Game economy in the Ancient era
(Important reading for the investor-minded)
We are now at 1454, which is the 28th day of the game. (The relation is (YEAR-1398)/2). The last year of the Ancient era is 1598, the 100th day.
Gold and Stone
Gold is currently going in an auction for 150,000 m. It is down a lot from its high point of 260,000. Gold's value is foremost its staking capacity. 73 stone staking rounds are left, after which the gold will start giving moneritos as a dividend of the town council surplus. During the Ancient era, the town council surplus is (probably) fully spent to the game developer costs, with the King making up for the shortfall.
During the 73 remaining rounds, one gold stakes 146 stone for those who have at least 2000 stone already, 365 stone for those having more than 200, and 730 stone for those with less than 200. Since the King has recently decided to accept 160 m in lieu of one stone in the land sales, it makes sense to buy stone for up to that amount. Stone has been in constant demand, so an average value of 140 m for the rest of the era may be appropriate. This makes the stone staking alone worth 20,440 - 102,200 m per gold.
From then on, the value is more speculative and may rise to be really high if the game hits it big, or languish towards its commodity uses if the town council cannot make the ends meet. The release of the online version may boost the value of gold as new players see the high staking available to them as smallholders. Also it may induce more investor interest from people who see the game itself as an asset and are willing to buy a significant stake of it. At present, all the gold that will come to exist during the era is valued at 150,000,000,000 moneretos. Whether it is high or low, is up to the market.
Stone does not carry interest and the prospects of its value increasing
greatly (to hundreds per stone) are not good. The peasants have the ability to supply stone, we just currently have the deal (lasting for decades) that the supply is restricted to 50% of the building projects. It hardly makes sense to hoard stone. It does make sense, when building, to always spend only up to 50% from your stash and buy the rest from the peasants. Even if you had more stone, you can sell them at profit to Luigi's stone market (found in the Character DB).
Stone is in constant demand.
Land
Because of the reports of the barbarians, we must make the city defensible. There is currently 850 quadrats of land in the city walls, and these walls need to be made stronger, Citadel must be built etc. We just doubled the city area and the King now concludes that no further expansions will happen in the near future. In strict terms - currently 4,004 sqm is built in the city. The earliest when any new areas are claimed is when the total building area in the current perimeter is 10,000 sqm and the walls are fitted with towers throughout.
This will not happen in an instant. But to make it happen smoothly, and to reward the ones who now take the risk, much of this new land is now available:
- 24 quadrats of prime commercial properties in an auction.
- 54 quadrats of inner city land for 50,000 stone/q (new: can be substituted with 8 mil moneretos).
- 96 quadrats are reserved for haws, primarily for new Knights and also the existing Nobles who take military command.
In addition, there is still the possibility to build your first residence in the Land claim area in the N chapelry. These lots are free to build for those who have not used this right yet. The number of free lots (1-3 quadrats) here is 26, and 2 lots 1 q each, are for sale for 15 mil.
The price for land in free trade has fluctuated between 7-25 million per quadrat. Only about half of the land is zoned for lots, though. Streets and squares take up a lot of space. If the fully-built area will be about 450 quadrats, this means that the total value of the land is now about 4,500,000,000 moneretos. This is rather striking compared to the fact that this centrally located land not only has immediate game uses (residences and taverns with quick payback), but also has more prospects in rising in value both if the game makes it rather successful (in which case the gold will still not be a terrific payback) and really successful. Now the land is finally available in larger quantities.
Clothes
When the tailors visited in 1450, the first time in the game, 49 sets of clothes were ordered. The King ordered some extras but otherwise nobody took it upon him to buy a lot. We will have to do with these clothes until the Centennary Jubilee (1500), and they will have real uses.
- In the trollbox, clothes are shown for prestige of the oldtimers.
- Nobody will be promoted to Nobility unless he has clothes.
Later on, these original 1450 clothes may or may not gain collectors' value. But for now, if there is anyone willing to buy my excess store of about 8 suits, to shamelessly sell them at what they are worth to other players, both now and later, and to start clothes trade in a similar fashion as Luigi deals with stone, contact me.
Residence / Labor Pool
The labor pool distributes currently about 1,000,000 m per 100% participation. There are still many who could gain 50%-550% extra by having a suitable residence. Especially many L5 Experts are forgoing 1,500,000 m by not arranging their matters. A basic L5 house can be built on a free land for 10 million, making this pay back 7.5% per year. Later on it is possible to increase the size of this house, or build a new one in another place, selling the old one or giving it for rent.
Renting to get residence is also possible, but there is a lack of large enough rentals. We only have one guesthouse in the city (The Hung, Drawn and Quartered by K.H.) and it can supply L4 accommodation but not L5 or higher. We actually do have 12 L3-L4 citizens that could benefit it! I will contact K.H. upon this realization and list his offers to the RENT tab in Characters DB. The Noble House catering for nobles is still in planning.
Tavern, Hotel, Guesthouse, Shops, etc. / Services Pool (prior: Hospitality Pool)
Services pool recently started and it has been receiving income from peasants, servants, and non-city dwellers (the tailors). Building a hospitality establishment is currently paying back very well. The small tavern that does not even serve food (Behind The Cathedral) employs 3 NPC's and receives a 1,500% payout from the pool (8% of the total spending). After the costs, the bottom line is 2,900,000 m. The IRR for this establishment is currently very high. The emergence of more shops and taverns is increasing the participation, but the payout do not necessarily go down that quickly:
The increased living standard has caused that the Labor of the building, which originally went 75% to Labor Pool, is now diverted 25% to the Services Pool and 50% to the Labor Pool. Because only 1/5 of the pool is distributed per day, the effect will not be abrupt, but it will grant so much money to the Services Pool that the city will certainly develop much commerce because of it.
All this money comes back to the economy; the tax rate is 0%. Quite recently the peasants siphoned money off the economy, but when Services Pool was introduced, half of their money also goes to it. The main income for the town is currently windows, because they need to be imported.
I assess the payout participation (the % rating) of each establishment. The city is currently rather scattered and it is not easy to say where people live. But once this becomes clear, the taverns with good location catering to defined clientele will gain popularity. It has already happened with K.H. and his wenches, which took the helm as the most popular tavern from the upscale Monero House, despite the latter's nicer surroundings. Buying land in good spots near big roads will become a really good investment once this matter gets better sorted out.
Pirate paid 1% per day, Crypto Kingdom can pay up to 15% per day.
TL;DR: Hopefully the opening up of the game economy shows how high the IRR of many activities is, and prompts the players to develop. We now have enough rules, actions, and opportunities for the time being, and apart from administrating the game, I will now concentrate on the porting to the online version. So please read the announcements so far, there are fortunes to be made. Thank You