Post by Admin on May 9, 2016 15:47:34 GMT
In R&BII the economy is largely static, with the land having a fixed income, representing its agricultural production. Trade, and the presence of markets to facilitate the exchange of surpluses, can add a little on to the income of any province. The presence of a large army can also increase the regional output, by acting as a giant consumer of local goods. The soldiers spend their pay in the settlements that form around their camps, and before long this can facilitate a lot of economic stimulation, and can add on a little extra income to a province. Since professional soldiers also need to be fed, it is not recommended to use armies purely as a means of economic stimulation, as they cost far more than they stimulate.
Essentially, the output of land at its fixed rate tends to be shared out between various segments of the population. Around half (50%) of the land's produce is consumed by those who work it, being the level required for the peasants to subsist on, with very little in the way of luxury. The remainder goes to the aristocracy, those who own the land. The more they are left with, the greater their wealth and number. In a levied army, a flourishing nobility may be worth more to you than the tax you could extract. From the surplus enjoyed by the landowners, a state with native Roman administration and appointed Roman councillors, or a state that has developed the required infrastructure, may extract taxes. These may be increased every year by a hungry state, but is often viewed as a form of tyranny by the landowners, until they become used to the new levels. The taxes may also be decreased, if you have reason to believe that they have gone too far.
Tax exemptions may also be introduced to a province for a limited period of time (up to you). It is recommended that a province that has suffered through raids and warfare to be granted tax exemption for a few years in order to encourage the resumption of vacated land. Raids and warfare, as well as severe economic pressure, can lead to cultivated land being abandoned and unproductive.
If the landowners are left with little surplus to sustain themselves, they will decline and landed estates will normally become larger and fewer in order to meet the tax requirements. If taxes are pushed above what can be provided, the lower classes will often sell themselves into slavery (as a servus tied to the land, the proto-serfs of the early middle ages) and can reduce regional output as well as reduce cooperation with tax authorities. If a province has been overtaxed for years it may see decline to a position where much land goes uncultivated and a general state of poverty prevails. Tax receipts will quickly be lower than anticipated.
You may choose to spend 1,000 Aurei per province to conduct a census. This will be a domesday-like survey of the land, to update or create a Roman-style registry of land ownership and estate incomes. This can be used to discover how well the land is being used, and whether there are untapped sources of taxation in your state. Otherwise, 'blind' increases or decreases in taxation will have to wait for negative or positive effects before knowing the efficacy of the decision.
Settlement:
Whether you are settling foederati in return for military service, or you are a barbarian tribe having conquered yourself some Roman territory, the settling tribes will expect a certain level of land. Foederati will have a value demand, and this can either be granted from your share of taxes (representing public land, land belonging to bread making guilds, imperial estates, or granting tax exemption to compensate landowners who have barbarians settle on their lands, or to give them new lands from public estates to replace those given to barbarians) or from lands owned by the aristocracy. The landowners will be unhappy and show resistence to the settlement if they are worse off as a result. As far as possible, peaceful settlement should rely on reduced tax income rather than seizing the lands of the native aristocracy, though this is not always possible. A Roman senator will be far less aggrieved if, in return for losing half of his estate to smelly Goths, he is given tax exemption for the remaining half. This works out well for the senator, as he gets to keep roughly the same level of agricultural surplus wealth as before.
A conquering barbarian army will normally expect 1/3 or 1/4 of all land in the new kingdom, and this will depend on the size and wealth of the kingdom. When the Burgundians conquered the Rhone valley, they were granted 1/3 of all land, whereas the Goths in Italy were only granted 1/4, since they had all of Italy to divide.
The population settled on land will effect the levies, religion and culture of the province. If you do as the Saxons did, and supplant the native aristocracy, you will end up with a more Germanic state in the long run, with various Saxon units. If you settle alongside native aristocrats you will find the Roman citizens of certain areas fighting alongside Germanic nobles, becoming more militarised and adopting Germanic customs, whereas the Germanic nobles may find themselves Christianising and ultimately speaking a romance language. After many generations, combined Roman-Barbarian kingdoms will coalesce to the point where there is little or no distinction between them.
When settling barbarians you will be told how much they expect to gain, and can choose how much to give. In addition, you must specify how much will come from tax revenues and how much will come from the landholders.
Example: Gundahar conquers the province of Thule, which has 3,000 Aurei in tax income, out of a total production of 10,000 Aurei. His men demand at least a quarter of the newly conquered lands as their reward for good service. He can:
-choose to settle his followers on less land, giving them 2,000 Aurei worth of estates from public lands or compensated division of Thulian estates. This will not please his men as much as they would like, and could cause his kingship to be challenged.
-choose to settle them entirely peacefully, and lose 2,500 Aurei, with only 500 Aurei left as tax income.
-choose to settle them partially peacefully, but also to the detriment of the local nobles. This will please his followers, but cause unrest amongst the local nobility.
-entirely supplant the native aristocracy, causing widespread resistence and a continued war of conquest, but greatly pleasing his followers.
NOTE: In-game tax income represents everything from tax 'proper' to royal/imperial estates, lands where the ruler is the landlord, and public enterprises.
Essentially, the output of land at its fixed rate tends to be shared out between various segments of the population. Around half (50%) of the land's produce is consumed by those who work it, being the level required for the peasants to subsist on, with very little in the way of luxury. The remainder goes to the aristocracy, those who own the land. The more they are left with, the greater their wealth and number. In a levied army, a flourishing nobility may be worth more to you than the tax you could extract. From the surplus enjoyed by the landowners, a state with native Roman administration and appointed Roman councillors, or a state that has developed the required infrastructure, may extract taxes. These may be increased every year by a hungry state, but is often viewed as a form of tyranny by the landowners, until they become used to the new levels. The taxes may also be decreased, if you have reason to believe that they have gone too far.
Tax exemptions may also be introduced to a province for a limited period of time (up to you). It is recommended that a province that has suffered through raids and warfare to be granted tax exemption for a few years in order to encourage the resumption of vacated land. Raids and warfare, as well as severe economic pressure, can lead to cultivated land being abandoned and unproductive.
If the landowners are left with little surplus to sustain themselves, they will decline and landed estates will normally become larger and fewer in order to meet the tax requirements. If taxes are pushed above what can be provided, the lower classes will often sell themselves into slavery (as a servus tied to the land, the proto-serfs of the early middle ages) and can reduce regional output as well as reduce cooperation with tax authorities. If a province has been overtaxed for years it may see decline to a position where much land goes uncultivated and a general state of poverty prevails. Tax receipts will quickly be lower than anticipated.
You may choose to spend 1,000 Aurei per province to conduct a census. This will be a domesday-like survey of the land, to update or create a Roman-style registry of land ownership and estate incomes. This can be used to discover how well the land is being used, and whether there are untapped sources of taxation in your state. Otherwise, 'blind' increases or decreases in taxation will have to wait for negative or positive effects before knowing the efficacy of the decision.
Settlement:
Whether you are settling foederati in return for military service, or you are a barbarian tribe having conquered yourself some Roman territory, the settling tribes will expect a certain level of land. Foederati will have a value demand, and this can either be granted from your share of taxes (representing public land, land belonging to bread making guilds, imperial estates, or granting tax exemption to compensate landowners who have barbarians settle on their lands, or to give them new lands from public estates to replace those given to barbarians) or from lands owned by the aristocracy. The landowners will be unhappy and show resistence to the settlement if they are worse off as a result. As far as possible, peaceful settlement should rely on reduced tax income rather than seizing the lands of the native aristocracy, though this is not always possible. A Roman senator will be far less aggrieved if, in return for losing half of his estate to smelly Goths, he is given tax exemption for the remaining half. This works out well for the senator, as he gets to keep roughly the same level of agricultural surplus wealth as before.
A conquering barbarian army will normally expect 1/3 or 1/4 of all land in the new kingdom, and this will depend on the size and wealth of the kingdom. When the Burgundians conquered the Rhone valley, they were granted 1/3 of all land, whereas the Goths in Italy were only granted 1/4, since they had all of Italy to divide.
The population settled on land will effect the levies, religion and culture of the province. If you do as the Saxons did, and supplant the native aristocracy, you will end up with a more Germanic state in the long run, with various Saxon units. If you settle alongside native aristocrats you will find the Roman citizens of certain areas fighting alongside Germanic nobles, becoming more militarised and adopting Germanic customs, whereas the Germanic nobles may find themselves Christianising and ultimately speaking a romance language. After many generations, combined Roman-Barbarian kingdoms will coalesce to the point where there is little or no distinction between them.
When settling barbarians you will be told how much they expect to gain, and can choose how much to give. In addition, you must specify how much will come from tax revenues and how much will come from the landholders.
Example: Gundahar conquers the province of Thule, which has 3,000 Aurei in tax income, out of a total production of 10,000 Aurei. His men demand at least a quarter of the newly conquered lands as their reward for good service. He can:
-choose to settle his followers on less land, giving them 2,000 Aurei worth of estates from public lands or compensated division of Thulian estates. This will not please his men as much as they would like, and could cause his kingship to be challenged.
-choose to settle them entirely peacefully, and lose 2,500 Aurei, with only 500 Aurei left as tax income.
-choose to settle them partially peacefully, but also to the detriment of the local nobles. This will please his followers, but cause unrest amongst the local nobility.
-entirely supplant the native aristocracy, causing widespread resistence and a continued war of conquest, but greatly pleasing his followers.
NOTE: In-game tax income represents everything from tax 'proper' to royal/imperial estates, lands where the ruler is the landlord, and public enterprises.