Food security also brings me to the third part: strategic reserves. I think that a dynamic of having to secure some resources by force or by trade should be more important for a lot more products to keep things more interesting.
Part 3: strategic reserves
To secure food security you should be able to build up strategic reserves. An example of this are the resources needed for war such as Ammunition, Arms and Artillery. The production of these goods is generally not profitable and if the war has breaks out your production falls short because production is not prepared for wartime demand. My current solution for this is to subsidize a large production of these resources so that I don't have a sudden raise in costs or a lack of supply when a war breaks out and I mobilize my army.
In this case, it would be more logical to construct a strategic reserve with which you can increase the demand in peacetime to build up a stock so you can absorb the increased demand during a war. For example, you could set a minimum price from where a certain product is purchased as a strategic reserve and a maximum price from where a certain product is added to supply side of the market out of the strategic reserves. The prices will fluctuate again when the reserves are no longer supplemented or when the reserves are exhausted.
The same also seems logical to me for food, but those reserves should also gradually run out due to the spoilage of products. Perhaps something like that should also apply to war products because they are outdated.
It would also be logical for other products such as coal and oil to have a strategic reserve so that it is possible to absorb blows from, for example, suddenly set embargos or shortages. Electricity of Transportation, on the other hand, are not logical as a strategic reserve. In addition, I also have difficulty with the global presence of resources in a single market (or in this case a global availability of reserves), more about that in the next part. Maybe capturing a certain strategic reserve of production site could become a wargoal in dire circumstances.
Part 4: localized markets with their own supply, demand and reserves
The way in which the market is set up is that every product that is produced is currently globally available for that market. I would rather see that overseas areas (at least partly) use its own (colonial) market that is integrated to a certain extent in the market of the 'market owner'. An example of this is the Cultuurstelsel in the Netherlands where the farmers in the Dutch East Indies were obliged to use 20% of their Arable Land for products that were in demand in the "main market" of the Netherlands. In combination with the aforementioned food security this could also lead to food scarcity in the Indonesian market because local food production comes under pressure. This gives you a trade -off: you can optimize production in a certain market for the main market, but as a trade off you may have a problem with food production in another market. Which in the worst case could see radicalization or separatism as a result. You might be able to compensate for this by selling food back at a high price, but that can be unpopular. With this dynamic you can also simulate the situation that lead to the Boston Tea Party (although that is before the timeline of Victoria 3). Another problem that you solve with this is the global availability of electricity which I think can be better portrayed by a system with local markets within a larger global (colonial) market. The trade between these internal markets could also be disturbed by intercepting convoys and improved with the construction- or use of the Suez- or the Panama channel.
Having local stocks of resources could also have an impact on where a certain product is produced and in supply or demand. If you have oil, this must first be transported to the market where the oil is used with convoys. This also creates a certain price dynamic around Supply and Demand in the internal market or maybe local shortages or challenges.
Part 5: heating
The latest that intrigues me is the absence of seasonal demand for certain products. I would like to see the need for heating have a (seasonal) influence on the wellbeing of Pops as well as have some other impacts. For example: the Netherlands (my own country) is primarily known for its polders and the gaining of new land. Less known is that the Netherlands has largely been excavated for its own energy requirement before better solutions were available. The product with which the energy requirement was resolved? Peat is the answer. Huge areas of agricultural land were lost due to the winning of peat in "veen" areas. This created large lakes in the Netherlands that were later reclaimed as polders when the Netherlands started using other products to heat themselves.
Other products that could be used for this are wood, coal and perhaps oil. I think Heating Demand gives an extra dimension that is to this day an issue (at least in Europe). You could also spread the demand for heating over the entire year, then you will not get any crazy fluctuations in prices (which could also be taken care of if strategic reserves get implemented).
Part 6: something salty is missing
Salt it is. I believe it is one of the most important resources missing. Salt has many uses, for example it could be a way to preserve the Food strategic reserve to give it a longer lifespan before spoilage. There are probably some others uses. I get that not every product can be a seperate thing, but I'm really missing the salt.
Last edited:
- 10
- 3
- 1
