Managing Miscellania

Managing Miscellania is a repeatable reward from quest Throne of Miscellania, in which the player is the regent of the nation Miscellania. The player is in charge of the subjects on the island by assigning them to collect resources. If the player maintains high popularity with the citizens and invests a considerable number of coins, the subjects will share a portion of their resources with the player. Because many of these resources are valuable, this quest reward is considered to be highly profitable. It is highly recommended to complete Royal Trouble for a increased profit from the increased number of subjects from Etceteria at the minor expense of an increased maximum salary.

Do read the whole page for a better understanding of the mechanics.

Managing the subjects
The idea is to manage the island in a way that is most profitable to the player.

Players have control over three factors that influence productivity by talking to Advisor Ghrim in Miscellania castle: Talking to him brings up an interface with all the options.
 * The approval of the subjects
 * The investment of coins in the coffers (the salaries of the subjects)
 * The resources that the subjects collect

Players can also speak to him via the Lunar Magicks spell NPC Contact without having to visit Miscellania, but they can only ask about their approval rating and distribute what the subjects collect. Using the contact spell does not allow players to change the salary of their subjects.

Approval rating
The approval rating, ranging from 0% (bad) to 100% (good), depicts the feelings of the subjects towards the player. The approval rating falls by 2.5% per exactly every 24 hours (or 1% per day if Royal Trouble has been completed). The approval rating can be checked by speaking to one of the several NPC subjects on the island or by talking to Advisor Ghrim.

Players can increase their approval rating by helping the subjects around Miscellania in various tasks. These tasks have a level requirement and some also require the use of tools such as a hatchet. Once the approval rating reaches 100%, the subjects will prevent the player from performing the task again. These tasks do yield experience, but it is not recommended that players use them to train skills due to the negligible amounts.

It is recommended to get the daily ratings to 100% and to either cut maple trees or rake weeds to gain approval ratings fast.

Two actions on the island actually decrease the approval rating and those are killing the subjects and stealing from market stalls. Since attacking is the default left-click for many citizens, care must be taken to avoid attacking them. High-level players can kill them in one hit, compounding the problem of accidental clicks. Players may wish to make themselves unable to attack by wielding a bow without arrows or a "fun" weapon, as it deals no damage when attacking. Alternatively, players can use the minimap to click where to go.

The amount of resources collected is determined by your approval rating multiplied by the amount of money withdrawn out of the coffers as a salary that day. For example, if your approval rating is 95 % and 75,000 coins is withdrawn that day, 71,250 coins (0.95 times 75,000) will be spent on gathering resources for that day, and 3750 coins will be wasted.

The table below outlines the actions that can be performed that influence approval rating. The approval rating will only increase if the subject recognises the player's work by saying "Thanks!". The player may have to perform between 0 and 5 actions without being recognised. The percentage values in the table marked with an (*) need to be checked for accuracy.

Note that while doing an action such as raking a weedy patch, each time you stop your percentage will be rounded, so each patch can give +3%, by clicking off and the back for each set of weeds.

Coffers
The coffers is an investment of coins that the player uses to pay the subjects for their work. The completion of the quest Throne of Miscellania allows for a maximum of 5,000,000 coins in the treasury. This amount increases to 7,500,000 coins after the completion of Royal Trouble.

The salaries are paid out to the subjects every 24 hours. The amount withdrawn from the coffers is always equivalent to 10% of the balance. However 50,000 coins (75,000 coins after Royal Trouble) is the maximum amount that can be withdrawn out of the coffers as a salary every 24 hours. It is highly recommended make sure that the maximum amount is withdrawn every day by having at least 500,000 coins (750,000 coins after Royal Trouble) in the coffers per day for maximum amount of collectable rewards. 

You can also leave more in the coffer so that you do not need to go back to the island daily if you want. To go six withdrawals (seven days) without adding to the coffers, players would need 800,000 coins (1,200,000 coins after Royal Trouble) in the coffers to get the maximum amount of resources (since to get maximum resources it also requires the maximum salary to be withdrawn from the coffers daily). If the player deposits the maximum of 5,000,000 or 7,500,000 coins, 90 maximum withdrawals (91 days) will be made without having to add to the coffers.

Subject distribution
There are 10 subjects (15 after Royal Trouble) available to gather resources. It is essential to use all the subjects available. The subjects can be split any way among the six resource categories, but a maximum of 10 subjects can be assigned to each resource. Suggestions on how to distribute the subjects can be found within the descriptions of each resource below.

Note: The game only records the histories of the coffers and the approval rating. This means that just before claiming the rewards, players can switch the subject distribution, which then applies to the entire period.

Resources
There are many different resources that a player can assign their subjects to. Players can put a maximum of 10 worker in one category as indicated with the vertical bars in the interface while talking to Advisor Ghrim. The rewards are all profitable, but do take into account of variations in profit while comparing with different categories and possibly inconsistent extra profit from bonus items such as gems from mining, birds nests from woodcutting, or caskets from fishing/and cooking.

Harvesting
Herb farming brings in inconsistent but potentially semi-large profit. Players may gain herbs from Tarromin to Dwarf Weed and the most profitable amongst them are grimy ranarr weeds that are used to make prayer potions.

Flax farming uses the same slot of subjects as herb farming and usually gives a small return since flax are usually low in price. The bonus items for this resource option include the regular herb seeds between guam and torstol.

Fishing
Raw fish brings in consistent profit. Players may choose this option to train Cooking without the need to spend time Fishing.

Cooked fish also brings in consistent profit. Be aware that the price of the cooked fishes fluctuates and can exceed the price of raw fish. It is also an option for players to use the cooked fishes for healing during combat.

Players receive  casket s, gems (sapphire through diamond), green Fremennik gloves, green Fremennik boots, tooth half of a key, loop half of a key and level 1 clue scroll s  as bonus items when choosing this resource.

Mining
Coal mining brings in consistent profit. Players may choose this option as a good alternative to purchasing coal to train Smithing.

Players receive  gems  (sapphire through diamond) as bonus items when choosing this resource.

Woodcutting
Maple woodcutting brings in inconsistent but potentially large profit. This is due to the chance of getting bird's nests and it's containments as bonus items. it is also an option if players need to obtain logs for training Firemaking or Fletching bows without spending the time Woodcutting.

Bird's nests are very commonly given as bonuses in quantities of 1 nest per 100 logs cut (if you have 100% working on Maple trees, you will get 892 logs in one day -> 8 nests.) The profits from seeds varies from getting junk seeds to getting very profitable tree seeds like maple seeds, yew seeds or/and magic seeds . Bird's nests themselves can be crushed to obtain  Crushed nest s  which players require for Saradomin brews, and so a steady profit is obtained from these even when the seeds are not valuable.

Hardwood Woodcutting
Both Teak woodcutting and Mahogany woodcutting often provide consistent but usually lesser profit than other consistently profitable resources from mining or fishing/cooking, although mahogany is better than teak. Even if players need planks for Construction, which still requires the cost of the sawmill or the use of Plank Make, they should choose a different option and use the money from that option to purchase logs or planks from other players. Players nests from these options also receive bird's nests from these options but at a severely lower rate (about 1/3) plus fewer logs received compared to maple woodcutting.

Farming
Farming seeds brings in very low profit so, it is a not a recommended option because of the very low prices of the seeds that are commonly received, although it is possible (but very rare) to get seeds like ranarr and torstol. Players who need specific types of seeds are better off choosing a profitable option and using the money to buy seeds. This option should only be chosen if the player needs a diverse collection of low level seeds. The bonus items for this resource include all tree and fruit tree seeds.

Rewards
Players can collect the rewards by talking to Advisor Ghrim. Because the reward items go directly to the bank and not the inventory, players need to have enough room in their bank in order to collect their rewards. Collecting can be done at any time, but a player will gain more resources by collecting less often. For example, a player with 10 subjects on maple woodcutting with 100% approval rating will get 595 maple logs and 5 bird's nests with completion of Throne of Miscellania only and 892 maple logs and 8 bird's nests with completion of Throne of Miscellania AND Royal Trouble. This is because one bird nest is received for every 100 logs round down. If the player collects once a week, they will receive 6244 maple logs and 62 bird's nests instead of just 56 nests if collected every day.

Note: Collection rewards are calculated when the player requests to collect, with whatever collection settings are currently active. This means it is possible to have subjects set to collect coal for days, even weeks at a time, but if for example, the settings are changed to herbs before the player requests their rewards from Ghrim, they will collect herbs instead at the time of collection.

The table below indicates the maximum daily reward for each resource. It assumes 10 workers on the tasks with an approval rating at 100% and with sufficient funds in the coffers to support the workers at 100%, which is 50,000 coins per day with one quest or 75,000 coins per day with both quests. Ten workers produce essentially the same amount at full capacity independent of the number of quests completed.

If you select this option just for the birds nests, it's most efficient to put 9 workers on this job, generating 803 logs and 8 birds nests at 100%, allowing you to use the extra worker on another post for more profit. This only works if the 100% approval rating is maintained, otherwise the produced logs per day drops below 800, which would result in a birds nest less every day. There also seems to be a maximum limit to time you can go without collecting your rewards. This requires not collecting for many months with claims that this limit states that it took 8-12+ months to reach this point. This is accompanied by the statement "The storerooms are full, your Highness. You should talk to Advisor Ghrim to collect what we've gathered for you" although it does not appear if you have an approval rating of 100%.
 * 1 The number of nests you get is equal to 1/100th of the number of maple logs you have accumulated since you last checked your kingdom, rounded down. For example, if you collected your kingdom after one day, you would get 8 nests, whereas if you collected it after two days (assuming you maintain your 100% rating), you would get 17 nests, because you would have accumulated 1784 logs.

Trivia

 * If there is money in the coffers and the player's membership ends, the workers in Miscellania (and Etceteria, if Royal Trouble is completed) still continue gathering resources and deducting money from the coffers accordingly. Therefore if players plan on renewing their membership later, it is recommended to fill the coffers with as much as players can spare in order to take advantage of the days without membership as well. This is also true for when members get temporary bans. The workers will similarly continue to gather resources while players are banned.
 * Conversely, if players plan on not renewing their membership, it is strongly recommended to withdraw all money and resources from Miscellania, as it will become impossible to recover anything upon losing membership.
 * The expressions on the chatheads of Miscellanian citizens will vary depending on your approval rating. If you have a very low approval rating, they will look annoyed with you, but as your approval rating rises, they will change to a friendlier expression.
 * There is a misconception that putting nine workers on maples produce the same number of nests as if you use all ten. This is only true if you collect every day, where both options will provide eight nests. If you choose to collect once a week, ten workers will give you 62 nests while nine only offer 56.
 * Instead of being measured in specific resources, the amount of resources available to collect is measured in days since they were last collected multiplied by how your workers are designated at the time of collection. For example, if you leave your kingdom for ten days collecting maple logs, then return, change all your workers to coal mining, you will have 5460 coal + various gems available for collection instead of the expected 8920 maple logs + 89 birds nests.
 * It is possible to obtain a Big Swordfish while fishing for fisherman Frodi and yields the message "Sorry Frodi, but I'm keeping this one" when caught.

Glitches

 * If a player teleports while on the "depositing to your bank" part of talking to Advisor Ghrim, after teleporting, the "subject distribution" interface will appear, and players are able to change distribution from their teleport point.