The NPC suits requirement in ClanChallenge is so large that I decided to work overtime and crunch all the numbers immediately to enable everyone to plan to their best. The profit potential for a well-planned and nimble operation is immense, and the TAI-items are completely linear in their payout, so everyone is exactly on the same position to make money, according to their skills and resources.

The numbers currently existing in each item type and their required numbers of each type of suit are listed in Google DB /SuitsNeed tab, freely viewable by all and current as of 3 hours ago.

The numbers are based on the design decision (from the first days of the game) that 15% of income is to be spent on suits (in fact, it was 20% then). 35% is to be spent on consumables and 50% will still be paid as salary when Clans comes - this includes rent. These kind of decisions will only be revised extremely slowly.

So we are in the position that the number of suits needed is 5400 and only 1500 exist (numbers ignore PC need and Unique suits). Suits can be converted from IC at the following prices:

(color, IC cost, approx mil)
red      144   10.08
orange 112   7.84
white     64   4.48
green     32   2.24
grey       16   1.12
brown      8   0.56

This means that tailoring is profitable in all stages, the profit margin is ample. However, the need for higher quality suits is much smaller than that of the lower quality ones. Prices may be pressured when the initial need is met.

Additional things to consider are among others:
1. The "labor suits" are priced in IC, so its fluctuations affect the profitability both ways.
2. TAI-7 may not be the best item now as it produces blue suits for a limited number of nobles, however the playercount is planned to increase by not a small percentage, at about the same time that it takes for a TAI-1 to promote to TAI-7.
3. Unique suits production is extremely limited until more TAI-8 get promoted.
4. It is possible to demote a NPC so undesired promotion can be reversed. This is currently an admin action, but will be a command "soon".
5. Tailors promote reasonably quickly, mostly 20% chance. Exact numbers are in item details or in Google/NPCtypes.
6. The influx of new tailors is a given, this increases the need for suits as tailors wear green+.
7. Also the other NPC numbers are on the rise - or perhaps not because there is an initial cost burden per NPC to acquire the minimum stock. Everything will happen very slowly, though, so dumping the NPC right when they (especially high level) will become prized assets might not be the best decision either.
8. The TAI-1 conversion price of 10 IC until the end of this year is peanuts, and a rise is most likely. It is possible to produce to stock. The unknown is when the module is live - I am going to Malla for a few weeks, which historically has been excellent design-productivity. The design is now "almost complete", which can mean anything. The development time should be very contained, perhaps a week for the "suit challenge".
9. If the module delays, the NPCC will continue to use suits, but excess production will meet declining prices (the NPCC can absorb infinite number but their profit formula requires the additional ones to come at a discount). The increased awareness of the importance of suits may cause the NPCC to bid more heavily on them, as historically they have ignored the suits even though they are the key to victory.
10. When the module opens, there is first a 2 year grace that the lacking number of suits will not cause penalty to the owner of the NPC. Then, according to my discernment (which will be communicated as it comes), the penalty will take 5-10 years to rise to the planned level approximately linearly. At the same time the happiness bonus for having excess suits will start from a higher-than-normal value and decrease to the planned level approximately linearly.
11. The NPCC remaining suits will be sold at market when the NPCC ends, so that the NPCC will get points for the money raised. The money goes to Town in the end. This procedure will be announced in advance so that at least 48 hours is given for placing the bids before the dump may start, and the total liquidation time is a year.
12. There is no planning to change the style of WOS-x1 to WOS-x2, so there will be only one model of fungible suit of each color for the time being.

I felt it necessary to disclose every bit of info there could possibly be, to make the playing field level. Crunch the numbers, make a plan and make money! Martti will be doing that, and King as well (if not for other reason, he has   s o m e w h a t   m a n y   NPCs to clothe, himself ).

Major reorganisation in Labor - NPC, Horses, Suits, etc

1. All of the above will not be supplied by Labor any more. In fact, the account is swept to null, of everything except M.

2. In preparation for the Clans, when most of the NPC are spawned to players directly, the entry-level NPC have now gone to Duty Paid IC Shop, where it is possible to convert to them without upper limit. The following conditions apply:
- Typically the item that is convertible is the entry-level item in each tranche (N1, N2 or N5 level).
- The conversion price is updated occasionally so that the desired game balance is achieved in the long term.
- If lots of a certain NPC are converted, the price may rise, and if no conversions happen for a certain NPC, it may go down.
- Minimum price is maintained; if the entry level item such as ENG-1 does not interest anyone due to the low price of SCI, the convertible NPC may be ENG-2 instead. It is also possible to give NPC dividends for owners of NPC in a tranche that would otherwise die away due to the lack of interest. (All NPC are valuable, in the future at least. But they are mortal in the meantime. All tranches will be kept in the game.)

3. NPC costs and payouts are unchanged, however there are clarifications to some (eg. Army and Horses due to the new Army module). All NPC now have their essential information (complete for profitability calculations) in the item specialNote.

4. New NPC class Immortal N10. All N9 NPC have a 1% chance of promoting and when they do, they become Immortals with special powers, customisable by the owner. The basic payout is net zero m, 100 CUL, 100 IC and 100 SCI per year. To seed the item, the first Immortal was randomly promoted from the existing N9 NPC, and happened to be a MGR-5 of HH of North Face. Congratulations!

5. Silver and Gold Unicorns are also immortal except in battle (not experienced yet). H7 may promote to H8 (never happened so far), but H9 can only be found in the wilds (1 found in the last 40 years).

6. The item exists statistics are now correct, as there is no huge pool of Labor items to fudge the numbers.

7. The NPCC will need to convert their wanted suits from IC (which they may now own, even though it has no residual value) or buy from the market.

8. IMPORTANT INFO: The TAI-1 is the only tailor any more available, at the initial conversion price of a mere 10 IC (the initial prices were subject to d20). The suit (WOS-G) costs 8 IC. Now is the time to plan ahead - when Clans comes, each of your owned NPC will need a suit, some two, or 3-4. The most wanted item is WOS-F and second is WOS-G (with green and orange coming next). Moving to tailor business does not take any special skills (no factories, no scale requirements/advantages, no nothing, just buy tailors and keep/sell the produce), and even though the suits do spoil, the next time is in 3 years, in which time you have already a nice stock, and the chance for getting the needed promotions to the tailors.

The current stock of tailors produces 106 WOS-G/WOS-F/WOS-E1 in a year, 12.5 WOS-D1...WOS-A1 in a year, and 5*S-WOS points that can be used to create unique suits (equal to one K7 suit per year, or a K11 once in 12 years (one is commissioned by the King for coronation: the Pearl Suit that has 1,000*PEA inlaid)).

The remaining stock of the NPCCs will be sold to the market when their tenure ends and ClanChallenge begins, so there are some suits but not enough. The planned aggregate need for suits when the change happens is about 5,500 suits, and we have 1,600 existing. If this causes a rise in TAI-1 conversion price, it will not happen before the end of the year, and if IC price rises, the DeptStore will conduct the market making as usual without adjustments to the formula.

To give the most info on which NPC will require which suits (this design is still pending), the following guidelines work:
- WOR-1/WOR-2 will use brown (these are an enormous number)
- most servants have grey
- some use green/white, deduce for yourself based on what they do
- many will have work clothes and home clothes separate (eg. brown/grey, grey/grey, grey/green etc.)
- most in higher levels have orange as a 2nd/(3rd) suit
- red is little wanted and blue not at all
- custom suits points may go up in value due to the throttled promotion path

9. Ancient Royal Monopolies end in 1650. These are as follows:

* Royal Weapons Works Corp WIRS production. From 1650, anyone may produce 1250*WIRS at a cost of one factory-year and 50*WP.

* North Face Tailors' usage of S-WOS to produce custom suits. Ownership of TAI-8, TAI-9 and S-WOS is released immediately. From 1650, the S-WOS may be converted to custom suits freely and with equal formula.

Other monopolies and technologies will have a planned 50 year privileged use time, so the following will happen soon after:

* Royal Weapons Works Corp (was: Phaeton Corp) carriage production. From 1656, anyone may produce Carriage work units (at a cost of one factory-year and 50*WP) and convert them to carriages freely and with equal formula.

10. Allocation of one maximum of each type: building:Residence and building:Villa becomes mandatory for players in L5 and higher, so that every L5 need to have at least one or the other. This is designed to be a privilege and not a burden - CUL+IC yields in these special types of buildings are high. The sqm/lux or other parameters do not have mandated minimums, although the following will be used as guidelines for new promotions:
- Baron 100sqm
- Earl 200sqm
- Marquess 300sqm
- Prince 500sqm

For reference, they have not changed in 200 years.

11. Pre-Info on Headquarters: this building type produces SCI, which is not currently well appreciated (but will be as its book value is 0.14 and I have ample means to cause it to rise in the mid-term), and its SCI output is lower than that of building:Science. This has a reason - the SCI output of Headquarters will serve double-purpose: it is also used as Account Management Points. Large accounts with lots of things going on will require a certain number of the points, and the Headquarters will need to match it, else problem. Small accounts are exempt. This type of mechanic has been used in many iterations in the last 100 years, and occasionally it has been disabled.

New Production Share: S-H1

The new tradable production share S-H1 yields 1*H1 every year to the owner! They are produced in counties but are tradable in the same way as S-VE1. So the owner of the county cannot lose control of both the county and the shares at the same time - in this event the shortfall of shares must be bought back from the market (or adequate supply of horses). A part of the S-H1 appear without the corresponding liability (the NPCC have received 3*S-H1).
- Tavastia must be held peacefully
- Ramsey must be held peacefully
- FluffyHorse must assign a Stables (factory) to hold theirs.

Currently H1 is trading at: 1.75/0.2 and convertible from IC at 20*IC.
S-H1 is trading at: 35/20 mil and convertible from IC at 1000*IC.

How to gain levels in 1641-1650

Congratulations to all who got promotions! Some made a leap of 2 or even 3 levels due to the lag we have been experiencing. A gift of good Wine has been sent from the King's cellars to all who got promoted (instantly)

The level promotion will be somewhat erratic until the new Clans module, which will completely be finalised only after the holidays. Since higher position is a reward of good play, and yields status and benefits, let me tell how the system works in the next 10 years:

Promotion rounds will be overall evaluations of performance, and they will be held in 1645, 1648 (commoners only) and 1650 (Quartermillennial Jubilee).


Promotions through L1-L4

New characters have been starting at L2 for the period between 1601-1641; this will change so that new characters start from L1 and get their first promotion in approximately 24 hours following their first market action. L2 people will get annual wages from Labor!

L3-L4 are evaluated as part of the rounds, and the extent of gameplay determines if there is a leap promotion straight from L2 to L4! An important determinant is to acquire clothes fitting for a townsperson (WOS-F good, WOS-E1 or higher better). Remember to do the health challenge every year, to enjoy your youth!

Promotion to L5

The main requirement for a L5 is a dwelling (land, including a house that is designated Residence). Later we will have Wood buildings that will make this requirement easier, more fun, and even cheaper to accomplish, but now you will have to seek the cheap lots (or houses) in the market and build from stone, or apply a free land lot from Town (contact Roopatra ingame). Other things are considered as well, and the target age is 25, so if you started at 15, it may take some time just to get enough wrinkles.

Promotion to L6

Mastery is an important milestone, and is usually achieved at around 35 years with active play. A multiple of gameplay stats are considered, and even when wood buildings comes, Masters will require a stone residence. The pay has risen to quite commendable levels to support the increased demands for lifestyle.

Promotion to L7-L9

The Commoner bonus levels are available for distinguished Masters, with promotion considerations of advanced age, high Wisdom, long time as Master and active gameplay.


Promotion to L11

Knighting may happen at any time based on special valor, especially in the military. The usual level from where Knighting occurs is L5 but it is possible to happen from any commoner levels (L4-L7 being the range experienced in the last 200 years). Any peer may apply for any commoner to be Knighted, and the decision is the King's.

Promotion to L12

A good way to get a fast track is to buy a Baronet title (BT-x, where "x" is a number from 1 to 100) item directly from the Crown. Newbought BT-items gain an instant promotion to L12 Baronet, which is a noble level between Knight (L11) and Baron (L13). Items bought from the aftermarket entitle to the title, but do not gain the promotion (they are mainly traded between characters who already have a higher level). Admin must be notified of the purchase to get the promotion.

Promotion to L13

Baron is an important level, because it is the last step before Peerage, the cream of Crypto Kingdom. To get to Baron is not difficult, but it requires some excelling in the following areas of consideration:

Diplomacy and teamplay. Barons are promoted by the King based on the suggestions of the peers. To have made relations with prominent players, greatly speeds your progress towards Baronhood (and later: peerage for yourself).

Lifestyle. Barons have certain requirements for lifestyle (eg. 100+ sqm house). Active gameplay helps in acquiring the needed items organically, so in time (considering the promotion to Baron happens in 10-30 years after starting the game), they are all there, with no need for hasty purchases.

Wealth. It is no secret that if enough gold and other valuables are possessed, it will cause the promotion to Baron. (Previously the game rules said that the limit is 4,000 CKG - even after the rule was abolished, the practical limit has actually gone lower.) Having next to no gold is not an impediment to reach Baron, though, if the other things are well handled.

Activity. Playing the game actively, participating in subgames and all new stuff, helps to gain visibility.

In 1645 there is a special round to gain as many Barons to the game as possible, from the ranks of the ~15 L6-L8 characters currently. The next time will be in 1650.

Promotions to and in Peerage

This is unchanged from the previous treatises on the subject. In normal circumstances, a minimum of 7 years in a level is required to advance to the next, and the qualifications get higher. Peers may play the County subgame, which is one of the most fun and most demanding things to do in Crypto Kingdom. It also subscribes them to the lion's share of the upside that the game will produce once the number of players targets are reached.

The Coronation - Promotions 1640

During the (relative) chaos in the Kingdom related to to passing away of the founder-King, there have not been too many promotions. Luckily, now the promotion requirements are better understood, and the following 42 characters will be promoted, the record in the Kingdom!

As a new feature, the promotions may be conditional. Since it is not my wish to make the level promotion an optimisation exercise, I do not want to disclose the formulas and checks used in the promotion in exact detail. Yet, it is not fun that someone has skipped indefinite promotion rounds due to lacking something that nobody even told him is required!

Therefore, the promotions are in 2 categories, Outright and Conditional. When you have fulfilled the Conditional promotion conditions, you get the promotion dated 1640. Please send ingame mail to Rakshasa when conditions are fulfilled, so he administers the promotion. Strict deadline is end of September, 1642.


Promotions to Prince (L16)

(Sir Luigi), TMA Marquess of Rome, 6th/I Bt of CK, CEO of LuckyLionCorp, TRB, GJB, KFB, FBB, HBB, AOK-K, CBB (232 y)
- residence/villa of 500 sqm+ (in these requirements, Shopfront is allowed but does not count towards the sqm)
- minimum 5 horses all the time, H3 or better (owns 4-horse carriage)
- decent table service in gold, silver or Ming China (new silver Coronation series coming to IC conversion very soon)

(Sir kronicblazer), The Marquess of Grass, 8th/I Bt of CK, TB, CB, HB, Architecture Contest Winner (191 y)
- residence/villa of 500 sqm+
- minimum 5 horses all the time, H3 or better, also acquire a 4-horse carriage

Sir Crichton, The Margrave of The March of Plath, Lord of Essu, 16th/I Bt, 21st/I Bt, AOK-S, AOD-MAJ, weilder of Vengeance, KFB, TB, CBB, CCB, SCB (75y)
- minimum 5 horses all the time, H3 or better (owns 4-horse carriage)
- host a Regiment at least 40% of the BV of RCA1, continuously (in Plath) (Army formulas almost finished)


Promotions to Marquess/Margrave (L15)

Sir Heimo the Wise, TA Earl of Sarajas, 22nd/I Bt of CK, AOD-Capt of TA troop of Dauntless, TB (183 y)
- continue hosting the Troop of Dauntless (personal guard) at reasonable BV (incl personal army promotion) (to:Marquess)

Lord Syksy, Earl of Petrichor, Overseer of Swords, Arts, Consumption and Wikidom, 20th/I Bt of CK, Fatherhead of the Syyskuu Lineage and CEO of the Grizzly Bear Corp, AOK-K, AOD-Capt, KI, HB, TB, CCB, SCB, GCB. (68 y)
- minimum 3 horses all the time, H2 or better (owns 2-horse carriage)
- host a Regiment at least 30% of the BV of RCA1 (to: Margrave, incl personal army promotion and Petrichor->March), 15% (to:Marquess)


Promotions to Earl (L14 - Peerage)

Dame BlackWidow
- Start playing County subgame as the module is updated, latest 1649
- update Title
- residence/villa of 200 sqm+
- keep at least 1 horse (or the necessary number with carriage)
(promotion to L13 already administered)

Lord Cryptonic
- update Title
- residence/villa of 200 sqm+
- keep at least 1 horse (or the necessary number with carriage)

Lord Troy
- Start playing County subgame as the module is updated, latest 1649
- update Title
- residence/villa of 200 sqm+
- keep at least 1 horse (or the necessary number with carriage)

Doctor HS-S The Third
- update Title
- residence/villa of 200 sqm+
- keep at least 1 horse (or the necessary number with carriage)


Promotions to Baron (L13 - Noble)

TMA Knight Adam White
- residence/villa of 100 sqm+

Knight Cooper
- update Full Name and Title
- residence/villa of 100 sqm+

Sir ChrisPop
- update Title
- residence/villa of 100 sqm+

Dnaleor The Third, Son of Lord Dnaleor II
- update Title
- residence/villa of 100 sqm+


Promotions to Wizard (L7) - Instant

Expert NIkke

Promotions to Master (L6) - Instant

171
199
214
232
216

Promotions to Master (L6) - Conditional

215
219
224
228
236
295

Please ensure you have at least two of the following and send ingame mail to Rakshasa to claim the promotion by the deadline:
* [a carriage and necessary horses] OR [a H2+ and any weapon (sword, pistol or musket)]
* a collection of at least 10 different gold, silver or copper coins (10 of the same type, either GOC, SIC or COT)
* a service of Ming China for 4+ people, the items that you consider sufficient
* a unique suit (having a WOS-E1 or better is absolute requirement, unique is "better")
* a residence of at least 80 sqm
* Wisdom of at least 7
* CUL of at least 100
(promotion to L5 already administered)

Promotions to Expert (L5) - Instant

217
259
298
304
309
320
334
336
361

Promotions to Novice (L4) - Instant

337
350
362
384

Promotions to Beginner (L3) - Instant

363
369
371
378

CKGBUY item_id amount fixed_markup basispoint_markup

Makes a floating buy order for item_id so that the price in the order changes based on the best bid price of HM02B100 (the "gold price"). The parameters are as follows:
- item_id (needs to contain CKG, otherwise use BUY instead)
- amount
- fixed_markup (given in M, is the fixed amount that is added to the gold price)
- basispoint_markup (basis point is 1/100 of % ; this allows the gold price to be scaled to have a fixed percentage premium or discount)

fixed_markup and basispoint_markup can be negative as well, within reason.

Example:
willing to buy a historical gold coin and wants to spend only 1 mil on premium:
BUYCKG CR1418E 1 1000000 400

The 1 mil is added to the fixed_markup, also in this case 4% over the best bid is added to compensate for the difference in ask/bid (completely voluntary of course)

CKGSELL item_id amount fixed_markup basispoint_markup

Makes a floating sell order for item_id so that the price in the order changes based on the best ask price of HM02B100 (the "gold price"). The parameters are as follows:
- item_id (needs to contain CKG, otherwise use BUY instead)
- amount
- fixed_markup (given in M, is the fixed amount that is added to the gold price)
- basispoint_markup (basis point is 1/100 of % ; this allows the gold price to be scaled to have a fixed percentage premium or discount)

fixed_markup and basispoint_markup can be negative as well, within reason.

Example:
willing to sell a suit that contains an unwieldy amount of 1000 CKG, affecting the price:
SELLCKG WOS-1 1 50000000 -200

In this example, the "suit ask" is 50 mil, and the gold is just added to the price at midprice (usually 2% below ask, indicated by "-200").


Notes

Process Flow:
1. Every time HM02B100    1)receives a new bid or ask or 2) a bid or ask is removed or 3) a trade is made, it is checked whether this changed the BestHM02B100bid or BestHM02B100ask
2. If this happens, it causes recalculation, so that first all existing orders that had been placed by this functionality are cancelled
3. Then, the SELLCKG / BUYCKG table is checked row by row starting from oldest, and new price calculated and bid(ask) placed
4. This may cause matching to happen with existing fixed price orders that were not removed in (2.)
5. The removal of (partially) unfulfilled order is done normally, as if it were placed via BUY/SELL.
6. There is no way to know whether your (or anyone else's) existing order is fixed or floating price, we apologize for the inconvenience.

Coinshop

Coinshop seeks to be the leading provider of coins at affordable prices, and to gain the coins, it needs to buy them as well. At present, out of the 190 gold coins existing, 180 have a bid(s) by Coinshop, and 10 are in active marketing (sort the GOC by year-newest, you will see many nice new collectible mintages at 10-50% markups, which is nothing as gold is so cheap as it is). In addition, 103 historical coins currently have an ask(s) by Coinshop. Only 13 coins are completely without ask, mostly unopened series of 1600 popular minting round, and CRxxxxE coins whose complete mintage of 20 is owned by a single character.

Popular minting round of 1700

Well for once it is good to be early and announce that everyone has the right to mint a custom gold coin of their own every 100 years, next time in 1700. The mintage needs to be 7 coins minimum and weight 3 CKG minimum; if anything causes the coin to be of lower #exists, it will be transferred to GOM, which does not qualify for coin collecting scripts.

Gold collecting contest due in 1650

We had collecting crazes in 1600 and 1625, so why not in 1650 as well! Therefore, the stock market competition is cancelled in lack of interest, and gold collecting contest opened instead. Rules:

- No participation fee, in fact everybody participates automatically
- Everybody gets a prize based on the modified formula from the stock market competition
- Prize pool is seeded by Coinshop donating 100 mil; oldtimers are very much encouraged to donate as well, because it is very paramount for us to get the gold investing habit in the new players as well (please send M or valuables to "430")
- To encourage new characters to jump in, even with lesser means, the Houses from 1300-1400s get their prize 1-fold, the ones from the 1500s get it double and the new characters born in the 1600s get theirs 4x!!
- The basic evaluation for goodness of the collection is "number of different GOC items owned" but getting full series or sub-series around any criterion will qualify for nice bonuses!

Coin Grading

Starting after 1650 (the earliest), against a small spend of SCI, it is possible to grade a coin you own. The system promotes it to a rank of (1)Gem, (2)Nice or (3)Basic (probabilities are 10%, 30%, 60%). In the later collections, it will be a source of lasting fun to try to source not only all the coins but in the nice condition as well

The CKGBUY/CKGSELL which will soon be announced, have been in live testing. Otherwise, this bug is fixed, and also its results are reverted (made null).

The reason that you have been a counterparty in any trades whatsoever, is because you have placed orders. The CKGSELL/CKGBUY commands adjust the prices of orders only if they have been placed with the said command.

Is it intentional that some of the names and nicks are spelled incorrectly? If not, please correct mine, Branson and theymos at least

Btw in addition to supernode operator, I am a game designer for 25 years standing and have designed a MtG-style expandable collectible card game in 2000 (not published except our University group) and am currently full time designer in MMO RPG Crypto Kingdom (link in sig).

As the project gets traction, it'd be cool to have the gaming side also functional even if the main point is that the set is collectible/cool as such. This is no volunteering for another project, but I may be able to give feedback/work on the design if desired.

Tbh, that is not only unlikely but even impossible. The definition of "money" in Euro area is "banknotes issued by the ECB and its subsidiaries, and coins issued by national central banks, up to the limit of 50 coins per payment".

Banks do not hold customer money, hence cannot steal it.

Yeah.

1st class consumers:
L13-L20 PCs
Any PC with age 75+
Health minimum: 2500
Happiness minimum: 500

2nd class consumers:
N7-N9 NPCs (1250-2500 mil annual consume book value)
L8-L12 PCs
Any PC with age 40-74
Health minimum: 2000
Happiness minimum: 100

3rd class consumers:
N5-N6 NPCs (750-1000 mil annual consume book value)
L5-L7 PCs with age 15-39
Health minimum: 1600
Happiness minimum: 20

4th class consumers:
N3-N4 NPCs (500-625 mil annual consume book value)
L1-L4 PCs
Health minimum: 1400
Happiness minimum: 5

5th class consumers:
N1-N2 NPCs (250-375 mil annual consume book value)
Health minimum: 1200
Happiness minimum: 0

Suits handling
Each NPC item_type would have a requirement of clothes based on his level and the work (eg. Army wear grey always, stonemasons wear brown). This will be calculated, and be readily visible what the requirement is, and how well it is fulfilled. Having extras (esp. Orange) will give happiness bonus. The managing of suits needs to happen only after the spoil round because they are not affected otherwise.
 

How is consume allocated?

(preliminary thinking)
- The number of consumers is calculated internally for each class
- Each consumable item has highest_class parameter, making eg. MEAD be consumed by the lowest levels only
- Otherwise, the highest classes get served first, so that in a typical case, the more expensive things make sense to be consumed first
- There will not be the same kind of variety in the total amount of HealthChallenge, the Quests/Events will administer the Sicknesses, which require additional consumption of spirits etc, separately, so the total "minimum amount" is pretty much deducible beforehand, and will have only slight if any random annual variance.
- It is also possible to make the Health to be treated as a lump sum, so that only the happiness requirement scales up greatly (and the consumption of MEAT, FOIE would be incentivised by the variety bonus alone, which can be done easily)
- If Happiness is treated as lump sum, it would be easy to implement (no need for different classes to be taken into account except in the initial calc) but this will make it very demanding to play a single high-level PC without servants (the servants would dilute the total quota, allowing less total cost, but requiring everyone to get used to the new mechanism and tinker with the suits etc every 3 years, which however they need to do even now though..)

Example of a Corporation with the typical number of staff (yielding 50 WP)

1*MGR-4
1*MGR-2
1*ASS-3
2*ASS-2
1*ASS-1
5*WOR-3
10*WOR-2
15*WOR-1
-----------------------
class2 = 1
class3 = 1
class4 = 8
class5 = 26

Consume quota = 36*200 = 7,200 + 7,200 + 7,200
Health minimum = 2000 + 1600 + 8*1400 + 26*1200 = 46,000 HP
Happiness minimum = 100 + 20 + 8*5 = 160 CUL

If varietyBonus scales as it has (modified for the # of consumers=36), the planned eating might be:
1,800 * MEAT => 13,500 HP
5,400 * VEG => 25,200 HP
1,800 * BEER => 5,400 HP
1,800 * MEAD => 2,700 HP
---------------------------------
total 46,800 HP (minimum achieved!)

this is such that all the Wisdom quota is left, and half of the drinks (and frequencyBonus not used).
Seemingly it allows a base to be used with some fixing, and not even much.
Current challenge is whether it is necessary to force using the higher-valued items based on the higher-class NPC (more design&implementation), or if this cannot be achieved by steeply rising requirements for them, which are put into the same pool nevertheless (causes the result of "needing" to have lower valued NPCs as well to have large enough quotas), or some other way to manage it.

Syksy: hmm, interesting, NPCs bound to the player chars
[5:10pm] Syksy: sounds promising, and definitely good for the economy that the clans will explicitly have to consume for the NPCs that they employ (and have an increased quota accordingly)
[5:13pm] HM_The_King: there are soem design challenges
[5:13pm] HM_The_King: which of course keep the work interesting
[5:13pm] HM_The_King: one is: how to allocate the consumption to the different NPC classes
[5:14pm] scinawa left the chat room. (Quit: Leaving)
[5:14pm] HM_The_King: as N1 allocation is 250,000 per year
[5:14pm] HM_The_King: which is not very luxurious life, given that suits also needed !
[5:14pm] HM_The_King: N9 is 2.5 mil
[5:15pm] bit2017 joined the chat room.
[5:15pm] HM_The_King: and therefore he requires wine and foie, just as any baron would
[5:15pm] HM_The_King: Another one is the frequencyBonus
[5:15pm] HM_The_King: currently max 4x, and maxbenefit is 1/4 of quota
[5:15pm] HM_The_King: (50 units in a quota of 200 will give benefit)
[5:15pm] Syksy: indeed
[5:16pm] HM_The_King: If this is scaled by #NPC
[5:16pm] HM_The_King: it will mean 500 units in the highest bracket, 4x
[5:16pm] HM_The_King: kinda destroying it
[5:16pm] HM_The_King: but scaled it must, somehow
[5:17pm] HM_The_King: my design challenge is that only one set of consumes is needed, and the allocation (who eats the veg and who drinks the clxii) would be automatic
[5:17pm] HM_The_King: with full feedback, no purposeful secrets
[5:18pm] Roopatra: That sounds like it will be very interesting!
[5:18pm] HM_The_King: the frequencyBonus is a continuous function, it is just now discrete with 1 decimal
[5:19pm] HM_The_King: if we make the max_benefit_amount to be 25% of a quota of one consumable_type (or a lower %) * TIMES the amount of NPC to be fed,
[5:20pm] HM_The_King: and the function continuous with no maximum, then it will boost the value of luxuries even more
[5:20pm] HM_The_King: as if 1*AYA is shared between 3 ppl, it might give 4-6x freqBonus,
[5:21pm] HM_The_King: but shares among 500, it will be considerably higher
[5:21pm] HM_The_King: (assuming we leave 4.0x bonus in case the # of consumers is 1, as has been the case always so far)

Clans Challenge etc stuff, preliminary thoughts

- NPC will become part of the owner's challenge. Half of the current NPC payment will be allocated to this purpose. When/if NPC lodging will be the owner's responsibility (this may or may not happen, because it makes the scaling of NPC hordes much more tedious with possibly no fun effect), then the payment would be reduced even more.

- Consuming basics will be mostly unchanged (frequency and variety bonuses, item health, CUL, WIS ratings), the biggest difference is that the consuming quota will be waay larger (up to 6 figures of instances cf current 200) and will be credited automatically towards a few "classes" of consumers so that drinking mead will make the WOR-1 healthy and happy but not contribute anything to a BUT-9.

- CUL rating may be changed to Happiness and wines' effect changed more to this (from the current outsized Health values).

- If health or happiness does not reach the minimum # of points in each of the classes, this will lead to such NPC having a chance to quit

- If happiness goes over the minimum (not even difficult), this will cause more NPC to spawn to you as a bonus, which can be used or sold

- Automatic fulfillment option will be provided so that you can consume on autopilot up to the minimum required amounts. This will not be cost effective vs. own management, but will probably beat the so-far "self-assigned health management" in ease.

- Clans will bring new Quests, which are similar to other games except that these are 1-3 weeks deadline (many games have daily) and these are more challenging, requiring actual problem solving. The quests will be raffled from a pool, and each quest in a pool has parameters to which level it may be assigned.

The Royal CryptoArmy - Battle Value (BV) calculation


Hark all ye Commanders of Army Units,

The army is the first guardian of the success of the Kingdom; without it, there is no peace and prosperity. The oldest Army units were commissioned in the 1440s, with the official founding year of the Royal CryptoArmy being 1466, the 100th birthyear of rpietila I.

256673   Consume   SCI   10,000   Crown (1)   New (5)      20.05.16 (06:47)   Combined Arms

Unable to wait any more and eager to see the total army strength listed in all its glory in the Coronation, the King has decided to pay the Scientific Advance of Combined Arms (10,000 SCI) from his pocket, as a gift to everyone operating an army unit.

The benefits of the advance include:
- Possibility to get Modern Battle Aquilas for a 10% command bonus
- 30% combined arms bonus for units having a section of Cavalry, Musketeers, Light Infantry and Artillery, (20% for 3/4 of them; 10% for 2/4)
- Artillery sections may now have 4 guns instead of 3 (fourth gun is slightly less efficiency)
- Much nicer and more detailed troops report page for more fun and better battle resolution.

New Organisation of a Unit

A Unit is essentially unchanged in its components, it can still have 9 types of NPC, 9 types of horses, and CANN, MKT and PIS as weapons. The new thing is that all these are assigned exactly to each of the soldiers, who belong to the half-sections, gun teams and sections. The maximum number of sections is 7 (one always being the Command section) with a maximum of 2 Cavalry, 2 Musketeer/Light Inf and 2 Artillery.

The men, horses and weapons shall be assigned to the sections according to the following rules and guidelines:

- Only officers may be in Command section; both the antiquated rules pertaining to number of officers need to at least equal the number of sections (including Command!), to avoid penalty. Also the higher officers are less effective unless there is an officer of each of the lower rank represented as well ("gap penalty rule" is unchanged) are REMOVED. Officers now give FP(Cavalry) in addition to Command, so having them is useful and penalty is not needed.

- Command section may be as small as 1 officer, but each of the others need to be 3 troops minimum, (if the section exists). The smallest total manpower is therefore 4 (1+3).

- The Commander (PC) may serve personally to command his unit in his rank.

- The section must be filled in order, eg. in Cavalry, each section is max 8 troops, therefore the 4th horseman must be added to the 1st half-section (of 4 horsemen total); the 5th is the 2nd half-section leader; the 6th is the 2nd half-section right-hand man; 7-8th are the remaining positions in the 2nd half-section. Several unfilled sections are allowed to coexist though.

- Assigning the horses and weapons to the troops is almost free but the bonuses guide the effective placement strongly, with the main points:

* Cavalry section is max 2 half-sections, 4+4 troops. Cavalry gets good bonuses from horses, and each level of horse increases the bonus. Make sure the best horses are allocated most effectively between the officers and cavalry. Cavalry cannot operate cannons, and a musket is a small benefit only. The main weapons are pistols, of which 2 can be carried per dragoon. A MSG with a H4 and 2*PIS yields 4+1.5+2 = 7.5 FP, and cavalry has the highest multiplier available, First Sergeant (3.0x), making this 22.5 FP from one combatant. [FP = Fighting Points, they are any of the constituents of the combat strength of a unit, with 1*PTE providing 1 FP ; BV = Battle Value, the overall measure of the probability of beating an opponent army in battle, so that having 2x the BV means about 85-90% chance of winning the encounter.]

* Command section is max 7 officers, and operate basically as cavalry, who are not taking active part in the fight but rather direct it. The get both FP and Command rating, which is multiplied with the FP of the sections to get the BV.

* Infantry section is max 2 half-sections, 5+5 troops. Infantry can be classified to 2 types, Heavy Infantry (Musketeers) and Light Infantry (swords, pikes, pistols). The Light Infantry gets only 1 FP for having a MKT (whereas Musketeers get 2 FP). Otherwise the 2 types are identical and the player can designate to which type a section belongs to. The reason to have light infantry is that if not many muskets are anyway available, this gives a 10% combined arms command bonus, applicable to all sections. Also in actual battle, Light Infantry are at least as good in charging as the musketeers. (The orthodox tactics do not encourage infantry charges, for which reason they don't count as BV). A kick-ass mobile musketeer, a MSG with a H2, a MKT and a PIS sidearm, gives 4+0.5+2+0.5 = 7 FP, with 2.5x multiplier as a section leader, for a total of 17.5 FP.

* Artillery section is max 4 gun teams, 3+3+3+3 troops. It operates the CANN cannons that provide 4 FP to the gun team leader (who also gets a multiplier). Whereas cavalry and infantry may have less than full strength, with artillery, each CANN requires 3 men to operate, otherwise it does not give the 4 FP. The second man in the gun team is Defender, with possibly MKT/PIS as weapons, the third one takes care of the horse that can move the CANN during battle if he is H2 or higher level (horse is mandatory). A decent gun team might consist of a SGT and 2*PTE, CANN of course and a MKT and a H2. This gives the FP yields of (3+0+4)*2.5 + (1+0+1)*1.5 + (1+0.5+0)*1 = 17.5 + 3 + 1.5 = 22 FP for the gun team of three.

* There is a new research advance by the RWWC: CANN24 heavy 24-pounder cannon, which did not get any research bonuses from foreign powers - it is certain that in the south they have them, but possible that neither Sweden nor Polonia have them in active use (there are intermediate calibers as well between CANN's 3 and CANN24's 24 pounds, though). The CANN24 weighs 2,000 kg, all bronze (200 KMT apiece) and all production is contracted by the OldDuchy until the end of 1645. Afterwards, RWWC is selling them for about 100 mil apiece for fixed platforms. The gun crew is 6.

- Army strengths are evaluated rather soon after the retire&promote round, allowing time for making the trades and fixes before, and for campaigning after. The manual recalculation is needed only after 3 years, or if the organisation changes.

- The BV will be calculated separately for 5 occasions: basic (no bonus), field (cavalry bonus), rugged terrain (infantry bonus), siege (artillery bonus) and patrolling (bonus for the number of men&horses). Of these,
* Patrol is used in the peacetime as the "peacekeeping rating" because the raw manpower is more important than their battle efficiency if no battle is going on!
* Basic is used when talking about BV, distributing loot from battle to different troops etc. unless otherwise specified.
* The others are used in actual battle situations to gauge the odds of success.
* The battle is simulated "realistically" with terrain, positioning, orders etc.

- The recording sheet is the /NewArmy in the GameDB. Please ask help from me in the IRC or appoint yourself to be the Quartermaster General who knows all about the Army subgame and helps in conducting it.

NewCorp is happy that the IPO has been going well. Be it recorded into this semi-permanent storage that NewCorp has bought the chapelry 8-N from Town at the price of 1,000 mil (0.066 mil/sqm).

The Town is still selling chapelries in opened boroughs as follows:

8-SE, 1000 mil, farmable: YES (65*S-VE1), geology: 960, macrolocation: 5%, wetness: 3   
6-SE, 1000 mil, farmable: YES (65*S-VE1), geology: 960, macrolocation: 0%, wetness: 3
6-SW, 1000 mil, farmable: YES (65*S-VE1), geology: 841, macrolocation: 0%, wetness: 3
6-W, 1000 mil, farmable: YES (65*S-VE1), geology: 644, macrolocation: 0%, wetness: 3
6-N, 1000 mil, farmable: YES (65*S-VE1), geology: 722, macrolocation: 0%, wetness: 3
6-NW, 1000 mil, farmable: NO, geology: 110, macrolocation: 0%, wetness: 2

Farm costs 5,000*BLD to start and does not have running cost, only VEG incomes. When the farming ends, the BLD is not recovered. It is possible to quarry after farming, other way it is not possible. The 65*S-VE1 must be returned at the end of farming. (During farming it is possible to sell them, or if the farming is intended to be perpetual).

Quarry geology is three digits, first one is topsoil, the sum of the latter is good stone. 70*WP is needed to quarry away one "point", eg 722 has 7+2+2 = 11 points, yielding 7*0.3 + 2*1.2 + 2*1.2 = 6.6 mil STO1.

Building repair deterioration is slower, the smaller the wetness coefficient. Quarrying away the topstone reduces the parameter from 3 to 2.

If NewCorp stock sales continue and the Corp gets more money, it will invest in these chapelries as they are currently the only raw land for sale in town.

Pistol shooting recording sheet is opened in GoogleDB/Coronation.

The deadline for spending of SCI to better your aim is postponed to end-1640 (this year).

Especially with the booming prices of gems, the prizes are very nice 

Prince Noms is seeking new challenges and is withdrawing from White Cross

The County of White Cross is the 21st peerage of Crypto Kingdom, and is located in the south. It was designated March (borderland) in 1625. It has not been under attack nor local uprisings, and has provided a Gold Unicorn, special water whose efficiency for health is still unresearched, and an Obsidian find. The county has 62*PRE and a healthy base of production shares (see here).

We are willing to give a leap promotion to Margrave for the player who feels this is an excellent opportunity to jump into County game, and has the experience and financial resources to do so. Please contact me as soon as expedient, so that we would not lose the county to neglect, it has a very promising potential for establishing administration and even expansion because its borders are unsettled to a great extent!

Update on Countryside subgame

This subgame is going to a rehaul so that the essential mechanics become more established. The result will be according to following lines:

- County is a major effort. Operating one requires a long-term strategy with the game, as the potential rewards are enormous, surpassing any other opportunities in the game, but they will only be realised when the game succeeds and gains a large number of players. The game is currently valued at $0.5-1.0 million with one active county of 100+ players. It is up to everyone to figure out how much the new towns with 1000s of players each are valued. These towns start as property of the county lords, and the price to gain them is significant, yet very small compared to the potential.

- County needs management to gain PRE points. When 100 PRE is gained, the seat (town) can be established and land trade may start. After 100 PRE, the management will do double-duty, both administer the county and also quarry stone there. The stone will be possible to be used to build roads, forts and manors in the county area. When buildings are built to the towns, the Building Editor will be similar to the one in CryptoTown, and other resources are needed. The counties will get large amounts of stone due to the preferential formula that assumes only "good stone", no overburden. County stone is localised to the county and cannot be transported elsewhere.

- Army is rehauled as well. The field army will be based on Companies & Regiments in a new structure that calculates the BV in a more detailed way. Each Field Army unit will consist of the Command section and up to 6 other sections: (2 Cavalry, 2 Infantry and 2 Artillery). The allocation of men, horses and weapons can be pinpointed for maximum effectiveness in fulfilling the specific objectives and to gain the maximum bonuses from the 3 disciplines (Cav, Inf, Art). The Retire&Promote will continue to be every 3 years, so after that, there is a period of intense market activity and army organisation, and then the campaign will be in the following summer with live evaluation round(s). There will be one campaign period every 3 years, and the results and the loot will be calculated at the end.

The smaller Army units will be designated Garrison, whose BV is calculated with a separate, automatic formula straight from the Character ownership. Having a good garrison ensures that the affairs in the county, manor, or other place, go smoothly. The system will keep a Stability point tally and administer problems to places with insufficient protection.

- The Map of Crypto Kingdom will be drafted to allow better visualisation of the location of countries and campaigns.

- The building of Road Network will allow production of VEG and MEAT further afield, and ease the movement of troops.

- SCI has been neglected for a time. I will take the SCI subgame back to my control and the first thing to do is to list the new uses for SCI:

* SCI can again be used to gain PRE. The formula is identical to what it used to be. Evaluation is every 3 years, before the retire&promote (ie. next time in 2 days!) You can gain PRE by moving SCI to the county account before the evaluation, and it will be admin-consumed and converted to SCI as follows:
WP minimum: 3, PRE yield: 1, STOx (if PRE=100): 51000, SCI spend max: 50, additional PRE from SCI: 1
WP minimum: 6, PRE yield: 2, STOx (if PRE=100): 102000, SCI spend max: 100, additional PRE from SCI: 2
WP minimum: 10, PRE yield: 3, STOx (if PRE=100): 170000, SCI spend max: 150, additional PRE from SCI: 3
WP minimum: 15, PRE yield: 4, STOx (if PRE=100): 255000, SCI spend max: 250, additional PRE from SCI: 4
WP minimum: 20, PRE yield: 5, STOx (if PRE=100): 340000, SCI spend max: 350, additional PRE from SCI: 5
WP minimum: 25, PRE yield: 6, STOx (if PRE=100): 425000, SCI spend max: 450, additional PRE from SCI: 6
WP minimum: 32, PRE yield: 7, STOx (if PRE=100): 544000, SCI spend max: 600, additional PRE from SCI: 7
WP minimum: 40, PRE yield: 8, STOx (if PRE=100): 680000, SCI spend max: 750, additional PRE from SCI: 8
WP minimum: 50, PRE yield: 9, STOx (if PRE=100): 850000, SCI spend max: 900, additional PRE from SCI: 9
WP minimum: 63, PRE yield: 10, STOx (if PRE=100): 1071000, SCI spend max: 1100, additional PRE from SCI: 10
WP minimum: 80, PRE yield: 11, STOx (if PRE=100): 1360000, SCI spend max: 1300, additional PRE from SCI: 11
WP minimum: 100, PRE yield: 12, STOx (if PRE=100): 1700000, SCI spend max: 1500, additional PRE from SCI: 12

It is notable that the maximum SCI spend is dependent on the managerial base available. It is not mandatory to spend SCI, and it is possible to spend a smaller amount.

* RWWC is researching a large cannon, CANN24. The project has been ongoing for a time and has accumulated 6500/10000 SCI already with bonuses. The company is managed by Rakshasa who will soon convene with King about the completion of the project and the production of these new weapons. They cannot be used by field armies due to the excessive bulk, but can be taken to strengthen the country defences in town sites, forts and the like. And later be used in ships as well. The exact spex such as the KMT cost (anyway considerable) are subject to d20.

* Zenon has been researching the Medicine of Youth for decades, but lacks SCI. 5000/10000 is the current progress. Something needs to be arranged to get this project ready. Zenon's new facilities should be ready this year in B.22.

* The Road Construction scientific advance is pending 10000 SCI, which may be subject to help from Sweden. It is absolutely necessary to get the production shares increased in the counties, and the beneficiaries are expected to take part in the research.

* With some espionage by NewLiberty, the Combined Arms doctrine is 2500/10000 done. Unfortunately we hit a bad roll, otherwise we could be further progressed already. This is of utmost priority to get the new Army rehaul with the best bonuses. King is committed to paying half of the remaining cost.

* We have made a breakthrough in Fortress Construction, 7500/10000 is done with the help of our keen engineers, espionage, and campaign in the South, which was useful albeit disastrous.

* Shipbuilding will have a complete module when it starts. At that point, SCI is needed for that as well.

- County evaluation for PRE, Army etc will be in every 3 years, and the first time is about now (no earlier than Friday). So please supply your counties with fresh management to gain the advantage of 3 years' PRE with zero years' cost! (ASS-1, MGR-1, WOR-1 are all convertible from IC).

- If a county has negative M, it will not only rake a -0.5% per day as overdraft, but also gain severe penalties in its efficiency. Don't let this happen and fix the situation immediately! All things considered, a county in this stage of the game is negative cash flow. If you are unsure whether you want to continue, seek councel. The oversized rewards that having a county will gain you, will only be realised when the county is populated with a large number of players. Each investment and participation in the game has its rewards, and with county, they have the highest leverage.

The new terms for Manors are (fixed fee per year, until otherwise stated):
Aaspere: 20 mil
Essu: 19 mil
Haljala: 18 mil
Kunda: 17 mil
Pada: 16 mil

I thank you for faithfully managing the Manors. As you know, the game is in development, and freehold has not become a possibility yet as we do not have the countryside module set such that the GM events such as looting the manors, would occur by system-administration. The manual administration of them takes too much admin effort, and may also be perceived unfair (although the track record of the GMs is spotless as for fairness). When the countryside module is revamped, my intention is to give the manors to freehold, meaning they will be irrevocable countryside property of the owners.

Please everyone pay the 100 mil that is now due. Pay it to OldDuchy (#48). You have until the end of the year to do it.