Salutations, Industrialists!
The focus of this Dev Diary is talking about the updates to our Trade and Logistics Systems in Gilded Destiny. Also, Gilded Destiny is on Kickstarter! Be sure to follow! Back our Kickstarter Project!
Grab some coffee for a chat with our Content Designer John while he discusses the redesign of our Trade and Logistics systems.
In Gilded Destiny, the Trade system is heavily influenced by price, determined by both local and global supply and demand, which in turn is affected by Logistics and International Trade Policies. Watch to learn more—and to get your coffee fix!
You can find the full script for the Dev Diary below.
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Script for Dev Diary 15:
Hello everyone. I'm John, one of the Content Designers at Aquila Interactive working on Gilded Destiny. In today's Dev Diary, we're going to update you on how Trade and Logistics will work in the game, and explain the interaction between Global and Domestic Markets.
Before we begin, though, a quick update on our Kickstarter Campaign. We are incredibly pleased to announce that we've reached our funding goal of £20,000 within the first week. In light of all the support we've already received, we've decided to lower some of our stretch goals. The campaign is still ongoing, so if you haven't yet done so, you can pledge to pre-order the game at a discount, get access to the closed alpha, and get hold of some exclusive alt-history merchandise.
So, we wrote a bit about trade and logistics quite some time ago, in one of our earliest Dev Diaries (all the way back before we started posting videos). We originally planned for traded goods to travel from province to province, but with the number of countries, provinces, and resource types we are including in the game - in addition to the size of the map, diplomatic factors, price calculations, and the fact that this is all happening in real-time - the processing overheads became obscene. We've therefore redesigned how trade works in the game from the ground up (and for that reason, we're currently in the process of updating the functional UI for the new system - but we're still keen to show you the concept mockup here and explain how it all works). It's also a chance for us to show some of the work of our new Art Director, who you'll be meeting in a future Dev Diary.
The Trade redesign has also led us to redesign Logistics, in a way that allowed for more player agency in the building of roads and railways - so I'll be covering some of that here as well. As always, of course, this is all still work in progress, and anything we show here may change - this whole Dev Diary being a case in point.
Domestic Market
To begin with, it's worth stressing that one of the core features of Gilded Destiny's economy is the way resources are tracked and accounted for; they aren't magically created out of nothing when the player isn't looking. Instead, resources must be produced and consumed by populations, and the availability of those resources will inevitably impact their prices. So yes, you can create artificial shortages, flood the market, and use various strategies to wage economic warfare with your rivals. We'll go over how all that works in a bit - but first, we need to cover how Trade actually works in the game.
First off, each country has its own Domestic Market, from which its inhabitants and industries purchase the goods they need. As shown here in the Trade UI, you're informed of the total supply and demand for each good in your Domestic Market, and the extent to which your population's need for that good is being met. As you'd expect, that has an impact on the price of the good, with the arrows indicating whether the price is currently above or below the 'base price' of the good - and over here, you have a graph that shows how the price has fluctuated over the past year relative to the base price (this line right here). The base price is obviously something of an artificial construct that's designed to give players a better understanding of how the market is performing, but it's also tied to how much each demographic is willing to pay for a particular good. If the current price goes too far above the base price, they'll deem it too expensive, and will decide to go without.
In addition to Local Supply and Demand, you also have Global Supply and Global Demand. You'll need to keep an eye on these when evaluating price changes and shortages in your Domestic Market, and when planning the growth of your nation's industries. Speaking of industry, over here we have the details of your country's production and consumption of the good selected, as well as a button connecting you to the Buildings Menu so you can adjust production accordingly. We'll be covering buildings in another Dev Diary.
So as you can see here, at the moment our population's demand for Coffee isn't being fully satisfied - in fact, only about a third of our people are getting their fix, and the price has risen accordingly. We can see from Global Supply and Demand that while there's not enough coffee in the world to go around, we're certainly not getting a decent share. Yet over here in Production, it seems like we're actually producing plenty of Coffee - at least enough to satisfy about 80% of Demand. So there's a puzzle here - especially since we can see that at least 20% of the Coffee we're producing isn't being sold at all. To solve it, we're going to start by taking a look at Logistics.
Logistics
Your Logistics network accounts both for how foreign goods actually arrive in your Domestic Market, and how goods are distributed throughout that market. As you can see over here on the left, there's a city that's been designated as your Economic Center - often the capital, but not in all cases (and you'll be able to change your Economic Center if you so choose). This functions as the lynchpin of your entire economy: it's where goods are imported from and exported to other countries' markets, and it's also where goods 'arrive from' and are 'distributed to' your own provinces. Bear in mind that this isn't as literal as all goods physically arriving in the Economic Center and then travelling across the map to your other provinces - this is where we had to abstract things a little to prevent the game from grinding to a halt.
In order for goods to travel to your own provinces, they need to be connected to your Economic Center through your Logistics network. To do this, you'll need to build roads or railways to connect your cities to your Economic Center. Ports also connect provinces that have access to the sea, so Economic Centers that have a port are often at something of an advantage (since they don't have to rely on a connection to another province for sea access).
If a province isn't linked up through the network to your Economic Center, it becomes an Unconnected Province. Unconnected Provinces can only contribute to your market in a very limited way; they only receive 10% of their demands from the Domestic Market, and provide 10% of their outputs to the Domestic Market. However, once that province has been connected to your Economic Center with a road, that figure rises to 30%, and with a railway or port it rises to 100% (the exact figures may get adjusted slightly as we test it, of course). The short version is that you need to connect your provinces to your Economic Center if you want them to prosper; the better the connection, the greater the prosperity.
If you have any landlocked provinces that are separate from your other provinces, or if your Economic Center doesn't have access to a port, it's not the end of the world. You can still connect these provinces to your country by obtaining diplomatic permission from your neighbors to build a road or railway through their countries to connect distant provinces.
One advantage of the redesign is that it's meant roads and railways are now built directly on the map, with the player plotting out their courses. You'll need to do this strategically - especially since roads, railways, and ports all have a construction and upkeep cost. If the upkeep costs aren't met, the network will automatically default to less efficient modes of transport. So, if a railway isn't being properly supplied, the connection will function as a road, dropping to 30% efficiency - at least until the province has enough supplies to start providing railway upkeep again. If a road isn't supplied, the province will become Unconnected and drop to 10% - again, until it has enough resources to start paying upkeep for the road. Enemy military units that make it into your territory can also disrupt your Logistics Network by damaging roads and railways, while enemy warships can blockade ports. If enemy forces manage to occupy your Economic Center, every province will become Unconnected, stalling your entire economy - at least until you can oust the occupying forces, or move your Economic Center to another city. Military units will also be able to use their country's roads and railways for quicker transport - but we'll cover all that in a future Dev Diary.
To come back to our Coffee problem, if we take a look at one of these Unconnected Provinces, we'll see that a significant amount of Coffee is actually being produced here in Martinique. However, for some reason our connection with Martinique isn't functioning - potentially a blockaded port, or an insufficient supply of transport ships, has separated this province from our network. This means only 10% of its produce is making it to our other provinces. Effectively, Martinique has become its own isolated market: its populations are getting plenty of what the island is actually producing, but not enough of anything else.
However, we can see that this doesn't entirely account for our Coffee shortfall - something else is going on. So, with Logistics dealt with, it's time to go up to this tab here to take a look at International Trade.
International Trade
Your Economic Center will be able to trade directly with all of the markets to which you have access. Down at the bottom there's an indication of access to each Foreign Market, which takes both geographical and diplomatic factors into account. Without going into too much detail, you essentially need a port as part of your Logistics Network if you want to trade with anyone besides your immediate neighbors. However, landlocked countries can still request access agreements from their neighbors to gain access to a port and thus connect to the wider market.
Going back to the Domestic Market screen, here on the right we have details of Imports for the resource you currently have selected: the 4 main importers, the prices they're selling their goods at in your market (taking freight and tariffs into account), the price of your own locally produced goods, and the amount sold as a portion of the total amount imported. As you'd expect, your people will buy up all of a cheaper foreign import before turning to local produce, so it's important to keep an eye on if you want your industries to thrive. You can see here how large a share of the Domestic Market for that resource each country has, including the percentage share of your own industries. Down here, we have the corresponding tables relating to Exports: the main countries you're selling to, and how they're performing. You don't control Import and Export directly; instead, your Domestic market will buy from and sell to the Global Market automatically, calculating the best prices based on availability and demand.
Of course, international trade is something you'll need to bear in mind when it comes to Diplomacy, and over here you've got a list detailing the current diplomatic factors affecting trade with your country: embargoes, trade agreements, access agreements, and so on. If you go into the Foreign Markets tab, you'll also be able to take a look at similar details relating to the markets of other countries, including their main Imports and Exports, the diplomatic factors affecting their trade, the countries that hold a significant stake in their market, and so on. As you can see, there's a certain amount of goods 'lost' when conducting international trade (the sea claims those).
This is where we finally come to solving our Coffee problem. For some reason, the Prussian Empire has experienced a sudden drop in supply, and the price has spiked accordingly. Even with the import tariffs, export tariffs, cost of freight, and the goods lost in transit, it's still marginally more profitable for some of our merchants to sell their Coffee to the Prussians rather than to our own citizens.
So far, most of what we've covered here in the Trade interface is related to information: you don't have to directly control the buying and selling of goods. You also don't make money directly from trade; instead, you make money by taxing your population, which should ideally become wealthy through trade. However, back in your Domestic Market, you can buy from the market directly if you wish to add to your country's National Reserves for each resource, specifying the maximum price you're willing to purchase the resource at, the amount of the resource you want to stockpile, and the sell price at which you would be willing to release some of that resource back into the market. This way you can not only protect against embargoes and supply chain disruptions, but also (on a grander scale) create economic shortages or over-saturation if you have the means and desire to do so.
Finally, your Policies - which we covered in an earlier Dev Diary (check out the link in the description) - will have an impact on trade, not least on the tariff range you can set on Imports and Exports. Aside from generating income, tariffs can sometimes be vital for protecting your own industries from cheap imports, or discouraging your industries from selling to other markets before meeting the demands of your own population. At the same time, tariffs that are too severe may cause foreign importers to favor other markets if they can make a higher profit selling elsewhere - and it will be up to you to weigh up the costs and benefits of making these economic decisions.
So, to resolve our Coffee problem, we could increase the Export tariffs on Coffee to discourage our merchants from shipping it abroad. We could also lower Import tariffs to encourage merchants from other markets to sell their goods to us - provided, of course, that our current Trade Policy allows for these changes.
Final Thoughts
We hope you've enjoyed this Dev Diary, and as always, please let us know what you think in the comments. Remember that what we've shown here isn't necessarily final, and may be subject to change.
If you want to keep up to date with our latest content, you can subscribe to our YouTube Channel or join our Discord. If you haven't already done so, you can also add Gilded Destiny to your Steam wishlist, or check out our ongoing Kickstarter campaign. Again, we'd like to thank everyone for the incredible support we've already received, and we're excited to see which of our stretch goals we'll be able to reach.
That's all for now, and thank you for watching.
Also:
Be sure to listen closely to the backing tracks in all our videos—they are the pieces you will come to hear in the game, composed by John Skoog. Also, the solo clarinet on this track was performed by yours truly, Marc.
Listen to some of John Skoog's other work on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3PGd3lmURa72oFasqK3N7N?si=nDl4DUTRQGKKLaDtGcHBJw
John Skoog Music: https://www.johnskoogmusic.com/