Crypto Kingdom - 1991 Retro Virtual World(City)

[rpietila]

You can still help!

The poorer half of us, characters #81-> has not yet suffered Plague. This will happen starting in about 1 hour from now, and in a few hours, everything is consummated, we move on to year change script, (perhaps the Zech party unless it is cancelled due to mourning), and then migration.

Characters #1-#80 can freely list everything they have for sale or just dump it to the /F_OWN rows of people who have not yet been evaluated and are sure to drink it. Especially we urge to directly dump beer since it is not a big sacrifice for you, but a nice benefit for the receiver.

Stronger alcohol can be listed for sale so that the pricing mechanism takes care whether it will be consumed and by whom, or stay for the future.

Please be mindful that now we are entering the evaluation of characters who simply cannot afford high prices (unlike the earlier ones, who could have, but did not even need due to many having stocked up beforehand). The script that I will tailor during this 1 hour break takes character wealth into account so that drinking is happening only if a certain wealth-dependent cost/benefit threshold is met.

[djjacket]

You can still help!

The poorer half of us, characters #81-> has not yet suffered Plague. This will happen starting in about 1 hour from now, and in a few hours, everything is consummated, we move on to year change script, (perhaps the Zech party unless it is cancelled due to mourning), and then migration.

Characters #1-#80 can freely list everything they have for sale or just dump it to the /F_OWN rows of people who have not yet been evaluated and are sure to drink it. Especially we urge to directly dump beer since it is not a big sacrifice for you, but a nice benefit for the receiver.

Stronger alcohol can be listed for sale so that the pricing mechanism takes care whether it will be consumed and by whom, or stay for the future.

Please be mindful that now we are entering the evaluation of characters who simply cannot afford high prices (unlike the earlier ones, who could have, but did not even need due to many having stocked up beforehand). The script that I will tailor during this 1 hour break takes character wealth into account so that drinking is happening only if a certain wealth-dependent cost/benefit threshold is met.

HH of North Face would like to make 200 Bottles each of RME  available to the poorer citizens who do not have other spirits and wine to help them in this tough time.

Please distribute them as needed to maintain the health of our citizens.

[CK_Zephyrus]

In these trying times, some righteous souls come forth to provide much needed help to those around them.
The church thanks Cryptonic and the Duke of North Face for their selfless contribution to the health of the kingdom as a whole, in providing the necessary spirits that may save many a life of those less fortunate.

The Church blesses Cryptonic, who thereby joins the Duke of North Face in the ranks of those who have received the Lord's benediction. Both those exalted soul now enjoy increased standing in the eyes of the Almighty and its earthly servants.

[Syksy]

The PMs to all accountholders have been sent, and about 50 accounts have been claimed in the first 4 hours. This does not even include all the daily active players. In my estimate, about 1-2% of the Crypto Kingdom assets remain unclaimed after a few days. The owners have until December 17th, to claim them, after which we thank you for support and spend the assets for marketing. Several attempts to reach the owner will be tried meanwhile, with "last active" being the guide. (If a BCT account has been active yet does not reply to PMs for months, he is judged to have donated the CK account to the game. If he is not even active in BCT for months, what can we do?)

Heya!
I'm eagerly looking for a chance to get to play myself as well, am I by any chance missing something since I haven't obtained an account claim request yet (e-mail or a PM in the forums here)? Sorry, don't mean to poke you, but I wasn't sure if I was supposed to be included in these.
Reading here daily on all the excitement I'm missing on

Best regards,
Datamancer Syksy

[rpietila]

The PMs to all accountholders have been sent, and about 50 accounts have been claimed in the first 4 hours. This does not even include all the daily active players. In my estimate, about 1-2% of the Crypto Kingdom assets remain unclaimed after a few days. The owners have until December 17th, to claim them, after which we thank you for support and spend the assets for marketing. Several attempts to reach the owner will be tried meanwhile, with "last active" being the guide. (If a BCT account has been active yet does not reply to PMs for months, he is judged to have donated the CK account to the game. If he is not even active in BCT for months, what can we do?)

Heya!
I'm eagerly looking for a chance to get to play myself as well, am I by any chance missing something since I haven't obtained an account claim request yet (e-mail or a PM in the forums here)? Sorry, don't mean to poke you, but I wasn't sure if I was supposed to be included in these.
Reading here daily on all the excitement I'm missing on

Best regards,
Datamancer Syksy

No problem, since you are authenticated by email, I will send the temp password to you directly without this preliminary step of "waking you up".

The BCT PM round now is for the reason that many accounts have not been actively played for months.

[rpietila]

All except the newest characters who don't have means to buy the drinks at market price (which is exorbitant right now) have been evaluated.

Now is your chance to donate: if you have rights, go directly and give your drinks to the ones not having "X" yet in the black column. If you don't, ask some of the admins to do it. We have not yet lost any lives, but it is more than possible now if nobody follows Cryptonic's and HH of NF's example. You can also tell your intent in the thread, but - do it now!

All spirits are much appreciated, though VOH is not at its best right here so if you have others, give them and spare the VOH. They don't make more springwater... As for wines, remember that we will have many years of no health challenges, and wines get old and then too old. (see /WINE)

These guys don't have money. They cannot buy, so don't even think about selling any more. (Some earlier sales are not yet recorded, don't worry about that either.)

After about 1 hour, the fate will be decided. Would it not be a bit lame to lose characters the same day the migration to Ultima starts??!  

[MoneroMooo]

Mooo feels fortunate to have weathered the storm fairly well, and donates the remaining 5 RME, 2 CVS, and 5 CLXII. And let's throw in the 46 W1603A too, it's at its 18-19 peak, ready to drink at its best.

[Syksy]

No problem, since you are authenticated by email, I will send the temp password to you directly without this preliminary step of "waking you up".

The BCT PM round now is for the reason that many accounts have not been actively played for months.

Roger that, thanks a lot!
Simultaneously eagerly looking forward to it, but also horrified of the what has happened during the plague

[saddambitcoin]

Saddam is donating a lot of his WINE and RUM and VOH currently, I am going through and giving away hundreds of bottles to the least prepared!

edit: gave away 1000+ bottles of WINE!

[rpietila]

Just back from a dinner with the Prince of Soul, with 1975 Saint-Emilion wine and pork feet, sauna and cognac included. (Sorry for 2 hour break instead of 1)

He says: "I have been blessed with wealth and advanced age. I cannot in good conscience drink the wine from my cellar any more unless I donate every bottle to the relief effort now, (to continue collecting later). Only vodka-based drinks will be spared because they will be more effective another day. Alles anders muss weg!"

[rpietila]

The plague is over

It is as if smoke were rising from the burned town...

This is one of the moments where the gamemaster integrity is tested. The Most Ancients remember how we had the Barbarian Invasion theme in the 1400s, and enormous effort was put for instance into the Citadel, about the size of the rest of the city combined. The die result table was prepared and announced in advance and included the barbarian looting of every worthy palace in the town, ransom etc.

That time, the die decided that no invasion at all came. This time we got the worst plague that was spexed - no advance warning, equivalent to each character being 250 years old and rolling a 20/20 four times in a row, with strong drinks providing nice relief but no "miracle cure" eventually was available, meaning that the only way to combat it was to drink, and drink hard.

Nobody died, and only 1 character is "ailing". Quite a few are "weak" though, which is not life-threatening but may pose some issues in the future.

When the evaluation started, the rich managed nicely due to their stashes, but then the problems started when the middle class (who wasn't prepared) started to buy the offerings on the market. It hit them hard and some received "brutal" decline in the health. In the end the purchasing power of the characters being evaluated declined at the same time that the prices of the drinks soared, so that it was no more prudent to purchase anything.

Many nobles came to rescue and donated large amounts of drinks without seeking compensation. Expert Cryptonic receives special mention: when the market ask for RME had risen to 2 mil per bottle, he donated every single bottle of his stash (at the time worth a billion, much more than the character's other worth) to the poor. This, in addition to HH of NF donation, Saddam's donation, Duke of OZ donation, Prince of Soul's decision to give away every bottle of wine, dark drink and small drink, and several waves of Royal donations, saved the life of the common people in the town, so that actually they suffered "only" "severe" damage, and may start their life often in "decent", even "good" health.

The migration is pressing, so commentary will be short. The drink hoards in the town were decimated:

W1600M - 7,308 - 2/3 of the stash emptied all of a sudden - this drink contributed the most to the battle; the history you know, the future is glorious
W1600 - 5,030 - 2/3 emptied
W1601 - 982 - 2/3
W1601B - 3,322 - 2/3 finished - was very nice considering that it's barley wine
W1602F - 68 - 10%
W1602 - 335 - 15% - many wines were consumed only in moderation, because they were not effective enough in battling the challenge
W1603 - 500 - 15%
W1603A - 2,714 - 25% - this was not bad, and it is also at peak and should be drank, but more cost-effective options were available for most
W1604 - 4,332 - 1/3

CLXII - 42 - 5% - thanks belongs to Soul who donated also his cache of 37*CLXII to the poor for their important benefit
CVS - 328 - 40% - proved to be a potent spirit
RME - 1,675 - 60% - much of the market activity happened around this, because the bulk of it was in few hands in the beginning
RUM - 585 - 70% - this is becoming rare
VOH - 920 - 10% - transparent spirits proved to be suboptimal cures, so only relatively little were consumed
VOD - 20 - 5%
SW1 - 3 - 5%
SW2 - 46 - 15% - a bonus was provided for class variety, which made this reasonable to be consumed by some

BEER - 36,058 - 90% - Thanks to the Church and the free market, the beer was practically fully spent in the challenge. Despite not being very potent, it was very cost-effective.

Expert Cryptonic is Knighted for his valor in battling the plague (L8). As for others, we are too weary to arrange any ceremony now. Everyone is alive, and that is what matters. No health challenges will come in 4 years. All can be with their kids and see them grow. The Prince Royal has cancelled his party (for which a post had been written beforehand).

We will now proceed to year change and migration!

[noms]

Carriages Delivered for 1608!


There were 3 carriages ordered and delivered to users:

TRC2-21   2-horse   Most Elaborate      blue Mooo   
TRC2-22   2-horse   none         wood  cryptonic21
TRC2-23   2-horse   none         wood iluvbitcoins

There are a lot still for sale as well:

16 mil - TRC2-18   2-horse   Wood   Elaborate
15 mil - TRC2-19   2-horse   Green  Elaborate
15 mil - TRC2-20   2-horse   Wood  Elaborate
15 mil - TRC2-24   2-horse   Green  Elaborate
10 mil - TRC2-25   2-horse   Wood  Non-Elaborate
31 mil - TRC4-14   4-horse   Green  Elaborate
62 mil - TRC4-15   4-horse   Red  Most Elaborate
62 mil - TRC4-16   4-horse   Noble Blue  Most Elaborate
62 mil - TRC4-17   4-horse   Noble Blue  Most Elaborate
62 mil - TRC4-18   4-horse   Noble Blue  Most Elaborate
62 mil - TRC4-19   4-horse   Wood  Most Elaborate   
62 mil - TRC4-20   4-horse   Red  Most Elaborate
250 mil - TRC6-3   6-horse   Noble Blue    Most Elaborate

To purchase one now, a premade one, contact any admin!
              
If you are interested in purchasing a custom one, the order form is here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/14hk2kSQNwFJ47BFH9YN1Y2hozRILyi3H6c1RKjh_6zk/viewform . These are the current prices, given the current market for IC, which Phaeton must purchase at market value. That said, they could change later, however any orders done now will be locked in at these prices.

Note: the only place you can get a 6-horse carriage is from Phaeton Carriage Works! These cannot be made with IC.  These are suitable for nobles with high aspirations Smiley  

If you would like to add metals (silver, gold) to your carriage, you can check the CARRIAGE tab in the CK Character sheet for a calculator to see how it affects the price: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1tgIzgMza7NQsTpMO9pHke1ZVXYH7l5Sj5bHdZHItivo/edit#gid=1122998271              
                  
Level   config possible                                      Price        
K5   2-horse, non-elab                                        10        
K6   2-horse, elab                                              16        
K7   2-horse, most elab / 4-horse elab                   32        
K8   2-horse, very elab / 4-horse most elab            62        
K9   4-horse very elab                                        153        
K9   6-horse most elab                                        250        
K10   6-horse very elab                                       300        

[canth]

Carriages Delivered for 1608!


There were 3 carriages ordered and delivered to users:

TRC2-21   2-horse   Most Elaborate      blue Mooo   
TRC2-22   2-horse   none         wood  cryptonic21
TRC2-23   2-horse   none         wood iluvbitcoins

I'd like to order

1x TRC2-20   2-horse   Wood  Elaborate (15 mil)

Thanks Noms!

[noms]

Carriages Delivered for 1608!


There were 3 carriages ordered and delivered to users:

TRC2-21   2-horse   Most Elaborate      blue Mooo   
TRC2-22   2-horse   none         wood  cryptonic21
TRC2-23   2-horse   none         wood iluvbitcoins

I'd like to order

1x TRC2-20   2-horse   Wood  Elaborate (15 mil)

Thanks Noms!

Thanks for your purchase!  Here are the remaining carriages for sale if anyone else needs one.

15 mil - TRC2-18   2-horse   Wood   Elaborate
15 mil - TRC2-19   2-horse   Green  Elaborate
15 mil - TRC2-24   2-horse   Green  Elaborate
10 mil - TRC2-25   2-horse   Wood  Non-Elaborate
31 mil - TRC4-14   4-horse   Green  Elaborate
62 mil - TRC4-15   4-horse   Red  Most Elaborate
62 mil - TRC4-16   4-horse   Noble Blue  Most Elaborate
62 mil - TRC4-17   4-horse   Noble Blue  Most Elaborate
62 mil - TRC4-18   4-horse   Noble Blue  Most Elaborate
62 mil - TRC4-19   4-horse   Wood  Most Elaborate   
62 mil - TRC4-20   4-horse   Red  Most Elaborate
250 mil - TRC6-3   6-horse   Noble Blue    Most Elaborate

[rpietila]

to celebrate the appointment of HRH Sir Zechariah, The Prince Royal, to the Heir to the Throne of Crypto Kingdom

for those who wondered the previous version, this is the official speech:

For no less than 208 years, the King rpietila I has ruled without an heir. The Kingdom does not practice primogeniture, so the (birth or) Introduction of Jungherr Zechariah in 1450 did not change the situation. The level ranking is such that L14 is a special level, within which the precedence, Royal/Noble status, and level title, are all custom and according to the situation. For all this time, no L14 promotions have happened.

We have a great influx of immigrants ahead of us. The war in neighboring countries and the bad rulers, laws and lawlessnesses there, have made the people receptive to consider leaving, and the rumors of good and rightful rule and peaceful living conditions here, have spread to many an ear and even more so when some come and tell their friends and relatives.

As primogeniture is not practiced, the King may choose the heir according to his will. No effort has been spared to search for the candidates among the most achieved nobles. The youngster James Daniel has been considered. But reigning is a very demanding task, and it is difficult to gain experience. My son, The Marquess of Tavastia, has lived the Kingdom life for 150 years under the strictest watch. Being son of King has not made his life easy. If any issues have existed, the rumors have known them. But all those have been for making him ready to reign.

Sir Zechariah, the Prince Royal responds:

Your Majesty The King, Your Graces, Highnesses and Excellencies, Barons, Knights, Ladies, Gentlemen, Wizards, Masters and practitioners of any trade,

I am humbled to be bestowed this great burden. I wish many years to Dad so that it would not fall on me too early, because I have a long experience of seeing how numerous the tasks and how elusive the rewards of doing them well are. Because the official duties have not existed during my not being the heir apparent, and there have been older and higher other people for high positions to be fulfilled, I have turned my interest first to horseback riding, then landlording, and many kinds of businesses, most recently I've been appointed CEO of NewCorp, a 25,000 mil entity, which sounds fancy but is strictly according to the businessplan. The wine shop was instrumental in mitigating the effect on the recent plague for many. In the future, I will continue the businesses for the people, unless Kingdom duties call.

I want to reveal that the Royal Architects have not forsaken Versailles. The general plan is ready but there has not been the opportunity to present it. The already gardened 9-chapelry entity will have its westmost 3 chapelries as a park, the N-C-S chapelries will contain the Château of Versailles, the largest building in town, and (after considering all other choices) I will take my official residence there as well, and keep the Zechariah Palace from 1480 in 1-N as a private residence. The Cour Royale will be built around the "secret obelisk" (which was constructed in 1600 at the same time that the whole borough was walled to prevent seeing it). The Avenue de Champs-Élysées will extend from the innermost heart of the château, King's bedroom, to the stairs of San Pietro, altogether about 950 m long and no less than 40 m wide at any point. (My innate speculator tells me that it might be a nice land grab if you get the chance in the next 100 years.)

It is clear that beating Dad in official speaking requires practice, so I turn to what I know better - import of spirits. After sluggish entry to the market, the RUM that I bought from Amsterdam a few years ago, turned out to be quite good stuff. Before any of the plagues and nasty stuff, I sent an expedition party to procure the drink called Whisky as well, with the sole designation to find the best one. The party arrived back and said that they had been lead to a place simply called "island" and there the best whisky could be had if you know how to get it. There were so many of them actually and each not claiming to be the best but pointing to the others, as if they were not in the business of selling the product at all. The negotiations took long but after enough of their own product, the distillers' tongue was loosened so that the consensus was that LAG is the best.

At an enormous cost of 0.5 IC/bottle (half of CLXII, 5 times higher than that of RME), plus taxes of course, I managed to bring a cache of 800 bottles for this event. Somehow there is no feeling of drinking voluntarily now, though... Keep them as gifts, and more can be purchased from my shop (although in limited quantities because of limited stocks). I decided to give to my friends, and to those who decided to plunder their lovingly-built stores during the plague, because of an even greater love for the poor. Soul was also a co-conspirator on the voyage. I have decided that this is the spirit of my coronation. Sounds ominous of course, but does not mean more than that spirit is eternal and body of the King is not.

You did not know that the French call their heirs apparent Dolphins? Well me neither. But when I found out, it sounded so cute that I schemed Order of the Dolphin. It's about time to have new order in the kingdom... I am the grandmaster, and the Order has 1 class only "Knight/Dame of the Dolphin". The trick is that every serious challenge gives the opportunity to earn it anew, and therefore become Knight many times. In practice this is achieved by giving the Dolphin Medal every time it is earned, over again.

The Dolphin Medal is made of Electrum-50, an alloy of gold and silver, which is forbidden for other purposes (as is wholly gilded silver).

If a commoner is knighted in the order, his level is also promoted to L8.

The first Dolphin Challenge, plague, resulted in the following:

HM The King
HE The Prince of Ramsey
HSH The Duke of OZ
HE The Prince of Soul
(now) Knight Cryptonic
myself
HH of NF
Marquess of White Cross
were given the first Dolphin Medals.

See you in Ultima tomorrow!

Oh yes, and today the party of drinking spirits to celebrate this is cancelled. Most alive have been drinking more spirits in a shorter time than ever anticipated

[rpietila]

The Era of Reconstruction has ended.

We need a new name for the new start.

Town has given all the Reconstruction Medals (21*gold, 24*silver, 150*bronze) and smelted the unawarded ones. Characters who had a gold or silver version, were today given the bronze one as a bonus.

[rpietila]

Knight Cryptonic has been given King's Hero Medal


King's Hero Medal is made out of pure gold and weighs 50 CKG. It may be awarded based on interesting gameplay based on various reasons. While Knight Cryptonic has received other acknowledgements for the same act already, they do not weigh down when considering on giving this medal.

It has been awarded now 4 times:

- Earl Saddam of Ramsey in 1555, for adamantly running a historically bad yielding quarry operation in Q1 "secret quarry era";
- Prince Jacket of North Face in 1590, for developing of playable content and administering the town;
- Prince Karl of OZ in 1600, for unwavering trust in and backing of the game through the times;
- Expert/Knight Cryptonic in 1608, for wasting his lifesaving stash of RME to the poor, without leaving a single bottle - only the gamemaster knows (and does not tell) how many lives were saved by this during the plague.

[serje]

My Votes!

01.New Player Registration + Tutorial (else there is none, meaning no new players!)

02.Automated deposits/withdrawals  (if not, current system will continue with manual communication and entries)

03.Agora Marketplace - Matching Exchange System for Items & Lots  (if we assume that otherwise the full-fledged matching is not active, and trades can be done directly via commands)

04.Duty Paid - Shop for every possible item to be created from IC  (otherwise the creation will happen via admin commands upon char request, with most items just not being created except by admins themselves)

05.Graphical Building Designer - Build with Voxels, costs and data are entered automatically (otherwise the building will be designed in spreadsheet and translated to a DB entry and imported with a command)

06.Building View - View and Edit Building Data (otherwise the /BLDG tab will stay in GoogleDB even if the rest migrates, because of usability)

07.Game Event History / Transaction History - Handy view to see what has happened in your account  (compared to no such possibility)

08.Business - Building - NPC interaction (this needs to be enabled to get back the economic subgames that were in use in 1550-1599 <- note in our history of almost a year, they were in use for 1.5 months only  )

09.Logistics script to calculate traffic and desirability of lots (a great addition to value the rentals based on "actual" traffic flows determined by where people live and walk and desire to eat)

10.Foreign trade and inter-town trade subgame (getting rid of IC happens here probably and m will reign)

11.Health Challenge - To make individual drinking/health choices possible  (otherwise drinking will be some script with very little control by the char, as it has been now)

12.More Realistic Building Payout Script w/choices (otherwise the scripts stays exploitable, and you have no choices over the use of your buildings)

13.API (includes all tools for programmers to make stuff that interacts with the game)

14.Countryside with Counties, Duchies, new Towns, Roads

15.3D first-person street view

16.3D bird's eye view

17.Chapelry view new layer "bird's eye" shows the "satellite" image of the area (else only the 3 different block image layers are available)

18.Chapelry view new layer "dissect" shows the view at the chosen elevation (3D building db is needed here)

19.Other "core" economic subgames

20.RESTA subgame and making eating and drinking happen in there (a business with actual perishable foods, location and marketing matters)

21.Halls of Fame - See the Best Performers in Multiple Challenges (otherwise such listings are not visible, cf. /CHAR tab)

[rpietila]

Migration Interim Report

- Ultima platform has been reset with all data copied afresh from the Google DB

- Except for /BLDG table and some completely external resources, the master copy of all important game information is now in Ultima

- 130 accounts have been created and initialized with temporary passwords

- When the account reaches you, please reset the password and don't forget or divulge it
* we are able to give you a new password but you are not able to prove to be the rightful owner of the account unless you have self added password recovery features via your account in Ultima platform and such features are not yet supported

- We have sent 50 of the accounts to owners, and more are pending immediate sending, or moving to Transfer agent, who can speed up the sending. Only if you have not yet claimed your account, is it necessary to contact us to get the password. We are sending them out as fast as we can!

- The platform is constantly in development. Consider it a normal, healthy, living city. Construction and maintenance is going on all the time, always somewhere. We take care that the data is safe.

- The migration itself was successful without issues.

Crypto Kingdom was born in 2014-10-10 in Malla as a collaboration between me and David Latapie, the Prince-Bishop. A nice party was planned for the anniversary but family reasons contribute to the decision to cancel it. I am sure the day will be very memorable virtually

[rpietila]

The Prince Royal (Tavastia) walks about his cellars. The wine merchant's stores could be transported in his carriage, with the horses barely noticing a burden...

During the plague, the largest cellars that boasted of nearly 10,000 bottles of wine each, have been reduced to 3-4k bottles each. What is more, the problems in Europe have prevented new imports for years now, although they are rumored to ease soon.

The stocks in other countries have been finished similarly as ours, so the educated estimate is that at least 4 years' gap will be left between W1604 and the next available vintage.

Our dark spirits reserves were decimated even worse, but VOH is almost intact, so that we now have 10k of vodka-based drinks and only 3k of others, even included LAG!

When you go to the markets to balance the wine cellars, take the following into consideration:
- These drinks will be historical, from a period that does not come back, Reconstruction 1600-1608, pre-Ultima
- Wines will reach peak and then decline, but both processes take decades
- Nothing of what we have can be imported any more
- Import will be available before any new health challenge happens
- New import prices will be some multiple of the tax, which is 100,000 for spirits and 10,000 for the wine, but not more. Young wines will not cost 100k let alone 500k, and staple spirits' price is rather 200k than even 500k.

We make both bid and ask sides look good soon