Hagoth Exploration reports in

Not quite a month ago, Ultralite Soleil released his science-fiction-themed version of Tiny Empires, called Tiny Empires 3000. The day after its release, I announced the formation of Hagoth Exploration to carry our New Deseret flag to the stars.

As of this morning the firm has not quite 1,700 ships, with eight members of the kingdom serving as my direct subordinates:

• Broker Kat Burger
• Trade Baroness Pear Dumpling
• Trade Baroness Barbara Collazo
• Trade Baroness Andromeda Luminos
• Trader Myfi Lundquist
• Trader Bart Baramm
• Trader Kelly Chronowire
• Trader Otenth Paderborn

Kingdom members actively playing outside Hagoth Exploration include my allies Mogul Eternally Timeless (in New Deseret as Sariah Plutonian) and Mogul Tascha Klees.

So far the most interesting changed mechanic is colonies — the TE3K replacement for citizens. No longer is your capacity for citizens/colonists tied solely to the size and ranks of your downline. And you don’t buy an extra HUD to start using those features.

There are three different styles of colony, which might be loosely classed as mining worlds, settlement worlds, and bases or ships. All colonists on each count alike every two years for added income (sound familiar?). But each colony type also influences another game factor. Mining worlds provide additional windfalls of credits. Settlement worlds appear to influence how much you get every two years for your colonists. And bases and ships reduce your cost for responding to disasters (or at least the research option; more data needs to be gathered).

Stuff of legends

It was a beautiful SL morning, the day after a good deal of foolishness:

• Tiny Empires on April Fool’s Day
• The First Tiny Empires 3000 Standings Page

And I was privileged to view something seen only a handful of times in SL history — the return of the village in Caledon Brigadoon.

There is a small glade on that sim, populated by badgers and deer and the occasional rather large and nasty snake. (Can you say “scripted hissy fit?”) Wild mushrooms grow.

But about once every couple of months, for an hour or two, the mists rise and a quiet village appears. I had heard tales of this since the creation of Caledon Brigadoon. This time, thanks to an alert from Mr. Jameson Despres, I was able to wander the streets for myself.

I received the call a bit after 4 am on the 2nd, and traveled to the new Museum of Caledon History site about 4:45 am. After a short walk up the hill to the west, I beheld a handful of buildings, streets, even a bridge that simply were Not There before. And shortly after my return to the museum, perhaps by 5:30 am, they were gone again.

I had hoped to share the experience in more detail, but I find that my pictures simply did not capture the sights. In my experience as chief archivist of the Caledon Research Institute, I have come upon this phenomenon before. Records have a way of vanishing, and only the legends remain. Yet now I have seen, and if all I have is my story and my memories, so be it.

Updates for titles and TE3K

Two new titles have been granted in the last couple of days: Little Prince Michalius Oppewall and Tru2HerOathsPrincess Arizona Noel. Those have been updated on the Our Team page, together with a couple of adds to the waiting list.

There is also an update on the TE3K page, as I start to organise my thoughts on colonies — a new feature that replaces the citizen stat in Federation TE.

Finally, I’ll get some more out on this later on but the POZ team are putting together another Crarting contest in the northwest corner of the City of Enoch sim. Crarting is a sculpture-building contest where three-member teams take turns in strict rotation adding one standard prim at a time (possibly including scripts and texturing) to a team sculpture. It’s a lot of fun and it will run next Friday to Monday, 20-23 March.

Happy birthday, happy rez-day

My birthday is today, my second rez-day is Monday. Thank you, everyone, for all the fun we’ve had and all the things we have accomplished.

On a newsy note, we added Treehouse Genie Barbara Collazo to the ranks of the titled. Also, I put up a Tiny Empires 3000 page here for general information as I dig it up.

Four of my ten full HUDs for TE3K are now in players’ hands. Three are my subordinates now; I’ll meet up with the fourth tonight. If you want one of the other six for our journey into space, check yesterday’s post for details.

TE 3000 and Hagoth Exploration

On Tuesday, March 10, Ultralite Soleil, the creator of Tiny Empires, released his new HUD-based game Tiny Empires 3000. (This is what all those dream messages were about over the weekend.)

Think TE in space and you’re mostly there. There appear to be just enough differences to make it interesting, and some new wrinkles to work through. Trial HUDs let you go up to 20 ships and Merchant rank; full HUDs cost L$999.

The question for established TE kingdoms is what to do about it. My opinion is still evolving. There is a place for both games. In fact, both HUDs run nicely in my window (although some will have issues with screen real estate.) However, I don’t want anything to diminish what we have built as a kingdom.

As Queen of New Deseret, I am commissioning Hagoth Exploration to carry our flag into space. Worlds and lives abound, after all. I have ten full HUDs besides my own. I will give them to ten volunteers who are active in the kingdom, willing to run both games, and willing to serve with me as immediate superior. You can pay me what you like up to the 999 price tag.

I doubt that Hagoth Exploration will ever be a TE3K guild. But New Deseret was a principality group long before it ever became a kingdom; I am not a fortune teller. (If I were we would have more keys to hand out.)

Our TE3K subgroup will use the existing New Deseret in Tiny Empires group when notices and such are needed; I don’t want anyone to need a new group. My immediate superior is Alamiga Anatine, and those who wish to join her Angels of the Universe group are encouraged to do so. (She is also Queen of Angels of the Empire in TE, another kingdom that pulled itself onto the map from the ranks of the minor kingdoms.)

I will not be asking others in the kingdom to play TE3K. I expect that if people say No their wishes will be respected. Any hint of cross-game dealing or untoward pressure on existing kingdom lines will incur my displeasure. None of this is intended to be negative; I just want to clarify up front that the existing kingdom is more important to me than any new game.

If you want to build your fleet of ships and carry our flag, let me know.

Val