Mark Leymaster wrote:
>Just before the hiatus, I sent John a draft Cow Calculator
>application written for Windows 9x. It asks you how many
>people and how much land belong in a given Heortling group
>(stead, bloodline or lodge) and then maximizes resources
>-- like plowherds, flocks and pigs -- to available labor
>and land, deducts the "tithe," dues, taxes and Lunar
>tributes and reports on the resulting standard of living,
>census counts in broad age groups, and levels of craft,
>trade, foodstuff, fodder and fuel demand. It's now in a
>more advanced version, FWIW.
>
>I'm reluctant to skew the discussion into technical
>directions by offering this up for comment, but I'd be
>pleased to mail it to anyone who wants to play with this
>or discuss it with me. The software does not mess with
>your system: it's one executeable that just runs, no
>registry calls no need to uninstall apart from erasing the
>file.
I kind of like the "Cow Calculator" idea as long as it
becomes a tool and not a goal, if you know what I mean. I suspect
what most people want to know is -- "I have a stead with X people;
what sort of resources might they have (especially how many
cows/sheep/pigs/fields) and how many people are required to exploit
it (ie is there any population free for luxuries like full-time
crafters and godar)." Can your program do something like this?
I finished a few building descriptions. If anyone wants to
see them, I could post them to the list (although perhaps not for a
week or so, since I'm travelling).
Peter Larsen