Let's build an island colony (Realistic RPG/Simulator)

Discussion in 'Roleplaying Games' started by lychee, Apr 21, 2018.

  1. Cutter Masterson

    Cutter Masterson Well-Known Super-Soldier

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    How do I update the Wiki page?
     
  2. lychee

    lychee [- slightly morbid fruit -] ❀[ 恋爱? ]❀

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    Hmm... how big of an antenna can we put on the compound?

    I'm seeing on google for numbers like 200 ft (~60m), so that would put radio range to the compound at 32.5 km?

    That's just over one title. T__T It feels too short.

    Maybe we need to have colonists build repeaters. XDD

    You can just press the edit button. Making an account might be recommended, otherwise it saves the author of the edit as your IP address.

    [​IMG]
     
  3. Cutter Masterson

    Cutter Masterson Well-Known Super-Soldier

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    According to Amazon customer:
    If you locate and program the address of your nearest repeater into the radio, you can bounce out as far as Australia on a good day. You'll need to upgrade from the standard antenna first.
    Gunny885 answered on February 11, 2015
     
  4. lychee

    lychee [- slightly morbid fruit -] ❀[ 恋爱? ]❀

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    Monday Apr-23 (Jack) - Raining:
    • 7am: I woke up today and it was raining. Since I had placed my tarp on the ground and slept on top of that under my improvised tarp tent, it was actually quite wet. Feeling quite cold and shivery, I got up. Next time, I'll need to remember not to sleep on the ground if possible.
    • 7:30am: Ate breakfast (1/3 ration). Feeling quite miserable. Since it's raining outside, I don't feel comfortable attempting to do any wood-cutting or log moving today. That would basically be like asking for an accident, or slipping and falling. I end up sitting around for a while.
    • 9am: I finally take out the wooden paddle I was working on, and finished carving it.
    • 11:30: Not really that hungry today since I didn't really do much. Besides, the rations taste bad. I decide to skip lunch. Looking for something to do, I wander out from under the tent-tarp and wander around for a bit under the rain. I find a few pretty straight oak saplings (about 2" in diameter) and decide to cut them down to make a few poles. I cut about two 8 ft poles and remove the branches.
    • 12:00pm: I bring the two poles back to the tent and strip the bark. I'm planning on using the bark to make some cordage (source 2) (source 3), so I submerge the strings of stripped bark in a puddle formed by one of my tarps. Leaving it soaked there for a few days will help loosen the fibers from the bark. I leave the wooden poles (still green and flexible) off to the side.
    • 12:30pm: I go outside to cut down a few more similar saplings, strip the bark, and repeat. I do this until I have about 12 poles and a pile of bark submerged in water.
    • 3pm: I'm getting hungry so I eat 1/6th of a ration. Plenty of water everywhere.
    • 4pm: Relaxing~
    • 5pm: I set up an improvised sleeping platform using paracord and the 12 poles I cut down. This way I can be off the wet ground when I sleep tonight. I have to move the paracord/tarp tent though and set it up over the sleeping platform.
    • 6pm: Dinner (1/6th ration).
    • 7pm: Going to bed early today.
    Status: Healthy, bored, improvement in comfort (small gains, okay!), food tastes bad, not hungry, plenty of water

    - Money: $100
    • 12" diameter x 8 ft - log, black ash - 393 lbs (178 kg)
    • 11" diameter x 8 ft - log, black ash - 329 lbs (149 kg)
    • 10" diameter x 8 ft - log, black ash - 274 lbs (124 kg)
    • 9" diameter x 8 ft - log, black ash - 219 lbs (99 kg)
    • 8" diameter x 8 ft - log, black ash - 113 lbs (51 kg)
    • 12" diameter x 8 ft - log, white oak - 415 lbs
    • 11" diameter x 8 ft - log, white oak - 346 lbs
    • 10" diameter x 8 ft - log, white oak - 289 lbs
    • 9" diameter x 8 ft - log, white oak - 231 lbs
    • 8" diameter x 8 ft - log, white oak - 184 lbs
    • 7" diameter x 7 ft - log, white oak - 124 lbs
    • Collapsible 10L Water Container - 0.1 kg (full: 10.1 kg) - http://a.co/hnciX0k
    • 2.5 L water backpack - 0.4 kg (full: 2.9 kg) - http://a.co/6eXzJDM
    • Broadaxe - 1.6 kg - (link)
    • Raspberry fruit(?) - 2 cups
    • Dry wood - 8 kg
    • Oak Tree Bark, soaked in water - 2 kg(?)
     
    Last edited: Apr 23, 2018
  5. leegood

    leegood Well-Known Member

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    (WORK IN PROGRESS)
    Name
    : Bob Bobbity Gender: Male
    Age: 26

    Food needs: 4000 kcal/day
    Water needs: 6 L/day
    Sleep needs: 6 hours sleep
    Hiking speed: 6 km per hour
    Carrying capacity: 54 kg

    History: Optional, for those who like to roleplay.
    Bob lived in the US for the majority of his youth as a mail boy and boy scout, later in his teens he joined ROTC and after finishing the program joined the army where he fought in the great penguin uprising of 2009-2012, Then the subsequent great Emu Rebellion of 2012- 2016 where he learned many a great survival and fighting skills. After leaving the army, his friend in a small country invited him to live in a new area, one free from any existing government and so he accepted, spending the money he had made as part of the army to buy supplies.
    Personality: Optional, for those who like to roleplay.
    He's nice to everyone, but will not tolerate being disrespected.


    Day 1.

    I arrived at Port Town and brought with me one 25 kg box, containing:
     
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  6. Cutter Masterson

    Cutter Masterson Well-Known Super-Soldier

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    Monday Apr-23. (Light Rain) Today I did:
    • 5am: woke early and started sharpening my axe and knife. While watching the waters again. Knifes: https://www.amazon.com/Buck-Bear-Ha...3&sr=8-82-spons&keywords=Damascus+Kukri&psc=1 and https://www.amazon.com/REG-S-1119-C...d=1524530750&sr=1-114&keywords=Damascus+knife
    • 6am: I have decided to break camp and follow the shoreline. There was nothing special to the East. The main reason I wanted to stay near the shore was because I anticipate to haul a lot of equipment and supplies. With no roads it left little choice but to stay close to the shore. I better eat breakfast before starting. I had Mountain House Granola with Milk and Blueberries.
    • 7am: I start to pack up my gear and loaded up my wagon.
    • 8am: I headed out North.
    • 12pm: Travel about 2 miles. Still didn’t find the perfect spot yet, but I did come across several miner rivers. Traveling in the rain suck big time. It became obvious the smartest ones around is the wildlife. They were smart enough to stay home and out of the rain. I skip lunch. I just couldn’t see myself eating in a downpour. Drank a bunch of water and set out to find my Shangri-La.
    • 5pm: Found a terrible spot to stop for the night, but beggars can’t be choosers. The large trees in the areas at least kept most of the rain away, but the wind was the awful part. I almost gave up putting up my tent.
    • 7pm: I finish setting up camp. Which made me irritated. It only took half an hour, maybe an hour. Not two. I’m just glad I finish before dark. Tent up. Water filled. Traps set. Brush push back. Wood stack.
    • 8pm: After taking a break I started on dinner. I had to use my waterproof matches to start a fire. I had Mountain House Noddles and Chicken (). After thinking about it I must be around 5 miles from my original camp spot. Hopefully I’ll find what I’m searching for tomorrow.

    • Status: Healthy, not hungry, not thirsty, nausea due to tent moving because of strong winds.
     
  7. Clozdark

    Clozdark "Kuma chan \(≧◡≦)/ "「airhead」「nonsense speaker]

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    Ooc: nothing can be done with my character to move far away,i need bicycle to fast transportation and always securing daily money,but it will arrive next month,so i will write routines only for a month probably.
    Monday Apr-23 {raining }:
    • 5 am i woke up and get daily money from the port,it's going to rain soon
    • 8 am i eated the cured fish a little bit,companied by few raspberries near my tent
    • 9 am i let my clothes washed by the rain,while i make a clothes from tying my wire with palm leaves
    • 13 pm a bit thirsty so i use life straw drink as usual,accompanied by the fish as lunch.
    • 14 pm i just reinforced the branches wall around my tent
    • 18 pm finished the medium fish,and the rain slowly stopped
    • 19 pm rest early
    Status: good condition,well rested,no hunger nor thirst
    - crossbow and 9arrow left
    - fishing set
    - wire 55 yard left
    - tacklebox fake lure set
    - salt and curing salt
    - backpack
    - dead branches x 2
    - hunting knife
    - torcher
    - torch ammunition 3 bottle
    - lifestraw
    - spiked branches x30
    - net leaves tent
    - palm bed v.2
    -
    Money $401
     
  8. lychee

    lychee [- slightly morbid fruit -] ❀[ 恋爱? ]❀

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    I've finished doing estimates on shipping costs! Because it turned out to be a little complicated, I wrote a calculator that I put online.

    The shipping cost calculator can be found here.

    "Common" Goods shipping numbers were approximated by looking up shipping costs from Sydney to Fiji. Australia is is quite close to Fiji, so I roughly estimated the range from Kiribati to Rift Island to be in some kind of similar arrangement. Honestly, mentally in my head the distance is probably closer, but given that Kiribati has a miserable economy and has to import practically everything, buying things even in supermarkets in Kiribati is probably more expensive than it is in many Western countries, so I think this was a fair estimate.

    "Rare" Goods shipping costs = "common" goods shipping cost + shipping costs from Los Angeles to Kiribati.

    I also did some significant research on how sea freight shipping is done:
    • FCL (Full Container Load) is cheapest. That's like a full 20' or 40' container.
    • LCL (Less-than full Container Load) is the second cheapest. This is like shipping on pallets and large crates. LCL via sea is priced by volume. The minimum package volume in order to ship LCL is 1 cubic meter (even if your package is less than 1 cubic meter, you still pay the 1 cubic meter rate).
    • Parcel shipping is the most expensive. However, when you have packages <1 cubic meter in size, it's often cheaper to ship parcel. Parcel shipping is primarily priced by weight (oversimplification).

    Comments:
    • "Common" Goods shipping prices are cheaper than the old values
    • "Rare" Goods shipping is significant more expensive than the new values
    • "Container FCL" shipping prices are cheaper than the old values
     
    Last edited: Apr 24, 2018
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  9. Exitiumm

    Exitiumm Well-Known Member

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    Monday Apr-22 - Raining. Today I did:
    • 6am: I awoke to the sound of water hitting the walls of my shelter, but was soon distracted by the burning sensation in my throat and my dry mouth, I'm flipping thirsty! I neglected to get a drink yesterday... Crap, if I just slept in a few more hours I might of been a dead man! With my panicked morning I suddenly rushed outside as fast as I could and tried to drink some of the rain water that fell down, temporarily relieving my thirst.
    • 7am: Afterwards I grabbed my breakfast and began eating, while shivering from the rain that got my clothes wet, luckily my shelter is protected against the forces of nature enough not let any rain in or wind.
    • 8am: After finishing my breakfast I noticed that the rain seemed to clear up a bit, or at least wasn't as hard as earlier, and instead was a light shower, so I headed outside and tried to grab my supplies... Which were apparently soaked by the rain last night, luckily nothing got damaged, however it's reminded me to not leave my supplies outside and vulnerable to mother nature.
    • 9am: Once I finished organizing everything I decided to head towards the Grand Lagoon to get an official drink of water for the day, of which made me far less thirsty, or well not as thirsty as a man dying in the desert from dehydration and instead a person that just entered the desert.
    • 10am: After returning I took a look at my shelter to inspect for any damages and noticed that some of the thatch seemed to be damaged from the water, so I replaced them, and also tried to make use of an idea of mine to use the muddy earth to make the walls a bit more resilient and warmth-keeping, afterwards I wondered if I could use the same idea for a campfire and attempted to make a small ring of patted mud, similar to how a child would make a ring out of play-dough. (1/2)
    • 12pm: Finally finished, I began to eat my lunch but soon realized I'll be running out soon... Luckily I saw some mice and fox to hunt, though not very nutritious will definitely be better then the emergency rations I'm currently surviving on, I also saw a boar however I'm doubtful I'd be able to take one of those down without a weapon of sorts... Or at the very least several people, people, huh... It'd be interesting to meet the other pioneers, perhaps we could even create a pen for the boars and use them for food..?
    • 1pm: Noticing that I was lost in thought I snapped out of it and began to carry on with my day which included once again cutting a small or medium-sized tree down for firewood (1/3)
    • 4pm: After finishing getting the firewood I headed back to the Grand Lagoon for the last time to get a drink and had a rather sudden idea when I remembered that there was a cave not too far from my settlement, an idea for a future time of course, but an idea nonetheless, it seemed rather large and safe, a good place for a permanent shelter, however it'd be a long-term project.
    • 5pm: After grabbing a drink I headed back towards my campsite while thinking about the day and wondering what the other Pioneers were doing currently, maybe we will meet each other... Hopeful dreams of course, they could of all just went in different directions, but it's good to have hope.
    • 6pm: I soon delved into my dinner and noticed I finally finished the second to last case of rations I had stored up, I'll need to at the very least tomorrow go hunting or at least try while I still have enough energy... Otherwise I'll just starve.
    • 7pm: Noticing the approaching night I let out a sigh as I noticed the rain seemed ready to go for a last powerful round of showers and snuffed my fireplace out and moved the firewood so it wouldn't get wet before heading inside of my temporary shelter, taking along the book on how to plant rice and studying it.
    • 8pm: Night finally arrived as I put down the book due to the lack of light and fell asleep into a deep dream...
    ----- ----- ----- ----- -----

    Status: Healthy, well rested, Slightly comfortable (Slept in a make-shift shelter), slightly hungry, very thirsty.
    - Money: $200
    • Two cases of EMR ( Emergency Food Rations ) with 9 bars each - (1.26kg)
    • Two bottles of Multivitamin Supplements - (.09kg)
    • Four life straw water purifiers - (0.181kg)
    • Two 16oz bottles of Rubbing Alcohol - (.9kg)
    • A pack of 5 lighters - (0.06kg)
    • 13" Wooden Hatchet (1kg)
    • 22oz Hammer (1kg)
    • A pack of 200 Rice Seeds - (0.02kg)
    • A book on how to farm Rice - (0.09kg)
    • Firewood, (9.6kg)

    ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----

    Rather uneventful day honestly, though tomorrow will undoubtedly be interesting as I'll have to deal with food problems with the already strained time table currently~

    :aww: Good job~! \o/ It's rather simple to use, even for someone like me who is rather bad at calculating these kind of things, *cough cough*
     
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  10. Exitiumm

    Exitiumm Well-Known Member

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    • Lychee - Jack Lumber - Male - Pillar Forest.
    • Exitiumm - Christopher Hazael - Male - Pillar Forest.
    • Clozdark - Pierte K. Reed - Male - Port Town.
    • Cutter Masterson - David "Kawika" Smith - Male - East River Forest?
    • Leegood - Bob Bobbity - Male - Port Town.

    Made this in case people aren't completely 100% sure where the other player's are at~

    Interestingly enough we have a lot of male pioneers huh? *Coughs violently* At this rate it's gonna be a fujoshi's paradise or something!

    Also, just curious but anyone willing to actually team up? Or at least make our characters meet eachother? It'd be an interesting interaction~
     
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  11. Cutter Masterson

    Cutter Masterson Well-Known Super-Soldier

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    Although I also think it would be interesting. My path on this land will lean towards hermit, just not antisocial. My disposition will be retired rich tycoon wanting to build, what he wants to build. No building codes, no city codes, no state codes, hell no restrictions. I aiming for at least a modern homestead feel or maybe a castle I’m not sure. Right now my character sold he's business a couple of years back for millions. Than reinvested in several profitable ventures. So I have the capital of close to 100 millions of U.S. dollars and going up. I just got tired of people ask for money. I wanted to get away from it all, but I’m not happy with the outhouse idea. So after I settled down I don’t mind doing the neighborly thing and helping out where I can. Or even before I’m done if you need a hand. I’m happy to collaborate.
    In fact I’m planning to head back to the states to gather what I need to build my little bungalow. I’ll ship out HAM radio like the ones I do have to everyone. I’ll also send a couple of repeaters along. You never know when an emergency may happen.
    So if you need a hand just give me a call. It will probably take my character a week or two to get this done.
     
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  12. Cutter Masterson

    Cutter Masterson Well-Known Super-Soldier

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    After doing a little research I found Kiribati island to be subpar supplier. It’s islands are disappearing. The saltwater is contaminated the freshwater. The population is over crowding the islands.
    Con:
    Water is an issue.
    Food is an issue.

    Pro:
    Real need to immigrate.
    Cost of things should be low.
    Large number of unemployed craftsman.

    Maybe:
    Is there any international incentive?
    Lower cost to ship farm equipment to third world countries.
    Third world international funds.

    I could be wrong though.
     
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  13. lychee

    lychee [- slightly morbid fruit -] ❀[ 恋爱? ]❀

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    Very interested in working together and meeting up. In fact I was really hoping that a cook-like character would start a kitchen/tavern-like operation. >.<

    In we don’t get any new players, I was considering making a second character, but it takes so much time to manage and do one character, it might be difficult for me to do two.

    As long as you don’t give yourself something like an unlimited money cheat or something....... it could really mess up the balance of the game if one player has that much on them. Frankly it’s best to play like there is no outside sources of money, because that’s actually the most fair.

    If you really want repeaters or things like that, I’d rather it if we made use of the elected “governor” position and allow the governor to get a monthly budget ($5k? $10k?) for public works development.

    Well, kiribati’s poor economic state was why I imagined they would be eager to monopolize the rift if possible. There’s so much economic opportunity for them.

    Obviously other countries wouldn’t be happy and would want Kiribati to give up their edclusive claim over the Rift, so this is a political tension point.

    For now, Kiribati wants to legitimize their sovereign claim over Rift Island with a settlement project, populating the island with civilians. It’s like what Israel is doing on West Bank.
     
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  14. Cutter Masterson

    Cutter Masterson Well-Known Super-Soldier

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    Your absolutely right unlimited of anything is bad. How about a total 20 million net worth, with a 40,000 a month dividends?
     
  15. lychee

    lychee [- slightly morbid fruit -] ❀[ 恋爱? ]❀

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    I would still say no.

    The point is partially about fairness. This is still a multiplayer game, and even though it has realism and role-play-like elements, it's still intended to be a balanced game where everyone starts with roughly the same position. If your character is allowed to have $40,000 a month, everyone else's characters have to have the same benefits. Otherwise it's like playing Starcraft where one player gets 400x the money that everyone else has. It's not fun for the others even if it is fun for you.

    Even if we allowed everyone to have a stipend of $40,000 per month, it completely changes the nature of the game.

    The point of the game is for players to develop local industries and economy -- in other words, "build an island colony". There needs to be incentives for players to begin farming, mining, making pottery, starting taverns, etc.

    If players have more money than they really need, Rift Island suddenly becomes a "vacation island" where people can fool around and buy everything they need or want (e.g. helicopter, luxury yacht, swimming pool, modern heating system, beach condo), and local industries won't be developed because it's not worth the effort vs. importing it all. Even right now, I'm trying to decide whether I should put a tariff on imported agricultural products like flour/rice (which many countries IRL do, by the way) because it's economically impossible to establish a rice farm (@Exitiumm brought rice seeds) while imported rice is cheaper.

    This is part of the reason why the shipping costs are so high (vs. the Garden Simulator game that I'm running that has free shipping). While it's incidental that I tried my best to make the shipping costs realistic, imported goods need to be more expensive than the cost of locally-produced goods in order to create an incentive for players to develop local industries. Like why would you buy locally-made bricks if imported bricks are cheaper? Keeping the economic balance game is rather difficult even though there's only a few of us playing right now.

    High costs of imported goods also stimulates and rewards creativity by players. For example: is it really that hard to look up the recipe for how to make cement? Or how to build a wheel and cart? Or glass? Or a brick oven? Or capturing the boar that somebody mentioned in their daily post and attempting to breed it like pigs?

    Many of these things I'm okay with, and in fact I really encourage. Players who discover new tiles are intentionally allowed to choose what they discovered on the tile because it gives players the ability to get the raw resources they need to do whatever they want, and it creates an economy as well. I won't complain if your character discovers a coal mine, or a prairie with massive herds of horses, or even a gold mine if you're that desperate for money. As long as it sounds believable, it's fair game.

    This island is a ~25 tiles in diameter and the map generator I used had all types of terrain -- mountains, desert, coniferous forest, etc -- which means there's opportunity for all different kinds of resources too (anything you could want). They need to be transported of course, probably by river or sea, but I think that's a close reflection of reality too.

    Economy exists in the real world because potash can be found here, and oil can be found there 100 km away. We often forget about it because we live in a modern world with instant gratification, but historically speaking the difficulty of transporting goods and unequal spread of resources geographically was a major part of what drove trade between different regions of the world.

    Ideally, the daily stipend of each player should be as low as possible. The stipend exists because obviously it is no fun if players die, and the stipend is supposed to be enough that no player needs to worry about food or surviving. However, it's not supposed to be enough to obtain advanced electronics, motorized equipment (e.g. tractors), etc. External money is kind of an artificial influence on the economy in the first place (and that game mechanic is there to make the game "easier") -- like if you were a resident of the poorest country of the world (Democratic Republic of Congo, annual GDP/capita $394.25), it's not like you could make money appear out of nowhere. That's totally a cheat.

    The GDP per capita of Rift Island is effectively negative $100 right now.

    I think it would be an interesting experiment to see if we're able to beat the DRC in GDP in this game without cheats. Honestly, it shouldn't be that difficult -- especially since all of us are able to make "resources" appear out of nowhere simply by discovering a tile. That in itself already makes Rift Island cheat-like when compared to actual real-world countries that don't have the luxury of having abundant natural resources within their territory. I mean, kiribati itself is so poor precisely because it has no natural resources except fishing and potash.

    tldr; No to free money, because (A) fairness with other players and (B) the objective of this game is to "build/make stuff" (increase the GDP) not "buy stuff"
     
    Last edited: Apr 24, 2018
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  16. Cutter Masterson

    Cutter Masterson Well-Known Super-Soldier

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    I was under the opinion that the players would have some sort of savings at least from before. Having 50,000 in savings is not crazy. That’s savings for a car. 100,000 is enough to buy a House. At least here in the U.S. We shouldn’t start off with zero. If that was the case. Cost should have been budgeted for the items being brought along.
    You are right we could find the resources we need to survive and even thrive, but my sticking point is the delays. Any resources exploited needs tools to gather and if you want to take it to the next step in refining or manufacture. It will than need even more tools.
    I am worried that their will be a lot of waiting. You find a shiny rook and realize it’s a diamond. So you walk back to port and order a pickax for mining. Than wait for the ship to bring you a pickax. Now that doesn’t include if you can even afford a pickax. Can you afford gloves, bucket, tarps, hammer, and etc. Do you wait day after day until you have enough to purchase what you need.

    My game plan was to locate a little cove next to a river. There would be a waterfall fed from a freshwater spring. This location would be back by mountains. I was planning to get a cargo container and fill it with as much as I needed. When it got there I was going to use it as a living space along with concrete. After all cargo containers are cheap at this time.
    I totally forgot this is a game and treated it like what I would do. In RL I live from paycheck to paycheck and my life is good. Why would I drop everything to try to colonize a new world? Homesteading. I have seen many people with six digit paychecks decided that living on a farm would be grand. That is my mind set.

    I will cut it back if you want.
     
  17. lychee

    lychee [- slightly morbid fruit -] ❀[ 恋爱? ]❀

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    I see what you're saying about how it's reasonable to have savings. I'm fine with giving a limited amount to everybody.

    I know that you brought up the stereotype of six digit paycheck rich people dropping everything and attempting to "homestead" ((and also failing half the time because they never had the proper skill set to accomplish something they idealized in the first place)), but I was actually going more with the opposite demographic that might be attractive to homesteading -- the really poor, ex-prisoners, people who don't like to talk about their past, people from all over the world (not necessarily just from the US), and so on. I mean, apparently $100 per day was enough to attract them to get on a boat and come here, right?

    If you wanted to keep with the story that Kiribati wanted to get civilian settlers for political reasons, the argument would only make sense that they had their own citizens doing the homesteading. However, Kiribati isn't exactly a populous country. So the way this would have played out is that Kiribati would have the pioneers renounce their previous citizenship and "immigrate" to Kiribati so they are kiribati citizens on paper (kind of like how Olympic athletes do it).

    So the type of the people you get coming to rift island are:
    • Willing to give up their previous citizenship (could be a US citizenship)
    • Be lured by a suspicious country putting out a suspicious offer about being paid to homestead on a remote Pacific island
    • Aware of the fact that they're hundreds of thousands of miles away from civilization with no way of "backing out"
    • Be attracted by the stipend of $100 per day (or $3000 per month or $36k per year)

    This isn't the kind deal that rich people would be impressed by. As soon as you take away the safety net of "oh I have things to fall back on", most people wouldn't be interested. Also, there are plenty of places to homestead in the US. Why homestead in a risky place when you have the money to buy land in rural Pennsylvania or New York, where you can achieve the same thing will safety (and Internet service and other amenities that many wealthy people would be unwilling to depart from -- (I mean, you don't have to become totally Amish to be homesteading, right?).

    But then again, maybe that explains why there are so few "players" on the island in the first place. Though, I'm sure if you could get plenty of people willing to take this deal if you went to the slums in Mumbai, gathered a group of people, and took the ones that looked the most muscular or said they had some kind of useful prior experience. The recruiter would have had to hit a balance between the two.

    But I'll still take the savings point.

    Incidentally, it's actually very well known (and often reported on), that the majority of Americans actually don't have very much in savings. The numbers are even worse for younger people (25-30s) without mature careers, which I assume is the average age of people coming to the Island. Perhaps its even to escape the crushing debt that lots of people have.

    [​IMG]

    So $50k is definitely no. If you have $50k in savings, you're already in the well-to-do range and most likely to have other assets in the US or wherever you live that aren't so easily liquidable (e.g. house, family, 401k).

    I'd be willing to give everyone $1000 dollars, and that would be right at the mode of the average American's savings.

    I think even $1000 dollars is generous though.

    A lot of us easily spent $300-500 on the 25 kg of equipment we brought along that we got for free.

    -----------------------------------

    I think the wait time is a fair complaint.

    I'll address being able to afford the item first:

    It is important to me and I do want to ensure that people have enough money left over each week for "pocket money". If you check out this post (still a work in progress), I was discussing for a while that the supply ship would stock a set of items that could be purchased off the boat every time it came, requiring no shipping fees -- this would primarily be food and other essentials -- kind of acting like a "general store" selling things at retail prices (not bulk).

    You'd see from the selection of goods (particularly the canned food), that I'd estimate that players would spend ~$200-250 per week or less on food. This leaves $450-500 (out of $700 per week) of disposable income. That's plenty to buy lightweight common goods.

    For example, using the shipping calculator and the first pickaxe I find on amazon (let's call it a "common item" because it's pretty ordinary):
    • $44.99 pickaxe cost
    • $42.84 shipping cost
    • Total: $87.83

    The shipping calculator tells you to "combine packages" (add up the total weight and total volume), which is a slightly cheat way to reduce shipping costs too. So in the end, you could easily afford 4-5 common items (or more) every week on a $100 per day stipend. At 15 days, this is like $900-1000 of disposable income, which is plenty, even including shipping. If you save up, you could buy bigger things, which I think is very fair. You easily have enough to buy a good saw, but buying a chainsaw might hurt a little more but is still very doable.​

    Regarding the wait times:

    Having lots of money doesn't exactly solve the wait time business though, because it's still the shipping time that's the limiting factor. You could have all the money in the world, and it would still take 30 days for your military grade jeep (Willys MB) to arrive. That's still all waiting. All the money allows you is to skip the entire process of acquiring oxes or horses or whatever (you can get calves for like $100-200 and an adult team of oxen for $1000-2500), which honestly as a GM I'd prefer that players go through rather skipping straight to "high-tech".

    My point is that having money doesn't solve the wait time unless you buy everything up-front.

    There were two methods that I originally imagined to address wait time:

    (A) "Liquid time" - Liquid time is a concept in writing-based roleplays that there's not an exact date in the overworld/setting. Everyone keeps track of their own time -- meaning some people move faster, and others slower -- yet they still share the same setting and can still interact with each other. It may sound like a time paradox, but it's done pretty commonly in writing-based RPGs where obviously most people don't have the time to write every day. In a liquid time system, you could "fast-forward" with your character (let's say 1-2 months, when your crops are done growing). Then you could harvest your corn and meet with your friend (who may very will still be on week 1, even though you started at similar times IRL) and trade with your player friend.

    (B) "Programming multiple characters" - I kind of favor this one right now. So the concept with this one is that after playing with one character for 1-2 weeks, once your comfortable with your character's routine, you can just say something like: "X character will repeat this routine from now on" and then you don't have to manage or write reports on that character. And then you could go start a second character and "configure" them for a character build better suited for whatever thing you have planned (with the new character freebies, which is basically like "free money"). You could have the two characters meet later on and trade with each other or something.

    I prefer (B) because I think it's more realistic. The reality is that it isn't really reasonable to expect one character to do everything. You can't be a farmer and a woodcutter and a miner and a hunter and a tailor and a butcher and a carpenter and a blacksmith all at once.

    Reality doesn't work that way, and anyone who's been playing this game trying to do things realistically, they'd quickly discover that it's really difficult to have a character specialize in more than one thing (there's simply not enough time) -- and probably more efficient to accept the reality of life that people have jobs/roles and they have to specialize to get anywhere in life.

    Also it works to increase the population of the Island.

    Maybe it's unreasonable to ask people to be less attached to their characters... but this is the best thing I could think of.​
     
    Last edited: Apr 25, 2018
    Exitiumm and Cutter Masterson like this.
  18. Cutter Masterson

    Cutter Masterson Well-Known Super-Soldier

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    Very thorough. Greatly appreciated the insight. Will comply.
     
  19. lychee

    lychee [- slightly morbid fruit -] ❀[ 恋爱? ]❀

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    Tuesday Apr-24 (Jack):
    • 6am: I woke up a little chilly because the air was damp after raining yesterday. When I get up, the ground is rather soft and mushy. I'm a little bit worried about slipping in mud, but I decide to go work on my log anyways. I go to where I had cut up the logs for the oak tree two days ago and consider how to move the logs to the lake. I try what I did on Sunday with the paracord and pulley and winch, but it didn't seem to be working because there was too much mud so I gave up.
    • 8am: Breakfast (finished yesterday's leftover ration). I'm thinking about what to do. So far I've already cut about 3/4 cord of wood (8'x4'x'4) with these two trees over the past 4 days. The pace is much slower than what I'm used to at earth, but I don't have a chainsaw or a way of transporting wood (besides rafting it), so that's probably understandable. However, I'm not exactly happy about this pace. It takes around 75 logs to make a log cabin, and since 8 ft logs are pretty much the limit of what I can move by myself, this is basically like a tiny 8x8x8 cabin, which is practically the size of a shed. Additionally, the wood is supposed to "season" before a year before using them. So given all these things, I think I need to reconsider whether a log cabin is really doable.
    • 8:30: I decide to switch to cutting down 4" diameter oak trees. These young trees are rather immature and only 20 ft tall, but they are significantly lighter and easer to manipulate. I think people would appreciate having logs they can actually carry rather than heavy ones that they can't even lift. From a 20 ft oak tree (bottom 66% usable log, 16 ft), I can get logs of these sizes:
      • 4" diameter x 8 ft - log, white oak - 47 lbs (21.3 kg)
      • 3" diameter x 8 ft - log, white oak - 26 lbs (11.8 kg)
      • Total: 73 lbs (33.1 kg)
    • 12pm: After chopping for 3.5 hours, I've cut down 7 trees of the above specifications and removed the branches. I can easily carry all of these "logs", so I pile them up for now. Then I eat lunch and drink water (1/3 ration).
    • 6:30pm: Continued chopping for the rest of the day. At this point I've gotten 20 trees cut down in total. This comes out to 20 4" logs and 20 3" logs. At this point I eat dinner (1/3 ration).
    • 7pm: Really tired. Even though the logs are light, I've been busy today. Before I go to bed, I dig a small hole, line it with one of the tarps, and transfer the bark I've been soaking in water yesterday to the hole. I checked the bark and the fibers aren't completely loose yet, so I can keep soaking it.
    • 8pm: Bed time. Too exhausted to make a fire, and I don't have anything to cook. I'm really glad I made a "bed" yesterday because it's more comfortable than sleeping on the ground.
    Status: Healthy, exhausted, not hungry or thirsty, feeling dirty (want a bath! soap! ahhh the luxuries of civilization T__T)

    - Money: $100
    • 20x20 ft heavy duty tarp - 5 kg - http://a.co/h53snUZ
    • 9x12 ft Tarp (x2) - 1.36 kg - http://a.co/3lXQKdJ
    • Wooden paddle - 3 kg
    • 2" x 8 ft oak poles (x12) - 12 kg
    • Hole + tarp + water + Oak Tree Bark, soaked in water - 2 kg(?)
    • 12" diameter x 8 ft - log, black ash - 393 lbs (178 kg)
    • 11" diameter x 8 ft - log, black ash - 329 lbs (149 kg)
    • 10" diameter x 8 ft - log, black ash - 274 lbs (124 kg)
    • 9" diameter x 8 ft - log, black ash - 219 lbs (99 kg)
    • 8" diameter x 8 ft - log, black ash - 113 lbs (51 kg)
    • 12" diameter x 8 ft - log, white oak - 415 lbs
    • 11" diameter x 8 ft - log, white oak - 346 lbs
    • 10" diameter x 8 ft - log, white oak - 289 lbs
    • 9" diameter x 8 ft - log, white oak - 231 lbs
    • 8" diameter x 8 ft - log, white oak - 184 lbs
    • 7" diameter x 7 ft - log, white oak - 124 lbs
    • (x20) 4" diameter x 8 ft - log, white oak - 47 lbs (21.3 kg)
    • (x20) 3" diameter x 8 ft - log, white oak - 26 lbs (11.8 kg)
     
    Last edited: Apr 25, 2018
  20. lychee

    lychee [- slightly morbid fruit -] ❀[ 恋爱? ]❀

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    For people who need inspiration on how to build/make things from scratch, this blog/YouTube series is a huge inspiration for me.