1.1.8: Margin bonuses now pay what they say
Percentage margin bonuses (research tech, subsidies, tariff protection, location bonuses, and state effects) were wired through a leftover from the old cost model. On most sectors they did almost nothing, and on many they quietly worked against you: a bonus raised your costs and a penalty lowered them. They now act directly on your bottom line, in the direction and size the label says.
What was wrong
When the plants economy replaced the old margin formula, your real costs (inputs, wages, upkeep) took over the books, and the old percentage margin modifiers were folded into a leftover accounting line. On sectors where that leftover line was negative, which was most of the world, the effect flipped: a margin bonus made the sector slightly poorer, and a penalty made it slightly richer.
What changed
- •Margin bonuses are now a direct line on your sector's books. Each point of margin modifier is worth one percent of that sector's realised revenue, earned or charged every turn. A bonus always helps and a penalty always hurts, on every sector.
- •This covers the whole stack: research tech margin bonuses, government subsidies, tariff protection and exposure, home state and specialization bonuses, state conditions, and state-owned enterprise efficiency.
- •No progress is lost and no back charges are made. Researched tech, active subsidies, and your sector's books all carry forward unchanged. The fix only changes how the bonus is applied from now on.
If a sector of yours was deep in penalties and seemed oddly comfortable, or you researched margin tech and saw nothing move, this was why.