07-16-2003, 12:52 AM
the three of one = one of the next higher also makes your rune/gem quantities a base-3 (ternary) number system, so if always cube-up when you have the chance, you can list how many of each rune or gem you have in order from most valuable to least and get a nice base-3 number. This would allow you to use runes as a balanced ternary currency where you can exchange any amount up to about 1.5 um, in units of el, by only exchanging (up to) one of each type of rune!
For example, if i wanted to buy a Immortal King's Detail and it cost 1,000,000 el (completely hypothetical value), I could exchange:
this_____________________for
dol__________1594323_____shael______531441
ral_____________2187_____amn_________59049
tal______________729_____ort__________6561
eth_______________81_____ith___________243
el_________________1_____nef____________27
subtotal_____1597321________________597321
_________________________belt______1000000
total________1597321_____=_________1597321
the value of a rune is how many els you'd need to cube it, 3^runenumber)
Since you tend to exchange equal amounts of any given rune, you won't tend to build up a shortage of one kind of rune or a scarcity of another just from trading (runes have different scarcities and usefulness, so it'd still have to happen).
Thus solving the d2 currency problem, at least in theory. The math's a little annoying, but an online calculator could handle it without problem.
The inability to automatically break higher runes to lower, the extra gem reagent and the 2:1 ratio past a certain point kinda screw up the mathematical coolness sadly.
-- frink
For example, if i wanted to buy a Immortal King's Detail and it cost 1,000,000 el (completely hypothetical value), I could exchange:
this_____________________for
dol__________1594323_____shael______531441
ral_____________2187_____amn_________59049
tal______________729_____ort__________6561
eth_______________81_____ith___________243
el_________________1_____nef____________27
subtotal_____1597321________________597321
_________________________belt______1000000
total________1597321_____=_________1597321
the value of a rune is how many els you'd need to cube it, 3^runenumber)
Since you tend to exchange equal amounts of any given rune, you won't tend to build up a shortage of one kind of rune or a scarcity of another just from trading (runes have different scarcities and usefulness, so it'd still have to happen).
Thus solving the d2 currency problem, at least in theory. The math's a little annoying, but an online calculator could handle it without problem.
The inability to automatically break higher runes to lower, the extra gem reagent and the 2:1 ratio past a certain point kinda screw up the mathematical coolness sadly.
-- frink