Km / KB Bldgs. as Personal Businesses: Pier, Waterfront

[FWCain]

I've been tinkering with the idea of bridging the rules in Ultimate Campaign, between Ult. Camp.'s Downtime system and the Kingdom Building rules.

It is explicitly stated in Kingdom Building that developments built with Build Points are "owned" by the kingdom itself, and _not_ by the PCs. But, what if one or more of the PCs takes advantage of the opportunity to build their own (personal) business simultaneously? For this purpose, I am presuming that the PC (or PCs) in question will be spending approximately as much from their own personal accounts as the kingdom is spending. (In other words, the business in question is paid for _twice_: once as a "Building" by the kingdom; the second time as a personal business by the PC.)

Here are two specific examples I've come up with: the Pier; and the Waterfront.

Please feel free to check my math, and let me know what you think! ;-)

Thanks,
Franklin

Building a Pier as a Personal Business Venture

A Pier takes one "lot" of space on the District Grid, and costs 16 Build Points (BP). One "lot" is 750 feet by 750 feet. That is a map grid of 150 squares by 150 squares, which is a total of 22,500 map squares. Since we can "buy" one BP for 4,000 gold, our monetary budget is (16 times 4,000) 64,000 gold.

Pier's Basic Structure
(Buildings: Courtyard x100, Dock x100, Storage x100)
Earnings: gp +1,900
Create: 1,400 Goods, 200 Influence, 1,400 Labor (62,000 gp)
Size: 7,800 squares (est. max.)

Dockmaster (Manager)
Wage: 3 gp/day (gives +3 to Earnings roll)
Skills: Appraise, Bluff, Knowledge (Local), Sense Motive, Profession (Sailor)

Dockmaster's Enforcers
(Teams: Guards x1)
Earnings: gp +2
Create: 2 Goods, 3 Labor (100 gp)

Dockmaster's Office
(Buildings: Cell x1, Guard Post x1, Lavatory x1, Storefront x1)
Earnings: gp +9
Create: 20 Goods, 3 Influence, 16 Labor (810 gp)
Size: 27 squares (est. max.)

Totals for "Pier" as Personal Business
Earnings: gp +1,914
Create: 1,422 Goods, 203 Influence, 1,419 Labor (62,910 gp)
Size: 7,827 squares

We used just under eight thousand of the 22,500 map squares allotted; that's just over one-third of the allotted space. We also spent almost all of the 64 thousand gold budgeted.

Presuming we "take 10" on the Earnings roll, that's a base earnings of (1,924/10) 192.4 gold per day. Subtracting the Dockmaster's daily wages (3 gp) gives us an actual total of 189 gold, 4 silver per day. With an average of thirty days per month, that gives us an expected return of 5,682 gold per month.

Given our initial investment of 62,910 gp, we can expect to break even on our investment in (62,910 / 5,682 = ~11.07) approximately eleven months.

Building a Waterfront as a Personal Business Venture

A Waterfront takes four "lots" on the District Grid, and costs 90 BP. Our budget for space is (4 times 22,500) 90,000 map squares, and our monetary budget is (90 times 4,000) 360,000 gold.

Waterfront's Basic Structure
(Buildings: Courtyard x500, Dock x500, Storage x500)
Earnings: gp +9,500
Create: 7,000 Goods, 1,000 Influence, 7,000 Labor (310,000 gp)
Size: 39,000 squares (est. max.)

Harbor Master (Manager)
Wage: 5 gp/day (gives +5 to Earnings roll)
Skills: Appraise, Bluff, Knowledge (Geography), Knowledge (Local), Sense Motive, Profession (Captain or Sailor)

Harbor Master's Enforcers
(Teams: Soldiers x4)
Earnings: gp +20
Create: 12 Goods, 8 Influence, 20 Labor (880 gp)

Harbor Master's Office
(Buildings: Bell Tower x1, Cell x1, Guard Post x1, Lavatory x1, Storefront x5)
Earnings: gp +30
Create: 51 Goods, 10 Influence, 35 Labor (2,020 gp)
Size: 56 squares (est. max.)

Waterfront's Repair Yard
(Buildings: Workstation (Craft (Boats/Ships) and/or Profession (Shipwright)) x2)
Earnings: gp +16
Create: 16 Goods, (0 Influence), 14 Labor (600 gp)
Size: 32 squares (est. max.)

Extra Warehouses and/or Upper Floors for Existing Warehouses
(Buildings: Storage x350)
Earnings: gp +700
Create: 1,050 Goods, (0 Influence), 1,050 Labor (42,000 gp)
Size: 2,800 squares (est. max.)

Totals for "Waterfront" as Personal Business
Earnings: gp +10,271
Create: 8,129 Goods, 1,018 Influence, 8,119 Labor (355,500 gp)
Size: 41,888 squares

We used just under 42 thousand of the 90 thousand map squares allotted; that's just under half of the space we allotted. We also spent almost all of the 360 thousand gold budgeted.

Presuming we "take 10" on the Earnings roll, that's a base earnings of (10,281/10) 1,028.1 gold per day. Subtracting the Harbor Master's daily wages (5 gp) gives us an actual total of 1,023 gold, 1 silver per day. With an average of thirty days per month, that gives us an expected return of 30,693 gold per month.

Given our initial investment of 355,500 gp, we can expect to break even on our investment in (355,500 / 30,693 = ~11.58) eleven to twelve months.

[Touc]

The two systems were never designed to work together, so be wary.

Breaking even on a major investment within less than, or equal to, 1 year is a phenomenal prospect, and from there it's only profit. If PCs figure out how to "game the system" using the math under this dual system, they'll figure out how to invest, and reinvest, and possibly generate a crapload amount of gold.

Ultimately, I aim to visualize what I'm adding to the game. For example, over the years many (including myself) feel the Kingmaker/UC kingdom building rules get stale and break down around Varnhold Vanishing. Having rebooted Kingmaker, I've looked into some alternate kingdom-building rules, including Matt Colville's Strongholds and Followers (a 5E product but essentially a mini-game, still waiting the 2021 kingdom rules), where the focus isn't the number crunching of UC but how cool it is to have a stronghold that you can invest in that gives you cool stuff.

Anyhoo, it's not really the math I'm worried about, it's the "thrill factor" and whether players would be entertained with playing capital investment banker to get their GP or whether they'd be more thrilled finding a rare ruin in the wilderness with a hoard warded by an ancient riddle from ancestral spirits.

[FWCain]

(Forgot to include this with my initial post):

Looking at the expected monthly returns from the businesses, and comparing these returns to the expected tax revenues from the kingdom builder rules...

The Pier's expected monthly return of 5,682 gold is 1.4 Build Points (BP), and the Waterfront's return of 30,693 gold is about 7.6 BP.

Depending on the divisor used for the tax revenue (5 in the original KM rules; 3 in Ult. Camp.'s rules), a Pier takes a few months to return just one BP, while a Waterfront gives an average of 1 BP per month.

To make the results of the "personal business" model more in line with the expected results from the kingdom building rules, we may have to reduce the expected profits to 30% of the calculated "by the book" value. (This would also give the "benefit" of delaying the PCs getting a full return on their investment for a few extra years.)

As an aside, I am aware that this will not be for everyone -- for every player having a mercenary love of profit, there's going to be at least one more player being bored to death from the number-crunching. I fully advocate using such accounting in private sessions with the players involved (via email or teleconference or whatever), to not bog down the "regular" playtime. But, if I were playing such a PC, I would _want_ the option of building my own personal business (or two, or three, or more) on the side. Pursuing dreams of avarice are a perfectly valid form of escapism, just as valid as pretending to be a hero capable of vanquishing monsters! To each, their own. Let people like what they like.

Thanks,
Franklin