Estates/Old

Basics

Every landed noble has an estate - either a manor or some rooms in the local castle. The estate also contains his servants, scribes and other commoners.

Daily management of a region requires these estates. They form the local bureaucracy, it is from these people that the tax collectors, administration and police chiefs are recruited.

Since even for the smallest region, a single estate is insufficient, region management becomes a joint effort of the local lord and his knights.

Estate Types

There are currently only three types of estates, though this might change in the future:

idle

The estate isn't doing anything. This keeps its running costs low, but it does not add to region economics.

production

The estate servants aid in keeping the regions production running and the tax collection working.

authority

The estate supports the local police and militia, keeping the peasants happy and under control.

Estate Sizes

The local lords estate is always the largest, but knight estates can be enlarged in size. A larger estate will be more expensive, but also more efficient. However, there are diminishing returns on investment - two small estates are more effective than one large estate.

Economic Effects

Every region has a required amount of effort to keep in shape. Going beyond this amount does not provide any additional benefits (more tax collectors don't collect more taxes), but failing to reach the required amount will have negative effects on either production or region control.

Only the local lord can see if the requirements are currently met, but he can not see who of his lords has set his estate to which values. This lack of information is intentional and creates mutual bonding - while the knights need the lord for guidance, the lord needs the knights to cooperate.

Political Effects

The major game effect of estates is that they make it a necessity for lords to recruit knights. A careful lord will also recruit more knights than is strictly necessary, because he will not risk is region suffering if a knight leaves. Estates do not suffer from the absence (prison, wounding, etc.) of their noble, but knights can only change their estate size or type while in the region, which makes region management and prolonged wars more difficult to juggle.

Estates also give knights a little leverage against their lord. If several knights of a region set their estates to idle, the lord might be more willing to listen to their requests...