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Old 01-14-2020, 12:42 PM   #1
hcobb
 
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Default How much did the labyrinth of doom cost to dig?

Here's my numbers for just the dig.

Hire a IQ 13 Town Wizard and three apprentices for $500/week (danger pay, because they're going underground) and dig 25 ST x 4 / 10 = 10 hexes a day, 50 hexes/week with Open Tunnel. Cost per hex is $10

Or hire a dwarf miner at 100$/week to dig 4 hexes/day, 20 hexes a week for $5 per per hex.

This doesn't include the architect who ensures that the construction is sound and won't instantly collapse.

What other costs should be included? Shoring timbers?
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Old 01-14-2020, 02:40 PM   #2
Skarg
 
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Default Re: How much did the labyrinth of doom cost to dig?

Yes, shoring timbers, risk of cave-ins anyway, and for non-magical mining, the (complex to figure out) ever-increasing work of moving tailings out of the labyrinth. That is, every hex you tunnel out of a wall, is that amount of rock and earth (which tends to take up more area than before it was spread around by digging) to bring all the way back to wherever the exit is, and put somewhere else.

So for that reason, your simple cost calculation starts to look much cheaper for the wizard team, the deeper your tunneling goes. However, suddenly removing an entire hex of earth at once may also tend to be more likely to result in cave-ins. And/or undermining loose earth that keeps sliding down, or undermining water that keeps flowing in. Dangerous gasses can also be released.

Not just architecture but also people who know how to construct permanent tunnels without problems, and surveyors who can read the architect's plans and keep the digging on target, and overseers for the work teams.

Normally there would be lighting costs, but I'm sure you'll assume someone casts Light spells or makes Light items...

Depending on the plan of your digging, you may be able to use a different number of digging teams at different times, while others rest or wait for there to be a place for them to dig that you want dug.

Ventilation may start to become a concern.

Depending on how far the site is from civilization, you also have all the costs of operating a group of people at a distance from food, shelter, and protection. It'd be best to build a work camp on the surface, and have a redundant resupply system. Craftsmen, cooks, guards, drivers, physickers.
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Old 01-14-2020, 03:11 PM   #3
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Default Re: How much did the labyrinth of doom cost to dig?

Can an Earth/Rock elemental roam freely through solid rock to find weak points? (and retrieve items?)
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Old 01-14-2020, 04:54 PM   #4
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Default Re: How much did the labyrinth of doom cost to dig?

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Originally Posted by hcobb View Post
Can an Earth/Rock elemental roam freely through solid rock to find weak points? (and retrieve items?)
Are not earth elementals solid? I'm not remembering or seeing any indication that they can do anything other than walk around in open spaces like other solid figures.

You could cast Insubstantiality on them, but you might want to do that to something that can also talk to you.

Because, I also don't see any indication that elementals have the ability to speak.

But it is a clever notion in general. They might nonetheless have some sort of rapport and knowledge with the earth around them that might let them know some useful information about the earth, and you might try communicating with them with Telepathy, though I wouldn't classify them as humanoid for that purpose, and it would be up to the GM how well any of that might work.

I think there would tend to be an issue with you wanting some sort of directional coordinates that you could use, and them having a hard time relating to that, but if the GM were being generous with all of the other open questions about that, I suppose you could try a question like "is there any gas or weak or loose rock in that direction, closer to here than that corner in the tunnel is far away from here?" and hope it understands what you mean.
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Old 01-14-2020, 07:50 PM   #5
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Default Re: How much did the labyrinth of doom cost to dig?

The alternative is that swinging through the trees of the "dark forest" regenerates a hit a turn for an Earth Elemental. (ITL 86)
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Old 01-15-2020, 12:32 AM   #6
Skarg
 
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Default Re: How much did the labyrinth of doom cost to dig?

In what sense would that be an alternative?
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Old 01-15-2020, 12:57 AM   #7
JimmyPlenty
 
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Default Re: How much did the labyrinth of doom cost to dig?

Quote:
Originally Posted by hcobb View Post
Here's my numbers for just the dig.

Hire a IQ 13 Town Wizard and three apprentices for $500/week (danger pay, because they're going underground) and dig 25 ST x 4 / 10 = 10 hexes a day, 50 hexes/week with Open Tunnel. Cost per hex is $10

Or hire a dwarf miner at 100$/week to dig 4 hexes/day, 20 hexes a week for $5 per per hex.

This doesn't include the architect who ensures that the construction is sound and won't instantly collapse.

What other costs should be included? Shoring timbers?

If it is a Labrynith of Doom, I'd assume it wouldn't cost you anything if you kill the wizards/miners. No traces.
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Old 01-15-2020, 05:34 AM   #8
Chris Rice
 
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Default Re: How much did the labyrinth of doom cost to dig?

I guess a squad of demons could create a dungeon fairly quickly.
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Old 01-15-2020, 05:54 AM   #9
hcobb
 
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Default Re: How much did the labyrinth of doom cost to dig?

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I guess a squad of demons could create a dungeon fairly quickly.
The next setting in my queue depends on the fact that demons suck at tunneling.

12 turns, 100 ST, no proper tools and not a dwarf means a greater demon digs through less than two inches of stone before it goes poof.

Therefore it is possible to design a labyrinth that a greater demon can't mess with. So put an entire Goblin village there.
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Old 02-12-2021, 01:30 PM   #10
ColinK
 
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Default Re: How much did the labyrinth of doom cost to dig?

Here's another question that relates to creating a dungeon using magical means: How tall a tunnel does Open Tunnel create? I've been using the height of the wizard creating the tunnel, plus a hand span of fudge factor.

Of course, if your team's wizard is short and your tank is tall, the GM might have to roll a few dice occasionally.

More fun questions? Since the wizard has some control over the shape of the tunnel opened, can there be steps? If there are steps, is the tunnel ceiling also stepped? If there are no steps, can there be a slope? I want alternatives to climbing up and down ropes and ladders.
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