Gold Bars Destroyed?

[Most Lee Harmless]

This does raise an interesting dilemma for GB producers and shippers : stock held in w/h for shipment is now vulnerable to almsot total loss froma few casts : stock being shipped is already vulnerable to skirmish loss : now it is vulnerable to loss via punitive voodoo casts, which can also act as a 'spy' to establish if a given fleet is carrying GB for a subsequent skirmish : that the card needed is common and has a low use cost is also a factor.
My own feeling is to say 'sod it' and not bother shipping again, to reduce any stockpiles I may have held against a rainy day (or price spike) and thus consider that whole element of the game to have held promise but proved to be no better than common or garden trading : much the way fishing held great promise but never delivered : i,.e the specialist fishing vessel.
How this may impact on the planned expansion of GB requirements is maybe moot : I am just one GB producer : I cant say how others may react : we have invested vast sums in the enterprise, after all and most will just have to make the best of it, make what return they can and maybe regret falling for the hype.
If each 'improvement' will always be reined back to be no better than trading, quite why are we to feel driven to invest in it?

[Haron]

I have considered using "Rotten Food" to find gold bar fleets, Danik. Alas, Rotten Food does not report to the caster what kind of goods were destroyed, so that's at least ONE thing off your list of worries.

[PhoenixKnight]

Danik,
You can also add to the fact that to do anything related to hideout, you need an exceedingly large amount of several resources. The losses cannot begin to compare to old times!
As a trader and goldsmith, I now wonder if hideout and gold bar trading is worth the risk. My first instinct says that I will gut both and reduce my warehouse to not include more than 1000 of any and to Davy Jones locker with hideout stuff!

[Maha]

if oLoD was first meant to deny a target access to his wealth and reading the concerns of goldsmith's, i recommend a compromis.

oLoD will put a temporary (5 hour) import/export/sales ban on a port and is stackable 5 times. (+- 1 day) Max usage is five cards per caster (not target) per week.
this way it is still a very damaging card, but the losses are from lack of income rather than loss of supplies.

------
option to improve port / nation value:
governors cannot be hurt by this card in their port; they are enforcing the 'ban' after all.
the king and dukes of the port controlling nation can bribe (pay ) the governor to undo the ban.
i did not include the other members of the nation because it ís easy to join a nation and get so the protection. the number of dukes per nation is limited and with this extra boon gets more coveted. which is better for the nation part of the game.

[Stan Rogers]

When this 'bug' was first discovered immediately after GS came into production, that was the time to 'fix' it. Not 2 yrs later when considerable amount of time and investment has already been made by players.

At the least, with a 'bug' of this impact, some notice should have been given and not left for discovery after the fact.
Especially when it was previously discovered and reported way back when GS came into being and safe GB storage in w/h became the normal.
I am thankful I can divest my efforts before I found out the really really hard way of having my GB destroyed from a 'bug"

[Haron]

I am thankful I can divest my efforts before I found out the really really hard way of having my GB destroyed from a 'bug"

This is due to Avery reporting this in the forum at once when he found out, rather than try to exploit the discovery of this "secret" himself by stacking up on OLoDs and releasing them on an unsuspecting target.

I think Avery handled this in a good way. Exposing this discovery to the public through the forum was the honorary thing to do. Well done, Avery!

[Most Lee Harmless]

I'm hard pressed to find the thread, but I'm sure the non-effect of OLOD and Rotten Food on GB's has been mentioned here back when GB's were introduced and has been queried since.

here is one such query :

]

How does rotten food work when cast on a fleet with population instead of goods? Are they exempt like gold bars?

I'd say they all perish from a dread disease.. after all, it is Rotten Food they are being given...

here is another mention :

But it doesnt : it's a fixed price escalator and that is that.

One of the unmentioned demands for gold bars is for storing wealth in warehouses : they are safe from OLOD and can be turned back into coin very quickly and with no turn cost. It has been suggested that this has replaced burying treasure as the pirates choice of storage, saving on turn investment and risk of loss.

So, its not been a secret that they didnt work, nor was it kept secret : I think the surprise is that they started working, somewhat unannounced.

[PhoenixKnight]

I agree with Danik. Such an unannounced fix would definitely have changed the layout of the game today

[Maha]

bury me bars
thanks to shortage of turns we had 3 more years of ignorance

[Mugiwara]

after this topic. all of the nonbidded OLODs now have bid on them:) it seems someone want to destroy some warehouses. or want to protect himself. it seems we have a new(old) popular voodoo on the scene.