Users > Sedelyan > The Test Of The Plantation

This is a design for the Leadership test in T3, created with the hope that it will be interesting and innovative enough to be used as the monument challenge.

A discussion of this test is at: http://www.atitd.net/forum/showthread.php?t=8567

The Basis

Leadership is a discipline of control. The ultimate purpose is to entice, through hook or through crook, other citizens to do what you want, at little reward for themselves. Key among this is that the other tests allow only a certain number of citizens through into the domain of Leadership each month, or worse, as is the case with the Demipharaoh competitions. The other citizens must 'give up' their right to lead, at least temporarily, while they raise another up high. But none of these tests seem to have any negative reason for the helpers to avoid it. Votes are cheap and easy, after all.

Therefore, a test for leadership should determine exactly how good a leader is at just that -- leading others towards a central goal, despite the difficulty.

The Design

A single Cacao seed may be picked up at the University of Leadership. When the test is begun, the citizen is instructed to place a Harvest Beacon on grassy soil. Fifty coordinates in every direction from there, in a square formation, they may plant Cacao Trees, which take up an entire coordinate of space and cannot overlap each other. Trees may not be guild-owned, they may not be transferred to another player, and if their owner quits or becomes expired, they die.

When a cacao seed is planted, anywhere from one to three citizens may be selected as the 'harvesters'. The harvesters' job is to collect cacao seeds from the tree and place them in a small papyrus basket nearby -- the basket costs 50 papyrus, and may be made in a loom. One cacao seed may be collected every 12 hours (one and a half Egyptian days). The harvester(s) may not take the cacao seed for themselves: they may only work the tree. The owner of the tree may not be the harvester. The harvesters also have a certain amount of time they must spend between harvests, determined by statistical timers: Strength, Dexterity, Perception, and Speed all incur penalties, beginning at 7 minutes. If there are two harvesters working the tree, this is lowered to 3 minutes; if there are three harvesters, it is lowered to 1:30. If more than one harvester is selected, all of them must work the tree at the same time.

Each time a seed is harvested, there is a one-in-fourteen chance, randomly, that it will be fertile. Fertile seeds may be used by the owner to grow more trees, and also give seven points rather than one. Points are accumulated ONLY when the basket is emptied into the leader's inventory, and one point is acquired per normal cacao seed, with the exception of the fertile ones.

After the first month, the four leaders with the most points pass the test. Afterwards, one leader passes each week.

The Catch

Trees may not be built within 50 coordinates of a chariot stop, school, or university.

Cacao trees do not have a timer on them, showing when they were last harvested. Trees which are not harvested within 48 hours become free-range, wherein any player may take it for their own. Any points and seeds gathered by the harvester since the last time the owner visited the tree become the new owner's. The new owner MUST select another player for the tree to be harvested by: they cannot harvest it themselves. If they do not select another player, they may instead opt to tear the tree down entirely. Finally, a harvester may become the new owner of a tree simply by neglecting it for two days.

After one month, trees die. At this point, another may be grown in its place; when a tree dies, all seeds drop to the ground and are lost, as are the points. This encourages leaders to keep a close eye on their plantations.

Cacao trees do not show the name of the harvesters except to those responsible for caring for it, as well as the owner. The owner's name is always shown, as is the location of their Harvest Beacon.

Scoring

The entire basis of scoring is that for every seed harvested from a tree, the owner gains one points -- when they collect it. Since there is a one in fourteen chance of a seed being fertile, it shall be assumed that every 14 harvests by a player gives a fertile seed. A fertile seed gives 7 points rather than 1.

Optimal harvest: Twice daily. Every week, from 10 trees, 140 points are gained. At the end of the month, 560 points are collected total, and approximately 40 more fertile seeds are picked up, for a bonus of 240 points: 800 points total.

Standard harvest: Once daily. Every week, from 10 trees, 70 points are gained. At the end of the month, 280 points are collected total, and approximately 20 more fertile seeds are picked up, for a bonus of 120 points: 400 points total.

Minimal harvest: Once per two days. Every week, from 10 trees, 35 points are gained. At the end of the month, 140 points are collected total, and approximately 10 more fertile seeds are picked up, for a bonus of 60 points: 200 points total.

This is merely an indication of what scores should be expected. A leader with 50 trees, harvested every day on average, could expect up to 1300 points or more -- while a leader with exceptional 'slaves' might wind up amassing several thousand.