Crypto Kingdom - 1991 Retro Virtual World(City)

[rpietila]

Borough 6 is opened and in Dutch auction!

Borough 6 is the first new land to be opened since 1580 (early Feb-2015)
It is the first time all the chapelries, including the C chapelry, are sold.
Method for selling is Dutch auction, meaning that a chapelry is sold to the
first taker, and the price asked is constantly decreasing.
In the long term, the Town aims to keep (the least-wanted) chapelries
always for sale at the minimum price of 1000 mil. The reason why you
might want to pay more in the auction phase is to get a desirable location
(south, or center), or large stone deposits (NE, C, E, S or more).

The land in B.6 is good for construction, flat throughout. Town has promised
to make a road there via 2-N. The road goes to TIE square in 2-C and
passes the House of Magnificence. It is directly possible to turn west
and go to France, our main trading partner, or east to the Old Town.

There are no restrictions for quarrying, building, holding, zoning, and no
extra tax (only "land tax" is based on floorsqm, so free holding of land!)

After 7 real-month break we have whole chapelries for sale now! Check the particulars + the current price in the /Q3 tab almost in the beginning of the Game DB.


Town Long Bond 1655

Make real world return for your moneros! Town issues a promise to pay 20*100 mil in 1655 (2016-09-04). Last time these were auctioned, the interest rate was 82%! 

This auction lasts for ~4 days, closing 1 hour after the chapelry auction has reached 1,000 mil.

Just a reminder that this auction is soon getting interesting. As we speak, the price of all chapelries in B.6 has crossed 1,600 mil. It is getting cheaper in 0.1 mil increments at a rate of 10 mil / realhour.

The town is seeking to long-term always have chapelries available for buyers at 1,000 mil. This does not mean that all chapelries could be had for that price, as the ones for sale in B's 6, 8 and 9 are the last ones in the "first circle" around Old Town. This is the reason why new land always comes with a dutch auction - to determine the value of the premium lots, after which the rest will be available "in stock".

The long bond is competing for your money. In my evaluation, the situations since the last long bond (50 realweeks) was sold at 55/100 yielding 82% has changed, because now we have a proven software. So it should be bid higher, considering that the opportunity cost of XMR is zero and our arguably the most delicate year (first) is behind. But market decides.

If you want to be positioned for a stellar future and userbase growth, buy gold.

If you want to be positioned for a nice future and userbase growth, buy first-ring chapelries.

If you want to be positioned for a decent future and userbase growth, buy rarities and collectibles.

If you want to be positioned for a sluggish future and userbase growth, buy bonds.

If you want to be positioned for a failure, thin your portfolio from all sides and cash out partially.

[rpietila]

Please bookmark the devthread, where all the latest updates of the technical development are posted. Let's keep this thread more to the game itself!

Monero is just getting another dev funded, its been great following the developments here too.

I saw the heartwarming discussion with for instance user "pa" donating towards the project.

We in the CK thread should not forget that the same user incarnated in our world as Rhadamanthus, later the Earl and Marquess of Arda. When he died, his properties were mostly willed for Monero development, and they are now managed by smooth, under Monero House. Whenever there are development projects that benefit from a cash injection, I encourage smooth to spend from the treasure, according to the guidelines agreed among the other devs of course. I know that the late Marquess wanted the money to benefit the development.

Monero House has 10,381 gold and 1,200+ XMR.

[Karl Hungus]

Town Long Bond 1655

Make real world return for your moneros! Town issues a promise to pay 20*100 mil in 1655 (2016-09-04). Last time these were auctioned, the interest rate was 82%! 

This auction lasts for ~4 days, closing 1 hour after the chapelry auction has reached 1000 mil.

OZ bids:
20 @ 58

[rpietila]

Tavastia has restocked with wine

Tavastia is seeking hard to establish a reputation as a merchant who is selling the cheap wine cheaply, while also stocking the rarities at reasonable prices. The price-gougers have been driven off the market upon our restocking:

W1601 - an average quality 9-12/20 ready-to-drink French grape wine at 0.035 per bottle!
W1604 - ready-for-cellar new wine still affordable at château, with some luck this will develop to be an excellent wine over 1-2 decades, 0.035/btl
W1603A - the favorite of everyone, pre-earthquake, 18-20/20, now at 0.350/btl

- and 6 other drinks at best rates! -


(The Original Hive 2/2 was refurbished with the previous furniture sold to be able to procure these wines.)


Game announcement regarding drinks

To make the database more coherent, all the "staple" spirituous drinks such as VOD, CVS, have been given the production year as well as the "special" ones already do. This also means that when a new batch becomes available, it will be a separate code - there is no distinction between "staple" and "special" from now on.


/WINE tab updated

To find the essential information when planning your purchases, it is tiresome to go to /ITEMS and /F_OWN and back. The basic information, quality and price of all wines and stronger drinks can be found on one glance from this mirror page! (Actual purchasing happens in /F_OWN & /T_MON.)

[saddambitcoin]

Tavastia has restocked with wine

Saddam went to do his weekly stock up but noticed that 1000 W1604 have mysteriously disappeared from Tavastia's supply, and can't seem to find who might have purchased them! Hmm...

[noms]

First Founder Carriages Built and Shipped!

Phaeton Carriage Works is very happy to announce that we have now delivered our first carriages! There were 4 possible to be built this year before we ran out of allocated labor points. Here they are, in order based upon order time:

HM_The_King               A 6-horse, very elaborate purple carriage with 100 CKG, at an early founder cost of: 200mil - TRC6-1, 1601 IC
Marquess of Rome        A 4-horse, most elaborate blue carriage with 50 CKG, at an early founder cost of: 44mil  - TRC4-11, 1601 IC
djjacket                       A 4-horse, most elaborate blue carriage, at an early founder cost of: 40mil  - TRC4-12, 1601 IC
Crichton                      A 2 horse, very elaborate blue carriage with 50 CKG, at an early founder cost of: 44mil    - TRC2-16, 1601 IC


Reminder: we already have over half of our labor for 1606 already allocated by 3 other orders, so please put your order in now if you wish to get a carriage in a realweek's time! The order form is here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/14hk2kSQNwFJ47BFH9YN1Y2hozRILyi3H6c1RKjh_6zk/viewform

We will be taking the full order cost as a deposit on orders to ensure operating capital. If you want to see the cost calculator, please visit: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1tgIzgMza7NQsTpMO9pHke1ZVXYH7l5Sj5bHdZHItivo/edit#gid=1122998271

You can see the base prices there, and modifying K5 and K9 will show the cost with silver/gold added.

Regards,
Phaeton Carriage Works

[rpietila]

Tavastia has restocked with wine

Saddam went to do his weekly stock up but noticed that 1000 W1604 have mysteriously disappeared from Tavastia's supply, and can't seem to find who might have purchased them! Hmm...

Tavastia's supply was depleted quick, but he did not lose heart. It seemed that the Better Hive in 1-N and Zechariah's Guesthouse (the original from 1470) in 1-W were in dire need of structural repair (only Tavastia is bold enough to keep a building in use when it is 0.41...)

With the IC + some of his m stash, the wine + liquor supply of the merchant now measures 6,000 bottles, surpassing even that of the Prince of Ramsey himself (5,000 bottles)!

Prices are of course unchanged

[saddambitcoin]

Riddick bought all 2000 bottles of W1604 that Tavastia was able to procure, thank you!

[rpietila]

was able

Tavastia may be all kinds of pussy, but at least he thinks himself to be an able merchant... secretly resolved to show the Prince off, he tries to obtain the IC necessary to stock up with 5,000 bottles of the coveted W1604 wine.

Unable to find enough eligible buildings to repair, he has to contend with having 3,000 bottles for sale. At least he derives sick pleasure from being able to lower the price to 0.034 each. For some reason, Tavastia seems to dig himself deeper in the hole with the offering, though... his balance is already down -745 mil from the start of the year.

[rpietila]

OZ bids:
20 @ 58

A lot of money sloshing around (the aggregate m balance of non-town, non-pool, non-King balances has increased from 25 bil to 40 bil in 2 weeks...). Let's add the following bids to the equation:

3 @ 65 Soul
2 @ 64 Sarajas
2 @ 63 HS-S
1 @ 62 Jungherr Paul
2 @ 61 Sarajas
3 @ 60 Soul
1 @ 59 nikke1
6 @ 58 OZ
-----------------------------
20 units will be issued at 58 mil each (72% total, 1.1% APR)


ADD: And the chapelry auction price is decreasing irresistibly: 1,494 mil. I would be very surprised if tomorrow this time all the chapelries remain unsold...

[rpietila]

The Literary Society in CryptoTown

Lately, SCI has been needed in a few advances:
- 5,000 SCI to build 6-horse carriages
- 5,000 SCI to have the training center for horses
- 5,000 SCI for making "silver water" (ormus silver vodka with health benefits)

Starting the Royal Mint did not require SCI because the minting press was based on a very old technology. Completely different it is with the Printing Press though. 10,000 SCI is required for procuring and learning how to operate it.

If the SCI is spent, the resulting capability would be 2 book issues per year, normal size (big books will be in several volumes). The print run will not be the limiting factor, hundreds of copies can be made at almost the same difficulty (cost) as tens. Therefore, the likely result in the first decades will be to print mainly to stock, hoping that the future generations will find value in our efforts, by buying the books. They are durable though

The operating team would cost 30 mil/year and the facilities needed for the production are rather modest. To showcase the importance of literacy in the Kingdom, the premises will be made opulent, containing the public library as well. The King's suggestion for the lot is 3-E-F2, in the University borough where books are needed the most, and where SCI establishment will soon start to receive a significant bonus.

The Society would be a joint-stock company, with all the ones who contribute money, land or SCI, are given the shares based on the contribution. The Members (shareholders) would also register for the standing order, and receive X copies of everything fresh from print. (This is sold as a one-time offer - to get all future issues perpetually in X copies). When large numbers of new players join in, they will be able to buy the books from the bookstore one by one.

This is an offer for those who truly trust in the glorious future of Crypto Kingdom. The books now printed will either be invaluable treasures in 100-200 years, or worthless and forgotten.

For 5 SCI, you get 1 share (10,000 SCI needed, OZ has promised half)
For 1 mil, you get 1 share (1,000-1,500 mil needed)
The perpetual standing order to get all the books printed by the society forever, in 1 copy: 35 mil <- 7 shares bonus!
The perpetual standing order to get all the books printed by the society forever, in 2 copies: 60 mil <- 12 shares bonus!
The perpetual standing order to get all the books printed by the society forever, in 5 copies: 100 mil <- 20 shares bonus!
The perpetual standing order to get all the books printed by the society forever, in 10 copies: 140 mil <- 28 shares bonus!
The perpetual standing order to get all the books printed by the society forever, in 20 copies: 200 mil <- 40 shares bonus!

Books are excellent gifts (as are wine bottles... )

As for we, the King - we see great value in being able to get all the books in many enough copies to our libraries. Also we offer the well located lot that is suitable for a peaceful haven of learnedness (600 mil for 20 q), and already the Royal Architects have made plans of zoning the perimeter of the lot to be very compact townhouses in the sub-100 mil price category to be rented or sold for income to the Society. If other providers of SCI don't show up, we can contribute some of it as well.

[rpietila]

While the Long Bond offering is going on, and will for 2 more days, the math-wizards in the Villa Rotonda have developed an instrument that might make obsolete all the other Town debt issues (especially if we consider that the other instruments are not issued to raise money - which is not really needed - but to provide feedback of the economic health of the Town and the game).

The Consol.

What the Long Bonds have tried to establish, and failed so far, is an interest rate regime. The issue prices of the long bonds give some information, but as far as is known, no aftermarket trades have ever been conducted, making the "economic barometer" wish unfulfilled.

Consols are a combination of bond and equity - a perpetual obligation to pay a fixed sum per year. Because it pays a fixed sum, it resembles a bond. But the principal is never paid - as in an equity.

If the Town would issue consols that pay 0.1 mil per year for instance - forever - valuing these would be very easy: the price of one unit would be y/r, where y is the yield (0.1 mil) and r is the gameannual interest rate. At the current situation in the Long Bond auction, the APR is 1.1%. Therefore the 0.1 mil paying perpetual would be valued at 0.1/0.011 = 9.0 mil.

And that is all you need! When you buy a consol, you know exactly how long it takes to get your money back (90 weeks, in this example). What you don't know is how the value of the consol will develop. It is most probable that if the game becomes more solid, the interest rate will become lower and lower, raising the value of the consol in the process. When we get to the 5% per real-year level, reasonable in mortgages, the price of the consol bought at 9 mil becomes 0.1/0.001 = 100 mil! Therefore not only you receive about 1% per week on your investment, but also the residual value of your investment grows 11x!!

The interplay of gold and consols (and real bills) was a key playground in finance in 1750-1913. We in the Villa Rotonda School of Economics are eager to reinstitute it!

When all the Town bonds are consolidated to be one, single item, the tracking of its price and, hence, the interest rate, will be so easy! The way of victory with gold has been because it is fungible, liquid, and pays interest relative to the success of the game. The way of victory with consols will be that they are fungible, liquid, and pay a fixed interest irrespective of the success of the game. Switching from one to the other keeps the dividends flowing, and at the same time rewards the speculator with a double move in the asset prices!

[rpietila]

Affordable living in the Old Town - rare opportunity!


It has been a while since middle-to-low income housing was last built in the Old Town (the previous attempts, Expert Village and Master Village, both foiled due to the land becoming 10x as expensive as the house).

Now the opportunity is in East Alley, the city-wall side in the Village (1-SE). The lots are mainly only 45 sqm and the units are 19 sqm total in 2 floors, with sun in 2 directions, front lawn and roof terrace, 60-80% lux, elaborate front facade, and - located in the Old Town!

Prices start as low as 29 mil, they are calculated to give a 1% APR after the extra tax therefore purchasing any or all of them for investment is an option as well!

[generalizethis]

Affordable living in the Old Town - rare opportunity!


It has been a while since middle-to-low income housing was last built in the Old Town (the previous attempts, Expert Village and Master Village, both foiled due to the land becoming 10x as expensive as the house).

Now the opportunity is in East Alley, the city-wall side in the Village (1-SE). The lots are mainly only 45 sqm and the units are 19 sqm total in 2 floors, with sun in 2 directions, front lawn and roof terrace, 60-80% lux, elaborate front facade, and - located in the Old Town!

Prices start as low as 29 mil, they are calculated to give a 1% APR after the extra tax therefore purchasing any or all of them for investment is an option as well!

I'll buy e1-e7.   

[Roopatra]

The Literary Society in CryptoTown
For 5 SCI, you get 1 share (10,000 SCI needed, OZ has promised half)

The Marchioness of Neverland would like to give 50 SCI towards the printing press, in exchange for 10 shares of The Literary Society.

[rpietila]

Affordable living in the Old Town - rare opportunity!


It has been a while since middle-to-low income housing was last built in the Old Town (the previous attempts, Expert Village and Master Village, both foiled due to the land becoming 10x as expensive as the house).

Now the opportunity is in East Alley, the city-wall side in the Village (1-SE). The lots are mainly only 45 sqm and the units are 19 sqm total in 2 floors, with sun in 2 directions, front lawn and roof terrace, 60-80% lux, elaborate front facade, and - located in the Old Town!

Prices start as low as 29 mil, they are calculated to give a 1% APR after the extra tax therefore purchasing any or all of them for investment is an option as well!

I'll buy e1-e7.   

Thank you. Not that it is in any way related to the recent purchase, but:

Dr. SS, the King's Physician, is gifting his special 20 CKG pure gold goin SS1600T, obverse: ""MENS SANA IN CORPORE SANO" surrounding the Snake on the cross, below: "1600", reverse: "PALATIUM CULTURAE ET SCIENTIAE" surrounding the Palace of Culture & Science, below "SITUS A.D. 1559"", to other characters. He has not divulged the objective criteria, perhaps because he wants to retain the supreme right to give the coins according to his pleasure. (The same way as volumes have been written about Noble promotion even though the rule is "King's pleasure".)

Master Crichton and Master Mooo have been sent the coin, gold included, as is the custom these days.

[rpietila]

The Literary Society in CryptoTown
For 5 SCI, you get 1 share (10,000 SCI needed, OZ has promised half)

The Marchioness of Neverland would like to give 50 SCI towards the printing press, in exchange for 10 shares of The Literary Society.

We would like to sell the eternal subscriptions as well (they are easiest to implement in Ultima, like shares that get books as a dividend ) might you think this to be a worthy idea or do you think the price needs to be reduced?

[Karl Hungus]

Affordable living in the Old Town - rare opportunity!


It has been a while since middle-to-low income housing was last built in the Old Town (the previous attempts, Expert Village and Master Village, both foiled due to the land becoming 10x as expensive as the house).

Now the opportunity is in East Alley, the city-wall side in the Village (1-SE). The lots are mainly only 45 sqm and the units are 19 sqm total in 2 floors, with sun in 2 directions, front lawn and roof terrace, 60-80% lux, elaborate front facade, and - located in the Old Town!

Prices start as low as 29 mil, they are calculated to give a 1% APR after the extra tax therefore purchasing any or all of them for investment is an option as well!

Sir Hokusai will buy e8-e13

[rpietila]

Greetings from NewCorp

NewCorp (#60) is established 1522 and reformed to its current business in 1600. The intention is to handle the Royal commercial assets, mainly land development and quarrying. In practice, NewCorp buys land in "chapelry auctions", waits, quarries it, tries to sell the stone, and zones the land for further use. We aim to mainly operate in wholesale.

In addition to the King, NewCorp has 4 other members (we are not seeking new members and trading with the stock is disallowed). The nominal share capital is currently 28.1 bil, making us the most valuable company in the game. We are also the largest holder of urban land.

We have released 3 chapelries from quarrying, and the land is offered at some of the best terms available, starting from 12.85 mil/q!

- In 3-N, the connector chapelry, large tracts are open next to the Culture & Science Boulevard going from the center to B.8
- In 5-SE, 2 very nice lots surrounded by streets throughout, facing south over Tavastia Boulevard are offered
- In 2-N, the connector chapelry to B.6, 7 lots are left after Lord Thud bought his. These are all gardened and feature a "Summer House", a 2-story 100% lux, all elaborate, pedestaled, terraced, high lobby, much windows construction, which is able to be used for rental, CUL or SCI. All except one have the view to the House of Magnificence, and the HofM park.

We seek to raise money quickly for the impending chapelry purchases, so the prices are very lucrative. The 2-N properties (even in their current state as mostly unbuilt, and centrality as "suburban" which might change to the better soon) yield ~3% APR.

Every time you buy from NewCorp (with the exception of stone trades worth <100 million), you get a NC1600C collector coin worth 3 CKG! If the value of the trade is 500 mil or more, 2 coins are given.

NewCorp actively manages the land & property portfolio, so don't expect the lots to only go down in price, they might also go up, and big lots may be rezoned to smaller ones, and houses built etc. Snatch the opportunity when it is present!

The Hypothecary Bank wants to announce that since the current NewCorp offerings are so tightly priced, 50% of the purchase price can be financed by a 30-year loan from the Bank at a cutthroat rate of 1.9% (50% is the standard, but the rate is variable based on the solidity of the collateral). This makes possible even profitable leveraged investments.

What is more, the King has not forgotten that not all Barons and higher have a tax-free haw. We are not giving free land at present, but since the area in 2-N is such magnificent (overlooking HofM and near the haw chapelry of 2-NW and the Summer Pavilion), every noble not already having a haw who buys a lot here, will have it designated as a haw (1 per char).

[Roopatra]

The Literary Society in CryptoTown
For 5 SCI, you get 1 share (10,000 SCI needed, OZ has promised half)

The Marchioness of Neverland would like to give 50 SCI towards the printing press, in exchange for 10 shares of The Literary Society.

We would like to sell the eternal subscriptions as well (they are easiest to implement in Ultima, like shares that get books as a dividend ) might you think this to be a worthy idea or do you think the price needs to be reduced?

Books give not wisdom where was none before
But where some is, there reading makes it more.
John Harington

The Marchioness would like to buy the perpetual standing order to get all the books printed by the society forever, in 1 copy: 35 mil <- 7 shares bonus!
As well as the 50 SCI points mentioned in previous post.