King Simulator 2013

[selmiak]

but he comes from the hot south where they have droughts all the time and rely on desert grass. we are the north it seems, we should rather get some firewood once winter is coming...

[Ghost]

we are the north it seems, we should rather get some firewood once winter is coming...

I'm pretty sure we have access to wood. First post mentions us putting up a wooden wall, so there must be resources?! I also see a FOREST through the kingly window.

[Baron]

Whoa!  Slow down there, my spendthrift friends!  The whole point of seeing the merchant was that we were interested in selling him things, because raising revenue is a priority for us.  It would be extremely irresponsible, in my opinion, to spend 7-10 golds (out of 20, 5 of which are already ear-marked for Lancelot and his men) on our sixth turn of the year (which consists of 70 turns!).  It would be prudent with our current revenue stream to stick to a budget of 1 gold per day, unless there is a compelling reason (for the good of the kingdom) to spend more.  Having an armed force that could also act as both defenders and explorers fulfilled that role, so I don't begrudge Lancelot his due, but investing in magic beans is a highly speculative venture.  Medieval kings used to blow a fortune on unicorn horns and chips off the true cross, etc., but really they were just being hustled.  Do we have any way of verifying that any of these items actually work?  For that matter, do we even know if this is a magical fantasy realm?  Sure, I've heard the Jester mention dragons and the shadowy figure appeared to disappear, but have we actually seen anything that should make us believe that magic is real and therefore a wise investment?  And anyway we can't afford such extravagances at this juncture.

>>TELL MERCHANT YOU'LL THINK ABOUT IT, THEN SUMMON MANDARB OF THE CRAFTS GUILD TO INQUIRE IF HE HAS ANY SPECIAL WARES TO SELL.

[selmiak]

>>TELL MERCHANT YOU'LL THINK ABOUT IT, THEN SUMMON MANDARB OF THE CRAFTS GUILD TO INQUIRE IF HE HAS ANY SPECIAL WARES TO SELL.

I'll +1 this just to delay the useless spending of precious gold coins. We can still offer the position of minister of finances to the merchant tomorrow. That would (hopefully) give us cheaper prices and he seems to have good connections with the rich and wise people from the south which will sure come in handy in the future.

[Ryan Timothy B]

Woah, slow down my fellow people! I down-vote all that was commanded. WHAM said that simply talking with an ongoing audience doesn't count as a major event advancing the day (unless we were to ask him eventful things such as asking him to draw us a map of what he knows).

Then again, if you have an ongoing audience, you may take several actions WITH that audience, such as ask questions (How's the wife?), give orders (Dance for me!), make requests (Would you mind bringing your hot daughter over tomorrow, she's of age, right?) etc, and the audience still only counts as one major action for the day.

We need to take advantage of this. We need to ask him more questions. Also to take advantage of what he has said: "Additionally, I am willing to buy any valuable artifacts your craftsmen might have produced, as well as found treasures, herbs and potions of all values."

We already have Lancelot's men mapping out the East, I say we use this MERCHANT a little more before dismissing him. First I suggest we ask his name and where he's from, or who he's related to (it may be important, if only for reference) and what he thinks of the Kings he knows of, which is the most IMPORTANT question. Then after that, have him draw us a map from memory of any of the surrounding area he knows of (if it's wrong, we can always change it later with professional scouts). Then have him meet with Mandarb to purchase anything we have.

> Ask MERCHANT his name, where he was born, and who he's related to, and what does he know and think of the surrounding KINGS (especially the King in the south whom I'm assuming is: Grand Emir's Turbanistan)





On a side-note I'll mention a few things for reference and let you all know what I'm thinking:
Do we have a treasurer? We need to check on our tax rates, make sure that every purchase is being taxed properly. And we also need to find out if there are any gold mines nearby and have some miners harvest as much as we possibly can. If we can't quickly 'earn' more golden coins, we can always make more (even if it's just to stockpile the newly made coins in our treasury). We'll need to find out if we have a royal mint. We also need to have the Churches tithe coin for the kingdom; perhaps we can squeeze more coin from peasants through their faith. Of course only a percentage though, some of that money (sadly) needs to go towards the church.

We need guards. I'm assuming we're sitting there on our throne without a single guard around us, or WHAM hasn't included them in the pictures. We also need adequate guards on the treasury where no one is to enter without record and of what they've taken or added, and they should be watched while they're in there. These guards will know that they'll be spending one year in the dungeons for each gold coin that goes missing.

Spoiler

Would it be possible to have a list of people or things we know? It certainly would make it easier to know everyone's names, what positions we have filled, what positions we don't, etc. I vote Baron to keep track of this information and to host it on a site for reference. Why Baron? Well, simply because I don't want to do it and I know that my good buddy Baron is a pushover eager to help. (it doesn't have to be Baron, I jest)

[close]

[WHAM]

I'm keeping the daily report pics in the first post for reference purposes, as a sort of "scroll of time", so you should be able to check who has been hired and to do what.
Each major action and event of interest will be mentioned in those.

Also: sorry, but there is no such thing as "downvote" in this game, although people are free to change their previous commands until the votes are tallied and the next turn is posted.

As to the guards:

"My King, now that we have a HERO with military experience, he has been automatically assigned as the MILITARY ADVISOR of your kingdom. Should you hire more heroes, you can appoint another HERO to take on this job instead.

It seems that Sir Lancelot has send out an EXPEDITION of five knights to the EAST. However, he has personally remained in the castle, since you ordered him to send a delegation instead of ordering him to explore personally. This means the expedition will be less effective and may be in more danger than if they were accompanied by a HERO.

It seems that Sir Lancelot has ordered five of his knights to guard the castle.
It seems that Sir Lancelot has ordered ten knights to patrol the town, keeping the peace and protecting the common folk.

[Ryan Timothy B]

Also: sorry, but there is no such thing as "downvote" in this game

Dang diddly dang-it!

So the numbers of guards guarding the castle is a small fantasy scale number? Five certainly wouldn't be enough to even guard a house let alone a castle (night rotation, guarding king, treasury, armory, any valuables during a raid or theft, etc), which is why I assumed we should amp up the amount. Hmm, so you're saying that if an enemy attacks, it won't be in waves of a 1000+ knights/soldiers as I imagined it would be, but instead it'll be small numbers like 50?

[Baron]

Would it be possible to have a list of people or things we know? It certainly would make it easier to know everyone's names, what positions we have filled, what positions we don't, etc. I vote Baron to keep track of this information and to host it on a site for reference. Why Baron? Well, simply because I don't want to do it and I know that my good buddy Baron is a pushover eager to help. (it doesn't have to be Baron, I jest)

Presenting the OFFICIAL KING SIMULATOR GLOSSARY.  I think I should also keep track of our finances, but double entry bookkeeping was never my strong suit....  I'll try to keep this up-to-date as the game advances, and actually link to the critical quotes I've cited, but I've run out of time at the moment.  Remember that this is just from the player's perspective and the content is for reference only: it may not be entirely accurate according to WHAM!

---
Edit: Yeah, that looks pretty ugly....  I'll get to gussyin' 'er up later on, too.

[WHAM]

So the numbers of guards guarding the castle is a small fantasy scale number? Five certainly wouldn't be enough to even guard a house let alone a castle (night rotation, guarding king, treasury, armory, any valuables during a raid or theft, etc), which is why I assumed we should amp up the amount. Hmm, so you're saying that if an enemy attacks, it won't be in waves of a 1000+ knights/soldiers as I imagined it would be, but instead it'll be small numbers like 50?

Well that would depend on the enemy, now wouldn't it. And should you, Gods forbid, piss off THE DRAGON, then all it takes is one enemy to wipe you out. But yeah, I doubt you'll see bandit raids of more than a handful of men/women, and even in war you can always prop up troop numbers with militia, mercenaries (if you've got the coin) etc. Oh, and magic, poison, alchemy and technology in general will help. Then again, why prepare for war unless you plan to have a war?

Baron: you are awesome! Than glossary is awesome! Everything is awesome right now! WHEEE!

[Ryan Timothy B]

Then again, why prepare for war unless you plan to have a war?

Oh, I am not eager to prepare for war, simply just looking to defend our kingdom. A kingdom without guards and knights and sufficient men for militia is no kingdom at all (at least not for long).

Baron: That's awesome! I had only joked about you creating this and you completely surprised me! Good stuff. I like!

[miguel]

Baron, fantastic work! Thanks for that!
I also think we should extract as many information from the merchant as we can, so

> Ask MERCHANT his name, where he was born, and who he's related to, and what does he know and think of the surrounding KINGS

, ask him for a map of all his routes and significant places/towns/kingdoms (even if we have to spend an extra turn);
+1

I too believe that we need more guards/soldiers and I believe Baron and me wanting for a census of our kingdom to on early posts. We could then find out how many unemployed fit men could be trained by Lancelot.

Spoiler

Ryan, sorry to reprehend your ideas before, peace!

[close]

[Ryan Timothy B]

I too believe that we need more guards/soldiers and I believe Baron and me wanting for a census of our kingdom to on early posts. We could then find out how many unemployed fit men could be trained by Lancelot.

I completely agree. I definitely would've +1'd that command if I were part of this game in the early stages. We'll certainly need to address it at another point. Not only do I want a population census, I'd like to know what crops or livestock we have, how many forgers, if we have any mines and what kind of metals they have, if there's fish in the river or anything else that's worth collecting, is it salt or fresh water, how many boats we have (fishing or military), etc.

Spoiler

There's always peace Miguel, I don't mind a differing opinion

[close]

[Baron]

I agree that the census is still a good idea, but we should be very specific in its design before delegating its execution.  I think Ryan could handle drafting that up for us. 

In the mean time, we are already spending 25% of our yearly revenue on defence, and may well go higher depending on who else we deem fit to hire (Heroes, notably, are much better at exploring than the guys we've got so far....).  I'm not sure raising a professional army is such a good idea, financially speaking.  HOWEVER, it probably would be a good idea to have an organized force ready in case we had to fight a sudden defensive war.  In that case, I say we start training a militia -the medieval term was fyrd: able bodied men 16-60 would owe us a month's free military service.  It costs nothing, and strengthens the social contract since the peasantry feels more trusted (since we're giving them permission to bear arms), and might even save our royal butt in a pinch.  Lancelot would probably gladly train such a force, since it shows how we intend to rule with the people and for the people (training them to fight would otherwise be very problematic).

Another thought: we really should inquire of the Jester what royal dues are owed to us besides what we get in taxes.  It'd be great if we got free labour, but other notable perks of royalty in the past have been free room and board when visiting subjects, free admission to plays, and let's not forget the ultimate perk of prima nocta.

[miguel]

Droit du seigneur or Right of the Lord,
refers to a collection of putative similar rights allowing the lord to spend a night and have sexual relations with a subordinate woman. They also are known as prima nocta, mainly when they include the notion of "first night".
According to the most known variant, it was a legal right allowing the lord of a medieval estate to take the virginity of his serfs' maiden daughters.

+1

[WHAM]

DEVNOTE: Three different commands tied this round, so the one proposed first gets a go.

You take interest in the desert grass seeds and decide to see if you can get the price down a bit.

"Ten coins for the desert grass seeds? I think seven gold far more suitable, considering the climate we are in. It would be a hard sell outside of the desert in any case, don't you agree?"

The MERCHANT shakes his head, exasperated.

"My most gracious King, the price I offer has already been lowered to meet the needs of the people of midlands. Alas, for your grace I am willing to part with them for a mere nine gold and fifty silvers."



Some time passes as you find yourself haggling with the wily MERCHANT. After a short while you have come to a stalemate, and the standing offer is eight gold, sixty-six silvers, fifteen coppers, a dozen chicken eggs and a button (don't ask how that last one got in there).

Additionally you have learned that the Merchant's name is Jib Ali-Gharzab of the Guaravana family line, and that he was born as the only son to a pair of travelling merchants, which is why he has found himself in the same profession as his parents. The MERCHANT does not think he can draw a map for you, as he has struck some sort of deal with the Naga people of the desert so that he is guided to his destination in the desert. He says that to find the midlands, all one must do is head north from the desert, and that to find the lands of Turbanistan, all one must do is head south of the midlands. However, the MERCHANT warns you that the NAGA will lead astray any wanderers and may even attack poorly protected caravans outright. The MERCHANT says that he knows there are seafaring people who rule over the ocean's edge to the WEST, though he does not know who leads these people, since he doesn't trade with them directly.

The Merchant seems pleased with the outcome of the haggling. Would you like to confirm the trade?

[miguel]

I strongly oppose this purchase guys. We should think really well on where to spend our money.
It does sound like a good buy but as far as we know the people are happy and the city is active and dynamic, we have dozens of people that want to speak to us and nobody had any complaint about food.
I know that things may change but maybe it should be better to access the real food production of our kingdom, like said before: grain, meat, fish, etc...

[Radiant]

> ACCEPT THE OFFER, and have the grass sent to CAT.

It's good to have diverse kinds of food, this can either save us in case of fatigue, or it can feed the animals while saving better food for the citizens. Also, it's good to have ties with travelers and traders like this merchant. I would be interested to see HIRSCHEL or the PIRATE next.

[miguel]

> Don't accept the offer;

[Ryan Timothy B]

> Don't accept the offer;

+1   AND summon MANDARB to meet with JIB (the southern merchant) to see if he has any wares to sell him

I agree that the census is still a good idea, but we should be very specific in its design before delegating its execution.  I think Ryan could handle drafting that up for us. 

All I can think of is what I've written in my post above, do you have any other suggestions?
Edit: I suppose religion is a big question. I'd like to know how many religions and churches we have in our kingdom.

[NightHawk]

> Don't accept the offer;

+1   AND summon MANDARB to meet with JIB (the southern merchant) to see if he has any wares to sell him

+1