Resource quality?

[Slamz]

Still thinking about ways we can make resource production and port capturing more interesting.... what about resource quality?

 

This might simply show up in the form of labor cost of extracting resources. In rich soil (or rich conditions in general -- rain, sun, terrain, whatever), you may need less labor for oak than you would in poor conditions. Two ports may be oak ports but one is clearly better than the other.

 

Similarly, metal extraction has concepts of "grades" -- low grade ore requires a lot of extra processing to get the metal you want out of it. The iron may be there but some ore may be 30% iron while other ore is 70% iron. This could again be represented with a labor cost difference between ports.

 

Possibly we could even consider making capitals produce ALL resources, but at significant penalty in labor cost. You can get everything you need at your capital (mainly for teams that have been crushed) but at 15% the normal rate -- everything there is "low grade". If you want better rates, you need better ports.

 

Out of 20 iron ports, the breakdown may be on a curve like:

10 of them produce iron at a 30% rate.

5 of them produce iron at a 50% rate.

3 of them produce iron at a 75% rate.

1 of them produces iron at 85% rate.

1 of them produces iron at 100% rate.

 

 

Potentially these rates could even change or degrade over time. Maybe part of port mechanics is something like "iron survey" or "soil enrichment" that increases the rate, while use degrades it.

 

 

Anyway, I think resource quality is something to consider.