Remanum: Travian meets "Le Havre"

[Ghambit]

www.remanum.com   <beta>

This is a non-combat, completely resource/crafting/economy based game.  Essentially, you have an estate you maintain within a larger city shared with many other players, which in turn exists within the larger Roman empire with other cities.  There are NO NPC merchants at all in this game... it's completely player run.  Your goals are efficient commodity-chains, market pressures, estate/city management, and political maneuverings.  Obviously chat is essential, so it's included.  I've only just started but it definitely shows promise if you're the crafting/market type.

I'll post up this gameguide rather than get too in-depth.
http://games.bbgsite.com/content/remanum/guide/tour-of-the-game.shtml

There looks to be only 1 beta world currently (Romulus?) but they keep expanding the ports.  Currently I'm setup in Cyrene (carthaginians ftw), but if anyone else pops in and wants to move somewhere else let me know... although, I'm not even sure that's possible for obvious reasons.  Might have to delete completely and restart.  Guilds (and trade of course) can be formed regardless of location.  "Bat Country" is founded.  Hail "Ghambit" for an invite.  

[Xanthippe]

Just signed up, same city.

I can't seem to do anything. Apparently there's an odd bug.

[Ghambit]

Just signed up, same city.

I can't seem to do anything. Apparently there's an odd bug.

Yah, it's called lag.  It's been a problem of late since they've been ramping up the server.
I'm running it in Chrome though and it seems fairly stable, although slow at times.   

[Xanthippe]

Just signed up, same city.

I can't seem to do anything. Apparently there's an odd bug.

Yah, it's called lag.  It's been a problem of late since they've been ramping up the server.
I'm running it in Chrome though and it seems fairly stable, although slow at times.   

I mean, I have no reputation, there is no tutorial, I can't actually do anything because I don't have enough reputation to build anything and I have no idea what I ought to be doing. It's not lag, it's a bug.

[Ghambit]

Click the hot chick in the upper-left hand corner.  She's the tut-babe.
And sometimes you'll have to click 'start.'

[Xanthippe]

Click the hot chick in the upper-left hand corner.  She's the tut-babe.
And sometimes you'll have to click 'start.'

Today, I have 11 reputation. 2 goals, neither of which I can complete. Clearly something went fooey.

I put in a support ticket, was told to delete and start again, and this should fix it. I'll try that.

[Xanthippe]

Ok, now I'm in as Xanthi in Cyrene. Because I restarted yesterday, I got a 1,000 coin bonus (3k for starting in Cyrene yesterday, only 2k the day before).

I don't know whether I should continue with clay and Amphorae or swap to something else.

[Ghambit]

That market it pretty saturated and only plays if you've got major coin to manipulate the 1 denarii fluctuations typically.  Though, might have better luck in the Emporium with that at times when the higher lvl folk need the stuff quickly.

I'm resolved to just providing materials and staying out of the commodities markets for now; gets too complex then.  Once I've got a grasp maybe I'll start pounding the trade routes and lining up a chain or two (which is what the game's really all about).

The game really hasn't stabilized yet since it's only 2weeks old and still in beta.  One day your cache wont sell, the next you'll see it going for twice as much. 

[Xanthippe]

I sold my Amphorae factory and bought a winepress. My second country lot was grapes. Of course, now I need amphorae to make wine.
And I have a bunch of clay to sell. Going rate seems to be 1/per.

I think your strategy is wiser than trying to jump into a chain.

I found this, which is helpful. It shows what resources are available where:
http://i.imgur.com/o1Aza.jpg

[Ghambit]

Thx!  Yah, I gotta spend more time on the wiki, which needs to be populated.
I've also sold out of clay/amp and ramped up my goat market into tanning by adding a grove (herbs).  Simple local crafting chain to make parchment for now... not a very lucrative market save for Herbs.

I need to spend more time playing, as unlike other strat games this one requires a lot of forum/chat/and AH trolling.  Let alone grasping the depth of everything.
(like today I found out about education points for workers, which is modified by the city's academy).

[Xanthippe]

I don't quite understand the difference between auction house in Caralis and Emporium. At the auction house, a minimum bid is automatically set, but not at the Emporium, for example.

I put some wine up at 65/each at the Emporium but have no idea how long it will take to sell at that price.

edit: Oh, I see what I did. I recalled all my workers then forgot to assign one back to the Emporium.

[Ghambit]

from: http://answers.remanum.com/

Specifics and features of the emporium:
You can sell goods to other players and buy goods from them too.
Goods will be sold automatically over a specific period of time, the length of it depending on the amount of goods on offer and the price you set. Your city's citizens will buy the goods in case no other player makes a purchase.
The emporium offers a secure source of income with prices set by yourself.
You can choose the amount of a good you would like to buy, so you don't have to buy the whole amount of any particular offer.
At the emporium, you can only buy goods offered by other players.
You can only have one active offer at a time for each type of good.
You can cancel your offers at any time.
The speed of your sales can be actively influenced by upgrades. The more workers you employ, the faster your goods will be sold.
You can adjust the price of your offer at a later time and therefore influence the time left for the sale.
You can increase the capacity and total number of simultaneous offers by upgrading your emporium.
You can not place a bid for offers. All goods can only be purchased for the seller-determined price.
You CANNOT offer goods for your guild members only.
You can upgrade the emporium according to your needs.

Specifics and features of the auction house:
You can sell goods to other players and place bids on offers from other players.
You can purchase goods immediately, using the "Buy-it-now" function, if available.(active Imperator Account needed)
You can offer goods for a "Buy-it-now" price. (active Imperator Account needed)
Auctions cannot be cancelled.
All players from all cities can offer goods at the auction house, provided their city has a trade route to the destination city.
You can have multiple offers of the same kind of good at the same time.
You can not actively manipulate the speed of your sale.
However, you can adjust the "Buy-it-now" price for your offers at any time.
You can not directly influence the number of offers you can have at the same time.
Only at the auction house stolen goods from the campaigns are sold.
You can use the auction agent to automatically raise your bids up to a pre-determined maximum. (active Imperator Account needed)
You CAN place offers which are only available to guild members.
Goods not purchased by other players will automatically be bought by the citizens of your city for a minimum price at the end of the auction.
The city offers a base amount of many goods at the auction house.
How do I make a purchase at the emporium?

Translation, the emporium is basically an open market your workers buy/sell shit at.  You give em a price to deal with and then citizens may or may not buy stuff from you.  The game gives you longer to sell/buy your wares the more money you set it at.  For instance, I wanted about 500 lumber and set 2 workers on buy orders at 2/unit. So that may take 12hrs, or I can lower it to 1/unit and it'd take 24.

**All sales at emporium and AH are guaranteed.  Meaning, even in the AH if your listing doesnt get a bid the city will buy it off you (likely at the minimum allowable buy it now price).

In this sense, you'll always have a positive revenue stream and money coming in.

[Ghambit]

So I guess the city DOES buy/sell items but I'm not sure the metric they use for that.  It might be 1:1 (whatever they buy they sell) or it might just be an arbitrary amount depending on city lvl.
I guess this can be counted as an NPC sale.

Oh, and here's a rise&shiny (video):
http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/04/01/rise-and-shiny-remanum/

[Xanthippe]

I now have clay, grapes, a winepress and I rebuilt the amphorae factory.

It's slow going. I set up to sell at the emporium at max price each thing (except grapes, I'm only 40 over what I use each day) the amount I can sell in 24 hrs that will sell.

Clay I have for sale at the auction house also, because that one can fill my warehouse in 1 day.

I'm not sure what the advantage is to selling at any auction house other than the one in our town. I have to pay shipping fees, and anything that I'm selling is already for sale there. The min. bid for wine, for example, is 15. Nobody seems to want to buy wine anyway. In fact, I haven't found a use for normal wine at all yet. Exceptional wine is used for feasts but normal wine? No idea. Nothing? I don't know.

[Ghambit]

The emporium only works in your own city.  The moment you want to trade with other cities you're stuck with the AH.  So depending on market you may indeed need to work with the AH in other cities.  Also, if you arrange sale in chat you'll use the AH typically.  Otherwise, emporium is the way to go if you can wait for the money, especially when u upgrade.

Emporium will also only sell from players and AH will sell from city AND players.  This means you've GOT to use an AH if you wish to import foreign goods to your emporium and also if there's nothing in the Emp for you to buy.
Btw, the AH will also only NPC offer what the city produces.  So obviously it's smart(er) to export to an AH that doesnt produce what you're selling... but it's a gamble since the city will buy at minimum bid to fulfill the offer. (your only recourse would be to entice a buy it now last minute perhaps)

Kinda confusing but it makes sense in a way.

They've said they're gonna work on the AH mechanics, but I'm not sure what they could possibly change aside from gimping the emporium.

The economy gets more and more interesting as time goes on and cities upgrade their harbors.  Earlygame has a lot of high lvl people using 'mule' accounts to get goods across the map.

edit:
common practice, snipe stuff for cheap on the AH and sell it in the EMP at max.  When you need quick cash do a chat-sale.

[Xanthippe]

I thought one account per was the rule?

If we can make mule accounts, what do we need other people for!

[Ghambit]

I thought one account per was the rule?

If we can make mule accounts, what do we need other people for!

Welp, I just made another acct. to a different email addy.  So I guess it's not IP restricted.
So yah, you can make a mule acct. although it's against the ToS.  Probably not worth a banning so your 'mules' will indeed be other people.   

I've only seen mulework a few times near feasting time or if someone desperately wants an upgrade and they cant find anything within trade range.  Could be an interesting business if there were some UI for it... for now u have to use forums/chat and strike up long-term high volume deals.  You're essentially renting space on a ship - that don't come cheap.

[Ghambit]

Leaving "Bat Country" for "Concordia."  Best guild on the server and makes unrestricted trade a reality.
Watch your inbox for an invite.

[Xanthippe]

Got an invite, left Bat Country, joined Concordia.

Dropped clay mine and amphorae factory for herbs and plow maker.

I have those and grapes and winemaking. Still not quite rolling in the dough but I was chafed at paying 77 per plow.

[Ghambit]

I'm getting into the groove of the game; but definitely a high(er) learning curve than most.  Has a very easy to play, hard to master vibe.
I dumped +grapes once I moved to lvl2 residence, as they dont come up again for feasts.  Feasting is definitely the way to go early game for reputation in Cyrene.  Then you move to donations and residence lvls.

Whole game is based on rep., you cant buy plats w/o it so yah.  Kinda gotta concentrate on that a while.  The rep boost got me very quickly to selling 'teachings' and now I'm starting to donate and move into other stuff that'll help boost my emporium.

The synergies in this game are quite fun to play with.

I do fear a collapse in the clay/amp market though as everyone starts dumping it.  Kinda similar to the "great poultry famine" of southern Rome we've got going on right now.  A guildie cornered the market in the stuff and there's literally none unless you've got an inside supplier.  Now he'll gouge outsiders at +30%    until the harbors grow up.

[Ghambit]

So yah, we're on the verge of a market collapse if we cant secure more brokered transport across the empire.  Everyone's leveling and needing more and more lowlvl stuff that no one's making or has access too.
Kind of interesting.  Even starting to get some guild and city infighting now in the AH, to go along with fixed elections and what-not to bring down the higher-ups.

For a simple little game it's got some interesting gameplay.

[Xanthippe]

I've been stymied by lack of trade. Can't afford to upgrade my buildings, and most things in the auction house don't have buyouts, so even if I'm willing to pay more, I can't because I don't camp the game.

It's a whole different game for someone who checks in a few times a day than for people who sit with it open all day. The mechanics of the two styles just don't mesh.

As my efforts are frustrated, I feel less motivation to check in. I hope some of the mechanics get changed somehow - encouraging auctions seems like a good idea, if they can figure out how to do that.

[Ghambit]

You have to rely on the emporium, which sells for you automatically.  The trick is selling high-end stuff only on the emp (which you upgrade as soon as possible) and leaving the lowlvl stuff to AH or just also dumping in the emp later.  This way you dont have to sit there all day.  The whole basis behind the game is selling your city NPCs cool high end luxuries that you craft.  And jack the price up if you dont have the supply.

As for trades, you have to be active in the guild or city chat or else you're left with the AH game.  /shrug  Typically I can get an order filled right after I login and if I dont I just be patient with AH deals unless I can snipe a cheap buy-it-now.

Another key is simply, if you've got money to spend... spend it.  There's no reward for being rich.  Keeping everything upgraded and your industries fed with material are key.  Buy in bulk if you have too so you dont have to be there every day.

I will agree in some sense the game requires more babysitting though, but not as much as something like C&C, the west, and some other do.  Your estate runs whether you're there or not.

[Xanthippe]

I'm using the emporium but having trouble being able to buy the items I need to upgrade stuff (like furniture and donkeys, for example). Lack of a buy out price means that my bids get swooped. I'm a little surprised at the lack of items on the auction house though, but then, I don't tend to auction much either (lately I've barely logged in though; 1x per day is about it).

I haven't used the guild at all. I'm sure that would lead to more success for me.