Because of terrain and distance, Wowotu is broken into five districts, departments, provinces or counties, whatever nomenclature we might choose. I'd like to add the infrastructure numbers for each district: Port Tethys-Avalon, 147; Nagoya-Fenris, 57; Cork, 40; Hoth, 12; and Sarai, 8. This is a total of 264.
This would be a higher number if the settlements were not constrained by terrain, and could spread their influence more easily. However, whatever the infrastructure, the population total would be static; basically, infrastructure measures communication, not population.
Still, we can now divide the population by the infrastructure: 39,166 by 264 equals 148 people per point of infrastructure. This is something we want to keep in mind as we build the hexes.
Next, let me admit that I don't intend to expand the whole map into 6.67-mile hexes. I could do it, obviously, but it would take time away from my actual world and it isn't necessary to make the point I want to make. So I'm going to show the Port Tethys-Avalon district, partly because it's the largest and partly because it is the most isolated.
This does create a dilemma, regarding the references that I had the readers choose. Normally, I would make the whole region, then randomly distribute the references among the possible appropriate hexes where said reference could occur. For example, mining camps, where we would find iron and gold, occur in type-6 and type-7 rural hexes. So after expanding the whole map, I would add up all the possible type 6 & 7 hexes, roll randomly and place the gold or iron reference.
Here, I'm going to place all twelve references in the Port Tethys-Avalon district. This is not too many for an area of this size; most of my game's regions of this size have at between 20 to 40 references.
Okay.
Yes, I know, not very exciting. But nonetheless, the system gives some structure to the hex surrounding Port Tethys. Remember, there are nearly 12,000 people in this hex alone. The settlement itself accounts for most of that; type-"2" indicates that Port Tethys is a commercial city, so right off we can put the two market references chosen by the readers in place. Avalon won't come close to this. Port Tethys would have a repair shipyard, even if there were no shipping reference; but the readers did designate a ship yard so the city does build ships.
The other type-2 that we generated is a rural hex; and as it happens, consists of a manor house with a small village surrounding it; and knowing it exists, we can give that village a name (I'll just go ahead and call it Rainus. There's a 1 in 4 chance of it possessing a shrine ... which it does! We're on our way.
Past that, we should hold off on guessing where the other references will go. We only need to know for the moment that the type-5 rural hexes are occupied by grouped freeholder farms (no lords on that land), while the type-7 hex is a marginal area with isolated homesteaders.
I'm going to leave off now, and get into all the delicious grittiness after. It has taken a long time for me to write this post. I'm going to finish by giving the numbers (but not the terrain, I'll add that again with the next post) for the rest of the Port Tethys-Avalon District). Just for consideration.
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| The grey would be an arid, near-desert wilderness. |
Looking at the basic infrastructure map, it seems that while there may be a number of trade routes and shipping lanes, there will be really only two roads. There is infrastructure linking Tethys to Avalon and Nagoya to Fenris, but no where else.
ReplyDeleteBut, this would also depend on what level of infrastructure you would need for a road to manifest, correct? A 5-10 rating might only rate a goat-path, and you may require a 50 in each appropriate hex for a true road to have been built.
Ah Baron, but you're wrong.
ReplyDeleteThat is what we usually get when we draw roads between towns in a homebrew, but that is not what is happening here. That "3" on the map is a manor house surrounded by an island of hired laborers or serfs. It will need a road, probably one that reaches out to both city and village.
All the "5" hexes will represent several hundred tightly bonded freeholder communities, with houses not quite making up a village but surrounding a central focus, like a well. These will want roads too ... though they won't be surfaced roads, they'll be well-maintained cart-tracks. Still, these will be routes that lead to many of these hexes.
The "6" hexes will also be freeholders, but scattered. These will have cart-tracks too, but poorly maintained; so the players will know they're going somewhere, even it doesn't turn out to be more than a single, fairly-sized hovel.
The "7" hexes will have "roads" as well, but not wide enough for a cart and probably overgrown. But nevertheless, a four-foot wide trail cleared of trees and featuring boards over small streams and places where a hillside has been shored up, or a maintained watering hole.
Finally, what about the references? We have three farms (2 sheep, 1 rice) to place, plus two mining camps (gold, iron), plus two quarries (salt, limestone) ~ seven rural enterprises. The tools and hosiery we haven't placed will have to be in Port Tethys, as Avalon is a "type-5" settlement and therefore no more than an open-space village. No industry.
Any of the rural enterprises will need a route; the gold will almost certainly need a paved road (for wealth), and the iron and limestone too (weight carried). The mines and quarry products can be in any type-6 or type-7 hex: there are 24 possibilities. They may even be in the same hex (there's not reason they can't be). That "6" hex on the far right could be the most important hex in the district.
We don't know what the district looks like yet.
Always great to read a new post on Infrastructure et al.
ReplyDeleteIf the mines and quarry are in the same hex (1304, following your idea), that'd mean 3 paved roads (probably getting together soon) - an unusual level of (physical, lower case) infrastructure. Would that mean that the average level of infrastructure in the rest of the Hex is lower, or does the roads are in addition to a classic type-7 Infrastructure ?
Things are growing more and more exciting ...
PS: I'm more and more sure that your systems could be made into a very interesting computer game. The itch is growing to make one, now that I started to work on my map tool ...
There can always be multiple references in any given applicable hex ... but remember, we're rolling randomly, so the chances of more than one reference appearing in a hex is low. I'm going to hold off on explaining further, as there are other considerations, which I will be discussing in the next post.
ReplyDelete