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[Necronic]

Let me start by apologizing for being late to the dance. This probably has come up, and I will be Urist McDouchbag for being the 50th person to mention it.

As they stand nobles are basically either a massive middle finger pointed at the player, or a massive walking suicide note. Either way, while the mechanics are interesting, I don't think they fall into "working as intended" (although maybe I am way off here).  Now, I think all the disadvantages are more than justified. A bunch of entitled douchebags should be a "royal" pain in the ass (pun intended). But there simply has to be some advantage to having them. So, here are some thoughts

1) More nobles (quality + quantity) should equal better trade possibilities. As opposed to some little mudhole of shitheels this is now the home of a Baron! You should see more rare items, things that shouldn't be available in the surrounding civs readily.

2) More serious attacks. The moment I get a baron(ess) I should be seeing serious seiges with trolls. So far I have yet to see a single troll and I have a king ffs. I think that having a member of the royal family present should make you a target for everyone in the world that hates you, to one degree or another.

Had some more ideas, but these seem to be the simple ones. If these already existed (and I just didn't know) excuse the post.

[Chasted]

To add to that, how about making mandate that make sense?

Why would someone ban exporting an item that is one of the items that can be considered your greatest export?

Or even, asking for items to be made that you have no chance in creating. No, we can't make you any adamantite items... There are no adamantite in this mountain. No, we can't make you steel, we do not have the materials to make steel items. So, before a mandate is made a small inventory check is done?

[Aquillion]

Much of the usage of nobles is on hold until you get the ability to launch military campaigns of your own and manage external areas, I think.

Right now mandates seem to be almost exclusively based on a noble's tastes.  While those should certainly play a role, that's kind of an abuse of power, and it would be nice if nobles (aside from abusing their power) also occasionally mandated things they think are really necessary for the fortress -- demanding clothes when the fortress doesn't have enough clothing, or whatever.

I think that that was the plan at one point.  Dunno if it was just put on hold or what.

[kotekzot]

my mayor had a thing for querns. oh, the horror.

[RavingManiac]

2) More serious attacks. The moment I get a baron(ess) I should be seeing serious seiges with trolls. So far I have yet to see a single troll and I have a king ffs. I think that having a member of the royal family present should make you a target for everyone in the world that hates you, to one degree or another.

Wouldn't that just make nobles even more useless?

[Heron TSG]

No, it'd make your fifty story castle have an eensy weensy amount of danger!

[Katsuun]

my mayor had a thing for querns. oh, the horror.

How is that a horror? You can make querns out of any and all stones!

[Sordid]

it would be nice if nobles (aside from abusing their power) also occasionally mandated things they think are really necessary for the fortress -- demanding clothes when the fortress doesn't have enough clothing, or whatever.

That sounds good. To expand on that, IMO nobles should be a kind of middleman between the player and the fortress. Kinda like the bookkeeper is, you know? Only when you set him to the highest precision do you get accurate information and the ability to view any and all items in the fort right from the status screen. That kind of thing. You get a noble and whatever that noble's area of expertise is appears in your menus so you can review and manage it.

[Neonivek]

Why would someone ban exporting an item that is one of the items that can be considered your greatest export?

Well a long time ago a King saw that his Fish Mongers and Fishermen weren't getting enough buisness so he banned all meat other than fish on Friday. It was a huge success!

Unfortunately it was such a success that it became a religious practice.

[BirdoPrey]

What if nobles mandated specially produced artifacts, perhaps with contributions from several artisans?

[Neonivek]

What if nobles mandated specially produced artifacts, perhaps with contributions from several artisans?

Naw, Artifacts are a Magnum Opex. You can't intentionally create them with Dwarves or any of the mortal races. (I could see powerful beings with access to secret and forbidden knowledge such as Demons POSSIBLY being able to create multiple artifacts themselves... but otherwise no)

[Folly]

Maybe mandates should cause the next item of that type to be of maximum quality? Or mayhaps a new quality, somewhere between normal items and artifacts?

[Whiskey Bob]

I don't mind nobles being parasitic and worthless.  What I have a problem with is getting stuck with mandates I cannot feasibly complete.

[sonerohi]

A noble could unlock a type of quality level like what Birdo said, where say, your masons produce a statue, your gemsetters finely decorate the necessary parts, your leatherworkers can put leather and leather decorations on the right parts, the metalworkers do their stuff to the right parts, the clothiers do, and finally needs an architect to build it. Could just be an alternate building called 'Fine art' where you build a statue and it takes 2 cloths, 2 leathers, 2 metal bars, and 2 gems and makes it kickass. Such as "This is a masterwork Obsidian fine art statue. It is an expetionally well made statue of Urist McSwordsdwarf. It's eyes are made of ruby. His scabbard is made of cat leather. His cloak is made of mule leather. His helm is made of silver. His plate is made of steel. His sword pommel is made of saphire." type thing. Gah, really just trying to describe a.. manequin almost.

[InsanityPrelude]

Nobles may be stupid and parasitic, but damn it, they shouldn't be so stupid as not to realize there's no sand on the map when they want clear glass. 

Oddly, other than the demands for things I can't provide, they don't really bother me. Adds flavor.

I like the idea about them attracting more sieges though.