Predicting the rain doesn’t count. Building arks does. - Warren Buffet

There was a loud trumpeting sound. A box appeared in Hanks vision, overriding his preference for this not to happen automatically. Obviously some things were beyond his authority.

New Settlement

Congratulations: You have founded an outpost.

Level:

Outpost (0)

Notices:

New settlement options available within settlement limits

No accommodation present, this will affect your settlement.

No food sources present, this will affect your settlement.

No production present, this will affect your settlement.

No storage present, this will affect your settlement.

Warning:

Your settlement has nothing consequently;

Settlement limit restricted to 100m.

Settlement bonuses set at ‘None’

Settlement penalties set at ‘Slight’

Environment factor set at ‘Moderate’

“Moderate? Slight? What does that mean?” Hank forgot his questions as another box appeared.

Hankston : Settlement Option

There is a mine within acceptable distance of this settlement. As the registered owner of both the mine and the settlement you may attach the mine to your settlement.

Should you decide to accept this, changes will be made to both the settlement and the mine. These changes will not affect the level of either the mine or the settlement but rather direct future options of both. It is impossible to determine the full extent of these changes at this time.

Warning this decision may not be reversed

Do you wish to make this change?

Yes or No?

It was a straightforward decision, Hank thought. He wanted to get rid of at least one of the warnings from the previous window. So without hesitation he said “yes”. As the window closed, another immediately replaced it.

Settlement Notice

Congratulations: You have added a mine to Hankston

Notices :

Ownership of the mine has changed your relationship with your settlement.

This decision is permanent resulting in the following changes.

All mine related menus are now part of the settlement menu structure.

Other changes may become apparent over time

Almost immediately another window appeared over the top of the first.

Hankston : Settlement Bonuses

Congratulations: Your settlement now has a mine. Settlement bonuses have changed.

Population :

+1% people moving to the settlement for work

-1% people moving to the settlement due to mine proximity

Environment :

Mine waste may ruin the water courses and surrounding land. Build wisely

Notice :

The mine is not established. As it advances these benefits and penalties will change depending on this development.

“Fantastic!” Hank grumped “A fifteen-minute walk wipes out all my bonuses. Why does everything have penalties?” The universe didn’t answer, but another window appeared.

Settlement Bonuses & Penalties

Settlement bonuses and penalties are broad ranging affecting a vast array of things to various degrees. The extent of their influence dependant on many factors affected everything in unique ways. The more you understand of these things the greater your ability to influence their effects.

“Could this game be any more cryptic? What does that mean?” Hank mumbled allowed but he didn’t get much further in his thoughts. Another window appeared over the previously opened windows. His vision was getting cluttered.

Mine Notice

Congratulations: Your mine has been added to the settlement Hankston

Notices :

Some of the properties of your mine have been altered by this change.

Your level of understanding of this mine make it impossible to understand the effect of these changes.

Console yourself, they are probably positive.

“Fine. Yep. Got it. Everything has changed. Goody. Let’s move on.” The prompt closing of all windows demonstrated the sufficiency of Hank’s response for the powers that be. But that wasn’t the end of the bombardment. A new window appeared indicating Hank hadn’t finished.

Quest : Found a village

Part :

6 - We want Jobs

Description :

Without the prospect of work people just won’t come to your village. It’s a bit of a walk but the mine might be enough to get more than a brace of diminutive inhabitants to give up all they know and join you on the edge of the most dangerous wood in existence.

Might, being the operative word. You will still have to play nice.

Status :

Complete

Reward :

None that you can see right now

“What’s with the snark?” Hank grumbled realising he hadn’t received that part of the quest until before he completed it. But rather than dwell on that problem a new question sprang to ming. Why were there no rewards? Before he could dwell on it, another box popped up.

Hankston : Settlement Options

There is a tent within acceptable distance of this settlement. As the registered owner of both the tent and the settlement you may attach the tent to your settlement.

Should you decide to accept this changes will be made to both the settlement and the tent. These changes will not affect the level of either the tent or the settlement but rather direct future options of both. It is impossible to determine the full extent of these changes at this time.

This decision may be reversed at any time

Do you wish to make this change?

Yes or No?

There are other tents within acceptable distance of this settlement. You are not the registered owner of these tents but you may allow others to use their tents within the settlement limits.

Should you decide to accept this, changes will only apply to your settlement. Initially these changes will be minor however they may increase depending on external factors.

This decision may be reversed at any time but some effects will be permanent.

Do you wish to make this change?

Yes or No?

Once again the choices seemed obvious. “Yes, to both.”

Settlement Notice

Congratulations: You have added a tent to Hankston

Notices :

Ownership of the tent has changed your relationship with your settlement.

This decision is temporary resulting in the following changes.

Accommodation now available in your settlement menu

The settlement limits is not increased to 200m

Other changes may become apparent over time

Congratulations: Hankston now allows non settlement structures to reside within settlement limits

Notices :

Allowing third party structures to reside within your settlement has fundamentally changed the nature of your settlement

This decision is permanent resulting in the following changes

No longer must all structures with the settlement belong to the settlement

Land ownership is now in flux within the settlement limits

Other changes may become apparent over time

Hank waved away the window, finally back to an unobstructed view. A single blinking icon of three tents, one large and two small, had replaced the old icon for Hank’s mine. Hank assumed that it was the settlement menu. Deciding he should study his settlement, he selected the icon. Four new icons appeared in his vision arranged in a circular fashion. He couldn’t explain how but he knew the one with a tent was for accommodation, the one similar to his old mine icon was for production, a star represented enhancements and some weird squiggle represented reserves. “What are reserves?” he questioned out loud.

A note floated beneath the icons, which Hank tried to ignore. It said something about tier zero settlements having limited interaction and recommended upgrades to change the situation. He shook his head as he mumbled to himself. “Nothing is easy is it?” He paused. “Everything is about upgrades. I’d better work out what this new menu is all about first.” He opened accommodation first.

A small table confronted Hank. He momentarily looked through it before realising he didn’t understand the contents. Before getting stuck into the detail, he decided he needed to know more about tents. A stray thought brought another window into view.

Tents

Tents do not qualify as buildings, so they contribute substantially fewer settlement points than permanent structures. They do, however, offer unique benefits.

Your settlement type allows tents to qualify as accommodation. Their addition will remove any lack of accommodation penalties in proportion to their occupancy. Tents owned by others will also contribute to the accommodation but not be part of the settlement.

There are a number of tents available to your settlement. The owners of these tents have agreed to allow settlement owners to gain general knowledge concerning their property. These details are container here.

Oyadji

Tent sizes are measured in oyadji, a Fujika word without a direct translation. In practice, it is assumed to be slightly larger than the sleeping space of an average adult male. Recently this term has crept into use for permanent buildings with obvious differences.

Miylan Tents

These basic tents were designed for use by the Miylan military. Now broadly adopted because of their ease of erection and simple design. These sturdy constructions will survive most situations, though their occupants may not. Sizes range from the two oyadji soldier tent to the eight oyadji mess tent.

Gōkana Fujika Tents

These tents are opulent. Designed for the eastern deserts of Fujiama these tents can be opened to allow in cool breezes or closed to provide shelter from hot or cold. Owners enjoy a level of luxury not seen in other tents, though tent size implies an oyadji range of four to fifty-five, most tents usually accommodate less than half the oyadji value.

Ore Cane Tents

Ore Cane build their tents for the high planes where winter temperatures do not rise above freezing. These tents are modular, allowing great flexibility in construction. Unfortunately weather requirements make small tents impractical so sizes range from eight to almost fifty oyadji.

"Dam it." Hank grumbled. "Why does everything have to be in five hundred different languages? What's wrong with straight up common. Why do we have all this drama. It's a game for goodness sake. Just translate everything in to common already."

It was one of those moments that the AI decided would be great for dishing out reality checks. "So arrogant, assuming that all things bow to your culture and language. Just a quick reminder. This game is not just entertainment. There's a purpose. Making your life easy is not the purpose."

"Huh." Hank hadn't been expecting a response from the AI. Before he could get his head around the AI chiming in, Jamie commented. "What's a game? I hope you don't think strolling all the way out here was just a game?"

"Huh." Hank's mind froze for a second trying to deal with two completely different conversations. Replying to Jame, who he had forgotten was standing right beside him when he planted his sign, he finally managed. "What? No. Right so I am just struggling with my screens. Turns out that planting the sign completed a bunch of quests for me and sorted out the town thing but half of everything is in different languages."

"Yep, pretty common actually." Jamie replied. "We wanderers have been making coin off that little problem for centuries. No idea why that happens. Just that some things stay native to a specific language no matter what."

"Doesn't make it any less annoying." Hank said as he violently waved away the offending large text box in frustration, only really paying attention to about 50% of what it said. Only to be immediately confronted with another table.

Winter shelter

None of the accommodation are sufficient to survive the coming winter in their current state. You should consider alternative options for winter.

Some tents allow seasonal customisation which should be investigated. Improvements to the tents may have other benefits not currently understood. Improvements will have different effects depending on the nature of the tent.

Hank read through the window in a rush and was just on the point of closing it when he realised that the whole business was actually quite complex. He hadn’t expected that tents would be so involved.

Curiosity piqued he was about to dive further into village menus, when he was interrupted by Jamie. “Guess you had better address the troops. We all got the message that Hankston, awful name by the way, has been founded by you.”

With reluctance Hank responded. “Fine I’ll round up the usual suspects.” In his mind he resolved on a slightly different list. Just four, Ninyette, Jamie, Sabine and himself. He should have spoken with Gruffly, as leader of the Wee people, but found it increasingly difficult to have a civil conversation with the diminutive man. He just didn’t believe they wouldn’t ever see eye to eye.

Hank smirked to himself. Eye to eye, hah. That was a laugh. “Right if you don’t mind we’ll all meet in your tent. Do you want to fetch Ninyette. It’s doubtful I could explain what’s going on anyway. I’ll get the rest.” With a last glance at the decidedly average sign Hank headed off to find Sabine.