Announcement

**Franses** · August 24, 2002, 04:57

If you're not familiar with the $Mini-Game, this post contains a summary.

Remark to current players: The original rules as defined by Captain were altered a bit during the first couple of turns. The alterations to the original rules are posted in red (except for textual changes that were made to better reveal the current status of the game. EDIT: I gave up on this idea. Prepared it in Word but could not copy the colors. The Word document attached does contain the colors and Italics). Feel free to make comments on the current text.

Summary for the BETA:

Does not include all ideas as this is just a beta.

Participants in the BETA will receive credits for the next game. Your credits will depend on your activity and feedback - both of which will be crucial for making the "Final" version of this game better.

1) Try to gain wealth. Wealth is composed of cash, land, commodities (food, shields, commerce), and buildings.

2) You buy land (tiles) that are within the cultural borders of our nation. Each tile produces commodities (food, shields, commerce) that you can use to trade, stockpile, or build with. The default owner of the tiles is the government.

3) The government will loan new players the cash interest free for fifteen turns. After that, they'll have to start repaying the loans. Obviously, more productive land will give you a bigger income and pay off that loan quicker, but will cost more!

4) You can trade with both other players, and a "market base" which is linked to certain obvious game conditions. Generally speaking, if our nation improves in the game, so does the market base, and your prospects of getting wealthier. Supply and Demand for the "market base" is updated by the Market Assessor. The "market base" exists similar to Non-Player Characters (NPCs) in role-playing games, to increase the possibility of trade when no other player is available.
Trades with other players may also involve things like renting an estate, trading on behalf of other players against a fee etc.

5) The Market Assessor is eligible for a salary, as an incentive and reward for services. So is the Government Agent who pays those salaries and does other government business.

6) A turn is played every two days from the start date, or whenever there is a change in the market situation to a maximum of 1 turn per day. Even if there are no changes in the market in two days (because no turnthread or turnchat), we still play a turn. It just means the "market base" is static, making the overall market (composed of that base plus the other players) generally more stable.

A turn goes like this:
a) The Market Assessor puts up a new Market Assessment (the start of a new turn).
b) Transactions go through according to deals made.
c) New land production.

d) Offers of trades and deals and arrangements are all tentatively proposed. While during the turn, any deal can be outbid or undercut, at the end of the turn, the deals are final. No cancellations allowed.

Example of a Typical? Turn:
a) New Market Assessment put up. No major changes but food prices drop.
b) The trades from last turn go through. My commerce stockpile drops by 3 and I gain $280.
c) My land produces 2 food, 1 shield, 2 commerce.

I make some proposals. I offer to sell 2 food, 2 commerce. We try to outbid each other. I want to convert shields to build a silo and offer $120 for shields and $100 for labour. Bubba is willing to sell 2 shields for $150. We haggle. I expect to have 3 shields to convert so I need 3 labourers. But... OtherGuy also wants shields and labour. Otherguy wants to hire all but 1 labourer. Since there' s not enough labour or shields to go around, we get into a bidding war. At the end, my offer is $200 for shields and his is $205 for shields. I offer $160 for labour, he offers $170.

End of Turn:
I am able to only sell the commerce as my other deals fell through. The cash is added to my account and commerce deducted at the start of next turn. While I didn't get any extra shields or the 3 labour I wanted, since I did offer to hire labour at $160 per head, even though I only got 1 guy and not 3, I still have to pay go through with the deal. I pay $160 for 1 unit of labour at the start of next turn.

7) Commodities:

Note: Base Rate refers to assuming equal Supply and Demand.

Food trades at a base rate of $100.
Cannot be stockpiled without a Silo.

Shields trade at a base rate of $100.
Maximum stockpile of 10. Warehouses +10 storage.
Can be transformed into buildings at a cost of 1 Labour Unit per shield.

Commerce trades at a base rate of $100.
Maximum stockpile of 10. Warehouses +10 storage.

Base Labour Rate is $100.

8) Available Labour: As long as there are FREE townspeople (count the heads of all the towns minus those already hired), you can hire them to work for you (converting shields into buildings). If not, the person offering higher wages wins.

Example: Bubba wants to convert 10 shields into a silo. Alfredo wants to convert 10 shields into warehouse. There are only 15 heads of labourers. Bubba offers to pay $10 more than the default price, Alfredo offers $15 more. So Alfredo gets the ten workers while Bubba is only left with five. Get it?

9) Commodity prices depend on the base rate, and Supply & Demand. The default market Prices are increased or decreased by the ratio of Demand:Supply.

Food Demand: 2 per head of population in region.
Food Supply: Sum of food from tiles worked.

Shield Demand: # shields produced in region.
Shield Supply: Sum of shields from worked tiles.

Commerce Demand: Sum of commerce in region.
Commerce Supply: Sum of commerce from worked tiles.

Example: 8 food are demanded and 10 supplied from worked tiles. Several players also want to unload food on the market. They declare how much they have available, say 6 food. The default price drops to 8:16 = 50%, which happens to be $50. Only 8 are needed, so at least two will not be sold. Lowest price wins, so if the players sell below 80$, they're guaranteed buyers. Next turn, more players sell food, say 14 food. Price drops to 8:24= 33% or $33. Even if the players sell below $33, only 8 of the 14 food are needed, so only the 8 lowest priced food units will be sold.

10) Basic Buildings List:

Silo (10 shields): Allows stockpiling up to 10 food.
Warehouse (10 shields): Allows stockpiling 10 more shields or commerce.
Inn (40 shields): Converts 1 food into cash for 200% of the market price per turn.
Shop (50 shields): Allows you to sell your merchandise for 20% more*. Up to 3 commerce per turn.
Workshop (70 shields): Allows you to sell shields for 20% more*. Up to 3 shields per turn.
House (As many shields as you want; this is just for prestige or increasing property values).

(*That means it gives you an advantage when selling. It means people will pay more for yours in comparison to others. Say Buddy and I are trying to sell 2 commerce each when demand is only 3. Price is 3/4=$75. Buddy drops his price to $70. That means he'll sell both and I'll only sell 1. But I then drop my price to $65. I get to sell both, he only sells 1. In an effort to outdo each other, he drops his price to $45!, but isn't willing to go lower. On the other hand, since I've got a 20% bonus, my market offer will be $40 but actually gain $48. Get it? don't worry, you will in time. So since my market offer is lower than Buddy's, I get to sell both units, even though the actual sale price is higher.)

11) The challenge comes mainly from competition between you and the other players, but you can also just set your own personal goals and play at your own pace. Regular commitment is not required to participate. The more you do, the more opportunities, but no guarantee you'll succeed. That depends on your skill.

12) Changes to the rules may be proposed but either (a) should not be debated by anyone or (b) need a 51% majority using a poll.

13) Trade threads are not to be used for debate.
A player defines his trade offer using the following format (example):

Estate of Someguy
Turn #: 002
Holdings: Tile 002, NE Apolyton, Bonus Grassland (mine, rd)
Stockpile: 0 food, 0 shields, 0 commerce
Cash: $245
Debt: -$1100 (10% interest, 14 turns remaining on grace period)
Buildings: None

Administered by: Someone else

Production this turn: 2 food, 2 shield, 1 commerce
---
Proposed Deals:

Hire 1 laborer for the price of $55 (New D:S=7/14 (13+1) = $50
Sell 2 of 2 food @ $45 each (New D:S=26:52 (50+2) = $50 )
Sell 1 of 2 shields @ $58 each (New D:S=18:29 (27+2) = $62 )
Sell 1 of 1 commerce @ $40 (New D:S= 18:42 (41+1) = $43 )

14) The game is supported by three officials; a government agent, a market assessor and a banker. The players elect all these officials using a poll.

Government Agent
Sets price values and operates Land Auctions. From the profits, pays out salaries.
May institute taxes (subject to approval by 51% of taxpayers) if he runs out of money.
Also sets government salaries (subject to approval by 51% of taxpayers).
Organizes discussions and polls.
Will be compensated (yet to be decided how exactly)

Market Assessor:
Determines Supply and Demand of the Townspeople using the last save game.
Starts new trade threads for every trade turn specifying the close date and time.

Will be paid a government salary of $200 per turn.

Banker
Determines and post the results of the trading session at the end of the turn. Also determines for each player the current stock, cash and debt, building status, payroll and taxes.
Will be paid a government salary of $200 per turn.

Attached Files

mini-game rules.zip (6.7 KB, 99 views)

**Franses** · August 24, 2002, 05:00

GF,

Since some of the rules were changed and this information is in a lengthy thread I thought it better to provide a new summary as in above post. Trust that's ok?

**GhengisFarb™** · August 24, 2002, 07:50

Here are the current lands STILL AVAILABLE IN BOLDYou purchase no more that 4 tiles (borrowing money from the government) and if you wish to borrow more than $1000 you can purchase only one tile. (IE, the only way you can purchase more than one tile is to buy a buch of unimproved jungle.)

Purple lands have been abandoned.

001 Apolyton N (horse, grass, rd), $1000
....$1000...NYE

....$1100...Franses

(H) 002 Apolyton NE (mined grass rd), $1000
.......Franses

003a Apolyton SW (forest, rd), $1200
....$1200...Jonny
003b Apolyton W (forest, rd), $1200
....$1200...Spiffor
004 Apolyton NW (grass), $500
....$525...GhengisFarb
005 Apolyton NW10 (mined forest rd), $1200
....$1200...adaMada
006 Apolyton NW11 (mined grass rd), $1000
....$1400...Kloreep

(A)....007 Apolyton NW12 (mined grass rd(2 food, 1 shield, 1 commerce)), $1000

008 Apolyton NE1 (mined grass rd), $1000
....$1000...civman2000
009 Termina N (jungle), $200
....$500...Epistax
010 Termina NE (mined grass rd)
....$1000...Duddha
011 Termina E (mined grass rd), $1000
....$1020...Rendelnep
012 Termina NW (jungle), $200
....$250...Epistax
013 Termina NE1 (jungle), $200
....$250...UnOrthOdOx
014 Termina NE2 (jungle), $200
....$200...UnOrthOdOx
015 Termina NE3 (jungle), $200
....$225...GhengisFarb

(B)....016 Tassagrad N (mined grass rd(2 food, 1 shield, 1 commerce)), $1000

(C)....017 Tassagrad NE (grassland (2 food)), $450

(J) 018 Tassagrad SE (grassland(2 food, 1 shield)), $800
.......Sheik

(I) 019 Tassagrad S (grass rd, mine(2 food, 1 shield, 1 commerce)), $1000
.......skywalker

(D)....020 Tassagrad SW (mined grass rd), $1000

(K) 021 Tassagrad W (jungle(1 food)), $200
.......Shiek

022 Tassagrad NW (jungle), $200
....$200...=OttomusCeasar=
023 Tassagrad NW10 (jungle), $200
....$250...jdd2007
024 Tassagrad NW11 (jungle), $200
....$250...jdd2007
025 Tassagrad NW12 (jungle), $200
....$250...jdd2007
026 BHQ N (mountain), $200[/b]
....$225...GhengisFarb
027 BHQ NE (jungle), $200
....$200...Darkness' Edge
028 BHQ S (jungle), $200
....$200...Darkness' Edge

(L) 029 BHQ SW (mined grass rd river), $1500
....$1500...Kramerman

030 BHQ W (mined grass rd river), $1500
....$1500...Captain
031 BHQ NW (mined grass river), $1500
....$1500...Nimitz....$1500...Nimitz

023 BHQ SW10 (jungle), $400
BHQ NW Lower (jungle), $200
....$600...=OttomusCeasar=

(M) BHQ NW Center11 (jungle), $200

(E) BHQ NNW Higher (jungle w/ road), $450

(F) Termina NW2 Higher (jungle w/ river), $500

(G) Termina NNW Higher (jungle w/ river), $500

**Franses** · August 24, 2002, 19:03

Re: $MINI-GAME Main Thread and Directory.

Current Land Holdings..........
1)adaMada
2)Captain
3)civman2000
4)Epistax
5)Franses
6)GhengisFarb
7)jdd2007
8)Jonny
9)Kloreep
10)Kramerman
11)notyoueither
12)Rendelnep
13)Shiek
14)Spiffor
15)UnOrthOdOx
I probably made mistakes but I tried to be as accurate as possible.
[/QUOTE]

A really great picture. It would be nice to have one with the individual tile numbers on it too. Is handy to refer to a certain tile if somebody wants to sell its property and for future sales of tiles. Of course there was logic in the system defined by Captain but I and others made mistakes that a picture like this would prevent.

How did you make this?

**GhengisFarb™** · August 24, 2002, 19:19

Just for fun, the list of subProduct production (axed proposal):

001 Apolyton N (horse, grass, rd), 2 Grain, 2 Commerce
.......NYE

002 Apolyton NE (mined grass rd), 2 Grain, 2 Brick, 1 Commerce
.......Franses

003a Apolyton SW (forest, rd), 1 Venison, 2 Timber, 1 Commerce
.......Jonny

003b Apolyton W (forest, rd), 1 Venison, 2 Timber, 1 Commerce
.......Spiffor

004 Apolyton NW (grass), 2 Grain
.......GhengisFarb

005 Apolyton NW10 (mined forest rd), 2 Grain, 1 Brick, 1 Commerce
.......adaMada

006 Apolyton NW11 (mined grass rd), 2 Grain, 2 Brick, 1 Commerce
.......Kloreep

(A)-007 Apolyton NW12 (mined grass rd), $1000, 2 Grain, 1 Brick, 1 Commerce

008 Apolyton NE1 (mined grass rd), 2 Grain, 1 Brick, 1 Commerce
.......civman2000

009 Termina N (jungle), 1 Banana, 1 Commerce
.......Epistax

010 Termina NE (mined grass rd), 2 Grain, 1 Brick, 1 Commerce
.......Duddha

011 Termina E (mined grass rd), 2 Grain, 1 Brick, 1 Commerce
.......Rendelnep

012 Termina NW (jungle), 1 Banana
.......Epistax

013 Termina NE1 (jungle), 1 Banana, 1 Commerce
014 Termina NE2 (jungle), 1 Banana
.......UnOrtOdOx

015 Termina NE3 (jungle), 1 Banana
.......GhengisFarb

(B)-016 Tassagrad N (mined grass rd), $1000, 2 Grain, 1 Brick, 1 Commerce

(C)017 Tassagrad NE (jungle), $200, 1 Banana

018 Tassagrad SE (jungle), 1 Banana
.......Sheik

019 Tassagrad S (grass rd, mine?), 2 Grain, 1 Brick, 1 Commerce
.......skywalker

(D)-020 Tassagrad SW (mined grass rd), $1000, 2 Grain, 1 Brick, 1 Commerce

021 Tassagrad W (jungle), 1 Banana
.......Shiek

(E)-022 Tassagrad NW (jungle), $200, 1 Banana

023 Tassagrad NW10 (jungle), 1 Banana, 1 Commerce
024 Tassagrad NW11 (jungle), 1 Banana, 1 Commerce
025 Tassagrad NW12 (jungle), 1 Banana, 1 Commerce
.......jdd2007

026 BHQ N (mountain), 1 Stone
.......GhengisFarb

027 BHQ NE (jungle), 1 Banana
028 BHQ S (jungle), 1 Banana
.......Darkness' Edge

029 BHQ SW (mined grass rd river), 2 Grain, 1 Brick, 2 Commerce
.......Kramerman

030 BHQ W (mined grass rd river), 2 Grain, 1 Brick, 2 Commerce
.......Captain

031 BHQ NW (mined grass river), 2 Grain, 1 Brick, 2 Commerce
.......Nimitz

**Franses** · August 25, 2002, 02:19

BULK PURCHASE ANNOUCEMENT

The league of generic Mingapulcan Shopkeeps has announced they will buy the first 14 Commerce offered to them at $40 each. This is a GUARANTEED Sale and is/does not affect(ed) the Demand/Supply for Commerce.

The first 14 Commerce traded with the transaction: "Sell # Commerce towards Shopkeep contract (Previous # + # you just sold/14) " Will be GUARANTEED sales.

Note, these Commerce are immediately distributed throughout the various league members' shops so you cannot take back the transaction once it's made.

Just to be sure. I suppose the "league members" are the estates you have control of?

**GhengisFarb™** · August 25, 2002, 02:49

Originally posted by Franses

Just to be sure. I suppose the "league members" are the estates you have control of?

No their that version of the Trading Post we talked about, where it has a demand equal to the population of the market.

Everyone was getting overstocked on commerce so I thought this might be a good way to syphon it off and prevent them from getting frustrated. $40 is below the market Min price of $46 and I figure we could hold it as government inventory.

**Franses** · August 26, 2002, 03:31

In that case I am not at all happy with this and your action must be cancelled. This for the following reasons:
1. By doing this you have changed the rules without a poll. After the fierce (and in my opinion, correct) reaction of the nobles to the actions of sc369 we decided not to do this anymore.
2. My strategy (and problably those of others) are based on some commodities being overstocked. If you change them at will you influence our strategies.
3. You should be the last one to intervene in such a drastic way. You are running 4 (or is it even 5?) estates at the time and are therefore the one with the most interest. Having said that I want to add that this is NO ACCUSATION. I am 100% sure that you meant no harm but we should certainly avoid this kind of situation.

**Franses** · August 26, 2002, 03:33

Originally posted by Epistax
Idea: After 1 hour before the market closes, NO NEW TRANSACTIONS ARE ALLOWED, BUYING OR SELLING!

Only prices can be changed.

Sounded as a good idea to me at first. However, in case the supply exceeds demand or the demand of nobles exceeds supply, a bidding war will start that may result into unacceptable prices for some of the nobles. In your solution they are not allowed to withdraw their offers.

The problem you address should be dealt with though.
Let me try something else that also simplify the turns considerably and takes out the disadvantage for those nobles that do not have the time to adapt there offers at the end of the turn.

Let us use the following example:
Market assessment: D:S=28:28=$100
One guy wants to sell 2 food.
Second guy wants to sell 3 food.
Third guy wants to sell 3 food.
Final D:S=28:36=$78
In a perfect world where all of the nobles have the ability to optimize their deals all the time what will the deals be?
Indeed:
All nobles will adapt their deals to a price of $77. So all the deal changes that we do at the moment are in fact a waste of time for the nobles as well as for GF and (more important) is unfair to those that are not able to visit the trade thread at the end of the trade.

Solution to the above:
The nobles specify the amount of food they want to sell and their minimum price (if they have one). The price they receive will be equal to the calculated D:S.

Advantages:
1. The problem you address is solved
2. Nobles only need to specify their deals once
3. System is fair to people that do not have the time to visit the forum at the end of the turn
4. GF has a lot less work

**Franses** · August 26, 2002, 03:36

Originally posted by Kramerman
would any of my fellow land owners wish to organize? We should form a guild that would not only try to maniputelate the markets to the guild members advantage, but would also lobby government officials for the guilds advantage. The guild would be a sort of pseudo-political party, in a sense. Im sure there are lots of other probusiness stuff the guild could do too. So would anyone be interested in such an idea, or have other such ideas, or have already proposed the idea and I didnt see it?

Kman

When the buildings are decided upon and the bakery is one of them, I plan to found the Apolytonia Bakery Company (ABC). It's goal is to supply the people of Apolytonia with first quality bread.

**Epistax** · August 26, 2002, 08:36

Originally posted by Franses
The nobles specify the amount of food they want to sell and their minimum price (if they have one). The price they receive will be equal to the calculated D:S.

I suggested that people be allowed to say to sell at D:S, but GF then said that could be done with a rather large free, namely $10 or 10% or something, which is unacceptable. That goes up FAST.

**Franses** · August 26, 2002, 09:47

Originally posted by Epistax

I suggested that people be allowed to say to sell at D:S, but GF then said that could be done with a rather large free, namely $10 or 10% or something, which is unacceptable. That goes up FAST.

Yes, but in that case there were nobles that would get a lower price than D:S which would be unfair. In the above suggestion everybody gets D:S so the problem you mention does no longer exist. Also, standing orders could be easily implement in this system.

**GhengisFarb™** · August 26, 2002, 10:54

Originally posted by Epistax

I suggested that people be allowed to say to sell at D:S, but GF then said that could be done with a rather large free, namely $10 or 10% or something, which is unacceptable. That goes up FAST.

Large fee?

After I posted that I was really glad no one took me up on it because I realized it wasn't a large enough penalty.

To buy/sell at D:S is the ultimate goal of every transaction. By having a command "sell at D:S" your basically saying sell my product at perfect conditions, in the perfect market, and give me the maximum profit attainable in our world.

AND you would do it with no work and no effort while others are calculating the changing supply/demand and trying to maximize profits. We produce more food and more commerce than the market demands so whose product doesn't get sold?

If everybody sells at D:S, which they'd lose money not to, then I would just give money to the first people to post and everyone else doesn't get paid because they didn't see the trading thread in time.

IMHO that doesn't seem fair.

**UnOrthOdOx** · August 26, 2002, 11:02

Can someone show me where to look reguarding this 'contract' stuff I was reading about?

And what about the Jungle Gazette offices? Or are they a level 2 building? 1 per city, sell x food at y% increase where x is size of city (maybe with a max) and y is % literate citizens (maybe with a max/min) Something like that...

Announcement

$MINI-GAME Main Thread and Directory.

$MINI-GAME Main Thread and Directory.

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