Ashwind Chronicle Developer Blog

This is a development plan article about something we would like to build next. Nothing described here is implemented yet; the ideas are still under consideration and may change before they are built.

Every day in the world of Ashwind Chronicle, rain falls somewhere, fog rolls in, and snow settles on the winter highlands. With today's work, that weather now also appears in the Region Information header and in the region list. For now, though, the weather is only something to look at: it does nothing to a farm's harvest or a wagon's pace. Tonight we look at an idea for letting weather affect production, transport and air routes, and for making those effects readable on screen. It builds on the existing improvement item EVT-041, and the ideas have been added to that ticket.

Taxes have joined the minister's proposals on the "National policy" screen of Domestic Affairs. The card carries the single best tax plan the minister found, and "Leave this to the minister" hands over both the research it needs and the tax changes that follow once that research is done. Along with this, the tax policy screen now opens inside the Domestic Affairs window, and the top row of the window has four columns: Personnel, Taxation, Welfare and Faith.

The "National policy" screen of Domestic Affairs (Valza Empire), captured for verification in a development debug build. The second column at the top is the new Taxation panel; the card on the bottom right is the tax proposal "Fairer progressive taxes". Numbers come from a verification setup and may change.

This is a development plan article about something we would like to build next. Nothing described here is implemented yet; the ideas are still under consideration and may change before they are built.

With today's work, a country's domestic policy now follows its head of state's personality, and the National Analysis chart under the calendar at the top right of the map shows the country's current state together with the head of state's goals. For now, though, those goals are only something to look at. Tonight we look at an idea where the head of state reads the gap to those goals and sets a charge every quarter, and meeting or missing it changes the head of state's approval. It has been filed as improvement item DOM-041.

We spent a day rebuilding the HUD, the information windows that always sit on the left and right of the map. The left window now gathers finances and supplies, showing revenue, expenditure and supply shortages with matching donut charts. The calendar window on the right now holds the national analysis and the domestic policy choice that used to live in Domestic Affairs. Without opening a single window, the treasury, the missing goods and the national course are always in view beside the map.

The game screen captured for verification in a development debug build (the Valza Empire on the first day of a new game). Left: the fiscal balance and supplies window. Top right: the calendar and national analysis. Numbers come from a verification setup and may change.

This is a development plan article about something we would like to build next. Nothing described here is implemented yet; the ideas are still under consideration and may change before they are built.

Today's work made countries without any researched welfare program have no welfare budget, and added donut charts that break down national revenue and spending. Now that welfare can be funded, the next question is where that money comes from. Tonight we look at the Social Security Tax — already in the research list but not yet doing anything — and how it could become a separate purse for welfare benefits. The idea has been added to improvement item TAX-012.