Crypto Kingdom - 1991 Retro Virtual World(City)

[Red Erin]

How long back do you owe the rent, and what would be the sum you can give and continue there?

The ending term was for 1636-1640, and the rent is 100mil, which is now due.
I will pay this sum, though I have to say I played too close to the chasm and will end up negative when I do, but that is totally my own fault

My point here is that the average for this term was an incoming of barely above 20 mil - 20mil being the yearly rent. When we account for the cost of the guard, which your majesty's wise father strongly suggested the manors hire, this means a loss of more than 2mil a week. And this is trying to keep sell orders constantly in what I hope to be the best way to get a good price - a tightrope between higher price and threat of spoiling. I now see the price of meat to be on a regular downward path, and this means the loss will be felt even more keenly, should I continue managing the Pada manor sales.

Thus, my request is not for the coming rent, but for the terms for the 5 years starting now to be adjusted to account for the lesser prices in the market.

The prizes in the Coronation will be excellent. Btw it is still possible to spend SCI for practicing your aim in the target shooting! We want more participants!

I am glad to say I took the royal counsel to heart, and I acquired a pistol years ago, and trained with it ever since. I am looking forward to getting a shot, as it were, at the sharpshooting contest

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[Syksy]

Feedback from a new signup:

...

I'll give it a rest for now and revisit it later perhaps.

Thanks AlexGR, I for one think that this was extremely valuable feedback from somebody who hops on board while everybody else is kind of accustomed already to "how things are done". Thanks for putting it down so precisely, I hope these will lead to improvements
*bump*

[smooth]

7. As I’m trying to find what to do next, I click the 3 line button right of the Crypto Kingdom label (upper left). This button needs more highlighting as it’s not so intuitive that it’s a central button in terms of functionality. At least to me.

Called a hamburger button or a hamburger menu. I hate them but apparently there is some controversy about it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburger_button

[rpietila]

Feedback from a new signup:

1. Registration  easy – nice. Character age was the only confusing part. It’d be nice to have a mouseover or something to explain that this is not necessarily the user’s age + pros and cons of choosing lower or higher age values as a game age, so that the player doesn’t regret it later on if it is something crucial.

2. First login problematic due to the browser using email instead of character name. Proposal: Make both email and character name valid logins – or explain that nickname is required

3. First screen: https://cryptokingdom.me/billboard

That’s like a bad quality spampage – definitely not game material that people want to see. Too confusing for a new player, too all over the place, too spammy, way not too cool in terms of appearance. The first screen is enough for many players to just not give the game a second chance.

4. My first move is to click on the higher right pic of a guy… it seemed to be something like an online-assistance type of avatar, and I was not really sure what it was. I clicked and realized it’s “my profile”. A more generic picture needs to be used for that.

5. Uploading new image is an easy process. On the left hand of the screen two buttons, right and left of the photo, don’t seem to do anything.

6. I’m next onto the dashboard trying to see how to find a “main” game menu. I’m seeing 2 items. I can’t click to see what they are.

7. As I’m trying to find what to do next, I click the 3 line button right of the Crypto Kingdom label (upper left). This button needs more highlighting as it’s not so intuitive that it’s a central button in terms of functionality. At least to me.

8. I try the map. The index on the left is not very well designed. I am at https://cryptokingdom.me/land/chapelry/1:C  then click north-north, I get a ...white screen. Total white. (huh?)

9. I click to go back to Main Town. I’m trying to figure out how to navigate around. I click on a button on the upper right “explore...” and it says Find lot with ID: 4-W-W14 in Town map and take your reward. Yeah, well, how do I do that? I can't seem to find any move buttons.

10. I return to the map. On the left side it says: “Explore different lots informations”. Syntax is somewhat messed up and I kind of understand the meaning, but ...not clickable. Still no idea how to move around.

I'll give it a rest for now and revisit it later perhaps.

Thank you for the valuable feedback. The game is in development, and "the demands and rewards are still in the early adopter mode". For this report, I am willing to give you an Emerald but I'd have to ask you to send me an ingame message (recipient: "1") to tell your char_id to whom I would transfer this valuable gem. (The prices of gems - item_type:GEM - range from 4 mil to invaluable).

The game is a community effort. What we much need in this stage as we have soon developed the planned functionalities, is UI feedback. The problem with the existing playerbase is that they have already learnt the cli and the UI, and are not as good to give feedback anymore

As for some of the points you raised,

1. We will be adding the help on the char_age next to the dropdown menu. The whole register screen also has place for some info, and I'd like you to tell what iyo is the most needed. The TOS should be there at least.

2. The nickname is needed in the login. Email is anyway optional, and also one email can be used in multiple characters.

3. We just developed this fine screen! The first 8 months there was no landing page at all!   It may be daunting for new players because it is designed to give all the info needed for the active players, and it is updated actively. I am open to suggestions how to make it more aesthetic, though.

7. This button will feature the words "Main Menu" soon. In the longer term, after the town map looks cool (it certainly does not atm), the main menu items will be dispersed to the town buildings to make the game feel more like a game and not a database access tool.

8. Each screenful you see on the map is called "chapelry". We have 225 in the game, and are currently developing a "lot layout editor", giving the owners the possibility to draw the buildings etc. to their lots (about 1000 existing), which the system will merge to be the chapelry wallpapers. When this process is complete (it is a lot of manhours), the whole town will look realistic and pleasing to the eye. The buildings will have functionalities, so that an adventurous player will have much to explore and gain EXP to get his levels up and the game progresses. Because the game time is tied to real time, it is a challenge to make the starting phase for eager players fast enough. This game cannot be "completed" in a long weekend, it is a long term hobby, which we both must communicate, and also make fast-tracks available for those who want quick progress. Buying a Baronet item (BT-x) causes instant promotion to L12.

9. The Explore requires you to find the lot in question, and to find it, you need to navigate around the town using the navigation arrows in the Map view. The lot_id given is composed of Borough_id, Chapelry_id and (local) Lot_id. The example 4-W-W14 means that the chapelry is 4-W, and the borough 4 is directly to the north of Borough 1 (with some white in between as you noticed). W14 is one of the lots in the chapelry, and upon finding it, there will be gold and other items waiting for you as a reward of getting to know the map.

10. Overall, the database side of the game is progressing nicely and we have a very powerful cli for accessing the 24/7 market, doing the character health challenge, operating the ingame companies, and executing admin actions. What we lack, is the easy access for newcomers and the interlinking of several things we have in the game, and all the wikis and tutorials and guides. Developing these has not been a priority just yet for the reasons that we do not have the skills in our current team. We are doing our best, and the result is what you can readily observe - impossible to get hold to, without staunch determination and ready access to our IRC help channel freenode: ##crypto-kingdom.   We need a dedicated workgroup consisting of players that are not part of the existing community, to have a chance of developing an actual, functional, entry to the game. This will take place after the summer holiday though, as there are still other things to do first. The administration is still too manual to allow the playercount to grow too much yet, so "anyone can come in, but right now it is so demanding that only few make it". In the longer term, we seek to have at minimum 10,000s of players to the game. The valuation is now very promising to those who believe we can conquer the challenges. The funding is on a solid footing.

Risto, lead designer & GM

[MoneroMooo]

To all NPCC contestants: to try and make it fairer for all, I will transfer 3 days' worth (today and the previous two days) of stipend at 12 GMT (so in 4 hours from this post), so that everyone has a chance to start at the same time. Those that don't sleep anyway, but you can only do so much.

[rpietila]

How long back do you owe the rent, and what would be the sum you can give and continue there?

The ending term was for 1636-1640, and the rent is 100mil, which is now due.
I will pay this sum, though I have to say I played too close to the chasm and will end up negative when I do, but that is totally my own fault

My point here is that the average for this term was an incoming of barely above 20 mil - 20mil being the yearly rent. When we account for the cost of the guard, which your majesty's wise father strongly suggested the manors hire, this means a loss of more than 2mil a week. And this is trying to keep sell orders constantly in what I hope to be the best way to get a good price - a tightrope between higher price and threat of spoiling. I now see the price of meat to be on a regular downward path, and this means the loss will be felt even more keenly, should I continue managing the Pada manor sales.

Thus, my request is not for the coming rent, but for the terms for the 5 years starting now to be adjusted to account for the lesser prices in the market.

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.

[Red Erin]

Thank you, your Majesty. Hopefully the markets can stabilize and not fall further

[Syksy]

Last chance to grab a spot in the climax of the NPCC, the final round #4! One spot remaining, and the first one to show me a green light will get it. Everybody's on an equal line when we start off tomorrow.

Dear all,

we now have a potential 7th member, who is willing to participate in case nobody else wants to consider this position. So if you are willing to compete, please post here (or query me at freenode) ASAP to take this spot, otherwise we'll fire up the competition with these contestants in a few hours.

Best regards,
Lord Syksy

[rpietila]

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.

[papa_lazzarou]

7. As I’m trying to find what to do next, I click the 3 line button right of the Crypto Kingdom label (upper left). This button needs more highlighting as it’s not so intuitive that it’s a central button in terms of functionality. At least to me.

Called a hamburger button or a hamburger menu. I hate them but apparently there is some controversy about it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburger_button

I would suggest 2 or three direct links ('My Char', 'Marketplace' and maybe 'Map') plus an explicit 'Menu' link. On mobile this should be fixed on the bottom for easy thumb reach.

[Syksy]

NPCC #4 is on!

Make sure you have access to the /NPCC4-tab at: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1tgIzgMza7NQsTpMO9pHke1ZVXYH7l5Sj5bHdZHItivo/edit?pref=2&pli=1#gid=1569380517
If you don't have access to write, do a request via the Google sheet (it should automatically do an application which will then be approved). If there's any message fields to insert, put "NPCC #4".
If you encounter any other problems or have questions, feel free to approach me.

The modified luxury consumption rules are here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=819073.msg14874683#msg14874683
The main rules for #3 are here (apply in exception to above): https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=819073.msg14504527#msg14504527
The main rules for #2 which were only fine-tuned to #3: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=819073.msg14134679#msg14134679

[Roopatra]

Greetings from the TownSwipe corporation,

After a recent sweep of dead characters the TownSwipe has acquired many game items that are now for sale at nice discounted prices, compared to previous lowest asks. Full list of Townswipe items can be found behind this link: https://cryptokingdom.me/player/playerItems/248

A few picks from the items already listed in the market, purchase yours now:

Consumables:
CAN @ 950m
CIG @ 19k
DOM @ 2.5mil
SW3 @ 3mil
FOIE @ 28k
MUS @ 60k
SHI @ 28k
Also many wines at greatly reduced ask prices, check the deals out in Wines tab on the Marketplace.

Gems for the Coronation:
EME, EMEX, SAPX, TOP, TOPX and JAD
TownSwipe ask prices are placed in the middle between the highest bid and the previous lowest ask.

Others:
CON @ 20.5mil
BLD @ 11k
IC @ 62k
SCI @ 70k

More things will come to the market in the next days, so see what is for sale here, https://cryptokingdom.me/player/playerItems/248 and put your bids ready!

[Roopatra]

Greetings from the TownSwipe corporation,

A few picks from the items already listed in the market, purchase yours now:

Upgrade your Horses for the Pistol Shooting Contests and the Coronation:
H3 @ 5mil
H4 @ 10mil
H5 @ 18mil
H6 @ 32mil
TRH-9 riding equipment @ 15mil

Spirits:
ABS @ 345k
CXO @ 600k
CLXII @ 2mil
BRA @ 200k
DOM @ 2.5mil
GIN @ 350k
LAG @ 1.3mil
RME @ 1mil
VOH @ 400k

Fungible suits from WOS-A1 to WOS-G and everything in between, buy yours from TownSwipe asks.

More things will come to the market in the next days, so see what is for sale here, https://cryptokingdom.me/player/playerItems/248 and put your bids ready!

[rpietila]

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 

The First Decennial Pistol Shooting Contest

Year: 1640
Venue - Sharpshooter: House of Magnificence Garden, 2-N
Venue - Horseback: Jousting Ground in front of Citadel, 1-W
Venue - Half-Section: In the fields behind San Pietro

The Coronation guests and all the others may participate in the contest, if they have the equipment.

Sharpshooter
Required: Pistol

Each contestant has 3 tries to achieve the best single hit score. The intermediate results are given after each round, affecting the preparations for the next. The single hit result is calculated as follows:

+ Contestant age (1 point if between 15-100 years, 2 points (total) if 20-70 years, 3 points if 25-55 years, 4 points if 30-40 years, else 0 points)
+ Pistol item level (6-10 points)
+ Sharpshooter advance training (5, 10, 20, 50, 100 SCI give 1-5 points towards all 3 hits, must be spent latest 1639 with [Sharp])
+ Aiming for the hit (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 125, 250, 500, 1000 SCI give 1-10 points extra for 1 hit, respectively)
+ d20 roll

Therefore, HM The King is more than 100 years old (+0), has a K6 level standard pistol (+6), has consumed 100*SCI in advance with note [Sharp] (+5), aims for the hit with 64*SCI (+7), so has a base of 18.

Martti is 32 years old (+4), has a pearly_matter inlaid K8 pistol borrowed from Sir Crichton (+8), has consumed 20*SCI in preparation (+3), aim is worth 8*SCI (+4), so his base of 19 beats the King's.

The d20 roll is the deciding factor with 1-20 points added to the total, but small advantages in base points do stack towards the overall odds of winning because of many rounds.

1st Prize: DIA5


Horseback
Required: Horse
Required: 2 Pistols
Optional: Most Ancient Unique Suit
Optional: Wine

Rules of the Discipline: Contestants gallop around the Jousting Ground on horseback (one at a time). Galloping too fast will lead to fall and disqualification. This also has 50% chance of spoiling the suit. The horse is unaffected. When gallop is cleared, two pistols are fired during one flight to the target (effigy of Prince Boguslaw whose sin is to mistreat the peasants). Only hits count. 2 tries and higher one is evaluated.

+ Pistol item level (6-10 points)
+ Horse item level (1-9 points)
+ Suit item level (3-10 points)
+ Good Feeling (12, 24, 60, 120, 240, 500, 1000, 2000, 5000, 10000 bottles of Wine consumed (any unspoiled wine, total amount counts) give 1-10 points extra for 1 try, respectively - - the wine is consumed by the spectators of course!)
+ d20 roll determining success in gallop: set the speed you are aiming at (5-20). If d20<speed, you fall => disqualified, else 5-20 points according to speed
+ Firing pistols is [ max(0; d20-10) + max(0; d20-10) ] meaning that if you get at least 11 in the die roll, you start getting points from the hit with maximum points being 20/20 twice, yielding 20 points for shooting through both the eyes. If you don't get any points with either pistol, you are disqualified.

Total points of qualified results count, and only the better of the 2 tries is evaluated.

1st Prize: SAPX


Half-Section
Required: 1 Officer (LT-COL)
Required: 4 PTE...MSG (any)
Required: 5 Horses
Required: 4 Pistols
Optional: up to 4 additional pistols for the total of 8 maximum.

Half-Section must be forces that have been under your command since 1638 the latest, and the horses and pistols need to be part of their usual weaponry since the same year (this one). Each recognised Military Unit may participate (unlike in the other 2 where one player may only participate once).

Points are calculated as follows:
+ Forces according to level (officers 5-9, troops 1-4)
+ Horses according to level (1-9 each; no same horses as are used in other contest)
4-8 evaluations of [ max(0; d20-10) ] based on the # of pistols.

No disqualification is possible. 1 try, Highest result wins.

1st Prize: Ancient Battle Aquila (+20 command)


Prizes

The best 3 in every discipline win gems straight. In addition,
1. All participants enter into the Main raffle to win more.
2. Winners of disciplines get a ticket to the Diamond raffle, where a DIA10 is at stake.

[rpietila]

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.

[Roopatra]

Greetings from the TownSwipe corporation,

After a recent sweep of dead characters the TownSwipe has acquired many game items that are now for sale at nice discounted prices, compared to previous lowest asks. Full list of Townswipe items can be found behind this link: https://cryptokingdom.me/player/playerItems/248

Land in B.22 and B.23:
Land price is based on the size of the lot, all lots in the borough sell for the same price at 20mil /q (=200k /1sqm). However some lots are better than others for visibility, centrality and other factors, so check what is for sale and buy your pick quickly before someone else does.

Land in B.4:
Land price is based on the size of the lot, all lots in the borough sell for the same price at 9mil /q (=90k /1sqm). However some lots are better than others for visibility, centrality and other factors, so check what is for sale and buy your pick quickly before someone else does. (Syksy had high bids for small lots in 4-C so those sold already, since they were over the 9mil/q asking price)

Production shares:
S-VE1
S-CAN
S-FOI
S-WW
DIS

Unique suits:
Orange 12mil
Green 5mil
These spoil less than the fungible suits, yet are not much more expensive, consider buying a unique suit for your character.

[AlexGR]

1. We will be adding the help on the char_age next to the dropdown menu. The whole register screen also has place for some info, and I'd like you to tell what iyo is the most needed. The TOS should be there at least.

I think the registration page is very nice and easy. It doesn't need much really. Some TOS perhaps, yes, but it is very good in doing what a player wants: Getting registered quickly without too much hassle. The only real question I had was whether the age is related to my RL or ingame character (since it said "character age" I thought that it would probably be 90% the ingame one) and what the pros or cons of choosing a certain age are. For example 15 is more futureproof than 20 (if the character dies) but then again, can a 15yr old do the same things a 20yr old character can? This is the type of question I was asking myself.

As for the email/nick, the player name is more ok to login with because it is shorter than the email. It would probably be my first choice upon the first login, but when I signed up the browser offers to remember your signup details, and as it happens, it remembered the email/pass. So when it tried to login, it predictably failed because that's the pair it saved, not the nick/pass.

3. We just developed this fine screen! The first 8 months there was no landing page at all!  Cheesy It may be daunting for new players because it is designed to give all the info needed for the active players, and it is updated actively. I am open to suggestions how to make it more aesthetic, though.

For a start, it'll probably require a different page altogether for new users. "if player = noob then show noobpage". (noobpage should also have a link to the announcement pages / landing page). The noobpage should deal with absolute basics. How to move, how to keep the character alive, explanations of how things work that the player who comes onboard is asking himself - things like that.

As for the current page, a general rule to reduce visual overload is to categorize information with labels. If the billboard is split in multiple “labeled” subsections, one can quickly sort through the pile by simply ignoring the parts of the screen with certain labels that don’t interest him. For example, if I have no money I’m not interested in buying anything, so my eye and brain don’t have to focus on the section of the page where it deals with offers for selling stuff. Aesthetically speaking, if the labeled parts are in their own mixed graphics frame-text window, then they might appear better.

7. This button will feature the words "Main Menu" soon. In the longer term, after the town map looks cool (it certainly does not atm), the main menu items will be dispersed to the town buildings to make the game feel more like a game and not a database access tool.

Nice.

8. Each screenful you see on the map is called "chapelry".

I’m not a native english speaker and while I am certified as ‘proficient’ in the language, I hadn’t heard the word. There were too many words that were unknown or weird and this creates a negative psychological effect. The mind is rarely in the mood of learning a whole sort of new things and when it is overloaded with trying to learn a new game, the interface and then also faces unknown terminology – it’s all too much to handle. It triggers the “familiarity of comfort” response that wants to take you out of the game to more familiar environments, terms, etc. This will, predictably, be more intense as an effect if the age of the new entrant is higher. As the age grows people are willing to devote less time and are less patient in dealing with new systems, new terminologies etc. (This is actually me, debugging my mind reactions in realtime, as it reacts with the sensory input of the new game environment and what is sees.)

For example (negative reaction on too much new terminology):

9. The Explore requires you to find the lot in question, and to find it, you need to navigate around the town using the navigation arrows in the Map view. The lot_id given is composed of Borough_id, Chapelry_id and (local) Lot_id. The example 4-W-W14 means that the chapelry is 4-W, and the borough 4 is directly to the north of Borough 1 (with some white in between as you noticed). W14 is one of the lots in the chapelry, and upon finding it, there will be gold and other items waiting for you as a reward of getting to know the map.

...this generates a "what the .... are all these" and "that is all way too complicated" response.

From my gamer perspective it needs some simplification and perhaps (?) stripping of terminology to make it immediately intuitive how it works and what the coordinates mean. Coordinates, being an essential part to navigate around, are kind of “a common language” that should be easy to understand without much effort. In my experience coordinate type systems (x,y) with easily distinct parts, or simple N-W-E-S moves, should do it. It may be that the way these coordinates are expressed are problematic right now. But as it is, it’s confusing (to me at least).

Developing these has not been a priority just yet for the reasons that we do not have the skills in our current team.

Unfortunately I can’t help much in this department. I can make a thorough review of the system as a new player, even write guides if I stick around, play it and like it (right now it seems unappealing to my mind’s inclination to return to its familiarity of comfort and not have to navigate all this complexity and counter-intuitive design), but coding is not my strong point.

I understand that development-wise, everything has a reason for being what it currently is – but the player won’t be convinced by debating the reasons of why he sees what he sees – he simply wants an environment which he can feel comfortable in playing with. I’m saying this in a constructive manner, even if it seems “negative”. It's not like if I was developing the game I would make a better job with my limited skills, so...

As for the emerald, keep it for now, I may ask it if I stick around (ingame id Alex / #422) and understand more about the basics of the game (like what happens to the emerald if I die, if I don’t eat, whether it is safe with me or it can be stolen by other players who can kill me and loot my inventory etc etc – these are all still unknown to me). I didn’t have much time to explore these last 2 days, but hopefully I'll have some time in the weekend. Hopefully. I'll be keeping notes if I navigate around.

[Roopatra]

NPCC #4 is on!

The NPCC have been gifted items that they can either choose to consume, or sell them to buy other things from the market.
The gifting of these items is lowering the daily allowance of 'm', item value is calculated from the current midprice.

2500 CAN (worth 2.5mil)
1500 MEAD (worth 1.46mil)
4 ABS (1.09mil)
28 W1615P (1.68mil)
13 VOD (1.55mil)

Due to the item gifting the NPCC daily allowance is cut by 8.28mil for today. Normal daily allowance is 15mil, so this will leave some loose money to buy/trade other necessary consumables as well.

[rpietila]

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.

[Roopatra]

Greetings from the TownSwipe corporation,

After a recent sweep of dead characters the TownSwipe has acquired many game items that are now for sale at nice discounted prices, compared to previous lowest asks. Full list of Townswipe items can be found behind this link: https://cryptokingdom.me/player/playerItems/248

Cool collectibles
CP1300C artefact coin made of unknown metal, only 15mil
GAGR Gold Rings from 1450, only 15mil
GIP-4 Necklace made from bear tooth from 1378, only 15mil

New lowered asks in
Horses (H4, H5, H6)
Production shares (S-FOI, S-CAN, S-WW)

Coming soon: collectible CR-Gold Coins, land in OldTown etc.