Manpower Extension Needed?

My ongoing quest to become (or raise) the ultimate dwarf has hit yet another snag. My domain, while pleasantly large, does not yet cover the whole mountain range. I would like to get closer to that goal, with the eventual aim of bringing peace to these mountains (and incidentally laying claim to more of its mines)... But before I can extend my lands, I will need to expand my stronghold large enough to control the lands I'll claim.

At present, I have a grand vault worth 90,000 gp; However, as I already control three wilderness hexes, I have reached the limits of how much it can currently protect. Doubling my land seems like an achieveable goal for now, so need to add enough tunnels, halls, and fortifications to increase its value by another 90,000 gp.

This is where things start to get ambiguous: According to page 127, I need to hire one engineer for every 100,000 gp of my stronghold's cost to oversee the construction. The total cost of my stronghold, after construction, will be 180,000 gp; According to that figure, I'll need two engineers - but on the other hand, I'm only actually constructing 90,000 gp worth of stronghold, and with that figure only one engineer should be necessary.

When building an extension to an existing stronghold, should the number of engineers needed be calculated based on the stronghold's total value, or on the value of the new construction only? Please help me, Autarchs!

 

I am not an Autarch but my ruling would be total value.

You can end up with some degenerate cases about ‘but I’m only building 100,000 worth at a time so I only ever need one engineer’ otherwise.

It's based on the overall (cumulative) cost at any particular construction site. So you need 2 engineers.

[quote="Alex"] It's based on the overall (cumulative) cost at any particular construction site. So you need 2 engineers. [/quote]

Thanks! That's how I've been ruling it (I reasoned that even if the amount of stronghold being constructed is minor, the amount of stronghold that has to be considered during development is still the whole thing), so it's good to know I had the right end of the stick.