Travelling Characters

Gave him a penguin, he left before the 30mn.

I gave the butcher a snow leopard, if I remember right and he wanted 2 and a half hours. He was gone in 2 hours, I just hope to find him again somewhere and see if he has anything for me. 

Then not knowing when they are gonna leave is an issue, someone using 16k iron to blacksmith just because he did a few minutes too late may not like to get his item in, maybe 2 weeks if unlucky. Whatever, me I don't even care.

AND, expect many people to ask this too, because they are right to: you don't expect a "fresh meat" to be very fresh 2 weeks later.

Update: Now I had in my towns

* sleuth - no use in that town and situation

* chef - no use in that town and situation

* gypsy man - exchanged a brave and some food into a horse

* gypsy woman - exchanged some crystals into another type of crystals that I already had a bunch of (both types of crystals I mean)

Yes, wasted a penguin. For blacksmith (16000 iron...) you should either add a message that he refuse "Sorry but I have to go soon and won't be able to complete it on time, ask me earlier next time you see me !" or leave some kind of chest where he was.

sorry deleted, hadn't refreshed the page with other comments

I have been visited by several characters ... five or six maybe. But I am limited these days in play time so I might have missed somebody. Loads of fun! The slaver is my favorite for now because ... well he did provide me with some pretty nice personnel that otherwise would not be available to me. I hope he comes back. I understand his offerings differ each visit. So maybe I won't spend every time I find him.

Each tent or trade location or trader is unique, the graphics of course are great! Great graphics are becoming a trademark in this game. I have not had visits from many of the traders/gypsies/etc.... maybe if there are glitches to report I have not experienced them yet. Thanks for more fun added to this game.

Yes they are very fun, thank you.

I love the new characters, but just came across something odd. From what I understood reading all the comments here and in the chat it was said that if the character leaves before giving you the stuff you traded for you will get them next time you see him. I gave some ore and crystals to the blacksmith the other day but today when I came across him again there was no option in the conversation to get my stuff, only the part where I can ask him to make me something. Should I report this in bugs or not all characters give you the stuff you bargained for? 

I've now met all the characters at least once, some of them several times.  I found all of them at least some use in the right situation - the Sleuth is the most frustrating because it can be a long wait for him to turn up where you need him and he often appears where there's nothing for him to do.  I've had two towns where I'd have liked to buy his services for a chest item if he only appeared.

The problem with the debtor is that even if I have enough storage to give him what he asks for, I usually wouldn't have enough room for the repayment if he made it.  The one time I did collect payment in full I lost half of it because I didn't have room  Maybe the sums he deals in should vary more with the level or era of the hero?

My youngest hero Nefret met characters while still at very low level and had a run of luck, for example the slaver sold her a troop type she couldn't build yet and asked for iron which she had a large surplus of.  Her neighbours may not be as pleased with this as she is - one dropped after she came plundering in force.

I've twice had the riddler give me a riddle for which none of the listed answers seemed right - maybe because the hero's stat were too low?  There are riddles which are hard for the player but the hero can solve with high enough mental stats, and I've had a couple which were about details of perks and what they can do for you - something which is trivial for the player to look up but should be meaningless to the hero.

One of my heroes is having dealings with the Necromancer solely to explore the story features - so far the value of what he gives you doesn't seem worth the cost.

Overall, I think this feature adds both enjoyment and a little extra strategy to the game.

Do other player have similar experiences with the debtor?

YES x 2

Do other player have similar experiences with the debtor?

Since he does not show up a lot, I forget what it is that I am waiting for. I lost 10,000 wood because I did not have room. So maybe a little hint as to what he has would be great. 

I have met all the characters too.

 The slave guy is of no use to me now since I am in Renaissance, and I am too educated for him, Yes I could sell him slaves but why.   

Antiquarian - I find her useful sometimes

Blacksmith - I use him just for something to do, but normally it is not worth the trouble

Butcher  - not worth the animal for what I get from him

 Chef - only useful for a beginning player

Gypsy Man - I love this guy but very rarely see him anymore

Gypsy Woman  - half and half the time I use her, sometimes there is a good deal

Necromancer  - I can't use him right now, to give him 10 guys to get 1 or maybe 2 back just is not worth it to me

Riddler  - he or she not really sure, is starting to drive me nuts. The answers I am given just do not match the riddle. Plus some of the answers are not in English so I have no clue what it is. In the last 2 weeks I have not managed to answer a single question right, so makes me feel really stupid. (You can stop laughing now)

Sleuth - used him 2 times and each was a waste of time and resources so I ignore him. 

  Debtor - I use him but sometimes forget what it is I am waiting for and lose resources because of it 

Most important, I strongly endorse goznij's proposal: That a commission ought to be refused when the worker knows (or should know) that he'll be moving on too soon to finish it. I also commend goznij's suggested dialog for that purpose.

The Antiquarian took 10 useless pysankas off my hands in exchange for one marginally useful crystal. A very small benefit, hardly worth taking the time to find out all the things she will NOT take.

So far as I can tell, the Blacksmith is a better buy than the Crafting idol. Depending on your mood, you can either say he's "just as likely" or "no more likely" to disappoint you than the idol, but each disappointment indisputably costs less.

I don't know what worth other than decoration and/or warm fuzzies Sandy Sue finds in Boars, Mountain Rams, Deer, and Dogs*, which are the animals I hand over to the Butcher, receiving items that are useful/useless about as often as those from archeological digs. I don't offer him my Monkey spies or Fox/vixen and Penguin scouts. One of my alliance members got a Thorn Necklace, requiring a high Hero Level, from butchering a Porcupine.

My heroes' only encounter w/ the Chef was very useful--tho tedious--because that hero was very short on Food and long on everything else at the time. I'm not a beginner, so let's say the Chef is useful only to imperfect players.

I, too, have lost on the Debtor. Before you take repayment--or even hassle him into offering it--he ought to tell you what he proposes to repay. And then you should be able to take partial payment!

I, too, love the horse-trading Romany** Man. Even my hero who has a paddock of Horses has found him useful.

The Romany Woman early on offered great deals--1 Nectar for 1 Ambrosia, 1 Army Standard for 1 Trommel. But if I were reskilling, I don't think I'd need as many as 10 Potions of Re-Imagination, so I won't trade them for 1 Potion of Total Recall--the deal she's more recently offered.

An alliance member has found dealing w/ the Necromancer to be a losing proposition. The few fighters supplied aren't as useful as the many sent for killing. Not to mention that handing your loyal troops over for slaughter is highly off-putting.

The Riddler is either a boy/very young man, or else a girl disguised as one, as in many Shakespearean plays. See, e..g, http://www.grandmasgraphics.com/graphics/mammoth/mammoth615.jpg, showing one of each, among the several at http://www.grandmasgraphics.com/shakespeare.php and elsewhere.

I wholeheartedly endorse the Mad Logician's critique above of this character. {1-Sentence SPOILER Alert} E.g., I was very disappointed that for the well-known riddle, What is yours but others use it more than you?, the choice "my name" was not available, and none of the many answers offered made any sense.

The Slaver is very useful indeed. My heroes have liberated quite a few useful citizens from him. But I refuse to sell my virtual people into slavery. Yes, I know it's only a game, but I find that that fact doesn't much matter for this case.

The Sleuth has more than once been very useful to me and worth the cost. When he's been a disappointment, it was because I had failed to adequately sweep my town for obvious items before hiring him.

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* I salve my suburban American conscience by thinking of them as old dogs who can't walk w/o pain.
** For many English speakers, "gipsy" is an ethnic slur equivalent to, say, "niggah". Please read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_the_Romani_people#Gypsy_and_Gipsy. The multiple source notes there barely scratch the surface of how much pain is expressed on the 'Net by Rom targets of the word used by non-Roms. I have no idea how many or few gamers would be turned off if the game persists in this insensitive and unnecessary use, but in any case I hope simple courtesy and the dictionaries' recommendations will prevail w/ our developers.

I really want a timer on these folks, pretty please. The Necromancer seems to only hang around for 8 hours, then disappears. The other ones seem to hang out for over a day. But then again they may show up after midnight my time and I lose track of them. A timer for me would be helpful.  

I love the grast man, give him a stone age troop, get nomad, classic gives horseman and medieval gives knight.  I bought swordsmen from slaver, then grast man turned them into knights, before I have even researched those troops :D

Sleuth seems to want 4 hours resource production, to find something, seems overpriced.   http://imgur.com/Oe9k0ee

Necromancer turns up rarely, stone age and classic troops too weak, have yet to try medieval.  Heard you need a certain amount of undead, to access the place with the architects.

Cook was useful up to classic age, now just need to find her favourite food, probably some kind of fish.

Slaver is always pretty good, seems to offer troops you haven't yet researched, love that. 

Riddler needs work, the international answer would be better, than trying to guess the Ukrainian one.  There are a lot of riddles on the internet, you could maybe check them out?

Gypsy can be very useful, so long as you have what she asks for.  I think they prefer the name Romany?

Antiquarian, lets me clear out a lot of rubbish, for something useful in return.  Plus my many trades are now rewarded :D  I am a wholesale trader, I completed Margin Call, for some nice rewards, plus every 100 sales, will get another reward :)