Again, I haven't read anybody else's comments, so some stuff may have been
repeated, but here I go:
On 11/19/2017 1:57 AM, Reuben Staley wrote:
Okay, here we go with round 2. This is looking like Go and Settlers of Catan
were mixed into one game. What could possibly go wrong?
I'm pretty sure I got all of the mechanics I wanted in there, but it's possible
that in my hurry to get another draft out I skipped something. Please notify me
of anything that seems out of place.
Also, sorry Aris, but hardly any of the stuff you brought up was fixed because
they haven't been discussed yet.
[ PART I: Removing and Changing Stuff ]
Repeal rules 2488, 2489, 2490, and 2491.
[ I honestly tried to keep the estates, but these changes are so radical
that it wouldn't be compatible. ]
Just realized that radical and compatible almost rhyme.
Repeal rule 2500.
Amend rule 2445 by replacing the second paragraph and subsequent list
with:
Any player CAN flip a specified proposal's imminence to "pending" by
announcement by spending 1 paper.
Amend rule 991 by removing the first list item of the list directly
following the first paragraph.
[ Everyone wants to get rid of these so okay, let's do it. ]
Repeal rules 2483, 2487, and 2497.
[ No more shinies, everybody! ]
Amend rule 2516 by replacing it in full with:
At the beginning of the Agoran week, the Treasuror CAN and SHALL
cause Agora to give:
1. every player with an amount of papers less than 2 an amount of
papers so that eir paper balance is equal to 2.
2. every player with an amount of apples less than 2 an amount of
apples so that eir apple balance is equal to 2.
[ This makes it so that impoverished players can move a little each week
and make some proposals. ]
Amend rule 2599 by replacing the second paragraph with:
When a player receives a Welcome Package, Agora transfers the
following assets to em:
1. 10 bars
2. 5 lumber
3. 5 stones
4. 10 apples
5. 5 papers
These two amendments, especially the second, are slightly misworded. You don't want "Agora transfers the
following assets", as in order to transfer assets, the transfer-er must own them. You instead want
"Agora creates the following assets in eir possesion". Same thing for rule 2516; I believe
"give" is a synonym for transfer.
[PART II: Making Land]
Re-enact rule 1993/1 (Power=2) "The Land of Arcadia" with the text:
Arcadia is a land entirely defined by the Arcadian Map (the Map).
The Map is the term for the set of all Land Units.
The Map divides Arcadia into a finite, discrete number of Units of
Land, or simply Land. Each Unit of Land is an indestructible asset
specified by a pair of integers known as its Latitude and
Longitude.
Every unique pair of integers within the limits defined in the
Rules for Latitude and Longitude signifies an existent Unit of
Land. No other Units of Land exist. Units of Land CAN only be
created or destroyed by changing the limits of Latitude and
Longitude defined in the Rules.
Here's an idea: What if players could name their plats? It would add more depth
to the whole system. It might make more work for the Cartographor, though.
All values for Latitude and Longitude MUST lie between -9 and +9,
inclusive.
The Total Land Area of Arcadia is the number of existent Units of
Land defined by permissible Latitude and Longitude pairs.
Re-enact rule 1994/0 (Power=2) "Ownership of Land" with the text:
Any existent Land for which ownership has not been explicitly
changed belongs to Agora.
Land belonging to Agora is called Public Land. Land belonging to
a contract is called Communal Land. Land belonging to any other
entity is called Private Land. Together, Communal Land and Private
Land are called Proprietary Land.
Land CAN be tranferred in the following ways:
1. The Land Unit is Public, and the transfer is specifically
permitted by the rules;
2. The Land Unit is Communal, and the transfer is specifically
permitted by the Contract that owns it;
3. The Land Unit is Private, and the entity that owns it announces
the transfer.
If none of these criteria are met, changes in Land Ownership are
secured.
Re-enact rule 1995/0 (Power=2) "Land Types" with the text:
Each Unit of Land has a single Land Type. Changes to Land Type are
secured. In addition to Aether, the Land types Black and White are
defined.
The phrase "Units of X", where X is a Land Type defined by the
Rules, is considered a synonym for "Units of Land that have Land
Type (or Subtype) X"
When existent Land has not had its Type changed as explicitly
permitted by the Rules, or has a Type that is not currently
defined by the Rules, it is considered to have the Land Type of
Aether. Rules to the contrary nonwithstanding, Units of Aether
CANNOT be transferred from Agora, or owned by any entity other
than Agora. If Proprietary Land becomes Aether, the Cartographor
SHALL transfer it to Agora in a timely fashion.
When an act specifies an alternating Land Type, the Land Type
chosen will be based upon the Land Type used as the previous
alternating Land Type, so that consecutive alternating Land Types
alternate between Black and White. In a timely fashion after a
Player notifies the Cartographor of an act that specifies an
alternating Land Type, the Cartographor MUST announce which Land
Type was used for that act.
Re-enact rule 1996/3 (Power=1), renaming it to "The Cartographor" with
the text:
The Cartographor is an office; its holder is recordkeepor for the
Land of Arcadia.
The Cartographor's Weekly Report shall include:
1. the ownership and land type of all existing land;
2. all changes in the ownership and land type of existing land
since the most recent report;
3. the location for the previous week and the current week of each
entity or instrument with a defined location;
4. all patches and their constituents; and
5. all facilities and their parent patches.
[ I renamed this from "Mapkeepor" to "Cartographor" because that's not a
good name for a thing. Yes, I know that the Cartographor existed
before as part of a different system, but it's unlikely any of that'll
be coming back. ]
Someone could always just make a simple renaming proposal if that system came
back, anyway.
Re-enact rule 1998/2 (Power=1) "Land Topology" with the text:
Two Units of Land are Adjacent if they have the same Latitude, and
their Longitudes differ by exactly one; or they have the same
Longitude, and their Latitudes differ by exactly one.
[ Penguin Distance is never referenced again, so I got rid of it. ]
Two Units of Land are said to be Connected by a specific Type of
Land if it is possible to travel from the first Unit to the second
by only travelling over Land of that specific Type.
Re-enact rule 1999/0 (Power=1) "Entity Location" with the text:
Every Player a single defined Location
corresponding to a single Latitude, Longitude pair.
Missing the word "has".
No other Entity SHALL have a location unless it is defined in
other Rules. Changes to the Location of an Entity are secured. If
an Entity is specified by this Rule as having a defined Location,
but its Location has not been explicity set or changed, its
Location SHALL be set to (0, 0).
SHALL doesn't work here. Does someone get punished if they say a contract has a
location? :P
Re-enact rule 2003/11 (Power=1) "Actions in Arcadia" with the text:
Energy is an untracked natural player switch with a default value
of 0. At the beginning of each Agoran Week, every player's energy
switch is set to 0.
Players CAN consume 1 apple to gain 3 energy or 1 corn to gain 6
energy.
[ Last minute addition; not sure if I like it as a mechanic. ]
Players CAN decrease eir energy score by:
I think this would be better worded as "Any player CAN do any of the following
actions, by announcement, by decreasing eir Energy by the following amounts:"
1. 1 to move from one Land Unit to an adjacent Unit if their Land
Types are the same and the destination is not Aether;
2. 2 to move from one Land Unit to an adjacent Unit if their Land
Types differ and the destination is not Aether;
3. 2 to set Land Type of a Land Unit which e owns to any Land Type
other than Aether, whether or not e is located at that Land
Unit.
4. 3 to set the Land Type of a random Land Unit that is adjacent
to the Entity's current location, is of type Aether, and is
owned by Agora, to an alternating Land Type. The Cartographor
SHALL make the random determination. The Cartographor CAN and
SHALL in a timely fashion, announce which Land Unit, if any, is
changed by this action. This action has no effect if there are
no qualifying Land Units.
5. 4 to set the Land Type of eir current location to any Land Type
of eir choice other than Aether, if and only if the Unit is
owned by Agora.
6. 6 to set the Land Type of any Land Unit that is of type Aether
to an alternating Land Type.
Re-enact rule 2004/3 (Power=1) "Land Auctions" with the text:
Every Agoran Week, if the number of units of Private Land is less
than one half the total number of units of Land, an auction SHALL
be initiated. For this auction, the announcer is the Cartographor,
the auctioneer is the Cartographor, the lots are chosen as such:
1. if there exist at least 3 Units of non-Aether Land in the
possession of Agora: any 3 such Units of Land, to be chosen by
the Cartographor;
2. if there exist fewer than 3 Units of non-Aether Land in the
possession of Agora: all such Units;
and the minimum bid is 1 shiny.
You got rid of shinies, so you should specify the currency it is conducted in
and change the minimum bid to that currency.
Re-enact rule 2022/5 (Power=1), renaming it "Land Transfiguration" with
the text:
During the second week of each Agoran Month, the Cartographor
SHALL perform the following actions in sequence, and report these
changes in a timely fashion:
1. Every Land Unit, excluding (0, 0) that is not directly
connected to a unit of Aether, or is not connected by its own
type to a unit of Aether, shall be transformed to Aether.
2. Any entities whose locations are on land units so transformed
shall have their locations set to 0,0.
3. If any land unit so transformed is not property of Agora, it
becomes property of Agora.
[PART III: Creating Patches]
Create a new rule (Power=2) "Patches" with the text:
I like this name more than the old one, but it still seems a bit odd to me. Maybe
"provinces"?
Patches are liquid assets tracked by the Cartographor.
In order to create a patch, the player who wishes to create it
SHALL specify one or more Land Units that are all connected by a
single Type that the patch is to be composed of. These land units
are considered the patch's constituents.
A player CAN create or destroy a patch by announcement by spending
3 AP or 5 sh.
Again, you got rid of shinies.
If one or more units of land that make up a patch ever have their
ownership or Land Type changed, then:
1. If the change would cause the constituent Land Units to cease
to be connected, then the patch is destroyed;
2. otherwise, the offending Land Units are removed from the patch.
[ This needs to be worded better. Suggest fixes please. Thanks in
advance. ]
Honestly, I'm not sure this whole rule is entirely necessary. I guess it's
supposed to make a lot of the Go aspect of this, but it just doesn't seem to
work to me. I think, as someone else already suggested, that it would be better
just to have Facilities built on individual Land Units. I feel that if the only
purpose of these is to have places to build Facilities, people will just make 1
land unit Patches so they can build as many Facilities as possible with as
little land as possible.
Create a new rule (Power=2) "Facilities" with the text:
Facilities are liquid assets tracked by the Cartographor. In order
for a facility to exist, it MUST be built on a patch. Only one
facility is allowed per patch. The patch on which a facility is
built is called its parent patch.
A player CAN create a facility by announcement by specifying which
patch e wants to build it on, specifying which type of facility e
intends to build, and paying the corresponding build cost.
If a player owns any facilities with upkeep costs, e SHALL pay
them before the first day of the next Agoran month. Failing to do
this destroys the facility. In the second to last week of the
Agoran Month, the Cartographor SHALL issue a humiliating public
reminder to all those who have not paid upkeep fees on any of eir
facilities.
When facilities create assets, the assets are added to the
facility's possession. Each facility has 9 switches corresponding
to each of the nine currencies called their inventory switches.
If, at any time, the amount of a currency in the possession of a
facility exceeds that asset's corresponding inventory switch, an
amount of that currency is destroyed until the amount of that
currency in the possession of the facility is equal to its
inventory switch.
Since Facilities are assets, and assets are entities, why not just have
Facilities be able to own these assets?
A player can take a number of assets from a facility's inventory
if eir location is the same as the facility's and the following
criteria are met:
1. if the facility is built on Public Land, by announcement.
2. if the facility is built on Communal Land, by announcement if e
is a party to that contract and the text of the contract does
not strictly prohibit doing so.
3. if the facility is built on Private Land, by announcement if e
owns the facility.
[ Ew, that wording though. There's gotta be a better way to phrase this
that I'm just overlooking. ]
Since they're all by announcement, I would say something like this:
"A player CAN, by announcement, cause a Facility to transfer em a number of
assets if eir location is the same as the Facility's, and, if the Facility is built
on Proprietary land, if the following criteria are met:
1. if the Facility is built on Communal land, e is a part to the
contract that owns the land, and the contract does not strictly prohibit doing
so, or
2. if the Facility is built on Private Land, e owns the facility."
Create a new rule (Power=2) "Varieties of Facilities" with the text:
For the purposes of this rule, the variable n is equivalent to the
triangular number of the parent patch's size.
I guess this is where Patch size comes in. Maybe, if Patches get abolished,
then Facilities get adjacency bonuses for being next to other Facilities of the
same type? A mechanic like this is present in a RTS game called Offworld
Trading Company, and it works really well, and is one of the main features of
that game. I think that could work well here, too. It encourages people to
specialize, also.
The following facilities are defined as production facilities:
1. Mines
- Build Cost: 5 lumber
- Upkeep Cost: none
- Production Details: Every week, each Mine produces 4n stones
and n ore.
2. Orchards
- Build Cost: 5 stones
- Upkeep Cost: none
- Production Details: Every week, each Orchard produces 2n
apples and 4n lumber.
3. Farms
- Build Cost: 3 lumber and 4 stones
- Upkeep Cost: 2 lumber
- Production Details: Every week, each Farm produces 2n corn
and 2n cotton.
The following facilities are defined as refinery facilities:
1. Smelter
- Build Cost: 4 lumber and 8 stones
- Upkeep Cost: 5 stones
- Refinery Details: Every ore placed in a smelter is
transmuted into 5 bars.
Is "transmuted" defined anywhere? If not, you should define it, or use a
different word. In general, the refinery details for the Smelter and Mill are very vague.
2. Mill
- Build Cost: 6 lumber and 6 stones
- Upkeep Cost: 3 stones and 3 lumber
- Refinery Details: Every lumber placed in a mill is
transmuted into 6 papers. Every cotton placed in a mill is
transmuted into 4 fabric.
[ I didn't set inventory limits since I didn't know what I wanted them
to be. ]
Create a new rule (Power=2) "The Nine Currencies" with the text:
The following nine currencies are defined, and are tracked by the
Treasuror:
1. ore
2. stones
3. lumber
4. apples
5. cotton
6. corn
7. bars
8. papers
9. fabric
[ Probably not all of these will be managed by the Treasuror, but it all
depends on where the discussion takes us over the next few days.]
Stones, apples, and corn are considered unrefinable currencies;
ore, lumber, and cotton are considered refinable currencies; and
bars, papers, and fabric are considered refined currencies.
Bars are the official currency of Agora.
I think I'd rather call them coins, instead of bars.
