Patrizierforum

With not many people around, I wasn't sure whether to start a new thread or add to the year 1300. Any moderator, feel free to move this!

March 31, 1301:

Population has grown rapidly, but mostly poor rather than the richer classes. Lots of merchant and gabled houses are under construction to try and prevent 'bottlenecks' to growth of the rich classes in the future.

Newcastle was founded on Feb 21 and has nearly 500 poor people, a quarter of whom work in the timber yards. No gabled or merchant houses have been built, but the first fifteen or so wall sections have been placed.

John Le Blund moved from Gotenburg, where he was Lord Mayor, to Brugge just before the local election. He hopes to build a second town wall in Brugge before moving on to Bergen in May.

Most townspeople are satisfied or better, except for the rich of Bremen and the people of Bergen, who are unhappy about temporarily high fish prices caused by a lack of hemp. Lack of meat, leather, honey, irongoods and skins Hanse-wide is making the rich generally less satisfied than other classes, although the large number of brickyards means they may be pleased about many new works projects being established. The Hanse is overflowing with wine, cloth, pottery, fish, whale oil and wool. An accounting error led to the establishment of about seven more sheep farms than intended, including some not yet occupied in Newcastle . There is also an accounting excess of sawmills, although this has not yet resulted in large excesses of timber.

A second group of arbitrage ships was set up in Reval to complement those already in Bruges, and more money is now being collected than can be spent. There are rumours flying around the Hanse that the discovery of a new continent to the west may be imminent.

CV: 41 million, of which 4 million is cash
Hanse population: 53209, including:
5566 rich (10.6%)
9544 wealthy (18.2%)
Ships: 354, for a total space of 9032 (255 average ship size)
Production: 2583 barrels
Happiness: 3.3 - 4.3 - 4.3

June 30, 1301:

Population growth was a bit slower this quarter, resulting in a slightly better looking rich/wealthy percentage. Newcastle has 1100 people, and a wall completely framed and about half built. Fast forwarding shows recognition day coming on the six month mark.

A native american village was discovered in April, although no trade has been conducted with it. Perhaps it should, since excess shipping capacity has meant med convoys have carted back stocks of 7000 cloth and 11,000 pottery and wine. There are also large stockpiles of beer (6k), whale oil (4k), salt (3k) and wool (500) in the hub city of Goteburg. Arbitrage leads to the ridiculous situation of more cash than can be spent, with 20M cluttering up the display. There are plenty of spare trade-4 captains around to setup more arbitrage, but there doesn't seem any point.

Patrician John Le Blund is about to be elected Lord Mayor of Danzig. I hope he's not allergic to bee stings, given the number of apiaries near the city. His first child was also born, although careless notetaking means that no-one can remember its birthday. Better ask the mother about his/her gender also.

To date, growth is much as planned, with no serious problems. Walls are framed in Brugge and Bergen. Meat, leather and iron goods are scarcer than I would like, and so some towns go without. This also means there are less weapons around than would be ideal. Ladoga is the only recognised city remaining under 5000 population, and the sixth construction crew coming at that mark has been handy elsewhere. Happiness levels generally oscillate around happy or better, and there will be enough reserve meat/leather/IG to get everyone very happy for the new year. I'm aiming to get around 95,000 population for December with constant rich/wealthy growth, and will optimise my year-end finish from there.

CV: 80M, of which 59M is "real" and 21M is cash.

The stats below include Newcastle even though, technically, it's not recognised yet.
Hanse population: 69001, including:
8039 rich (11.7%)
13286 wealthy (19.3%)
Ships: 522, for a total space of 13975 (268 average ship size)
Production: 3530 barrels
Happiness: 5.3 - 5.9 - 5.7

December, 1301.

Newcastle was recognised in August. Construction of Ripen has begun, with about 1300 residents and a half-completed wall. Aldermann John Le Blund has more than 900 ships, and many more businesses than there are workers.

The hub city of Goteburg has ample supplies of all goods, with the possible exception of hemp (2-300), pig iron (1-200) and iron goods (3-4k). As well as private industries, this is due in no short measure to the magical appearance of timber, grain, beer, fish and other goods after the granting of many loans. All shipyards are busy, and twelve large convoys are distributing goods adequately. Nearly all shipyards are capable of building 700 size hulks.

1301 saw a lessening of frequency in pirate battles, but an increase in the rate ships were requisitioned from debtors has seen John's fleet grow at a decent rate. Less tangible assets include the frameworking of new walls in London, Brugge, Bergen and Danzig, as well as incomplete frameworking in other cities.

There seem to be some eddies in the space-time continuum in December (Everyone gets deja vu when New Year comes around), with John still fiddling around with his actions for the year's end. Final contest values are:

Rich 26.5%
Wealthy 37.8%
Happiness 6
Production 3050