collect

Olympia: The Age of Gods PBEM (Oct 4 2000)

## `collect`

      collect item [number] [days]
      * time: as given
      * priority: 3

Catch, harvest, collect or produce the given item from the unit's current location, if possible. Collection proceeds until the desired quantity of the item has been obtained, or the given number of days has passed, whichever comes first.

If neither number or days is given, `collect` will continue until the location's supply of the item is fully depleted.

Collection ceases when no more of the resource is available in the location. Thus, ```collect` 87 10`' may obtain less than 10 fish [87], if the current ocean province's supply of fish runs out.

Examples:

      collect 10         # Recruit as many peasants [10] as possible
      collect 68 2       # Harvest two yew trees
      collect 87 0 10    # Fish for 10 days
      collect 87 25 10   # Fish until 25 fish [87] have been caught, or
                         # for 10 days, whichever comes first

Many collection commands have aliases so they can be more easily remembered. For example, the above orders could be written:

      recruit
      yew 2
      fish 0 10
      fish 25 10

Most collection tasks require the unit to possess a particular skill, and to be in a likely location to obtain the desired item.

      num  item        who     where            qty  skill  chance  alias
      ---  ----        ---     -----            ---  -----  ------  -----
       10  peasant     noble   city, province[1] 10   none   100%   recruit
       68  yew         worker  yew groves         5   1603   100%   yew
       77  wood        worker  forest            30   1602   100%   wood
       78  stone       worker  mountains         50   1402   100%   quarry
       78  stone       worker  rocky hills       10   1402   100%   quarry
       78  stone       worker  desert            10   1402   100%   quarry
       87  fish        sailor  ocean             50   1004    50%   fish
       51  wild horse  noble   plains             [2]   1930    25%   catch

Other rare items which may be collected are listed in Collect rare foliage [1604], a subskill of Forestry [1600], and Collect rare elements [1503], a subskill of Alchemy [1500].

Explanation of table columns:

num item | The resource to be collected. For example, Fish [87].
who | Some tasks may only be performed by a noble, while others must be done by men, such as workers or sailors. For instance, recruiting requires the attention of a noble. Additional men are of no benefit. Fishing, however, requires sailors. The noble himself does not participate. The more sailors available for fishing, the quicker the fish will be caught.
where qty | Resources are replenished at the end of each month. Each ocean province will have 50 fish that may be caught. Mountains yield up to 50 stone per turn.
  skill | Skills are required for most collection tasks (except recruiting):
      activity        subskill                  category
      --------        --------                  --------
      recruiting      none                      none
      cutting yew     Harvest yew [1603]        Forestry [1600]
      cutting timber  Harvest lumber [1602]     Forestry [1600]
      quarrying       Stone quarrying [1402]    Construction [1400]
      fishing         Fishing [1004]            Shipcraft [1000]
      horse catching  Catch wild horses [1930]  Ranger [1900]
chance | The rate of collection is certain for most tasks. Cutting timber yields one wood [77] per day per worker, as long as the forest has a supply of wood. However, some tasks have an element of randomness. Horse-catching, for example, is a difficult, uncertain task. Each day there is only a 25% chance that a noble will catch a wild horse. The chance is for the unit as a whole, not for individual men engaged in the task. Thus, a unit of sailors will collect fish about half of the days they spend fishing. The other half, no fish will be caught.
  alias | Common collection tasks have an alias so they are easier to remember.
      task            alias
      ----            -----
      collect 10      recruit
      collect 68      yew
      collect 77      wood
      collect 78      quarry
      collect 87      fish
      collect 51      catch
For example, the orders ```collect` 51 0 10`' and ```catch` 0 10`' are equivalent.

Note that if no arguments are supplied to the `collect` order (or one of its aliases), it may never terminate. For instance, suppose a unit with one sailor fishes alone in an ocean province:

      fish    -or-    collect 87

Since no arguments were given for the `fish` order, fishing will continue as long as the ocean has a supply of fish. The sailor will produce, on average, a fish every two days, or 15 fish per month. Since this is less than the monthly supply of fish in an ocean province, the sailor will never exhaust the supply, and thus is likely to continue fishing forever, until interrupted with a `stop` order.

[1] forest, plains or mountain

[2] See "Catch wild horses [1930]"