The Secret of Praetoria - Phase 2 Whitepaper Reveal - Part 5: Ancient Ruins

Welcome to the fifth and final post in our Secret of Praetoria - Phase 2 whitepaper reveal series. This one will be focused on the Ancient Ruins that can be found in each of the seven Territories that make up the continent of Praetoria. In case you missed it, the first post in the series revealed the overall economy flowchart which provides a visual overview of how the entire system will work, the second post in the series covered the details of all of the resources that make up the Praetorian economy, the third post in the series described all of the different building options available for players to construct on their land plots, and finally, the fourth post in the series detailed various mechanics including storage, desalinization, and internal markets.

In the near future the entire whitepaper will be made public and available in a more organized format via gitbook. We want to remind everyone again that the whitepaper is still just a draft and that many things are likely to change before the final product is released. We plan to continually add to it and update it over time as we work out all of the details and incorporate community feedback, so please let us know your thoughts and ideas!

Ancient Ruins and the Secret of Praetoria

Hints of a great and powerful secret have been left behind by the ancient peoples that lived on Praetoria. The ruins of seven monstrous structures have been found by the explorers - one in each of the seven territories that divide the continent. It seems as though they were purposely destroyed long ago by the ancient inhabitants...perhaps they thought their power was too great and didn't want to risk it falling into the wrong hands.

Heedless of the warnings, the new crop of explorers on Praetoria have begun the process of unlocking the secrets that these Ancient Ruins once contained. Holed up in their lairs which have come to be known as "Runology Towers", the leading scientists and wizards of each Territory are diligently studying every clue as to how to begin to reconstruct these massive structures and figure out how to unlock the power they once held - and they need to do it before their rivals in the other Territories do, lest the power be used against them!

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Each of the seven Territories of Praetoria contains an Ancient Ruins. Players who own land within each Territory will cooperate with each other to finish the massive research and construction project to rebuild the Ancient Ruins and be the first to unlock the Secret of Praetoria. Players can construct a Runology Tower building on any available plot they own, stake worker cards on it, and provide Trifoil Runes to earn Research Points. The more Production provided by the worker cards and the higher level the building, the more Research Points the player will earn per hour.

The Research Points are non-transferrable and simply accumulate in players' accounts. Once the sum of all Research Points earned from all Runology Towers in a Territory passes a certain threshold, the first phase of the project to reconstruct the Ancient Ruins in that Territory will begin.

Ancient Ruins Reconstruction

Once the construction phase begins, players will be able to contribute resources and worker cards to help complete the construction. Just like with any building construction, the secret project will require a certain amount of Production to complete. Any player - even those who don't own any land - may stake cards to work on the Ancient Ruins construction project in any Territory, and there is no limit to the number of cards or the amount of Production that any player may contribute, or that may be contributed in total.

One difference, however, is that only max-level cards may work on the Ancient Ruins construction project. The project is too dangerous and difficult for lower level workers. Additionally, worker cards on the Ancient Ruins reconstruction project are not planned to need food or staked DEC in order to provide production as they would on a normal player-owned plot. Instead, they will be powered by staked SPS tokens that will be able to be delegated to the project in each Territory (more on that below). There are not planned to be any boosts to the production for Ancient Ruins construction or any terrain bonuses or penalties, so all worker cards will contribute their base production rate.

In addition to workers, large amounts of various resources will need to be provided in order to complete the construction. The resources can be provided at any time during the construction phase of the project and do not need to be provided all up-front like a typical building construction. Once all of the resources have been provided and the worker cards have contributed enough Production, the construction phase will end and it will go back to the research phase.

Once enough Research Points have been earned in the Territory to hit the next threshold, then the next phase of construction will begin. Please note that Runology Tower buildings will still be producing Research even while the construction phase is ongoing, so if enough Research has been earned in the Territory to reach the next threshold when the current construction phase ends then the next construction phase will begin right away.

It is currently unknown how many phases will need to be completed before the Ancient Ruins are fully reconstructed and the great Secret of Praetoria is unlocked, but scholars estimate that it may take as long as a couple of years before the first Territory is able to complete the whole thing. Initial research does indicate that there will be smaller - but still substantial - benefits for completing each phase of the reconstruction project for the players who have contributed.

SPS Staking

As mentioned above, worker cards on the Ancient Ruins reconstruction project are planned to be powered by players delegating staked SPS tokens to the project in each Territory. Any player, whether or not they own any land in the Territory, will be able to delegate their staked SPS to the Ancient Ruins reconstruction project in that Territory and earn the requisite rewards.

The amount of production contributed by the worker cards on the project in each Territory will receive a multiplier based on the amount of staked SPS delegated to the project in that Territory. The formula is planned to be similar to the one used currently for reward points from ranked battles where more staked SPS delegated will always increase the multiplier but with diminishing returns.

Contribution Score

All contributions to the Ancient Ruins reconstruction project, including Research tokens, Resources, delegated staked SPS, and Production from worker cards, will provide varying amounts of Contribution Score (CS) relative to the value of each type of contribution. This will create a single number that represents the total contribution to the project in each Territory by each player.

The Ancient Ruins are the only source of Gemstones on Praetoria, and will also be the primary source of Totem Fragments. The more CS a player earns by contributing to the project, the more chances they will have to find a Gemstone and/or Totem Fragment. Additionally, CS will be used to determine players' position on the leaderboard within the Territory and the whole continent for the purposes or earning Prefix Titles.

At the completion or each phase of reconstruction, including the final phase when the secret is unlocked, the rewards that players receive will be relative to their Contribution Score as compared to other players' Contribution Scores in the Territory.

Stay tuned for more updates from the Splinterlands!

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NOTE: All rewards from this post will be sent to @sps.dao