Martti wakes up as if into an ordinary day. He feels strangely old. But outside is a timeless sun, people doing their chores as usual.
Maybe I am just imagining the passage of time, he thinks.
Treasury shows 7.7 mil and a quick detour to a local market (the square in front of the Barbican old town gate, intended to be a carriage parking but has plenty of space for other activities still) shows everything has cheapened greatly overnight.
???
Carriages and jewels can be bought for 1 mil, IC prices are slashed to 1/10 of what they were, even the once-insurmountable price of a HM02B100 gold bar is quoted at 12 mil and rumor says it was 5 mil earlier "today" but the time still feels strange.
Pondering what this may mean, Baron Martti goes to his study, soon falling asleep but scheming future speculations even in his dreams.
torstai 1. syyskuuta 2016
lauantai 11. kesäkuuta 2016
November 1643 - Day 151
The life as CEO is busy. Martti barely manages to write something now as the year is already closing. Even the suit production, retire and promote in the company have already happened. The suits have not sold at all, it's almost as if all the 7 NPCC had simultaneously decided to rather drink wine and walk naked than dress like humans.
And this was actually quite much the case - the changes in the drink scoring have made buying clothes a losing proposition, something that will be remedied as soon as the King hears about it, Martti is sure. But this is not really that big a deal for the company - it was all the time counting to sell its produce to the Clans end users, and the time window planned is "after 2 spoils", which means earliest 3 years from now and no later than 6.
The balance shows 47 million, which of course is nice after the debts are all paid and 2 properties are churning income. The greatest contributor to the nice balance is the DIA5 that was sold at 61 mil, half credited to Martti. For such an impressive stone, the price was quite low even, but there is an unsold one at 81 mil against a bid of 61 mil atm.
The health challenge was tackled with baronial thoroughness. First 15*MEAD, 12*W1628 and the rest BEER, then 10*CIG, 2*SHI and the rest CAN. Finally 50*MEAT, 1*FOIE and the rest VEG, getting the remaining to Insignificant.
It is probably only a year, max 2, until the new barons are announced so Martti promises to spend a lot of time in the Gilded Goose (not that a special determination was needed, it's a premier fun place..) and talk to the nobles and lobby himself, "just in case" it was unnoticed that he won the 2/7 prizes in the coronation....
Martti sells his 1*S-VE1. The selling is not based on any exact calculation, but he feels that he'd need to log in on Thursday for the superveg, to derive the best benefit out of it, and that he does not have time to do every week, so better let go and employ the 5.1 mil for something else.
The final gem raffle yielded 2*EME and 1*SAP to Martti. He feels so loaded with royal gems* now as only 400 exist kingdomwide, and Martti has 2 diamonds, 2 sapphires and 2 emeralds.
*Royal gems are diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds and topaz. The total quantity of these is restricted by the rules.
The need for the diamond ring is becoming acute now. The market is appraising DIA1 at almost the same price as DIA2, so Martti decides to go one step higher than the means allow - make the ring out of pure gold and mount the DIA2 to it, so that if the value of either or both rises, the ring will be worth 100 mil, the same cost as Martti's baronial house! These are the situations when Martti wishes his old man in the village of Sauste were still alive..
When deciding about the weight of gold, the plan was first to go for 15 grams, but then Martti buys 20, and has to take one more coin, just to ensure that the big diamond does not look stupid. So 25 CKG it is, and very elaborate of course.
Compared to this investment, it feels almost stupid to even sell the colored stones for a few mil - the price will rise - but Martti nevertheless lists them for sale and that's about it for now.
And this was actually quite much the case - the changes in the drink scoring have made buying clothes a losing proposition, something that will be remedied as soon as the King hears about it, Martti is sure. But this is not really that big a deal for the company - it was all the time counting to sell its produce to the Clans end users, and the time window planned is "after 2 spoils", which means earliest 3 years from now and no later than 6.
The balance shows 47 million, which of course is nice after the debts are all paid and 2 properties are churning income. The greatest contributor to the nice balance is the DIA5 that was sold at 61 mil, half credited to Martti. For such an impressive stone, the price was quite low even, but there is an unsold one at 81 mil against a bid of 61 mil atm.
The health challenge was tackled with baronial thoroughness. First 15*MEAD, 12*W1628 and the rest BEER, then 10*CIG, 2*SHI and the rest CAN. Finally 50*MEAT, 1*FOIE and the rest VEG, getting the remaining to Insignificant.
It is probably only a year, max 2, until the new barons are announced so Martti promises to spend a lot of time in the Gilded Goose (not that a special determination was needed, it's a premier fun place..) and talk to the nobles and lobby himself, "just in case" it was unnoticed that he won the 2/7 prizes in the coronation....
Martti sells his 1*S-VE1. The selling is not based on any exact calculation, but he feels that he'd need to log in on Thursday for the superveg, to derive the best benefit out of it, and that he does not have time to do every week, so better let go and employ the 5.1 mil for something else.
The final gem raffle yielded 2*EME and 1*SAP to Martti. He feels so loaded with royal gems* now as only 400 exist kingdomwide, and Martti has 2 diamonds, 2 sapphires and 2 emeralds.
*Royal gems are diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds and topaz. The total quantity of these is restricted by the rules.
The need for the diamond ring is becoming acute now. The market is appraising DIA1 at almost the same price as DIA2, so Martti decides to go one step higher than the means allow - make the ring out of pure gold and mount the DIA2 to it, so that if the value of either or both rises, the ring will be worth 100 mil, the same cost as Martti's baronial house! These are the situations when Martti wishes his old man in the village of Sauste were still alive..
When deciding about the weight of gold, the plan was first to go for 15 grams, but then Martti buys 20, and has to take one more coin, just to ensure that the big diamond does not look stupid. So 25 CKG it is, and very elaborate of course.
Compared to this investment, it feels almost stupid to even sell the colored stones for a few mil - the price will rise - but Martti nevertheless lists them for sale and that's about it for now.
sunnuntai 5. kesäkuuta 2016
December 1642 - Day 145
Martti wakes up with a long yawn. His mind is fulfilled with the vivid visions of the Coronation - the event that had been waited for 10 years (officially: 8) since rpietila II assumed throne, and that is now completed and everyone is sleeping away their condition.
The Hall of Mirrors was indeed indescribable, well, trying anyway - 80 long, 12 high and wide, with 7,000 IC worth of late Rubens paintings about CK alone and more than 20% of the mirror area in town (well the compound is about 10% of the CUL output of the town as well..)
Martti's well-planned participation in the competitions was good. He actually won 2 of the 7(!) The only other one to win 2 was the 236-year old Duke of OZ. Other winners were Lord Syksy (the fatherhead of Syyskuu), the Duke of New Liberty, and Royal CryptoArmy.
Martti's first shot in the Sharpshooter (17/20, with the best base) was unbeatable by the others, so a DIA5 was pocketed to be divided between him and Roopatra. The first attempt at Horseback was also excellent, but the competition was fierce and the Duke of OZ beat him with a fearless gallop. Martti did not want to pay so much wine and risk his suit to be spoilt (Ezekiel, the son of the King, spoiled a 190-year old purple suit with 50 CKG, the one that rpietila I had worn as his everyday suit all this time, a priceless treasure, even considering it was the cheapest original royal suit). For second place, far ahead of the others, Martti was awarded a DIA1.
The nice bonus was the new player Freshman contest, which Martti won since there were only 4 participating, and Martti's descriptions about his life (in this blog, almost 100 texts already) were considered far surpassing those of the others. This time, a DIA2. And the raffle tickets, with any luck, will bring in an EME or even a SAP, since both abound in the prize pool.
Oh yes, and not to mention the LAG, which Martti got both to drink and to bring home (5 bottles; it's trading at 2.8/1.5 so among the best of the spirits). All in all, the Coronation was definitely the event that should seal Martti's Barony, and also brought in nice cash if the jewels get sold as is planned. "Eating makes you thirsty", Martti thinks as he considers which of the diamonds, DIA1 or DIA2 would fit his right middle best, and whether mounted in gold or silver. He ends up listing both for sale, and plans to withdraw the other when one is taken.
He cannot get rid of being a peddler totally.. SCI is so cheap, even after the surprise spoil, he places an order for 50 more. It just has to rise closer to the book value of 0.14. If the King says so, it will happen. When LAG came in 1608 (the year Martti was born), it was also noted that it will be drunk in Sir Zechariah's coronation. And it was.
The health, by the way, has been Decent for some time - middle age is creeping - but since the health challenge gets more difficult linearly, and Martti's wealth grows exponentially, he now finishes the second year in a row as:
COMMAND RESULTS
The Hall of Mirrors was indeed indescribable, well, trying anyway - 80 long, 12 high and wide, with 7,000 IC worth of late Rubens paintings about CK alone and more than 20% of the mirror area in town (well the compound is about 10% of the CUL output of the town as well..)
Martti's well-planned participation in the competitions was good. He actually won 2 of the 7(!) The only other one to win 2 was the 236-year old Duke of OZ. Other winners were Lord Syksy (the fatherhead of Syyskuu), the Duke of New Liberty, and Royal CryptoArmy.
Martti's first shot in the Sharpshooter (17/20, with the best base) was unbeatable by the others, so a DIA5 was pocketed to be divided between him and Roopatra. The first attempt at Horseback was also excellent, but the competition was fierce and the Duke of OZ beat him with a fearless gallop. Martti did not want to pay so much wine and risk his suit to be spoilt (Ezekiel, the son of the King, spoiled a 190-year old purple suit with 50 CKG, the one that rpietila I had worn as his everyday suit all this time, a priceless treasure, even considering it was the cheapest original royal suit). For second place, far ahead of the others, Martti was awarded a DIA1.
The nice bonus was the new player Freshman contest, which Martti won since there were only 4 participating, and Martti's descriptions about his life (in this blog, almost 100 texts already) were considered far surpassing those of the others. This time, a DIA2. And the raffle tickets, with any luck, will bring in an EME or even a SAP, since both abound in the prize pool.
Oh yes, and not to mention the LAG, which Martti got both to drink and to bring home (5 bottles; it's trading at 2.8/1.5 so among the best of the spirits). All in all, the Coronation was definitely the event that should seal Martti's Barony, and also brought in nice cash if the jewels get sold as is planned. "Eating makes you thirsty", Martti thinks as he considers which of the diamonds, DIA1 or DIA2 would fit his right middle best, and whether mounted in gold or silver. He ends up listing both for sale, and plans to withdraw the other when one is taken.
He cannot get rid of being a peddler totally.. SCI is so cheap, even after the surprise spoil, he places an order for 50 more. It just has to rise closer to the book value of 0.14. If the King says so, it will happen. When LAG came in 1608 (the year Martti was born), it was also noted that it will be drunk in Sir Zechariah's coronation. And it was.
The health, by the way, has been Decent for some time - middle age is creeping - but since the health challenge gets more difficult linearly, and Martti's wealth grows exponentially, he now finishes the second year in a row as:
COMMAND RESULTS
The eating/drinking felt Effective. I feel the remaining health challenge to be None. I could still eat 0, drink 0 and use 4 units of wisdom this year.
If the health challenge is conquered to None, it means the health does not deteriorate at all, and while this remains the case (the mechanism will be changed "soon"), Martti will have ample time in fulfilling his ambitions :)
torstai 2. kesäkuuta 2016
July 1642 - Day 142
In preparation for the coronation in 2 months, Martti now converted his gems and 25*TS163 silver coins to a coronet. He named it after the village of Sauste from where he came 20 years ago.
The rest of the IC is for sale since the price had jumped, which Martti does not believe will last. The residences produce plenty of IC.
Martti had in fact spent 140*IC in Italian Furniture. The sum is 3% of his wealth, and matches the spend on the Ming China. In Martti's belief, these two will increase in value in the future. As for gems, those as well, but the sapphire in the coronet is alone worth about 4% of Martti, so will need to suffice.
The business started fine. Not only the stock of Martti Tailors, but also its debt (DEBT-2), was sold quickly, prompting the new company THC to also have a debt issue (D-80THC)
The rest of the IC is for sale since the price had jumped, which Martti does not believe will last. The residences produce plenty of IC.
Martti had in fact spent 140*IC in Italian Furniture. The sum is 3% of his wealth, and matches the spend on the Ming China. In Martti's belief, these two will increase in value in the future. As for gems, those as well, but the sapphire in the coronet is alone worth about 4% of Martti, so will need to suffice.
The business started fine. Not only the stock of Martti Tailors, but also its debt (DEBT-2), was sold quickly, prompting the new company THC to also have a debt issue (D-80THC)
lauantai 28. toukokuuta 2016
December 1641 - Day 138
Since the first day is "1", it means that in day "141", Martti will have lived 20 years in CryptoTown. That is a long time.
It also coincides with Martti's long term goal and wish to be financially independent. The recent deals have come quickly and made the life much more satisfying - a new phase is starting!
Martti now owns 25% of Martti Tailors Inc (stake valued at 125 mil, no personal risk except to lose this value). And his address has recently moved to Martti's Lane 16, to a brand new Baron-rated 180 sqm townhouse, of which 60 sqm is commercial space (payout 1.45 mil) and the rest produce a cool 31 CUL+IC, up from 7 last year in the small place in B.4.
Because the new place is so much better, it produces 113% more rent per sqm and 66% more culture. And is double the size. But he still owns the old house, and the 250 sqm lot that did not see building because the Wood building has been delayed all the 15 years he has owned it (it is coming in ~5 more years!).
For the first time, except for fleeting moments in the past, Martti can just buy what he wants, instead of thinking if it could be sold higher. The first thing he buys just because I can, is a Venetian mirror of 1x1 m size. The import tax alone for such a treasure is 1 mil. But the price does not matter, he wants it, and buys it. (If you do not want to play for 138 days to get the feeling, deposit is the option for you: the mirror cost $0.80, which is easier to inject from the outside than make in-game).
So, in round numbers, Martti's stake in the business is worth 125 mil, his real estate up to 200 mil and other stuff 75 mil. This makes him a 400 million guy, which is a lot closer to 1 billion than anything before. If God gives him even 25 more years, 3.8% annual growth will suffice for the goal. It seems achievable.
The building calculations are something that need to be analysed carefully - not that Martti cared about them when building what he wanted though, but because investing half of the capital in real estate makes sense only if it returns more than 3.8%. Can this happen?
Let us examine the money that went into the project:
- The lot cost 27.0 mil, and was admittedly such a good deal that Martti did not even think of alternatives. There are few small lots for sale except in B.4 (where Martti owned 2*100 sqm). This macrolocation is 65%!
- 234,000 stone was used at about 62 m/unit, totalling 14.5 mil
- 18*WIASS windows were bought at bid but did not sell at ask, so were used in own building instead, let's say midprice 2.7 mil
- The building is 80% lux, so a real deal; the money paid for this is 12.6 mil and the rest comes as work...
- ... which totalled 3,762 BLD. It cost about 11,500 pop, so 43.3 mil
All in all, the money invested was funnily enough 100.1 mil, so let's make it a round 100 :)
The first glance is to evaluate the annual payout against the investment, to get the payout%. To be conservative, we use 0.050 mil to value the CUL output and 0.075 for the IC. This makes 3.88 mil from the top 2 floors, and 1.45 mil from the basement. The taxes payable are limited to 0.12 mil building tax.
So the payout is a very nice 5.21%, very much higher than the 0.45% offered by CON, for instance. If longer term analysis is needed, the buildings deteriorate, which affects their payout and they need repairs. The lot, stone and windows do not depreciate (45% of the total costs retain their value). Lux depreciates at 1% annually, and the labor(BLD) is variable - in this case 3 stories on normal wetness land with terraced flat roof equals 1.5% annual.
So the real return is about 4.5%, and that should be enough to make people join the party! :)
It also coincides with Martti's long term goal and wish to be financially independent. The recent deals have come quickly and made the life much more satisfying - a new phase is starting!
Martti now owns 25% of Martti Tailors Inc (stake valued at 125 mil, no personal risk except to lose this value). And his address has recently moved to Martti's Lane 16, to a brand new Baron-rated 180 sqm townhouse, of which 60 sqm is commercial space (payout 1.45 mil) and the rest produce a cool 31 CUL+IC, up from 7 last year in the small place in B.4.
Because the new place is so much better, it produces 113% more rent per sqm and 66% more culture. And is double the size. But he still owns the old house, and the 250 sqm lot that did not see building because the Wood building has been delayed all the 15 years he has owned it (it is coming in ~5 more years!).
For the first time, except for fleeting moments in the past, Martti can just buy what he wants, instead of thinking if it could be sold higher. The first thing he buys just because I can, is a Venetian mirror of 1x1 m size. The import tax alone for such a treasure is 1 mil. But the price does not matter, he wants it, and buys it. (If you do not want to play for 138 days to get the feeling, deposit is the option for you: the mirror cost $0.80, which is easier to inject from the outside than make in-game).
So, in round numbers, Martti's stake in the business is worth 125 mil, his real estate up to 200 mil and other stuff 75 mil. This makes him a 400 million guy, which is a lot closer to 1 billion than anything before. If God gives him even 25 more years, 3.8% annual growth will suffice for the goal. It seems achievable.
The building calculations are something that need to be analysed carefully - not that Martti cared about them when building what he wanted though, but because investing half of the capital in real estate makes sense only if it returns more than 3.8%. Can this happen?
Let us examine the money that went into the project:
- The lot cost 27.0 mil, and was admittedly such a good deal that Martti did not even think of alternatives. There are few small lots for sale except in B.4 (where Martti owned 2*100 sqm). This macrolocation is 65%!
- 234,000 stone was used at about 62 m/unit, totalling 14.5 mil
- 18*WIASS windows were bought at bid but did not sell at ask, so were used in own building instead, let's say midprice 2.7 mil
- The building is 80% lux, so a real deal; the money paid for this is 12.6 mil and the rest comes as work...
- ... which totalled 3,762 BLD. It cost about 11,500 pop, so 43.3 mil
All in all, the money invested was funnily enough 100.1 mil, so let's make it a round 100 :)
The first glance is to evaluate the annual payout against the investment, to get the payout%. To be conservative, we use 0.050 mil to value the CUL output and 0.075 for the IC. This makes 3.88 mil from the top 2 floors, and 1.45 mil from the basement. The taxes payable are limited to 0.12 mil building tax.
So the payout is a very nice 5.21%, very much higher than the 0.45% offered by CON, for instance. If longer term analysis is needed, the buildings deteriorate, which affects their payout and they need repairs. The lot, stone and windows do not depreciate (45% of the total costs retain their value). Lux depreciates at 1% annually, and the labor(BLD) is variable - in this case 3 stories on normal wetness land with terraced flat roof equals 1.5% annual.
So the real return is about 4.5%, and that should be enough to make people join the party! :)
November 1641 - Day 137
Martti's quick guide to make a successful exit, cashing out Baron-sized money in the process, and at the same making him a risk-free option to hit big with a business:
Disclaimer - This works even if your side-job is not the King/Gamemaster, but it most likely does not work until you have 100+ days of active, social and courteous playtime behind you.
For a middle-aged man that Martti is (the old King started reigning at 34, what is Martti doing at that age??) the pressure to get a nice place to live and plan further moves is getting urgent. But but, the minimum to get a Baron-rated house and the land in anywhere except B.4 (where Martti's current house is for sale at 44 mil) is about 80 mil. That is a steep money for anyone.
So, the plan is to capitalise on the current tailor business (built with the loans from the Prince of Rome) by taking it public. For this to interest the audience, it is important to be a char in good standing and the business cycle needs to be good. (The pricing usually does not even matter, but to maintain the good standing, the buyer needs to make profit).
Making a corporation in CK is very easy - contact the admins and a new account (char type Ingame Corporation) is set up for you against 10 mil fee. A standalone corporation (Foreign-Owned Corporation, FOC), costs 30 mil.
The corporation may create any number of shares to itself, and start to sell them. In Martti's case, the initialisation process involved creating 500 shares and giving 125 of them to Martti for the services he is doing to the company and also promising to pay 160 mil to Martti once the rest of the shares get sold. If anyone buys the shares at these terms, is the question that was answered above, but is always uncertain until it happens. You just have to try!
In the first 8 hours, Martti got the following investors @ 1 mil/share:
- Prince Crichton 50 shares / 10%
- Duke of OZ 50 shares / 10%
Only after the free markets had bought 275/375 available shares (to ensure that the issue is selling with its own merits), Soul and the King bought the rest. They are among the characters that own a share of almost everything.
So now the company is in a good shape with Luigi owning the largest stake (30%) and Martti close second (25%), and the 5 minority owners having 45% total. The money is received with only one payment pending. Martti is debt free (after paying back to Prince Noms), and a Baronial Den is in the advanced planning process in Martti's Lane 16 (who could forgo the temptation to live on an alley that is named after him?!? ;) )
Disclaimer - This works even if your side-job is not the King/Gamemaster, but it most likely does not work until you have 100+ days of active, social and courteous playtime behind you.
For a middle-aged man that Martti is (the old King started reigning at 34, what is Martti doing at that age??) the pressure to get a nice place to live and plan further moves is getting urgent. But but, the minimum to get a Baron-rated house and the land in anywhere except B.4 (where Martti's current house is for sale at 44 mil) is about 80 mil. That is a steep money for anyone.
So, the plan is to capitalise on the current tailor business (built with the loans from the Prince of Rome) by taking it public. For this to interest the audience, it is important to be a char in good standing and the business cycle needs to be good. (The pricing usually does not even matter, but to maintain the good standing, the buyer needs to make profit).
Making a corporation in CK is very easy - contact the admins and a new account (char type Ingame Corporation) is set up for you against 10 mil fee. A standalone corporation (Foreign-Owned Corporation, FOC), costs 30 mil.
The corporation may create any number of shares to itself, and start to sell them. In Martti's case, the initialisation process involved creating 500 shares and giving 125 of them to Martti for the services he is doing to the company and also promising to pay 160 mil to Martti once the rest of the shares get sold. If anyone buys the shares at these terms, is the question that was answered above, but is always uncertain until it happens. You just have to try!
In the first 8 hours, Martti got the following investors @ 1 mil/share:
- Prince Crichton 50 shares / 10%
- Duke of OZ 50 shares / 10%
- Prince of Rome 150 shares / 30%
- goin2mars 25 shares / 5%
Only after the free markets had bought 275/375 available shares (to ensure that the issue is selling with its own merits), Soul and the King bought the rest. They are among the characters that own a share of almost everything.
So now the company is in a good shape with Luigi owning the largest stake (30%) and Martti close second (25%), and the 5 minority owners having 45% total. The money is received with only one payment pending. Martti is debt free (after paying back to Prince Noms), and a Baronial Den is in the advanced planning process in Martti's Lane 16 (who could forgo the temptation to live on an alley that is named after him?!? ;) )
perjantai 27. toukokuuta 2016
September 1641 - Day 136
Middle-aged (34) Knight Martti is thinking of his life. In a few months, he will have stayed in CryptoTown for 20 years. The life has included many kinds of things, and overall has been satisfactory:
- Martti lives in a 90 sqm newly-built stone double-story in B.4, half of the house is rented away for business.
- He has become a formidable warrior due to much training and several campaigns. His PPG ("personal protection gear", nickname for the soldiery in the immediate command and weapons thereof) now includes himself (AOD-Capt), a PTE, 2*PIS, his own Powerful sword, and at least 1*H4 and a variety of lower level transport.
- Promotion to Capt was a nice surprise. The non-promotion to Baron was not. Also the fact that Baron requirement is among others a 100 sqm house, pressures Martti's finances. After 9 years as Knight, it should be a time to promote, but it is of course understandable that the most worthy are promoted first. In 1645 and 1650 are Baron promotions, and Martti wishes he could have the house built by the first one, and get solicitations from the Princes he knows, to advance a rank then.
- If Family&Lineage were here (will probably not be during Martti's lifetime), he would likely still be a bachelor since he seeks to make a name in the military, and also does not have the means to support a noble family (for commoner family, his lifestyle would be more than sufficient). Think of d'Artagnan in the beginning of Twenty Years After.
If years allow, the possibility to be promoted Earl is still there. The recent wealth report also showed that gaining 1 billion worth of assets is also a realistic goal. The latter is almost required in the quest for the former.
And right here, Martti learns that the Army&Countryside module is postponed post-Buildings (does not affect him) and Clans (will be an interesting but devastating effect due to the need to feed and clothe all the 50 NPC Martti employs, at the same time giving a sunny day for tailor business as all the rest need to clothe theirs as well.
Money, money, that is needed to capitalise on the situation... Prince Noms is not collecting his debts, so that can wait, but Prince luigi of Rome is seeking to get a report of the use of his money before he is giving any more.
Meanwhile, the balance is 21 mil negative so let us see:
It could be made whole by selling the SAP and the S-VE1, but no other quick options exist. Except... one of the highest nobles in the Kingdom, the Duke of OZ, was passing by a few days ago. Martti exchanged a few words, mentioning tailor business. The Duke told his way is to finance new ventures and have them managed by the new players. Martti is not so new any more, after having played 20 years! Perhaps the Duke would consider a corporation with Martti in the reins, and Prince of Rome as the second backer.
Let us go all in with this card then...
- Martti lives in a 90 sqm newly-built stone double-story in B.4, half of the house is rented away for business.
- He has become a formidable warrior due to much training and several campaigns. His PPG ("personal protection gear", nickname for the soldiery in the immediate command and weapons thereof) now includes himself (AOD-Capt), a PTE, 2*PIS, his own Powerful sword, and at least 1*H4 and a variety of lower level transport.
- Promotion to Capt was a nice surprise. The non-promotion to Baron was not. Also the fact that Baron requirement is among others a 100 sqm house, pressures Martti's finances. After 9 years as Knight, it should be a time to promote, but it is of course understandable that the most worthy are promoted first. In 1645 and 1650 are Baron promotions, and Martti wishes he could have the house built by the first one, and get solicitations from the Princes he knows, to advance a rank then.
- If Family&Lineage were here (will probably not be during Martti's lifetime), he would likely still be a bachelor since he seeks to make a name in the military, and also does not have the means to support a noble family (for commoner family, his lifestyle would be more than sufficient). Think of d'Artagnan in the beginning of Twenty Years After.
If years allow, the possibility to be promoted Earl is still there. The recent wealth report also showed that gaining 1 billion worth of assets is also a realistic goal. The latter is almost required in the quest for the former.
And right here, Martti learns that the Army&Countryside module is postponed post-Buildings (does not affect him) and Clans (will be an interesting but devastating effect due to the need to feed and clothe all the 50 NPC Martti employs, at the same time giving a sunny day for tailor business as all the rest need to clothe theirs as well.
Money, money, that is needed to capitalise on the situation... Prince Noms is not collecting his debts, so that can wait, but Prince luigi of Rome is seeking to get a report of the use of his money before he is giving any more.
Meanwhile, the balance is 21 mil negative so let us see:
It could be made whole by selling the SAP and the S-VE1, but no other quick options exist. Except... one of the highest nobles in the Kingdom, the Duke of OZ, was passing by a few days ago. Martti exchanged a few words, mentioning tailor business. The Duke told his way is to finance new ventures and have them managed by the new players. Martti is not so new any more, after having played 20 years! Perhaps the Duke would consider a corporation with Martti in the reins, and Prince of Rome as the second backer.
Let us go all in with this card then...
sunnuntai 22. toukokuuta 2016
December 1640 - Day 131
Oh, the routine - opening the accounts 17 mil negative, is feeling so homely. Especially now as it costs a cool 0.5% overdraft every single day.
Luckily the preparation for this very event in the health side worked out very well: all the MEAD, BEER and CAN were available in stock, and the challenge was pushed to Insignificant.
Unfortunately nothing was in such good prices that selling to the bid would have felt a good idea, apparently the Suit spoil is not administered yet, so the NPCC are paralysed according to their custom. In the longer term, investing in tailors now, may prove to be an excellent idea since the Clans module will require the actual number of NPC to have clothes, and it is 50-100% larger than the current number.
Luckily the preparation for this very event in the health side worked out very well: all the MEAD, BEER and CAN were available in stock, and the challenge was pushed to Insignificant.
Unfortunately nothing was in such good prices that selling to the bid would have felt a good idea, apparently the Suit spoil is not administered yet, so the NPCC are paralysed according to their custom. In the longer term, investing in tailors now, may prove to be an excellent idea since the Clans module will require the actual number of NPC to have clothes, and it is 50-100% larger than the current number.
torstai 19. toukokuuta 2016
July 1640 - Day 128
Coronation is approaching, and Martti is among the top contestants for both the disciplines (he is attending) currently. In Sharpshooter, thanks to the K9 pistol on loan from Sir Crichton, he currently leads the base points. in Horseback, the base points are tied between him and Baron Ezekiel, the son of the King. Both have a gold unicorn (K9), Martti's is on loan from Princess Roopatra, and Ezekiel's belongs to the King. Ezekiel is also wearing a 1450 purple suit with gold, and Martti believes that he is instructed to ride slowly and not risk excessively the spoil of the suit. Martti's own strategy is to seek to ride slowly the first try and if the victory does not seem certain, take more risks with the second one, perhaps galloping as fast as 12/20 (with only 40% chance to stay in the saddle, and 30% chance of spoiling the suit, but there is a 100 mil sapphire as the prize so it's worth it!).
The tailor business is turning from challenging to comical. The NPCC have received new orders to drink a lot of wine, and they are selling their suits, instead of buying them :P And the suit spoil is next month, so Martti's storages are swelling. And there is not enough time to make a killing with wines sadly - the situation is such that all the essential information is public, and what will happen in the market in the next 1-4 years is therefore scripted for the ones who care to decipher it by doing the numbers.
Otherwise the day goes to trimming the market offers and salivating the prospects of winning large (or even small) gemstones in the coming Coronation event.
The tailor business is turning from challenging to comical. The NPCC have received new orders to drink a lot of wine, and they are selling their suits, instead of buying them :P And the suit spoil is next month, so Martti's storages are swelling. And there is not enough time to make a killing with wines sadly - the situation is such that all the essential information is public, and what will happen in the market in the next 1-4 years is therefore scripted for the ones who care to decipher it by doing the numbers.
Otherwise the day goes to trimming the market offers and salivating the prospects of winning large (or even small) gemstones in the coming Coronation event.
March 1640 - Day 126
Martti is back from the south. His regiment did not participate in significant action, but right next to his, the whole army of HH The Duke of North Face surrendered after losses, and was taken prisoner up to the commander, the Marquess Grass. So that was a close call, that.
After that, a year seems to have passed without more action than the losing of one health rank (to Decent, from Good). Martti is now officially middle-aged at 33.
The finances were surprisingly good, given the premise that one salary round had passed and the goods are unsold and subject to spoil at the end of the year. The reason was predominantly that 4-NW-D5 (empty 100 sqm lot) was sold for 9.5 mil.
King gifted Martti a Topaz, and upon checking, the Ask for Sapphire (Martti had bought his for 8 mil) had risen to 23 mil. Martti could not help but change his coronet plans and list the sapphire for 20 mil. If it sells before the coronet time, something else will be featured instead. 20 mil is half the price of a house!
Very much has happened in the game since Martti logged in the last time - NewCorp has IPOed, and already is trading at 25% higher than the IPO price. It is giving a fixed dividend, same as CON. The difference is that NewCorp returns 0.8% whereas CON is less than 0.5%. Also NewCorp's assets may go up or down based on whether it makes more or less than the dividend return. CON does not have anything, except the return.
Another thing is the New Department Store (DeptStore) that started market making in several goods and is going to expand even more.
Martti browses through his assets and realises he owns 140*SCI, a massive amount. It is needed to spend some for practising the aim with pistol, and 50 SCI is consumed towards this. The rest is needed for aiming. SCI is perhaps also otherwise a good investment, since its book value is 0.14 mil and it is trading at half that.
It also does not go unnoticed that W1628 that Martti happens to own, is a reasonably good wine. The NPCC get one point for consuming 40 bottles, which is only about 0.82 mil! (They will consume anything below 2 mil a point). The wine is currently not in a conversion, so Martti withdraws his bids and lets others sell cheaply. Same goes for W1629S. W163W, instead, is dishwater that fits better for own consumption (10). Martti also smokes 7*CIG, just to boost health and wisdom, as now it is public that they are rather cost-effective for both.
After that, a year seems to have passed without more action than the losing of one health rank (to Decent, from Good). Martti is now officially middle-aged at 33.
The finances were surprisingly good, given the premise that one salary round had passed and the goods are unsold and subject to spoil at the end of the year. The reason was predominantly that 4-NW-D5 (empty 100 sqm lot) was sold for 9.5 mil.
King gifted Martti a Topaz, and upon checking, the Ask for Sapphire (Martti had bought his for 8 mil) had risen to 23 mil. Martti could not help but change his coronet plans and list the sapphire for 20 mil. If it sells before the coronet time, something else will be featured instead. 20 mil is half the price of a house!
Very much has happened in the game since Martti logged in the last time - NewCorp has IPOed, and already is trading at 25% higher than the IPO price. It is giving a fixed dividend, same as CON. The difference is that NewCorp returns 0.8% whereas CON is less than 0.5%. Also NewCorp's assets may go up or down based on whether it makes more or less than the dividend return. CON does not have anything, except the return.
Another thing is the New Department Store (DeptStore) that started market making in several goods and is going to expand even more.
Martti browses through his assets and realises he owns 140*SCI, a massive amount. It is needed to spend some for practising the aim with pistol, and 50 SCI is consumed towards this. The rest is needed for aiming. SCI is perhaps also otherwise a good investment, since its book value is 0.14 mil and it is trading at half that.
It also does not go unnoticed that W1628 that Martti happens to own, is a reasonably good wine. The NPCC get one point for consuming 40 bottles, which is only about 0.82 mil! (They will consume anything below 2 mil a point). The wine is currently not in a conversion, so Martti withdraws his bids and lets others sell cheaply. Same goes for W1629S. W163W, instead, is dishwater that fits better for own consumption (10). Martti also smokes 7*CIG, just to boost health and wisdom, as now it is public that they are rather cost-effective for both.
sunnuntai 8. toukokuuta 2016
December 1638 - Day 117
Suits were selling real good and the money is back positive! And it's good since the first loan is coming due in 1640!
It is now important to buy SCI to be able to consume it in Aim preparation for the sharpshooting. Also Wine is needed for horseback contest.
As the cooks are in charge, and balance is positive, they stock up a little on slowly-spoiling foods (meat, beer). This will ease the sweat when the year is closing and the account is negative.
At the first sight of Insignificant remaining health challenge, Martti quits consuming for 1638.
It is now important to buy SCI to be able to consume it in Aim preparation for the sharpshooting. Also Wine is needed for horseback contest.
As the cooks are in charge, and balance is positive, they stock up a little on slowly-spoiling foods (meat, beer). This will ease the sweat when the year is closing and the account is negative.
At the first sight of Insignificant remaining health challenge, Martti quits consuming for 1638.
lauantai 7. toukokuuta 2016
November 1638 - Day 116
Cooks are handling the business at home. Since the NPC have yielded their benefits and have been billed, the balance is negative -8.3 mil. With cool head, it should resolve itself. (Wiser than before, Martti's balance includes a S-VE1 and some BLD that could be sold to the bid without undue suffering if suits don't sell - as Martti expects them not to).
The most critical situation is with health. No possibility to buy and 80 left in Food quota is not an enviable situation. Martti drinks a sixpack of W1608, the 30-year old French wine that is going for a ridiculously low ask of 35k in the market. Even Foie Gras is cheap enough to be consumed: 4 kilos tastes good.
Since health is a concern and Martti found 10 doses of mushrooms, he though: "hey, what the heck, this is what the nobles take to get wise" and tries out the first time in his life, just one. Martti's Wisdom has in the recent years gone up to "7" and has room to increase.
There are yet no news on what Martti may have done in his journey, eagerly anticipating :)
The most critical situation is with health. No possibility to buy and 80 left in Food quota is not an enviable situation. Martti drinks a sixpack of W1608, the 30-year old French wine that is going for a ridiculously low ask of 35k in the market. Even Foie Gras is cheap enough to be consumed: 4 kilos tastes good.
Since health is a concern and Martti found 10 doses of mushrooms, he though: "hey, what the heck, this is what the nobles take to get wise" and tries out the first time in his life, just one. Martti's Wisdom has in the recent years gone up to "7" and has room to increase.
There are yet no news on what Martti may have done in his journey, eagerly anticipating :)
torstai 5. toukokuuta 2016
July 1638 - Day 114
Martti was still on his way to the battlefields in the south, when, to his very great surprise, he met HE Princess Roopatra of Neverland on a gold Unicorn "Star" that she had owned since the 1400s. Never before spoken to a Princess, Martti sends a message via his page:
Audience was admitted and the following conversation ensued:
[1:05pm] Roopatra: Martti you would wish to borrow 10mil and my dearest horse Star (H9) during the festivities?
HE The Princess; The Pistol contest rules are now known and my calculations show it is quite possible to win the disciplines 1 & 2 (ones not involving the army). I have most of the equipment and am in the best bonus health range (30-45). If YE would kindly consider the following profit sharing proposal: there is a SAPX and DIA5, conservatively 200 mil total value, as prizes. If either of both of these is won, we split the selling price. Your share of the costs would be a mere 10 mil + I could use the H9 [the Unicorn mentioned]. I even have an ancient suit and willing to risk it for the fame!
Audience was admitted and the following conversation ensued:
[1:05pm] Roopatra: Martti you would wish to borrow 10mil and my dearest horse Star (H9) during the festivities?
[1:05pm] KnightMartti: No Ma'am,
[1:06pm] Roopatra: I wonder with all that shooting action if my horse Star is in any danger?
[1:06pm] KnightMartti: I would like to receive 10 mil outright, no refund, and the horse would be in my use for the Horseback contest only
[1:06pm] KnightMartti: The King’s announcement said only the suit is in danger.
[1:07pm] KnightMartti: There cannot be any danger galloping around the Jousting Ground in 1-W, shooting from the hip, if the King says so…
[1:07pm] KnightMartti: With spectators pacified by 1000s of liters of wine
[1:08pm] Roopatra: Haha
[1:08pm] KnightMartti: The horse under the rider is surely the best preserved thing in the town at that moment!
[1:08pm] KnightMartti: My H4 is at your disposal during this of course.
[1:09pm] KnightMartti: What could be more noble than winning the diamond for the Princess!
[1:10pm] KnightMartti: Or the Large Sapphire (5ct diamond is in the sharpshooting..)
[1:10pm] Roopatra: Martti you would want to keep that 10mil, and to borrow my dear horse and return it unharmed after the tournament, ride victoriously and split any winnings 50/50?
[1:11pm] KnightMartti: I don’t know about other winnings as those may be pooled with other stuff and it may be difficult to split equitably the amounts of the lesser win pool tickets. But the winners of the 3 contests enter the DIA10 pool.
[1:11pm] KnightMartti: If that is won, I propose you will keep it and I will keep the lesser stone, no 50/50.
[1:11pm] KnightMartti: Your favor
[1:12pm] KnightMartti: But in this case I will seek to kiss your hand with the DIA10 …
[1:13pm] KnightMartti: There is a DIA10 in the Sceptre, and one in NewLiberty’s coronet. They are no joke since HSH The Prince refused to sell the DIA20 to the King @250mil
[1:14pm] Roopatra: Martti proposes a diamond or nothing?
[1:15pm] Roopatra: which is a gamble
[1:16pm] KnightMartti: My final proposal is that the possibilities are:
[1:17pm] KnightMartti: - win 1 of the 2, in which case the sell price is split 50/50
[1:17pm] KnightMartti: - win both, your excellency can choose one stone
[1:17pm] KnightMartti: - if DIA10 is won additionally, your excellency can take that instead of a minor stone
[1:18pm] KnightMartti: - if both events and the DIA10 are won, you will have 2, of your choice
[1:18pm] KnightMartti: The upside is on your side, I am just your most humble servant
[1:19pm] KnightMartti: The peerages of FS and NL are from 1420 and 1434, respectively
[1:20pm] KnightMartti: I do not believe there will be any sales from them in the future any more than what the King reportedly tried already
[1:20pm] KnightMartti: So it is the most precious gem outside those 3 guys
[1:21pm] KnightMartti: oh.. I got the vision -
[1:21pm] KnightMartti: Star needs a diamond tiara
[1:21pm] KnightMartti: won by her own splendidness!!!
[1:21pm] KnightMartti: in the coronation !!!!!!!!!!
[1:22pm] Roopatra: KnightMartti, I agree to your terms, I will send over 10mil for your preparations. Star (H9) will stay in my ownership, as he is just a loan during the tournament(?).
[1:24pm] KnightMartti: I am most gracious to your excellency and appreciate the business acumen and will seek to win with all my effort, the 10 mil being spent for SCI preparations.
A fortunate meeting truly. Martti's chances to win the Horseback contest go up greatly with a H9 instead of a H4. The money provides the SCI preparation and aiming fund for the other contest. And all the other prizes except the large gems mentioned, Martti gets to keep to himself. And kiss the Princess' hand.
Things are truly going well now - hopefully the COOK-2's that were left at home can reasonably trim the market offers. There will be a cashflow crisis the next year since all the suits have been sold and the next opportunity is after 2 NPC salary rounds that are very serious money each.
Ahead towards the thundering voice of cannons (figuratively for now of course), Martti rides, whistling on his way.
A fortunate meeting truly. Martti's chances to win the Horseback contest go up greatly with a H9 instead of a H4. The money provides the SCI preparation and aiming fund for the other contest. And all the other prizes except the large gems mentioned, Martti gets to keep to himself. And kiss the Princess' hand.
Things are truly going well now - hopefully the COOK-2's that were left at home can reasonably trim the market offers. There will be a cashflow crisis the next year since all the suits have been sold and the next opportunity is after 2 NPC salary rounds that are very serious money each.
Ahead towards the thundering voice of cannons (figuratively for now of course), Martti rides, whistling on his way.
keskiviikko 4. toukokuuta 2016
May 1638 - Day 113
Martti started feeling bad: his rules of play were originally 8 logins per week, and now it has been almost 2 per day. Checking the blog entries relieves the burden: only 73 were written in 113 days, so even if there were 10 extra logins, or 20, it would still average less than 6 per week.
So it's possible to check out things. While consuming a meditative amount of CAN (50, enough to make the most of the Frequency Bonus - These days Martti opens the year with just CAN and starts consuming other stuff when Superveg arrives), Martti laments that terrible haste with preparations has prevented him from marketing his goods properly, and that even though he won the 4th raffle prize from his lot bids, it was a prestigious exactly-200-year-old gold coin CR1438E. It is from the earliest decade of CryptoTown, rarest of the ancient coins with 20 minted only (the minimum) and would be fetched 15-20 mil even in the premium only times. Now, however, Coinshop is selling one at 6.5 mil, including gold, and preventing Martti to sell his at a collectors' price.
Coinshop by the way listed prices for all gold coins, both bid and ask, so the trading desk is dripping with goodness - as you can see, even the maximum possible combo of historicity and rarity is only 4 mil above spot per coin! Just out of being a merchant, and not from any special desire to even sell the coin at so much below value, Martti lists his to the 3rd spot at 9.9 mil, the minimum to even consider a trade.
Ming China bids are primed higher. Martti believes the coming Italian Furniture will awaken more interest to its predecessor Ming China as well. If anyone still wants to dump Ming, some of the bids are in more than a million range now..
Martti sheds his WAI (N1 NPC). He has not promoted to anything and is not particularly good in things (producing net 1*CUL+1*IC at a cost of 0.22 mil, only 8% promotion chance - even retire is higher at 13%!).
Martti has 5*COOK-x in N2-N3, they can take care of the household when Martti is having important knightly business with his page and the horses.
So it's possible to check out things. While consuming a meditative amount of CAN (50, enough to make the most of the Frequency Bonus - These days Martti opens the year with just CAN and starts consuming other stuff when Superveg arrives), Martti laments that terrible haste with preparations has prevented him from marketing his goods properly, and that even though he won the 4th raffle prize from his lot bids, it was a prestigious exactly-200-year-old gold coin CR1438E. It is from the earliest decade of CryptoTown, rarest of the ancient coins with 20 minted only (the minimum) and would be fetched 15-20 mil even in the premium only times. Now, however, Coinshop is selling one at 6.5 mil, including gold, and preventing Martti to sell his at a collectors' price.
Coinshop by the way listed prices for all gold coins, both bid and ask, so the trading desk is dripping with goodness - as you can see, even the maximum possible combo of historicity and rarity is only 4 mil above spot per coin! Just out of being a merchant, and not from any special desire to even sell the coin at so much below value, Martti lists his to the 3rd spot at 9.9 mil, the minimum to even consider a trade.
Ming China bids are primed higher. Martti believes the coming Italian Furniture will awaken more interest to its predecessor Ming China as well. If anyone still wants to dump Ming, some of the bids are in more than a million range now..
Martti sheds his WAI (N1 NPC). He has not promoted to anything and is not particularly good in things (producing net 1*CUL+1*IC at a cost of 0.22 mil, only 8% promotion chance - even retire is higher at 13%!).
Martti has 5*COOK-x in N2-N3, they can take care of the household when Martti is having important knightly business with his page and the horses.
tiistai 3. toukokuuta 2016
March 1638 - Day 112
The reports from the campaigns last year are brought back to CryptoTown. Martti feels he missed the opportunity for gold and glory with the building projects and such and makes plans to go to Ramsey this summer to participate in the possible action there.
The Margrave of Stonehaven is tending his NPCC and wants to buy the remainder of the WOS-E1 at a good price of 2 mil each (their labor maxprice is 2.24 and system price 1.40 mil). So the deal does not take long to complete.
In the spirit of easy come, easy go, Martti picks the RWWC reduced price offer on pistols and grabs 2, and recruits a PTE at the full price. Why skimp when money is not an issue? After the 15 mil purchases, he feels ready to join the battle or whatever is coming! Horse situation is good with a H4 and 2*H3, well enough for only two men, with the PTE having a sidesword, Martti has his own sword and 2 pistols total. Perhaps a musket would have given some longer-range firepower in addition but finances permit only this far.
The house is unsold but returned a nice 0.57 mil + 7 CUL + 7 IC (two years back taxes will be happening soon, but they are only 0.18 mil total).
4 more pearls are converted from the IC, so the coronet has all the jewels now. Only the 200-gram silver base, most/very elaborate, remains (costing 110-120 IC). Bids are placed as it is most likely that there will be a pressure on IC price after 10,000+ was dividended from buildings and there is somewhat of a glut existing.
BuildCO seems hot, but after being so involved with tailors (unwilling to buy more just now though, as not only they will not promote, but also the suits market will likely dry up in awaiting for the next moth), Martti cannot expand too much. The 53 mil loan base is also coming for renewal soon, so this will take some priority after returning from the summer ride.
The Margrave of Stonehaven is tending his NPCC and wants to buy the remainder of the WOS-E1 at a good price of 2 mil each (their labor maxprice is 2.24 and system price 1.40 mil). So the deal does not take long to complete.
In the spirit of easy come, easy go, Martti picks the RWWC reduced price offer on pistols and grabs 2, and recruits a PTE at the full price. Why skimp when money is not an issue? After the 15 mil purchases, he feels ready to join the battle or whatever is coming! Horse situation is good with a H4 and 2*H3, well enough for only two men, with the PTE having a sidesword, Martti has his own sword and 2 pistols total. Perhaps a musket would have given some longer-range firepower in addition but finances permit only this far.
The house is unsold but returned a nice 0.57 mil + 7 CUL + 7 IC (two years back taxes will be happening soon, but they are only 0.18 mil total).
4 more pearls are converted from the IC, so the coronet has all the jewels now. Only the 200-gram silver base, most/very elaborate, remains (costing 110-120 IC). Bids are placed as it is most likely that there will be a pressure on IC price after 10,000+ was dividended from buildings and there is somewhat of a glut existing.
BuildCO seems hot, but after being so involved with tailors (unwilling to buy more just now though, as not only they will not promote, but also the suits market will likely dry up in awaiting for the next moth), Martti cannot expand too much. The 53 mil loan base is also coming for renewal soon, so this will take some priority after returning from the summer ride.
maanantai 2. toukokuuta 2016
January 1638 - Day 111
New day dawns with only a slightly negative balance. Most of the brown and grey clothes have sold themselves, only 6 sets of greens (worth about 10 mil total) remain. It will be 3 more years since suits sell big time again, so it is imperative to get the greens sold as well.
The tailor business has not exactly been a success. But it could be... Martti's stable consists of 1*TAI-4, 5*TAI-3, 10*TAI-2, 8*TAI-1 (and btw also 1*H4, 2*H3, 1*H2, 1*H1, and in the NPC side: 3*COOK-2, 2*COOK-1, 1*WAI). So in total, Martti now controls 35 NPC's and horses. If the fortunes turn even a little better, this could make a powerful business. Buying the tailors cheaply in the initial levels and waiting for them to promote, is patient work. Tailors live as long as Martti does, so perhaps when Martti himself is 45 or 50, the business also becomes better.
Meanwhile, the RAF-2 jewely raffle finished on Martti's part. Originally he had bought about 2,000 tickets for perhaps 16 mil, and all of them had spoiled. Then a relative lowball of about 5 mil was filled, and did not spoil in the first round, rather in the second (which is already considered a win) and produced a Ruby! Rubies are the rarest of all colored gemstones, and will therefore likely be second only to diamonds in price. Ruby does not match that well with silver, and procuring the needed amount of gold for coronet (100-400 CKG) is impossible, so Martti is seeking to exchange it for a sapphire and money. It is still a net negative, but not as crushing as it would be to spend 8 figures and get nothing in return.
The house has not sold, so marketing is probably wanting. The offer is seriously good, because the house is new and does not need fixes for a long time to come, and the building material prices have shot up. Since cash flow does not urgently demand selling, the price is left untouched. After all, it's not only selling that makes you money, you must sell for a profit, and Martti's only profit in the deal is getting rid of the excess lot that he believes will rise in value slower than the other opportunities he could invest in. The other lot is for sale at the land price, 12 mil, only. That one is also not gone yet.
Martti makes petition to Church to return the stone that was erroneously credited to them from the demolishing of the 24+24 sqm houses. The issue is clear, the stone was credited to the "1608 owner" of the houses (Martti was a toddler then and the houses still belonged to the Church), but belongs to the "1624 owner" (when the Lot master was pulled from the system for update). The solving could have been complicated, but luckily Martti knew a clerk from the Church who speedily credited him the 62,400*STO1.
This allowed Martti some breathing space, as he quickly dumped all his stone to the bid at 77. Stone can always be bought back, but 5 mil in the balance allows raising the lot bids to trump those of SyksyII. If the King has 1-2 prize rounds left, with any luck, an additional gift that can be sold at 10 mil can be obtained.
Success tracker
Age: 32 (17 years played, health: Good)
Level: 11/14 (getting Baron (L13) is a near certainty if health continues favorably, but Earl (L14) is the target, and there are many depositing players and old players seeking the same rank, and the promotions to peerage are limited. Whereas aspiring Masters get their Barony at about 35-40 yo, the early knighting is actually a relative disadvantage as they do not have a fast lane and it may take much longer before getting the Barony - not to mention the loss of production shares and increased costs)
Wealth:
+ gold, silver and gemstones: 10 mil (1*RUB only - Martti cannot buy gold as long as he is in debt, that does not make sense, and same with unnecessary silver)
+ real estate: 65 mil (250 sqm lot, 100 sqm lot, 100 sqm lot with a new 90 sqm building)
+ cash: 5 mil
+ building materials 9 mil (BLD, a speculation)
+ consumables 9 mil (mostly wine, partly as the lot market raffle prize, partly own speculations - not too profitable yet)
+ NPC stock 36 mil (30 in total, mostly early level ; just one high level NPC can be 100 mil..)
+ Horses stock 10 mil (they need to be put to use, since otherwise horses are just a drain on the economy)
+ Suits and clothes 35 mil (highest number is trading stock, but highest value is tied in Martti's own noble blue and Most Ancient red)
+ S-VE1 5 mil (this could be sold but since the cash flow is so erratic, it is a good backup to get something to eat if balance is negative)
+ Miscellaneous 5 mil (growing collection of Ming China, custom sword, etc.)
- debt 53 mil
Net total wealth at approximate midprice: 127 mil / 1000 (target)
A short 4 realmonths of play, and the character is worth $100. This is a decent situation. If we can count on 30 more years of life, the rate of return needed for the remaining years is 7.1% to get to the target billionaire wealth. During the last 15 years, from a starting point of 10 mil, the wealth has grown at a 18.5% annual pace, mostly with a debt leverage of 30-50% of total assets.
Martti raises the lot bids, puts on his red merchant suit and walks whistling to Gilded Goose to solicit some more loan from whomever is sitting there with extra balance and benevolence. To get into the mood, he consumes 12 bottles of 1629 Sweet Wine. After all, health, happiness and long life are paramount for realising the other objectives in life, which he hopefully has many years left :)
ADD: Gems market is taking shape as Martti traded away the RUB at 12 mil and got a SAP at 8 mil in return in a negotiated trade fulfilled via the market.
The tailor business has not exactly been a success. But it could be... Martti's stable consists of 1*TAI-4, 5*TAI-3, 10*TAI-2, 8*TAI-1 (and btw also 1*H4, 2*H3, 1*H2, 1*H1, and in the NPC side: 3*COOK-2, 2*COOK-1, 1*WAI). So in total, Martti now controls 35 NPC's and horses. If the fortunes turn even a little better, this could make a powerful business. Buying the tailors cheaply in the initial levels and waiting for them to promote, is patient work. Tailors live as long as Martti does, so perhaps when Martti himself is 45 or 50, the business also becomes better.
Meanwhile, the RAF-2 jewely raffle finished on Martti's part. Originally he had bought about 2,000 tickets for perhaps 16 mil, and all of them had spoiled. Then a relative lowball of about 5 mil was filled, and did not spoil in the first round, rather in the second (which is already considered a win) and produced a Ruby! Rubies are the rarest of all colored gemstones, and will therefore likely be second only to diamonds in price. Ruby does not match that well with silver, and procuring the needed amount of gold for coronet (100-400 CKG) is impossible, so Martti is seeking to exchange it for a sapphire and money. It is still a net negative, but not as crushing as it would be to spend 8 figures and get nothing in return.
The house has not sold, so marketing is probably wanting. The offer is seriously good, because the house is new and does not need fixes for a long time to come, and the building material prices have shot up. Since cash flow does not urgently demand selling, the price is left untouched. After all, it's not only selling that makes you money, you must sell for a profit, and Martti's only profit in the deal is getting rid of the excess lot that he believes will rise in value slower than the other opportunities he could invest in. The other lot is for sale at the land price, 12 mil, only. That one is also not gone yet.
Martti makes petition to Church to return the stone that was erroneously credited to them from the demolishing of the 24+24 sqm houses. The issue is clear, the stone was credited to the "1608 owner" of the houses (Martti was a toddler then and the houses still belonged to the Church), but belongs to the "1624 owner" (when the Lot master was pulled from the system for update). The solving could have been complicated, but luckily Martti knew a clerk from the Church who speedily credited him the 62,400*STO1.
This allowed Martti some breathing space, as he quickly dumped all his stone to the bid at 77. Stone can always be bought back, but 5 mil in the balance allows raising the lot bids to trump those of SyksyII. If the King has 1-2 prize rounds left, with any luck, an additional gift that can be sold at 10 mil can be obtained.
Success tracker
Age: 32 (17 years played, health: Good)
Level: 11/14 (getting Baron (L13) is a near certainty if health continues favorably, but Earl (L14) is the target, and there are many depositing players and old players seeking the same rank, and the promotions to peerage are limited. Whereas aspiring Masters get their Barony at about 35-40 yo, the early knighting is actually a relative disadvantage as they do not have a fast lane and it may take much longer before getting the Barony - not to mention the loss of production shares and increased costs)
Wealth:
+ gold, silver and gemstones: 10 mil (1*RUB only - Martti cannot buy gold as long as he is in debt, that does not make sense, and same with unnecessary silver)
+ real estate: 65 mil (250 sqm lot, 100 sqm lot, 100 sqm lot with a new 90 sqm building)
+ cash: 5 mil
+ building materials 9 mil (BLD, a speculation)
+ consumables 9 mil (mostly wine, partly as the lot market raffle prize, partly own speculations - not too profitable yet)
+ NPC stock 36 mil (30 in total, mostly early level ; just one high level NPC can be 100 mil..)
+ Horses stock 10 mil (they need to be put to use, since otherwise horses are just a drain on the economy)
+ Suits and clothes 35 mil (highest number is trading stock, but highest value is tied in Martti's own noble blue and Most Ancient red)
+ S-VE1 5 mil (this could be sold but since the cash flow is so erratic, it is a good backup to get something to eat if balance is negative)
+ Miscellaneous 5 mil (growing collection of Ming China, custom sword, etc.)
- debt 53 mil
Net total wealth at approximate midprice: 127 mil / 1000 (target)
A short 4 realmonths of play, and the character is worth $100. This is a decent situation. If we can count on 30 more years of life, the rate of return needed for the remaining years is 7.1% to get to the target billionaire wealth. During the last 15 years, from a starting point of 10 mil, the wealth has grown at a 18.5% annual pace, mostly with a debt leverage of 30-50% of total assets.
Martti raises the lot bids, puts on his red merchant suit and walks whistling to Gilded Goose to solicit some more loan from whomever is sitting there with extra balance and benevolence. To get into the mood, he consumes 12 bottles of 1629 Sweet Wine. After all, health, happiness and long life are paramount for realising the other objectives in life, which he hopefully has many years left :)
ADD: Gems market is taking shape as Martti traded away the RUB at 12 mil and got a SAP at 8 mil in return in a negotiated trade fulfilled via the market.
lauantai 30. huhtikuuta 2016
December 1637 - Day 110
Martti delights of his new home-offices in the first floor of the plaster-not-yet-dry house in 4-NW. Funnily enough, the house is located on the exact same spot as Martti's previous house, which was declared unhealthy by the town authorities, and promptly bulldozed.
Looking at the books reveals a challenge, though. Minus is at -25 mil, after finishing yesterday with 10 mil in the positive.
There are large stocks of products, though. Unsold suits number in 30+, then the house is for sale, and something remains for sale from the original load of wines and spirits. Since winning that and the copper token, Martti has not had luck in the "best bid" raffle. In fact, SyksyII has got it twice in a row, and Martti cannot raise his bids due to being negative.
The health challenge is umm... challenging to complete without the license to buy anything. After eating all food that remains and consuming ample amounts of CAN and even some cigars (which have become cheaper in the IC conversion), the report says:COMMAND RESULTS
Looking at the books reveals a challenge, though. Minus is at -25 mil, after finishing yesterday with 10 mil in the positive.
There are large stocks of products, though. Unsold suits number in 30+, then the house is for sale, and something remains for sale from the original load of wines and spirits. Since winning that and the copper token, Martti has not had luck in the "best bid" raffle. In fact, SyksyII has got it twice in a row, and Martti cannot raise his bids due to being negative.
The health challenge is umm... challenging to complete without the license to buy anything. After eating all food that remains and consuming ample amounts of CAN and even some cigars (which have become cheaper in the IC conversion), the report says:COMMAND RESULTS
The eating/drinking felt Effective. I feel the remaining health challenge to be Severe. I could still eat 87, drink 110 and use 0 units of wisdom this year.
The challenge ends in Moderate after an unheard-of consumption of 50+ bottles of wines from the trading stock. A useful hack was also the IC conversion to wine (to be consumed immediately). This works even if buying from the market is disabled due to overdraft. Wine is cheap and Martti is not a youngster any more.
The challenge ends in Moderate after an unheard-of consumption of 50+ bottles of wines from the trading stock. A useful hack was also the IC conversion to wine (to be consumed immediately). This works even if buying from the market is disabled due to overdraft. Wine is cheap and Martti is not a youngster any more.
November 1637 - Day 109
RAF-2 tickets have been spoiled 3x, that is, only 1 ticket out of 1,000 remains. From now on, all tickets actually win gemstones. Martti had bought 2,000 tickets (for almost 20 mil) in hopes of gaining some stones to be traded for the Sapphire that is "needed" for the coronet. Unfortunately, the balance of RAF-2 is now zero. This is most unlucky and unfortunate :(
The balance has shrunk to near 10 mil, mostly due to the building of the house of course. Getting it sold would make the face happy again, but the margins are very tight. At the current prices of BLD especially, the house just cannot be sold for much cheaper than the price listed. Keeping it is always an option, it is a decent residence for a Knight and pays a bonus 0.6 mil in cash each year as the shopfront rent. Furthermore, it is new and low-rise, making it easy to maintain for decades to come.
The price for the house stays at 44 mil. Martti wonders: who purchases CON for a 0.5% profit as the brand new worry free house is 3.2%... Would it not be worth it to sell 2*CON and flip for a 6x better yield ??
Ever since Martti was stripped of his production shares (due to being knighted), he has had a hard time getting used to the fact that 10% guaranteed yields exist no more, so the choices are to seek 3-4% from buildings and NPC (both what he is doing) or more from market trading in different timeframes (which needs to be started again, especially after the die roll disaster with RAF-2).
The balance has shrunk to near 10 mil, mostly due to the building of the house of course. Getting it sold would make the face happy again, but the margins are very tight. At the current prices of BLD especially, the house just cannot be sold for much cheaper than the price listed. Keeping it is always an option, it is a decent residence for a Knight and pays a bonus 0.6 mil in cash each year as the shopfront rent. Furthermore, it is new and low-rise, making it easy to maintain for decades to come.
The price for the house stays at 44 mil. Martti wonders: who purchases CON for a 0.5% profit as the brand new worry free house is 3.2%... Would it not be worth it to sell 2*CON and flip for a 6x better yield ??
Ever since Martti was stripped of his production shares (due to being knighted), he has had a hard time getting used to the fact that 10% guaranteed yields exist no more, so the choices are to seek 3-4% from buildings and NPC (both what he is doing) or more from market trading in different timeframes (which needs to be started again, especially after the die roll disaster with RAF-2).
September 1637 - Day 108
The beautiful noise of construction, the moment waited for so many years - Martti's first custom-built house! Although it is perfect for Martti's own use (4 times larger than the one on the same lot that was demolished after the mold), the main intention is to sell the house and build another one with the money.
For 90 sqm, the sell price including land, is set to 44 mil, less than half a mil per sqm. There is not too much room for haggling - costs to Martti were 27 mil at ask, and land should be valued at about 8.5 mil, half of the price of the B.22 lot sold earlier.
The nice feature in the new house is Shopfront, possibility to assign some part of the building to produce rental income from shops, and the rest is designated in normal use. Even in B.4, shopfronts make sense lining major streets, such as this one that is basically at the gate of the whole 4-NW chapelry with already 20% macrolocation.
Martti has about 1% of the gemstone raffle tickets. That should statistically yield him 2 stones, which, he believes, will be valued higher than the ticket prices. Also, he needs the sapphire for the coronet...
A new feature is now in the game - automatic IC->item conversion. That is very handy, and will soon enlarge itself to include many item types that have been neglected ever since the ancient times.
For 90 sqm, the sell price including land, is set to 44 mil, less than half a mil per sqm. There is not too much room for haggling - costs to Martti were 27 mil at ask, and land should be valued at about 8.5 mil, half of the price of the B.22 lot sold earlier.
The nice feature in the new house is Shopfront, possibility to assign some part of the building to produce rental income from shops, and the rest is designated in normal use. Even in B.4, shopfronts make sense lining major streets, such as this one that is basically at the gate of the whole 4-NW chapelry with already 20% macrolocation.
Martti has about 1% of the gemstone raffle tickets. That should statistically yield him 2 stones, which, he believes, will be valued higher than the ticket prices. Also, he needs the sapphire for the coronet...
A new feature is now in the game - automatic IC->item conversion. That is very handy, and will soon enlarge itself to include many item types that have been neglected ever since the ancient times.
tiistai 26. huhtikuuta 2016
March 1637 - Day 106
Business is taking the time. A few of the building material bids were filled already, and now we are not talking about pennies - the reasonable lot size is 10 mil, so the balance is swinging greatly.
Despite the larger size of transactions (Martti started with 0.1-0.5 mil size), the work is perfectly similar. Buying and selling, and making a buck.
The RAF-2 "beauty-contest allocation" yielded about 300 tickets, so a value of roughly 2.5 mil. Half of this was because of the carriage bought at 3 mil, so it is comparable to getting 40% off. This is of course not bad.
After an exhaustive list of options, Martti decided to put the 2 small lots for sale at 10 mil each. If they don't sell when advertised, Martti will build a residence-suitable house to one, settle in, and then list it for sale. If it sells, do the same to the other. And finally move in to the largest lot, or buy a new one in the high-land price market.
The rumors of military actions in the far north and south have been circulating. Martti feels very fit for field service and will certainly join in, not only to a quest but even in a battle. He promises to retire earliest when he is promoted Baron (or die trying). If the latter, his big brother Ville is ready to claim the estate.
Despite the larger size of transactions (Martti started with 0.1-0.5 mil size), the work is perfectly similar. Buying and selling, and making a buck.
The RAF-2 "beauty-contest allocation" yielded about 300 tickets, so a value of roughly 2.5 mil. Half of this was because of the carriage bought at 3 mil, so it is comparable to getting 40% off. This is of course not bad.
After an exhaustive list of options, Martti decided to put the 2 small lots for sale at 10 mil each. If they don't sell when advertised, Martti will build a residence-suitable house to one, settle in, and then list it for sale. If it sells, do the same to the other. And finally move in to the largest lot, or buy a new one in the high-land price market.
The rumors of military actions in the far north and south have been circulating. Martti feels very fit for field service and will certainly join in, not only to a quest but even in a battle. He promises to retire earliest when he is promoted Baron (or die trying). If the latter, his big brother Ville is ready to claim the estate.
maanantai 25. huhtikuuta 2016
January 1637 - Day 105b
The COT1413 (6 exist) was sold for 22 mil. This is an indication of the COT prices, since both less and more desirable (old, rare) tokens exist. Getting the money has boosted Martti to schemes unimaginable, and he is busy redeeming the time lost by writing up to twice per day to the blog as well.
Martti started playing with the Building Editor and was happy to find out that the Residence in his lot is feasible and even somewhat profitable. In a 100 sqm size (between the smallest allowed on the lot, 60 sqm, and the largest possible, almost 1000 sqm) he would get 17 CUL+IC (worth 2.2 mil/year) at a 24 mil investment.
Since the land is free and does not count (Martti sold an equal size land for 39 mil last year so if it was not free, it certainly would count!), 9% APR is possible. Adding more floors would be an easy way to get a marginal benefit nearing 9% as well, but 100 sqm fulfills the historical norm for Knights handsomely, and when Martti is promoted Baron (which he calculates to happen in 10-15 years), living in B.4 is not an option anyway. Also the one floor construction does not burden the wet soil too much, and the building will take longer before repairs are needed.
The actual building may happen as soon as by the close of the year, so bids for materials are placed already.
An unfortunate realisation was that the house where Martti used to live, as well as its neighbor (bought for 12 mil total, on 100% loan), were demolished due to mold. This business did not end up well, because the land is probably not worth the money, and building (tested and tried!) cannot bring in more than 5% return as Apartment, which Martti is already starting to sneer at.
One option would be to just keep the land, another is to sell it as Apartments or Residences. Prompt action is needed, because when Wood opens, all commoners can get their lands and buildings very cheaply and this does not sell. More advanced players, even Martti himself, find the location too dirty. And keeping them as rentals is not lucrative due to Martti's need to make 11% per year to end up owning 1 billion, which is his goal.
The Prince of Soul - remembered for offering a new player bonus of 2 mil when Martti started - has inaugurated his new palace in Versailles. This 1,800 mil / 2,000 sqm project is one of the finest in town. The Royal Château cost 4,900 mil and is 5,000 sqm.
Martti started playing with the Building Editor and was happy to find out that the Residence in his lot is feasible and even somewhat profitable. In a 100 sqm size (between the smallest allowed on the lot, 60 sqm, and the largest possible, almost 1000 sqm) he would get 17 CUL+IC (worth 2.2 mil/year) at a 24 mil investment.
Since the land is free and does not count (Martti sold an equal size land for 39 mil last year so if it was not free, it certainly would count!), 9% APR is possible. Adding more floors would be an easy way to get a marginal benefit nearing 9% as well, but 100 sqm fulfills the historical norm for Knights handsomely, and when Martti is promoted Baron (which he calculates to happen in 10-15 years), living in B.4 is not an option anyway. Also the one floor construction does not burden the wet soil too much, and the building will take longer before repairs are needed.
The actual building may happen as soon as by the close of the year, so bids for materials are placed already.
An unfortunate realisation was that the house where Martti used to live, as well as its neighbor (bought for 12 mil total, on 100% loan), were demolished due to mold. This business did not end up well, because the land is probably not worth the money, and building (tested and tried!) cannot bring in more than 5% return as Apartment, which Martti is already starting to sneer at.
One option would be to just keep the land, another is to sell it as Apartments or Residences. Prompt action is needed, because when Wood opens, all commoners can get their lands and buildings very cheaply and this does not sell. More advanced players, even Martti himself, find the location too dirty. And keeping them as rentals is not lucrative due to Martti's need to make 11% per year to end up owning 1 billion, which is his goal.
The Prince of Soul - remembered for offering a new player bonus of 2 mil when Martti started - has inaugurated his new palace in Versailles. This 1,800 mil / 2,000 sqm project is one of the finest in town. The Royal Château cost 4,900 mil and is 5,000 sqm.
sunnuntai 24. huhtikuuta 2016
January 1637 - Day 105
Martti wakes up early in the morning (6 am == January 6th) to check whether his copper token is sold! Well, it hasn't, yet. So, eager to find the right price, Martti lowers the ask to 22 mil and plans to patiently wait there with his offer.
How did he acquire such a treasure? Well, it's this King's raffle to reward players who have placed many asks and bids in the Lot market. To level the playing field, the source data that Martti used in generating his bids is published. Martti's bids are a function of lot area, chapelry-specific "max bid per sqm", a randomiser, upper cap, and rounding to 3 decimals. It took him about 20 minutes to generate the BUY lot_id 1 amount commands, which have now gained him adiamond most ancient copper token already! In addition to fake bids (Martti does not have a real intention to get those fulfilled, just wishes to win prizes), the data can be used to make blanket bids in a certain chapelry for instance, with real intentions.
King had granted a break to his own characters from health management for the duration of his sick leave (1632-1635). If large GIVE consumable_id amount 5 appear in the Changelog, they are to make up for the skipped challenges. The Wisdom normally generated during this time is forfeit (yet the average consumption of substances will be "give-consumed").
This has caused Martti the need to marketbuy things and give them away. Balance is therefore a few mil down from its high point. Martti also saw some papers in the trashbin and upon quick glance, realised that they are the unmasked Wisdom values for all characters! (Presumably used in the King's coming RAF-2 allocation due next month) The values revealed that during his years 1-15, Martti has acquired 1*A points (where A is a scaling constant), then in the years 15-20, an additional 1*A points. The years 20-30 were 2*A points, so the progress seems linear. In fact, due to the loss of wisdom during the 4 years Martti was sick, means that the accumulation in the other years was about 1.66x that of in the previous years.
CAN alone is good, cheap and even somewhat healthy. What Martti saw next in the paper gave him the goosebumps - the table of the item:healthiness values !!! While the values do change, the changes are very gradual (or if not, they will be announced). Martti now knows there are substance/s where a single dose gives more wisdom than a year's quota of CAN, and spirit/s where a bottle beats a year's load of BEER. The foods' effects are known. If I am kidding, it is by a very slim margin compared to the truth revealed.
Martti was approached by Dame Erin of Pada regarding teaming up for the Coronation carriage ride. His duty is to acquire the 2 horses needed and hers is to procure a K7 carriage. In a sort of a spending spree, Martti seeks to buy a K5 himself just to make use of his (soon, at least) 2 horses and get some additional RAF-2 that are allocated to the owners of carriages, among other allocations.
Also, since we are at it - Martti browses through the Ming China catalogue. It's now 15 years since that was introduced. During that time, 1*IC was approx 0.3 million. Now the IC is 0.09/0.07 mil. In the meantime, some have sold their wares for prices near the IC-value of the items. Martti's belief is that once the weak hands are shaken out, the owners of these wares will keep theirs rather religiously and not sell them.
The market with ancient suits had the same phenomenon in the late 1500s: There were plenty on suits existing, but nobody wanted to sell, suits were needed and wanted by new players, and no new production existed. All the conditions that made suit prices to reach quite some heights are planned for Ming China. We only need to wait for the influx of players, and hopefully get some item bids filled in the meantime, so that there is something to sell ! :)
How did he acquire such a treasure? Well, it's this King's raffle to reward players who have placed many asks and bids in the Lot market. To level the playing field, the source data that Martti used in generating his bids is published. Martti's bids are a function of lot area, chapelry-specific "max bid per sqm", a randomiser, upper cap, and rounding to 3 decimals. It took him about 20 minutes to generate the BUY lot_id 1 amount commands, which have now gained him a
King had granted a break to his own characters from health management for the duration of his sick leave (1632-1635). If large GIVE consumable_id amount 5 appear in the Changelog, they are to make up for the skipped challenges. The Wisdom normally generated during this time is forfeit (yet the average consumption of substances will be "give-consumed").
This has caused Martti the need to marketbuy things and give them away. Balance is therefore a few mil down from its high point. Martti also saw some papers in the trashbin and upon quick glance, realised that they are the unmasked Wisdom values for all characters! (Presumably used in the King's coming RAF-2 allocation due next month) The values revealed that during his years 1-15, Martti has acquired 1*A points (where A is a scaling constant), then in the years 15-20, an additional 1*A points. The years 20-30 were 2*A points, so the progress seems linear. In fact, due to the loss of wisdom during the 4 years Martti was sick, means that the accumulation in the other years was about 1.66x that of in the previous years.
CAN alone is good, cheap and even somewhat healthy. What Martti saw next in the paper gave him the goosebumps - the table of the item:healthiness values !!! While the values do change, the changes are very gradual (or if not, they will be announced). Martti now knows there are substance/s where a single dose gives more wisdom than a year's quota of CAN, and spirit/s where a bottle beats a year's load of BEER. The foods' effects are known. If I am kidding, it is by a very slim margin compared to the truth revealed.
Martti was approached by Dame Erin of Pada regarding teaming up for the Coronation carriage ride. His duty is to acquire the 2 horses needed and hers is to procure a K7 carriage. In a sort of a spending spree, Martti seeks to buy a K5 himself just to make use of his (soon, at least) 2 horses and get some additional RAF-2 that are allocated to the owners of carriages, among other allocations.
Also, since we are at it - Martti browses through the Ming China catalogue. It's now 15 years since that was introduced. During that time, 1*IC was approx 0.3 million. Now the IC is 0.09/0.07 mil. In the meantime, some have sold their wares for prices near the IC-value of the items. Martti's belief is that once the weak hands are shaken out, the owners of these wares will keep theirs rather religiously and not sell them.
The market with ancient suits had the same phenomenon in the late 1500s: There were plenty on suits existing, but nobody wanted to sell, suits were needed and wanted by new players, and no new production existed. All the conditions that made suit prices to reach quite some heights are planned for Ming China. We only need to wait for the influx of players, and hopefully get some item bids filled in the meantime, so that there is something to sell ! :)
December 1636 - Day 104
A Patient bird catches the worm, Martti thinks as after 10 years of scheming, he finally (or let's say - the second day it was even possible) cashes out his land speculation in B.22. Nine-and-thirty million is added to Martti's balance, making it double as high as it ever was before - and those were drafting of loans ...
Martti's marginal cost in getting the 9 shares was about 3 mil per share (27 total), but he already sold the "company shares" for about 8 mil, so the net was a cool 20 mil!
So, while last month Martti was in sad and poor moods, lamenting that the lot needs to be sold, and sold cheaply, and maybe it does not even sell, etc, now the money in the bank has instantly cleared all those thoughts and Martti is feeling a shrewd businessman.
Foremost checking how the funds can be put to use comes from the new Building module of course! Martti has a 250 sqm lot in 4-SW with the regulation that a Residence must be built. Wood building is not enabled yet (and Martti is ineligible anyway due to being a Knight), and selling the lot unbuilt is against the rules. So perhaps the best usage is to build there: there is no alternative use for the land, and only the building cost can thus be accounted for.
After playing with the building editor, it seems that the best percentage gains can be had with very modest buildings, and the marginal benefit of adding lux, etc is declining (well, if this were not the case, the designer of the module should consider a new career...) The best marginal benefit is about 7% APR, and gainable with a 25 mil investment. Much more can be invested and if the land price was a concern, an optimal size might be much larger. Now, the total finances permit only about a 25 mil spend - if even that.
At present it might make sense to keep as much of this fund intact, to be able to make the bids for the Lot Market. This is a huge leverage risk (place hundreds of bids for items that one neither wants to buy nor has the money to, except 1-2 at a time max) but with careful design, a formula can be made that minimises the possibility to become the buyer, and if it should happen, ensures that the place is worth at least the amount paid. The reason why this is done is the King's challenge with items prizes. Every 10 mil cartload of items is a major bonus to a poor Knight Martti, and several will be raffled in a quick succession.
Martti's dreams about the coronet and participation to the coronation are becoming true. The coronet style of his own devision is "Silver band 200 CKS, 8 pearls raised, sapphire honor point". This will cost about 150*IC plus the gem, so in total perhaps 15 mil. One might question if investing half a middle class home to a single-use item is sensible. Martti places his trust on the faithfulness of the King, who promised that it pays off to show up.
Many other thinkings and calculations were made as the day abruptly started to shine on Martti.
Martti's marginal cost in getting the 9 shares was about 3 mil per share (27 total), but he already sold the "company shares" for about 8 mil, so the net was a cool 20 mil!
So, while last month Martti was in sad and poor moods, lamenting that the lot needs to be sold, and sold cheaply, and maybe it does not even sell, etc, now the money in the bank has instantly cleared all those thoughts and Martti is feeling a shrewd businessman.
Foremost checking how the funds can be put to use comes from the new Building module of course! Martti has a 250 sqm lot in 4-SW with the regulation that a Residence must be built. Wood building is not enabled yet (and Martti is ineligible anyway due to being a Knight), and selling the lot unbuilt is against the rules. So perhaps the best usage is to build there: there is no alternative use for the land, and only the building cost can thus be accounted for.
After playing with the building editor, it seems that the best percentage gains can be had with very modest buildings, and the marginal benefit of adding lux, etc is declining (well, if this were not the case, the designer of the module should consider a new career...) The best marginal benefit is about 7% APR, and gainable with a 25 mil investment. Much more can be invested and if the land price was a concern, an optimal size might be much larger. Now, the total finances permit only about a 25 mil spend - if even that.
At present it might make sense to keep as much of this fund intact, to be able to make the bids for the Lot Market. This is a huge leverage risk (place hundreds of bids for items that one neither wants to buy nor has the money to, except 1-2 at a time max) but with careful design, a formula can be made that minimises the possibility to become the buyer, and if it should happen, ensures that the place is worth at least the amount paid. The reason why this is done is the King's challenge with items prizes. Every 10 mil cartload of items is a major bonus to a poor Knight Martti, and several will be raffled in a quick succession.
Martti's dreams about the coronet and participation to the coronation are becoming true. The coronet style of his own devision is "Silver band 200 CKS, 8 pearls raised, sapphire honor point". This will cost about 150*IC plus the gem, so in total perhaps 15 mil. One might question if investing half a middle class home to a single-use item is sensible. Martti places his trust on the faithfulness of the King, who promised that it pays off to show up.
Many other thinkings and calculations were made as the day abruptly started to shine on Martti.
lauantai 23. huhtikuuta 2016
November 1636 - Day 103
After a long time of, permit me to say, "feeling such that the best days of the life are either behind or in a distant and uncertain future", Martti feels better when he is informed to have won 370 bottles of a selection of wines in the King's raffle where the tickets were given to the holders of asks and highest bids in the Lot market, one for each such position.
Martti's hack was lame but powerful in its simplicity. When the contest was announced (full text below)
To quickly populate the Lots Ask/Bid market, during the following days starting from now, King will give item prizes to the highest bidder or the (lowest) ask of a random lot. Listing everything you can for sale, and especially placing the highest bid promptly, you have the best chance to help the liquidity of the game and earn your share of the prizes worth 100+ mil. Also legitimate lot trades are eligible to win prizes!
, Martti figured that King is in haste with getting this done, and placing bids and asks should be done quickly. The prizes to be gifted each round can amount to ~20 mil, so winning even once is to win in a lottery. (Prize was worth about 10 mil only, hinting that the rounds may come quite often to let the King dispose of his promised 100 mil).
So every lot was furnished with a 1.0 mil bid, except those in 1-SE that have a backlog in taxes, not a showstopper for a serious buyer, but too much to pay for Martti, who does not have money and is not interested in buying land, just to gain the prizes promised.
The balance was negative, which was surprising, but the reason was that NPC salaries were paid already. It was only slightly negative, because a few of the suits had sold. Now is a chance to sell a few more before the NPCC annual evaluation. And of course list the wines and why not start drinking them as well! In 2 months, Martti will be 30, so not a spring chicken anymore. In the game design plans, wines would belong to the daily menu of characters over 35, and spirits to those over 65.
Quite a number of items were listed for sale but the market did not bear any selling to the bids. Therefore, the negative balance once again prevented the placing of bids. Martti would have checked the pricing of tailors (yes, masochistic but perhaps the sun will rise to the business at a later day) and started to acquire IC for the coronet, and possibly to buy (or at least place bids) for Ming China, and order a carriage (! - but it is needed in the Coronation) and another horse, possibly a H2 to make the carriage look about even with the existing H3. And RAF-2 to gain at least one gemstone out of the total stock of 380, consisting of 13 different types.
All these plans require money, and despite the advertisement and the honestly good price of the lot, it has not gone yet. Heart bleeding, Martti lowers the price to 39 mil. For a 225 sqm south/east facing beauty, talking distance from the OT wall in the People's Borough (22), it is not much.
Martti's hack was lame but powerful in its simplicity. When the contest was announced (full text below)
To quickly populate the Lots Ask/Bid market, during the following days starting from now, King will give item prizes to the highest bidder or the (lowest) ask of a random lot. Listing everything you can for sale, and especially placing the highest bid promptly, you have the best chance to help the liquidity of the game and earn your share of the prizes worth 100+ mil. Also legitimate lot trades are eligible to win prizes!
, Martti figured that King is in haste with getting this done, and placing bids and asks should be done quickly. The prizes to be gifted each round can amount to ~20 mil, so winning even once is to win in a lottery. (Prize was worth about 10 mil only, hinting that the rounds may come quite often to let the King dispose of his promised 100 mil).
So every lot was furnished with a 1.0 mil bid, except those in 1-SE that have a backlog in taxes, not a showstopper for a serious buyer, but too much to pay for Martti, who does not have money and is not interested in buying land, just to gain the prizes promised.
The balance was negative, which was surprising, but the reason was that NPC salaries were paid already. It was only slightly negative, because a few of the suits had sold. Now is a chance to sell a few more before the NPCC annual evaluation. And of course list the wines and why not start drinking them as well! In 2 months, Martti will be 30, so not a spring chicken anymore. In the game design plans, wines would belong to the daily menu of characters over 35, and spirits to those over 65.
Quite a number of items were listed for sale but the market did not bear any selling to the bids. Therefore, the negative balance once again prevented the placing of bids. Martti would have checked the pricing of tailors (yes, masochistic but perhaps the sun will rise to the business at a later day) and started to acquire IC for the coronet, and possibly to buy (or at least place bids) for Ming China, and order a carriage (! - but it is needed in the Coronation) and another horse, possibly a H2 to make the carriage look about even with the existing H3. And RAF-2 to gain at least one gemstone out of the total stock of 380, consisting of 13 different types.
All these plans require money, and despite the advertisement and the honestly good price of the lot, it has not gone yet. Heart bleeding, Martti lowers the price to 39 mil. For a 225 sqm south/east facing beauty, talking distance from the OT wall in the People's Borough (22), it is not much.
perjantai 22. huhtikuuta 2016
September 1636 - Day 102
Tailor business is ruthless - the price of WOS-G has sank to 290k, and it costs 500k to make it. The situation is not any better in WOS-F and only a little better in WOS-E1. The only consumer of clothes, by and large, are the NPCC accounts, and they invariably seem to leave the Moth to be the tailor's problem. The result is not only loss of production but also that payday is only every 3rd year!!
Luckily, the Buildings module is in its final fixes, and the Lot trading is already enabled (after being locked for 8 years). It is boosted by the new lot listing, which allows searching lots by chapelry and sorting them in the order of ascending price per square meter, for instance. If only there was anyone who sorely needed land... For our meager number of PC, the town is vast (literally consisting of more chapelries than PCs) and land is plentiful.
Martti listed his heirloom, the lot in B.22 for sale for 44 mil, and bought adspace to advertise it. The price, 19 mil/q (0.19 per sqm) is really affordable, just that the buyer needs to be found.
Money is needed for instance for the coronet, which is required in order to attend the Coronation in 1640.
Luckily, the Buildings module is in its final fixes, and the Lot trading is already enabled (after being locked for 8 years). It is boosted by the new lot listing, which allows searching lots by chapelry and sorting them in the order of ascending price per square meter, for instance. If only there was anyone who sorely needed land... For our meager number of PC, the town is vast (literally consisting of more chapelries than PCs) and land is plentiful.
Martti listed his heirloom, the lot in B.22 for sale for 44 mil, and bought adspace to advertise it. The price, 19 mil/q (0.19 per sqm) is really affordable, just that the buyer needs to be found.
Money is needed for instance for the coronet, which is required in order to attend the Coronation in 1640.
keskiviikko 20. huhtikuuta 2016
May 1636 - Day 100
The hundreth day, definitely a great milestone in the life of one who is aiming to live about 3 times that in total. Martti's youth was in the beginning characterised by rapid economic growth and shrewd trades, the latest years shadowed by health difficulties that luckily are of temporary nature.
The project of getting rid of pigs is completed. Some DIS still remain. Balance is now back in the positive, and Martti took advantage of it by placing bids for the RAF-2. It is still in the memory that he made a relative killing with RAF-1 when they were traded in 1622.
The project of getting rid of pigs is completed. Some DIS still remain. Balance is now back in the positive, and Martti took advantage of it by placing bids for the RAF-2. It is still in the memory that he made a relative killing with RAF-1 when they were traded in 1622.
maanantai 18. huhtikuuta 2016
January 1636 - Day 98
Days - nay - years, have gone by with the mysterious and debilitating disease Martti was condemned to suffer. However, since only death and taxes are permanent (and even death not really so, since the character lives on in the offspring), Martti is finally getting his stuff in order.
He does not even dare to guess the situation of the health challenge, and will only learn that a little later.
Business with the suits needs to be checked and the suits put for sale.
Plans to get enough more money to pay back the previous loans is also important. This needs to be done before the earlier loans come due.
What Martti did not realise when he as ennobled is that he will lose the right to have DIS and PIG (in addition to losing the income he did realise he will lose), and also he cannot utilise the 250 sqm lot in B.4 for wood building (they are only for commoners).
The DIS/PIG need to be sold and care taken to own a blue suit, unless Martti turns to Military completely, which he may indicate by selling all suits except grays.
Which he cannot do if he is a tailor shop owner and a merchant.
And the new King, rpietila II, has urged every noble to get a pistol (PIS) or 2. This will cost 7.75 mil at present, not a small money (Martti's sword cost about half that, and was a multi-year effort to acquire).
...
The disposing of DIS and PIG started well with one of one and two of the other sold at a reasonable price. The rest are listed for sale. There has to be a certain degree of civil dis-instantly-obedience with getting rid of them, as otherwise it would be a prohibitively bad deal. On the other hand, being lazy to dispose of them entails fines :(
Money is still -4 mil so Martti finished the VEGs from previous year and wishes the suits to turn out cash flow soon.
He does not even dare to guess the situation of the health challenge, and will only learn that a little later.
Business with the suits needs to be checked and the suits put for sale.
Plans to get enough more money to pay back the previous loans is also important. This needs to be done before the earlier loans come due.
What Martti did not realise when he as ennobled is that he will lose the right to have DIS and PIG (in addition to losing the income he did realise he will lose), and also he cannot utilise the 250 sqm lot in B.4 for wood building (they are only for commoners).
The DIS/PIG need to be sold and care taken to own a blue suit, unless Martti turns to Military completely, which he may indicate by selling all suits except grays.
Which he cannot do if he is a tailor shop owner and a merchant.
And the new King, rpietila II, has urged every noble to get a pistol (PIS) or 2. This will cost 7.75 mil at present, not a small money (Martti's sword cost about half that, and was a multi-year effort to acquire).
...
The disposing of DIS and PIG started well with one of one and two of the other sold at a reasonable price. The rest are listed for sale. There has to be a certain degree of civil dis-instantly-obedience with getting rid of them, as otherwise it would be a prohibitively bad deal. On the other hand, being lazy to dispose of them entails fines :(
Money is still -4 mil so Martti finished the VEGs from previous year and wishes the suits to turn out cash flow soon.
lauantai 9. huhtikuuta 2016
November 1634 - Day 89
Martti has been plagued by the illness, on the verge of consciousness for the whole year.
Waking up, possibly for a short time only, he sees the balance at -19 million, which demands immediate attention lest it is not possible to buy food.
Unable to think clearly, Martti first consumes inefficiently 200*MEAD and VEG and MEAT, which he has produced himself, and only then realises that the suits whose production has been the cause for the deficit, can be sold. Selling mostly to bids (which are high as the NPCC need suits for their final scoring), Martti manages himself 4 mil positive.
The horse had been upgraded to H3 "Good Horse" in the recent promotion, which feels good. The shares of S-B22B are not moving in the markets so Martti dumps them to the bid, making his balance up to 7 mil.
In the last desperate attempt to combat the health challenge, 200*CAN is bought from the ask and consumed. Still, the result is that Significant challenge is left after all the quotas are fully used (the first time for Martti by the way).
As an effect of heavy CAN use, Martti's Wisdom was increased to 6. Wisdom is an important consideration in commoner promotions, which do not concern Martti anymore as he was recently Knighted and is therefore a minor noble already. It is an important consideration in noble promotions as well, though.
Waking up, possibly for a short time only, he sees the balance at -19 million, which demands immediate attention lest it is not possible to buy food.
Unable to think clearly, Martti first consumes inefficiently 200*MEAD and VEG and MEAT, which he has produced himself, and only then realises that the suits whose production has been the cause for the deficit, can be sold. Selling mostly to bids (which are high as the NPCC need suits for their final scoring), Martti manages himself 4 mil positive.
The horse had been upgraded to H3 "Good Horse" in the recent promotion, which feels good. The shares of S-B22B are not moving in the markets so Martti dumps them to the bid, making his balance up to 7 mil.
In the last desperate attempt to combat the health challenge, 200*CAN is bought from the ask and consumed. Still, the result is that Significant challenge is left after all the quotas are fully used (the first time for Martti by the way).
As an effect of heavy CAN use, Martti's Wisdom was increased to 6. Wisdom is an important consideration in commoner promotions, which do not concern Martti anymore as he was recently Knighted and is therefore a minor noble already. It is an important consideration in noble promotions as well, though.
lauantai 2. huhtikuuta 2016
November 1633 - Day 82
Oh dear, oh dear.. what happened?? Martti was walking on a back alley and suddenly he wakes up so that a year has passed, still in bed and in pains..? :(
He feels quite massively hungry, types HEALTH and is shocked to see the response:
"Your remaining health challenge is Brutal."
Brutal is the worst health challenge, and especially bad it is because the full brutality is not knowable, so the planning how to combat it most (cost-)effectively needs to be done with insufficient information. It is only when the consume results have flipped the remaining challenge to the side of Severe, when you know that you have about that much left, which you used to get as the totality of your challenge.
Since the fever and bad feeling effectively hinder from updating market offers, it is good that at least eating and drinking feel very natural. The unfortunate thing is that the health challenge is indeed quite brutal - after 200*CAN and 100*MEAD (leaving only 200 foods and 100 drinks quota left), it is still Brutal.
Adding to the misery is the -5 mil balance that disables purchases unless property is liquidated speedily. Cold sweat is rising to Martti's brow as he contemplates the options. He finds 48*VEG and eats them, with the result of the remaining health challenge flipping to Severe.
In the midst of trying to make sense of his outstanding offers in the Agora Market, Martti collapses again.
He feels quite massively hungry, types HEALTH and is shocked to see the response:
"Your remaining health challenge is Brutal."
Brutal is the worst health challenge, and especially bad it is because the full brutality is not knowable, so the planning how to combat it most (cost-)effectively needs to be done with insufficient information. It is only when the consume results have flipped the remaining challenge to the side of Severe, when you know that you have about that much left, which you used to get as the totality of your challenge.
Since the fever and bad feeling effectively hinder from updating market offers, it is good that at least eating and drinking feel very natural. The unfortunate thing is that the health challenge is indeed quite brutal - after 200*CAN and 100*MEAD (leaving only 200 foods and 100 drinks quota left), it is still Brutal.
Adding to the misery is the -5 mil balance that disables purchases unless property is liquidated speedily. Cold sweat is rising to Martti's brow as he contemplates the options. He finds 48*VEG and eats them, with the result of the remaining health challenge flipping to Severe.
In the midst of trying to make sense of his outstanding offers in the Agora Market, Martti collapses again.
lauantai 26. maaliskuuta 2016
November 1632 - Day 73-75
Wish that Martti could say he is getting better healthwise, but that is not really true :( Fever is a companion for nearly a year in a row now, nothing that they sell in the Prince of OZ "medical center" seems to help, strength is just enough to allow to extend an arm towards a cup of something nice to drink, and it does not taste anything anyway, and the "warm fuzzy feeling" often sought from drinking is present with or without it, and accompanied with several types of pain.
Just as Martti was blessing himself for having houses and funds and even a servant to take care of him, unlike the ones who live and die on the "streets" (nobody does it literally, because there are so many shelters in the town, Martti also started from one) - a boy comes to tell the news: The King (who has been affected by the same disease) feels his time has come and is giving a final farewell in the Central Square. Martti did not know the king, and calculated that he has such a plentiful number of closer people around him that going to the outer circle might not be useful.
Martti is young and does not know that dying people are usually very alone when still dying. Once dead, however, they start to receive visitors in increasing numbers. Even Martti feels it's normal to pay homage to the dead body of the former king, but was hesitating to chat with him when he was living (or dying). Life is funny, and death especially, if you start to think about it.
So, the King is dead. And Martti is suffering from the same. And since it is contagious, next year quite a few will found some difficult health challenges to cope with.
The severity of the condition prohibits thinking and planning. This is the reason today's blog is again void of practical matters.
Just as Martti was blessing himself for having houses and funds and even a servant to take care of him, unlike the ones who live and die on the "streets" (nobody does it literally, because there are so many shelters in the town, Martti also started from one) - a boy comes to tell the news: The King (who has been affected by the same disease) feels his time has come and is giving a final farewell in the Central Square. Martti did not know the king, and calculated that he has such a plentiful number of closer people around him that going to the outer circle might not be useful.
Martti is young and does not know that dying people are usually very alone when still dying. Once dead, however, they start to receive visitors in increasing numbers. Even Martti feels it's normal to pay homage to the dead body of the former king, but was hesitating to chat with him when he was living (or dying). Life is funny, and death especially, if you start to think about it.
So, the King is dead. And Martti is suffering from the same. And since it is contagious, next year quite a few will found some difficult health challenges to cope with.
The severity of the condition prohibits thinking and planning. This is the reason today's blog is again void of practical matters.
keskiviikko 23. maaliskuuta 2016
May 1632 - Day 71-72
A flu, worse than anything Martti had ever experienced or even thought was possible, caught him before Christmas and has been tormenting him since. It is a new, intolerable suffering to not being able to drink, smoke, think, or speak (a month without uttering but a few words, and them out of necessity being "get the hell out of here" combined with a minute of infernal coughing).
In the midst of this agony, Martti's waiter announces that he heard Martti was Knighted (administratively, without granting him knighthood in a specific chivalric order). Martti is dumbfounded. He was considering this a possibility when he was suffering the troubles of the Dragon Quest, but the dragon cheated in the first encounter, and nothing happened once Martti came back.
So his idea turned back to the Master (L6) route, which would allow about 10-15 more years of salaries. Under the current system, nobles do not receive any salary, so the difference between getting Baronized via Knight (L11) is 15 mil less money than via Master.
Because it is the 200th anniversary of the throne room, a largish number of commoners were ennobled and nobles promoted (8 in total). ChrisPop was also knighted and Red Erin is finally officially Baroness, after the King had promised this to happen to all the Manor lords long time ago. It is rumored that Martti's promotion was because of the dragon quest after all, and Sir Crichton had been soliciting the idea to the King.
Martti opts for being called Knight Martti for now. Sir Martti sounds too preposterous. Blue suit he already has, and is aiming to keep the ancient red one as well, considering in his mind that owning a blue suit is enough in this situation, it is still possible to wear red in business. Martti also considers keeping a servant grey set for the quests.
Being unable to think, suits very badly with trying to fix the bids and asks, so Martti gives up after a quarter-hour of useless trying. He is happy to see the M balance at 10 mil though, which will allow more business when the strength and clarity comes back.
maanantai 21. maaliskuuta 2016
January 1631 - Day 70
Martti is 25! Health is Good and Wisdom is 5. As was discussed in the previous posts, the financials are in good order. It is only if you get entangled with too short term, you start to panic or lose the big picture.
Becoming Earl will probably be more difficult even, than to get the 1,000 mil. Or at least it requires that the game "opens" to much more players during the time (which of course is planned). Because not everyone can be an Earl, the originally quite modest requirements have crept up so that few earls even have only 1,000 mil in assets!
Upon checking his belongings, Martti notices some wine bottles, bought as merchandise, but difficult to sell on. Wine is special in that most things either clearly increase in value by paying dividends etc. (CON), or have a fixed price and spoil annually (MEAD), but Wines (20 different exist) are an investment early during the life, and become a liability in the latter part because they spoil as a one-time event and turn undrinkable.
Of such large selection, everyone finds a suitable wine for him and Martti could very well start considering as well. W1620 ask is as low as 13k per bottle, so it should already trump beer-drinking. How? Wines are believed to be about twice as healthy as beer, and the W1620 is 14/20 points, 11 years old French wine, so nothing to be sneered at. Its only disadvantage is too large stock levels in relation to the fact that the wine will start declining now. So clearance sale. The rest of the claim is proven by varietyBonus that is up to 4.0 if only 1 bottle is consumed.
With the believed 2:1 health ratio and observed 13:3 price ratio, and assuming that BEER is anyway consumed so much that its frequencyBonus is completely used, it makes sense to consume W1620 until its frequencyBonus marginal benefit goes below 2.17. In this case it happens already at 4 bottles for not much gain, but the formula is good to keep in mind and low bids placed, which change the dynamics much more (even at the current bid = 10k buy price, the optimal consume threshold is 12 bottles already).
Becoming Earl will probably be more difficult even, than to get the 1,000 mil. Or at least it requires that the game "opens" to much more players during the time (which of course is planned). Because not everyone can be an Earl, the originally quite modest requirements have crept up so that few earls even have only 1,000 mil in assets!
Upon checking his belongings, Martti notices some wine bottles, bought as merchandise, but difficult to sell on. Wine is special in that most things either clearly increase in value by paying dividends etc. (CON), or have a fixed price and spoil annually (MEAD), but Wines (20 different exist) are an investment early during the life, and become a liability in the latter part because they spoil as a one-time event and turn undrinkable.
Of such large selection, everyone finds a suitable wine for him and Martti could very well start considering as well. W1620 ask is as low as 13k per bottle, so it should already trump beer-drinking. How? Wines are believed to be about twice as healthy as beer, and the W1620 is 14/20 points, 11 years old French wine, so nothing to be sneered at. Its only disadvantage is too large stock levels in relation to the fact that the wine will start declining now. So clearance sale. The rest of the claim is proven by varietyBonus that is up to 4.0 if only 1 bottle is consumed.
With the believed 2:1 health ratio and observed 13:3 price ratio, and assuming that BEER is anyway consumed so much that its frequencyBonus is completely used, it makes sense to consume W1620 until its frequencyBonus marginal benefit goes below 2.17. In this case it happens already at 4 bottles for not much gain, but the formula is good to keep in mind and low bids placed, which change the dynamics much more (even at the current bid = 10k buy price, the optimal consume threshold is 12 bottles already).
sunnuntai 20. maaliskuuta 2016
December 1631 - Day 69
Martti is on the black! Some of the asks were fulfilled, so the health challenge is much easier to finish :) That does not go further than Moderate, though. Even if the frequency bonus looks insignificant on paper (fully utilised vs. completely neglected: the difference is about 15%), in practice it seems to hurt quite much if one is accustomed to daily consuming and changes practices.
Martti's original loan for the 2 houses in 4-NW from the (current) Prince Noms is 15.7 mil payable in 1640. The he has a loan from Marquess of Rome, 18.8 mil in 1642. Finally he is also in a loose partnership with the same, and has a facility of 20 mil. So when admiring Martti's riches, the 54.5 mil debt is to be duly taken into account as well.
It is a good time to count the money, and ascertain if the retirements and moth-eaten suits actually were a devastating blow to the finances, or just looked like one:
1. Martti has 4 lots:
- 2 small houses. When wood building comes, these will probably become a liability with no bonuses to the likely new owners, so it makes more sense to bulldoze them and build wood in their place. But if this is the fate, the land will need to compete in the market with Town free land, and the value of the stone and windows retrieved is only about 3 mil per house.
- The larger 250 sqm free land lot will probably become Martti's residence for a while - unless he becomes ennobled first - to tap into the commoner bonuses.
- 22-N-D13, the "joker in the deck": this lot is 225 sqm and has a nice east-south facing, +45% chapelry bonus, 50 m from the Playground, and only 150 m from the Barbican, so 300 m from the Most Old Obelisk. Next to this, a landlocked 300 sqm one is asked 100 mil (and not selling). Perhaps a book value of 45 mil is correct, but that does not mean Martti is too keen to sell it yet. On the other side of the wall, price of land is 5x or more.
=> All-in-all, only 50 mil can be attributed to these, as land in B.4 is practically unsalable.
2. Martti employs ("owns") 23 NPCs. This is a quite massive operation in a game that has only ~1,500 NPC. Half of the NPCs are producing loss each year as tehy are in the training levels. Once they promote, profit will be realised.
=> At midprice, the workforce is worth 30 mil.
3. The production shares are worth quite a lot, producing 500*MEAD, 200*MEAT, 100*VEG and 100*CAN annually (1.5 mil worth minimum). Most are not free-trading though, limiting the value (only people who can own them, do not have money to pay for them, and get them for almost free). The 1-S-VE1 will start to have a reasonable valuation soon, so we estimate
=> Production shares are worth 25 mil in total (@ 6% yield).
4. The "Others" category, which might be expanded in another post, contained merchandise, consumables, and Martti's personal valuables. Nothing of gold or silver was found, so far all attempts to save an emergency stash have been rewarded by having immediate use for it.
=> The rest of Martti's items together, are 35 mil.
So, 140 mil in assets and 55 in debt, leaves net worth at 85 mil. Suddenly (in only 68 days out of perhaps 300 available), Martti's lifetime goal of reaching 1,000 mil wealth has become much closer.
The other goal, becoming Earl, is also progressing, at a pace that seems slow unless you forget about it and then look back. Looking back now, Martti has progressed from L2 to L3 to L4 to L5, and has L6, L13 and L14 ahead, (if the "power player track" materialises). In the recent round he was skipped since he did not fulfill the minimum age for Master (25y), and none of the nobles whom Martti had assisted had proposed him Knighted. In the next round, he has been 6 years in L5, and is 27 years, and a quite likely candidate to become Master. There is even a lane named after Martti already!
So, losing several suits and workforce is a terrible blow, but Martti has managed to recover reasonably well. The liquidity position is still precarious but that seems like the correct play, this early in the game.
Martti's original loan for the 2 houses in 4-NW from the (current) Prince Noms is 15.7 mil payable in 1640. The he has a loan from Marquess of Rome, 18.8 mil in 1642. Finally he is also in a loose partnership with the same, and has a facility of 20 mil. So when admiring Martti's riches, the 54.5 mil debt is to be duly taken into account as well.
It is a good time to count the money, and ascertain if the retirements and moth-eaten suits actually were a devastating blow to the finances, or just looked like one:
1. Martti has 4 lots:
- 2 small houses. When wood building comes, these will probably become a liability with no bonuses to the likely new owners, so it makes more sense to bulldoze them and build wood in their place. But if this is the fate, the land will need to compete in the market with Town free land, and the value of the stone and windows retrieved is only about 3 mil per house.
- The larger 250 sqm free land lot will probably become Martti's residence for a while - unless he becomes ennobled first - to tap into the commoner bonuses.
- 22-N-D13, the "joker in the deck": this lot is 225 sqm and has a nice east-south facing, +45% chapelry bonus, 50 m from the Playground, and only 150 m from the Barbican, so 300 m from the Most Old Obelisk. Next to this, a landlocked 300 sqm one is asked 100 mil (and not selling). Perhaps a book value of 45 mil is correct, but that does not mean Martti is too keen to sell it yet. On the other side of the wall, price of land is 5x or more.
=> All-in-all, only 50 mil can be attributed to these, as land in B.4 is practically unsalable.
2. Martti employs ("owns") 23 NPCs. This is a quite massive operation in a game that has only ~1,500 NPC. Half of the NPCs are producing loss each year as tehy are in the training levels. Once they promote, profit will be realised.
=> At midprice, the workforce is worth 30 mil.
3. The production shares are worth quite a lot, producing 500*MEAD, 200*MEAT, 100*VEG and 100*CAN annually (1.5 mil worth minimum). Most are not free-trading though, limiting the value (only people who can own them, do not have money to pay for them, and get them for almost free). The 1-S-VE1 will start to have a reasonable valuation soon, so we estimate
=> Production shares are worth 25 mil in total (@ 6% yield).
4. The "Others" category, which might be expanded in another post, contained merchandise, consumables, and Martti's personal valuables. Nothing of gold or silver was found, so far all attempts to save an emergency stash have been rewarded by having immediate use for it.
=> The rest of Martti's items together, are 35 mil.
So, 140 mil in assets and 55 in debt, leaves net worth at 85 mil. Suddenly (in only 68 days out of perhaps 300 available), Martti's lifetime goal of reaching 1,000 mil wealth has become much closer.
The other goal, becoming Earl, is also progressing, at a pace that seems slow unless you forget about it and then look back. Looking back now, Martti has progressed from L2 to L3 to L4 to L5, and has L6, L13 and L14 ahead, (if the "power player track" materialises). In the recent round he was skipped since he did not fulfill the minimum age for Master (25y), and none of the nobles whom Martti had assisted had proposed him Knighted. In the next round, he has been 6 years in L5, and is 27 years, and a quite likely candidate to become Master. There is even a lane named after Martti already!
So, losing several suits and workforce is a terrible blow, but Martti has managed to recover reasonably well. The liquidity position is still precarious but that seems like the correct play, this early in the game.
lauantai 19. maaliskuuta 2016
November 1631 - Day 67-68
Martti has made a friend: a contemporary of his (both are 24-25 y), Rakshasa has come to town and has already read all of Martti's histories, holds them in high regard, and aims to surpass Martti in progress soon. What could be better! :)
Well, not waking up to a -21 mil balance perhaps... The recent NPC round included the retire&promote part, and 5 of Martti's tailors decided to retire. Only 2 promoted, and 5 suits got eaten by the great moth - the ancient one was spared luckily. To top it up, Labor dumped on quite a number of Martti NPC bids, which of course is good (cheap workforce) but makes the cashflow quite problematic.
Martti's longer term plan was to crunch the numbers of all NPCs with a probabilistic simulation, since none of the essential information of probabilities is hidden. But that will have to wait now - there is urgent business now.
Getting back to the black is not an easy exercise, because few of Martti's items are readily tradable. Even a visit to the Gilded Goose and backroom dealings with antiques was required. After a suit spoil round, at least suits should fly off the shelves, but they don't do it immediately, so asks need to be placed with insight. Even health was difficult to be finished as negative balance forbids placement of bids. A lousy day all in all.
In the larger game side, everyone is still waiting for Buildings, and in the meantime, they got a valuation calculation. The game is worth 1.14 M XMR (about the same in fiat). With the ingame items, a basic rule holds that: larger item marketcap causes better liquidity, which causes its price to go up, and this causes the liquidity to get even better, pushing the yield down. The premier investment, CKG, has had an about 0.3% yield, and CON has about 0.5%.
Loan can be had at 1.5%, and in the trading-intensive, small, risky, younameit, items, yield should far surpass the loan cost. The retirement of so many tailors was devastating, though, and only longer term will prove whether the business was good in the first place. (In the very long term, things will balance out because clothes are always in need.)
Well, not waking up to a -21 mil balance perhaps... The recent NPC round included the retire&promote part, and 5 of Martti's tailors decided to retire. Only 2 promoted, and 5 suits got eaten by the great moth - the ancient one was spared luckily. To top it up, Labor dumped on quite a number of Martti NPC bids, which of course is good (cheap workforce) but makes the cashflow quite problematic.
Martti's longer term plan was to crunch the numbers of all NPCs with a probabilistic simulation, since none of the essential information of probabilities is hidden. But that will have to wait now - there is urgent business now.
Getting back to the black is not an easy exercise, because few of Martti's items are readily tradable. Even a visit to the Gilded Goose and backroom dealings with antiques was required. After a suit spoil round, at least suits should fly off the shelves, but they don't do it immediately, so asks need to be placed with insight. Even health was difficult to be finished as negative balance forbids placement of bids. A lousy day all in all.
In the larger game side, everyone is still waiting for Buildings, and in the meantime, they got a valuation calculation. The game is worth 1.14 M XMR (about the same in fiat). With the ingame items, a basic rule holds that: larger item marketcap causes better liquidity, which causes its price to go up, and this causes the liquidity to get even better, pushing the yield down. The premier investment, CKG, has had an about 0.3% yield, and CON has about 0.5%.
Loan can be had at 1.5%, and in the trading-intensive, small, risky, younameit, items, yield should far surpass the loan cost. The retirement of so many tailors was devastating, though, and only longer term will prove whether the business was good in the first place. (In the very long term, things will balance out because clothes are always in need.)
torstai 17. maaliskuuta 2016
July 1631 - Day 66
Quick login, aaaand... the funds are UP! In the times of sluggish demand in many items, this is of course good news, as it allows placing more low bids!
A check of changelog reveals that a few suits were sold, with the most expensive one being a WOS-C1 (orange). It was probably bought before the revaluation, so did not yield a real profit but the price was reasonable nevertheless: 5.39 mil. The tailors that produce this type (TAI-6) cost 1.5 mil salary, and the yield is every two years, so the tailor business still looks like a viable choice. Martti's tailors are still very far from TAI-6, though.. (highest is TAI-2).
The NPC situation was promised for analysis. Some NPC have special meaning (such as army) and Martti has no interest in them since he is not playing those subgames. Others have a fixed payout, but its value may vary (such as tailors). Both IC and SCI midprices have fallen and are still not settled, so buying NPC that produce them, might end up being good or bad foresight. Having low bids just in case someone dumps them, lowers the risk, but it is also true that in certain market conditions, certain NPC just don't catch a bid and need to be fired instead to cut the losses.
Out of many analysed, Martti finds COOK-1 to be reasonable value even at ask (1.5 mil), because it has good promotion chances to COOK-2, which produces straight money. Three were hired and bid placed if anyone wants to part with (which is very unlikely as the "ancient" ones have long since promoted). COOK-2 also has a bid now.
S-B22B also requires analysis. Martti's back-of-the-envelope says that the corporation is able to quarry 50 million stone at an average 20 m profit (for 1,000 mil profit from operations). In addition, 1,000 mil is already realised from selling land, and 2,000 mil is possible. Divided by the sharecount (3,400), this gives the price of 1.18 mil per share, neatly between bid and ask (1.3/0.8). Seems that the others can count as well. - Oh sorry, it appears that Martti already held both the best bid and ask...
The NPC situation was promised for analysis. Some NPC have special meaning (such as army) and Martti has no interest in them since he is not playing those subgames. Others have a fixed payout, but its value may vary (such as tailors). Both IC and SCI midprices have fallen and are still not settled, so buying NPC that produce them, might end up being good or bad foresight. Having low bids just in case someone dumps them, lowers the risk, but it is also true that in certain market conditions, certain NPC just don't catch a bid and need to be fired instead to cut the losses.
Out of many analysed, Martti finds COOK-1 to be reasonable value even at ask (1.5 mil), because it has good promotion chances to COOK-2, which produces straight money. Three were hired and bid placed if anyone wants to part with (which is very unlikely as the "ancient" ones have long since promoted). COOK-2 also has a bid now.
S-B22B also requires analysis. Martti's back-of-the-envelope says that the corporation is able to quarry 50 million stone at an average 20 m profit (for 1,000 mil profit from operations). In addition, 1,000 mil is already realised from selling land, and 2,000 mil is possible. Divided by the sharecount (3,400), this gives the price of 1.18 mil per share, neatly between bid and ask (1.3/0.8). Seems that the others can count as well. - Oh sorry, it appears that Martti already held both the best bid and ask...
So yes, soem cooks were purchased, and the tailor bids updated. That is it for now, until Sir Crichton wants to go and slay the dragon again. Then the business concerns will need to be put aside!
Tilaa:
Blogitekstit (Atom)