Given that the restaurant is going well, I think we can easily afford to pull her off the odd job. We are flush with cash, and will probably need to pull her off it anyway in coming turns if Kyubey doesn't up recruitment in our area.
(Long post; sorry)
Current budget (after adjusting the one girl's job to being a courier):
Income
9000 Restaurant (loan payments not shown)
9500 Mitakihara courier (adding one girl)
4400 Kasamino courier
3000 Translation
2000 Odd jobs
27,900 Total
Expenses (this turn)
11400 Stipend (upgraded)
10000 New house
4000 Current house
2500 Apartments (after dropping capacity to 20)
1120 Cellphones
500 Cable
4200 28 bicycles (tentative)
33,720 Total
-5820 net
Expenses (going forward)
11400 Stipend
4000 New house
4000 Current house
2500 Apartments
1120 Cellphones
500 Cable
23,520 Total
4380 net
Money in the bank after the current turn should be $36470. A nice buffer to allow us to make a couple big purchases (eg: $11k for netbooks, $24k for mopeds, $19k for a dozen sets of kevlar, etc), but still in a range to be cautious with.
Pulling one girl off her job would drop net to $3380 per month. $1000 is only $1000, but it's also 23% of our current net income. We then want to look at what we may want to be spending money on in the future.
20 mopeds would have an upkeep of $1000 per month, which was one of the reasons to drop them for the moment (along with getting rid of most of our buffer).
Current hunting (not including this turn, where we're using several fewer hunters) is right on the edge of our kevlar capacity, so we'll want to buy more, there. Every set of 4 is $6400.
Most of our short-term research will cost $1000 per month while working on it.
Any additional ideas we have based on the Duration research we just finished (or any other research). Use of kevlar as an insulator seems like it could add up quick, but we may not need to go that route.
Basically, there's enough going on in the money sector, and we're close enough to a net 0 income, that I'm wary about saying "we can afford to drop a worker" right at the moment (at least when we can't guarantee putting her back in a better job next turn). It's
possible, but...
I'm more inclined to ask Kyuubey for 1 or 2 new recruits, since we have sufficient cube income to support them and still work on our projects, now. Though it would be nice for them to show up at the end of the month so that they don't eat cubes in the current month, while still being able to account for them in the next month.
Next turn, after upkeep and hunting, we'll have about 1 elite and 10 vets. 3 for research, 2 for sports day, 2 for Kaoru's training, still leaves 4 vets for other stuff (and the big temptation of more research). An extra 1-2 new recruits would add a lot of flexibility.
We can fit up to 2 more girls in the apartments without needing to expand them (currently using 14 out of the 20 occupancy; can go up to 16 to reach the 80% occupancy level). Would add $400 per month to the stipend expenses, and have to pay the cell phone and shield "welcome" costs, but one-time charges are easier to deal with.
--
Now, on to the manual itself. Playing devil's advocate, I have to note that there are several things working against it:
1) Visibility: Hiding it in an RPG is going to drastically lower the number of people who are even going to come across it, much less look into it enough to find the hidden manual.
2) Internet of Things: Though I did actually suggest an internet probe not too long ago, helix rightly points out that no one even really thought to try going that route to find information. You can pass it off as, "I thought someone else would have already done that", but that applies equally well to the meguca. If a new girl joins an organization, why would she go searching for information on the internet, when presumably all the girls who came before her should have already done the same thing? If there's no indication that there's anything to be found that way, then clearly there's no point in even starting a search.
3) We Already Know That: Any small group of girls is going to be struggling to survive in a highly isolated, hostile environment. On the other hand, any large group of girls, who managed to create any sort of stable organization, likely have already discovered many of the same things we have. We don't have exclusionary rights on these discoveries.
And, frankly, the information we have discovered is not too earth-shattering. Growth and decay rates of demon strengths, and a means of measuring that. Rotating tactics. Wear protective armor. Beyond that, it's all management stuff that you could get from any management advice book ever published.
The truly crucial information is only of real importance to new meguca and meguca groups: means of making sure they don't kill themselves overhunting. Unfortunately, those also seem like the least likely girls to find this info on the internet. They don't have a stable group to support them and allow time to peruse random RPGs or whatever. They also have to be
more wary of larger groups sabotaging them.
On the other hand, trust matters. We've managed to screw it up several times, so our relationships with several nearby groups isn't so great. Many isolated girls are also not going to trust anyone coming to them directly, peddling information. Getting information to spread via directly handing it out to neighbors, and expecting it to grow through contact with other groups further out is probably wishful thinking. Meguca groups are very insular, and sharing information is difficult.
[Aside: Which, itself, indicates that the 'ideal' of information sharing for research and growth is probably a long way off. Development will almost always be done in an insular manner, significantly helped by the limits of the masquerade.]
For information sharing in general, I continue to see the RPG route as an awkward path, that doesn't really feel like it's well-targeted for the audience that actually needs this information (small groups and newbies, rather than established groups). It's adequate, but I very much doubt it will have the impact that you seem to expect, Aranfan.
Overall, I don't think Kyuubey will act much against us in this matter because the total amount of information shared is low, and the number of girls who actually find the information will likewise be low. Also, just because some basics were presented doesn't mean that everyone is going to be managing a mirror copy of the Serenissima. Every individual leader is different, and every group of people is different. This just gives a common foundation, and even that foundation can change over time.
Overall, I think I'd want to progress with three steps:
1) Ask Kyuubey for 1 or 2 more new recruits that can arrive near the end of the month (so we'll actually know we have them available for next month's planning).
2) Handle the translation and general distribution next month. Make sure everything stays within the bounds of the masquerade and general Incubator requirements; we do
not want more penalties being assessed.
3) Develop an Ambassador position. This would be one or two girls on a perpetual roaming cycle of Open Communications and Free Passage diplomacy (such that they'll eventually make contact with areas not directly adjacent to our own territory). There are no attempts to recruit, only expand the amount of known territory, and let us learn about other groups (and those groups to learn about us). Hopefully, as they build a reputation, it makes it easier for them to travel unhindered.
As part of this, they can pass on information to the smaller groups and individuals who would seem to most need an understanding of the fundamentals of living as a magical girl. Hopefully this will also open up options on research information sharing. Overall, it's a more direct push to expand the information sharing, with full coverage, than the scattershot of the RPG plan.
This is sort of a cross between scouting and diplomatic relationships, so skills in either area would be appropriate.
