P33J |
So my Oath of Vengeance Paladin of Iomedae, August Droga, was chosen to lead our burgeoning Barony of Brightbloom to peace and prosperity.
My backstory is that I was sent as a young Paladin, from Lastwall, to help foster a fledgling Crusader State to help with the Hold and the Worldwound. My Oath of Vengeance is actually against the bandits and lawless elements of the Greenbelt which lead to my younger brother's death while on a recruiting mission to help fight fresh levies to fight in the Worldwound.
My character has a strong desire to eventually develop a Paladin, Knight and Inquisitor Academy to create a close, but safe resource for the forces of Light in Golarion.
Yet he's smart (14 intelligence) and has common sense (12 Wisdom, I had really good rolls) and understands that first he needs to establish an orderly and prosperous nation before he can accomplish his ultimate goals.
To that end, I'm seeking advice on how to establish order and stability and ultimately security so that I can focus my attentions else where (August might even be willing to give up the Throne to focus on training his crusader army)
Currently, we've founded our Capital on the ruins of the Staglord's Fort, we immediately built a castle, a tradesman, and 4 houses. Because of a long standing contract with Bokken and a place on our council, he has established a potion's factory (Magic Shop but only makes potions) for free.
Our Capital Buildings are Currently:
1. Castle
2. Tradesman
3. Potion Factory (Magic Shop)
4. 4 Houses
We've settled 3 other hexes, two of which are dedicated to Farming, the third is located on the Gold mine hex and I think it has a house on it, I don't have our kingdom sheet as the GM keeps that. The Kobold's have sovereignty within their own Hex, and a treaty to manage the Gold Mine for 20% of the take, Chief Sootscale is also the Councilor (our GM shifted the Kobold's to LN when we liberated them) to cement our alliance.
Once the mine is established our GM said we can expect at least 5-10BP a month income from it, we average about 5 currently. We have no army yet, but then again, our nation is only 4 months old.
Any advice on diversifying our Kingdom and strengthening it would be appreciated.
Queen Moragan |
Not if your are playing Kingmaker:D
It's just helpful to state your point of view here as to how you are playing KM and there are a lot of ways to play it.
So, you have just finished book 2 - Rivers Run Red, or are almost done?
Has your GM provided any of the building rules to you? (Some do, some don't.)
JohnB |
It sounds counter intuitive - but the trick seems to be to build slowly and steadily :)
BTW - My players would love to get 5-10 BP a month out of that silver mine - I give them 2bp a month - and charge them 1bp a month in costs - for a nett 1bp a month income :) (our Kobolds also live on a semi independent reservation in their own hex)
However, as Moragan said - the style of play your group use is important. I suspect your GM has customised the build rules (I think just about every GM on here has done that) so it might be sensible to talk to him about that before you go for a detailed development plan.
Queen Moragan |
Stay away from any armies for a few years, the cheapest unit will cost 4BP a month.
But other than, that you simply need to build as much as you can each month.
Keeping a BP reserve is always a good idea too.
Keep ALL of your Council positions full, with a 2nd in-command and even 3rd in-command in place is something you might want to get started on. (We have had to deal with missing Council members).
Ruler should also get married, spouse can help.
Your GM should read all the way through all 6 books.
As JohnB said- talk to your GM, see how he/she wants to do it.
redcelt32 |
Queen Moragan's advice is quite excellent.
Only other things I might mention are:
1. The value of farms cannot be overstated.
2. Did I mention farms? Build them, build many of them.
3. Cohorts can be very useful for trustworthy council positions if you have a small party.
4 Ignore loyalty and don't build for it for the most part, any bonuses you get from council seats should provide anything you need until much later when you have armies.
5. Try to build your early settlements within a few hexes of the Narlmarches and spread then out, the forest bonus towards consumption will pay dividends over time.
6. If your GMs make crossing the rivers realistically hard, taking some key river hexes that will provide bridges when you build roads is extremely helpful to your exploration and possible response time if "bad things happen".
One ruling that could quite possibly change how your group handles armies is how you handle standing armies. We use an optional rule from the expanded mass combat rules of Jason Nelson, that lets you keep a limited amount of standing armies specifically assigned to barracks, garrisons, guardhouses, etc. These standing armies only cost you once per month instead of once per week if they are not out in the field. That makes it possible to have decent size armies or specialized armies and actually afford them prior to say book 3 or 4.