Yes, we hope that even the non-depositing new players can soon break away from the inadequate quality Grey clothing. On the other hand, the developments add the welcome distinction even to Green, which now compares favorably to the lower (non-)colors. It also has to be noted that the NF produce lasts twice as long as the emergency clothing provided by the Town!

Since Edification is Supremely Important, We The King have a Strong Desire to start the Printing Press in the Town A.S.A.P.


This Institution would be in our thinking best organized as a joint-stock company, but take the name of Literary Society or something.

To get this new technology started, a spend of 10,000 SCI is approximated.

Also we need to have the press, which is not that much space really, but a wonderful opportunity to make a new Grand Building in town, with public gardens and a library. We have a location in mind in the University borough. All the books should have a few copies in the Library, which makes it possible for all to access the knowledge. (The Game Wiki will be available to be read for free.)

The Members of the Society would receive their books with a standing order. This makes it effortless to grow your own library, allowing the meditation over knowledge in the peace of your palace. Single copies would be sold in the bookshop as long as the print run lasts, and in aftermarket afterwards.

All books printed would be durable quality cloth paper (not pulp paper, which came centuries later to destroy the durability of the books). The Press would be available for private orders as well, allowing anyone to print their titles against a payment.

We repeat that it is possible that this cultural achievement is unlikely to result in monetary profit any time soon, but the cultural profit will be all the higher, and has proven itself over the years to be of much delight as well.

Please present your thoughts!

The list of Royal Monopolies, other granted Monopolies, and Corporations in Monopoly Market Position

...and the Call to Establish New Such Ones!


The Ultima development project has the end state of Ultima Version (V.U). It is a very fundamental way of economic implementation of the world, and has the following principles:

- Each character has Time, which he can convert to Labor (which is Time accompanied with Skill)
- Production requires Labor to be used, as well as (some or all of) Materials, Buildings, and Tools
- Production is defined such as new Items are created or existing ones change form to more refined ones

- Characters require food, drinks, clothes, etc. to sustain their life and therefore Labor-producing capacity
- These items are consumed in the process (food, drinks) or deteriorate over time (clothes, buildings)

- Money is a means of facilitating exchange, and can directly buy needed items as they are imported, but this will become less and less wanted as the domestic production takes over. This is a resource-based economy, with money relegated to its proper roles as a unit of account and means of exchange, where the store of value role is dependent on the character's wishes but CKG, M, UB and land being possibilities among others.

BUT

We are still far from the situation where all the production chain from wandering in the forest shooting pheasants until the finished hat is sold to the noblewoman, is properly mapped, implemented and balanced.

To bridge this gap, Monopolies are started to produce the needed items and conduct research that will lead to their dissolution.

RWWC has successfully started the making of windows, and will greatly expand its selection in the following years.

NewCorp is a cartel formed by landowners to produce stone, although anyone can start to compete with it once 1605 brings the new land available yet again.

North Face Cloth Industries has the grant to make suits in green, white, orange, red, blue and purple traditional colors. They have conducted research how to make them the best.

Royal Mint completed the itemization of the Kingdom's gold a year ago, and will be the only place to mint new coins, and round objects of existing gold, silver and other metals.

Church is tasked to make beer available to all and they get the tax revenue, which income is used for the poor.

The Town is in somewhat of a monopoly position regarding mead and strong drinks, because their price is mainly town tax, and imports regulated.


In the Villa Rotonda, we the staff have pondered over the needs of the people, and once V3.9U is soon here, and we have first time the option to enlarge the number of items ordinary people have, there are many needs:

- Printing Press. This would be a great and expensive purchase, but would enable making books and other prints in large runs, so that the per-unit cost is insignificant. The marketing is important because not everyone can read and the Kingdom is small. Probably many of the products will sell badly for decades even, until the latecomers realize their collectible value and the reward is gained after patient waiting.

- Hat and Boots manufacturing. It is time to get the latest fashions from the other countries to here as well, with both modest and magnificent head and footwear.

- Horse breeding and sales. Most nobles don't have the skill to "make" good horses but nevertheless demand them.

- Carriage manufacturing. These most important and expensive items need a maker, who can process and fulfill orders. There is a new 6-horse type technically available but it requires very trained horses and skilled carriage makers, artesans and artists to decorate the wonderful piece of wealth.

- Sword and other PPG manufacturing. It is about time to get our prowess to the level of the other countries, otherwise what is the possibility of subduing the countryside?!

- Wood items. The population of commoners that is flocking to the town soon, needs basic living stuff for their houses.


Proposals about how to handle these are received in the Villa Rotonda registry. SCI points spend is in many cases required.

Good and bad in markets are elusive. I prefer to adjust my position always based on the current price, in relation to the information I have about the asset. In practice this means to eliminate hope. When I start hoping that the price would go up or down, I normally get disappointed and also lose money. If I adjust the position such that it does not matter whether it goes up or down, that I can act in both cases, this will lead to profitable investing in the long run.

Suits are Items with a level (K3-K10). The most basic suits have K3, a blue suit with no metals is K6, and the magical golden suit which no one has seen but the rumors abound that the King is wearing it in his private tea ceremonies, is K10.

In Ultima, having a proper suit fitting for your status is good for health, for social interaction, and for promotion.

The suits will last for 10+ years of daily use, degrading slowly. Suit expenses are designed to be 20% of character expenses (20% food, 20% drink, 20% clothes, 20% house+horse, 20% others).

Everybody should aim to get as good a suit as possible, due to the various benefits it gives. If the costs arising from the using of an expensive suit daily terrify you, consider buying a cheaper gray suit (for those whose better suit is green), green suit (for those whose it is white/orange), or a suit with less gold and silver (for those whose better suit is red/blue with loads of metals decorating it).

Suits degrade slower if at all when they are not used! (You will be able to toggle on the suit you are currently wearing in the later version in Ultima, as well as boots and hat - it might be a good time to start acquiring these as unique items btw, to get the best collection!)

The price range for suits is approximately as follows:
1000 mil this much it would cost to recreate WOS-1 (purple, 1000 CKG), which is btw from 1450 and we only use it in the Throne Room
300 mil a suit with much metals regardless of color; highest aftermarket sale
100 mil a very nice custom made suit with some metals
50 mil a purple suit, or ancient cloth blue suit, without metals
10-40 mil different fabrics, colors and anciety
1.2 mil a grey suit


Some King's WM clients' suit wishes:
(when items become available we are seeking to buy these)

Tavastia has acquired the first modern suit (WOS-101), red in 1551 Ancient cloth, as well as WOS-105, ancient cut blue suit (this purchase is very satisfying) + a grey suit just in case. Who knows when the suits are again in a short supply...

Sarajas has been waiting patiently that suits become available and bought a 1551-blue. Since he owns 9,000 CKG, there is no need to show off and no metals is completely OK. This does not mean it would stay at one, though.

Master nikke1 we will meet tomorrow, we will see whether he aims for white (due to being learned), orange (because he is an artist), red (because of being a businessman) or green (due to being jovial) clothes. Probably new rather than ancient.

Lord Thud will place an order for clothes fitting for a Councillor soon.

Dr. HS-S would like to have a white or two for daily use, and is seeking to buy a collectible suit as well, preferably orange. Please contact if a suitable one comes up!

Dr. SS needs a white or two, but no trinkets.

Jungherr Paul is seeking a slim blue suit, for everyday use.

A couple of greens are also requested by the newer entrants, and the cost is a concern. They have heard that a green used to cost 3-4 mil in the ancient times... All have bought a grey suit as well, as soon as they became available.

Oh, that is a very interesting story.

The tasting of the rum reveals for certain that we are talking about the same stuff. Had 15 RME for starters and bought a few more. The quality is quite uneven - some bottles are (only) good, others quite excellent. This is the reason for the wide grading, 14-18 (will be focused more if it happens that the first bottles were not representative of the whole lot.

Sir noms has listed some bottles for sale at 0.380 mil each. Of course this is no CLXII in quality, but the price is also much lower. As the first of its kind (rum), fine addition to anyone's liquor stash.

We hope that this drink would be distributed widely and actively. As a first of its kind, its enjoyment goes to waste if there is no opportunity to acquire it for everybody!

We just submitted a proposal for 3 Royal Purple suits order.     /EDIT: which came back swiftly as accepted. These will probably be the first suits with silver in them, in the whole Kingdom!

Perhaps it is good to remind the newer citizens about the color codes and elaboratenesses of the suits:

According to the very ancient custom, cloth is produced in 6 colors (+2 non-colors), and these convey a meaning:

- Purple is very elaborate, and is reserved for Royal characters (the only one of such is currently the King, meaning that others may not order purple clothes for themselves, but may wear purple with royal permission)

- Blue is most elaborate, and is reserved for Noble characters (Jungherr/Knight and higher - it is considered a serious shame if nobles do not have any clothes (especially now as they are available) and somewhat of a shame if they do not possess and wear Noble clothes). Silver goes well with blue color so is expected to be a hit in the new season. It is completely fine to not have any ornaments in your blue - nobility is after all sometimes egalitarian for their members - but if you wear gold/silver, make sure to have a proper amount that suits your position, age and wealth.

- Red is most elaborate, and traditionally a color of merchants, because it is striking and expensive, and merchants have the reason to be both. It is considered proper to wear red if you have money, and if you don't, you can't wear red anyway. Rogue barons who are self-made men may wear red during workday as a sign of "still being in business" but for sure they have many blue suits as well for the King's parties and other Noble events. Ancient red suits carry some of the largest loads of gold in them.

- Orange is elaborate, and the festive color for all common people. Because suits will start to get worn based on their use, and an everyday use will reduce the suit to zero in about 10-15 years, the poorer folks want to have a separate better suit for festive occasions, and a more basic suit for everyday use. Using red is a signal that "I have the means to wear red every day" but orange is more the sign of "I don't have much income but I am wealthy enough to own a festive suit". And since these are not much used, they are inherited over generations. They are often heavily gilded with attached silver items as well. Nobles should never wear orange.

- White is elaborate, and historically the color of academics, "whose clothes do not get dirty from physical labor". New nobles who have been promoted based on their learning (and do not have too much money) are accepted to continue to wear white some time after ennobling. Artesans, merchants, laborers etc. should not buy and wear white, since it is not fitting. Gold/silver are most often small amounts, for the reason that academics tend to be not rich - if they were learned and rich, they would be merchants and soon nobles, and not wear white any more.

- Green is not elaborate, and is rather cheap to produce en masse. It cannot be embellished with metals, and is an all-purpose suit for many trades, and all commoner levels from as early as you can afford, all the way to Master. (Wizards have the eccentricity to wear whatever they like, save purple/blue.)

- Grey is the uniform for heavy duty and is not elaborate. It is much favored among NPCs, soldiers, stonemasons, King's and other servants, poor people who cannot afford even green, etc. Unless your work especially demands to wear grey, you should try to buy a green or higher suit as soon as possible. Then the next aim should be an orange suit for occasional use.

- Brown "suit" is a collection of clothes made in the countryside and not dyed etc. While it may serve the purposes there, in the city it is considered woefully inadequate and immediately reveals your poor situation. Even peasants commonly have orange suits for visiting CryptoTown (it is rumored that the one going to visit will even rent one if needed). Only the lower level church people use brown, to show their piety or something. (Brown is not even considered a suit in the health etc. calculations)


The North Face company has the monopoly on dyes. Grey is not considered a dye, so the import of grey suits to clothe the most urgent needs is possible, and the Town has organized a stream of grey suits to be sold to the most needy. At 1.2 mil each, they are not competing with the North Face Spring Collection 1603, and are rumored to have shoddy workmanship which makes them last less than the NF Brand Quality Produce. Wearing them while waiting your order to fill in NF is still better than not having any clothes at all!

TL;DR: If you do not have a suit, and do not plan to order yours from Jacket NF Company very quickly, you should spend the token amount of 1.2 mil to buy your gray suit (GREY10, col "QI" in /F_OWN) latest when Ultima opens. This is a good way to try out the Agora Market exchange functionality!

The search for RME has been completed. SUCCESS!


Shamefully the adventure did not interest competing teams, so the only team was deemed winner and they can tell the story themselves if they like

But they did receive a good payout for their efforts, as follows:

3,000 * RME "Methuselah" Rum
(product is not graded yet because only the King knows how it should taste)

The costs were as follows:
450 IC   for acquiring the merchandise, die decided that it was cheap!
480*W1600   since if you take wine with you to a voyage, for sure it is consumed
80 mil    for various costs and salaries
300 mil    for Town import tax

No more of this Rum will be able to be brought to the Kingdom.
(both the product and the costs have been added/subtracted to Earl noms account, who will distribute them according to the team contract)

* - *

Tavastia and his party had too many business going on with windows to make it to the year-long journey to strange lands. But he fulfilled his threat to go to Amsterdam and have a nice time there. So his result is:

1,000 RUM "Rum"

Costs:
135 mil, which is mostly tax

Tavastia is offering his teammates, Knight serje and Ale of Nassau, the option to redeem up to 300 bottles each at cost = 135,000/bottle.
Others including restaurants may purchase it at 200,000 for some time at least.
All the dignitaries of the town have been gifted 2 bottles, and the King and Town 10 bottles each.


Perhaps a more important discovery were some green herbs that Tavastia chewed there. They made him feel Ancient again, with clear and lucid thoughts. There is now a possibility for a new voyage that might bring the seeds of these plants to the Kingdom, which might result in a whole new consumable, potentially useful for all!

Glanced at the charts. The support of the uptrend seems to be at about 0.00188 now. We haven't tested it yet, I think it would hold in the event of a selloff.

To the upside, 0.00265 is a strong resistance now. My belief is that the strongness means that it will keep the lid on price psychologically and from a distance (that it does not rise even close), but when it is assaulted, it will fall at the first try.

To an accumulator, the latest developments have removed the FOMO once again, and the accumulation zone is around 0.002, and several colleagues seem to have noticed the same.

Specification for new gold generation

USDCKG  global variable, set by admin "SET USDCKG value"
New_gold_target  global variable, defined as 2400*USDCKG
New_gold_counter  global variable, += K during the routine that gives characters EXP every minute, so that K="# of chars"or "EXP given" (same)

if (New_gold_counter > New_gold_target; SET New_gold_counter 0 & CREATE CRxxxxA 1 4 (create anew 1*CRxxxxA to character "4" (Town), where xxxx is the system current year) & raffle the coin somehow among the characters currently online (did receive EXP in last round) so that the character must prove humanity in 2 minutes else the coin is reraffled.

Income equality in the Kingdom


The last year enabled some statistics to be collected from the incomes (which this year consisted of gold dividends, rental pool payouts and RWWC dividends) of the characters. The incomes of the corporations were not attributed to the owners, so only personal income was considered.

The total personal income was 4,756 mil. We construed a table about the income classes:


The wealthy Princes in the Kingdom are making almost half of what the King is making yearly. From V3.9U on, the commoners will have minimum income of 0.7-2.1 mil per year from labor pool. Commoners seldom make more than 10 mil/year (because income is one reason to be promoted "Baron" which originally meant "Rich man"). The landed aristocracy lives well with their 30-500 mil/year income.

1603 year has been turned; happenings and rules


Drinks have been consumed, totals as follows:
MEAD   7,560
BEER    4,460
W1600  1,506
W1601B   847
W1603A   427
other W    203
VOH        80
CVS         30
CLXII       14

Drinking is designed to be about 20% of the character's consumption budget (and the most cost-effective way to uphold health). This year the consumption was about 320 mil at going prices. The dividends to the characters totalled 5,467 mil, so we are currently not even close to the target. The reason is the large percentage of very wealthy characters.

The newest changes in the grading of wines have been recorded based on the latest tastings and developments. Most notable:

W1602 has come to market. It is purchasable only with IC1602 (also the other wines require the same or older year IC from now on!). The wine is nothing special. In a quite long time it is expected to reach 13-15. The price is cheap though, 12 bottles for 1 IC inclusive tax.

W1603A, the wine from the giant barrel, has been graded by nearly all the townspeople (427 bottles consumed). It has been found almost perfect, exactly the way the wine tasted in the golden days. Because it is already so good, it cannot reasonably get better by aging, so will more likely start to get worse in a few years. When the memory-refreshing taste is combined with the intriguing history, the springwater content, likely health effects, and distribution among all the townspeople, this has become a very interesting wine and a sure candidate for the new Agora Market to show how trading works in Ultima! (Currently no bid/ask but feel free to enter them in /F_OWN still!)

W1602F, a very small batch artesan wine from the Forte Spagnolo vineyards in 1-S, was originally graded poorly. Upon a year of cellaring, the Prince had 5 bottles tasted by the best oenologists (including 2 for himself), and the new judgement is quite a lot better. It is now comparable to the Friar Maximus in taste, but possibly reaches even higher peak grade (in a much longer period as well). The new vintage was destroyed, the same way as 1600 and 1601. It is unlikely that FS can produce more wine until the global warming starts.


RWWC has produced 3,500*WIRS windows and due to the hassle of marketing is letting them (first 2,000) go at a nice price of 350,000/sqm. Now might be a good time to acquire the windows since they are available in bulk! Historical buildings listed will still get them at 140,000/sqm.

NC has produced 16.8 million stone. Stone is currently not tradable though, which puts the company in search for temp financing (the partners will provide it of course).

North Face Tailors have made 4 red and 4 blue suits from the coveted Ancient 1551 fabric. The last time suits were made in the Kingdom was in 1498 so this is a fine opportunity to enlarge your collection with the firstfruits of the new monopoly company! The suits are WOS-101...108. NF is rumored to post to the thread about the pricing soon! Next year the tailors work at double efficiency so it is expected that more suits will enter the market, in all colors, ornaments (CKG/CKS), from both ancient and modern cloth!


Google DB has been activated once again. No building projects/stone trading. Yes for lot trading, lot partitioning, unique and fungible items trading, using IC for converting to silver, wine and unique items; repair projects that involve only win/lux updates and storytelling!

Depending on living conditions, you can expect to live between 35-70 years. Main determinants of living conditions are quite realistic, with the storytelling emphasis on remedying the unhealthy water with drinking heavily-taxed alcohol.

It will be possible to will all your assets to an heir by just specifying the heir. Dying does not endanger your assets except a tax may be levied but it will be 10% max. The only way to lose your assets is if you do not take possession of your account until December, no matter how hard we have tried to reach you in the meantime.


Accounts that are not claimed will be played by wealth managers until December. It does not matter whether they are live or dead at that point, they will be swept by the town. Before that, the owner may claim them by activating the account with the password sent to his BCT account or other account that had been used to access the game when it was still in google.

At present only about 1-1.5% of the CKG is in accounts that may be abandoned and we don't know before trying to reach them. Since we try to reach them by all means during the coming months, it is likely that the final number of swept accounts represents an insignificant percentage of gold, and in absence of knowing the will of those people, my best guess is that they would have liked the money to be used for marketing of the game, and that is what will happen.

It is worth repeating that the death of the character does not matter as regards wealth.


The starting health will be calculated based on your "physical age", which is the [age at start + 3].

The continuous health demands in the game will be based on your "age", which is calculated as [1603 - year at start + age at start]. For everyone who is 100 years old or more, the demands are very strict, including copious consumption of the top-shelf bottles, to avoid wrecking your health.

The peerage will be calculated from the year of the granting of Earldom. The heirs of the Earls+ will have their peerage calculated from the start of the dynasty, and will in general inherit the father's junior title at the coming of age, and the main title upon the father's death. Eg. Jungherr Paul, 17yo, L8, is expected to inherit his father's, The Prince of Soul's, junior title, the Earl of Gangnam, upon coming of age (21y) or thereabout. When the Prince dies, the Earl will be evaluated if he is fit to inherit the senior title. He will then be promoted to the 2nd Marquess of Soul or 2nd Prince of Soul, depending on the circumstances. The heir will always inherit the wealth of the deceased. Whether he inherits the titles and fiefs is upon the King's discretion. (Revoking a fief when a person lives is embarrassing, so past misdeeds will be paid after death.)

Health in Ultima

Health is a delicate issue and one of the more closely guarded secrets, as is Promotion. Therefore, this revelation that we have received concerning how the greater forces decide about the matters of life and death, should be very well studied and meditated upon, to prolong your life and avoid untimely death, while accepting the fact that the Grim Reaper can unlikely be avoided, and the end of the rich and the poor is the same.

Upon entry to the Kingdom, the character's health is determined.

The health changes upon time. The character does not know the exact value but will receive verbal hints.

The health will affect physical capabilities, when they become relevant in the subgames.

The main direction of the health is down, towards 0. The usual mechanism that degrades health is the HealthChallenge -subroutine. Its mission is to "present a threat to take X units away of the character's health if not remedied until Y". For instance the effect of bad drinking water might present an annual HealthChallenge, which can be wholly or partially remedied by consuming healthy and refreshing drinks in sufficient quality, quantity and variance. The HealthChallenges present feedback about how well the character is treating them, but this is intentionally vague.

The script that gives HealthChallenges and adjusts their severity is made such that the forecasts of the average length of the characters' lifespan become true. The antemycetians receive both good and bad news - the current condition of their physique will be evaluated based on the "physical age" concept, as if they did not age at all during their entry to the Kingdom and A.D. 1600 (because it certainly felt like that!). But then the "physical age" will be scrapped and the characters will have to assume their listed age and live according to the constricted principles regulating the conduct of the older-than-typical people. Of course the quality of drinking is paramount, but there may be more.

The character dies when his health reaches 0, even temporarily. We do not know mechanism to reverse death and no resurrections have happened in the Kingdom time yet.

ADD: As part of a joint marketing campaign, all the restaurants (the "recipients" of VOH when it was "found") have renamed the spirit "Spring Water" since the (slight) majority of the contents is just that. Because this name was so catchy, the wine of the great barrel found from the Arco basement next to the warehoused ancient doors (W1603A), was also renamed "Spring Wine". The learned men have expressed opinions that consuming the water of the two springs was strongly connected to the extraordinary health and longevity (up to the point of delayed mortality) of the inhabitants of CryptoTown.

The year is 1603 now.


Hello all, flipping the google DB in and out of pause has become a sport (this is a third time now since November that it has been prepared for data migration and the next one will be fourth).  

I nominate Google DB to be the candidate in the legendary vote.

I will have to open it somewhat for the end_of_year actions. So during the next few hours,
* the dividends (gold, rental) will be distributed
* RWWC, NC, and The North Face Tailors will produce their goods
* character health will be taken care by drinking various stuff roughly according to the plan
* new health will be calculated but kept secret <-- a random element will be added to this as soon as it is possible for me to not know the exact state of every character's well-being.

Let's say I don't open it for general use yet, but if you want to do something, petition me in here, in IRC or in Ultima Royal Palace. I will find a way to get the changes recorded.

Hypothecary Bank is taking Ordinary Deposits (soon)

Now we have experimented with the different financial instruments and found that it is possible to lower the lending rates even more, by starting to raise the capital from depositors' current accounts. The current accounts would be small-denomination Bank bonds (coupon size eg. 1 mil) that pay interest annually, yet never expire. They could be sold back to the Bank with only a minimum loss (such as 1% or less).

A possibility would also be that the whole of the interest payable in one year would be raffled among the bondholders and given to the winner. Thus if the APR = 1% and there are 5,000 mil outstanding, the interest of 50 mil would be given to one depositor of 1 mil, adding a lottery factor.

Hello!

After reassessing the progress with Ultima, I have decided that year change to 1603 happens in the old DB. So we will get the dividends and they will be added to the T_MON balances here.

The current estimate is Wed 2015-9-2 for the release which contains the items exchange and new player login and tutorial.

You are so blind in this matter that I point out the one last time that:

*  it is OK to criticize my points in my actual writings that I myself have written, but

* it is NOT OK to criticize "my points", which in reality are your real or imaginary past impressions of other guys.


So yeah pls continue criticizing me, and also the other guys, but don't mix the critique in the same paragraph such that the reader gets the impression that I share the opinions with the other guys unless it's explicit that I do. Implicit is strawmaning.

Strawmaning means to lash out against person A by attributing to him some stuff B that he is not doing, thinking or representing, based on some quality C of this person A, the other holders of which (the quality C) the attributor has seen representing stuff B as well.

Both me and TPTB_n_w have been the objects of your strawmaning.

It is not released Wait until announcement. We are sorry for the delay, but it will mean that the product is better!