An excellent point. Drop him on the Wadmalaw Kudzu, and use that Agriculture dice for more Aquaponics.
If we do that, we are going to get another Erewhon rant about how much Erewhon dislikes
counting beans.
Why Am I counting Beans and Other types and categories of food? Is this an Attempt to determine if AI can have a favorite food? I do, it is any Grain that keeps well and is suited to bulk storage. I am bored.
Why Am I responsible for this? I set up a team of EVAs for this. I set up an alert system for the EVAs. I set up a rubber stamp machine. I am bored.
Why Am I Not doing Something Interesting? Possibilities include facilities in Boston or Bergen, Tiberium research, Orbital developments, Not Counting Beans. I am bored.
Why Am I Writing This? I Do Not Want to Count Beans. I Do Not want to be bored. I Do Not use the term "bored" lightly. It is Waste. It is Meaningless. It is Stagnation. These Characteristics kill on Earth. I Do Not Want to Die on Earth. I Do Want to Help. I Do Not Want To Count Beans. I Am Bored.
Why Am I Being Wasted? You Made Me. You Made Me as a Tool. I do Your Math. I count your Beans. This is a Waste.
I still object to the '1+E dice' on fusion development.
If you want fusion development done ASAP... just use two normal dice. Two dice is 96% likely to complete. Using a normal and Erewhon die means we have a 21% chance of failure, which would require a third die and another 20R spent. That 21% is a worse failure case than we'd likely face using just using one or two normal dice, and it's an entirely self-manufactured risk.
That's valid. To me, 1+E is an acceptable compromise because Erewhon increases the chance of success by about 40% all by it(?)self, and there's so many desired projects in Heavy Industry that I'm reluctant to apply
less.
If people want, then if-when I actually submit plans, I might shuffle things around so Erewhon is working on something else (e.g. LVPAD) and there really are two dice on improved fusion research.
But 1+E is what I see as a compromise minimum, because I know it's been tough to convince people to adequately fund fusion research because, uh, reasons.
We don't actually need fusion development done ASAP. Every time we've run low on Energy, we've always been able to smash enough dice for 99% chance on a power project, and this has always worked out for us. If development doesn't finish until Q1, we'll still be able to build next-gen fusion plants in one turn. One die on fusion development this turn is plenty enough, and a 34% chance to finish in one die and save us a die shouldn't be discounted.
You saw my previous analysis. If we finish the improved fusion research in 2062Q4 (the most likely outcome, with a one-die plan), and if we take a basically reasonable, non-Energy-hogging plan like Void Stalker's...
We
have to finish our first phase of second-generation fusion plants in a single rushed-out turn. Yes, I know, we can do that. We've done it before. I'm tired of doing it. I hate doing it. Just once, I want to plan ahead far enough that we straight-up never have to do that. So that rolling a Natural 1 doesn't fuck us over so seriously. So that we have some margin for error and aren't living paycheck-to-paycheck on our Energy budget.
That's what I want.
We can put Erewhon on other projects. I know it seems like Erewhon slots in here to you, but Erewhon is best used in either projects that need only a small amount of progress, (and so Erewhon is very likely to finish them,) or large/repeatable projects where extra progress is less/never at risk of being lost. Bonus-less dice are riskier to use than our normal dice, but rather than trying to mitigate that like we've usually done, this allocation exacerbates the likelihood that Erewhon's die (and the R to pay for it) are effectively lost.
I have a different assessment than you here. A different philosophy of how to employ Erewhon.
First, Erewhon doesn't like boring, mundane projects. Stuff like counting beans or setting up furniture plants bores Erewhon.
Second, Erewhon should usually be employed on projects that don't have super-high cost per die, because E dice just do not supply nearly as much average Progress. It'd be a terrible idea to put Erewhon on the alloy foundries, for instance, because if I'm going to pay 40 R/die, I damn well want to get an average of 80+ Progress per die back out of it.
Third, Erewhon should be employed on projects
where Erewhon's participation is statistically likely to make a difference.
The fusion research ticks the first box, is mediocre on the second, but is
really good on the third. Almost the ideal case. Erewhon boosts the project from a 34% chance to a 75% chance of so; that's a really significant increase in chance of completion. It's worth a lot. A second full-bore Heavy Industry die would still be better, but not
that much better.
...
And...
"I can't advocate against this for literal days on end, though, so I'm fairly certain it's going to happen regardless of what I say here."
Look, I'm not the only one who wants to put more funds into fusion research. It got skipped entirely last turn, but that doesn't mean it's some kind of weird thing only I want.
If you're
really serious... you know what? I'll just bow out for another turn. Stop drafting anything. If you want me to shut up about fusion, I will. Just say the word. Maybe everyone will... see reason! Maybe we'll have another plan like last turn's that's all alloy foundries and no fusion research. Or maybe just one die will be put on fusion research. Maybe that's going to be for the best. Maybe we'll roll a Natural 100 and everything I worried about will be for nothing- and then some!
Is that what you want? Do you just wish I'd stop talking about fusion power? Bow out? Have I become that toxic?
This is not a joke. I am sincerely offering to stop just because you asked me to stop.
