> years of the game I end up with hundreds of excess goods.
> One of my first three orders when the game begins is to put
as many carls
> as possible into crafters. I also switch to a little more fancy
work, but as I
> have no idea what this does, I doubt it's important.
I've generally found that the fancier goods can provide significantly increased revenues, particularly towards the beginning of any game. I also wonder what advantage moving "as many carls as possible" into crafters will do, since your council will inform you that above a certain (quite small) number, additional crafters adds nothing to goods. Either they're correct, in which case excess workers would probably better serve you elsewhere--likely as thanes, since there are never enough at the beginning of any game; or they are mistaken, which really never seems the case with plain factual statements, elsewhere. Opinions can be wrong, but they're usually presented in a fashion that clearly shouts its personal nature; as when a council member suggests a method of dealing with an event. Comments about food, hunting, and crafts requirements I would think fall under the category of "necessarily accurate information for good gameplay."
I also focus on making
> permanent trading partners when I can. Every once in a while, when
I have a
> good trader and I've found a clan where I get more back than I gave
them, I'll
> send two trading missions - one to sell food and goods and buy
cattle and
> horses, one to sell cattle and horses and buy food and goods. I
usually end up
> with a fair bit more than when I started.
Clever. I'll make a note of that. I seem to recall that some artifacts can also influence your trade representative's persuasive abilities.
This kind of action is pretty rare,
> though - I usually tend to make a trade before I think I'll need
the stuff,
> trading away things I don't need - like food, which is almost
always plentiful
> and tends to spoil anyways.
Agreed: it's always better to be proactive, and have a great deal more of everything (even a bit more of food) than you need.
> I also tend to do a lot of exploring during the game,
especially (at the
> beginning of the game) in my own tula - I'll do this three or four
times a year
> in the first few years, since this will often give me a lot of
goodies and
> rarely causes problems. I usually end up with three or four of the
special
> trade materials, and when I get three or four in that year, I
switch to
> everybody using the special materials.
Interesting: I've never found more than 2 (once, 3) special goods in my tula in a game. Is this on Easy level? I play it on Hard. I think the number of special goods is related in part to the explorer you send out. I've tended to focus on Vinga; whose followers do you use? In one game, I had a seriously lopsided group of worshippers in my tula, with no representatives of Issaries, Vinga, or Odalya hanging around. I ended up sending out some well-skilled bargainers who swore by Orlanth--and found no special materials. What made matters more disheartening was that when I finally acquired a good Issaries worshipper later on and sent him prospecting in the tula, he also found nothing. While it's possible nothing ever existed there, I'm inclined to think the value of special materials in the tula is determined when your explorer intially reports back to the council. Having looked thoroughly before, that value wasn't reset to allow a more skilled agent to look again.
In
> any event, I tend to give food and horses to other clans as gifts,
to form
> alliances or to end feuds - which means I can save cows and goods
for the times
> when the game doesn't offer me any other choices.
Agreed, though I'm chary with horses as gifts to clans who don't like mine, especially if I'm running a peaceful clan. The last thing my people need is a raid by clans using their own former horses. I'm also willing to trade cows when my numbers grow very high (who needs 1200 cows, after all?), and they're greatly appreciated, especially by the more impoverished clans.
> There are also some events that can really help. That
auction in your
> tula is fantastic - you can pick up three useful treasures for well
under a 50
> goods total! Going to the dragon in the beginning of the game is a
GREAT way
> to gain a ton of goods - killing the dragon (easy enough with a
good fighter
> and a FULL complement of warriors - I send 30 warriors and 30
thanes just to be
> sure, and usually only get a few thanes wounded). The dragon has a
horde of
> 200 goods in the Easy game, which is a nifty start to the game.
Yes, but considerably less in the Hard game. Plus, he can, on occasion, kill anything you throw at him. I'm not sure, but he may also have an impact on your relations with the dragon-like folk encountered elsewhere in the game.
Barry Brenesal
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