Olympia: economics and borders From: lam@eng.tridom.com (Larry Morris) Date: Thu, 09 Jul 1992 20:50:18 +0000 There's been some hallway discussions among our local Olympians lately regarding the new economics & competition in the game; I'll take it upon myself to post some public thoughts on this. Here's some principles that we think might improve...well...the realism of fantasy? I've only been following the group for a short while, so pardon if some points are repeats or if I've inadvertantly stolen an idea. POINT 1: If skill-based economic opportunities are limited, they should at least be more profitable than basic work. We haven't seen for sure how all skills stack up, gold-wise, but it seems that the addition of competition for limited resources (entertainment, mining, etc) makes the basic levels worth less than "work". As a test: If I have a unit of 50 unskilled workers, and I volunteer to have them ASSIST a mining or shipbuilding unit for, say, "work+1" wages, would that be a good deal for the unit being ASSISTed? Surely player ASSISTs should be worth more than basic rat-catching, or we're not promoting player cooperation and use of the skills system. Is a test like this being used? POINT 2: Borders should be defensible, especially with competitive economies. With a small entertainment unit being able to "play out" a town in a week, my Jaybards could descend on a poor unsuspecting town with resident entertainers, do a "juggling blitz", steal the NEA money, and leave within the month. The same with any competitive skill...how does a town stabilize an economy for its long-term residents? Even worse, natch, is the fact that key strategic regions (i.e. Summerbridge) can't be controlled to "enemy" traffic passing through. I'm sure something like this has been proposed, but: WAIT ARRIVAL FROM [faction-list] (if faction can be observed) WAIT ARRIVAL NOT FROM [faction-list] (same) WAIT ARRIVAL (anyone new that you can see) WAIT ARRIVAL WEAKER (anyone w/fewer total men, the highwayman's dream) WAIT ARRIVAL STRONGER (anyone w/more men, for those chihuahua types) WAIT ARRIVAL DECLARED [attitude-list] (wait 4 hostiles, coops, etc) WAIT ARRIVAL FROM [region] (can stop traffic from one direction) [ATTACK|STACK|...] ARRIVAL (to act on who you recently identified) Note that for WAIT ARRIVAL FROM, if an ensuing attack causes the new arrival to FLEE, the arrival should be forced to FLEE back to the original region (otherwise, to pass thru, just SET FLEE 0 and enter, with a % chance of getting thru if attacked). I wont try to address OR's and AND's in the WAIT ARRIVAL because that's really a more general issue, i.e. WAIT MEN 10 OR GOLD 1000...& besides which I've already probably proposed a man-year of work for Rich... -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Larry Morris | "But it's in all the news, they got a cure for your blues, AT&T Tridom | You just hitch up your heart to your dreams; Atlanta | Keep a feel for the real, and don't forget your ideals, No Opinions, | You'll be rich, if your conscience is clean!" Just the Facts. | - Dick Siegel, "Snap!" ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Referenced By Up