Production Chain

Ludic Organisational Structure · I – Economic Order production · Tipping potential: high

Production Chain transforms raw materials over several stages into ever more valuable goods: a directed dependency structure in which bottlenecks affect the whole system.

Design question – How are raw materials transformed over several stages into more valuable goods in your game?

Reference example – Anno 1800: grain becomes flour, flour becomes bread – if a mill is missing, the whole chain stalls. Factorio: ore, plates, gears, belts – each stage depends on the one before. Puerto Rico: without a production building, the sugar or tobacco harvest is worthless.

Ordering domain

Orders multi-stage value creation through directed dependencies.

Emergent behaviour

Bottleneck effects, optimization curves and growth spurts – exponential acceleration or sudden jams that no single transformation can predict.

Core Mechanisms

• Production (MEC-01) – Inputs → outputs.
• Conversion (MEC-03) – Raw material → intermediate → end product.
• Construction (MEC-05) – Build up production sites.

Dynamic Mechanisms

• Accumulation (MEC-02) – Storage, buffer stocks.
• Selection (MEC-07) – Which chain to optimize?
• Progression (MEC-15) – Efficiency gains, upgrades.
• Priority (MEC-08) – Order of the production steps.

Feedback architecture

• positive – Reinvestment: more output → reinvestment → better production → even more output. (Progression)
• negative – Bottleneck: a bottleneck at one stage → a jam across the whole system. (Production)

Design parameters

• Chain count – one linear chain ↔ branching network
• Stage count – 2 stages (simple) ↔ 5+ stages (complex)
• Bottleneck – every stage equally fast ↔ deliberate bottlenecks
• Automation – purely manual ↔ automatic per round
• Disruption – stable ↔ disruption-prone

Risk profile

• Runaway leader – high
• Kingmaking – medium
• Stagnation – low
• Complexity ceiling – medium

Compatible with

• Market (ST-01) – Compatible: end products are traded.
• Technology / Research System (ST-14) – Compatible: research improves production.
• Banking / Credit (ST-02) – Compatible: investments finance build-up.

Tension with

• Survival System (ST-16) – Tension: production resources for survival instead of value creation.