Society and ambition

Ten new ways to make a name for yourself. Open the game menu, Village life, More to do, Society and ambition, or type /society. Every system below has its own menu and its own How it works page there.

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Valley radio

Players run talk-radio stations. Anyone can tune in from anywhere with /dial or from the Valley Radio menu, /radio.

Founding a station

A station costs 2000 ln point, which is not refunded. Choose a name of 3 to 30 letters and a genre: talk, music and dedications, news, comedy, sport or stories. You can own one station. You can rename it once a day and change its genre at any time. Closing a station is final and gives nothing back.

Co-hosts

The owner can invite up to 3 co-hosts. The invited player accepts from their own Valley Radio menu. Co-hosts can go live just like the owner, and can step down at any time.

Going on the air

One host at a time can be live on a station. In the studio, choose Type on the air: every line you type goes to every listener, and the box opens again for the next line. Leave it empty or cancel to stop typing; you stay on the air. You can also type /onair followed by your words in the chat. The studio also has the station jingle, a time check in server time, UTC, and a now playing line that shows on the dial. Ten minutes without a line, a jingle or a caller takes you off the air, and so does leaving the game.

Listening

The dial lists every live station with its genre, host, now playing line and number of listeners. You listen to one station at a time. You stay tuned when you travel, even when the show ends, until you tune out or leave the game.

Calls and requests

A listener can call in to a live show. The host hears the telephone and answers one caller at a time; while you are on the air as a caller, your lines go out as caller, then your name. Either side can hang up. You can also send 3 song requests or dedications a day; the host reads them in the studio and can put them on the air.

Tips

Listeners can tip the live host 10 to 200 ln point. The host gets 90 percent and 10 percent is burned. You can give at most 300 a day and tip the same host 3 times a day; a host can receive at most 1500 a day. Your account must be at least 3 days old to tip.

Ratings and careers

Every minute a live show counts its listener minutes; the host does not count. Minutes on the air only count toward your career when at least one other person is listening. Titles: Rookie DJ at 1 hour, Presenter at 10 hours, Star Presenter at 50 hours and Legend of the Airwaves at 200 hours. Hosting also earns society merit.

Daily and weekly

The daily show goal is a show of at least 15 minutes that had at least 2 listeners at some point. It raises your standing in the valley once a day and builds a daily streak. Every Monday the station with the most listener minutes of the week before is announced as station of the week, and its owner receives the Station of the week trophy.

Commands

/radio opens this menu. /dial opens the radio dial. /onair followed by text puts a line on the air while you are live.

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The playhouse

Players form theatre troupes, rehearse five original short plays and perform them. Everything happens by ear, from anywhere in the world. Open it with /playhouse.

Troupes

Forming a troupe costs 1000 ln point, which is not refunded. A troupe has up to 6 members. The founder invites players, who accept from their own Playhouse menu, and can remove members. Members can leave at any time. You can be in one troupe at a time.

The plays

The Mayor's Missing Hat, a comedy. The Lantern at Low Tide, a mystery. Letters Under the Mill Stone, a romance. The Last Harvest Supper, a village drama. The Voyage of the Salt Sparrow, a sea adventure. Each has 2 to 4 roles; read them in the script library. The founder picks tonight's play and casts the roles. Members can also take an unfilled role themselves. A role nobody plays is read by the company's stand-in.

Rehearsals

Anyone can rehearse any role. You hear the cue, the line before yours, and choose your line out of three. A right answer raises your mastery of that role by 10 to 15, up to 100; a wrong one lowers it by 5. 12 answers a day count toward mastery; after that it is practice only.

Performing

Any member can open the curtain once tonight's play is chosen and at least one cast member is in the game. A troupe can put on one show every two hours, and the Playhouse runs at most 3 shows at once. Everyone hears a two-minute seating call. Then a line is spoken about every 6 seconds to the cast and the audience. When it is your line, a menu reads your cue and offers three lines; you have 15 seconds. Choose right and you deliver it. Choose wrong or run out of time and the prompter whispers it while the stand-in says it, which lowers the quality of the show.

The audience

Anyone can take a seat from Tonight at the Playhouse during the seating call, from anywhere. The founder sets the ticket price, from free up to 100 ln point. The founder gets 90 percent and 10 percent is burned. You can spend at most 300 ln point a day on tickets, and a founder can take at most 1500 a day. Your account must be at least 3 days old to buy a ticket. Members of the troupe sit for free, but only people from outside the troupe count as the audience: they alone can rate the show and make it count for careers.

Quality, reviews and fame

When the curtain falls, the quality of the show is worked out from the cast's mastery of their roles and how many lines they delivered. Each member of the audience can rate it once, 1 to 5 stars, within 30 minutes, and add a few words for the review board. Quality and stars build the troupe's fame.

Careers

A show counts toward careers only if at least one person from outside the troupe sat in the audience, and you must still be in the game when the curtain falls. Titles: Understudy for your first performance, Leading Player for 10, and Star of the Stage for a five-star show, an average of at least 4.5 stars from at least 3 people. The first ever show of a troupe gives its cast the Opening night trophy. Each week the best rated show, with at least 2 ratings, becomes the play of the week, and its cast receive the Play of the week trophy. Performing and watching also earn society merit.

Commands

/playhouse, /theatre or /theater open this menu.

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How the inventor's workshop works

Open it with /workshop or /inventor, or from the Society and ambition menu. Everything works from anywhere.

Tinkering

You have 5 tinkering sessions a day. Choose a field: mechanics, optics, chemistry or clockwork. The bench plays a pattern of tones, then asks you to rebuild it step by step. Every correct tone is one spark in that field, and a perfect pattern gives 2 more.

There are nine tones and their names never change: 1 low click, 2 tick, 3 tock, 4 clack, 5 snap, 6 rattle, 7 tap, 8 ring, 9 jingle. The tone library lets you hear each one. You may hear the pattern a second time once per session. Pressing Escape pauses the session; continue it from the menu. Leaving the game ends the session, and it still counts as one of your 5.

Patterns are 3 tones long at workshop levels 1 to 3, 4 tones at 4 to 6, 5 tones at 7 to 9 and 6 tones at level 10.

Blueprints and quality

Nine inventions each need sparks and real materials. The materials are used up. Every prototype gets a quality score from 0 to 100 from your workshop level, your last tinkering score and some luck: 80 or more is gold, 55 or more is silver, the rest bronze. Building uses up half of your last tinkering score, so tinker between builds. A gold signal flare, thermos flask or lunch tin makes 2 instead of 1.

The patent office

The first person to build each invention files its patent forever. Everyone else pays the holder a royalty of 50 to 150 ln point per build; the blueprint shows it before you build. The holder gets 90 percent and 10 percent is burned. A holder receives at most 1500 ln point of royalties a day and at most 5 royalties a day from the same builder; above that, or if the builder's account is younger than 3 days, the whole royalty is burned. The holder builds free. Holders get the Patent Holder title and a trophy for every patent. The patent register is public.

The inventions

(one line per invention: name, use text, sparks and materials)

All inventions can be traded, given and sold like any other item.

Workshop levels

Tinkering and building give workshop points: 2 per correct tone, 3 more for a perfect pattern, 15 per prototype and 25 for the first of each kind. Levels 1 to 10 need 0, 40, 100, 190, 310, 470, 680, 950, 1300 and 1750 points. Level 3 gives the title Tinkerer, level 6 Engineer, level 10 Grand Inventor. Each different invention you build adds a piece to your inventions collection of nine.

The invention fair

Your best quality score of the week is your fair entry. On Monday at midnight UTC the top 3 are announced; first prize wins the Fair winner trophy, collected when you next log in.

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How the public works exchange works

Open it with /works or /publicworks, or from the Society and ambition menu. /crew opens your crew. Everything works from anywhere.

The board

The board holds 6 town contracts, for example mending the old bridge, school benches, road gravel for Palmera Bay or a new bus shelter. Each needs 2 to 4 kinds of materials such as planks, stone, glass or glue. Contracts come in three sizes: small (base amounts), medium (twice as much) and large (four times as much). Empty places on the board are filled once an hour.

Crews

Form a crew for 300 ln point (burned, not refunded). A crew has up to 5 members. The leader invites players by name; they accept or decline from their public works menu. Anyone can leave; if the leader leaves, the next member leads. A crew holds one contract at a time, and only the leader claims it.

Delivering

Every member delivers materials from their own bag through the menu: all you can at once, or a chosen amount. Delivered materials are used up. The menu keeps count of what each member delivered.

Finishing

When every material is delivered the town signs off the contract. Each member who delivered gets contractor standing by their share, and ln point by their share: 60 for a small, 120 for a medium and 200 for a large contract, split between the members, with at most 200 ln point a day for each player. Members who delivered at least 10 percent also get valley standing (3, 6 or 10) and merit (5, 10 or 20). Finished contracts raise crew reliability by 5.

Deadlines

A contract must be finished within 3 days of claiming. If the deadline is missed, or the leader gives up, it goes back on the board, the delivered materials are NOT refunded, crew reliability drops by 10 and the crew cannot claim anything for 24 hours.

Licences

Your lifetime contractor standing gives your licence: Handyman 0, Builder 25, Contractor 80, Master Builder 200, Magnate of Works 500. Every licence from Builder up is a title. Large contracts need a crew whose best member has a Contractor licence or better, and crew reliability of at least 50.

The contract of the week

One big contract, eight times the base amounts, is open to every crew at once. Any crew member can deliver. When it is finished, 300 ln point are shared by delivery (within the same daily limit), with standing, 5 valley standing and 10 merit. On Monday at midnight UTC the crew that delivered the most is named; every member of that crew gets the Builders of the week trophy (collected at login) and 10 merit. A new contract of the week then opens.

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Bayview hospital career

Work ward rounds at a hospital and rise from Volunteer to Chief of Medicine. Open it with /hospital or from the Society and ambition menu.

Where

Shifts are worked only inside a hospital: Bayview Hospital in Palmera Bay, the village hospital, or any hospital building. You can leave a patient and come back, but the shift ends if you disconnect.

A shift

A shift is 4 patients. Each one tells you what is wrong in their own words, and you hear them: a cough, a gasp, a tired breath.

Examine them: temperature, pulse, listen to the chest, throat ears and eyes, press the tummy, arms legs and skin, ask about the last 24 hours, or a blood test that takes 20 seconds at the lab. You get at most 5 examinations per patient, so choose well.

A stethoscope in your bag makes listening to the chest much more precise.

Then pick a diagnosis from six and a treatment from four. A case is correct when both are right. There are 23 conditions to learn.

If your diagnosis is wrong, that patient comes back to you, worse, at the start of your next shift.

Pay and rewards

The first shift you finish each day pays 20 ln point plus 5 for every correct case, at most 40 ln point a day. Later shifts that day pay nothing but still count for your career.

Each finished shift raises your standing in the valley (up to 3 shifts a day), and every correct case adds to your merit in society.

Every condition you get right for the first time adds a page to your casebook collection. From Junior Doctor up, each rank gives you a title. The doctor with the most correct cases each week becomes Doctor of the week and gets a trophy the next time they log in.

Check-ups for real players

From the menu (or /examine), or by using a stethoscope from your bag, you check the nearest player within 3 steps, or yourself if nobody is near. You hear how hurt, hungry, thirsty, tired and cold they are, any sickness or broken bone, and advice.

A Nurse or higher can prescribe rest: the patient gets up to 100 energy, once a day per patient.

Putting a cast on a broken bone is done from the doctor menu, not here.

Commands

/hospital opens this menu. /examine checks the nearest player or yourself.

(The in-game page also has "THE CAREER LADDER" listing every rank and threshold.)

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The emergency line

Players helping players in trouble. Open it with /dispatch, or from the Society and ambition menu.

Calling for help

Type /sos, or choose Call for help. Pick what is wrong: lost, stuck, hurt, an animal attack, you need a ride, or something else, and add a short note if you like. Your map, position and area are sent with the call.

You can have one call open at a time and cancel it whenever you like. After a call closes you wait 10 minutes before calling again (not if you cancel within a minute and nobody took it yet). A call nobody answers closes after 30 minutes.

A signal flare from your bag makes a priority call: every responder hears a siren, and everyone on your map sees the flare go up. If you already have a call, the flare makes it a priority call.

When a responder takes your call you hear who is coming, and every 4 seconds you hear a beacon at their position while you are on the same map. When they are done, rate them from 1 to 5 stars.

If you are stuck inside a wall after a reconnect, the game frees you by itself soon after you log in; call the line if it does not.

Answering calls

Any player whose account is at least 3 days old can sign on duty as rescue, medic or guide with /duty. On duty you hear an alert for every call, with the type, map, area and how far away it is. The first responder to accept takes it and the caller is told you are coming.

While you are on a call you hear a beacon at the caller's position every 4 seconds, and the menu tells you where they are. When you are within 3 steps and have helped, choose Hand over. If you stay together for 10 minutes the call closes by itself without a rating. You can also drop a call, and it goes back to the others.

Duty ends when you log out, or type /duty again.

Service record and rewards

A counted call adds merit in society and standing in the valley. Ranks, each with a title: Volunteer Responder after your first counted call, Paramedic at 10, Rescue Captain at 40, Chief of Rescue at 100. The responder with the most rated calls each week becomes Hero of the week and gets a trophy at their next login.

A call counts only when it was open for at least 30 seconds, the responder really reached the caller, both accounts are at least 3 days old, and the same caller and responder have not already been counted 2 times that day.

Prank calls

A responder can mark the call they took as a prank. If three different responders do that to the same caller within 7 days, that caller cannot call the line for 24 hours.

The line costs nothing and pays no ln point.

Commands

/sos calls for help. /duty signs you on or off duty. /dispatch opens the Emergency Line.

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The notary office

The notary writes contracts between two players and holds the money safely until the deal is done. Nobody can run off with it: the money sits with the notary, not with the other player. Open it with /notary.

Who can use it

Both players need accounts at least 3 days old. You cannot make a contract with yourself. Each player can have at most 10 open contracts, sign at most 5 new ones a day, and two players can have at most 3 open contracts together. You can put up to 100000 ln point into new contracts a day, and accept contracts worth up to 100000 a day.

Service contracts

You pay someone to do a job. Choose the provider, write the terms, set a price from 50 to 50000 ln point and a deadline of 1 to 14 days. The price leaves your bag and goes into escrow when you sign. The provider accepts or declines; if they decline, or have not accepted by the deadline, you get everything back. Until they accept you can cancel for a full refund. When the provider marks the job done, you release the payment. The provider gets the price minus a 2 percent notary fee, which is burned. If you do nothing for 72 hours after the job is marked done, the notary releases the payment by itself. If the deadline passes and the job is still not marked done, you can withdraw and take your money back. The provider can also give up at any time, which refunds you.

Supply orders

You order 1 to 500 of an item from another player for a total price, held in escrow. The seller delivers through the notary: the items are taken from the seller's bag and put in yours, even if you are offline, and the seller is paid the price minus 2 percent. Points and credit cannot be ordered as items, nor can items that may not be passed to other players.

Disputes

Once a service contract or supply order is accepted, either side can open a dispute and say why. The money stays frozen. A staff member reads both sides and rules: refund the client, pay the provider, or split it in half. Both of you get a letter with the ruling. Whoever opened the dispute can withdraw it and the contract carries on.

Promissory notes

Lend 50 to 50000 ln point to another player. You agree on a repayment of the amount plus up to 10 percent, due 1 to 30 days after they accept. The money goes to them when they accept; if they decline or do not answer within 3 days, it comes back to you. They can repay in parts from the menu. There is no forced collection: an unpaid note simply shows as overdue on their public credit record. You can forgive what is left at any time. No notary fee on loans.

Credit records

Everyone has a public credit record: contracts completed on each side, total value, disputes lost, contracts cancelled or given up, and overdue notes, with a reliability rating of 0 to 5 stars. Your first completed contract earns the trophy First contract. 10 completed contracts earn the title Trusted Trader, 50 earn Pillar of Commerce. Between the same two players, only 2 completed contracts a day count towards titles and merit.

Letters

If something happens to one of your contracts while you are away, the notary writes you a letter. You hear your letters when you log in, and can read the last 20 from the menu.

Face to face trades

For a simple swap with someone standing next to you, use Trade with someone standing near you from the game menu. The notary is for deals that take time.

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Hollow and key estate agency

The property trade of the valley. Open it with /estate. Anyone can use the property board; agents also survey plots and find homes for clients.

The agent licence

Take a short spoken exam: 5 questions about how property works. Answer 4 correctly and you are licensed. If you fail, you can try again after an hour. Then name your agency, 3 to 30 letters; you can rename it once a day.

HOW PROPERTY WORKS (study for the exam)

A land deed from the credit shop, used in the middle of open land, claims a 15 by 15 plot around you. Nobody else can plant or build on it, but it never stops anyone walking across or gathering there. Each player can hold one claim. Your husband or wife may use it as their own. If you give up your land, the deed is gone; moving means a new deed. Land cannot be claimed in jails, arenas or inside homes. Your home is your shelter. When two players make a property deal or a rent agreement, the safe way to handle the money is a notary contract: the price is held in escrow until the deal is done. The property board only carries adverts; nothing ever changes owner there.

Surveying plots

Stand on a plot of open land and choose Survey this plot, or type /survey. The survey records the map, the area, the ground under you, whether there is water within 8 steps, how high the ground is (low, raised or high), and whether it is a busy spot: a street, avenue, boulevard, market, plaza or station. You can survey 10 plots a day and keep 15 listings in your portfolio. Jails, arenas, homes and restrooms cannot be surveyed, and neither can water or a spot within 5 steps of one of your other listings.

Clients

Every day 3 new clients come to your agency, each with a story and 2 or 3 wishes: the area (town, coast and lakes, woods, hills or countryside), near water or not, the kind of ground, busy or quiet, high or low. Show them a listing from your portfolio. Each wish it meets is a star. A sale needs every wish met. After 3 viewings without a sale, the client leaves. Clients who are not helped leave at midnight UTC. Each listing can be sold once.

Reputation and ranks

Each sale adds its stars to your reputation, 2 valley standing and a little merit. Ranks: Trainee Negotiator from the start, Agent at 10 reputation, Senior Agent at 40, Partner at 100 and Property Magnate at 250. From Agent up, each rank is also a title. The agency with the most client stars in a week wins the trophy Top agency of the week, handed over when the winner next logs in.

The property board

Any player can advertise their own home or land for rent or for sale: a title, where it is, a price and how to contact you. It costs 20 ln point, which is burned, and stays up 7 days; you can renew in the last 3 days for another 20. You can have 2 adverts at a time. Others browse the board and can request a viewing, which sends you a message, or a letter if you are away (5 requests a day each). A licensed agent can represent an advert and is named on it; the owner can drop them. Make a notary contract for this deal opens a notary service contract with the owner, with the advert already in the terms.

Important

Nothing is ever handed over through the agency: no home, no land, no keys. The board and the agency only bring people together. Settle the money with a notary contract.

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The palmera files

A crime story in Palmera Bay, told from two sides. Take the bus from the village to Bayside Station to get there. Open the files with /files.

Choose a side

Join the Palmera Bay police as a detective, or go inside the Saltwater Syndicate as Sergeant Okafor's secret informant. It is the same story seen from both ends. You can switch sides once every 7 days. Switching restarts the chapter you are in on both sides; finished chapters are kept.

Eight chapters

Smuggling at Saltwater Docks, a fence at the pawn shop, warehouse 7, a crooked councillor at City Hall, dirty money at the club on Ashby, a heist at the towers and a chase through the storm drain. Each chapter has 3 to 5 steps.

The steps

Go somewhere. Walk to the place in Palmera Bay and press shift enter there. The menu always tells you how far it is and in which direction.

Stakeout. Press shift enter at the place and stay inside it for 45 seconds. Leaving calls the stakeout off, and you start again.

Talk. Choose Continue in the menu and pick what to say. Your answers add clues, and the clues change how the story ends.

Safe. Press shift enter at the place and turn the dial by ear. A faint click means the number is right, close means you are one away, and nothing means keep trying. Three numbers open it.

Chase. You have 2 minutes to reach the next place and press shift enter there. If you are too slow, go back to where the chase started and press shift enter to pick up the trail.

Rewards

The first time you finish each chapter on each side, you get Palmera Bay standing plus 10, a page for your evidence file (16 pages in all), 5 merit, and 50 ln point. The ln point is paid for at most one chapter a day.

Police ranks, Constable after chapter 1, Detective after 3, Inspector after 6 and Chief Inspector after 8. Syndicate ranks, Runner, Fixer, Lieutenant and Shadow Boss at the same chapters. Finish both sides for the trophy The Palmera Files, closed.

The weekly case

A new side case every Monday, with 3 steps. Solving it gives Palmera Bay standing plus 5 and 10 merit, once a week. The case board shows who cracked it first.

The daily street tip

Each day a street contact waits somewhere in Palmera Bay. Find them and listen for 3 merit and a hint about this week's case.

It is only a story

Nothing here is a real crime. It never touches other players, the real police, the courts or jail.

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Society and ambition

Everything you do for other people in town earns merit. Radio shows, inventions, hospital work, notary contracts, emergency calls, the theatre, the estate agency, the Palmera Files, public works and society life all count. Merit is not money and cannot be spent. You can earn at most 400 merit a day.

The classes of society

Newcomer from 0 merit, Citizen from 100, Respected from 400, Notable from 1000, Dignitary from 2500 and Luminary from 6000. Notable, Dignitary and Luminary are also titles you can wear. When you rise to a new class you hear it at once.

Who's who

Who's who lists the 30 people with the most merit. Pick any name, or look anyone up, to read their profile, with their class, their merit this week and one line from every system they take part in. Use /whoswho.

The grand gala

Every Saturday from 19.00 to 20.00 UTC. Everyone of the Notable class and above is invited, and each Notable may invite one guest a week. Attend from anywhere with /gala. In the ballroom you can raise a toast once every 2 minutes, ask someone to dance, and at 19.30 the awards of the week are read out from every system. The guest who earned the most merit this week may give the speech of the evening. Stay 20 minutes or more for the trophy Guest at the Grand Gala the first time, and 10 merit once a week. A reminder goes out at 18.55 and when the doors open.

Calling cards

Buy 5 calling cards for 50 ln point in the calling cards menu. Use one from your bag within 3 steps of someone to hand it to them. You both become acquaintances and you earn 2 merit. At most 5 new acquaintances a day, and each pair only once ever. Your list is under My acquaintances.

Letters of recommendation

Notable class and above may write one letter a week for a Newcomer or a Citizen whose account is at least 3 days old. The letter gives them 25 merit. You can recommend the same person only once, and a person can receive one letter a week.

The ambitions board

Choose up to 3 of 12 ambitions. Each is measured from the merit you earn in one system or from your own society record. When one is fulfilled you get its own trophy and 25 merit, and you can choose another. Giving one up does not lose your progress.

Commands

/society opens the Society and ambition hub with all ten systems. /mystanding opens this menu. /whoswho opens Who's who. /gala opens the Grand Gala.

(Separate "How the gala works" page inside the gala menu.)