-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- (08-11-98) | Dune III Economy Guide | Dune III 1.0 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction 2. Dune III Economic System 2.1 Overview 2.2 Sources of Income 2.2.1 CHOAM Fief Contracts 2.2.2 CHOAM Company Contracts 2.2.3 Obtaining a CHOAM Company Contract 2.2.4 CHOAM Shares 2.3 Sources of Expenses 2.3.1 Standard 2.3.2 Military 2.3.3 Property 2.3.4 Security 2.3.5 Human Resources 2.3.6 Imperial Tax 2.4 Economic Periods 2.5 Coded Economic Commands 3. CHOAM Directors & CHOAM Policy 3.1 Director's Duties 3.2 Obtaining a Directorship 3.3 Term Limits 3.4 CHOAM Policy 4. Guide to Being a CHOAM Director 4.1 Introduction 4.2 CHOAM Meetings 4.3 Assigning CHOAM Company Contracts 4.4 Performing a CHOAM Audit -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 1. Introduction This guide covers the economic system used on Dune III. It describes its goals, theory, and the coded commands available. Everyone who is a member of a Landsraad House is encouraged to read through it at least once. House heads must familiarize themselves completely with this document. If you have any questions that are not sufficiently answered within this guide, please contact an Econ Sphere Administrator (see 'oocinfo spheres') or send e-mail to the Administration at dune3-admin@fremen.org. The current version of this guide can be found at the Dune III web site under "Guides": http://www.fremen.org/muds/dune3/. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 2. Dune III Economic System --------------------------------------------- 2.1 Overview All trade goes through CHOAM. CHOAM, which is an acronym for Combine Honnete Ober Advancer Mercantiles, is the universal development corporation controlled by the Emperor and the Great Houses of the Landsraad. Dune III uses a macro-based economy geared around CHOAM Contracts. Each House has a contract with CHOAM to market their homeworld goods. CHOAM in turn sees that each House's goods are distributed and returns the profits generated by the sale (with a small fee deducted, of course). In addition to selling the trade goods of their homeworlds, Houses can vie for control of the lucrative CHOAM Company Contracts. These are special contracts that can greatly enhance a House's economic influence. We are not concerned with economy based on an individual (micro) level: weapons, clothes, hotel rooms, jewelry, etc. These are all things which are best left to RP. As long as they fit in with how you portray your character it's assumed you can get access to any of these items. A soldier of a Great House should never want for weapons, nor should a Siridar's family be without fine clothing and jewelry. The economic system on Dune III has been carefully designed to promote and enhance RP among the Houses without tying them down to monotonous routines. Each economic period varies in what Houses comprise the CHOAM Directorship or what CHOAM Company Contracts are available. It's the hope of the Admin that this variance will keep the economic system fresh and exciting. --------------------------------------------- 2.2 Sources of Income CHOAM Contracts are the primary sources of income for Great Houses of the Landsraad. Two types of contracts exist within Dune III: CHOAM Fief Contracts and CHOAM Company Contracts. Additional income comes from CHOAM Shares which provide dividends based on the total income of CHOAM itself. --------------------------------------------- 2.2.1 CHOAM Fief Contracts Fief Contracts are the basic irrevokable contracts each House holds. They represent the House's surplus resources from all its fiefs: minerals, luxury items, foodstuffs, or whatever else serves as their primary goods of trade. Income generated from pundi rice on Caladan would fall under the Fief Contract of House Atreides. Generally, the value from a Fief Contract is unchangeable. The only exceptions would be if the House head wishes to decrease the value voluntarily to simulate a natural disaster or if damage to their trade goods happens due to a War of Assassins. --------------------------------------------- 2.2.2 CHOAM Company Contracts Befitting its status as the universal development corporation, CHOAM holds the legal ownership over a large variety of economic resources. These range from planets rich in minerals and agricultural qualities to manufacturing operations to the pleasure planet of Gamont and the coveted spice mining of Arrakis. These resources are contracted out to the Great Houses to exploit. Along with a name and description, there are five basic components that comprise a CHOAM Company Contract. o Duration The length of the contract in number of IC years. An IC year is approximately 3 real-life months. To make things a bit easier contracts go by what economic period it is. An economic period lasts exactly one IC year. o Average Profit Fairly self-explanatory. A contract can be expected to generate income around this amount each economic period. o Minimum Bid CHOAM Company Contracts must be bid on (see section 2.2.3 for details). This is the minimum amount that a House can bid on the contract for it to have any chance of being awarded. o Human Resources Required Contracts require a certain level of bureaucracy to be run effectively. If a House does not have enough available Human Resources (HR units) an extra expense is accrued to simulate the hiring of needed employees. (See section 2.3.5) o CHOAM Percentage CHOAM always gets its share. This is the minimum percentage of profits from the contract that goes into the coffers of CHOAM. Houses may offer a larger percentage when making their bids. o CHOAM Shares This is the number of bonus CHOAM shares a House gets while it holds a contract. These shares are temporary, lasting only as long as the duration of the contract. --------------------------------------------- 2.2.3 Obtaining A CHOAM Company Contract With the exception of the Arrakis Contract, which is awarded by the Emperor, the CHOAM Directors decide who gets what contract. To make your House eligible for a contract you must place a bid. There is a minimum bid amount associated with each contract. This represents the amount of solaris it takes to take over the operation and bring it up to speed. Houses may also offer a higher percentage to CHOAM in their bid. Approximately two weeks before the CHOAM shareholders meeting, held once every IC year (~3 RL months), there will be an open meeting with the CHOAM Directors. It's during this meeting that Houses make their first official bids for contracts coming up for renewal at the next economic period. At the shareholder's meeting the Directors announce who the contracts have been awarded to. They do not always have to award the contract to who bid the most. Feel free to schmooze your nearest Director before the shareholder's meeting. --------------------------------------------- 2.2.4 CHOAM Shares Each House holds shares of interest in CHOAM. The number of shares a House has determines the number of votes they possess within CHOAM and the size of their dividends. At the end of each economic period, Houses receive dividends based on the total profit of CHOAM and the number of shares they possess. There is a standard allotment of shares that goes with each CHOAM Fief Contract. The number of shares a House has can be increased by acquiring CHOAM Company Contracts. Every contract conveys a temporary amount of CHOAM Shares to its holder. As long as the House holds the contract it gets the benefits of the shares in it's voting power and dividend payments. It is possible to transfer portions of your standard allotment of shares to other Houses, but you cannot transfer shares gained through Company Contracts. --------------------------------------------- 2.3 Economic Expenses The following is a list of periodic economic expenses. While additional expenses might exist within the game (such as mentat and warfare costs) only the following occur every economic period. --------------------------------------------- 2.3.1 Standard The standard expense is the same for all Houses. It reflects the costs for normal House maintenace, a basic military allotment, and an embassy on Kaitain. Current standard expense is 12000 solaris per period. --------------------------------------------- 2.3.2 Military Houses get a basic military allotment which is included in every House's standard expenses. Many Houses may wish to increase the number or skill of their troops. Any such advancement requires a regular periodic upkeep charge based on the extra troops. That expense will be stored under the Military expense heading. (More to come on this later. At this time there are no military expenses.) --------------------------------------------- 2.3.3 Property If a House wishes to build an estate in the Kaitain countryside or a penthouse at the Imperial Hotel they must pay an extra periodic charge. These extra housings are for those Houses that wish to display their wealth and stature by going beyond having just a normal embassy. Embassy: No charge Penthouse: 2500 solaris/period Estate: 7500 solaris/period --------------------------------------------- 2.3.4 Security Security relates to the number and quality of guards around your House compounds, special devices employed such as palm locks and pru-doors, and the House's counter-espionage abilities (used in the Mentat System). The security ranks go from 1-5. 1 Standard troops, no special devices, minimal counter-espionage 2 Standard troops, a few special devices, avg counter-espionage 3 Standard troops, many special devices, good counter-espionage 4 Elite troops, many special devices, very good counter-espionage 5 Elite troops, a lot of special devices, excellent counter-espionage To have a rank of 4 or 5 you must have elite level troops in your military. Rank Cost per Period ---- --------------- 1 (default rank) Cost factored into standard expenses 2 2500 3 5000 4 10000 5 20000 --------------------------------------------- 2.3.5 Human Resources All Houses have a set number of Human Resource (HR) units to represent their available workforce. The number or units is based on the population of the House's fiefworld. If the number of HR units required for the CHOAM Company Contracts held by the House exceed their allotment of Human Resources they must periodically 'hire' additional workers to make up for the gap. This expense is calculated automatically by totaling the needed HRs for all the House's contracts minus the number of HRs they have available. Example: House Hirado has 78 Human Resource (HR) units. They acquire two CHOAM Company Contracts. One requires 35 HRs to run, the other needs 50 HRs. Together they total 85 HRs. Hirado only has the 78 HRs so they must 'hire' the additional human resources needed. This expense is calculated by the number of HRs needed minus the number of HRs available times the cost per HR unit. (85 - 78) * cost per HR. It is important that the House hires no more than 20% of the HRs needed for a contract. To do so will not only create a large expense but seriously affect the productivity of the House's contracts. This could result in an audit which can lead to the revocation of the CHOAM Company Contract. Example: Your House is looking to acquire two CHOAM Company Contracts that total 100 HRs. Taking 20% of 100 is 20, the maximum number of HRs you can hire before contract productivity starts to suffer. Therefore, your House should have at least 80 HRs if you plan to control the contracts. If you have less you must hire more than 20% of the HRs needed to run the contract, causing their productivity to geometrically worsen. Cost per additional HR unit: 500 solaris --------------------------------------------- 2.3.6 Imperial Tax The Imperial House has the ability to tax its subjects to support its bureaucratic workings. The Imperial Tax expense represents the effective rate of taxation. Under the Great Convention, all Houses must be taxed at the same rate. However, it is not uncommon for the Imperial Auditors to find loopholes for favored Houses reducing the amount that is collected. The less favored Houses could find every document scrutinized in an effort to realize the maximum amount of taxation. For the purposes of Dune III the Imperial Standard Rate of Taxation is 7%. The amount listed under a House's Imperial Tax percent is how much is actually collected. This number can never be higher than 7%. --------------------------------------------- 2.4 Economic Periods An economic period lasts one IC year (approximately 3 RL months). At the end of the economic period profits and expenses are calculated for each House, a CHOAM shareholders meeting is held and dividends are dispursed. The approximate time a period ends will be posted about a month beforehand on the global BBS. --------------------------------------------- 2.5 Coded Economic Commands Help topics for the economic related commands on Dune III can be found under '+choam/help'. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 3. CHOAM Directors & CHOAM Policy --------------------------------------------- 3.1 Duties The three members of the CHOAM Board are responsible for conducting shareholder meetings, assigning Company Contracts, performing audits on Contracts, and ensuring the solaris keep flowing into CHOAM coffers. A more detailed explanation of Director's duties are explained in Section 4: Guide to Being a Choam Director. --------------------------------------------- 3.2 Obtaining a Directorship There are two ways in which a House can gain a position on the CHOAM Board of Directors. The first is to be awarded the Arrakis CHOAM Company Contract. Unlike the other Company Contracts, Arrakis is awarded solely by the Emperor and conveys a Directorship to the contract holder. The second way to a Directorship is to be elected by the CHOAM members. The two remaining seats come available at regular intervals. --------------------------------------------- 3.3 Term Limits The positions for the CHOAM Directorship have a term limit of 6 IC years (approximately 18 RL months). The positions are staggered so that every other IC year a Director's seat will be open, either through a general election or by being awarded the Arrakis Contract. Players can hold a Directorship any number of consecutive terms. There is no limit on how many times they can be re-elected or hold the Arrakis Contract. In the event that a Directorship is revoked, by a 2/3 majority vote of all active CHOAM shares, an immediate replacement is elected to carry out the remainder of the term. --------------------------------------------- 3.4 CHOAM Policy There is an online file which describes the policies of CHOAM which applies to all members, including the Directors. This information is completely IC and can be found under 'ICinfo Choam-Policy'. Thanks to Alexander, Cesare, and Nils for putting it together! -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 4. Guide to Being a CHOAM Director --------------------------------------------- 4.1 Overview Much has been done to minimize the need for the admin to supervise the economic system. Except for the initial economic settings, the admin will have little influence within the system. The Econ Sphere admins will be available to answer any questions and address problems, but the IC operation of the system is left to the Houses, particularly those that make up the CHOAM Directorship. CHOAM Directorships are associated with a House more than they are with the Siridar. Any player from a House on the CHOAM board can make decisions provided they are on that House's CHOAM authorization list. The only exception is that it takes a head to award contracts. --------------------------------------------- 4.2 CHOAM Meetings There are two official CHOAM Meetings near the end of every IC year. The first is primarily for the Directors. An agenda for the shareholder's meeting can be set, and Houses can make their bids for contracts which will open up the next economic period. Approximately two weeks after the first meeting there is a CHOAM Shareholder's meeting. It's near the end of this meeting that the economic period ends and profits are handed out. All open contracts are awarded immediately before the meeting closes. The admin will help with the settings of the times of the meetings to ensure there's an even flow. However, it is the responsibilities of the CHOAM Directors to run all meetings. The CHOAM Directors may have as many closed sessions as they wish at any time. --------------------------------------------- 4.3 Assigning CHOAM Company Contracts There will be 2-3 Company Contracts up for bid every economic period. At the shareholder's meeting the Directors must award each open contract to one of the contract's bidders. The high bidder does not always have to be awarded the contract. The number and income of other contracts they hold may be taken into account. Each House should get one CHOAM Company Contract at least, provided they make a bid. While political motivations will undoubtedly play a part in some decisions the first duty of a Director is to CHOAM. Rampant abuse of power in awarding contracts can lead to the Directorship being revoked if a vote totals 2/3 of the active CHOAM shares. --------------------------------------------- 4.4 Performing a CHOAM Audit An audit is a comparison of the contract's previous income history versus it's current income. If there is a significant drop-off in money being generated by a contract it may be revoked from the holder and re-assigned. If a House does not have enough Human Resource (HR) units to come within 20% of the required HRs for its contracts the contract productivity will suffer. The CHOAM Directors can monitor this at the end of every economic period by viewing the profit history of the contract. If the profit dips lower than 20% from the average profit the contract may be revoked and assigned to another House who will carry out the duration of the contract. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-