You know me as The Stranger.
I see a familiar sight as I walk these lands...
Caress of Wind - a beautiful work of architecture, used in my day too as a form of competition.
Leaders of old would build Caress of Wind with the cartouche - the nameplate - covered, as part of one of our most brutal challenges.
It was always a favorite of mine.
As I wander among Egypt's so-called Leaders, I hear endless complaints about fellow citizens who were rude, who didn't play fair. Do you call yourselves Leaders, or are you merely attempting to master the discipline of whining?
Leaders, prepare to have your ranks thinned. I doubt there are many among you today with the fortitude to accept this challenge...
Divide into groups of twelve initiates of Leadership, and get to know each other by completing a project worthy of an Architect: A Ceremonial Voting Booth.
Once the Voting Booth has been constructed, a project will be assigned that each member must complete individually, and at any size, within a 24 hour period.
The leader with the smallest project is eliminated. In the case of a tie, the elimination is made at random from those tied for last place.
If you have been paying attention, you will notice that the group's size is now odd. In such rounds, elimination is by secret ballot.
And then, the group's size is again even. Another project is assigned.
Eventually one Leader will remain, and is considered the winner. The person just eliminated is 2nd place, and the one before that 3rd place.
I have just described a Level-1 Test of the Covered Cartouche.
The winner receives 4 certificates for - chances to compete in - a Level-2 round. Second place receives two, and third place one.
Make it to the top 3 in a Level-2 contest to pass the Test and advance in Leadership.
Leaders of Egypt - I give you: The Test of the Covered Cartouche!
Pharaoh also had a question and answer session following the Test release.
Health warning from Pharaoh's surgeon-general: this Test is often competitive, political by design and has upset many people in the past. The buildings are pretty though ;)
For coordination purposes, it may be helpful to record your group, voting booth donations and other information at Cartouche Groups.
The Test is tiered - if you complete a level-1 Cartouche contest, you receive certificates that allow you to sign up for a level-2 contest when one is scheduled. You must have the certificate in your inventory when you sign up for a level-2 and you must keep the certificate that qualifies you for that contest in your inventory until the random distribution has been completed. If the certificate is not in your inventory at the time the signup timer expires and the distribution is finalized, you will not be selected. Certificates may not effective until they have been read - you certainly need to read the level-2 certificate in order to pass the Test, using your Special (Tests?) menu while you have them in inventory.
First, a Ritual Voting Booth must be constructed. It costs:
For the paints, you can apply to RAINBOW ( /chat Isirion or kaayru or worldweaver)
When the voting booth is complete, the first Cartouche building round begins. Anyone in the round may build the booth (and will have ownership of it) and they may place it anywhere they wish, potentially giving a tactical advantage. The coordinates of the booth are reported in the Cartouche status window (Tests menu) so it is not possible to hide the booth. Only one booth can be constructed at any time (it is possible to salvage the booth during the rounds, but this is generally viewed unfavourably and the booth is often rebuilt in another place by the other competitors). At the end of the group, the booth is often salvaged to recover costs.
The test itself consists of a series of rounds, each of one of two types: Building and Voting. In each round, one person is eliminated. Rounds last approximately 24 hours. They can end later by up to approximately ten percent (Pharaoh stated this was to keep people from timing their building to the very last minute). There may also be a version of the test with much quicker rounds (so the test could be completed in one play session) but Pharaoh is uncertain on the fairness over timezones on this.
In the building round, a random building type is chosen. They are similar to a Standard Obelisk in that that any size can be built, with exponentially increasing construction costs for larger sizes. Unlike obelisks, the build method is to make a base of fixed cost, and then expand the building one or more times later. You cannot reposition at all or tear down the building during the round (you may tear down following the round, but will get no salvage return).
The goal of a building round is to avoid having the building with the smallest size. The name tags (or cartouches) on these buildings are covered (get it?), so you cannot tell who owns what building. (Unless you see somebody build one, of course, so you might want to find a private place where you won't be seen. Conversely, it's often worth asking a friend to peek in competitors' camps.)
In the event of a tie for smallest building, one person involved in the tie will be randomly disqualified.
If no-one builds a building, the entire Cartouche is considered forfeit and everyone loses. Remembering this is especially important in the final rounds when an alliance may relax and allow the computer to decide - always build at least one size 1.
Note that each time you build, all components in the building are consumed. Do not pre-load large quantities of the cheaper components and then try to step up the size by adding the more expensive ones a little at a time. Put another way, do not load enough boards for an upgrade to size 324, then upgrade to size 20 - load only what you need to make the upgrade. Double check the quantities in your pocket before you start loading material, to make certain that you've covered all the bases, because you can't back off.
There are numerous different buildings, all animated and quite attractive, and each requires a small construction site. All quantities are for base buildings; upgrades use a certain quantity of each of these materials that grows with the size of the building, and not all materials (Green Sun Marble and Silk Cloth for example) are required for the smaller sizes. - See the individual pages.
The quantity requirements do not increase smoothly; you'll see jumps of 2 at certain break point. A recommended strategy is to bracket the maximum size building that you can manage with your most restricted resource, Quicksilver for example, and see what you need to come up with for the other resources. You can often make attractive trades with members of other groups by watching what they have built that you need, and vice versa, trading for mutual benefit.
The following buildings are known :
See the Tale1 page for other Cartouche buildings (please update this page as costs and buildings are confirmed).
Voting rounds are the same length as building rounds (typically 24 hrs plus up to 10%). In a voting round, each player must travel to the ritual voting booth to cast a vote. At the end of the round, the person with the most votes against them is disqualified. In the event of a deadlock, a random player (who is involved in the deadlock) is disqualified.
If no-one votes in the whole group, the group is considered to have forfeit the contest and everyone loses. Remembering this is especially important in the final rounds when an alliance may relax and allow the computer to decide - vote in a circle for the correct effect without forfeiting.
As only three members in each group of twelve are going to get certificates, block voting is a very common strategy. Three members (or possibly 4 members as the 4 member round is not a voting round) agree to coordinate their votes and try to pick off the non-block members in successive voting rounds. Of course everyone else quickly realizes what's going on, and attempts to split the block but, so long as the blocks are of equal size, you've at least improved your odds of surviving.
Once you have a Level-1 certificate you can participate in a Level-2 Cartouche. Each time you enter a level-2 Cartouche, it will consume one of your certificates.
To pass the Test, you must pass a Level-2 contest and read the certificate (Tests menu) that you are given.
In Tale 1, there were 3 ranks of Cartouche before you could pass, and there was a Level-4 All Star Cartouche as well, just for bragging rights. - This is not supported by the Tale 1 wiki, which lists 2 levels, as in this Tale. - Sabt-Pestnu
See also: Cartouche Groups, Tests, Leadership.