The final ancient years: 1587I am 221 years old, my reign is 187 years, and the town was founded 157 years ago. Does not feel like that old, but the records kept in the Royal Palace and in the Town Registry in the Town Hall Annex are uninfringeable.
Great changes are coming, which were prophesied by the very ancient wise men, and are written in the scrolls (see OP for details). I start this series of frequent updates in the thread, which will continue as long as the thread is used. That will not be for very long any more.
We have strengthened the Town Council with SirJacket and MarquessRiccardo to be a task force for the transition to the new game platform. The time for developing it, long as it has been, has been used to implement capabilities and functionalities far in excess of the original specification for the first playable version. What we are now doing, is transitioning directly to Economy, both in scope and in the platform. This was always scheduled to happen at the close of the Ancient era, which means
we are on schedule.
For internal use of the task force, we have a project flowchart currently consisting of 10 items.
Releases
Buildings
DB structure
DB contents
CKG listing
Marketing Outreach
Marketing to ancients
Organization / finances
Gameplay
Admins/tutorial
Each item is mapped for its contents and the relations are easily shown. We will tackle the challenges with the existing professionals, and contract new resources if necessary. I will bring some things to your attention:
Releases. We expect that the next release is
Version 4: Online , which will be available for play after i) the ancient era has ended + ii) the data has been ported. The critical path goes through me currently, as I will need to make the scoping of the version while still having a lot to do with the administration of this one. This may pose a delay but it should not be long, considering that I made the game initially in 10 days.
Buildings. The time now is very good for building. If you have any plans for ancient buildings, no matter how vague, they can be built. We will soon tell a deadline after which no new architecture commissions are taken anymore.
CKG listing. In our opinion, it benefits our new game and marketing reach greatly, if gold CKG can be listed in some exchange that already trades with crypto, preferably XMR, and has an existing customer base that can venture to this asset easily. Such negotiations are ongoing. Gold has recently made a new all-time-high (in XMR terms, in BTC and USD it's still way behind) and HM coinshop is diligently operating to buy/sell 3,000 gold at a time, and adjust the price afterwards for the next lot.
Gameplay. We expect to not make big changes to the googleDB game anymore. Everything that can be done now, will be useful in the future, even if there is no instant gratification.
Promotions.
My heart melts when seeing all the brave nobles and aspiring commoners listed in the Char DB. Until now, the difference between being an Earl or Marquess, for example, has mainly been that of status. When we get the Online running and Countryside is implemented, the difference will suddenly become much greater. The fiefs that will be given to the nobles, free of charge, from where they can press tax income in the form of essential food resources, will scale exponentially with the player level. Whereas a Baron is not entitled to a fief at all, the fief of an Earl is 1 unit, and that of a Duke is about 15 units.
We still have a NPC promotion round left, and I strongly suggest to contract an Army now in hopes of some promotions there, which ensure that there is enough tax-collecting capacity. Even peasants are not scared of rookies (the rookies are peasants with an ill-fitting uniform).
I would like to give a whole lot of promotions at the close of the age, but the rules must be followed. In short, if you believe you are next in line for a promotion, check the following:
- Have I played the game actively, trolled in the chat, helped new players, brought in new ones?
- Have I donated to important causes such as the University, Army, Church and Monero House?
- Have I constructed public utility buildings, or Science / Culture buildings?
- What is my Culture rating, relative to others seeking a promotion? (Culture is the one single thing that collects all of the above things)
Brute forcing (buying a heckload of everything) does raise the level, but I don't want to assign stingy people to rule over the peasants. Every Marquess or above is known of their good works, I know them even if you don't.
The St. Peter ChurchSpeaking of good works, HG The Bishop has been totally consummated with out-game activities related to XMR, so I will have to help him in the fundraising. Simply put, a 24-q lot is donated by the Town at the centre of the 5th Borough. If you didn't know, the place is geographically closer to the Old Town than anything. A really massive church is being built, for which a certain amount of money and stone is needed.
In the old days, the lots at 2-C sold out instantly at 50/q, so the land the town gave is worth 1,200 mil easily. We don't have even a tentative calculation of the costs of the building, but University is same size and cost 2,000 mil.
As the King, I am also a great supporter of the true Christian faith and have promised to match 50% to every donation. It would be a true landmark to have it built during the ancient era, for which I count on your support. Sorry for brevity, the other 9 items in the
Online transition project flowchart press me
Farewell, my loving people.