Love the quest so far even if I couldn't catch up on all the discussion.
To give my 2 cents on the measurements discussion:
Standardized Measures are important on a large scale. That's where they matter.
So if you have a logistics chain where parts are transported far before assembly, you need to be able to trust that you get what you actually ordered.
But at the current scale in a village? Harold just goes to the relevant Craftsman, shows them how long/big something needs to be and it's done.
It's really only a game changer on a national scale, hence why it only appeared as an issue when industrialization started to kick off.
So it's something for when he gets a position of power where he can introduce it or he knows people in positions of power that would listen and consider it a good idea.
The only three options so far are his parents, which are not that high ranking I believe and fairly martial. That retired general whom may be interested but it's unlikely and that tax collector.
The tax collector is the most likely to care but she's probably not high ranking enough. She may be able to pass the idea on, though.
But that hardly helps Harold in the short or medium term. He should first become a business tycoon before worrying about that.
Bees or getting explosives is much more effective.
The first makes money in honey and wax. And I'd really like to highlight the wax here as well. The people in the quest probably use tallow candles, which smell fairly gross. The downside is that it only provides money half the year.
Explosives are gonna be a big hit with the military. Sappers are gonna love it to take apart fortifications. Or as primitive fragmentation grenades. It also plays well with our mine. People hate mining for good reason. But only having to make some holes and putting in blackpowder? Much easier. The same applies to land clearing and so on. Explosives are hella useful.
It's also fairly low effort as it just requires mixing together three chemicals. One which we can get locally.
Also a bit about vodka: Distelling the stuff has the added issue that some of the stuff makes blind. It's usually the first part that runs out and can be separated by smell. But Harold doesn't know that, I think. On the upside, he isn't limited by fermented potatoes or the like. He can get alcohol from the bad wine/beer that he buys on the cheap. Even the fermentation remains (like grapes) yield quite a bit of alcohol. The difficulty will be getting it for a good price given distances.
There is also the fun idea of making molotovs for the army. Fairly sure people will love setting zombies on fire. Clay jugs should work well enough.
Btw, that watermill: It can also work as a trip hammer, right? That'd be another nice boost to the iron mine.
(trip hammers are basically hammers that crush the ore into dust to make it easier to smelt. Doing it by hand is a awful lot of work)
To give my 2 cents on the measurements discussion:
Standardized Measures are important on a large scale. That's where they matter.
So if you have a logistics chain where parts are transported far before assembly, you need to be able to trust that you get what you actually ordered.
But at the current scale in a village? Harold just goes to the relevant Craftsman, shows them how long/big something needs to be and it's done.
It's really only a game changer on a national scale, hence why it only appeared as an issue when industrialization started to kick off.
So it's something for when he gets a position of power where he can introduce it or he knows people in positions of power that would listen and consider it a good idea.
The only three options so far are his parents, which are not that high ranking I believe and fairly martial. That retired general whom may be interested but it's unlikely and that tax collector.
The tax collector is the most likely to care but she's probably not high ranking enough. She may be able to pass the idea on, though.
But that hardly helps Harold in the short or medium term. He should first become a business tycoon before worrying about that.
Bees or getting explosives is much more effective.
The first makes money in honey and wax. And I'd really like to highlight the wax here as well. The people in the quest probably use tallow candles, which smell fairly gross. The downside is that it only provides money half the year.
Explosives are gonna be a big hit with the military. Sappers are gonna love it to take apart fortifications. Or as primitive fragmentation grenades. It also plays well with our mine. People hate mining for good reason. But only having to make some holes and putting in blackpowder? Much easier. The same applies to land clearing and so on. Explosives are hella useful.
It's also fairly low effort as it just requires mixing together three chemicals. One which we can get locally.
Also a bit about vodka: Distelling the stuff has the added issue that some of the stuff makes blind. It's usually the first part that runs out and can be separated by smell. But Harold doesn't know that, I think. On the upside, he isn't limited by fermented potatoes or the like. He can get alcohol from the bad wine/beer that he buys on the cheap. Even the fermentation remains (like grapes) yield quite a bit of alcohol. The difficulty will be getting it for a good price given distances.
There is also the fun idea of making molotovs for the army. Fairly sure people will love setting zombies on fire. Clay jugs should work well enough.
Btw, that watermill: It can also work as a trip hammer, right? That'd be another nice boost to the iron mine.
(trip hammers are basically hammers that crush the ore into dust to make it easier to smelt. Doing it by hand is a awful lot of work)
