Considering where to send fleets, what will we need most next event?
Cash for the bid: If I raid the Grendel I can be good for half a throne without relying on selling. Herbs for Guido: Sarcophan is the obvious choice but are those the herbs he needs? Mana: we don't do that much magic. Materials for Gaspar: does he have any preferences?
I have an idea for monetizing a small amount of ilium. Create one each of the super potions and hold a public vote/ subscription for the best recipients. Nominate your candidate for most effective spell caster / hero pt user for a crown, vote for two rings. Hold such drives once per summit.
As to acquiring ilium. We know that Aesher Endsmeet paid 30 crowns for the Scorrero Nets and that he says he hasn't sold any - if someone made a 4 throne offer for 6 rings, cash there and then, that would cover the money that he and his partners have had tied up doing **** all for a year - he'd have to find that tempting.
As regards the Illium, we have a consortium in place for bidding on Bourse resources, which is going to tie up all our cash this season unless we are unsuccessful at bidding, in which case we can have further discussions about the best way to use the cash. I'm reluctant to commit to any idea until we know more about the situation on the field, and so uptime discussion is probably the best place to work out the details. Hope that's OK.
retail prices for ilium are odd and confusing and bear little to no resemblance to the wholesale prices paid in a blind bid for the bourse.
The butchers I think it is well known they paid 1 ring for their seat but wont sell for less then about 4 thrones/ring of illium.
But don't get me started on them.
Also monetising a resource we don't currently have isn't a great idea, better to pitch the idea to those with the resource and take a cut of the profits. Zero risk for us, potential profit for everyone.
Potions however don't strike me as the best use of illium, (sure as an artisan I may be a little biased) but when it can make items that will last for eons, that will still be protecting and helping the Empire when our grandkids grandkids are coming of age, that seems like a good investment of our time and effort.
Take for example the Wayfarer's Pyx, when a priest hallows an area with one of these items, the hallow lasts as long as the Pyx.
So why not make it last forever!
The minimum 10 ring buy in for artefacts, rapidly rising for the good ones, means they are too rarely made to keep a liquid market. AFAIK the only one made so far is the Ambergelt Rod commissioned by the Conclave for the Warmage. Crucially, 10 rings is more than the seasonal yield of any one ilium producing site so getting them together is a hassle beyond merely coming up with the dosh. Potions can at least get made and used. Because of that illiquidity I believe that turning up with cash in hand ready to buy immediately and knowing what price we're going for is a really strong position after a year of deals fizzling.
Taking the risk to buy the ilium and try to monetise it ourselves gives us a greater cut of the profits if we succeed - frankly I think we'd get very little if we try to sell the idea without controlling the goods - and gets us publicity and kudos which can carry over to our other enterprises.
There is the catch 22 situation that we'd have the best chance of making a purchase before the Bourse seat bids go in because the sellers are likely going for seats again but we want to hold on to our money until they're decided for the same reason. Once they are decided all the losers will have money to spend and prices will go up.
Short term profit Vs Long term viabilty of the empire. I know where My investment would go.
Biggest question I ask of any one who's objective is to make cash - What are you going to spend it on, and how is that going to help people long term?
Thing with iliuim is it shouldn't be seen as a money making exercise. Given how insanely expensive it is to dig it up, and how much the senate is paying for all the mines, the only sensible financial options are to stop production entirely, or put it towards long term investment for the benefits of the whole empire. For the cost of one season mining ilium, we could buy tons of alchemical herbs and provide every soldier with a couple of potions to keep them on their feet in battle.
As another example of money making, spending the ilium mining money instead on rebuilding Sarvos Harbour back to its original state would generate huge income for the state, making it the single biggest contributor to senate funds - above and beyond even the biggest farming districts of the Marches or any other port in the empire.
OTOH it's doing no one any good sitting in a Bourse member's pocket because they won't sell for less than 4 thrones/ring and all the permanent uses require at least 10 rings. Not to mention the only practical value of making an item an artifact is the saving in future resources but the item would have to stay in use for 32 years to break even there (if you discount future value by as little as 3.2% per year it never breaks even.)
Meanwhile the one shot consumables actually do stuff for the user and hence the Empire.
Which is not to say that I wouldn't commission an artifact suit of winterborn warmail if I was that stupidly well resourced but it would be pure showing off - I'd serve the Empire better by making a load of potions and serpents' stones and bribes to eternals.
Again I think you're looking at it slightly backwards, the war mail isn't any better for combat but is now worth a silly amount of money. Combat items are the last thing to use illium for, at best you save some resources long term, at worst you've gifted a hugely valuable item to your opponents if you fall in combat.
Tell me what do these potions do which is worth 4+ thrones/ potion?
My fleet appears to have turned into a business. DT is closing tomorrow and that is an extension, nobody has made any specific requests for imports and I can't be arsed with an exchange of emails at this point so **** it, I have a business. All grist to the bid.
The potions do full refill of hero points/mana +1 which is not worth 4 thrones... except when it is. There is no except when it is for spending 40 thrones to make an item permanent. Spending 40 to permanently seal away an elder evil with an enchantment sometimes. Except when it is is the justification for the expense of mining the stuff in the first place.
Not that the plan is to buy at that price anyway - if I can't get it for far less using stock turnover arguments I walk away. Stock turnover is the other argument for buying early of course; it takes time to get the publicity going for a competition and subscription and then actually get the money in - to get a decent return at the same summit we'd want to get started Saturday morning at the latest and there's no point starting until the ilium is in hand.
Weirder and Weirder - it still says fleet on the character page but it says business on the DT page. Emails it is. Which means it will be a fleet again - last chance for import orders!
Default will be raiding the Broken Shore to max cash.
-- Edited by noliar on Wednesday 5th of March 2014 10:34:55 PM
