VIII. Governance

Introduction

The player in charge of clan management is responsible for governing their clan and ruling their clan’s territory. This includes managing income, expenses, and the clan’s political priorities, all of which is covered below.

Income

Japan is divided into 71 provinces, 4 cities, and 2 fortress temples, each of which produces a certain amount of rice that can be taxed for income, and so must be defended from enemy forces eager to take the land for themselves. Keep in mind that while provinces have a production yield, teams only receive a taxed percentage of that yield as income.

The currency of our game is koku (k). One koku represents the approximate cost of producing enough rice to feed 50,000 people for a year. Most of a clan’s income will come from rice and civic taxes that are collected at the onset of Winter, but some provinces will produce additional forms of seasonal income that pay out at the end of every spring, summer, and fall turn. The possible income streams are:

• Annual Taxes: Rice, Civic

• Seasonal Taxes: Road Tolls, Religious Donations, Trade Routes

When a clan has current power over a province (legitimately or otherwise), it is signified by possession of the corresponding Province Mat. Province Mats can be transferred diplomatically during meetings, or by force if an army has achieved military dominance at the end of a season. Each Mat contains the following information:

1. Province Name

2. Province Type

3. Recruitment Limit

4. Local Map

5. Income Streams

6. Tax Rate Slider

7. Happiness Tracker

8. Fortifications & Ports

At the beginning of each Winter turn, clans may change the rate of taxation in any of their provinces by moving the appropriate token between 0% and 20%. For the purposes of this game, only the rate of annual rice taxation (on which the income figure is largely based) and the few civic taxes are variable by the players. To keep the game simple, seasonal taxes remain set at the 10% level.

Increasing your provincial tax rate can significantly increase the amount of income your clan receives, but be warned: higher taxes lead to discontent, and a province that is unhappy enough may rise up in rebellion.

Provinces that are taken over by force produce income (seasonal and annual) at only half the normal rate for four turns. This also applies to recently recaptured provinces, in order to reflect the effects of chaos, warfare, and changes in governance upon the populace.

In addition to their incomes, some provinces have certain strategic bonuses that are represented by:

• Defensive structures: Defensive structures range from small border forts to ancient citadels capable of repelling vast armies; these fortifications provide defensive bonuses to the province’s current holder. Fortifications exist in three levels, and have an annual maintenance cost. If the maintenance cost of a fortification is not paid at the onset of Winter, the structure is considered abandoned and falls into disrepair, losing all strategic benefit. Recommissioning abandoned fortifications costs half their construction fee (rounded up).

• Ports: Provinces with ports produce seasonal income and also serve as points of embarkation for armies that wish to enter sea zones.

• Cities: Cities count as a separate zones for movement and produce income from civic taxes.

• Roads: Roads increase army movement speed and produce income from road tolls.

• Resource Nodes: Resource Nodes produce resources that may be traded with other clans.

Trade Routes

A trade route is an exchange of goods between two clans. Every non-Winter turn, Control counts up the number of resources each clan is importing and distributes income accordingly. The more resources a clan is importing the better, as this produces significant tariffs. More than one resource of the same type does not produce additional income however, as these extra goods flood the market, driving prices down and negating the benefit of any additional levies.

There are no restrictions the trading of resources (this is up to the players), but Control will not distribute income without a relevant Trade Treaty.

There are a number of Resource Nodes (marked on the map) which produces two tradeable Resource Cards. There are ten different resources (you may also think of them as goods or commodities): Lumber, Iron, Clay, Stone, Gold, Horses, Fish, Incense, Cotton, and Silk.

Savings

Not all income can be saved from year to year since it is used by your vassals to feed their followers whether you go to war and raise an army or not. As mentioned, the primary currency of the era is rice, and that food is going to end up consumed one way or the other.

Although you cannot carry over all of your income to the next year, a small proportion of the rice tax and certain special taxation on manufactured goods and trade is received in cash form. This element can be carried over in the form of a treasury. The following percentages can be saved from any given year’s income:

• 10% of the annual income from rice and civic taxes

• 50% of additional taxation (the annual value of all seasonal tax income)

Expenses

There are a number of expenditures that clans can invest in to affect their tactical position and cultural standing. These expenditures fall into three categories: military, fortifications, and social spending.

Military: These include a number of options for expanding your strategic position.

• Troops (Cost 1k): Each troop counter represents a unit of 1,000 troops equivalent on the main map. You can raise troops from each of your provinces, however, you cannot raise troops that exceed a province’s annual recruitment limit. Troops without a General or Commander are considered garrisoned in the province they occupy, and cannot move. At the onset of Winter, all armies and garrisons are disbanded, but may be recruited again at the beginning of Spring.

• Commanders (Cost - 3k): A Commander is represented on the Main Map and costs 1k per season to maintain except during Winter (more information: Ninja).

• Agents (Cost - 3k): Agents are represented at your team’s table and costs 1k per season to maintain (except during Winter). If you do not pay an Agent’s upkeep it becomes inactive and cannot be used until you start paying its upkeep again. Agent conflicts are resolved by Intelligence Control.

• Ninja Services (Cost - variable): Ninja services are acquired via a silent auction at the Intelligence Control table (more information: Main Map and Movement).

Fortifications: In addition to the fortifications already present on the map, your clan can construct new defensive structures to solidify your hold on a province.

• Fort (Cost - 8k): Grants a static garrison of 3,000 to a province. This takes three seasons to construct, and costs 2k per year to maintain. Forts can be upgraded into Castles over three seasons for 10k.

• Castle (Cost - 15k): Grants a static garrison of 5,000 to a province. This takes four seasons to construct, and costs 2k per year to maintain.

• Fortress (Cost - 30k): Grants a static garrison of 10,000 to a province. This takes six seasons to construct, costs 5k to maintain, and must be built out of an existing Castle.

Social Spending: A Daimyo is able to use his treasury to affect the Honor of his clan. This is accomplished through lavish events, grand building projects, and even bribes to Imperial courtiers. Exactly how much this type of spending affects your Honor rating is not revealed. You will have to experiment and see how much each spending type affects your standing.

• Ostentatious Public Event: You decide the festival (i.e. a great hunt, grand open-air noh play, etc.) and how much to spend. Spend as much as you want, but inadequately funded events bring shame to your team. The highest spending Daimyo of each year will gain additional prestige and Honor.

• Ostentatious Public Building: You decide the structure (i.e. a major temple, new bridge, etc.) and how much to spend. The Daimyo that builds and/or controls the most Ostentatious Buildings will gain additional prestige and Honor. The minimum cost for anything is 5k and construction takes two turns. These are marked on the Map and grant twice as much prestige as events, but can be captured.

• Money Lending: Money spent this way aids impoverished members of the Court Nobility, and improves your reputation with the Emperor. Though the nobility will (hopefully) repay you with interest, keep in mind that demanding repayment is impolite.

All building progress takes place at the end of the Discussion/Purchasing Phase, after any new purchases have been paid for. Buildings do not progress on the turn they are paid for. For example, a Fort paid for in Winter 1551 would be finished in the fall of that same year.

Clan Focus

At each team’s table, there is a small board that can be set at one of four different options. These are set or changed by the team leaders once per turn. Your clan’s focus represents the political or economic priority that your clan as a whole is focusing on. Each focus grants certain drawbacks and benefits to your team.

The Clan Focuses are:

• Agrarian Development:

  • Benefit: Rice Production +10 per province

  • Drawback: No Construction progress for the turn

  • Easing restrictions on the peasantry may help improve rice production, but with more labor devoted to farming, your construction projects could stall for the turn.

• Civic Development:

  • Benefit: Double Construction progress for the turn

  • Drawback: Rice Production -10 per province

  • Moving your excess labor force into major population centers may temporarily double construction speed, but rice production could suffer by as a result.

• Domestic Trade Priority:

  • Benefit: +1 Happiness across owned provinces

  • Drawback: -.5k Trade income per imported resource

  • A focus on internal economies and infrastructure may improve the general populace’s happiness, but you run the risk of losing money from lax trade tariffs.

• Foreign Trade Priority:

  • Benefit: +.5k Trade income per imported resource

  • Drawback: -1 Happiness across owned provinces

  • Opening your borders provides an opportunity to improve your trade income, but you may find it more difficult to suppress foreign influence on malcontents in your populace.

At the end of each turn, one person on your team rolls several dice (the number varies from focus to focus). Your Team Controller records the outcome, and determines both the positive and negative effects of your focus choice based on the roll’s result.

You may always choose to have no clan focus and forgo any potential risk or reward.