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Old 11-06-2020, 06:42 AM   #11
hcobb
 
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Default Re: The Road to Adventure

Everytime I run the numbers I get that maintaining a gate network takes about as big a chunk of resources for Dran that airports cost America.

So the real question is that given the high safety and low cost of air travel why does America have a highway network?
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Old 11-06-2020, 08:16 AM   #12
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Because despite the low cost of air travel, it's a heckuva lot more expensive than road travel in many, many cases.

I always wonder what actual numbers you're "running". I doubt a PhD in economics would have anything like certainty about the effects of a magical teleportation network, but I confess I haven't done a literature search. Maybe there are published papers.

There are certainly some numbers we have. We can talk about the ST costs for creating and maintaining gates, but once we think about the actual implementation of a network, we're adding a lot of uncertainty. The costs depend on all sorts of assumptions, including the number of wizards and apprentices available, the political unrest in the region, the competing economic interests, etc. There's no reason at all to think that a simple logical analysis leads to a single outcome. Different worlds are different.

Look at airlines. A plane ticket to New York from Boston is pretty expensive, but that's not the only reason I choose to drive. Thanks to post 9/11 security measures, flying adds a certain amount of hassle and my car is more comfortable. A train is comfortable too, but is relatively more expensive, at least if there are multiple travelers. These factors depend on the world and the security concerns, for instance, are a matter of political and social happenstance. You can't "run numbers" without making lots of assumptions about the world.

Last edited by phiwum; 11-06-2020 at 08:20 AM.
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Old 11-06-2020, 09:38 AM   #13
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Default Re: The Road to Adventure

Yes, excessive security costs can crash the economics of a gate network, but as you can see from the worked out numbers here the guards are a small part of the costs and every path is warded.

http://www.hcobb.com/tft/wizards_dran.html#Station
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Old 11-06-2020, 11:18 AM   #14
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Yes, excessive security costs can crash the economics of a gate network, but as you can see from the worked out numbers here the guards are a small part of the costs and every path is warded.

http://www.hcobb.com/tft/wizards_dran.html#Station
It is a good point that ward is effective in this situation.
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Old 11-07-2020, 06:10 AM   #15
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Yes, excessive security costs can crash the economics of a gate network, but as you can see from the worked out numbers here the guards are a small part of the costs and every path is warded.

http://www.hcobb.com/tft/wizards_dran.html#Station

Do your wizards not have more ambition? :'(
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Old 11-07-2020, 08:16 AM   #16
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Do your wizards not have more ambition? :'(
The limiting factor for the wizards' guild is apprentices, because Man is the powerstone of all things. Assigning journeymen and apprentices to make money for the guild while advertising that the WG is a beneficial institution that everybody should try and get their sons and daughters into is a win.
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Old 11-07-2020, 09:02 AM   #17
phiwum
 
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Those wizards who maintain the gates and watch the words every day aren't apprentices for the most part. It sounds like dreadfully dull work.

I'm not saying that one couldn't imagine a social order which rewards such tedium for talented wizards. It's your world and people's values are endlessly malleable. And, besides, it seems that you reckon an IQ 17 is the minimum for being a proper wizard anyway, so these IQ 15 and below wizards are not fit for proper wizarding.

But I agree with MikMod. I view wizards as having loftier or at least different aims than running a transport system. (Though, of course, ITL suggests that such a system is readily available.)
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Old 11-07-2020, 09:07 AM   #18
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If the setting has reduced wizards to the level of mundane civil servant - that's a setting I'm going to have difficulty in being excited about.
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Old 11-07-2020, 10:05 AM   #19
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Wizards either run the railways or they're train robbers. Choose.
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Old 11-07-2020, 12:18 PM   #20
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Wizards either run the railways or they're train robbers. Choose.
Jus' sayin' the dweebs running the Grand Gate System are totally in Hufflepuff... ;)


"Hey Harry, yer a wizard!"

"OMG Hagrid, does this mean if I work really hard I can stand around literally all day watching peasants and waiting for something to go wrong?"

"If yer lucky Harry"
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