Crypto Kingdom - 1991 Retro Virtual World(City)

[rpietila]

The sleep evaded the eye last night - the destiny of the destroyed buildings haunted the royal person. After all, 5/6 of the collapsed ones had been designed by him, and the fact that his friend Soul had suffered heavy losses while the King himself somewhat light, was befuddling. "Should I have bought the insurance for him as well" came to minds

Holding one of the 3-candle gold chandeliers the way of Celine Dion, taking a few steps from the King's Bedroom, going out from the 2nd floor to the King's Park side Balcony, and seeing all the trees, it suddenly struck us:

All the buildings that collapsed had had roof gardens!

Not a bad correlation I would say, as the Earls' Street and old palaces in 1-N and the Royal Palace that are older than the collapsed buildings are still standing, and have terraces, if anything, on their roofs. Everything in the Kingdom that has a dome, is still standing, even though dome is typically supported by interior columns as well.

Could it be that an especially vulnerable combination is highest-floor 1x1 m interior columns, and roof gardens on top? So that the moisture from the gardens can erode the columns?

Quick check - half of the collapsed buildings had directly this design, the others at least partly.

Should we now ban everything that is susceptible in building integrity? (The Original Hive is still going strong with its bunker-like design even though it's both old and 15 m high - we almost hoped that it would have been destroyed to save the demolish decision from the son..)

Or do the contrary - allow everything, and hope that the market balances their utility against the higher estimates of repair% going down, provided by the engineers?

Or continue as is?

The era of surety was blown away with the windows more than 4 months ago


ADD: Since the subject cannot leave me alone, just a few words more about the Portal - there could be something more to it. Even though it was constructed in LL-style, and had 4-5 floors (like LL did), it was - at 57 years - almost half younger, and when designing, the strong columns were invented and used, and facade buttresses were used. Either the report about the crack starting in the bottom floor in a quite well supported section is true, and Soul suffered an event of terribly bad luck in nearly the whole building coming down, or something else. One of his suits is missing, and I fear it might have suffered the same fate as the fine White Royal Academic Suit I gave to the University long ago. Nevertheless, the Department Store with the whole interior resting on ground-floor columns still stands, as if as a testimony that finding the exact faults in construction methods is not as straightforward as it should be, in the minds of scientifically-oriented people.

[1714803814]

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[1714803814]

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[rpietila]

The lack of Noble presence in the Town is terrifying. They are perhaps still counting their losses, when we have moved on to the new plans. To stimulate the activity in the thread, we will gift a gold ring (premium only, for ease) from our treasury for everyone who pays a visit to the thread, and 2 for the ones with insightful posts. Lasts until canceled.

[Roopatra]

Dame Roopatra emerges from her hideout in the swamp land restaurant. She rides her horse back to old town to inspect the damage inflicted by the earthquake. Noble Palace, one of her favourite hangouts is a pile of rubble. Luckily her own buildings are still standing even though they have suffered varying amounts of damage. She dismounts her horse near the Obelisk and stands with the other spectators to witness the state of things.

[MoneroMooo]

The tense wait was thankfully not long. Most people had gathered in impromptu groups, while some others paced among the crowd, or watched expectantly through the windows, hoping to catch some warning signs of the impending catastrophe.

The sound of Mooo's ocarina had stopped as darkness had descended upon the town, the last note fading out in the air as people mobbed the space near the windows, intent to see what was going on. Or mostly not see, as the darkness fell quickly.

The cathedral was mostly silent now. As the tremors subsided, people starting talking again, many confused and unsure of what to do. Should they go back to their homes, the threat gone ? Should they stay in the expected safety of the cathedral ? A few people went out in the darkness, but most stayed. The Bishop himself and his aides could be seen walking from group to group, calming people.

When the earth finally shook, it almost took people by surprise. Shouts instantly filled the vast space, echoing into cacophony. A few people fled the building, suddenly scared that the roof would fall from the walls that were visibly shaking. The cathedral did however stoically wait out the tremors, protecting those who had seeked refuge in God's house. It wasn't long after the tremors had died down and the light shone back that the space so full with people had pretty much emptied. Mooo left with the throng of people, eager to see what was left of the town.

[sphericon]

*edit*

This has been disabled until we can come up with a better prize distribution.

After looking around at the destruction that had lay waste to many buildings in the Kingdom, Lord noms took stock of his land and decided that there would need to be much rebuilding. There were some locations that were so damaged, the owners might be interested in just starting anew!  He thought about it, and decided that to help with the Reconstruction, he would like to host a raffle to give lucky winners a free parcel of land.

Once I have the bot in place (hopefully in about 6 hours, but at longest Sunday) you can start playing.

Land Raffle Rules

There will be an up-front cost of 5m (or 10 gold, also accepted) per chance. Pay for your ticket first, then roll. Each ticket gives you a D30 roll (random roll between 1-30). If the number you guessed is the one that the bot gives you, you have won!  At that point, a random land will be selected from the list below and you will immediately be transferred that lot in the game database. Some are only 1q, but there are a few that are 2, and even 4q! There are also two lands in Borough 2 that are especially big. N4 is 12q, and N9 is a huge 20q.  So, for 5m you have a chance of getting 20q of land. Step right up.

I will be using a bot to do the actual die rolls, so that it will be logged in IRC.  You choose the number you wish to roll for directly before rolling so it will be fair. This will be implemented by monoeromooo with a provably fair hash displayed afterwards.  A typicall roll will go like this:

<bettor> I want to roll for a 7
<bettor> !roll
<SirTippero> You got a 7! Good job, you win!

Upon a winning roll, You will then roll for one of my lands. Here is the breakdown of all lands I currently own. As people win them, this graphic will be updated with crossed off lands that are unavailable to win.




Good luck, and let's start betting! Note: this betting will only be allowed when Sphericon is in IRC and has been notified that you wish to play.

[Febo]

After many years of travels, hearing of a devastating earthquake Lord Febo Urso Mortiginto is returning back on his faithful horse to his homeland.

Seeing once glorious city severely damaged. Rare building stayed intact of the devastation power of earthquake. But luckily it was not fire, so there is still some left to return to.

Once riding to his house see is quite damaged, but will be repairable. Dismount from his horse enters the house and get it ready for repair.

There he finds his helmet and  body armor damaged and will need at least a polish to be as shiny as was before.

[rpietila]

I will add in public to try to make the Kingdom Lottery more interesting and functional (already discussed with sphericon):

Target group

People who participate in "small-chance-to-get-rich" lotteries are typically not rich to start with. So the main prize(s) need to be something that makes their "life" different if they win. This makes the new commoners a possible target group but current Nobles hardly so, because they believe and practice that riches should be gained by their effort, and they are already richer than Lord noms (who must pay for the prizes).

Another type of lottery is a slot machine/"dice" that people play for the fun of playing. It needs to have a high payback, otherwise they do not play because the bankroll dwindles too quickly. Some nobles might be addicted to this as well as the commoners.

Third type is something where you have a reasonable chance to win something "nice" that is valuable for you, and hard to get/pricey/"too luxurious" otherwise. The organizing success of this one lies heavily on the organizer's cost of producing that "nicety". Eg. if Sir Jacket can produce red clothes (highest non-noble colour) for 1 million, yet sells them for 10 million because of the monopoly, he is in a prime position to give good odds if such are the prizes. This might appeal to any group, typically low-mid range.

Fourth type is the charity raffle, where the rationale for buying tickets is firstly being able to support the cause, and the prizes are secondary, and usually of low (at least resale) value. Nobles and rich players are the natural target group.

An example of a payout scheme

We want to design a 1/3-type lottery that would appeal to new players. We select "home" to be the prize type. The ticket price needs to be low enough that anyone can buy a ticket and have a reasonable chance to win a home, so that every winner is possibly a player more rooted to the game as well. 250,000 moneritos sounds like a good price. Making the chances divisible by 10,000, that gives 2,500 million as the maximum value of prizes (multiplied by their probability). An example plan is as follows:

Code:

Prize	number	value
A castle everything included	1	600
A nice townhouse	1	150
A modest townhouse	1	60
A small house	27	15
A ticket for a house (3 => house)	70	5
A gold coin (p.o.)	200	1
Money prize	200	0,5
Money back/new roll	500	0,25
Money prize	1500	0,1
No prize	7500	0

This combines the possibility to get rich ("A castle with large gardens, carriage, servants, items, silver, play like the most ancient nobles that I am so much jealous of") to the more down-to-earth considerations ("I don't want to invest real money into any game, I am just playing for fun, but hey the other guy did actually win a house from this, and I got the money by selling my help in the last few days so why not").

The downside from the organizer's pov is that all the items actually have a market value, so you don't get to unload stuff that has value to the buyer only (and not to you). The gold coins perhaps could be procured from them who want to distribute theirs to make them gain value.

The odds for winning a castle or a nice house are 0.03%, those of winning a small house in an own lot 0.3% (this should be so high that there is a guy who has won it!) and anything better than money back 5%. It sounds stupid to have a prize that is lower than the ticket prize, but it's important that about 20-25% win something, otherwise it is disheartening to play, and gets played less.

The game should be designed such that there is little need for manual distribution of prizes. All game concepts - except m - need to be transferred to the winner manually, which requires resources from the organizer, admins cannot spare theirs for private enterprise. Furthermore, while Items can be allocated to new players, they reside in a google DB, and require much larger work as the winner needs to be initialized there before he can be given any possession.

[CK_Zephyrus]

It was almost with a sigh of relief that Zephyrus watched the last of the townspeople leave the cathedral. The last couple of days had been a harrowing experience. So many people crammed in the building, nerves on a trigger, not knowing what to expect. Large number of people are difficult to manage, even when each one of them in isolation isn't particularly unruly. Zephyrus grabbed a broom and started sweeping. Apart from some light dust fallen from the ceiling's masonry, there was only the light disparate remains of the crowd. The cathedral had withered the assault of the earth's entrails.

Some time later, he stepped out of the building, looking around to see the toll the earthquake had taken. At first glance, the damage looked to be mostly superficial, thankfully. With a quick unvoiced thanks to the Lord for his protection of the cathedral, Zephyrus headed towards the Old Town, the royal palace and the Obelisk to see if the damages there had been contained too.

[smooth]

University

It seems that both Fortune, and the Favor of the King (or, perhaps, these are the same) does not shine on the University, and therefore the Chancellor must responsibly step down following the Great Calamity.

Perhaps there is a new Chancellor who wishes to step forward and direct a rebuilding process for a New University. If not, then I would propose in my letter of resignation that the University be dissolved, the assets (remaining building, gold, and wreckage) be returned to the donators in approximate proportion to their donations, and the remaming unbuilt land be returned to the Town. I leave this final decision to the Town.

signed

The (former) Chancellor.

[Karl Hungus]

As soon as the earth tremors ceased, The Prince of OZ thought immediately of the welfare of his family, his servants, and the safety of his army company and Hokusai who had been ordered to guard the valuable items at the Prince's Haw. Soon Hokusai appeared by the Prince's side, having had the good sense to return the precious items to their original places as soon as the earthquake had passed.

"The Theatre, the Art Gallery, quick Hokusai, we must check that the collections are safe".

On seeing the Art Gallery in ruins the Prince fell to his knees, "God, why have you forsaken me, I gave to the church, I gave to the University, why have you destroyed my life's work?".

The Prince started crying uncontrollably, and soon a crowd had gathered around to view the destruction, and witness the embarrassing turn of events now on display for all to see. A noble sobbing like a baby in public!

Fearing for his friend and mentors reputation, Hokusai quickly organised for students from the Hungus Academy of Arts to search the ruble for any surviving art works, those found were to be taken to his private studio for safe keeping and restoration.

As the crowd around the Art Gallery ruins grew in number, Hokusai sensed a volatile mood growing. He quickly drew his samurai sword, did a 360 turn, then ordered the men from the 6Th company to take up position around the ruins to prevent any looting. He then picked up the Prince, who by this time was ranting like a madman, delirious with grief at the sight of his beloved Art Gallery smashed and destroyed.

"The Lord has punished me, my soul is doomed, I am going to Hell for eternity!!", screamed the Prince.

A voice from the crowd responded ... "You made your riches from selling flesh and misery at your tavern for years Karl Hungus. How many wives and children went hungry with wayward husbands and fathers, tempted by the pleasures offered at the 'Hung Drawn & Quartered?' God has rightfully punished you for your despicable life. You deserve this Karl Hungus. You are, and have always been, a miserable peasant like us".

The onlooking crowd cheered with joy and approval at these comments. The mood of the crowd grew evermore rowdy. Could there be a riot?

The Prince cried out "Yes, I have sinned, I am a sinner, I am lost. God has abandoned me to the mocking crowd. Hell on earth has been visited upon me!!"

At this Hokusai picked up the Prince in his arms, "this man has paid for his bad karma with his loss. He is free from criticism now! Be gone from this place, or I will draw my sword and make the next man who speaks ill of Karl Hungus pay for 'his' bad karma with his head".

Karl Hungus looked up into Hokusai's kindly eyes, and asked "Am I free Hokusai, have I paid my debt to god for my sins?"

"Yes" replied Hokusai, "your karma has been paid, you are free to choose the path of enlightenment now"

At these words the Prince's face was creased and pained with grief no longer.

"I am rich with love and kindness today Hokusai, aren't I?"

"Yes my friend, you are rich, and karma free!"

The Prince then drifted off into a deep restful sleep, safe in the protective arms of his friend. Hokusai then carried Karl Hungus back to Hokusai's residence, and then took it upon himself to oversee the recovery efforts for all of the Hungus properties.

[sphericon]

I started a draft of a quickstart guide for new players to give them all of the pertinent information in once place. This is a living document and will be edited and added to often.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bSAIQjnhEIZfuIX7IaYiuw1Y-3PvnNPfQqAfl_AFOcY/edit

[rpietila]

I started a draft of a quickstart guide for new players to give them all of the pertinent information in once place. This is a living document and will be edited and added to often.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bSAIQjnhEIZfuIX7IaYiuw1Y-3PvnNPfQqAfl_AFOcY/edit

Excellent start! I believe this could be the start of the "Ingame Rulebook", which is an expandable hypertext (wiki-style) document. Only two things are needed:

- The easy to access sections are somewhat readable and linked to each other intelligently. Ie. structure - think what is important and make that part very concise and clear
- All information is correct.

It does not need to be complete yet. "Grand Hotel's role in the 1488 decision to move the Great Heap of Stone from the Central Square East to its current place in Citadel (where it still is) by the Centenary of the Kingdom" can be added later.

Can I have write access?

[rpietila]

Meanwhile a nice looking game Full Metal Wars is doing something similar than us, from the crypto-crowdfunding perspective.

It looks like it's real time so not for people in my age, but check it out

[rpietila]

Battle Engine

Battle Engine is a way to solve differences on opinion when the other party is not listening. With non-lethal weapons, it can be adapted to "group jousting" (boardgame) as well.

Pieces

Each party gets the pieces he has on duty in the area where the Battle takes place. They are the Army NPCs:

Code:

PAY	NAME	MOVES	HITPTS	MOV&HIT	HIT&HIT	DAMAGE	ARROWS	G1	G2	G3	R1	R2	R3
(-)	General	2	4	1	1	1			8	8			
N9	Colonel	2	4	1	1	1			8				1
N9	COL (A)	2	3	1	1	1	2		8				1
N8	Lt. Col	2	3	1	1	1			8				1
N8	LTC (A)	2	2	1	1	1	2		8				1
N7	Major..	2	3	1		1			4				1
N7	Maj.(A)	2	2	1		1	1		4				1
N6	Captain	2	2	1		1							1
N5	LTN....	2	2			1							1
N4	M.  Sgt	1	3			1		9			1	1	
N4	M.Archr	1	3			1	3				1	1	
N4	Maceman	1	3			2					1	1	
N3 	Srgeant	1	3			1		5			1	1	
N3 	T.Archr	1	2			1	2				1	1	
N3 	T.Axemn	1	2			2					1	1	
N2	Corporl	1	3			1					1	1	
N2	Archer.	1	2			1	1				1	1	
N2	Axeman.	1	1			2					1	1	
N1	Private	1	2			1					1	1	
(-)	Recruit	1	1			1					1	1	

"G" and "R" values tell if the piece gives extra hitpoints to the pieces around him "Give" (number tells to how many directions), or is eligible to receive them "Receive". It is possible to Receive only one bonus point per category.

The Army CO's are officers themselves and may (yet are not forced to) take part in the battle. Death is the result in the game if you die in the battle.

Rules

The playing field resembles a chessboard, yet may be of any size the contestants agree upon. One row in the middle is "no man's land" and both players have 3 or (in large battles) 4 rows on their side of it. The width of the board can be experimented from 6 to 12 squares wide, depending on the number of pieces.

In the initialization, players can arrange their pieces on their side of the board in any order. When both are done, it is revealed where the opponent has pieces, yet only their horses are visible (no other distinction is known but if a piece is an Officer of not.

Rule regarding temporary level-up of Officers: If a N7 piece is present, all N5 pieces act as if they were N6 (not promoted but during battle as long as N7 is present). If N8 is present, all N5/N6; if N9, all N5-N7; if GEN, all N5-N8, are temporarily upgraded a level.

The player who has more pieces nearest the no man's land starts. The turns alternate.

Lawful moves for Pieces not in Panic:
- If the piece is next to an opponent, it may Hit and give Damage according to the stats.
- If the piece has arrows and is in the same column or row as an opponent unhindered, it may Shoot, lose 1 arrow and give Damage.
- If the piece can move such that the zigzag distance to its nearest enemy (who it is, may change during the move) is reduced, it may move. It always moves one square and not diagonally.

For pieces in Panic:
- If the piece can move such that the zigzag distance to its nearest enemy (who it is, may change during the move) is increased, it may move. Such a move may never go directly towards the enemy backline, though.
- The piece may move directly towards its own backline, regardless of enemy presence.
- If the piece is on the own backline, it may escape the battle.

Panic is a player decision: once a certain piece is Panicked (makes a panic move), it cannot be unpanicked.

Losing the last hitpoint means KIA, and the piece is removed. This may also happen if the bonuses were the only thing keeping the piece alive, and either piece is moved.

If the player's last Officer is killed, the rest surrender (are lost, but not killed - your choice which would have been preferable). If the last Officer escapes, all the remaining pieces Panic as a result. (Merely Panicking your last officer has no effect.)

[sphericon]

I started a draft of a quickstart guide for new players to give them all of the pertinent information in once place. This is a living document and will be edited and added to often.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bSAIQjnhEIZfuIX7IaYiuw1Y-3PvnNPfQqAfl_AFOcY/edit

Excellent start! I believe this could be the start of the "Ingame Rulebook", which is an expandable hypertext (wiki-style) document. Only two things are needed:

- The easy to access sections are somewhat readable and linked to each other intelligently. Ie. structure - think what is important and make that part very concise and clear
- All information is correct.

It does not need to be complete yet. "Grand Hotel's role in the 1488 decision to move the Great Heap of Stone from the Central Square East to its current place in Citadel (where it still is) by the Centenary of the Kingdom" can be added later.

Can I have write access?

I've added you as an editor

[McHaggis]

Meanwhile a nice looking game Full Metal Wars is doing something similar than us, from the crypto-crowdfunding perspective.

It looks like it's real time so not for people in my age, but check it out

What's the betting Altcoin wave two is caused by alts linked to unique non financial services like online games? quite high IMO.

[sphericon]

Meanwhile a nice looking game Full Metal Wars is doing something similar than us, from the crypto-crowdfunding perspective.

It looks like it's real time so not for people in my age, but check it out

What's the betting Altcoin wave two is caused by alts linked to unique non financial services like online games? quite high IMO.

It wouldn't surprise me. I've been thinking about this a lot. For example, take the Average Joe who might hear about Bitcoin and decide to give it a try. Maybe he is buying a video game at his local game shop, and quite honestly, doesn't care if anybody knows that he did. He sees that they accept Bitcoin, and sees it as just another payment method. It allows him to translate his hard-earned money into a video game. He doesn't really care if it's cash, Visa, or Bitcoin.

Enter these non-financial services, like online games. Now, the only way to play this game is to send Monero into it. He may not even care at all about the currency or the fact that it has privacy built-in. He just wants to try this new game his mate told him about. He joins the game, likes it, and ends up learning a bit about cryptocurrencies in the process. IMO, this is the demographic that we want to go after-people who don't even know what crypto is, but support the ecosystem built around it.  

There is only so much trading that crypto people can do amongst themselves until some become rich, some become poor, and many become jaded. We need new blood, and I think online games involving crypto have a very good chance of attracting that group.

[McHaggis]

University

It seems that both Fortune, and the Favor of the King (or, perhaps, these are the same) does not shine on the University, and therefore the Chancellor must responsibly step down following the Great Calamity.

Perhaps there is a new Chancellor who wishes to step forward and direct a rebuilding process for a New University. If not, then I would propose in my letter of resignation that the University be dissolved, the assets (remaining building, gold, and wreckage) be returned to the donators in approximate proportion to their donations, and the remaming unbuilt land be returned to the Town. I leave this final decision to the Town.

signed

The (former) Chancellor.

Oh dear, how can the city's university fall so low, have we placed such a low price on knowledge that we get distracted by the collection of coins and the mining of stone? I am guilty of this and so I ask one of our finest architects to discover the cost of rebuilding the area with a modest design including a food court, assembly area and many classrooms for the teaching of important subjects. Language, numeracy, science, cooking and business are the main trades in the city, but all this knowledge will be lost when the citizens become mortal. This gives need to teach a new generation the lessons of the past so they can gain the wisdom of people who are already hundreds of years old.

[luigi1111]

The Earl emerges from his haw (it was him defending his and LL's valuables the whole time after all) to survey the damage done.

His house and the Grail and Quail were both in tact; after reading HM's analysis on roof gardens, he is pleasantly surprised the Grail and Quail was unscathed. Perhaps being next to the Cathedral has a multitude of benefits.

Continuing east, he passes the Cathedral and sees the sad state of affairs on the other side; the Town Hall and Lucky Lion main building "ain't as good as they once were". The Earl trembles at the sight, but only briefly, as he had been acutely aware of the possibility for some time. It was still a shock to realize it had actually happened, and while the condition of the Town Hall was undoubtedly worse, the Earl takes only a passing glance at its wreckage as he rushes into the ruins of the LL south tower. After "exploring" for a few hours, he heads back to the Grail and Quail for lunch; he finds many that have just ventured out of the Cathedral there as well. As they bow to give thanks for their food, they remember with grateful hearts all the things that were spared.

On behalf of the LL shareholders, we are taking suggestions for what to do with F7, whether to repair N tower and rebuild something where S tower was, demolish N tower and start over, or something else entirely.

[NewLiberty]

Emerging from the rubble of the Noble Palace somehow door arches stand where high arches did not, Duke Joseph of New Liberty ponders the great many things that have transpired within these halls.  The weddings, the business foundations, the expositions of the Circle and its scientific revelations, the christenings in the chapel, the incredible grand food and drink as well as the great many heroes that have jousted in the fields under its view.

Each of these would supply enough stories to fill many volumes, and there will be time for those in the days and years to come.

Now is the time to look about us and seize the moment that we have been given, to bring order from the chaos by the designs of our hopes and minds, and the labors of many hands.  To set stones up again upon each other and raise these shelters once again, but also to take the opportunities we are granted by this calamity to improve what may be made better.  We can create better than what we did from all that we have learned in the ages since.

One simple improvement would be to widen some of the grand boulevards.  To this end, Asenath has been tasked to make plans for expanding NEw Liberty Street and she has also proposed to make gutters for the channeling of the muds of the increasing carriages and horses on our streets.  In the New Liberty Haw we will make use of the rubble from some of the collapses to raise the central gardens on 1m platform under which the sewage will be employed in a leach field through a lattice network of clay pipes under the soils.



Also larger such piping will be deployed along the major road to the south for the fertility of the fields and the floral beautification and views on the roadway to the South toward Burough 5 and all its wonders.

We encourage all of you also to look on the recent calamities in a new light, and be emboldened by the possibilities it has created.  Our best days are yet ahead of us.