King Simulator 2013

[Baron]

You gotta lead these merchant types along.  If they suspect no sale, they move on.  The more time they invest in a sale, however, the more desperate they become.

>>TELL MERCHANT WE SHALL THINK ON IT.  THEN INVITE MANDARB TO SHARE HIS WARES WITH MERCHANT

[Adeel]

You gotta lead these merchant types along.  If they suspect no sale, they move on.  The more time they invest in a sale, however, the more desperate they become.

>>TELL MERCHANT WE SHALL THINK ON IT.  THEN INVITE MANDARB TO SHARE HIS WARES WITH MERCHANT

+5+(-4)

[Ghost]

>>TELL MERCHANT WE SHALL THINK ON IT.  THEN INVITE MANDARB TO SHARE HIS WARES WITH MERCHANT

+1. I like the cut of your jib, Baron

[kconan]

>>TELL MERCHANT WE SHALL THINK ON IT.  THEN INVITE MANDARB TO SHARE HIS WARES WITH MERCHANT

+1 Vote

[WHAM]

You inform the MERCHANT that you wish to think on the matter of the DESERT GRASS SEEDS more thoroughly before making the purchase. He promises to avail himself to your SUMMONS should you decide to seal the deal later today or tomorrow, but reminds you that he is to leave during the night after tomorrow if he is to make his trails in time.

As you allow the Jester to lead the MERCHANT away from the throne room, you instruct the fool to ensure the MERCHANT gets to speak with MANDARD, head of the CRAFTSMEN'S GUILD, so that the two can discuss business.

"Aye, aye, my King!" -the Jester replies, before leading the MERCHANT away while cackling gleefully. As he turns to leave, he stops in his tracks, allowing your guest to move a bit futher away before turning back to whisper to you in a secretive tone:

"My King, mr DENNIS is here to see you, along with some of the TOWN GUARDS. They seemed a wee bit distressed, so I would recommend you meet them as soon as possible."

With that, the Jester turns and leaves, on his way to do your bidding.

[miguel]

>SUMMON Dennis and the town guards;

wooooo, I'm excited now! What can this be?

[Ghost]

>SUMMON Dennis and the town guards;

+1. Can't have a Dennis being non-summoned when in teh distresses.

[Radiant]

> send RAY to calm down DENNIS

[Ryan Timothy B]

Oh.. for some reason I didn't know of Dennis being the head of trader's guild. He would've been more suitable for Jib to meet with instead of Mandarb.

I guess we need to figure this emergency out first, then afterwards perhaps have him catch up with Jib.

>SUMMON Dennis and the town guards;

+1

[Baron]

My understanding is that Dennis just does trading, while Mandarb produces the things that Dennis might trade.  But Dennis doesn't seem to be big on taking the initiative while here is Jib, so....

Also, I've changed the venue for the KING SIMULATOR GLOSSARY, in case you feel inclined to look up who's who in a more polished format.  It's now on the AGS Wiki, so anyone can edit.  I haven't got the people & things up yet: they're on the to-do list.

>SUMMON Dennis and the town guards;

+1

[miguel]

Nice job again, Baron!

[WHAM]

Tradesmaster DENNIS and a pair of knights of the TOWN GUARD enter the throne room, sealing the door as they enter. The trio look somewhat down. It takes a full minute for one of the guards to begin explaining:

"My King, it would seem that despite our best efforts a PETTY CRIMINAL has managed to enter our town last night, scaling the walls and entering the TRADERS GUILD HALL and escaping with some valuables. Considering the manpower available, we are aready doing everything we can to ensure the security of the town, but with a mere 10 knighs manning the walls at any given time, we are hard pressed to cover all of the town efficiently."

The knight steps back, lookign sullen. In his stead, Dennis steps up.

"My King, I must inform you that the thief made away with the GILDED SEALS of the TRADERS GUILD, without which we cannot officially make new trade treaties, contracts or establish trade routes. If you would be so kind as to ALLOW me to COMMISSION new seals from the CRAFTSMEN'S GUILD, I am sure we can correct the issue within a day or two, although the work will cut into the amount of goods produced by the CRAFTSMEN this year, possibly affecting INCOME slightly.

Additionally, the members of the TRADERS GUILD are not feeling entirely secure in the guild hall due to this event, and their happiness has suffered slightly. I will do my best to assure them that there is no real danger and that this incident was a mere fluke."

[Radiant]

How about we

> order sir LANCELOT to find this THIEF?

[NightHawk]

>Order Sir Lancelot to draft the first born of every family in each village we control and train more guards.

[selmiak]

Let's not build a policestate because of one mean thief....

> Summon Sir Lancelot and order him to investigate the location of the crime with his best men and find the thief asap or we will cut his budgets or his head (on sole discretion of his king!)

[miguel]

We kind of neglected security didn't we?
But, like selmiak said let's not rush into drastic measures.
Ordering Lancelot to train fit men was already discussed here and should be done on the short term, I say that Lancelot and another 2 of his men should chase the thief around our town and castle but not any further, this can be a trap.
Stealing the Traders Seals isn't a common theft, it has surely somebody (kingdom) behind it, and its purpose is clearly to stall our intents on reviving economy.
Meaning that we must hire one spy (at least) and his mission is clear: find out in town, where things get talked (taverns, markets and public occasions) of any unusual rumours or suspicious characters. Related or not to the recent theft it's a priority to have an informer working with us.

We've seen how this game runs, the minute we think things are peaceful, shit happens. So, let's think before issuing another command to WHAM. Turning the kingdom into the pentagon may sound clever but it takes time and turns. A spy would be the best asset we can have right now.

I'm not issuing a command, I wanted to discuss my thoughts with all of you firs.

[selmiak]

but we neglected security because we just didn't know there was a GILDED SEALS of the TRADERS GUILD around to be guarded...

[miguel]

That is true, it's also WHAM first go at something like this I believe. Let's assume, from now on, that our little kingdom has valuable items and people to be guarded safe.
I guess we learn playing and WHAM improves with your very pertinent remark.

[Tibatonk]

+1 for having the guards investigate the theft (within the town limits for now). I completely agree with Miguel that there's something fishy about someone stealing trader's seals. Maybe it's even an inside job since the trader's guild was mentioned to be in turmoil after the recent changes. (Can we even trust Dennis?). But perhaps we don't have to summon Lancelot to give him the order, but could just tell the two of his men who are already in the room, saving us a turn?

Since we can't be sure Lancelot will apprehend the thief, though, particulary if it's all part of some kind of plot:

>Allow Dennis to commission new seals.

And since we really don't know anything about our kingdom at this point, and since Dennis is already around.

>Ask Dennis to tell us more about the traders guild and himself.

Also, I'm a bit confused. The jester repeatedly mentioned a CAPTAIN OF THE GUARD being necessary. But Lancelot has been named MILITARY ADVISOR. Does he still serve as our CAPTAIN OF THE GUARD for now or do we need to look for someone else to fill that position? Particularly since the Jester mentioned the need to hire a CAPTAIN OF THE GUARD as a seperate topic from the need to hire HEROES.

[WHAM]

I won't be listing all the valuables in the realm, but yes, the guilds, nobles and even common folk may all have something of value, and crime can happen depending on several variables, such as kingdom wealth, security, fame etc.

For a look inside the game's inner workings (to maintain the illusion of "fair game"), see below for minor spoilers:

Spoiler

You currently have 10 guards assigned to watch over the town, each of which provide you with X points of GUARD RATING. Whenever a special crime (that affects an important character, a guild or the king/crown) is taking place, a SECURITY TEST is run (otherwise there is a generic "crimes per year" number calculated based on wealth, population and security rating). This test is a roll of D100 against the security rating. Security is modified by certain variables (stormy season helps thieves hide in darkness, whereas snow may hinder them as they leave more tracks), as well as the hero in charge of the GUARD (Lancelot) and his stats. Finally, the type of crime and the type of criminal modify the dice roll made against the security rating, and for example: a single thief breaking and entering is much harder to catch than a group of smugglers hauling a cargo of heavy chests filled with ill-gotten gold.

Finally, the difference between the roll and the rating can change the outcome. If the criminal rolls just a few points below your security rating, then he is caught as he makes his escape. If the roll is far below the rating, the thief is caught red-handed, and if the roll is waaaay below the rating, the thief is caught before he can even take a crack at the windows. If the criminal rolls higher than the security rating, then the crime succeeds and the outcome depends on the roll just as before. A natural roll of 5 or below always fails and a natural roll of 96 or above always succeeds.

As this was the first security test made, I will reveal the actual numbers involved below (spoilerific):

Spoiler

SECURITY RATING (modified): 80
THIEF D100 ROLL (modified): 86
THIEF SUCCEEDS by small margin, but does not manage to steal many items, the stolen items are noticed and identified, type of thief is revealed by investigation.

[close]

Had the thief rolled, let's say 92, you might not have heard about the stolen items until perhaps day 3 or 4 (or if you had tried to initiate a trade relationship and realized you can't)!

I'll let you guys have small peeks into the game's inner working sometimes, but I won't reveal most of the variables, modifiers and such. Heck, maybe you'll come up with some new ones during discussions and I'll integrate them into the game.

[close]

Hope you people are having as much fun playing and guessing how the game works as I am having creating it all! Hopefully we can keep the game running for at least a full in-game year so that we can meet all sorts of characters, nations and events.

@Tibatonk: CAPTAIN OF THE GUARD and the MILITARY ADVISOR are currently both Lancelot, as he is the only hero you have with military skills, but these COULD be two different people if you had two or more military -type heroes. Or you could create more positions such as the sheriff of east-town and west-town etc and offer those to different people to make them feel important (and more well-paid). Or you could just consolidate all the military and security power under one well-trusted hero. Or... I don't know! ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN! Anyway, good question, and I should have been more clear about that.