Important update
List of updates for the 1600 A.D. version with schedule coming
It is one month to go until 1600, which will greatly change the game dynamics, because the time is passing only one month per real-day (and may be moved to pass continuously instead of stepwise).
The Town Council is discussing about which features we need/want to keep up with the story. We are in a position to launch some in advance, to make their balancing easier and keep the design workflow constant.
We are moving to the new player acquisition phase gradually. At present we want both investors who see the opportunity to capture a several % stake of the game with a few $1,000 investment (so even less is a big money!), and entry level players willing to play for free and see what they can achieve (Currently the highest "free" player is in L10 - Countess, the 13th most senior PC in the game).
The current DB easily supports 5 times the number of PC we have now (assuming most of them start small, and a percentage gets hooked over the first weeks as is already observed). If we actually do get this number, the DB can be protected so that its life is extended. It has served us reasonably well in its first incarnation, and the current "entry row form + SUMIF/VLOOKUP" structure. There is a further possibility to move to macros and "actual" forms to add/edit data in the DB (with no direct access to change the data by anyone, improving security), but we don't expect that this will be needed any more due to the change to the custom DB that has been under development for 3 months and is in the finishing stage.
We want to spare no effort to make the game accessible to new players. While saying this, it remains a fact that the large masses can only start to be interested when the
v. 4 Online is playable.
It is free to register now, just contact any of the admins who take your minimum character info, and start to immediately earn money. ##crypto-kingdom @ freenode IRC is the way to get more info.
Culture
HH The Duke of New Liberty is awarding culture points daily to players who interact in the chat, in this thread, or anywhere. Being Cultured is a main way to gain a higher level and (for example) higher payouts as well.
Science
The Science production in the realm has increased greatly, and in just a few years we have enough science to unlock the "crown glass windows making" technology. This will be monopolized by the RWWC company, to grant monopoly profits to its shareholders for the foreseeable future. It is also possible to buy shares of this company in its IPO now, and probably never again. Browse back the thread for details.
New boroughs opened
TheOV1 tab shows the location of the new boroughs in a rudimentary map.
Borough 4 is the first one where the Town fulfills its promise of giving land strictly free, with no payment to the town, and no tax. It is a little interesting, though
See the special rules inOV4.
Borough 5 does not have special rules, and has some quarry sites where the companies who see their reserves depleting, can relocate their production. Land here is sold per chapelry, at a decreasing ask price (Dutch auction), until it settles to 1,000 mil per chapelry (6.67 mil/q). In addition, the Town will possibly soon list the roadside for sale at about 20-40/q and backyard at 10-20/q.
Surprise move by the peasants regarding stone
The peasants have decided that both they and we have enough stone that they can deliver the whole of the remaining
stone staking by gold ownership in one go. This added more than 20 million stone to the reserves, but it's unlikely that it will much affect the price, since the stone was not anyway going to be consumed in the next 30 years.
So gold is no more generating any stone, and there is no asymmetric staking. It generates moneretos as it has already done for weeks, and now is technically easy to be listed in the trading systems of Polonia if we and they so wish. (Our currency, moneretos, is commonly used in that land, and staking in this way is none of a problem, rather an encouragement for them to try and buy CKG as well).
Stone is now localized by borough, transport costs
Until now, it has been easy to use stone that is located nearest to the site of building, and just transfer the ownership on parchment. This was the invention of the Earl of Rome in 1434. In the 1400s, the stone was stored in a great heap in the Central Square, but due to Grand Hotel complaints, it was moved to area in and around Citadel. Now it may be that the construction site is so far from even the nearest stone that it needs to be transported. Even if the road is good (and double so if not), this is a costly procedure since our buildings consume enormous amounts of stone. The University alone, was 50 million kg of stone. Luckily that was right next to the Citadel and the heaps. But hauling the stone to the 4th borough (where quarrying is not possible locally) understandably has a cost. Details can be found in the new tabs T_STONE and STONE (the old tabs are discontinued):
Promotions
The Prince of New Liberty is created Duke. "Our goal has been to have 100,000 players, of whom about 0.05% would eventually attain the title of Duke and the corresponding level L13, the highest regular title in the game (there is L14 existing, but its use has not been codified yet due to it not being needed). Everyone knows that His Highness The Duke (only Dukes are entitled to the honorific HH, and the address
Your Highness) is a pillar of our town, kingdom and world. His plans of building a 52 quadrat project in the Old Town dwarfs the (so far the largest building complex) The University Main Building by a factor of 2. His economic empire is perhaps the largest in the game. It may sound to others that becoming a Duke after such an example shows that it is impossible, but the target remains for 50 Dukes to be created in connection of getting the first 100,000 players
His Highness' most outstanding virtues are still not his ability to build big and make money, but the helping of the poorest and smallest, with a kind heart, and remarkable steadfastness in the IRC."
The Marquess of North Face is promoted Prince. "His Excellency The Prince is among the largest owners and operators of everything, including being top-rated in both Culture and Science, CEO of the Most Ancient Grand Hotel, as well as other businesses. His ascent to highest echelons of the game has been methodological and effective, and he has demonstrated magnanimousness in his endeavours as well as perhaps the keenest business sense of all."
Lord Paulson is created Earl. "Sir Pablo has served decades as Councillor and tried his skill in many aspects of the game. Although we find his benevolence lacking in monetary terms, he is making it up with a neverending stream of proposals how to administrate and develop the game. Also he is one of the most cultured people around, due to the bold and groundbreaking decision to open the first $$$$$$ restaurant, El Bulli, in the town."
Lord HH is created Earl. "Sir Heimo has reached the statutory 60 days of ownership of 10,000 gold. During this time, the price of gold has risen 145%, notwithstanding the about 13% dividends plus stone staking."
drfred is ennobled (L9=Baron). "We withheld this gold-based promotion a long time due to the previous rule of also needing clothes to become a Baron. This rule is no longer applied so 4,000 gold is making Lord drfred a Baron, and we will deal with the clothes issue later when the Trollboxes require the oldtimers to use fitting clothes to distinguish them from the visitors."
