Colony Builder: The Stolen Lands (Riot Quest)
- Thread starter Abydon
- Start date
- Original
Nicodemus Fain claims some land for a lumbermill
Rockeye
Plausible Engineer
- Location
- Midwestern U.S.
There's a word for this feeling. The miserable, glorious, sheer size of the world. Of the oceans.
Awe.
How many days had he stared across the sea, that endless sky beneath the sky? The patterns in the ripples and flows... There is something grand about the world. Water and sky stretch on, seemingly forever. It's so very large that even that word, 'large', fails to contain it. Can even the gods themselves measure up to this? The overwhelming wonder, a world so vast that not even the greatest hero could hope to see it all, with every nook and dale full of magic and secrets. They created everything, didn't they? Or something like that. Nick never really got the chance to study theology. Perhaps he would have made a good sailor, rather than a woodsman.
But, well. They spotted land a bit ago, and everyone got very very excited. He went below decks to avoid the pressing crowd. He'd be able to see it up close, soon enough. No sense making a fuss over it now, and better to go sort out what few supplies and materials he has left.
Arrangements with the Graf and Father Harald had long been made- His intent to build a lumber mill, and passable ability at carpentry demonstrated by helping out with ship repairs, has secured permission to claim a lot on the small island the claim will be starting out on. He's ashore almost as soon as the first boats are down, vanishing into the woods in a slow, measured path. Trying to get a feel for the area. And trying to think of the medium and long term. Half of the work of a lumber mill is getting the logs and product where they need to go, and for that end building it at the top of a hill would obviously be stupid. It needs a plot along the coast for better access to boats or barges once things are established, or ideally along the singular small river, where a watermill can power the saw the way he's familiar with, instead of weird magical methods...
Along the river means close to the port town. The island just is not that large, and the town is obviously going to be on the river too, for easy access to water. But he doesn't need to be right up close to it. For the first couple of days, Nick spends time getting to know the length of the river. He camps on an improvised lean-to the first night. Watching the local flora and fauna, learning the scents and sounds, identifying the surprisingly familiar tree species... Setting a few snares here and there, and fording the river in two different places, trying to judge how difficult it would be to navigate a barge up and down.
He sketches a map as he goes. It's probably not very accurate, and he admits as much when presenting it to the Graf with his intended plot, later, but it's something. He puts a bit more effort into the sketches and plans for the lumber mill, including a written argument that the sooner it becomes operational the sooner everyone else will have easier access to cut lumber for building. He has the metal tooling required in storage on the ship, still, after all, and if the plot he's marked out with stones in the woods and on his sketched map is a bit larger than one small sawhouse would take up... Well, that's the privilege of the early arriver, to an extent.
He probably won't spend all his time there. A safe place, a productive industry? To a lot of peasants back in the homeland, that would be paradise. They'd be set for life, once the island is clear of monsters. But it also means involvement with the port town and petty politics, eventually. Taxes. People. Already he feels itchy thinking about it, and just knows that he'll need to leave and prowl the Stolen Lands instead, eventually. There are a lot of farmers and laborers along on the first boat. The kind of people willing to make a dangerous journey but without especially notable skills. He'll hire a few to work the mill and cut trees, if it comes to that... Though there are only so many trees on the island. Maybe some sort of growth charm to speed them back, eventually?
Bah. That's all for later. For now, he can just walk, and feel the soil beneath his boots and hear the water flowing over rocks and the splashing of fish, and smell the sometimes-pleasant-sometimes-repulsive scent of untouched wild forest, annoying low scrub that gets everywhere and will be a pain to clear, and all.
Awe.
How many days had he stared across the sea, that endless sky beneath the sky? The patterns in the ripples and flows... There is something grand about the world. Water and sky stretch on, seemingly forever. It's so very large that even that word, 'large', fails to contain it. Can even the gods themselves measure up to this? The overwhelming wonder, a world so vast that not even the greatest hero could hope to see it all, with every nook and dale full of magic and secrets. They created everything, didn't they? Or something like that. Nick never really got the chance to study theology. Perhaps he would have made a good sailor, rather than a woodsman.
But, well. They spotted land a bit ago, and everyone got very very excited. He went below decks to avoid the pressing crowd. He'd be able to see it up close, soon enough. No sense making a fuss over it now, and better to go sort out what few supplies and materials he has left.
Arrangements with the Graf and Father Harald had long been made- His intent to build a lumber mill, and passable ability at carpentry demonstrated by helping out with ship repairs, has secured permission to claim a lot on the small island the claim will be starting out on. He's ashore almost as soon as the first boats are down, vanishing into the woods in a slow, measured path. Trying to get a feel for the area. And trying to think of the medium and long term. Half of the work of a lumber mill is getting the logs and product where they need to go, and for that end building it at the top of a hill would obviously be stupid. It needs a plot along the coast for better access to boats or barges once things are established, or ideally along the singular small river, where a watermill can power the saw the way he's familiar with, instead of weird magical methods...
Along the river means close to the port town. The island just is not that large, and the town is obviously going to be on the river too, for easy access to water. But he doesn't need to be right up close to it. For the first couple of days, Nick spends time getting to know the length of the river. He camps on an improvised lean-to the first night. Watching the local flora and fauna, learning the scents and sounds, identifying the surprisingly familiar tree species... Setting a few snares here and there, and fording the river in two different places, trying to judge how difficult it would be to navigate a barge up and down.
He sketches a map as he goes. It's probably not very accurate, and he admits as much when presenting it to the Graf with his intended plot, later, but it's something. He puts a bit more effort into the sketches and plans for the lumber mill, including a written argument that the sooner it becomes operational the sooner everyone else will have easier access to cut lumber for building. He has the metal tooling required in storage on the ship, still, after all, and if the plot he's marked out with stones in the woods and on his sketched map is a bit larger than one small sawhouse would take up... Well, that's the privilege of the early arriver, to an extent.
He probably won't spend all his time there. A safe place, a productive industry? To a lot of peasants back in the homeland, that would be paradise. They'd be set for life, once the island is clear of monsters. But it also means involvement with the port town and petty politics, eventually. Taxes. People. Already he feels itchy thinking about it, and just knows that he'll need to leave and prowl the Stolen Lands instead, eventually. There are a lot of farmers and laborers along on the first boat. The kind of people willing to make a dangerous journey but without especially notable skills. He'll hire a few to work the mill and cut trees, if it comes to that... Though there are only so many trees on the island. Maybe some sort of growth charm to speed them back, eventually?
Bah. That's all for later. For now, he can just walk, and feel the soil beneath his boots and hear the water flowing over rocks and the splashing of fish, and smell the sometimes-pleasant-sometimes-repulsive scent of untouched wild forest, annoying low scrub that gets everywhere and will be a pain to clear, and all.
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So did Amidis win the bud for the land?
Rockeye
Plausible Engineer
- Location
- Midwestern U.S.
All five characters who attempted to claim land won the bid for the land, since there are five slots. Maybe bidding down on it gets you the BEST plot? Idk.
I think secret bidding would be a good idea in future. I certainly don't want to watch this thread 24/7 for claim jumpers or w/e.
I think secret bidding would be a good idea in future. I certainly don't want to watch this thread 24/7 for claim jumpers or w/e.
I think part of the process is how committed are you to what you want to accomplish.
If you really want to make your action happen, then you're free to bid like you mean it. If you're willing to wait, then you'll acquire a bank of tokens that if you want you could pay out at levels that can't be met by people who are just relying on their turn-by-turn token income.
It turns out I didn't need to bid all 12 of the core tokens I'll be getting this turn, but I'm not going to complain about it because I really wanted to ensure that I could score one of those land claims (and I probably needed to given that unlike the other teams I don't have an NPC leader to claim land on my behalf).
EDIT: Also,
@Abydon Am I correct in presuming there are a few NPC members of the Guardians of Light present and that it's not just Tyrah, the ship, and (now) the claimed land?
If you really want to make your action happen, then you're free to bid like you mean it. If you're willing to wait, then you'll acquire a bank of tokens that if you want you could pay out at levels that can't be met by people who are just relying on their turn-by-turn token income.
It turns out I didn't need to bid all 12 of the core tokens I'll be getting this turn, but I'm not going to complain about it because I really wanted to ensure that I could score one of those land claims (and I probably needed to given that unlike the other teams I don't have an NPC leader to claim land on my behalf).
EDIT: Also,
@Abydon Am I correct in presuming there are a few NPC members of the Guardians of Light present and that it's not just Tyrah, the ship, and (now) the claimed land?
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Yes, all characters who attempted to claim land were successful. There were no rolls and only 5 claimants so the bids were only relevant if we had a 6th and it became competitive.
Alright, I'll add that vote to the next post and if people agree I'll create a secret bidding system in a way that doesn't make it a headache for me.
Yes. All factions contain minor NPCs that perform day-to-day administrative and non-story-time worthy tasks.
Thinking about it, since I basically have free reign to decided the Guardian's strategic action for the turn, what with playing both the leader and sole member, I'm probably better off waiting until I've at least decided on a strategic action (or at minimum, learned how those actually work) to write an IC post so I can better incorporate all that stuff together.
Stategic Actions, Summer (Turn 1), Year 0
Intro is gonna be short since its 1600 words and 11pmish. Will fix any mistakes/issues this weekend.
A new era dawns in the Stolen Lands as the scramble for the West has begun.
The Empire of Man, led by the Kaiser, has sent several expeditions to claim a central band known to its hunters and explorers to be filled with riches of a magical nature. The Graf believes that his position on a vital trade artery will allow him to skim the cream of the crop in both funds and colonists to give him a strong hand in this world overrun by monsters warped by the magical emanations of the fissures that lead into the Underdark.
The Dominion of Melkor, loyal to Orcus and part of why the Cult is tolerated in the Empire, serves their dark master directly south of these expeditions. They are inherently hostile to the Empire, and violence will come soon enough. Undeath and magic on Melkor's scale is a horrible blight on any land, and the Graf believes the warped but otherwise natural creatures of the Stolen Lands will react and do their best to crush the undead infestation.
To the north is the Republic of Venice's expeditions. Their primary interest in the world is coin, and the Stolen Lands are rich in potential profits if one can break into the interior and secure the route back to transport the goods that grow there. The question is, will many merchants cut their losses before they succeed? Only time will tell.
Ultimately, a decision must be made whether to antagonize these rivals or ignore them until they bite you. The Graf is neutral on the topic, seeing advantages and disadvantages to both options and seeks the counsel of the most capable colonists to decide the matter.
Switch to a Hidden Bid Webpage (OOC Poll)
[][Hidden Bid Page] Yes. This will require an account creation process to prevent abuse but will enable automation of things like bidding so I don't have to sort through 12+ private messages manually a couple of times a week. Plus, it would enable rolling automation. This helps me retain the automation provided by the forum in QM quality of life. Also, it might enable other CYOA projects on sites that don't have built-in voting.
[][Hidden Bid Page] Public bids (current system). There is a risk of claim jumping and needing to monitor the thread. It annoys at least one player, so it's probably a bad idea to continue, but I don't want to play dictator, given that you'll have to go to another page to manage your actions.
Tbh, other than the hassle of the initial coding, a hidden bid submission system would probably allow more players w/o increasing workload too much. We'll see what people want though.
Strategic Activities Vote (Actual IC Vote)
[] Expand gold exports.
The Graf plans to exploit a small vein of gold on the side of the island's lone volcano. This will provide the entire colony with +3 perk tokens (1 per trading ship) from exports but accelerate the vein's depletion. The vein currently has 40 perk tokens worth of material; this is "infinite" for your purposes at the currently planned exploitation level of +1 perk token for the colony. Exploited, you'd have only 10 turns but a much quicker income. Triggers subvote to confirm the colony accepts this course of action from all voters.
[] Develop Suckelberry exports
A minor magical fruit is known to exist from the previous survey of the island. Due to the limited areas it can grow on the island, it would be limited to +1 perk tokens for all players, but it is an effective meal replacement desired by the Empire's military and espionage forces in nearly limitless quantities.
[] Secure the Island: Phase 1
The island is filled with monsters and beasts. While individual characters can take small steps towards this, strategic deployment of actual troops from the garrison backed by civilian militia will make it much easier to speed this process up.
Phase 1 involves removing any noteworthy monster nests that will bring the chance of a serious threat to the garrison developing in the future to 0%.
[] Secure the Island: Phase 2
Set up a network of watch towers and other fortifications throughout the island to guard against the movement of beasts and monsters in numbers that pose a danger to the colony.
This will prevent noteworthy monster nests from returning to the island and prevent anything larger than a single beast or monster from moving unnoticed. As far as a player character (or notable NPC) is concerned, this is "secure" status, as you can solo such creatures with auto success outside of the legendary ones not present on the island.
[] Exploit the Island: Phase 3
Fully deploy the colony's manpower to exploit the island. This provides an additional +1 perk token per turn for the colony in exports of mundane materials—food, lumber, iron, and coal. Useful materials but plenty of it exists elsewhere, the only real advantage is selling this to the other colony operations on the mainland, where securing any of these sorts of things will be a very long-term operation compared to managing in a season or two.
[] Scout the Mainland
There are veteran military scouts and hunters among the colonists. Send a few squads over to the nearest landing sites to spend a month collecting information about where the valuable strategic sites are, what land might be worth securing with walls and permanent settlements, and see if there are any natives you can trade with that aren't legitimate monsters that would eat your flesh while you scream for fun.
[] (Kaiser-unique) Fairhaven Management
---[] Letters of Marque: The Stolen Lands are currently a free-for-all all between several powers that are hostile to each other. This being the case, the Graf can use his authority to prey on your rivals' ships. They plan to do the same to you anyway. +5 Perk tokens to the loyalist faction per member per turn, generate Threats from all opposing powers towards your colony.
---[] Free Port: The Graf can declare Fairhaven to be a Free Port, welcoming trading ships of any flag. This will reduce the risk from pirates and privateers but generate Threat from all opposing powers for enabling the sale of their goods.
---[] Monopoly Power: Exploit the fact you are the last stop for ships to/from the Empire for a few hundred miles to the maximum potential. Generates intra-Empire Threat but provides +5 Perk tokens to each loyalist faction member per turn in tariffs/bribes/etc.
[] (Orcus-unique) Raise Servants
---[] Raise Greater Vampire (Notable NPC with an emphasis on nighttime operations). It requires five perk tokens in faction income to maintain but is a notable NPC character the faction controls collectively. Costs go up the more you raise.
---[] Raise Vampires (Gain bonus to a strategic conflict that involves secretive violence, spec ops, or espionage) Expended when used.
---[] Raise Ghoul Battalion (Gain a bonus to strategic conflicts that involve actual battles). Expended when used.
[] (Odin-unique) Tap Nature
---[] Fertile Lands: Generate +1 perk token per territorial/land claim that involves lumber, crops, or other natural resources being grown.
---[] Foresight: All faction members roll twice and take the better result next turn on their regular and strategic actions.
---[] Tap the Ley Lines: Draw magical power to form into mana gems from the land itself. Can only be used once a year but generates the equivalent of 1000 magical gems (worth +10 perk tokens at the start of the game, divided equally among faction members) that can be used to create magical A-tier items or S-tier when combined with gold.
[] (Hunter-unique) Information Gathering (Free action, required vote)
---[] Imperial Politics in the Colonies: Gather information about rival nations and their colonies. Gather information about allied Empire-controlled colonies.
---[] Mainland Scouting Reports: A less comprehensive version of Scout the Mainland, if taken with Scout the Mainland, provides a broader range of information in the report.
---[] Dungeon Acquisition: Find dungeon sites on the mainland and keep the best secret so you can acquire them yourself at a later date. Provides improved training opportunities to the colony for the ones claimed by other factions/the colony/you make public.
[] (Guardians of Light) Develop a unique faction attribute (Remains locked as your faction option until you choose the faction benefit)
---[] Hunting the Darkness: Specialized bonus vs. Orcus, Necromancy, and other Dark Magical Practitioners (+1 to rolls for faction members against such threats). Provides expanded strategic options to research dark magic and how to counter it.
---[] Hunters of the Unnatural: Generalized bonus vs. native monsters/beasts that provides a +1 roll to all characters in colonies you operate in against such threats due to providing specialized training. Provides strategic options to research the unnatural.
---[] Strategic Thinking: Gain a set of 2 options focused around monster/dark magic hunting each turn as a passive free action similar ot the Hunter faction but based on killing the threat rather than information collection. The threats you eliminate are minor "autosuccess" type stuff but frees up everyone's actions if killed.
People vote based on faction, and non-character voters may vote in one NPC faction (i.e., Hunters, Odin) but not PC factions (i.e., Guardians of Light).
Please Tag your vote as below as if it was a task vote:
[Guardians of Light]
[Odin]
[Orcus]
[Hunter]
[Kaiser Loyalist]
Multiple factions can cooperate on tasks to roll twice, taking the better result so you don't block each other. However, you may want to coordinate the votes.
Task votes are based on faction stats which are hidden and you'll just be getting rough odds (i.e. 15% odds would be rounded to 20%) of success for 1 roll on each task. As this is the tutorial turn, all actions will automatically succeed this turn only.
A new era dawns in the Stolen Lands as the scramble for the West has begun.
The Empire of Man, led by the Kaiser, has sent several expeditions to claim a central band known to its hunters and explorers to be filled with riches of a magical nature. The Graf believes that his position on a vital trade artery will allow him to skim the cream of the crop in both funds and colonists to give him a strong hand in this world overrun by monsters warped by the magical emanations of the fissures that lead into the Underdark.
The Dominion of Melkor, loyal to Orcus and part of why the Cult is tolerated in the Empire, serves their dark master directly south of these expeditions. They are inherently hostile to the Empire, and violence will come soon enough. Undeath and magic on Melkor's scale is a horrible blight on any land, and the Graf believes the warped but otherwise natural creatures of the Stolen Lands will react and do their best to crush the undead infestation.
To the north is the Republic of Venice's expeditions. Their primary interest in the world is coin, and the Stolen Lands are rich in potential profits if one can break into the interior and secure the route back to transport the goods that grow there. The question is, will many merchants cut their losses before they succeed? Only time will tell.
Ultimately, a decision must be made whether to antagonize these rivals or ignore them until they bite you. The Graf is neutral on the topic, seeing advantages and disadvantages to both options and seeks the counsel of the most capable colonists to decide the matter.
Switch to a Hidden Bid Webpage (OOC Poll)
[][Hidden Bid Page] Yes. This will require an account creation process to prevent abuse but will enable automation of things like bidding so I don't have to sort through 12+ private messages manually a couple of times a week. Plus, it would enable rolling automation. This helps me retain the automation provided by the forum in QM quality of life. Also, it might enable other CYOA projects on sites that don't have built-in voting.
[][Hidden Bid Page] Public bids (current system). There is a risk of claim jumping and needing to monitor the thread. It annoys at least one player, so it's probably a bad idea to continue, but I don't want to play dictator, given that you'll have to go to another page to manage your actions.
Tbh, other than the hassle of the initial coding, a hidden bid submission system would probably allow more players w/o increasing workload too much. We'll see what people want though.
Strategic Activities Vote (Actual IC Vote)
[] Expand gold exports.
The Graf plans to exploit a small vein of gold on the side of the island's lone volcano. This will provide the entire colony with +3 perk tokens (1 per trading ship) from exports but accelerate the vein's depletion. The vein currently has 40 perk tokens worth of material; this is "infinite" for your purposes at the currently planned exploitation level of +1 perk token for the colony. Exploited, you'd have only 10 turns but a much quicker income. Triggers subvote to confirm the colony accepts this course of action from all voters.
[] Develop Suckelberry exports
A minor magical fruit is known to exist from the previous survey of the island. Due to the limited areas it can grow on the island, it would be limited to +1 perk tokens for all players, but it is an effective meal replacement desired by the Empire's military and espionage forces in nearly limitless quantities.
[] Secure the Island: Phase 1
The island is filled with monsters and beasts. While individual characters can take small steps towards this, strategic deployment of actual troops from the garrison backed by civilian militia will make it much easier to speed this process up.
Phase 1 involves removing any noteworthy monster nests that will bring the chance of a serious threat to the garrison developing in the future to 0%.
[] Secure the Island: Phase 2
Set up a network of watch towers and other fortifications throughout the island to guard against the movement of beasts and monsters in numbers that pose a danger to the colony.
This will prevent noteworthy monster nests from returning to the island and prevent anything larger than a single beast or monster from moving unnoticed. As far as a player character (or notable NPC) is concerned, this is "secure" status, as you can solo such creatures with auto success outside of the legendary ones not present on the island.
[] Exploit the Island: Phase 3
Fully deploy the colony's manpower to exploit the island. This provides an additional +1 perk token per turn for the colony in exports of mundane materials—food, lumber, iron, and coal. Useful materials but plenty of it exists elsewhere, the only real advantage is selling this to the other colony operations on the mainland, where securing any of these sorts of things will be a very long-term operation compared to managing in a season or two.
[] Scout the Mainland
There are veteran military scouts and hunters among the colonists. Send a few squads over to the nearest landing sites to spend a month collecting information about where the valuable strategic sites are, what land might be worth securing with walls and permanent settlements, and see if there are any natives you can trade with that aren't legitimate monsters that would eat your flesh while you scream for fun.
[] (Kaiser-unique) Fairhaven Management
---[] Letters of Marque: The Stolen Lands are currently a free-for-all all between several powers that are hostile to each other. This being the case, the Graf can use his authority to prey on your rivals' ships. They plan to do the same to you anyway. +5 Perk tokens to the loyalist faction per member per turn, generate Threats from all opposing powers towards your colony.
---[] Free Port: The Graf can declare Fairhaven to be a Free Port, welcoming trading ships of any flag. This will reduce the risk from pirates and privateers but generate Threat from all opposing powers for enabling the sale of their goods.
---[] Monopoly Power: Exploit the fact you are the last stop for ships to/from the Empire for a few hundred miles to the maximum potential. Generates intra-Empire Threat but provides +5 Perk tokens to each loyalist faction member per turn in tariffs/bribes/etc.
[] (Orcus-unique) Raise Servants
---[] Raise Greater Vampire (Notable NPC with an emphasis on nighttime operations). It requires five perk tokens in faction income to maintain but is a notable NPC character the faction controls collectively. Costs go up the more you raise.
---[] Raise Vampires (Gain bonus to a strategic conflict that involves secretive violence, spec ops, or espionage) Expended when used.
---[] Raise Ghoul Battalion (Gain a bonus to strategic conflicts that involve actual battles). Expended when used.
[] (Odin-unique) Tap Nature
---[] Fertile Lands: Generate +1 perk token per territorial/land claim that involves lumber, crops, or other natural resources being grown.
---[] Foresight: All faction members roll twice and take the better result next turn on their regular and strategic actions.
---[] Tap the Ley Lines: Draw magical power to form into mana gems from the land itself. Can only be used once a year but generates the equivalent of 1000 magical gems (worth +10 perk tokens at the start of the game, divided equally among faction members) that can be used to create magical A-tier items or S-tier when combined with gold.
[] (Hunter-unique) Information Gathering (Free action, required vote)
---[] Imperial Politics in the Colonies: Gather information about rival nations and their colonies. Gather information about allied Empire-controlled colonies.
---[] Mainland Scouting Reports: A less comprehensive version of Scout the Mainland, if taken with Scout the Mainland, provides a broader range of information in the report.
---[] Dungeon Acquisition: Find dungeon sites on the mainland and keep the best secret so you can acquire them yourself at a later date. Provides improved training opportunities to the colony for the ones claimed by other factions/the colony/you make public.
[] (Guardians of Light) Develop a unique faction attribute (Remains locked as your faction option until you choose the faction benefit)
---[] Hunting the Darkness: Specialized bonus vs. Orcus, Necromancy, and other Dark Magical Practitioners (+1 to rolls for faction members against such threats). Provides expanded strategic options to research dark magic and how to counter it.
---[] Hunters of the Unnatural: Generalized bonus vs. native monsters/beasts that provides a +1 roll to all characters in colonies you operate in against such threats due to providing specialized training. Provides strategic options to research the unnatural.
---[] Strategic Thinking: Gain a set of 2 options focused around monster/dark magic hunting each turn as a passive free action similar ot the Hunter faction but based on killing the threat rather than information collection. The threats you eliminate are minor "autosuccess" type stuff but frees up everyone's actions if killed.
People vote based on faction, and non-character voters may vote in one NPC faction (i.e., Hunters, Odin) but not PC factions (i.e., Guardians of Light).
Please Tag your vote as below as if it was a task vote:
[Guardians of Light]
[Odin]
[Orcus]
[Hunter]
[Kaiser Loyalist]
Multiple factions can cooperate on tasks to roll twice, taking the better result so you don't block each other. However, you may want to coordinate the votes.
Task votes are based on faction stats which are hidden and you'll just be getting rough odds (i.e. 15% odds would be rounded to 20%) of success for 1 roll on each task. As this is the tutorial turn, all actions will automatically succeed this turn only.
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[X][Hidden Bid Page] Public bids (current system). There is a risk of claim jumping and needing to monitor the thread. It annoys at least one player, so it's probably a bad idea to continue, but I don't want to play dictator, given that you'll have to go to another page to manage your actions.
[X][Orcus] Expand gold exports. (-3 Tokens)
Undead labor.
[X][Orcus] Expand gold exports. (-3 Tokens)
Undead labor.
Happerry
Bat out of Hell
- Location
- Kanto
Could I talk you out of this? Right now the gold mine is infinite income from a safe zone, but if we start strip mining it, the infinite token source might give us more tokens in the short term, but will then run out.
Honestly, for strategic things like this one person shouldn't be able to decide to turn something from a long term source into a short term source without general agreement on that, but right now it seems anyone can just do the action? That doesn't really seem like a good system or one that gets people talking instead of just doing counter-actions at each other.
Just your own faction's strategic action (which can be a general one or a faction unique one). Each faction gets 1 action.
Well what would you suggest? I'm trying to keep the factions somewhat independent of each other.
[X][Hidden Bid Page] Public bids (current system). There is a risk of claim jumping and needing to monitor the thread. It annoys at least one player, so it's probably a bad idea to continue, but I don't want to play dictator, given that you'll have to go to another page to manage your actions.
I can't say I see the benefits of requiring everyone use another outside system to perform a basic task in this game. It strikes me as an unnecessary complication.
Yeah, that's going to cause problems if one player can singlehandedly decide to drain that gold source without anyone else having a say in the matter.
Will the option chosen for this remain locked in the rest of the game, will there be any ability to change later, and is this something that has to be decided now or is there the option to help with a different 'group' strategic option for now (such as helping to clear out the island)?
I can't say I see the benefits of requiring everyone use another outside system to perform a basic task in this game. It strikes me as an unnecessary complication.
Yeah, that's going to cause problems if one player can singlehandedly decide to drain that gold source without anyone else having a say in the matter.
Will the option chosen for this remain locked in the rest of the game, will there be any ability to change later, and is this something that has to be decided now or is there the option to help with a different 'group' strategic option for now (such as helping to clear out the island)?
Rockeye
Plausible Engineer
- Location
- Midwestern U.S.
I think hidden bids would be A BIT better from some perspectives, but looking at the actual amount of effort going into it and the low stakes of this quest, it does indeed seem not worth it.
[x][Odin] Develop Suckelberry exports
God wants PLANTS. I'd rather wait to do selfish actions like the 10 token thing until someone else joins the CoO.
[x][Odin] Develop Suckelberry exports
God wants PLANTS. I'd rather wait to do selfish actions like the 10 token thing until someone else joins the CoO.
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1) It'll remain locked for awhile but is not impossible to change but changing will eat actions.
2) You only need to use it to unlock your faction-unique actions like the other factions have. You can pick any general action and have the same unique options next turn (or 10 turns or however you long you want to wait)
RE: The Gold
I'm looking for a counterproposal to this before I open voting so we know how the votes will be managed.
How would you like to limit people from depleting a shared resource and similar stuff the group disagrees on while keeping the factions independent action-economy wise?
I'm open to suggestions and we probably should tackle that before voting/proceeding on the rest.
Yeah, this quest is meant to be chill relaxed writing and a chance to test a couple things, not the quality of your quest
The best option I can come up with is to give the option for other players to counter-vote, either on a one-turn 'cast vote to negate this resource drain' that might involve token bids and vote numbers but would only decide it for this turn (which might get annoying if we have to do this repeatedly from round to round); or else making available an option of 'maintain long-term gold exploitation' that would let players voice support for 'locking in' keeping the gold a long-term resource unless there's strong enough support later on to drain it for some reason.
I'm happy to hear any better options anyone else may have, though.
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- Location
- 'Straya mate.
So is it correct to say that the colony gets two actions for non-faction actions?
Following on from that, do we all vote for one option or do we vote for our faction action and then vote for the two that the colony undertakes?
Also do we have to vote on an action for our faction to undertake? By that I mean can we vote for our faction to take none of those options? I will vote regardless but it's good to know.
EDIT: I don't particularly have an opinion on the bet placing. I understand people are concerned about bidding and counter bidding - it just doesn't personally bother me much either way. Maybe there could be a mechanically binding option for individual characters to agree to not bet in exchange for tokens or a favour or something? I kinda preferred the "one and done" betting system but I understand that was also flawed.
In regards to the gold: it is already being exploited, so perhaps the degree to which it is/manner in which its exploited can just be a sub-vote rather than an action? Essentially the vote would be on the way the good is exploited rather than on if it should be or not. This would eliminate a strategic option from this vote but would probably make things simpler going forwards.
Following on from that, do we all vote for one option or do we vote for our faction action and then vote for the two that the colony undertakes?
Also do we have to vote on an action for our faction to undertake? By that I mean can we vote for our faction to take none of those options? I will vote regardless but it's good to know.
EDIT: I don't particularly have an opinion on the bet placing. I understand people are concerned about bidding and counter bidding - it just doesn't personally bother me much either way. Maybe there could be a mechanically binding option for individual characters to agree to not bet in exchange for tokens or a favour or something? I kinda preferred the "one and done" betting system but I understand that was also flawed.
In regards to the gold: it is already being exploited, so perhaps the degree to which it is/manner in which its exploited can just be a sub-vote rather than an action? Essentially the vote would be on the way the good is exploited rather than on if it should be or not. This would eliminate a strategic option from this vote but would probably make things simpler going forwards.
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- Location
- 'Straya mate.
This is assuming that we can vote on 2 colony actions and one faction action.
EDIT: Okay nevermind so I understand now that each faction does one strategic action each. The thing I'm just missing where colony population comes into this. Does the colony as a whole get its own actions?
[] (Kaiser-unique) Fairhaven Management
---[] Free Port: The Graf can declare Fairhaven to be a Free Port, welcoming trading ships of any flag. This will reduce the risk from pirates and privateers but generate Threat from all opposing powers for enabling the sale of their goods.
"People should be free to trade where and when they wish. Trade is what makes the Republic of Venice strong, just like the other cities back home. I don't want to even think about the other options. There is more than enough violence and exploitation in the world. We do not need to add to it."
[] Develop Suckelberry exports
A minor magical fruit is known to exist from the previous survey of the island. Due to the limited areas it can grow on the island, it would be limited to +1 perk tokens for all players, but it is an effective meal replacement desired by the Empire's military and espionage forces in nearly limitless quantities.
"We have come to this new land, to develop and enjoy all the prosperity that we can. So let's enjoy it, and make some metaphorical hay in this shining sun."
[] Secure the Island: Phase 1
The island is filled with monsters and beasts. While individual characters can take small steps towards this, strategic deployment of actual troops from the garrison backed by civilian militia will make it much easier to speed this process up.
Phase 1 involves removing any noteworthy monster nests that will bring the chance of a serious threat to the garrison developing in the future to 0%.
"As nasty as the work is, it does have to be done. We want to build a home for people - somewhere they can put down roots. This is the first step. The fortifications and watchtowers are important as well, of course, but I believe I will be able to effectively handle that work - or at least a large portion of it. You have here a fabrication mage, so let me work!"
---[] Free Port: The Graf can declare Fairhaven to be a Free Port, welcoming trading ships of any flag. This will reduce the risk from pirates and privateers but generate Threat from all opposing powers for enabling the sale of their goods.
"People should be free to trade where and when they wish. Trade is what makes the Republic of Venice strong, just like the other cities back home. I don't want to even think about the other options. There is more than enough violence and exploitation in the world. We do not need to add to it."
[] Develop Suckelberry exports
A minor magical fruit is known to exist from the previous survey of the island. Due to the limited areas it can grow on the island, it would be limited to +1 perk tokens for all players, but it is an effective meal replacement desired by the Empire's military and espionage forces in nearly limitless quantities.
"We have come to this new land, to develop and enjoy all the prosperity that we can. So let's enjoy it, and make some metaphorical hay in this shining sun."
[] Secure the Island: Phase 1
The island is filled with monsters and beasts. While individual characters can take small steps towards this, strategic deployment of actual troops from the garrison backed by civilian militia will make it much easier to speed this process up.
Phase 1 involves removing any noteworthy monster nests that will bring the chance of a serious threat to the garrison developing in the future to 0%.
"As nasty as the work is, it does have to be done. We want to build a home for people - somewhere they can put down roots. This is the first step. The fortifications and watchtowers are important as well, of course, but I believe I will be able to effectively handle that work - or at least a large portion of it. You have here a fabrication mage, so let me work!"
EDIT: Okay nevermind so I understand now that each faction does one strategic action each. The thing I'm just missing where colony population comes into this. Does the colony as a whole get its own actions?
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Happerry
Bat out of Hell
- Location
- Kanto
Instead of having a 'exploit resource' action auto-succeed, it could just trigger a vote of 'hey do we do this' maybe? I don't know what would be best, I just don't want to have to immediantly spend my next character action on 'secretly murder all those skeleton miners to keep the gold from being strip mined' type actions whenever I disagree enough on loosing a common resource because there's no other way of preventing those actions from burning out something that gives us a long term good.
Something like this, yes.
It could also have been a sub-vote resulting from either securing the island (oh, hey! you all secured a gold vein, how hard do you all want to mine it?), or another action along those lines maybe?