The auction and Tender
In Otenos, the Age's most powerful buildings can't be built: they go to the boldest bidders at auction. The auction never stops for the whole Age: lots close one at a time, bids are sealed, and the winner pays their own bid. The only currency is Tender, earned in play. This chapter covers the tiers, the schedule, bidding, deeds and Tender.
Three tiers
| Tier | What's sold | Minimum bid |
|---|---|---|
| Rare | The Age's most powerful buildings; only a few come up | 400 Tender |
| Common | Permanent auction buildings | 120 Tender |
| Instant | One-time moves; they pay off the moment you win them or on your next march | 20 Tender |
Each Rare or Common lot gives a deed: a building you place in your holding that works until the end of the Age. Instant lots give an item: resources, troops, a charge, or power to use in your next battle.
Auction buildings
| Building | Tier | What it does | This Age |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beacon | Rare | Warns you of an incoming raid ahead of time and opens a response window: dig a trench or recall your army on the road; when warned, your defense gains +20% | 4 |
| Waystation | Rare | Raises your holding's production by 12% | 4 |
| Mint | Rare | Lets you convert resources into Tender | 3 |
| Vault | Rare | Cuts your army's grain upkeep by 50% | 4 |
| War Banner | Rare | Every attack you make is 10% stronger, on holdings and altars alike | 4 |
| Citadel | Rare | Breaking your wall takes 100% more rams | 4 |
| Watchtower | Common | Protects your build queue from plunder; +25% altar defense; warns you of an incoming raid with a short window | 26 |
| Drill Yard | Common | After a battle, 20% of your losses return | 24 |
| Causeway | Common | Raises your army's carrying capacity by 80% | 24 |
| Chancery | Common | Troops train 25% faster | 21 |
| War Camp | Common | Raid charges: +1 per day | 22 |
| Relay Post | Common | Altar charges: +1 per day | 22 |
| Bastion | Common | Raises your holding's defense by 10% | 22 |
| Farrier | Common | Riders and sipahis march 15% faster | 22 |
| Palisade | Common | When your holding is attacked, your losses drop by 15% | 22 |
How many deeds of each building are sold in an Age is set when the world is created and never changes. The numbers in the table are for this world's Age.
Instant items
| Item | What it does |
|---|---|
| Caravan | Brings resources instantly; used the moment it's won |
| Mercenary Company | 40 swordsmen and 40 spearmen at once: no training cost, but they eat grain |
| Trench | A single-use trench for your next defense |
| Master Builder | Instantly finishes your next construction |
| Escort | If you're intercepted on the road, your army fights harder once and your caravan saves half its load |
| Raid Writ | Two raid charges at once, the moment it's won |
| War Horn | Your next raid attacks 25% stronger; used up there |
| Hidden Passage | If your army or caravan is intercepted on the road, it slips away once through a hidden passage |
| Ration Chest | Three days of your army's grain upkeep at once, the moment it's won |
| Marching Orders | Two altar charges at once, the moment it's won |
| Drill Manual | Finishes the first job in your training queue the moment it's won |
| Ox Cart | Your next raid carries 50% more; used up there |
Schedule
- Only one lot closes at a time. Between two closes there are 60 to 140 minutes; about 14 lots close a day.
- Bidding on a lot opens 12 hours before it closes.
- The auction screen shows the lots closing in the next 30 hours and each building's next lot.
- During Founding, only Instant lots close. Rare and Common lots are spread evenly from the start of Contest to the end of the Age.
- The whole schedule is set when the world is created; no lot appears later in the Age.
Placing a bid
- You have one bid per lot. A new bid replaces the old one.
- Your bid can't be below the minimum bid.
- Your bid is limited by your available Tender: your balance minus the Tender locked on other lots.
- You can change your bid until the close. A changed bid counts as a new bid, so your place in a tie changes.
- Only you can see your bid. Your ally's bid is visible only to them.
- There's no bid cap: the only limit is your balance.
The close
Each lot closes at its scheduled time on the game clock, and at that moment:
- Bids below the minimum bid aren't opened.
- The highest bid wins and pays its own amount.
- In a tie, the earlier bid wins; if that's a tie too, the lower player number wins.
- If there's no valid bid, the lot closes unsold and isn't listed again.
Lock
60 minutes before the close, your bid is set aside from your balance and locked. If you have several bids closing around the same time and your Tender can't cover them all, they are protected by priority: first your highest-priority bid, then the largest. A bid that can't be covered drops.
The Tender for a lot you lose is released from the lock at the close and goes back to your balance.
What everyone sees
- While a lot is open, the number of bids is visible to everyone; the amounts aren't.
- At the close, the winner, the winning bid and the number of bids are announced to everyone. The amounts of losing bids are never announced.
- Your Tender balance is visible only to you.
Deeds
- The building you win lands in your inventory as a deed.
- You need to place the deed in one of your holdings; the building starts working the moment it's placed. A deed that isn't placed does nothing.
- You can have one of each auction building: a deed goes into a single holding.
- If you win a deed for a building already in your inventory or in one of your holdings, the new deed burns.
- Auction buildings have a single level: they can't be upgraded, and trebuchets can't tear them down.
- If a holding is conquered, its deeds go with it to the new owner; if the conqueror already has the same building, the one in the conquered holding burns.
Tender
Tender is the auction's currency, and it's earned only in play:
| Source | How much |
|---|---|
| Starting balance | 300 Tender when you join a world |
| Altar rites | 600 Tender per hour for each altar in a rite (Altars) |
| Quests | Depends on the quest's difficulty (Quests) |
| Mint | Turning resources into Tender (Mint) |
- Tender can't be bought, and it is never sold under any circumstances.
- Tender can't be transferred: no gifts, no loans, no alliance treasury.
- Your Tender balance is visible only to you.
- Tender can't be plundered.
- Tender has value within the Age; when the Age ends, unspent Tender is gone. Use what you earn before the Age is over.
Mint
In a holding with a Mint placed, you turn resources into Tender:
- 1 Tender = 25 timber + 25 stone + 12 iron. Grain isn't used.
- You can mint up to 700 Tender a day; the limit is shared across all your holdings and resets with the Age's day.
- The full daily limit costs 17,500 timber, 17,500 stone and 8,400 iron.
Mastering the auction
- Pick your lot: your balance does the most for you on the lot that's worth the most to you. Rather than entering every lot, aim for the building that fills your holding's gap.
- Place your deed right away: a deed that isn't placed doesn't work.
- Read the schedule: the next lot for the same building shows on the screen. If you missed a building, get ready for the next one.
- Don't underrate Instant lots: a Master Builder, a Drill Manual or a Raid Writ won at the right moment is worth more than a Rare building.