Tributes
Tributes are additionally generated resources, that are stored in the tribute fund and can be collected by the kings and dukes of the geographic kingdom of the village. Tributes will only be generated, if the player belongs to a political kingdom.
Contents
Tribute Fund and Generation
The tribute fund is equivalent to the warehouse, but for tributes. Generated tributes are stored there, until they are collected by the appropiate duke/king for that territory. If they don't collect them in time, the tribute fund will overflow, losing the excess tributes. The tribute fund only exists, if the player belongs to a political kingdom and the village is located inside the territory of (any) kingdom. The tribute fund does exist, if no protection is granted, but then the geographic kingdom can't collect the tributes. Usually, the player doesn't notice his tribute fund, unless it is plundered or he explicitly looks into it. He can do so by clicking onto the crown in the top-left corner and then goes to the subtab "Tributes".
The tribute fund is filled with 20% of the wood, clay and iron production of the village. The tributes are generated additionally and will not be subtracted from the regular production. The tribute fund has the same capacity like the warehouse in that village, but for all three resource types (wood, clay, iron) combined, instead of for each type seperately. For example, a warehouse level 20 can store 80k wood + 80k clay + 80k iron at once, the tribute fund of the same village however can only store 80k in total, e.g. 25k wood + 30k clay + 25k iron.
Crop is fully ignored by tributes.
Dukes
Duke villages do have a tribute fund aswell, following the same rules as described above. However, there is a special rule for duke villages with an active treasury. Dukes store 25% of the tributes they collected in the tribute fund of their village, collectable by both vizeking and king, independently of influence (see below). Normal villages from duke have a special rule aswell, see below for details.
Kings
Kings don't generate tributes in their own territory, but have a tribute fund. It doesn't get filled and can't be seen nor collected though.
If a king owns a village in the territory of a foreign kingdon, the village behaves like a normal governor village, i.e. it produces tributes normally which can be collected as usual by the foreign king.
Collecting
Which kingdom gets the privilege to collect tributes is determined by the geographic kingdom of the village. Within the geographic kingdom, the duke/king with the highest own influence on the village can collect the tributes.
To be able to collect tributes, the following conditions must be met:
- The tribute fund must be filled to at least 20%.
- The kingdom has to have granted protection to the village.
- The player must not have denied tributes.
- There has to be a connection between the village with tribute fund and the collecting treasury village (see tribute path).
- Duke villages with an active treasury are an exception - these tribute funds can only be collected by the two kings, independing of influence. The conditions above do still apply though.
- Duke villages without an active treasury in the territory of their kingdom are an exception aswell - these tribute funds can be collected by the treasury who has the most influence on it, aswell as by both kings regardless of influence. A duke can never collect his own tributes though.
Tributes can be collected by clicking on the crown symbol in the top-left corner, then switching to the tab "Tributes", then clicking the "Collect All" button. Collecting them one by one is possible aswell, by clicking the "Collect tributes" button next to each village.
Stealing Tributes
The tribute fund of a village can be robbed, just like the warehouse and the granary. In case of an attack, this happens automatically. Attacking troops will steal from the village's tribute fund first. Only if they emptied it, they'll plunder warehouse and granary of the village. Tributes can be stolen, if the player denied tributes.
It is possible to plunder the tribute funds of one's own village, to steal tributes from the geographic king. While this is very common for enemy kingdoms, it is seen only reluctantly and very uncommon, if one steals tributes from one's own political king.
It is, in contrast to warehouse and granary, not possible to protect the tribute fund with crannies, but only with a hidden treasury. Resources, that are successfully protected from an attack by the hidden treausry, can be collected by the attacked player and he can then freely use them (instead of his king). The costs of a treasury are very high though, so it is not a common tactic.
In scout and attack reports, the origin of the resources is visible by hovering over the bounty.
Tribute Path
For tributes to be collectible, there has to be a continuous connection between the village with tribute fund and the collecting treasury. This connection has to purely consist of kingdom territory of the same kingdom as the collecting treasury. Only horizontal and vertical connections are valid, diagonal ones do not count. The connection may consist of oasis too, if they are part of the kingdom.
If no such connection exists, that specific treasury can't collect the tributes. Other treasuries of the same duke/king may however be able to collect them, if they do have such a connection (but not treasuries of another king/duke). By this rule it may happen, that villages are inside the own kingdom territory, but their tributes can't be collected from anyone.
Stolen Goods and Treasures
Additionally to the tribute production, a tribute fund stores sold stolen goods. The stolen goods are converted to treasures at the time of selling and get stored in the tribute fund then. If a governor steals treasures of an enemy treasury, they are stored as treasures in the tribute fund aswell. Dukes and kings will move stolen treasures directly in their active treasuries (if none exists, rules of governors apply).
If a duke collects treasures via tribute funds, 25% of the collected treasures end up in his own tribute fund to be collected by his king(s).
Denying Tributes
The owner of villages with a tribute fund can deny tribute collection, rendering the corresponding duke/king of the geographic kingdom unable to collect them. By denying tributes, the player only prevents the collection, not the production. They can also still be stolen by attacks. Usually, this feature is used, if a village is inside foreign or even enemy territory. Denying tributes of your own king is usually seen as bad bahaviour and can easily anger them.
Alleged Bugs
There are some quirks, that may be interpreted as bugs at first sight:
- Governors can see who gets their tributes. But the name is always the name of the king of the geographic kingdom and not the name of the actual duke/king that can collect them.
- Dukes do see the full production, but get only 75% of what they see, because 25% go to their tribute funds for their king. The fill level of the tribute fund however shows only the resources the duke will actually get, so the tribute fund may seem to fill slower than expected.
- Dukes do see only 75% of the filling level of tribute funds, but they see the full capacity. This means, if the tribute fund is filled to 75% from their point of view, it is actually full and tributes are overflowing.
