Roadmap

Core Vision

A deep, replayable grand strategy experience set in a unique procedurally generated Victorian-era world. Players begin as a single-province minor power (a petty kingdom) and navigate 19th-century technological, economic, and imperial pressures to build a global empire. The game's heart is its interconnected economic and industrial simulation, where every factory, trade route, and resource node shapes the political and military landscape.

Design Pillars (Guiding Principles):

Economics is Geography: Control of key resources and trade routes is the primary path to power.
Society is a Pressure Cooker: Industrialization creates wealth and explosive social tension. Managing your populace is as important as conquering new lands.
No Two Worlds Alike: The procedural generation must create coherent, challenging, and unique geopolitical landscapes every game.
From Workshop to World Stage: The journey from building your first factory to dictating global trade policy should feel epic, earned, and beset with crises.
Transparent and Manageable Systems: put the player in control of his nation and its prosperity.

Target Audience: Fans of deep economic simulators (Factorio, Offworld Trading Company), grand strategy enthusiasts (Paradox games), and players who enjoy emergent, systems-driven storytelling.

Key Tech Challenges: Building a performant economic simulation for a whole world; creating a procedural generator that produces historically plausible yet novel outcomes; designing an AI that can competently manage a complex industrial economy.

Status labels: Done WIP To Do

Foundation & Core Simulation

Goal: Build the robust, data-driven engine that powers the procedural world and its economy.

Procedural World Generation

Geography & Climate: Algorithms generate continents, mountain ranges, rivers, and climate zones. Key resources are placed based on logical geology (coal in sedimentary basins, iron near mountains, rubber in tropics). Done
Cultural & Political Seeds: Populate the world with countries. Done
Strategic Geography: Ensure the map has meaningful chokepoints, navigable rivers, fertile plains, and barren deserts to incentivize expansion and conflict. To Do

The Economic Engine (The Core Loop)

Population Simulation: Pops are divided by Culture, Religion, and Class (Aristocrats, Bourgeoisie, Petty Bourgeoisie, Workers, Farmers, etc.). They have needs (food, clothing, luxury goods) and political consciousness. Done
Resource & Production Chain: Model full chains from raw materials to finished goods. Goods have output and throughput modifiers based on tech and infrastructure. Production methods evolve with tiered buildings. Resources are limited by the natural resource limits in each province. Done
Market & Price System: Market-level prices are set by supply and demand. Done
Capital & Investment: A private investment pool (funded by capitalist pops) automatically builds profitable enterprises. The state can also directly invest. Production buildings expand if they are profitable and shrink otherwise. Done

Basic State Machinery

Taxation: Levied on pops, production, trade, or consumption. Different taxes affect pop militancy and economic behaviour differently. Done
Budget & Debt: Track state income/expenses. Done
- Access to credit based on credit rating. Debt spirals can trigger crises. To Do
Research & Technology: A non-linear tech tree with branches for Industry, Military, Politics, and Infrastructure. Research Points gain is influenced by literacy, openness, and neighbors. Done
- Military doctrines are unlocked with Leadership points instead of Research points. Done

Gameplay & Progression

Goal: Layer engaging player-facing systems on top of the core simulation.

Internal Politics & Society

Interest Groups: Factions like Industrialists, Landowners, Military, Intelligentsia, Trade Unions, Religious Authorities. Each has desires, strength derived from pop support, and can be part of the ruling coalition. To Do
Laws & Reform: A dynamic law system. Players propose reforms (e.g., Free Trade vs. Protectionism, Universal Suffrage, Abolition of Slavery). Success depends on the strength and agitation of Interest Groups. Passing controversial laws can trigger revolts. To Do
Social Unrest: Pops radicalize or become loyal based on conditions. Radicals fuel rebellions; loyalists provide stability and tax efficiency. To Do

Diplomacy & Imperialism

Spheres of Influence: Compete with rival powers to economically and politically dominate smaller nations. Done
Casus Belli System: Justify wars through economic (Open Market, Ban Embargo), territorial (Claim Province), or ideological (Spread Ideology, Abolish Slavery) disputes. WIP
Colonial System: "Scramble" for new lands. Establish trading posts, protectorates, and full colonies. Manage colonial administration and face native resistance. WIP

Military & Naval Power

Army Composition: Units require specific goods (rifles, artillery, uniforms) to be supplied. Technology changes unit types (Line Infantry -> Trench Infantry). Done
Naval Dominance: Build fleets of commerce raiders, dreadnoughts, and transports. Control sea nodes is critical for global trade and power projection. WIP
Logistics: Armies require supply lines. Railroads and ports are vital for moving troops and goods. Cutting a supply line can cripple an invading force. To Do

Polish, Narrative & Late-Game

Goal: Ensure the mid-to-late game is compelling and add flavor for immersion.

Crises, Conferences, and Consequences

Economic Crises: Introduce cycles of boom and bust. Overproduction in a key good can trigger global recessions. Financial panics can spread. To Do
Conferences are a diplomatic alternative to wars. WIP
Great Wars: Late-game diplomatic blocs and rivalry can erupt into massive, multi-front wars requiring total economic mobilization. WIP
Revolution: Severe inequality and repression can trigger continent-spanning revolutionary waves, turning great powers into new ideologically opposed states. To Do
International organizations: allow players to unite their efforts in pan-national entities with shared budgets and foreign policy. To Do

Narrative & Events

Culture development: as nations start with a single culture, they progress to develop unique cultural traits giving their nation a distinct cultural identity. WIP
Nation formation: as nations develop cultural identities, let them embrace real world cultural identities with more unique flavour, such as France, Germany, or China. WIP

Interface, AI & Balance

UX/UI Overhaul: Make the complex data accessible. Crucial information (profitability, pop happiness, tension) must be visually clear on the map and in menus. WIP
Competent AI: AI must understand economic priorities, logical expansion, and diplomacy. It should pose a credible threat and a sensible ally. WIP
Turn-based Gameplay: remove the need for pausing the game with turn-based gameplay framework. Done
Stable Persistent Multiplayer: Support for competitive and cooperative plays on Persistent game servers with up to 100 players. Done