Economy Setup
The economy functions much like previous Zions - Buildings produce every 5 minutes if they have an employee and space in the stockroom. Employees only get paid while the building is making stuff.
Minimum wage is 50d. Employee wage grant is 5d. (i.e. for an employee on minimum wage, 45d comes from the building investment, 5d comes from the 'government treasury'). 100 denari (d) = 1 sheckle (s). You can own up to 3 buildings ( + 2 homes ) and have 2 jobs.
You have to visit the world at least once every 2 weeks to keep your buildings and wealth.
Geography
There are 4 towns on Zion 3 : Babylon, Farizal, Anhedonia and Wesboro. Each has a different environment and different natural resources nearby. Some buildings can only be built near to certain towns. (e.g. Oil Drills can only be built near Farizal, rubber plantations only near Wesboro ).
Near to each town there are gathering spots where you can collect limited amounts of free wood, stone, limestone and clay.
Ports
There are ports on the north and south sides of the island through which you can earn some easy sheckles. You start with 100 export credits, and its up to you how much you use them on gatherable items for a leg-up at the start or save for more profitable items later on.
(Final prices will vary).
Once you have sold 100 items to either port you will not be able to export any more.
Skills
There are 3 construction skills...
and 6 job skills...
Your first skill is free and learnt immediately. You can retain 3 skills at any one time, and it takes between a few hours and a few days (real-time) to learn a new skill.
Construction Process
Buildings have various placement rules (for instance, ore mines can only be built on the outskirts of Anhedonia). You first lay foundations by using the appropriate construction skill then construct the building by adding materials to it (Wood, Stone, Concrete or Girders, depending on the building type). You can invest money and set a 'Construction Wage' so that others can be paid to add materials for you. Obviously people will be more likely to do that for you if the wage is slightly above the cost of the materials.
Production Buildings and techtree
I'll write up a full tech tree at some point later as i figure some of you might enjoy exploring it first. Meanwhile, here's a partial snapshot of some of the ore and oil related industry..
.. this continues (along with chains for rare earths, stone, limestone etc) into advanced buildings for rocket construction. Construct a rocket, and find an astronaut to fly it, to earn kudos points and galactic prestige.
Homes
You can build a couple of homes outside of the town centers for storing stuff in. Log cabin stores 100 items, Stone house stores 300 items.
Vehicles
All vehicles, including the default caveman have a carry capacity. (Cavie can carry 50 items). The full list of vehicles hasn't been finalised yet but will range from a tractor (faster than walking and can carry a bit more) to hover cars and haulage vehicles.
A few planes and things are included mostly for fun.
It will be opening Friday 19th December 2014, and there'll be prizes for the players with the most wealth and kudos on 30th December (and possibly each month afterwards).
