Taxes, Support, and Riots¶
Your tax rate sets how much gold you collect from your people, and it shapes their mood.
Popular Support drifts each turn toward a target set by your tax rate. A steady, moderate tax rate keeps Support near its highest. High taxes push Support down. Low Support badly cuts your Coastal (tourism) income.
Riots grow more likely as your tax rate climbs past a safe level. A riot crashes your Support and drives off part of your population. Raise taxes with care.
Taxes also decide how many people your realm can hold. A low rate lets it hold many more, a high one far fewer, and past 50% people leave faster still. A realm that is already shrinking loses people quicker the harder it taxes. Support works the same way: the higher it stands, the more people your land can hold.
The Queen Royale's tax¶
The Queen takes a share of what you earn each turn. You may pay her less than she asks, but a short payment costs Popular Support.
Every coin she collects goes into her purse, and she gives part of that purse back. She pays you the first time you play each day: 2% of the purse, or 7% once it holds more than 100 million gold. A realm still under New Realm Protection gets at most 1 million.
All barons draw on the same purse, and each refund empties it a little. The first to play on a given day takes the largest share, so play early.
The lottery¶
Once a day, as she hands back your refund, the Queen offers a lottery ticket. It costs 5,000 gold, taken as soon as you say yes — she does not mention the price, and a baron with less than that in hand is not offered a ticket at all. Either way the day's offer is spent: there is no asking again later.
Pick six letters, one keypress each, and press Enter for any you would rather leave to chance. Six letters are then drawn. What counts is how many of the drawn letters your ticket covers, not where they sit, and each letter on your ticket can only be spent once.
- 1 letter: 2,500 gold
- 2 letters: 10,000
- 3 letters: 500,000
- 4 letters: 1,000,000
- 5 letters: 4,000,000
- 6 letters: 10,000,000
Winnings go into your bank. One match still leaves you 2,500 down on the ticket, and most tickets match nothing — the Queen did not build her purse by losing. Your sysop can switch the lottery off, so a board that never offers you one is not broken.