This post will soon be enlarged to be a schedule concerning how the many different features and modules that already were in the latest Google version (the one in use from autumn 1600 to Ultima) now work, and when this working state is reached.
It is expected that everything works in 2 weeks and that this post will be finalized tomorrow.
(It is buried already so I quoted instead - this post is continuation to the Fundamentals a day ago)
Important information for all players old and new - How to Play the GameStartGo to cryptokingdom.me and type your shortname (important - cannot be changed) and password. The game starts there and now. A visitor mode also exists. Password recovery info (email) is possible to add later in your settings. Playing is free.
Money and DepositThe monetary unit is "m" (1 millionth of 1 XMR, and 1 XMR ~ 0.0015 BTC ~ 0.40 USD). Ingame, the unit 1,000,000 m is abbreviated "mil". It has the same value as the out-of-game 1 XMR but it is advisable to use "mil" since they are two different things, only pegged in value.
Contact HE The Prince of Ramsey (in BCT: "saddambitcoin"), who operates a depository, whose depository shares (item_id: "M") are used as money in the game. You receive 1,000,000 shares for each 1 XMR you deposit. You can also buy "M" (or any other ingame things) from anyone who is willing, using anything mutually agreed as payment in the exchange. The game is all about freedom, and does not accept deposits directly. More depositories are coming in the future to hedge the risks; only players in excellent standing are considered worthy of receiving a license.
Depositing is strictly voluntary - the game parameters in this early stage are customized so that older players (on average) subsidize new players, so it might be an interesting challenge to play without deposit. Most of the investment opportunities are naturally forgone this way.
TimeThe game has a slow tempo: the main hosting script is run weekly, and it is called year_change, because it changes the game year (among other things). This weekend we change from 1609 to 1610. The game can be played by logging in once per week, but has incremental benefits for more frequent play. Unless you are an active trader in the Agora Marketplace, once per day and 10-30 minutes per session is very sufficient for a full experience, though some bonuses are directly dependent on how much real time you spend playing and thus there is no maximum.
Character basicsCharacters don't yet have much meat in them, the main parameters are Age and Level. Age increases the health challenge requirements (more costly to keep your health from going down), and Level increases status. A trait bonus system and skills system are in development and should be live by the end of 2015.
Health, Food and DrinksBy the end of this month (and year 1611) the Health Challenge module should be in operation, so what is told here is not applicable yet.
Health Challenge is an amount of health points that will be deducted from your health in the next year_change unless remedied. The way to remedy it is by eating and drinking (all the other things affecting health are taken into account in the challenge amount). This means that by using CONSUME command (syntax:
CONSUME item_id amount) you can eat 200 instances/units of food items and 200 of drink items per year.
It is very advisable to eat the full amount, because if this is not done, the character starves and dies in 5-10 years. To help with this, the bulk of the foods needed come to characters "for free" because commoners do gardening, Knights hunting, and Earls receive foie gras as tribute from their fief holdings. The rest can be bought from the market (or sold - if you have too much of wrong kind).
With drinks, they come in various kinds and some are very expensive. Experiment with how well they work for you and find the combination that suits your needs and budget.
DeathIf your character dies - which does not happen by accident since your health progress is shown, and even complete neglect does not kill it in less than a month - you can still log in to your account, but the only thing you can do is to manage your assets and gift them to a new character that you have started. Upon death, the Town will reserve the right to collect the burial costs (2 mil) and an estate tax of 10% of your assets at market value (though there is no decision to do it yet as we don't expect deaths for a few years). These can be avoided by gifting the assets to the heir in time.
LevelsThe important things you need to know is that:
- Nobles outrank commoners
- Earl, Marquess, Prince and Duke (latter is higher) have earned their promotions by their own effort and many of them have experienced all the trials of our first year of the game existence. They are therefore very wise and also their character is worth 10,000s of XMR in liquid assets only. It is the custom, just and right, to treat them with utmost reverence, and address Princes by Your Excellency (YE) and Dukes by Your Highness (YH) when engaging in conversation with them. (If the King addresses you, the proper reply is "Your Majesty, - -")
- Commoner target level is Master (L6), which brings the best labor bonuses etc. It can be reached by 30-40 years of age with normal gameplay, and sooner with a deposit, because it speeds up achieving the targets a lot.
- There is no limit how long it is possible to live, health challenges just gets harder when you age. The antemycetians (people who lived a long time in the Ancient Era and are up to 250 years old now) will need to spend several times more in just staying alive than you make from the Labor pool). Well-tended commoners can live to about 60 years, and my expectation is that during this time everyone who starts now has amassed so much wealth that they can join the ranks of the "immortals" if they so prefer.
LandThere is land, and that can be purchased. More land will always come to the game so the total quantity is not limited, but it will be further away from where things are happening. Land in the 1-C/1-N (center of the Old Town) is even now selling for 50x the price than the land in Borough 8, even though the latter is only a mile away.
Buy a house, but wait some time before engaging in land speculation, because that is a big boys' game. Land is easy to buy but difficult to sell at a good price except during land booms, which will happen frequently but you cannot forecast them with certainty (mass psychology).
BuildingIt is possible to build new buildings. All the hundreds of current ones have been built and paid for (in stone, labor, windows, luxuries) during the years of the existence of the game from 1432 to 1606.
But, we are evaluating the need to change the building datatype, for which reason at the very present new building is disabled and all the companies making building materials are producing to stock. The estimate when this is enabled again is 1-2 weeks.
ItemsItems database is completely shown in Agora Marketplace. This is to add transparency to the game in this period of quick changes. The downside is that every trinket that is never intended to come to market is there cluttering the listings. The listing below has stars to indicate the interest in trading the item_type (saving your effort trying to figure it out):
SPI Distilled Beverage ***
WINE Wine ***
DRI Small Drink **
SD Depository Share *
ST Common Share **
PER Perpetual Debt ***
TLB Town Long Bond
BLBT Bank Long Bond 4/1
BLB Bank Long Bond U
MOR Mortgage
DEBT Private Debt
BSB Bank Deposit *
GOC Gold Coin ***
GOM Gold Medal
GOJ Gold Jewellery Item
GOT Gold Tableware Item
GOO Other Pure Gold Item *** (HM02B100 only)
SIC Silver Coin **
SIM Silver Medal
SIJ Silver Jewellery Item
SIT Silver Tableware Item
SIO Other Silver Item
COT Copper Token *
COM Bronze/etc Medal
COO Other Copper Item
BRO Other Brass Item
IRO Other Iron Item
COA Battle Aquila
PWS Sword
PWH Helmet
PWB Breastplate
PWI Shield
PWA Jousting Armor
PWO Other Weapon
CAF Furniture
CAO Other Wood Item
WOS Wool Suit **
WOC Wool Carpet
WOT Wool Tapestry
WOU Wool Curtain
WOO Wool Other
WOB Bolt of Wool Cloth
TRC6 6-Horse Carriage *
TRC4 4-Horse Carriage **
TRC2 2-Horse Carriage **
TRH Rider Equipment
ART Work of Art
WRD Document
WRP Manuscript
WRB Book
WRL Library
GIP Personal Item
GIO Other Item
GIL Collection of Items
HH Horse **
NPC Non-Player Character (workers) *
WIN Window
CAD Elaborate Door
BFS Stone Statue
BFC Stone Column
BFR Gilded Roof
BFG Gilded Bldg Element1
BFI Gilded Bldg Element2
BFN Gilded Bldg Element3
BFO Building Feature
AMB Amber
STO Stone **
MAR Marble
ICP IC Point ***
CUL Culture
SCI Science **
CAV is a special - when the beluga sturgeon is harvested, a great-ish quantity of caviar is obtained and must be kept and eaten quickly. We don't have a steady supply of caviar yet.
FOIE comes as a dividend of FOIS, the ancient pecking order of dividing the tribute from the countryside (mostly to the highest people).
MEAT is given to every noble, 100 units per year.
VEG is given to every commoner, 100 units per year.
In the summertime (about Thursday-Friday), much VEG comes to the market so have bids ready or go pick yours. Market is open 24/7.
MEAT is coming to market all year.
FOIE only comes to market if the characters who receive it decide to sell.
* *
MEAD will be producible by anyone, at present the Town sells from unlimited supply at 1,000 / bottle.
Church still has BEER monopoly, selling from the produce of their brewery.
WINEs have a few years time that they are converted from IC (which you get from owning a house mainly, or can buy the IC or the wine). After that they are trading in the market. Some wines take decades to mature but they can always be consumed.
SPIrits are rewards of quests and storytelling.
SalaryAll costs and no pay? Don't worry. At present commoners get salary as follows:
L3 700,000 m
L4 1,050,000 m
L5 1,400,000 m
L6 2,100,000 m.
It can supply you with what is lacking from the homegrown food, buy some drinks, and keep you housed and suited. Or if not, consider tapping into the free giveaways so abundant in the game, or deposit yourself.
(The salary concept is a short-term hack, but amounts should be indicative of the future.)
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