Chapter 18
Ye Bai naturally had no idea about Zeta's psychological activities. The source energy crystal mine alone added 2,000 points to the territory score. Carly, a high-level professional, also added about 200 points. The remaining 300 points were her accumulation in the past ten days.
Of course, even these 300 points are beyond the reach of any lord who has only established a territory for ten days.
With the help of energy crystal mines, four policy card slots, the title effect of the first lord, the right time, place and people, it was possible to upgrade the territory to level 1 on the tenth day after its establishment.
However, there was no server-wide announcement this time. There would be no achievement rewards for upgrading from the 'village' level. You would have to be the first to upgrade to the 'town' level to get it.
A level 1 territory not only expands the scope of the territory, but more importantly, it unlocks technologies that are only available to level 1 territories, and comes with four additional points of upgraded productivity rewards.
This is also the effect of the highest-level Creation Tree. Each upgrade will gain productivity equal to 4 of the territory level. When you reach level 2 territory, you will receive 8 points of productivity bonus. However, the productivity required to light up the technology at that time will also increase.
Ye Bai opened the [Development Direction] page of the territory, and without much thought, he directly clicked on the four points of productivity on [Weaving], [Mining]-[Exploration], [Adventure]-[Primary Armament] and [Planting]-[Herbs] respectively.
[Weaving] Unlocks the skills to make baskets and straw sandals with reeds; unlocks the [Tailor Shop] building; unlocks the production methods of [Linen], [Cotton], and [Cloth].
[Exploration] Unlocks the exploration of iron ore, copper ore, and coal; unlocks the [Mine] building.
[Primary Armament] The Blacksmith Shop unlocks all the crafting methods for "Standard Weapon I" and unlocks the building [Primary Training Ground]. Villagers equipped with standard weapons can be trained as [Militia] in the Primary Training Ground.
[Herbs] Villagers can identify more types of wild herbs; fields can be used to grow herbs; the [Herb Shop] building is unlocked.
When reaching level 1 territory, villagers begin to need to keep warm, and clothing becomes an essential item. The clothes that villagers initially bring with them will wear out, and new clothes need to be made before they are completely damaged.
Lucy reported earlier that the effect of upgrading the territory had been achieved, and the first crops planted in the fields were cotton. If we start planting now, by the time of harvest, we will have enough time to produce a batch of replacement clothes.
Otherwise, we can only make leather clothes for the villagers, which is very expensive. Leather is also an important resource. After being nitrated, it can be made into more useful combat protective gear [leather armor].
The construction in this stage mainly focuses on cultivating the armed forces of the territory, which takes a long time. It is not only to defend against possible dangers in the surrounding area, but also to prepare for the opening of trade routes in the future.
Afterwards, Ye Bai opened the [Development Strategy] page.
The upgrade conditions for a level 2 territory emerge: own 30 residential buildings, own 4 professional buildings, build a market, and the territory population reaches 60.
At this time, among the four policy card slots, the two early god cards, [Hard Work] which can reduce basic needs and [Prosperity] which can maintain loyalty satisfaction, have disappeared. The two card slots have become vacant, and replaced by new policy cards exclusive to level 1 territories.
[No Taboos] Increase the health of the territory by 50%; reduce the plague infection rate by 80%.
【Traveling Merchants】The territory's market will attract traveling merchants every once in a while.
[Reward System I] Increases the promotion speed of junior professionals in the territory by 25%.
[Military Training I] Increases the speed of upgrading primary combat professions in the territory by 25%.
Ye Bai chose [Traveling Merchant] and [Reward System I] without hesitation and installed them into the two empty card slots. The other [Hardworking] and [Pioneer] cannot be replaced before they disappear. The former is an early artifact and does not need to meet more demands. If the latter is replaced, Carly, a high-level professional, will leave the territory.
Although [No Taboos] is effective, Ye Bai can build an herbal medicine shop right away, which is just right for training Lucy from [Herbalist] to [Potion Master] through treating diseases. The medical problem of the territory is not a problem; as for [Military Training I], it still needs time to produce a batch of equipment, and it will not be too late to use it when the territory reaches level 2.
The reason for choosing [Reward System I] is self-explanatory. [Traveling Merchant] is a relatively advanced card for a level 1 territory.
Its effect is just as described. As long as a market is built in the territory, a time progress bar will appear. When the time is up, a traveling merchant will come to the territory with goods for trading.
This was the only way to trade with the outside world before trade routes were opened up and foreign trade stations were established.
In addition to using currency, traveling merchants accept barter, and the items they bring are all kinds of strange, including supplies, seeds, animals, equipment, weapons, and props. Sometimes you may encounter rare blueprints if you are lucky. However, in the early stages, lords often cannot bring out any good things to trade, and can only exchange them for a large amount of basic resources, which is very uneconomical. Normally, this policy card can be placed as an optional option at levels 2 or 3.
But Ye Bai was different at this time. Not only did she have the 10 gold coins reward for killing the nightmare copy BOSS, but more importantly, Baiye Village had the "specialty" source energy crystal.
This kind of high-level resource is very valuable. If a territory accumulates it for a period of time, it will be enough to empty the backpack of a traveling merchant.
Just after finishing the technology and policy cards, a villager came to Ye Bai.
"My Lord, we have enough other resources to build the market. We are still short of 5 gold coins."
"No problem." Ye Bai waved his hand and took out 5 gold coins from his backpack.
The market is a special functional building, and the materials required to build it are 5 gold coins.
There are two ways to obtain currency when starting out in the wild. One is through the drops from the dungeon BOSS, which correspond to 1, 3, 5, and 10 gold coins according to their levels; the other way is to collect taxes from residents and buildings in the territory.
After reaching level 1 territory, the lord will automatically receive taxes from the residents of the territory every month. The amount of tax is determined by the residents' housing level and the territory's tax policy.
Now the houses in the territory are of the most basic type. Ye Bai has lowered the taxation in the territory to the lowest level, and can only get 2 copper coins from one resident per month.
The currency exchange in Wanjie is the standard fantasy game template of '1 gold coin = 100 silver coins = 10,000 copper coins'.
There is no point in plundering the people's money. Even if the most stringent tax is adjusted, it will only be 10 copper coins per person, and it will cause a serious drop in satisfaction. If you want to make money from residents' taxes, you have to wait until the territory level is high and the residential level is upgraded from the current shanty towns to small villas, then the tax revenue will be considerable.
The source of tax revenue that Ye Bai values more now is commerce. The market under construction and future buildings such as the [Trade Terminal] and [Exchange] can generate considerable tax revenue, which will be a major source of territory finances.
However, the construction of the market alone requires 5 gold coins, not to mention the two foreign trade buildings behind it.
Therefore, Wild Lord players often have no additional source of currency. When they first upgrade their territory to level 1, they will encounter an awkward situation when clearing city-building dungeons below the elite level - want to obtain high taxes? You need to build a market; want to build a market? You need high taxes.
Either you can only wait, or raise taxes at the risk of losing a lot of satisfaction. No one can prepare all the relevant materials like Ye Bai before upgrading the territory to level 1.
Ye Bai followed and took a look. In the central area reserved for the residential area, a large building consisting of a stone platform and a wooden shed has begun to take shape. After completion, the market will be able to increase a lot of satisfaction and environmental value, while playing the role of distributing food, tools, and supplies in the territory. It will be the second large territory center.
Not far from the market, a stone brick herbal shop is also under construction. In the future, Lucy will work in it and serve as the territory's herbalist.
As for the villagers working in the professional buildings, like Carrie, Lucy, and Sean, they don't need to be paid yet. They haven't become professionals yet, they're still considered "apprentices." In a magical medieval setting, who has ever seen apprentices paid? Not charging any fees is good enough!
In the industrial zone opposite, a tailor shop is being built next to the blacksmith shop. These industrial buildings are built close together not only for aesthetics, but also for later policy cards that can allow concentrated industrial areas to gain productivity bonuses, similar to industrial parks.
After taking a look around, Ye Bai headed towards the northeast of the territory.
Most of the newly added idle labor force in the territory, in addition to constructing various buildings, is using hoes to cultivate new fields. About four new fields can be opened up in one or two days - if the hoe is not embedded with source energy crystals, this efficiency will be slowed down to five or six days.
These four plots of land will be used to grow cotton, herbs and grain vegetables respectively in the future.
The fields that had harvested the first wave of crops were now vacant, and a villager was already turning the soil over.
Seeing Ye Bai approaching, the villagers who were tending the land came forward and said, "Lord, you've come at the perfect time. I just finished loosening the soil here when I asked you to plant the seeds on the land you mentioned earlier."
"Very good." Ye Bai nodded, and while gesturing, he taught the villagers how to plant the land: "In the future, you will plant wheat straw and red berries according to this ratio..."
It’s not that Ye Bai really knows how to farm. What she taught the villagers was just the planting ratio of two crops in a field.
In order to enrich the gameplay of the planting system in the game, Wanjieli encourages the intercropping of crops, which will have both positive and negative effects on the final harvest and increase the fun.
Uh... if I have to describe the principle, I can come up with it: if only one crop is planted on a piece of land, it will absorb the soil's strength in the long run, causing the soil's fertility to continue to decline; on the contrary, if mixed crops are planted, the crops will absorb some elements while releasing some elements during the growth process. If the elements required by different crops can complement each other, the yield will be greatly increased.
Of course, there are also counterexamples where crops that affect each other's growth are mixed incorrectly, resulting in reduced yields.
Originally, acquiring this knowledge required the Lord player to explore the game, or to figure out some techniques through trial and error, or to buy secret recipes from traveling merchants, or to build a [School] in the territory and invite a professional [Botanist] to move in...
But for Ye Bai, none of that is necessary.
Sorry, knowing the strategy means you can do whatever you want.
Secret update~
PS: I will update when I finish writing in the future. I used to update at 9 am, but now I will be working on it until 5 or 6 am. I can’t stay up so late anymore. QAQ
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