The TattleMaster/Archives/Issue 4

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This is an archived issue of The TattleMaster.
Issue 3 Issue 4 Issue 5
Adventurers and Sages and ... Wizards? Oh my!October 31, 2007
Adventurers on Beluaterra have begun reporting the presence of an extremely reclusive type of sage, the Wizard! Similar to Sages, wizards will offer the lucky adventurer the option to create wondrous items out of common ones. The difference being that wizards offer to make magical scrolls rather than unique items. While the scrolls don't actually do anything yet, you can, if you're lucky enough, get some created.
-- Indirik
New "Distance From Home" CalculationsOctober 29, 2007
The following appeared as a new log-in news ticker item today:

New Distance Calculation
New code has been uploaded to testing for the "distance from home" calculation that makes your men grumble and complain (and lose morale).
The new code should be softer while you are near your realm, but harsher if you get further away. This should help localize conflicts, with fewer allied troops interfering from half a continent away.

– Login message

-- Indirik
One Less War Island?October 29, 2007
When asked about Dwilight on the Discussion List today, Tom mentioned that the appearance of Dwilight will herald the end of one of the war islands.

Yes, Dwilight will replace one of the war islands.
I have not yet decided, which one.

Tom

-- Indirik
East Island Vote ResetOctober 28, 2007
In case you have a character on the East Island and don't read your messages very closely, you may have missed this announcement:
GM Announcement from Tom
Message sent to All nobles on the East Island
Votes Reset
To shake things up a little (and because it's been requested so often by many players, but the code isn't there yet, so I've done it manually for a test), all votes have been reset on the entire island.
That means, you need to set them again, especially for the upcoming monthly elections. Maybe this will dislodge a few people who were riding on "forgotten" votes, and bring about a little change in politics.
Tom (Tom)
This should be an interesting change. By forcing players to make a conscious choice as to who they want to rule the realm (or be general/judge/banker as appropriate), it should encourage rulers to do something to actually inspire people to continue to vote for them. It should also make it easier for a concerted effort by a dedicated group of nobles to remove the current government if they are dissatisfied, but can't break through the inertia of "set-and-forget" votes. For those of you without characters on the East Island, this may soon (hopefully) be coming to other islands, as well. While this vote reset was manual, we can hope that this may become automated in the future.
-- Indirik
The Perils of PeaceOctober 26, 2007
Staying at perpetual peace with your neighbors is going to start getting a little more difficult. Not so much in the area of diplomatic negotiations, as in the area of region control. Without the constant threat of warfare, the commoners will have enough leisure time in their lives to ~gasp~ start thinking! And everyone knows that means trouble. So, if you want to avoid problems with uppity commoners, make sure you keep them focused on all the dangerous external enemies, or you might start getting messages like this:

Liberals Alarm
The peacefulness of your realm is giving the peasants ideas - of personal freedom, liberty, happiness and other nonsense. Independence increases in all regions. A war or two would take their minds off such dangerous ideals.

-- Indirik
Tom to the EC: Where's the war?October 24, 2007
Tired of the love-fest that has the entire East Island locked into a massive alliance? Well, you're not the only one. Earlier today Tom posted the following notice/warning to the rulers of the East Island:
GM Announcement from Tom
Message sent to Rulers of the East Island
Rulers, I know the situation on EI is tricky, anyone who starts a war must fear to be gangbanged and all.

But you as players have a responsibility to keep the game fun for the rest of the players. I urge you to discuss among yourself, OOC, what can be done to break the stalemate.

If there aren't a couple of wars within a week or so, I will have to think up something drastic, and I really, really don't like to mess with the game this way.

So please, in the interest of all players on EI, break this stalemate, take a risk, find a solution, do something. I'm sure a few months from now people will say "we lost that war, but at least it wasn't boring anymore".
Tom (Tom)
If you have a character on the East Island, and you would like to see the players solve the situation on their own without having to have Tom solve it for them, then urge your rulers to step up and get it done!
-- Indirik
Custom Titles! A Glimpse of Custom Government Systems!October 10, 2007
Following along on the news from last week, Tom has implemented the new custom title system. This allows the realm ruler to pick from among various predefined title sets for region lords. You can read a description of the new system here: Title Systems.

Along with this is a glimpse of a new feature that will eventually allow you to custom design your own government system! The ruler can define various aspects of the system, including what you call your government style, how often the council positions are elected (or if they are appointed), and what the titles for the councilors are, with separate versions available for both male and female characters. While you can set custom titles and election settings, they as of yet have no effect.
-- Indirik
Resources Implemented?October 10, 2007
It appears as if resources (metal, stone, wood) are starting to be implemented on Beluaterra. At the very least, recruiting centers are beginning to require metal to train new recruits. Region lords will get reports of metal being used by the recruiting center. The Duke receives the "Available resources in the duchy" reported as part of the new "Daily Duchy Report". Information on how these resources are generated, and whether or not they can be moved or traded is not yet available.

Update:Tom has clarified that although the report states that resources are used, not having them will not impact the production of new recruits. It is a non-blocking message.
-- Indirik
More War Island ChangesOctober 5, 2007
In addition to the family gold change listed above, a rather significant change has been implemented on the war islands. Basically, if the realm leadership doesn't gather "glory" for their realm, they will be automatically removed from power. Here's a partial explanation:

Here's how it works:

Every looting, victory and some other things add to a score called "glory". That's not new code, it's been in the game for a year or so, but so far it hasn't been used in any visible way (mostly as a tool for me to judge how things are going).

Now, every week the governments on the war islands will get a notice about how they're doing in relation to the other realms.

Every three weeks, whoever is last loses their jobs and a point of prestige.

Judging you in comparison to the others means you can't go the "let's do one looting to get a positive score and we're done" route.

Tom

Tom's full post on the subject can be found here.
-- Indirik
Title ChangesOctober 5, 2007
From the news ticker: "Regional titles have been simplified. All dukes remain dukes, and everyone else is now baron/baroness instead of the region-dependent titles in use before. This should make it easier to understand what rank in the hierarchy everyone has, there really was no point in having people on the same "level" have different titles."

Update: Tom provided some explanation and amplification to this on the Discussion List:

There's a reason for this change in addition to that. I want to streamline the hierarchy and make more things possible, but that requires a solid foundation first.
For example, with the new code that handles the baron/duke thing, it is also possible to differentiate titles by more than just region type. I could use region size if I wanted to, or any other factors. Most importantly, I might even add custom titles, not necessarily in the sense that you can make up your own, but in the sense that your realm can choose from several available "sets".

Tom

-- Indirik
War Island ChangesOctober 5, 2007
A slight change has been made to the war islands (South-East Island and South-West Island). Nobles on the war islands will no longer be allowed to send gold home to their families. Tom posted the following message in-game to all nobles on the war islands:

GM Announcement from Tom
Message sent to War Islands
Family Deposits Disabled
You can no longer send gold to your family from the war islands.
For some reason, the war islands are not really being played as such by too many players, causing frustration for those players who expected a war island to be about, well, war.
One of the likely reasons people who don't actually want war are playing on a war island is the ability to gather gold for your family, so we're taking that away. Please leave the war islands to people who actually want constant war.
Tom (Tom)
-- Indirik
Dwilight Contest Winners AnnouncedOctober 3, 2007
Tom has announced the winners of the Dwilight Realm Banner Contest. You can view the winning entries here. Congratulations to the winners, and to all the other contestants.
-- Indirik


October 22, 2007
Bug #3758 - Elections are happening instantaneously when an elected position-holder loses the position.


October 11, 2007
The experimental trading system is now available for region lords to try out on stable islands. For now, actual trades do not take place, and no gold or food changes hands.


October 10, 2007
The new Title Systems feature is available on testing islands.


October 5, 2007
Bug #3730 - Nobles without units are visible on scout reports again.


October 1, 2007
Bug #3664 - The disappearing army bug has been fixed.


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