[GDN] How did Power & Prestige come about? Was this already a planned expansion or is it a more recent idea?

[RW] The primary feature of Power & Prestige, the Player-Governed Ports, has been in the works for quite some time. The move from monthly updates to free expansions comes from how much we’ve raised the quality of the game. It’s performing very well, and when we came to the end of our six month story arc, Black Flags & Dread Saints, it was clear that we’d accomplished our initial goals for the game, and we started to think in terms of more ambitious expansions. That’s why we branded our current marketing campaign as ‘The Second Wave’, it’s because the first wave has just been completed.

[GDN] How much will a Port Governor really be able to do aside from tax rates and defenses? (We understand it’s still in the concept phase.)

[RW] Taxes will just be a way of bringing money into the Port Treasury.  The Governor will be able to spend money out of that Treasury to upgrade all kinds of things at the port, but really the most important one is what we call Infrastructure.  Infrastructure reduces the labor cost of producing goods for all players in that port.  There are multiple levels of Infrastructure, and thus multiple levels of labor reduction – but each additional level costs more money to buy and maintain.  So there’s a balance of Tax Rates and Infrastructure that the Governor has to figure out.  Low taxes might draw players to produce goods at your port, but it might not bring in enough money to maintain a high level of Infrastructure. 

And of course, if your port is a ripe economic target, a booming center of production, it’s going to be a port that your enemies want to take from you.  So you have ways to increase the offensive and defensive capabilities of your forces in the inevitable battle for control of the port.  There are a few other powers we’re still toying around with that will make long-time players pretty excited, but we haven’t ironed out all the details yet, so I’ll just leave it at that.