Player Bewildered Zeratul

[Zeratul 2.0]

I feel that with the start of this Journal,
what I do in game will have significance of cosmical magnitude.
Therefore, I shall take extreme caution about what to build, produce and so on next.
And therefore, dear guildies and friends, if you find me inactive, know I'm not.
Surely I must be calculating carefully about what the next step should be, to find out its influence in an all-inclusive manner.

On second thought, this should not include the visiting of friend taverns, the motivating and polishing, the contributing to one another's Great Buildings / exchange of forge points... in fact, ALL the actions that are currrently already going on. Why? Because the starting point is what matters only. What is already going on, in the middle, must proceed till it ends. So no consideration, no thought is needed there.

Conclusion: I'll be thinking solely about whether I should build a tree in the city, as it seems this is the only thing self-initiative, completely independent of external influences -- wherein I do mean the normal tree, the type available very early, in fact at the very beginning of the game; that costs 8 supplies and no coin at all to build, and gives back nothing to demolish, if I remember the numbers correctly. When I first joined the game, I built so many of them, in rectangular shape, as fences of a supposed park, surrounding the Oracle (which has been deleted to save space and divert forge points to better great buildings, giving the land it originally occupied to either the culture building of Khan or the Mill that I can't really recall). Anyway, back to those trees, they actually took hours to be arranged just right; for instance, among other things, one tree on the rectangular had to be left out, for a tile of road, because the Oracle need to be connected with the town hall. The missing tree, was thereby considered the entrace/exit of the park. I chose to leave out the one tree in the furthest corner of the rectangular fence, the upper left corner, so that it does not look like one tree is missing, and thus give the supposed park a more isolated and tranquil feel. The Bronze Age citizens in their linen cloth (I think so) piously worship their goddess the Oracle of Delphy (or -phi) with burnt incense, because you can see the white smoke slowly curls upward...

 

[Zeratul 2.0]

Huh? Isn't this section hard-coded so that no one can reply?

Journals: This section is reserved for Player and Guild journals. Only the thread creators can post in the threads below.

Source: Guide to the Journal Section
Of course, that was as old as in 2013.

Anyway... I lost 7 rogues yesterday.
Then, I lost another 7 rogues, again, today, in almost the same way!

Yesterday it was GE. Previously, for quite a long time, 1 Heavy Infantry + 7 rogues have always been a winning (attacking) combination for me. Or, in case of 2 waves of enemies, adjust to 2 Heavy Infantries + 6 rogues. Even against ranged units, which hold advantages over Heavy type. However, yesterday, seeing the GE encounter enemy comprises purely ranged units and artillery, I opted for 1 champion + 7 rogues. The champion spoken here was a badly injured one, even. I was thinking "don't worry, the AI always hit the rogues first." Auto battle! Result: instant and total annihilation...

Today, it was Winter Event last quest. "Defeat this army, 4 fast, 4 ranged -- Or -- Solve this moderate negotiation." Even though the negotiation is "moderate", each character asks for 5 goods per turn. That's too expensive! Fight it is.

So I learned from yesterday's mistakes. This time I picked a whole-health champion. And 7 rogues, for I have quite a few Rogue's Dens and have replenished some of the attached rogues overnight (the unattached ones are gone for good needless to say).

Auto Battle!

Result: no, it can't be! Instant and total annihilation, again?!

As a wise man once said, "Shoe me once. Shame on me. Shoe me twice -- I'm keeping those shoes!"

Also, it was on Jan 1st and Jan 2nd such consecutive heavy losses occurred. I fear it might be such a bad omen for the year.

So, in the words of Akara: "I implore you, stranger. Please help us. Find a way to lift this terrible curse, and we will pledge our loyalty to you for all time..."

 

[Zeratul 2.0]

OK, the lonely journal of I, me and myself shall continue!

Viewers please notice the rules here, which states:

This section is reserved for Player and Guild journals. Only the thread creators can post in the threads below.

:::::

Yesterday, I deleted a long-owned Terrace Farm (and some other things) to make space for 2 ordinary Farms. The decision was made based on this information from the Fandom wiki:

As is well-known the diamond reward is a one time thing per unique recurring quest.

You see, it is well-known. Although I did not know that before (not for sure).

Now, with Chateau boost of 100% plus, it is time to dig for some more diamonds, which will be more than double the base amount!

So far, I have completed the "Collect saltpeter 2 times", the "Gather (a number of) coins", the "Spent (this many) forge points", and the "Unbirthday" recurring quests innumerable times, so the diamonds buried there are definitely already gone. Gone very early, actually. At that time, I thought the 1% chance means the total chance, for only once, out of ALL recurring quests, all together. Then, I received diamonds for multiple times. I thought, "the game is broken; but it is in my favor. So I should keep it a secret..." So, that turned out to be an illusion.

Now, since there are 8 unique recurring quests in total, there should be 4 chances left for a diamond pack. Since I'm camping in HMA, it is impossible to complete the "Research 2 technologies" quest, which would lead straight to the next age. Therefore, there are 3 chances remaining, respectively out of the "Produce 2 carrots", "Produce 2 carrots and 2 saltpeters" and "Gather (this many) supplies" quests. This, by the way, kinda answers a question out there somewhere... that retorts(*?) "if there is a 'produce 2 saltpeters' quest, who on earth would want to also have the 'produce 2 carrots and 2 saltpeters' quest?"

Seemingly, these 3 diamond-laden quests will ALL depend on the newly built 2 [ordinary] Farms. Regretfully, I deleted 2 luckily-won diamond-version Windmills very early without careful consideration. Otherwise, they can be used for the gathering supplies quest.

With 2 [ordinary] Farms, I can complete the "Produce 2 carrots" or "Produce 2 carrots and 2 saltpeters" quest once per day. What is the chance for getting diamond after collecting for 100 days? I wonder. Somehow, the chance has to be calculated in the reverse way. That is, firstly, what is the chance of not getting diamonds after 100 tries? It is: 99% to the 100th power. And then, minus that result from 100%. The final result is... in the calculator, or the google page -- it is not important. Very thin, my friend, the hope is very thin.

OK, then. Till 100 days later! ...

 

[Zeratul 2.0]

With 2 [ordinary] Farms, I can complete the "Produce 2 carrots" or "Produce 2 carrots and 2 saltpeters" quest once per day. What is the chance for getting diamond after collecting for 100 days? I wonder.

As a wise man (or just a man) once said (with some adaptions): "Be careful what you wish for -- it might come sooner rather than later!"

Spoiler: image of random reward diamonds from 2 carrots

Note: boosted to 115% by Chateau

Please remind me to collect "2 carrots AND 2 saltpeters" from now on, instead of just "2 carrots"

 

[Zeratul 2.0]

Spoiler: image of random reward diamonds from 2 carrots & 2 saltpeters

Had a myriad of Alchemists, for looping "2 Saltpeters".
Had no Farm.
Built 2 Farms on Jan. 5.
Added 4 more Farms some time later.
Hit Diamonds out of "2 Carrots" on Jan. 14.
(That'd be 9~27 tries in total)
Hit Diamonds again out of "2 Carrots and 2 Saltpeters" on Jan.18.
(10 tries or less)
Remaining quest(s) with possibility of Diamonds: "Gather a number of supplies" only.

 

[Zeratul 2.0]

--------- I Might Have Just Met Dr. Neurodeath -----------

"It's usually not a good idea to break the Fourth Wall" but I write this message from the factual actual Virtual Future (say Part III for trendy purpose) as the actor me, instead of the character that I play, and, folks, a prewarning: you might want to shield your head with tin foil before proceeding to read the following message, for I might have just had a 'conversation' with the Mad Scientist himself, or, the other way around, perhaps it is my brain that is becoming soup.

It is my highschool classmate. Or, my childhood pal, for an even more dramatic (but inevitably) atmosphere. We grew up in the same rural area in a country in the east, a country that, although huge, people elsewhere in the world somehow don't openly talk about; and that although portraited vividly in the game, no one admits so but says the portrait is a mixture. We were born and raised, in a region, of that country, characterized by a period of grievous dark history when severe famine and drought and other natural and some-say manmade disasters caused death of millions and millions of people purely from hunger/starvation. (Such grief and darkness, I increasinly feel, might have left some deep-rooted madness imprint in the local people's descendants' humane core, collectively, without them realizing it.)

After more than a decade of absolute no-contact since our last departure onto separate paths (as that province of ours is also extrusively featured by outward migration for work), we met again on this particular occasion of Lunar New Year of two thousand and nineteen, in our hometown. "You haven't changed a bit," he commented about me, "except for the aging." And he asked me why I still haven't figured out my life's goal at this late year, and suggested that I should open up my mind (and my eyes), exchange views more with the people around, stay informed with what is going on nowdays out there; and as a side note, cut off the computer games, which he heard I might often play.

Before our catching-up, I knew about him only to the extent of his studying for the Doctor's Degree in Biology in our country's top brand university. It turned out that afterward he also studied PostDoctor abroad, in the generally recognized world hegemony country. And now he is doing something big, the most advanced stuff in the world, "the forefront", in the scientific research arena. He no longer even does the thing himself right now but opens a company, acts as the boss and recruits other people to do it. What is "it"? It is very simple, called "man-manufactured life".

I inquired for clarification and we decided "man-made life" is different from "artificial intelligence", that it is more high-end than cloning, and that it is, exactly, supposed to be the proprietary work of the g*d, which, incidently, is never a consideration, never a topic (or question) in our country. "To use DNA to control the expression of protains," I laid out my understanding of the subject based on memory of the highschool textbook, since I am supposed to become more talktive; also because my "labeled profession" is characterized by "know something about everyting" (and "everything about something" but not yet).

"Yes, that is it -- what we are doing everyday."

We walked and talked and soon circled the town loop-road twice. Finally, we concluded that there might be as few chances as before for us to meet in person; but we can keep in touch through social media. I agreed, failing to disclose that I have recently frozen my social media account (occurred when my inner voice takes over, which is on the fringe of being overriden in case of conflict such as then).

His original intention of the meet-up, I gather, is to see if I wish to change my profession (pardon, "labeled profession" (pseudo phrase of my invention for I'm not comfortable without that modification)) to a different one, namely "programming", to become relevant to his field or recruitable by him, I secretly guess. But afterwards, apparently, he is only wanting to help me, by pointing to me a direction, recommending a profession that has a brighter/broader prospect than my current one, even offering to sponsor my tuition expense for "further education" of that profession; and he emphasizes that the recommended profession has nothing to do with his business, which is too intricate.

Privately, I think there has been a turn, so that after our conversation, he no longer finds me recruitable due to my redundant care about all the rights and wrongs.

 

[Zeratul 2.0]

======= Mad Scientist Journal =======

What "switch"? What "on/off status"? What "access"? What "blocking"? What "enabled/disabled"? What "availability/unavailability"?

No, no, no, no, no -- we need only two elements: Yin and Yang (on and off). Or maybe four: plus "can" and "can't".

So, a switch shall be called an "on-off".

The "on-off" (or its status) can be either on or off.

And when the on-off is "disabled/blocked/unavailable" we shall call it "can't on" and "can't off"!

And we shall remove the concept of "access" entirely, ultimately and thoroughly.

So that people will never know of such a thing. When they "can't on" or "can't off" they will never know why, they will never know what is going on, they will never even realize the fact that they "can" or "cannot", they will come to the understanding and say...

"Aye! The essence, the inherent nature of life is suffering! (Life is all about suffering!)"

 

[Zeratul 2.0]

Cultural settlement progress:

Round 4
(Yes, lagging behind. Some people are already on Round 6. I took some breaks between rounds.)

Time remaining: 6 days 5 hours
Research to do: the last three.
Goods stock: very low
Coins stock: fairly high
Fig. 1: Research page, showing goods stock and tech remaining:

Spoiler: Fig. 1, research page

Fig. 2: Main page, showing coins, layout, among other things:

Spoiler: Fig. 2, main page

(1 beast hunter + 1 mead brewery being built)
(1 wool farm + 1 mead brewery existing)

 

[Zeratul 2.0]

========== I need previous age goods for GE and I don't want to self-produce them ===========

Spoiler: 1

Spoiler: 2

Spoiler: 3

Spoiler: 4

Spoiler: 5

Spoiler: 6

Spoiler: 7

 

[Zeratul 2.0]

Looking good!

Spoiler: bird view

Highlight: The tall guy raises his hand and tells the alchemists to line up.

 

[Zeratul 2.0]

==========Becoming the Loneliest Person in the World============

Spoiler: your highness

 

[Zeratul 2.0]

===== Activity of Bewildered's 92 Friends in the Last 4~5 Days =======

Spent one hour to transcribe from "Town Hall" -> "News" -> "Event History"
And another hour to sort out.

Column 1, Friend Number
Column 2, Friend Name
Column 3, Activity ("t" for Tavern; "a" for Aid; "c" for trade)

Spoiler: 4t4a

#5, M***, 0t0a;
#7, S***, 0t0a;
#20, s***, 0t0a;
#41, C***, 0t0a;
#47, L***, 0t0a;
#56, t***, 0t0a;
#77, U***, 0t0a;
#87, L***, 0t0a;
#60, J***, 0t0a1c;
#74, M***, 0t0a4c;
#30, E***, 2t0a;
#14, G***, 0t1a;
#42, C***, 0t1a;
#46, h***, 0t1a;
#63, P***, 0t1a;
#83, J***, 0t1a;
#85, T***, 0t1a;
#2, w***, 1t1a;
#33, R***, 1t1a;
#40, P***, 1t1a;
#48, P***, 1t1a;
#58, G***, 1t1a;
#75, P***, 1t1a;
#79, S***, 1t1a;
#82, S***, 1t1a1c;
#8, m***, 2t1a;
#64, O***, 2t1a;
#6, F***, 0t2a;
#21, S***, 0t2a;
#86, A***, 0t2a;
#91, D***, 0t2a;
#16, R***, 1t2a;
#35, L***, 1t2a;
#65, S***, 1t2a;
#15, h***, 2t2a;
#19, I***, 2t2a;
#43, E***, 2t2a;
#53, E***, 2t2a;
#61, k***, 2t2a;
#92, A***, 2t2a;
#49, S***, 3t2a;
#51, O***, 3t2a;
#67, C***, 3t2a;
#70, M***, 3t2a;
#3, R***, 2t3a;
#9, b***, 2t3a;
#45, c***, 2t3a;
#52, K***, 2t3a;
#57, B***, 2t3a;
#73, m***, 2t3a;
#90, L***, 2t3a;
#10, r***, 3t3a;
#27, T***, 3t3a;
#29, E***, 3t3a;
#31, F***, 3t3a;
#62, E***, 3t3a;
#69, B***, 3t3a;
#76, B***, 3t3a;
#80, C***, 3t3a;
#88, S***, 3t3a;
#13, B***, 4t3a;
#24, D***, 4t3a;
#89, N***, 4t3a;
#17, e***, 0t4a;
#50, T***, 2t4a;
#81, A***, 2t4a;
#25, L***, 3t4a;
#28, a***, 3t4a;
#36, J***, 3t4a;
#37, t***, 3t4a;
#39, V***, 3t4a;
#71, B***, 3t4a;
#84, J***, 3t4a;
#1, L***, 4t4a;
#4, g***, 4t4a;
#11, F***, 4t4a;
#22, C***, 4t4a;
#26, A***, 4t4a;
#38, F***, 4t4a;
#44, N***, 4t4a;
#55, s***, 4t4a;
#59, s***, 4t4a;
#66, C***, 4t4a;
#78, s***, 4t4a;
#93, C***, 4t4a;
#23, J***, 5t4a;
#54, m***, 5t4a;
#68, T***, 5t4a;
#72, I***, 5t4a;
#18, S***, 1t5a;
#12, M***, 5t5a;
#34, L***, 5t5a;

 

[Zeratul 2.0]

After camping for -- don't remember how long, maybe half a year, maybe more, could be terribly wrong -- I'm finally considering moving on, to the next age! People constantly adjust their objectives along the way and easily forget what they initially set out to do. Entirely, sometimes. And even the past, in a sense, is constantly changing because it were not what they thought it was at the time...
After camping for so long, it is kind of a big thing to jump ahead. So I planned to make a detailed list of the "pros and cons" comparing the current and the next ages. However, as pointed out in the preceding paragraph, it could be that none was true. Or, although true, it does not matter, because something bigger always come up, and overwrite. Generally speaking it is entirely a disillusionizing process.
It is the same in real life. People say you set an overall goal, the long term goal and break it into mid terms and short term goals. And you adjust the goals as you go, depending on the circumstances, as you gather more info. But often, the info says "forget the goal!"
Therefore, a self-note is to lower the bar (of expectations) and forget (/forego) the "list" (which happens to be, conveniently, not yet composed), and the goals, and the waypoints, because they will be shattered and you can't hold on to those. So, maybe give up all and keep only one, tiny, little, non-energy-consuming thought. Surely, it is not hard and therefore can be consistent (through all circumstances for eternity) to hold just ONE thought??? Because, without it, the unchanging core, who (the hell) are you?...
And my one unchanging thought, is "not to build the city in square shape". I'll build along two edges and later three. In other words, firstly Γ (upper case gamma) shape and later on Π (upper case pi) shape. Changing is already taking place as we speak because the shapes are the originally contemplated shapes but I fetch long and am giving the shapes Greek names for no reason! (for some reason... insufficient reasons...)

 

[Zeratul 2.0]

Happy times

Spoiler: kiss

 

[Zeratul 2.0]

~ ~ ~ Play with a Plan ~ ~ ~

The plan: To enter the next age after the current event (12 days from now)

The current status that gives rise to the above plan:

Spoiler: Confidential : Sealed before Clicking

(+) Collected the diamond rewards out of the Random Rewards for each unique Recurring Quest long ago;
(+) Stored 3k of each goods for the current age, quicker than doing the same in the previous age, in part thanks to the following Item 3;
(+) Can fight through GE Level III and only have to resort to negotiation from thereon;

(-) Supplies are not high enough. Previously dropping and currently unchanging, on the premise of paying for one Unbirthday Party in each round of other Recurring Quests: Gather coins / gather supplies / produce 2x 24h / spend FP / etc. Ideal status is growing and affording exta Unbirthdays at any leisure time. Note: Despite of the numerous workshops for the purpose of "Produce 2x24h" recurring quest, a larger portion of supplies are actually from supply reward out of Random Rewards out of Recurring Quests, propably even larger than all workshops combined.

 

[Zeratul 2.0]

- - - The Large Large Cattle Ranches Have Finally Fulfilled Their True Purpose - -

The large, large cattle ranches have finally fulfilled their true purpose.

Spoiler: Expand to see picture

Because of the large size, the dice can be rolled only once per day.
And reliable (but not authoritative) sources say the chance to hit the really good prize _
_ Is 1 in 100 times.

Spoiler: Expand to see pictures

See also: similar projects

Spoiler: Similar projects

"Now what?" asked the novice.
"That is The Question!" replies the guru.

There is more...
"Your Grace! This is not the end. There is some really dense jungles ahead and it has to do with the mystery at hand..." the Story goes.

Yes. It is time to move on, and continue. The ranches shall be torn down, and the large blank space they left behind _
_ shall be filled with military constructs. The military path. It too, will have have both an apparent and a true purpose.

 

[Zeratul 2.0]

I'm ready to move from ME to PME, and
held a ceremony for the occasion by drawing with roads on the empty ground "Ag Up" (age up) Google Earth style.

Spoiler: google earth style

The empty ground was previously occupied by Production Buildings / Military Buildings to complete ME RQs, which will be mentioned below in the next paragraph.

As always, my self-imposed prerequisites for aging up is having completed all quests of current age,
and by complete I mean complete-complete those quests, like thus:

Spoiler: quests truly completed

 

[Zeratul 2.0]

-== I got a diamond production building just as I wished ==-
In a daily challenge a few days ago, I got a Drone Factory. The Drone Factory looks big and new, and because I haven't researched the corresponding technology yet, I thought it was a diamond building. Only after I tried hard and made space for it and built it, did I realize it is just an ordinary production building.
I'm staying in the middle of the tech tree where "Additive Manufacturing" technology (associated with 3D Printers) is unlocked, and "Drones" technology is not yet unlocked. (I'm not progressing in the tech tree as there will be main quest, multiple main quests actually later on, that will require "unlock a technolgoy".) As shown below I have a lot of 3D Printers and only one Drone Factory, as above mentioned.

Today, when the daily challenge presented production buildings as reward option again I chose this option and wished it'd be a diamond production building. (By the way, one of the requirements of this daily challenge is ridiculous, which is "finish 83 times 5-minute productions" -- I don't think I've seen this many before!) But I have 10 all-age production buildings (6 magnums, 4 cidar mills) that I keep through the ages. So 83 times production is not a problem. I don't even have to break the routine 24h productions with the 3D printers!

-

And in the end, tada! the reward is the diamond production building, Urban Farm, just as I wished!

* By "diamond production building" I mean... premium production building.

 

[Zeratul 2.0]

Goodbeye FOE!
Goodbye INNO!
Most importantly, Goodbye Playmates!
Love you!
BUt I'm leeting you go!

Figuratively, goodbye world!
See you in another real world!
The real world is a simulation, too!
There are many real worlds!

This particular real world is collapsing!
Collapse... I always feel a strange connection with that word.

**Just like the William guy in the Bravev Heart movie died with a shout "Freedom!!!!!!!!!!"
Bewildered Zeratul shouted "CHINA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" and initiated the self-destruct sequence.**

-THE END-