Vasata Family/Sleanra/The Good Bureaucrat

Introduction

Many people don't realize all the work and time it takes to be a good bureaucrat. Anyone can be mediocre at anything, but being good takes dedication. I've tried to gather here some of the bits that make a good bureaucrat good.

Basics

There are some very basic things any good bureaucrat should know, do and have.

The Unit

While a bureaucrat has some skills that allow him to better regions stats, he can not affect the realm control of a region without a unit. Every good bureaucrat should have an unit so he can perform police work and patrol the streets in case an infiltrator causes trouble. As far as police work goes, it doesn't matter how bad equipment your unit has or how low training. What matters is the number of men you have in your unit. However, it is good to remember that you're likely to run into some monsters and undead from time to time, so recruiting the worst men available is not recommended. A unit of 20-40 decent quality men should be sufficient for police work as well as fighting the occasional monsters and they shouldn't demand too much pay per week. You might also wish to consider mixed infantry as a bureaucrat. You'll have the added advantage of archer fire and half decent infantry in battles.

Some might favour not having a unit, but that means you will be unable to work at full potential. Some might advocate recruiting very large units of cheap men. That has the disadvantage of increasing your travel times as well as making the unit cheap monster food. The best solution is a reasonably sized unit of reasonable quality men. It is good to have some scouts and a healer or two too.

In short:

• Have a unit
• 20-40 men
• Decent quality
• Consider Mixed Infantry

Training

A young bureaucrat might feel the temptation to visit the academy and pay for some tutoring by a more skilled bureaucrat. Don't. You'll only be wasting your gold on something you'll learn for free and much faster by actually doing the work, not to mention you'll be helping your liege and peers by doing said work. Work hard and you'll soon be the one who is the skilled bureaucrat and you'll have more gold in your pocket because you didn't pay to be taught, but instead learned the skills of the trade yourself.

In short:

• Don't bother with the academy as it's a waste of gold
• Learn by doing the actual work as it's cheaper and faster

Be Aware

A good bureaucrat needs to be aware of the state of the realms regions. In some realms this might not be needed as much. It really depends on how much the leader of region upkeep feels the need to order people around, but none the less a good bureaucrat would pay attention to it. If you're in a realm that lets bureaucrat work fairly freely and autonomously, you should certainly be aware of the regions state. You should also be aware where the other bureaucrats of the realm are as to avoid duplicating efforts. Three things help in achieving this.

The first, and most important one, is the Realm and Regions report your scribe will be able to provide for you. This will give you an easy overview of what regions are in most need of your work.

The second thing is the Character List your scribe can provide you with. It should have the location of every noble in your realm. It is a good way to see who is where so you'll know not to move to a region that already has a bureaucrat present. It also helps if the other bureaucrat inform where they're moving to next.

The third is the Daily Region Report the council members receive. It has crucial information in it and provides insight into what is happening with the realms regions. You should request a copy of the report from time to time.

Realms tend to have trouble regions. They're regions that suffer frequent and fairly large drops in morale and loyalty. You should pay extra attention to such regions and try to identify them if that has not already been done. Once identified, you should always make sure someone is close by to that region, be it yourself or a fellow bureaucrat or the region lord.

In short:

• Pay attention to the state of your realms regions
• Know where the other bureaucrats are
• Communicate
• Try to get your hands on the Daily Region Report from time to time

Imperfection Is Not Bad

It is not necessary to have all the regions 100% at all times. The only figure you should try to always keep at 100% is production as it directly affects the amount of taxes collected in the region. It is not a big deal if the morale of the region is 90% or the loyalty 95%. Even realm control being at Main instead of Core is not such a big thing as it will result in just a few gold coins being stolen, though you should try and fix it as soon as possible.

You should keep these things in mind when you're working. If another region seems to need your work more, don't hesitate to leave your current region less than perfect. Morale and loyalty are not an issue as long as they're at least around 90%. Prioritize regions based on their current state.

In short:

• Not everything needs to be 100% at all times
• Prioritize

Efficient Time Use

Efficient use of your time is important. If a region has 96% morale and 98% loyalty, you probably won't need to spend 12 hours to bring both to 100%. In fact, spending 12 hours doing something is very rarely worth it. 5-6 hours is probably enough and should leave you time to move to a neighbouring region. Mobility is one of the traits of a good bureaucrat and that includes being aware of travel times to neighbouring regions. It is best to demonstrate this with an example.

You're in region A and the stats for the regions are the following:

• Morale: 96%
• Loyalty: 98%
• Production: 100%
• Realm Control: Core

The travel time to region B is 6 hours and its stats are the following:

• Morale: 90%
• Loyalty: 95%
• Production: 100%
• Realm Control: Main

You have 12 hours of time to use. What you should do is do a 5-6 hour Survey Administration in region A and then set movement to region B. Of course, this where the being aware part comes in as well as the prioritizing of regions. Once you arrive in region B, you'll have 8 hours to use. Use 7 hours for normal police work. That way you'll build up your time pool again and after the turn change you can do a 7 hour Survey Administration after checking that no neighbouring region is in more dire need than region B.

In short:

• Use your hours wisely
• Be aware of travel times
• Be aware of the state of your realms regions.