NOT ACTIVE
There appears to be little demand for delivery services. We need the Cornerstone, so we're taking down the Sunset Express compound and the related Guildhall. October 31, 2006 - MarvL
Sunset Express is a production and delivery service for Gearboxes and other high value unique items. For a fee, based on distance, we will deliver up to 300 debens of material (limited by either bulk or weight) anywhere in Egypt.
- Gearboxes details our services for Gearbox related services, ranging from Design Verification, which is a free service, to Turnkey Quarry Contracts, which is by no means a free service. Contact MarvL or Seshat if you wish to purchase a gearbox, or sell a second hand gearbox.
- Quizzical actively trades in Glassware items, with occasional forays into Cooking related offerings.
While Sunset Express is all about deliveries, what we are delivering drives the business.
Deliveries Are Expensive
Sunset Express will deliver 300 denens, limited by both weight and bulk, anywhere in Egypt for a fee.
The basic fee at the moment, for an urgent delivery, is 0.622 GoodScrip per coordinate.
Urgent is defined as travel by the fastest available route, with no waits longer than 3 minutes at any Chariot Stop.
For the most part, urgent deliveries are too expensive for anything other than custom Gearboxes that are being delivered to a Raelli Oven or a Fountian that is on a Small Construction Site two hour timer.
Urgent Delivery Fees are calculated on a round trip basis, based on the Expedition Distance from the point of delivery back to the Expedition Point adjacent to the Sunset Express guildhall at 1400, 2000, in northern Seven Lakes, near The Goods.
- A 6000 coordinate urgent delivery to the northern edge of the map (12,000 coordinates round trip), would cost nearly half as much as the Gearbox, 7,464.000 GoodScript.
- If a runner lives in your area and has a delivery route, if you're willing to wait for the next available chariot, or if one of the runners is heading your direction for some other reason, a lower delivery price may be available.
Off-Line Travel Time
On your ESC > Utilties > Offline Chores menu, you can elect to accumulate Travel Time, Barley, Cabbage, Onions, Straw (Grass) or Wood. A reasonable value for Travel Time can therefore be established by comparing it to the value of the alternate choices. That is to say, players make the choice whether they would rather have an hour of travel time or 24 Onions, and that establishes the relative value of Travel Time.
Travel Time is accumulated at 1 Hour per TeppyHour when you are off-line. If you have your chores set exclusively for Travel Time you will accumulate 240 hours per game month. You can burn it up much more quickly of course, with long expedition jumps, but 240 hours per month is our reference point. No matter how badly you need Travel Time, you can't get more than 240 hours per month unless you buy delivery services.
Conversely, being able to sell accumulated Travel Time enhances its value, as you'll be able to do something with your off-line chores other than grow grass for your camels.
On-Line Travel Time
You can travel 7.5 coordinates per minute by burning up Off-Line Travel Time.
While running in open country you can go 8 times that fast, about 60 coordinates per minute, and Dexterity (from Acrobatics) increases your off-road travel rate.
Running on a road is 20% faster than running in open counrty, and Speed (from Safari) increases your on-road travel rate.
As everyone evaluates travel differently, it may be possible to negotiate a more favorable rate from someone who has other business in your area. In particular, folks who are looking for mushrooms or have other reasons for running cross-country may be quite happy to waive the return-trip portion of the delivery fee if they can time their delivery travel accordingly.
Urgent Delivery Fee Base in GoodScript
| Commodity | Sell | Value in GS |
| barley | 10 | 677.446 |
| cabbage | 22 | 363.585 |
| onions | 24 | 147.152 |
| straw | 40 | 118.206 |
| wood | 33 | 93.324 |
| Total | | 1,399.713 |
| Travel Minute | 1 | 4.666 |
| Coordinate | 1 | 0.622 |
| Round Trip | 12,000 | 7464.000 |
- The value of a TM (Travel Minute) is based on the Market Basket Total times 1/5 Selected Items (the average value per type of item) times 1/60 hours per minutes, which is the Total times 1/300.
- The price per coordinate is based on 2 times the one-way coordinates times 8 seconds per coordinate times 1/60 minutes per second times 4.666 GoodScrip per minute, which is the one-way distance times 1.244.
Payment Market Baskets
Sunset Express uses several different Market Baskets to link our prices to current prices at The Goods. In particular, we use a Sell/Sell comparison.
- If you were to sell something to The Goods, and we were to buy it immediately, the two prices would be equal.
- More broadly, if we were to sell a mixture of goods (the materials for a Gearbox) and you concurrently were to sell some other mixture of goods (your payment) that has the same total value, the two mixtures would have equivalent value.
- We'll update this page every week or so, and will accept either the prices on this page or a current Market Basket at The Goods, as you prefer.
- Contact MarvL if you would like to discuss the terms, or purchase a Gearbox.
Quizzical prices his Glass Items in arbitrary barter units that are not related to GoodScript.
MarvL uses a Market Basket approach to link the prices for Gearboxes and Deliveries back to current prices at The Goods.
Someday, when script becomes available, we'll abstract the barter values into a script named TM (Travel Minutes).
As script for TM (Travel Minutes) is not yet available, Sunset Express will accept payment for Gearbox and Delivery Services in accordance with a Market Basket for the following commodities, in any mix that matches the Sell/Sell value of each separate Gearbox or Delivery.
Sell/Sell Payment Market Basket
- Primary Metals (Copper, Iron, Antimony, Lead, Silver, Gold, etc)
- Alloys (Brass, Bronze, Pewter, Steel, etc)
- Acid
- Charcoal
- Lime
- Potash
- Papyrus
- Rotten Flax
- Slate
Sell/Sell Market Basket Payments
The following payment market basket approximates the value of a delivered gearbox, with slightly more than 1,000 GoodScript worth of each item. Offering an equal value of a variety of products provides you with the best possible price when using a Sell/Sell Market Basket.
The valuation page at The Goods provides a straightforward means of answering the question
"How much do I have to sell to acheive an arbitrary value?"
- In the case of the Sunset Express Market Basket, which currently includes 23 different items, 1,000 GoodScript of each item would approximate the value of a delivered three output specification Gearbox.
- Enter a buy order for 1000 GoodScript
- The value in the Trade Cost column is the amount of any single item that you would have to sell to cover the 1,000 GoodScript that you want to buy.
- More generally you can enter any arbitrary value as the amount of GoodScript that you want to buy, the value of a Gearbox Market Basket for example, and then sell as much as you wish of any acceptable item. The Trade Cost calulation will always indicate how much more of any one item you would have to sell in order to balance the current trade.
Sunset Express Payment Market Basket as of 09 August 2006
This payment market basket will be adjusted every few weeks to match the prices at The Goods. Sunset Express will honor the prices on this page for similar quantities, or the current prices at The Goods, as you prefer.
Rather than thinking "How much are they worth?", simply think "How many would I need to sell?" to acheive the desired results.
| Commodity | Sell | Value in GS |
| acid | 4 | 1,255.309 |
| aluminum | 22 | 1,037.679 |
| antimony | 4 | 1,154.772 |
| brass | 8 | 1,004.019 |
| charcoal | 75 | 1,003.670 |
| copper | 13 | 1,028.108 |
| gold | 4 | 1,154.772 |
| iron | 14 | 1,000.288 |
| lead | 6 | 1,139.562 |
| lime | 7 | 1,015.380 |
| lithium | 3 | 1,154.772 |
| magnesium | 9 | 1,010.861 |
| papyrus | 9 | 1,087.063 |
| platinum | 9 | 1,018.796 |
| potash | 3 | 1,154.772 |
| rotten flax | 29 | 1,007.344 |
| silver | 57 | 1,007.557 |
| slate | 29 | 1,004.924 |
| steel | 9 | 1,035.046 |
| strontium | 3 | 1,154.772 |
| tin | 14 | 1,030.935 |
| titanium | 9 | 1,060.416 |
| zinc | 10 | 1,038.358 |
| Total | 1 | 24,559.176 |
Artisans
Sunset Express is closely associated with a few of ATITD's better artisans, and will facilitate the deliverly of unique Tools, Glassware, Gems, and Gearboxes. The delivery of 3-output Gearboxes will be a core part of our business, due to the urgency created by the two hour window when folks are building Raelli Ovens and Fountians, and the recurring need for specific custom gearboxes when folks are building Empty Hand Towers and Quarries.
We will be issuing script denominated in TM (Travel Minutes). TM (Travel Minutes) may be obtained in either of two ways:
- By contracting your services as a runner
- By providing the raw materials that are needed for our endeavors, particularly Cuttable Gems, Iron, Copper, Charcoal, Potash, and Lime.
Money Supply (This section will not be relevant until Script is available)
Sunset Express has no intention of tying up cash in a huge inventory of unused items (other than second hand gearboxes), therefore TM (Travel Minutes) will not be a backed currency, a TM (Travel Minute) is rather a promissory note. TM (Travel Minutes) will be redeemable, at face value in delivery services, so long as Sunset Express remains in business.
Guarantor
The key guarantors of value are the Artisans who will accept TM (Travel Minutes) for the purchase of high quality items.
In the simplest possible terms, ignoring the use of TM (Travel Minutes) for liquidity:
- The artisans are exchanging high quality goods for raw materials
- The artisans are providing medium quality goods as payment to the runners
- for the delivery of high quality goods to the providers of the raw materials
- for the return delivery of those raw materials
Liquidity
The amount of TM (Travel Minutes) issued will never exceed the number of delivered minutes
- In other words we will print TM (Travel Minutes) only to pay our runners.
- The runners will, in turn, use the TM (Travel Minutes) to buy medium quality items.
- That gives the Artisans the TM (Travel Minutes) that they need to buy raw materials from producers.
- Who will then have the TM (Travel Minutes) that "they" need to buy high quality items and have them delivered.
- Most of the delivery portion of the fee will go to the runner. (The actual fee the runner gets depends on the clearing price.)
- There's no need to print additional TM (Travel Minutes) if there is already enough TM (Travel Minutes) in circulation.
Folks who are holding TM (Travel Minutes) when they quit the game will be the only reason for the TM (Travel Minutes) to disappear (it doesn't wear out). We'll never issue new script if the guild has enough circulated script on hand to cover the cost of current runner payments.
Pricing
Our pricing model, for delivery, will likely have two tiers:
- Urgent delivery - for Raelli Ovens and Fountains, the runner will burn travel time to get there (2 hours)
- Same Day delivery - anytime during the next game day (8 hours and probably one of several route deliveries)
The core concept is that the delivery costs for the one-day delivery of not more than 300 debens (limited by either weight or bulk) of goods, although you can buy multiple concurrent deliveries, will be based on the distance from our warehouse at 1400 2000, very near the northern Seven Lakes expedition site, to a stashable chest at the designated location. A jump "back" to the warehouse, from any point in Egypt, is a known value.
If you have selected North Seven Lakes as your expedition site, the system will directly calculate the travel time at 8 seconds per coordinate, otherwise, you can use the formula TM = 8/60*SQRT(ABS(1400-X)^2+ABS(2000-Y)^2) to obtain an approximate cost.
Bidding
The value of Travel Seconds will be determined using a monthly (10 days RL) multi-item reverse english auction for deliveries in 300 deben (limited by either weight or bulk) blocks. While there is no direct relationship between Expedition Travel Time and Sunset Express TM (Travel Minutes), the psychological linkage is so obvious that we expect the two values to lock together, with the adjustments occuring in the purchasing power of TM (Travel Minutes) for goods, rather than for deliveries.
Any interested runner who is a member of the private guild wiki at Sunset Express may submit a monthly open bid indicating how much much time they have available, and at what price. If you would like to become involved, the easiest way is to join /info Sunset Express, but you can also /chat MarvL if you just want access to the private guild wiki.
The submitted open bids will be sorted by Cost (Per Hour of Travel or Per Item), Quantity (of available Travel Time or goods), and Avatar name - rank.
- To stablize the price charged to customers, delivery prices will usually include a variable overhead amount, with the intention of pegging the value of Trading Seconds at one to one with the actual Travel Time for a jump back to the North Seven Lakes expedition site.
- The price paid to runners for deliveries will be the clearing price. If Sunset Express needs to contract 175 hours of deliveries during a particular month, then the price for the 100th hour will be the clearing price. Runners who are too expensive won't be considered, and the runner whose bid was at the clearing price will only get the delivery hours that are left when lower cost bidders have been satisfied.
- There will be a similar monthly auction for the procurement of materials that Sunset Express needs for its endeavors, particulary Cuttable Gems, Iron, Copper, Charcoal, Potash, Lime, and probably GoodScript.
Examples of model bids, for the procurement of both delivery services and raw materials, are posted at Bid Examples.
Delivery Orders
Established buyers, who will most likely be occasional runners whenever it's convenient, may post delivery orders on the private guild wiki at
Sunset Express. Occasional buyers will need to contact a member of Sunset Express, most likely one our Artisans, who will arrange for the delivery. We don't exactly have 40 runners standing around all the time, nobody wants to pay for that level of service, but the delivery orders will be mentioned on the guild chat channel and, if nobody responds within a few minutes, we'll start working our way down the list of successful bidders who are currently on-line.
If you are planning to build a Raelli Oven, a Fountain, or something else that is time critical, it's best to post it as a future delivery, and make the necessary arrangements ahead of time.
Contracting
When items are available for delivery, the runner with the least costly bid will have the first opportunity to select any one of the the available deliveries, until they have satisfied the amount of time in their bid. If none of the runners are immediately available, guild leadership will start working down the sorted list and contacting with whoever happens to be on-line. Refusal of a delivery contract will drop a runner to the bottom of the current list.
Sunset Express will try to pool the various deliveries to a given area, so the fees earned by the runners on low priority deliveries will typically exceed the actual travel time that is required.
How the runner gets to the destinations is entirely up to the runner. They can jump, wait for the chariot, or run, so long as they get there within the delivery window. Our expectation is that a lot of the deliveries will occur during Shroomtime, as one very obvious strategy is to simply allow the available deliveries to determine where you'll end up that particular night.
Agency
Sunset Express Kinsman will be permitted to act as third party agents for the established customers of Sunset Express, particularly for the pick up and delivery of items at The Goods. Such delivery requests will be posted along with the other requests, but only Sunset Express Kinsmen will be permitted to contract for agency deliveries.
Sunset Express does not insure the goods during transit, if somebody's computer dies it is your loss, but neither to we charge a percentage of the transaction to cover such losses. Your only guarantee is that the runner will be a kinsman in good standing with Sunset Express.
Very much to the point, the value of the third party goods being delivered is entirely a matter between the buyer and the seller, however it is entirely permissible for one of the items in the 300 deben bundle to be script of any sort whatsoever, including Travel Seconds, so equivalency shouldn't be much of a problem. If your account balance at The Goods, or whereever, is high enough to cover the transaction, Sunset Express will pick up the goods on your behalf, will deliver them to a designated chest, will pick up other goods from the same chest for the return trip, and will deliver the returned goods to The Goods on your behalf.
Due to the limited functionality of chests, and other such realities that we all have to work with, the agency transaction for buying certain goods and selling others, will proceed as follows:
- Post your delivery request on the Private Guild Wiki at Sunset Express or, if you do not have access to that site, contact one of your friends who is a member.
- When a runner has been selected, they will contact you and ask you to make the following arrangements.
- Post separate transactions at The Goods (or whereever). Sunset Express retains the option of seqencing the transactions either way, buy>sell or sell>buy, depending on if the runner is closer to your camp or to The Goods.
- Edit your /info <name> to indicate that <runnername> may act on your behalf.
- Place the goods to be sold in a chest, along with fee for the two one-way deliveries, and transfer ownership of the chest to <runnername>.
- /chat <runnername> and tell them the exact coordinates of the chest.
- The runner will then:
- Pick up the goods from The Goods, on your behalf.
- Bring the goods to your camp.
- Remove the goods to be sold and the two delivery fees from the chest.
- Place the purchased goods in the chest (perhaps 16 hours later, when they return, if they happen to start the round trip near your camp).
- Transfer the ownership of the chest, with the delivered goods, back to you.
- Post on the private wiki at Sunset Express that the deliver has been completed.
- You must then acknowledge that the delivery has been competed, which closes the transaction.
Related Pages
Additional Information
Our Tale 2 wiki pages are located at
Tale 2 Sunset.
There are four Tale 3 Sunset Guilds:
- Sunset Papyrus focuses on entry level technology and mentoring
- Sunset Enterprises focuses on advanced technology, including Art and Thought buildings
- Sunset Projects focuses on guild sponsored projects and serves as our newspaper
- Sunset Express focuses on the creation and delivery of unique items such as gearboxes, tools, glassware, and gems