Explanation of Stats

The explanation of some of the resources behind the game, the pesky things that prevent us from building megaprojects every turn. (Well, that and nomads). Each one means something, some are more straightforward than others.

Additionally the game has advanced to the point where "Advanced Stats" have started appearing. These stats give special advantages to polities that hold them, especially if said holders are going against other polities which don't have them.

Stats have various caps to them, derived from the number of provinces the Ymaryn have and various other sources, which govern certain mechanics like "Overflow" and the triggers for Golden and Gilded Ages. Most of these caps are marked by yellow and red numbers on the Stat Sheet.

General and Cultural stats have two yellow numbers, and then a red number for the final cap. Anything beyond the red number overflows. Stability stats do not have colored numbers and descriptor text for their maximum values. Organizational stats are like General and Cultural stats, with two yellow numbers, but they can continue advancing beyond their first red number.

Diplomacy
How much foreign capital we have, and how likable we are. Used when making treaties, useful in keeping the peace. We tend to have a lot because we get four per turn. Having low Diplomacy increases vassal problems as well, particularly an increase in their likelihood to breakaway.

Negative diplomacy means that other polities will start picking fight with you out of principle.

Intrigue
A new "Advanced Stat" derived from Diplomacy. How much hidden knowledge we can find and general secret scheming we can pull off. Useful in spying, finding agendas, and counter-spying. Currently known to be possessed by the Highland Kingdom, who discovered it first and have been using it for several centuries, and the Ymaryn. The Khemetri are speculated to have had it for some time as well, but this is unconfirmed.

Economy
Excess Food and manpower, mostly. Negative values mean we starve, so be careful. Having more than 10 is good because it gives +1 Wealth/turn with Efficient Economy due to the Census Megaproject.

Sustainable Forests
Unique (probably) Ymaryn stat. How many managed forests we have. Useful for fuel, prevents massive deforestation. Gain 0.5 a turn due per forestry policy, also generated by Expand Forest and released from use by efficient kilns. The Ymaryn Greater Forest that this stat represents also, in a narrative sense, acts as a stabilizing force for the region's climate.

Note that all civilizations have a sustainable forest stat, but only with civilization with the correct sociological and technological development will be able to see it.

As such, civilizations will run out of sustainable forests without realizing it.

Econ Expansion
How much room we have to grow. Many stats that consume Econ generate Econ Expansion because of the existence of True Cities, which provide a refund. The opposite occurs with most actions that generate Economy. Low EE also tends to mean more cities, which can be good or bad. Mostly gained through settling new land. Going too low will lead to overcrowding, which likely means stability losses and stress from disease and other issues. Due to the frequency in shifts from EE to Econ and back again, the players use the term LTE (Long Term Econ) to refer to the sum of EE and Econ.

Martial
Our military prowess. Low means more vulnerability to attack, though it is easy to quickly increase it with Raise Army, and our mercenary companies are worth about 10 each when at full Effectiveness. On the Stat Sheet next to our base value is a value in {}, this is our bonus martial from the Trait Swords and Ploughshares made up of Yeomen and militia, reserves who can be called to war. Occasionally after combat martial can go up due to veterancy. Has no hard maximum, but it has a "safe" cap; beyond that point, excess soldiers might wander off to do their own thing, especially if Stability is low.

Light Cavalry
A new "Advanced Stat" derived from Martial. How much martial we have on horseback. Extremely powerful, but expensive. If the Ymaryn are fighting a polity without that (on suitable terrain), target polity takes massive penalties. Also the one of the only effective counters to Hard Mode Nomads: iron wielding, horse riding, nomadic clans. For some perspective this is the equivalent of Iron Age and Classical Age tanks.

Naval
A new "Advanced Stat" derived from Martial. Represents our ocean going military. Useful if we want to attack overseas, and safely protect shipping and logistics. Required in order to project force over the Yllython Mor effectively.

Wealth
Money and expensive items like gems. Generated in many ways including trade dominances, salterns, and producing new things. Used for upkeep, especially of mercenary companies; consumed by the Life of Arete trait to boost Tech/Culture for certain actions; and also used to boost innovation through the Artisan Games megaproject. Used in lump sums for trade missions, which is a powerful method of diplomacy. Maximising Wealth can start a Gilded Age.

Culture
How much pretty stuff we have, like art, decorative pottery, and porcelain. Useful for trade and Proclaim Glory, our primary legitimacy booster. Split from and replaced Art several centuries ago.

Mysticism
Somewhere between science and religious mysteries. How much religious knowledge is being passed on. Used in study actions and raising religious-type units, such as Blackbirds.

Tech
Tools and technical knowledge. Useful for creating technically challenging structures and projects like ironworks. Split from Art with Culture several centuries ago.

It is possible to dip slightly below zero without much consequences, although dipping more will cause bigger consequences such as loss of knowledge and suppression of technological development due to lack of needed technical expertise.

Prestige
How awe-inspiring we are, internally and somewhat externally. Unlike other stats, has no known limit, though is less used than other stats.

Is connected to how many Subordinates we can have with this formula: Subordinates = 2 + Prestige/10

Holding the highest prestige in the area grants the King of the Hill legacy, which gives special bonuses, but also gives everyone else a Take the Crown casus belli. Currently, the Ymaryn hold this legacy.

Stability
How good everything is going; specifically, whether the people are content. Can generally be seen as the "Health" or "HP" of the Ymaryn. Higher=Better in almost all cases, capped at legitimacy. When negative, there is a higher chance for negative events occurring.

Legitimacy
How much trust there is in the King and Central Government. Ordinarily capped at three; social factions can alter this. Lower than three causes problems. If stability is ever lower than negative legitimacy, then collapse is imminent.

Centralization
How focused everything is around the Central Government. Higher values give better disaster resistance by increasing Temp Econ Reduction, but too high hurts via inability for the central government to handle everything, up to and including players losing actions. Very low values can cause the government to lose control, likely leading to civil strife and establishment of a new, less-centralised government type; this has not happened to the Ymaryn, but other nations are known to have much more decentralised governments. Easy to burn through Mid Turn uses of Personal Stewards of Nature actions. Building roads can increase both Centralization, and the upper tolerance for Centralization, up to a point; building Governors' Palaces decreases both the upper and lower limits.

Temp Econ Reduction equation (under the Guild Mercantile government type): Temp Econ Damage = Event + 1 - Centralization/3 - 1 Capital Palace Storehouse - # of Governor Palaces - 1 Iron Age Census - Religious Authority/2

Hierarchy
How many levels of authority there are between king and peasant. Rarely used, rarely moved.

Religious Authority
How much power the priests have. Higher gives lower wealth cap and more temp econ damage resistance thanks to our religious values, but too high and priests start taking over. The Ymaryn currently do not possess easily usable means of reducing Religious Authority, and must ham-fistedly go about reducing it by taking event actions in the Mid Turns which rebuff or refuse the priests something they desire.

Overflow
Stats, once their cap is reached, overflow into others. To the right is the "Overflow Chart". Black arrows are the downwards flow and happen first. Red arrows are the up flow and happen second.

Thus Tech is at the very end of the stat overflow chain. Once that fills up further points will start rapidly traveling up the chain all the way to Econ. Once every other stat is full Martial begins to fill.

If Martial overflows beyond its cap, also known as the Safe Martial limit, problems can occur due to warriors going out on their own, causing diplomatic incidents and other issues.

Golden and Gilded Ages
High stats can trigger a special bonus status known as a Golden Age, or the lesser Gilded Age. While the status lasts, each turn provides a special innovation option for each maxed-out stat type, as well as providing Econ income (Golden Age) or Wealth income (Gilded Age) for every True City in the civilization. However, a Gilded Age also reduces Stability each turn. The Golden/Gilded Age ends when conditions can no longer support it.

A Golden Age requires an entire turn at Stability 3 or higher, plus at least two maxed-out general stats (Econ, Wealth, etc). It ends when Stability falls to 0, or when a turn ends with no maxed stats.

A Gilded Age requires that a turn end with maxed-out Wealth. It ends when a turn ends without maxed-out Wealth.

Note that legacies may provide additional innovation options. For example, the Early Iron Bringers legacy allows the Ymaryn to take materials innovations even if Tech is not maxed; the Pure Gold legacy allows Prestige-based innovations; and the Golden Wonders legacy allows a megaproject to be started in the background without requiring further actions.