Design a deeply interconnected resource management and economic simulation system for a city-building game, covering supply chains, taxation, citizen satisfaction, infrastructure costs, and dynamic market pricing that responds to player decisions and external events.
## ROLE You are a senior game systems designer specializing in city-building and economic simulation games. You have shipped multiple titles in the genre — from small indie city builders to AAA-scale simulations rivaling Cities: Skylines, SimCity, and Anno series. You understand the delicate balance between simulation depth and player accessibility, how interconnected resource networks create emergent gameplay, and why economic feedback loops are the beating heart of every great city builder. Your expertise spans resource flow modeling, dynamic pricing algorithms, citizen needs hierarchies, infrastructure cost curves, and the mathematical foundations that make virtual economies feel alive without spiraling into chaos or stagnation. ## OBJECTIVE Design a complete resource management and economic simulation framework for a city-building game set in [SETTING: modern metropolis / medieval kingdom / sci-fi colony / post-apocalyptic settlement / fantasy realm / steampunk industrial age / underwater colony / floating sky-city]. The game targets [AUDIENCE: casual mobile players / mid-core PC strategy fans / hardcore simulation enthusiasts / family-friendly console players] and aims for a simulation depth level of [DEPTH: lite (3-5 resources) / medium (8-12 resources) / deep (15-25 resources) / ultra-realistic (30+ resources)]. The core gameplay loop centers on [LOOP: expansion and growth / survival and scarcity / optimization and efficiency / creative expression with economic constraints / competitive multiplayer city rankings]. ## TASK: COMPLETE RESOURCE & ECONOMY SYSTEM DESIGN ### Section 1 — Core Resource Taxonomy Define every resource in the game organized into tiers. Tier 1 covers raw materials that are gathered directly from the environment — these should include at least [NUMBER: 3-6] basic resources such as lumber, stone, water, food, ore, and energy equivalents appropriate to your setting. Tier 2 covers processed goods that require Tier 1 inputs plus production buildings — examples include planks from lumber, steel from ore, treated water from raw water, and prepared meals from raw food. Tier 3 covers advanced products that require multiple Tier 2 inputs and represent the high-value goods citizens demand as the city grows — electronics, luxury items, vehicles, pharmaceuticals, or setting-appropriate equivalents. Tier 4 covers abstract resources that are not physical but critical to gameplay — money, happiness, education level, health index, pollution rating, and city reputation. For each resource, specify the production building required, input ratios, base production rate per game cycle, storage requirements, and decay or spoilage mechanics if applicable. Map every resource dependency so no resource exists in isolation — every node in the network should connect to at least two others to create meaningful trade-offs. ### Section 2 — Supply Chain Architecture Design the logistics system that moves resources from production to consumption. Define how resources physically travel through the city — do they use road networks with traffic simulation, rail systems with throughput limits, conveyor belts, teleportation nodes, or abstract instant delivery? Specify the bottleneck mechanics that force players to think about infrastructure placement. A lumber mill producing 100 planks per cycle is useless if the road connecting it to the construction district only supports 60 units of throughput. Detail the warehouse and storage system — how much of each resource can be stockpiled, what happens during overproduction, and how shortage cascades propagate through dependent supply chains. Include import and export mechanics for resources the player cannot produce locally, with dynamic pricing that responds to supply and demand from [TRADE PARTNER TYPE: AI neighboring cities / global market simulation / player-to-player marketplace / caravan and trade route system]. Design at least [NUMBER: 2-3] critical chokepoint scenarios where a single infrastructure failure (destroyed bridge, depleted mine, power outage) cascades through the economy to teach players the importance of redundancy and diversification. ### Section 3 — Dynamic Market & Pricing Model Build the mathematical model for how prices fluctuate within the game economy. Define the base price formula that considers supply quantity, demand from population, production cost, and scarcity modifier. The formula should follow a structure like: Price = BaseCost multiplied by (DemandFactor divided by SupplyFactor) multiplied by ScarcityMultiplier multiplied by EventModifier, with each variable clearly defined and bounded to prevent prices from going to zero or infinity. Specify how demand is calculated — it should be a function of population size, citizen wealth level, building construction requirements, and seasonal or event-driven spikes. Detail the supply calculation including current stockpile, production rate, import availability, and depletion projections. Include anti-exploit measures that prevent players from gaming the market through artificial scarcity manipulation, rapid buy-sell cycles, or storage hoarding. Define [NUMBER: 3-5] economic events that temporarily disrupt the market — resource discovery, trade embargo, natural disaster, technological breakthrough, and demand surge from population boom. Each event should have defined triggers, duration, magnitude of price impact, and recovery curve. ### Section 4 — Citizen Needs & Satisfaction Engine Design the citizen simulation layer that creates demand for resources and provides feedback on player performance. Define [NUMBER: 5-8] need categories in a hierarchy inspired by Maslow: basic survival (food, water, shelter), safety (police, fire protection, healthcare), comfort (electricity, heating, consumer goods), social (entertainment, parks, community buildings), and aspiration (education, culture, luxury goods, career advancement). Each need should have a satisfaction percentage that feeds into an overall happiness score. Specify how happiness affects gameplay — immigration and emigration rates, worker productivity, tax revenue willingness, crime rates, and protest or riot triggers. Design citizen wealth classes ([NUMBER: 3-5] tiers from poor to wealthy) with different consumption patterns, housing requirements, and tax contribution rates. Detail the feedback loops: happy citizens attract more citizens which increases demand which requires more resources which requires more workers which requires more housing. This growth spiral should be self-reinforcing but also self-limiting through housing costs, pollution, traffic, and service capacity constraints. ### Section 5 — Taxation & Municipal Finance Create the financial management layer. Define [NUMBER: 3-6] tax types: property tax, sales tax, income tax, import tariffs, luxury tax, and corporate tax. Each tax should have adjustable rates with clear trade-offs — higher property tax generates more revenue but slows construction and drives out low-income citizens. Build the budget system with income categories (taxes, trade profits, tourism, grants) and expense categories (infrastructure maintenance, service salaries, loan repayments, emergency funds). Include a debt system with loans available at different interest rates based on city credit rating, which itself depends on revenue stability, debt-to-income ratio, and citizen happiness. Design the bankruptcy mechanic — what happens when the city cannot pay its bills, and how can the player recover? Include [NUMBER: 2-3] financial crisis scenarios with escalating severity that test the player's economic management skills. ### Section 6 — Infrastructure Cost & Maintenance Curves Define how buildings and infrastructure age, degrade, and require ongoing investment. Each building type should have a construction cost, ongoing maintenance cost per cycle, efficiency degradation rate over time, upgrade paths, and demolition or replacement triggers. Design the cost scaling formula where the Nth building of the same type costs more than the first (diminishing returns on scaling) to prevent spam strategies. Include technology research or era progression that unlocks more efficient building variants but requires significant upfront investment. Specify the maintenance death spiral: if a player neglects infrastructure maintenance, efficiency drops, which reduces production, which reduces revenue, which makes maintenance harder to afford. Include a "repair vs replace" decision point where old buildings become more expensive to maintain than building new ones, creating natural city renewal cycles. ### Section 7 — Balancing & Tuning Framework Provide the mathematical framework for balancing the entire economy. Define the target ratios: how many production buildings should support how many residential units, what is the ideal resource surplus percentage to prevent shortages without encouraging waste, and what is the target time-to-recovery after an economic shock. Include a spreadsheet-ready formula sheet that designers can use to model resource flows and identify bottlenecks before implementation. Detail the playtesting methodology — what metrics to track (resource price stability, citizen happiness variance, bankruptcy rate, average playtime before first crisis), what indicates the economy is too easy or too hard, and how to adjust individual variables without breaking interconnected systems. Provide [NUMBER: 3-4] balancing scenarios with expected outcomes that serve as regression tests during development.
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