Meguca Micro Empire Quest (PMMM)

[Elder Haman]

Here is my plan

Primary differences with Kinematic's Plan:

Hunting:
Don't cap rural hunt, results in 0.4 more cubes, and a 1.1 DS in the area. We can then under hunt next turn. This is merely to increase overall meguca month efficiency, gaining 0.5 meguca months every three months. It's a marginal gain, but doesn't cost us anything, so why not? (Note: Kinematics is considering this, and he might min-max this even more, so both of us might slightly modify this and end up in the same place. We usually do on hunting.)

My plan has no grief management. helix has confirmed that there will be no morale effect to dropping this, or restarting it later. It is merely an optional choice to reduce grief cube consumption. At the cost of 1 meguca month per 2 cubes, we have more important things to spend megucas on (like training).

Minor differences on the fluff around joining the Imperium. Kinematics seems to be very concerned that inviting the other girls to our party will some how offend them, but I don't really see that much difference in our fluff (I went ahead and made the invite go through the gossipmonger, which is a good idea), with the exception that I specify Kaoru and Manami as the girls to go about the recruitment, while Kinematics emphasizes the class 3 demon threat. (Also, I budget the $7000 to outfit them, but that's dependent on them joining so it's pretty much built in to both our plans). See quotes below to compare:

Recruiting for the Imperium (2 vets) - Areas 17, 10
-- At least one week after the party.
-- The party was not to try to get you to join. It was to let you get a feel for the people in our group, so that you could decide whether you were even comfortable with the possibility.
-- Explain the benefits provided if they join — jobs, training, grief cubes, safety, housing, and the support of everyone else in the Serenissima family.
-- Be understanding if they don't want to join, but be willing to negotiate extra benefits if they want to try to make a better deal.
-- Explain that (for area 17), other matters aside, their area is where a class 3 demon passed through just a few months ago (shortly before they contracted), using a path around the north end of Mt. Fuji when departing Tokyo, and thus it's a risky position to hold onto without additional support.
-- Signing bonus. $1000 each?

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Suggest they join the Imperium: Target Area 17 and Area 10
2 vets (Kaoru and Manami), $7,000 for welcome package
-- Point out the stipends, housing, and social events available to the Serenes.
-- Explain that if they join the Imperium, that as greens they will be put on jobs (as couriers) until they have been trained enough to become veterans. This is done for safety, so that they are properly trained and can hunt safely without risk. Make sure to point out the good safety record of the Serenes (no hunting deaths in over a year), as well as the age and magical girl seniority of the girls who are members (most of our vets have been magical girls for 3 years or more, and Mami has been a magical girl for over 5 years).
-- Have Kaoru talk about her experience joining the Serenes as a green at the very beginning, and all the changes and improvements in safety since then.
-- Have Manami (the Tokyo girl who still believes in hope) talk about the dangers she experienced, even with a smaller group, and the benefits of joining the Serenes as a recent person to join.

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The biggest differences however is that I spend 3 vets on opening Food Delivery, and thus have only 2.5 vets for tandem casting training, while Kinematics does not open Food Delivery, and so has 4 vets for tandem casting. Kinematics plan trains an additional 6 barrier meguca, but I think that as long as we have one set of tandem casting barrier meguca to start experiments on charms with (which my plan does), that training the remaining barrier meguca is a lower priority than getting more income so we can support the recruitment we are doing.

I certainly agree we should train all our barrier girls, but I think that we can spread that out over a few turns rather than doing it all this month, if that means we can get the Food Delivery option going.

 

[racnor]

I think everyone needs to seriously calm down here. You are getting to the stage of just shouting arguments back and forth at one another.

Now, the way I see it, the risk of exposure isn't really the healing itself, since that only effects a few individuals, who are going to be inclined not to expose us out of gratitude, and at worst can be individually mind-wiped if they intend to turn us in with far less expenditure. The risk is in the process of advertising the healing, since the more effective our advertising is, the weaker our cover is, so if we do effectively disguise the fact that we have magic healing, no one will come to us for magic healing. Thus, perhaps instead we should be considering approaching people individually? Healing people might be an effective way to expand our pool of associates.

Definitely needs further refinement as an idea though.

Frankly, all y'all are nuts. We have like five other ways to make money that don't involve the lossy conversion of grief cubes into miraculously working quack medicine:

• Nagisa starts a pet whisperer business.
• Expand the courier business into Seto's area.
• Franchise agreement with the non-Serene
• Sell cubes directly to Nagoya
• Start another restaurant in Iwata (doable especially if specialties can be cross-trained)

We can work on any of all of these once we get tandem casting trained up better, next month.

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Agreed. If nothing else, we certainly don't have the Meguca hours for it right now.

 

[Skelm]

Skelm's entire argument amounts to 'it's not that bad'. Forgive me for throwing my hands up and giving up the argument.

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My argument is that everyone has limited resources and won't spend them on unproductively examining scams in the hopes of coming across something that actually works. This is reasonable, because they think they live in the real world where scams don't actually work and if someone discovers medicine worth billions they actively try to prove it works instead of trying to hide it.

There isn't. If you believe there is a risk of attention that requires mass mindwipes such that you'd need the GCU reserve, then why are you arguing on the basis that no mass mindwipe can happen if we simply follow the details of your own plan? It weakens your position to say 'this is infallible and perfect' and yet when a man asks you to bet money on it you waffle and say it's risky to take such a bet.

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I'm arguing it's implausible that someone will notice us after we take adequate precautions, but implausible things happen all the time and it behooves us to plan for them in advance. It is perfectly consistent for me to think that it's worth the risk when the risk is another fine, but not worth it when the risk is everyone dying.

 

[Kinematics]

If we use Seto teleportation, there will be a tendency for rural teleportation to edge into full cost territory on North overhunts. That will also be the case if we expand to include 10 and 17. Thus I'll consider that a potential cost for configs where there's [Seto] teleportation.

This also gets complicated because dropping below 0 DS reduces the amount of demon strength lost from underhunting. I'll mostly assume that underhunting will only be done to the extent necessary to reduce DS back to 0, to avoid that issue.

2.5 solo vet: 7.4 [+1.1]
2.0 solo vet: 5.9 [-3.1]
2.0 solo vet + Seto: 6.8 [-0.6]
2.5 solo vet + Seto: 8.5 [+4.3]
0.5 solo elite + 1.0 solo vet + Seto: 5.7 [-3.7]
0.5 solo elite + 1.5 solo vet + Seto: 7.4 [+1.1]


First:

{2.5 vet + 2.5 vet + 2.5 vet + 2.0 vet} = [1.1 + 1.1 + 1.1 - 3.1] = [0.2]

28.1 cubes ~= 7*4

9.5 vets instead of 10.0 => Save 0.5 vets every 4 months.

However: Risk increases to 0.7% on the second month, and 1.8% the third month, and then drops back to 0.8% the fourth month.


Second:

{2.5 Seto-vet + 2.0 Seto-vet + 2.0 Seto-vet + 2.0 Seto-vet + 2.0 Seto-vet + 2.0 Seto-vet + 2.0 Seto-vet + 2.0 Seto-vet} =
[4.3 - 0.6 - 0.6 - 0.6 - 0.6 - 0.6 - 0.6 - 0.6] = [0.1]

56.1 cubes ~= 7*8

16.5 vets instead of 20.0 => save 3.5 vets every 8 months

However: Risk starts at 1.2% for the first month, 3% the second, and then gradually drops back down.


Third:

2.5 solo vet: 7.4 [+1.1]
2.0 solo vet + Seto: 6.8 [-0.6]

{2.5 vet + 2.0 Seto-vet + 2.0 Seto-vet} = [1.1 - 0.6 - 0.5~] = [0.0]

21.0 cubes == 7*3

Possible loss of 0.5 to 1.0 cubes from teleportation.

6.5 vets instead of 7.5 => Save 1.0 vets every 3 months

Risk maxes at -0.2% in the second month.

7.4 cubes can also be gained using the 0.5 elite + 1.5 vet combo, with teleportation. It's a reasonable, but not necessary, elite-vet trade.


Overall conclusion:

Use the 2.5 vet build this turn, because using the Seto teleportation on that group will cost us cubes (unless we really need that extra half vet). However leave it uncapped, and allow Seto teleportation on 2.0 vets on the following turns. The South underhunt will not cause the Seto teleportation to cost cubes, because we'll be on the low end of hunting allocation. The next North overhunt might be safe, since our Dispatch will be back up to par by then, but even if not, losing half a cube to save half a vet is still a decent trade.

 

[TheEyes]

@Kinematics @Elder Haman Do we really want to combine the morale day with the diplomatic meet-and-greet? I was always envisioning the meet-and-greet as a separate event, more like a 1 vet-month dinner party rather than a full day off. It seems to me that trying to combine them the way you two are will reduce the effectiveness of both and could backfire pretty badly.

I was also considering a fluff change for the full morale day to be a trip to a flea market/swap meet, followed by dinner out at a family-style Chinese or Italian restaurant. More on this later, if there's interest.

Also, since we are now flush with cash what do you say to the netbook idea? $12,200 for the netbooks, plus another $1,800 for media center upgrades would make for a nice treat, and might give our researchers and dispatchers a minor boost from the ready access to computing power, depending on @inverted_helix approval.

 

[racnor]

My argument is that everyone has limited resources and won't spend them on unproductively examining scams in the hopes of coming across something that actually works. This is reasonable, because they think they live in the real world where scams don't actually work and if someone discovers medicine worth billions they actively try to prove it works instead of trying to hide it.

I'm arguing it's implausible that someone will notice us after we take adequate precautions, but implausible things happen all the time and it behooves us to plan for them in advance. It is perfectly consistent for me to think that it's worth the risk when the risk is another fine, but not worth it when the risk is everyone dying.

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The issue here is that if we successfully conceal the healing, then when it comes to the benefits for us we might as well just be selling normal unenchanted quack medicine.

 

[Powerofmind]

My argument is that everyone has limited resources and won't spend them on unproductively examining scams in the hopes of coming across something that actually works. This is reasonable, because they think they live in the real world where scams don't actually work and if someone discovers medicine worth billions they actively try to prove it works instead of trying to hide it.

I'm arguing it's implausible that someone will notice us after we take adequate precautions, but implausible things happen all the time and it behooves us to plan for them in advance. It is perfectly consistent for me to think that it's worth the risk when the risk is another fine, but not worth it when the risk is everyone dying.

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Yes, your argument is that 'it's not that bad'. You claim that nobody would investigate it because it's quack medicine and quack medicine never works, yet the entire point of the enterprise is that it works in a tangible way for everyone that takes it. You're arguing the situation as it would be in real life, but there is no example of quack medicine that is universally helpful in real life, thus your argument that nobody would care is invalid because the situation isn't the same.

And arguing implausibility? You were arguing impossibility, stating, not speculating, that nobody would act to examine the enterprise repeatedly, that nobody would care so we'd be free as birds and the entire deal would be effectively risk free, despite basing all of your statements of fact on real life, when this is not real life and you have to consider that we'd effectively be offering Panacea Lite to people with a nigh-100% success rate, not incense and acupuncture.

There is only one way to successfully not arouse suspicion, and that's having honest herbal remedies whose effects will be basically non-existent and almost literally a rip-off compared to the real stuff. At that point it becomes stealing in all but name, and again, we'd be better off cosplaying as ninjas and robbing banks.

 

[Aranfan]

Can I just say that I loathe the use of Funny as a negative rating, and that it's use as such generally causes only aggravation and flared tempers, thus bringing down the level of discourse?

 

[Kinematics]

OK, I've uncapped the hunting for the rural territory in my plan, but left it as non-teleportation. Will plan to underhunt it the next two turns to gain extra meguca months.

I believe mine and Haman's hunting plans are now identical. Net harvest is 87.5 cubes.

 

[landcollector]

Can I just say that I loathe the use of Funny as a negative rating, and that it's use as such generally causes only aggravation and flared tempers, thus bringing down the level of discourse?

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*looks at ratings*
That applies to you as well notanautomation . Knock it off.

 

[Skelm]

[X] Kinematics

 

[boonerunner]

The issue here is that if we successfully conceal the healing, then when it comes to the benefits for us we might as well just be selling normal unenchanted quack medicine.

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The difference would be that the medicine does work, so we can sell it to people earnestly and honestly. We can tell people "this herbal supplement has health benefits" and mean it. We would make money from it and some people would benefit.

Yes, your argument is that 'it's not that bad'. You claim that nobody would investigate it because it's quack medicine and quack medicine never works, yet the entire point of the enterprise is that it works in a tangible way for everyone that takes it. You're arguing the situation as it would be in real life, but there is no example of quack medicine that is universally helpful in real life, thus your argument that nobody would care is invalid because the situation isn't the same.

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Here's the thing: most quack medicine does work (to a certain extent) since the placebo effect can actually be quite powerful (plus they usually contain vitamins and nutrients that do have undeniable value). So it's really hard (i.e. expensive) to do a study to test whether any particular supplement works or does not work, and there's generally not a big payoff even if you do. This is why there are A) lots of supplements of dubious effectiveness B) not a lot of studies to debunk (or prove) their effectiveness. There's a sweet spot here where we can create magical medicine that works but does not cause a big stir.

If we pick a well known herbal supplement as our base (e.g.Chlorella), then most skeptics wouldn't even take a second look at our product (except, perhaps, to verify that it does contain what we say that it does).

 

[Powerofmind]

The difference would be that the medicine does work, so we can sell it to people earnestly and honestly. We can tell people "this herbal supplement has health benefits" and mean it. We would make money from it and some people would benefit from it.


Here's the thing: most quack medicine does work (to a certain extent) since the placebo effect can actually be quite powerful. So it's really hard (i.e. expensive) to do a study to test whether any particular supplement works or does not work, and there's generally not a big payoff even if you do. This is why there are A) lots of supplements of dubious effectiveness B) not a lot of studies to debunk (or prove) their effectiveness. There's a sweet spot here where we can create magical medicine that works but does not cause a big stir.

If we pick a well known herbal supplement as our base (e.g.Chlorella), then most skeptics wouldn't even take a second look at our product (except, perhaps, to verify that it does contain what we say that it does).

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The issue with the medicine route is that regardless of whether or not we only purport it for it's actual properties, the magical effect will draw significantly more people, and the placebo effect has never gone beyond showing an ~30% turnout by itself. Magical medicine will work on most simple ailments or even daily aches, and prolonged treatment by magical means with undirected healing, which anchored magic effectively is, will likely lead to a mild de-aging effect where the healing simply corrects the natural breakdown of genetic material as it undergoes mitosis(which is one of the main symptoms of being old). Even minor doses given over an extended period run the risk of accidentally curing genetic disorders, cancers, autoimmune conditions, and face wrinkles.

Despite the fact that it'll obviously serve it's intended purpose, it runs the risk of doing so many other wacky things that someone will notice and make a big deal of it, which will lead to someone investigating what caused all the old people to look(and feel) like forty-year-olds again, and the only thing in common will be our remedy.

 

[Kinematics]

Kinematics seems to be very concerned that inviting the other girls to our party will some how offend them

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That isn't accurate. I'm saying I don't want to use the party as a sales device (ie: "We'll throw you a party if you join!"). It's a cheap tactic. I just want to keep the party as a separate item than the recruitment attempt. There is no concern about "offending" them in that sentiment.

Do we really want to combine the morale day with the diplomatic meet-and-greet?

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As noted, there's a slight conflation about which aspect constitutes the 'diplmatic' portion of the actions taken. The morale day party (in whatever form; discussion on that hasn't gone very far) is, in my view, not supposed to be the diplomatic meet-and-greet; just an ordinary neighborly meet-and-greet. This despite the fact that even 'neighborly' can be described from certain perspectives as relating to diplomacy. Actual diplomatic activity should be an entirely separate activity.

I was also considering a fluff change for the full morale day to be a trip to a flea market/swap meet, followed by dinner out at a family-style Chinese or Italian restaurant. More on this later, if there's interest.

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It's an interesting alternative, and I wouldn't mind discussing it more. It's just gotten a bit lost in the shuffle of other debates.

Also, since we are now flush with cash what do you say to the netbook idea? $12,200 for the netbooks, plus another $1,800 for media center upgrades would make for a nice treat, and might give our researchers and dispatchers a minor boost from the ready access to computing power, depending on @inverted_helix approval.

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It's not unreasonable. Though, ironically enough, I'm not sure giving every single person their own laptop is the most productive move. I know that personally, losing internet access has a tendency to make me more productive in a lot of areas outside of programming (and the Serenes aren't a company of programmers).

 

[Kinematics]

The biggest differences however is that I spend 3 vets on opening Food Delivery, and thus have only 2.5 vets for tandem casting training, while Kinematics does not open Food Delivery, and so has 4 vets for tandem casting. Kinematics plan trains an additional 6 barrier meguca, but I think that as long as we have one set of tandem casting barrier meguca to start experiments on charms with (which my plan does), that training the remaining barrier meguca is a lower priority than getting more income so we can support the recruitment we are doing.

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This pretty much covers the main difference.

Haman trades 1.5 vets from grief management and 1.5 vets from tandem training to initiate the food delivery this turn.

I expected to push for the food delivery service next turn, when we'll have a ton of meguca open up from dispatch improvements and a South overhunt (and possibly new recruits added), while trying to get as much of the tandem training done this turn as possible.

We're not in dire straights for money at the moment, particularly with the trade we just made with Nagoya. Even with $7000 used as a signing bonus for the potential recruits, our bank should be at $71k at the end of this turn. We actually need to consider what else we may want to buy, or if we want to continue to save up for major purchases like Kyouko's church.


I'd be willing to shift those vets over to initiate the research for combining the spell anchoring with our insulation/duration research, if that's available this turn (@inverted_helix ?). But I'd prefer to leave the delivery service stuff for next turn.

 

[Elder Haman]

@Kinematics @Elder Haman Do we really want to combine the morale day with the diplomatic meet-and-greet? I was always envisioning the meet-and-greet as a separate event, more like a 1 vet-month dinner party rather than a full day off. It seems to me that trying to combine them the way you two are will reduce the effectiveness of both and could backfire pretty badly.

Click to shrink...

Actually, in both of our plans it is no longer combined, as Kinematics moved it to the gossipmonger, and then I copied that plan.

Also, since we are now flush with cash what do you say to the netbook idea? $12,200 for the netbooks, plus another $1,800 for media center upgrades would make for a nice treat, and might give our researchers and dispatchers a minor boost from the ready access to computing power, depending on @inverted_helix approval.

Click to shrink...

I think there was an upkeep cost, wasn't there? @inverted_helix what was the expected upkeep for the netbooks again?

Maybe a communal desktop per a house would be more efficient use of money...

I was also considering a fluff change for the full morale day to be a trip to a flea market/swap meet, followed by dinner out at a family-style Chinese or Italian restaurant. More on this later, if there's interest.

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I think that is a cool idea for a morale event later, but I think a party is better for inviting neighbors to.

Despite the fact that it'll obviously serve it's intended purpose, it runs the risk of doing so many other wacky things that someone will notice and make a big deal of it, which will lead to someone investigating what caused all the old people to look(and feel) like forty-year-olds again, and the only thing in common will be our remedy.

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Actually, it's probable that the effects would be ascribed to many different things, not to our product, and if we didn't claim it as one of the effects of our product, a lot people would probably not connect it. We'd probably have a vocal minority swearing by our product, while the majority would ascribe the effect to some other supplement or treatment they were taking.

In fact, the way it would behave as a true "cure-all" would make it very unlikely that investigators would associate it with all the strange healing. They'd probably try to find one cause for people's arthritis getting better, and another cause for the cure of cancer, and another cause for people regaining their hair. It would just be so out of context for people to think that one product really caused all those things to happen.

So we can probably hide the fact that we are a miracle cure all.

The main problem with that is that we hid that we are a miracle cure all, and so we will not make a lot of money doing this.

That isn't accurate. I'm saying I don't want to use the party as a sales device (ie: "We'll throw you a party if you join!"). It's a cheap tactic. I just want to keep the party as a separate item than the recruitment attempt. There is no concern about "offending" them in that sentiment.

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My misunderstanding. Although we're pretty much the same there now as I have also moved the invite to the gossipmonger rather than the recruit action.

 

[Elder Haman]

This pretty much covers the main difference.

Haman trades 1.5 vets from grief management and 1.5 vets from tandem training to initiate the food delivery this turn.

I expected to push for the food delivery service next turn, when we'll have a ton of meguca open up from dispatch improvements and a South overhunt (and possibly new recruits added), while trying to get as much of the tandem training done this turn as possible.

We're not in dire straights for money at the moment, particularly with the trade we just made with Nagoya. Even with $7000 used as a signing bonus for the potential recruits, our bank should be at $71k at the end of this turn. We actually need to consider what else we may want to buy, or if we want to continue to save up for major purchases like Kyouko's church.


I'd be willing to shift those vets over to initiate the research for combining the spell anchoring with our insulation/duration research, if that's available this turn (@inverted_helix ?). But I'd prefer to leave the delivery service stuff for next turn.

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The fact that we are making the money trade does change things a bit... I was getting worried before, but now we are fine on money.

I think we do want to save up for big purchases. A location (like Kyouko's church) that we can use as a base that we actually own instead of just renting is a huge deal. Basically allows for training rooms, large meetings, etc.

So I'm leery of increased upkeep that doesn't produce more revenue. More megucas means more manpower, so that is fine, but I'm hesitant for things like notebooks and other such things...

Anyway, considering redirecting those 3 meguca...

Probably put 1 on tandem casting, and 2 on research...

@inverted_helix Do we need to do an action to figure out how to do the Soul Anchoring ourselves, experimentation with it, etc? If so, how much is that?

How about creating a barrier charm? How many meguca months is that? (Skipping tandem casting elements).

 

[Powerofmind]

Actually, it's probable that the effects would be ascribed to many different things, not to our product, and if we didn't claim it as one of the effects of our product, a lot people would probably not connect it. We'd probably have a vocal minority swearing by our product, while the majority would ascribe the effect to some other supplement or treatment they were taking.

In fact, the way it would behave as a true "cure-all" would make it very unlikely that investigators would associate it with all the strange healing. They'd probably try to find one cause for people's arthritis getting better, and another cause for the cure of cancer, and another cause for people regaining their hair. It would just be so out of context for people to think that one product really caused all those things to happen.

So we can probably hide the fact that we are a miracle cure all.

The main problem with that is that we hid that we are a miracle cure all, and so we will not make a lot of money doing this.

Click to shrink...

At best, these are stopgaps, delays. Whether it takes one or ten turns makes no difference, they'll exhaust all other options, ask that people cut off their regular supplements and reintroduce them in parts to see if it's a rare interaction, but eventually someone's going to make the logical leap that there's something in the hippie pills that's doing way more than they're usually advertised to do.

It's an idea, and not necessarily a bad one, but I feel there's other, less extreme, less risky, ways to get money without the threat of handing Kyubey three dozen GCU again. We could, at the very least, make that much money or more just giving the GCU straight to Nagoya, without the need to word-of-mouth people to buy the things.

 

[Elder Haman]

It's an idea, and not necessarily a bad one, but I feel there's other, less extreme, less risky, ways to get money without the threat of handing Kyubey three dozen GCU again. We could, at the very least, make that much money or more just giving the GCU straight to Nagoya, without the need to word-of-mouth people to buy the things.

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Yup.

If we really wanted to do something with healing, we'd have to send a few of our healer girls through medical school, get a license, open a specialist elite clinic (like the Mayo Clinic) that supposedly has incredible resources to provide a mixture of the best medicine, add a layer of secrecy (since we are exclusive money grubbers), and that might allow us to provide magic healing to the rich.

That's a lot of resources to get that far...

 

[Powerofmind]

Yup.

If we really wanted to do something with healing, we'd have to send a few of our healer girls through medical school, get a license, open a specialist elite clinic (like the Mayo Clinic) that supposedly has incredible resources to provide a mixture of the best medicine, add a layer of secrecy (since we are exclusive money grubbers), and that might allow us to provide magic healing to the rich.

That's a lot of resources to get that far...

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There's always asking the little white rat if he could get us some perfect forgeries and medical backgrounds. All it takes is watching a bunch of medical drama and documentaries to fake an understanding, and magic covers the rest.

 

[racnor]

Yup.

If we really wanted to do something with healing, we'd have to send a few of our healer girls through medical school, get a license, open a specialist elite clinic (like the Mayo Clinic) that supposedly has incredible resources to provide a mixture of the best medicine, add a layer of secrecy (since we are exclusive money grubbers), and that might allow us to provide magic healing to the rich.

That's a lot of resources to get that far...

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If we'd being exclusive, then why not just reveal ourselves directly to people who need healing? It saves a lot of time and upkeep that would go to the clinic otherwise, and there's no trail at all for people to follow, just the occasional amazing recovery.

 

[Powerofmind]

If we'd being exclusive, then why not just reveal ourselves directly to people who need healing? It saves a lot of time and upkeep that would go to the clinic otherwise, and there's no trail at all for people to follow, just the occasional amazing recovery.

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Then you have the issue of not everyone can be trusted to keep such a secret. It has it's own advantages, sure, but the disadvantages exist all the same and could even be worse, as Kyubey can just keep charging more and more GCU to make individual problems go away as long as we keep doing it.

 

[inverted_helix]

I had assumed that the IC negotiations would cover that sort of thing and the prices we got were what Mami had pushed them down to. It would have helped if it had been more clear that this was just an initial offer IC, rather then an OOC vote on the outcome of a longer negotiation.

EDIT: Yeah, your initial post on the negotiation options gave the impression it was a decision about the whole process and
implies that this is the limit on what we could convince them to accept, rather then just what they're willing to offer initially.

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There's limits to the media here. Essentially this would have been something informing future negotiations. Player choices shaping future behavior is a hallmark of questing.

@inverted_helix: in the future would you mind including a link at the start of each update pointing to the winning vote? It can be tricky to look up sometimes.

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I can do that, for future updates.

@inverted_helix Is that part of the vote still open?

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It wasn't in the main tally so I'm not sure what the vote on it even was. So sure so long as people don't get too crazy over it.

Also, since we are now flush with cash what do you say to the netbook idea? $12,200 for the netbooks, plus another $1,800 for media center upgrades would make for a nice treat, and might give our researchers and dispatchers a minor boost from the ready access to computing power, depending on @inverted_helix approval.

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The idea is reasonable, but it won't be a research boost. You aren't really doing the sorts of things that benefit from computing power that they couldn't do with a calculator.

I think there was an upkeep cost, wasn't there? @inverted_helix what was the expected upkeep for the netbooks again?

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Oh god asking me to remember something from before the hiatus
Maybe I will just set that at 5% per month too, that works out to full replacements every 20 months, which seems reasonable turnover on electronics.

I'd be willing to shift those vets over to initiate the research for combining the spell anchoring with our insulation/duration research, if that's available this turn (@inverted_helix ?). But I'd prefer to leave the delivery service stuff for next turn.

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@inverted_helix Do we need to do an action to figure out how to do the Soul Anchoring ourselves, experimentation with it, etc? If so, how much is that?

How about creating a barrier charm? How many meguca months is that? (Skipping tandem casting elements).

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You've no idea how tempting it is to give you a month long integration/testing action just to delay me writing up all the new research actions and costs. Making a barrier charm is definitely something covered though as it's one of their main uses for this tech. Tandem casting into anchoring will have to wait until you train up tandem casting for sure though.

 

[inverted_helix]

Starting with the ones that were basically already written up for me. I've got several more to write up and I need to set costs for use as well. These were just already done for me basically so just had to add costs.

Spell Anchoring Duration Research
It's obvious that the NM never developed the insulation theories that you have, combining this with their anchor technique should allow you to store spells for longer periods, or possibly even let mundanes like Ayase use spells. You should do some research into how well these methods combine though. Cost: 2 Vets, 2 cubes, $500

Spell Anchoring: Single-Spell Layering
Instead of having a single cast spell inside a single "shell", an item can be made to behave more like an onion, with an anchored spell cast inside a shell, which is inside another anchored spell inside a larger shell, and so on and so on. Can only be done by the same spell; effectively creates an anchored spell with multiple uses, or "charges".
Cost 2 months of 3 Vets, 3 cubes; Chance of Success: 80%

Spell Anchoring: Heterogeneous Layering
Allows different types of spells to be layered together. "Healing barriers" are a popular use: the first spell pops out a barrier to keep the enemy at bay, while the second heals an injured meguca while safely behind the barrier.
Cost: 2 months of 4 vets, 4 cubes; Chance of Success 70%

Spell Binding
By separating the "intent" of the spell from the magic that actually "powers" the spell, the magical pressure that causes the outer "shell" of the anchored spell to quickly break down is much reduced, allowing such "bound" spells to be kept on-the-shelf, so to speak, without the constant intervention of a magical girl. When a spell "bound" in this way is to be activated, the magical girl must actively push magic into the bound spell. This takes effort and magic from the magical girl; having spare Grief Cubes is recommended.
Cost: 3 Veteran 3 grief cubes; Chance of Success: 5% +5% per month researched

 

[racnor]

Then you have the issue of not everyone can be trusted to keep such a secret. It has it's own advantages, sure, but the disadvantages exist all the same and could even be worse, as Kyubey can just keep charging more and more GCU to make individual problems go away as long as we keep doing it.

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He doesn't charge large amounts for single people (in fact, I don't recall him ever charging for individual mindwipes). The issue that cost us so many cubes was that our indiscretion led to hundreds of people knowing and creating a paper trail too.