Settlement Resources and their purpose

[Cortex]

With the new citizenship update(with them being permanent), citizen numbers dropped SIGNIFICANTLY all around. Making resources even more redundant since their decay is a lot lower now. Is there anything to be done about resources now, other than to raise the decay per citizen? Also possibly make the decay every season, rather than every year(to represent how a season is harsher than another), and add random seasonal/yearly events that affect settlements.

Perhaps create temporary city buffs that can be bought with resources, some examples being(numbers are just placeholders):

•Reinforced Walls: 25k wood/stone, neighbouring enemy populations will never spread into the settlement regions.

•Hired Workers: 20k food, increases resource gain by 5%.

•Winter Provisions: 5k food/cloth, decreases resource decay by 5%(higher if seasonal, winter only).

•Improved Farm Fields: 5k food, 10k wood, extra bushes are added to the respective fields.

•Elite Guards: 150k food/wood/cloth, bluff DC to invade a settlement the character is exiled from/at war with is increased by a flat amount, new more powerful guards roam the settlement as NPCs that will attack enemy NPCs and exiled people whose bluff is pierced by the guards.

•Spionage: 75k food, 60k wood, 200k gold, spy NPC added near NPC city officials, gives city official information from every other settlement, including citizens, treasury(even ones they're at war with). Only accessibly by the respective leaders and allowed subordinates of the settlements.

•Hired Raiders: 50k wood, 50k stone, 50k food, 300k gold, decreases a specific settlement's resource/tax gain by 15%, enemy bandits/raiders populace is created in neighboring regions, with rare chances of epic raiders if epic PCs cross the region.

Random events, informed from criers in the settlements and NPC officials:

•Droughts/harsh winter/bountiful springs: Change resource gain/decay.

•Warring Neighbours: Neighbouring NPC populations gain a boost, just enough that they are soon invading the settlement.

•Raiders/Piracy: Decreased resource/tax gain. Enemy bandits/raiders populace is created in neighboring regions, with rare chances of epic raiders if epic PCs cross the region. Increased chance of pirate attacks while out in the sea.

•Holy/Unholy Blessings/Wrath: Depending on the number/ratio of citizens belonging to a certain alignment sphere, they can get boons from some deities of similar alignment, or curses from deities of opposing alignment. IE: Tyr has blessed Cordor with greater powers, good aligned clerics have +3 CL bonus when spellcasting within Cordor areas. [or] Talos has cursed Wharftown with increased lightning activity! [or] Chauntea has blessed Bendir with more crops, increased food resource intake.

[Mithreas]

We actually have something in the works here, not quite along the lines you're outlining but similar.