Land Management
With Conclave looming at the horizon, instead of loading up on DEC, as I should, what I am doing is beefing up my land plots. Thanks to 
Yes, you can say that your eyes are hurting (mine too!), but there it is, we deal with it!
Pristine NW the northwestern territory of Praetoria
As you know Praetoria is a newly(!) (not new anymore!) revealed continent in the Splinterlands universe, previously shrouded by a magical veil controlled by the elite Wizard’s Council. After the council’s dissolution, the veil lifted, allowing kingdoms, empires, and battle mages from across the Splinterlands to claim this land. Many years ago, it seems, that I have claimed Region 10, or Highmoor, as my own. Trouble is, at the time I wasn't that interested in land management, and populated my region almost randomly. So today, I am slowly beginning to pay my debt to the council and trying to do an honest job as a true Praetorian!
So today, I will talk a bit about how I am managing my land in PNW (Pristine NW) and also how others are doing the same in PNW.
Thank you @beaker007 for the data and plots
Mean activity level of PNW's 20 regions is 380 active plots per region, or 38% activity. It is slightly higher than Praetoria as whole (31.5%)
I am the largest landowner here, but only just. Out of 20 regions, 8 regions have single owners. Total, there are 1279 unique owners in this territory. I feel a bit of responsibility and even guilt for not managing this spectacular land for a while. So I am going to correct that.
Highmoor
Highmoor is that yellow bat with 323 active plots. But in reality it is much more than that. Highmoor is a significant region in the Pristine Northwest, known for its strategic and cultural importance. It is primarily associated with Gaeltland, a representative democracy composed of seven clans originating from the highlands of Korsigon in Khymeria. The region is situated in the highlands near Mount Vinterdun, characterized by rugged, elevated terrain that shapes its identity and economy. Yes, I am reading the lore, thank you, 
Here is how I am managing Highmoor. I say rather poorly!
When I started, I started populating tract 1, and quickly found out that I ran out of cards. My memory is a bit vague on this, because I did this 2 years back. I remember populating plots by serial number, LOL! Yeah, I was stupid! Soon I ran out of cards, so we bought some more, and then I ran out of those. Also I ran out of DEC. So I bought some, and ran out of those. This way over 2 years and nearly 20M DEC later, I am still out of DEC, as I have always been and out of cards, while only 32% of that region is filled.
If you see the histogram above, you will understand after tract 1 I was less stupid, and filled up my legendary, epic and rare plots.....before I fill up my commons. However, that was already too late.
The Time Crystal fiasco!
Okay, if there is one thing you want to learn from this post, it is this:
NEVER use a Time Crystal
Basically the purpose of time crystal is to make the clearing of land, or switching of plot from one resource to other. The trouble is at current prices there are no scenario where this activity is profitable. Meaning you will always lose money, and once you buy and use time crystals they are gone and the money is spent. At one time, I bought millions of DEC worth of time crystals from Vugtis. He specifically asked me NOT to do it, but I didn't listen. So I am telling it to you folks now to pay it forward. Please listen! DO NOT USE TIME CRYSTALS!
Current Status of Highmoor
Highmoor is mostly forested to the north and northwest, with Badlands in the south, and mountains in the middle. So it is mostly a wood and iron producer, along with some grains in the plains along the north, east and middle. One thing Highmoor doesn't have is stone!
Although it is not fully developed, but you can see it well from this plot. I have 3.2M raw PP here, with almost equal production of Grain, Iron, and Wood. I recently cut down on some wood production and ramped up iron production, as iron is more expensive than wood. Notice, I have no SPS mine: I feel I do not need it, because I can get SPS so many different ways, and since I slept on Research for a long time, I must play a bit of catch up!
Keeps and Castles
I obviously own all the keeps and castles in this region, they are all active. However, since a lot of the land around them are not active I recently cut down PP on some of them.
There are some important points to note here.
- Typically you do not need more than 40% tax rate for the keep, and 18% for the castle
- I have very little production in tract 5 and 6, so I cut them down further recently
This is due to the the asymptotic nature of the tax curves:
| Keep Tax Capture Curve | Castle Tax Capture Curve |
|---|---|
 |  |
If you study these plots, you can appreciate that the sweet spot is around 40%-45% for the Keep and around 15%-17% for the castle. I think some of mine are still a bit on the high side and I will need to adjust them. Mind you, there is also Totem fragment capture that happens in castles and keep, and that is based on raw PP and that is a linear curve. However, in my opinion, I do not feel that is necessary element in my personal consideration.
Lease
As you might know, recently I leased 10 grain plots to 
He is going to be working on the river and bog plots that you do not see any symbols. I am excited that he is doing it. I offered the lease for free for 6 months, when each of us will have a call option. My goal in this is to make more of Praetoria active. That way we all win together!
