Pre-ANN: Version 1.2: Golden Jubilee (2014-11-2/4)His Majesty has soon been reigning 50 years and all the Kingdom will celebrate his Golden Dubilee in A.D. 1450 (next Tuesday). To keep in line with our version release schedule being on Sundays, the new mechanics will be announced 4 years in advance. This gives the citizens time to prepare. This pre-announcement outlines what is going to happen.
ClothingWe have realized that the traditional ways of clothing ourselves are not fitting anymore as the town grows. The art of tailorship is not well established in our town with nearly no Master and Wizard artesans. Therefore we have let our herald go to the borders of our lands (and even to foreign lands) to employ skilled tailors for producing a line of clothing for every need that our citizens may have.
This is a one-time offer that will not be repeated in 50 years. These clothes are very special - they do not wear down even with much use (though their ancientness makes them increase in value year by year), until in Economy when they will be subject to slow expiry as well as the clothes then produced. Since this is the Golden Jubilee, the clothes can be interwoven with gold thread, and gold embellishments can be used liberally. The gold used continues to be counted towards the owner's gold stash, and 90% of it will be recovered if/when the item eventually expires.
The price list these distant masters have given us is as follows:
Royal Suit (purple) - May only be ordered by the King - 30,000,000 m
Noble Suit (blue) - May only be ordered/worn by nobles - 15,000,000 m
Merchant Suit (red) - If you do business of any kind, these are ok for you - 12,000,000 m
Festive Suit (orange) - Even the rich peasants have a dream to own one of these - 10,000,000 m
Scholar Suit (white) - Only people in academic professions use these clothes - 6,000,000 m
Artesan Suit (green) - Anyone can order these, but no gold embellishment is possible - 3,000,000 m
In addition, please specify the amount of gold to be used for the suit from your own hoards. A labor surcharge of 30,000 m per gram of gold applies. Note that 1 kg or more of gold in a suit is deemed fit for Kings only, and nobles typically understand this, but merchants in distant lands have been seen wearing more. Ordering more than one suit with various amounts of gold is recommended, to distinquish between ordinary and festive occasions. Even a few grams makes a difference.
If the prices seem exorbitant for a set of clothes, as they surely do, we have to repeat that these Golden Jubilee clothes will never again be made, and that even in
Version 4: Economy, the perishable clothes are planned to represent up to
20% of a character's expenditure in an ongoing basis. (Clothes are the main way to represent wealth and status, before horlogerie is invented sometime in the 1600s.) Unfortunately no part of this money goes to our Labor pool, but 25% they are planning to spend in our Taverns.
Orders for the suits need to be made latest 2 years before the Golden Jubilee, to enable enough time for the work.
In the coming trollbox chat, the person's clothing (color and number of gold) will be indicated next to his nick, for the visitors to marvel.
It is possible to continue to use your traditional grey costume, there is no obligation to dress like a citizen
RentingDue to pleas from the citizenry to enable making income from their extra rooms, and enable the ones not yet having a house of their own to begin residency, we have decided to enable renting.
Rental offers and contracts are listed in RENT sheet in the database. The best practices will evolve naturally.
Hotel/Guesthouse/TavernThe town is booming and much visitors enter from near and far. To better capitalize on this opportunity and draw back some of the money that is otherwise lost (eg. half of the peasants' stone cost goes to them (town council), but they would be willing to squander some (50%) of it in the drinkhouses), it is now possible to open Hotels, Guesthouses and Taverns (restaurants). They function as follows:
Hotel (***/****/*****)
A hotel is a full-function establishment with rooms and a restaurant. A hotel may only be opened by the King's charter, which obviously costs money. Every hotel has a star rating denoting the level of its luxury and service (and price).
Guesthouse (*/**)
A guesthouse is similar to hotel except restaurant is not a necessity and rooms are typically smaller and not luxurious at all.
Tavern
A standalone restaurant (when no hospitality is offered) can be called a tavern. Taverns derive income from the
Hospitality pool as do the hotels and guesthouses.
Character resident in a hotel/guesthouse
It is possible to live in a hotel or guesthouse so that it counts as a temporary or permanent residence. Because the sqm limits for residency are rather high, they will be lowered in hotels in a case by case basis.
Hospitality poolHospitality pool is the name for the new pool that as a game mechanism will collect the money spent in these establishments by various groups of characters and NPCs, and divide it among their popularity (as decided by the administrators).
CorporationsSome great endeavours in the town have seeked to establish themselves as Corporations, to better manage their accounts and provide joint ownership. Corporations are Legal Persons, and can own buildings and do business. It will be possible to post a Charter and Shareholder Registry. The Royal Grant for founding a corporation costs 10,000,000 m.
ServantsThe Golden Jubilee marks the end of serfdom inside our glorious city's borders. Any (NPC) servants must be registered and given 100,000 m per year as wages. This applies equally to the ones who are provided quarter and the ones residing in the countryside and travelling to serve their Master in the town.
Our royal understanding is that resident Barons should have at least 2 servants and Earls maybe 4 or more. Commoners may also keep servants according to their wishes and needs.
Servants spend a great part (50%) of their wages in the newly established Taverns.
Serfdom continues in the countryside, and this emancipation has no effect to anyone indentured to serve in the countryside, the farms, lands and castles of the Lords and the King.
ObeliskIn the CHAR sheet is the list for the citizens who are generous enough to grant 1% of their gold for the gilding of the most ancient Obelisk standing on our Central Square. We accept any means of contact to notify us that you want to be among the Ancient Munificents, and receive your name in the golden plaque as the eternal testimony of it.
Royal OffspringWe are proud to announce to the noble and common people of the town that we have produced a son!
(This is according to the 1 sockpuppet per char who owns at least 10,000 gold rule.) He is currently receiving education in foreign lands. Jungherr Zechariah will be 14 in the year of the Golden Jubilee, and take his residence in the city. Since there is no primogeniture in the Kingdom (and in fact not even hereditary kingship, since these things have not been interesting so far as the King feels like 34 when he is already 74, and there would have been no heir anyway), the son will assume the lowest noble title, Jungherr L8, and be further promoted according to his own merits.
There are two levels above Duke, of which L13 - Grand Duke, is reserved for about 10% of the most distinguished Dukes, and L14 - Royal Prince, is reserved for assigned Heirs to the Throne, in order of their succession.
GeneralRather many features originally planned to be introduced in Versions 2-5 are now brought to the spreadsheet database game. When the first online version is released, it is expected that these advanced features will, at least partly, at least for a time, be managed in the spreadsheets still. The new characters in
Version 2: Ancients (2014-11-16), will start play at level 1. Only upon promotion to L3, they will have to care about advanced features. Renting a room is a gate to L3 and the real game for these new players.
Also no new features will be introduced before Version 2.