And people wonder why I resist setting more "levels".
This list is so crazy right now.
Meguca Micro Empire Quest (PMMM)
- Thread starter inverted_helix
- Start date
This list is so crazy right now.
Don't they immediately get the training? We do a full training at the start and they get the benefits immediately?
So, just had an amusing omake idea about the poor cook refugee, whose power is such that she's probably expecting to be just as much of a charity case as the rest of the greens, and her reaction to us suddenly gushing over her power and how much we want her to stay.
Does she have a name yet, @inverted_helix?
Does she have a name yet, @inverted_helix?
Nope. I can roll a random one or you can make one up if you like.
Also tempted to clarify how powerful magical cooking really is. It is not just that you're a very highly skilled chef without training, though that is included. Food prepared by a magical cook tastes better and is healthier (or less unhealthy) than the same ingredients prepared in the same way by anyone else. It is a magical ability after all, not just instant training. Though it is why you can't just copy recipes and have someone without the ability produce the same results.
If the training was completing this month that is the usual case, but for the full work up of getting everyone up to your standards from nothing it's a 3 month process, so not in this case.
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I'll come up with something.
Also slightly annoyed (in an amused way) that this little idea germ is going crazy in my head. Got character design and a ton of background already, when I'm supposed to be giving more thought to Heaven's Chosen and general planning.
As for the full effects of magical cooking... I have a couple fluff ideas that may give an excuse to find out more details about that.
- Location
- Head in the clouds
Alright, because I am only in the first... 40 or so pages in depth for the quest, and a long way from present time...
What are our current goals, future goals, sidelined due to cost/Tokyo goals?
What are our current goals, future goals, sidelined due to cost/Tokyo goals?
Aranfan
Team Plasma Grunt
I did get dollar signs in my eyes when I saw she was a cook. I figure that's not exactly the expected reaction.
- Location
- Head in the clouds
I just hope to see the girl's reaction to the realization that she is going to be... encouraged to be head chef of a resturaunt of her own. Safe place to stay, good hunting ground with little risk, that by itself is such a good life that we get a reputation as a cult. Having a viable career? For a magical girl that is huge.
Ah yes... need to work out the details on that.
@inverted_helix Can you post the new numbers for getting more housing on the front page. It's confusing every time.
Hmmm... that is a good point. And overhunt of all areas this turn would mean a massive number of vets available next month...
But we probably need them this month... hmm....
Purchase Kyoko's church, continued expansion, more research.
Another possibility for the heaviest green hunting is to have no overhunt:
4 Greens (non-refugee) Solo Hunting the Rural Area w/o teleport should harvest 7.9 cubes, require 4 kevlar sets. Ending DS: -4.9
8 Greens Pack Hunting in the South w/ teleport should harvest 22.4 cubes (w/ the vet leadership bonus), and require 8 pairs of full Kevlar clothing.
2 Vets Pack Hunting in the South w/ teleport should harvest 9.2 cubes, and require no armor.
1 Vet Solo Hunting in the South w/o teleport should harvest 5.4 cubes, and requires Kevlar clothing only (no vest)
Total South harvest = 37 cubes, DS stays at 0.
10 Greens Pack Hunting in the North w/ teleport should harvest 28 cubes (w/ the vet leadership bonus), and require 10 pairs of full Kevlar clothing.
2 Vets Pack Hunting in the North w/ teleport should harvest 9.2 cubes, and require no armor.
Total North Harvest is 37.2 cubes, DS goes to +0.
Total Gross Harvest is 82.1 cubes
-1 for Kyubey
-1.5 if Seto transports
-5.5 if non-Seto transports
Net Harvest 79.6 (w/ Seto) or 75.6 (w/o Seto)
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Shift 5 greens into current jobs to free up 5 vets
General Training: 3 Vets and 13 greens
------------------------------------------
Remaining available:
0 Greens
31.5 vets (30.5 if non-Seto transports)
5 Elite (4 if Seto transports)
7 Serena & Co.
6 full kevlar sets.
---------------------------------
That is a deficit of 34.4 cubes before research and grief cubes. But almost 7 vets more free.
However, we could have 2 Elites (Kyoko and clone) and 2 Vets pair hunt in Minamiashigara for about 25.4 cubes (-1 cube for the teleport transport). Give them teleport charms to evacuate at first sign of trouble? Or maybe make the two vets teleporters? Probably both.
That leaves us with a reasonable deficit. Add in Serena and Co killing another 2 to 3 youma and we'd have another 25 cubes or so.
Probably have Serena and Co. on standby to attack any youma that enter Minamiashigara while they work on incorporating the two new girls into her group.
Taya + Vet on dispatch duty. 2 teleport vets on standby to deploy Serena and make teleport charms.
Maybe another group of three vets (including a vet teleporter) for diplomacy efforts.
That's nine vets there.
We want them all + Serena & Co to have full kevlar so that's 11 more suits we would need to buy... well... 10 not counting Kyoclone.
Leaving 22.5 vets for other work (along with Mami on Diplomacy).
So... say 7.5 on diplomacy minimum.
1 Vet on getting apartments.
That's... 14 for research?
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@inverted_helix Trying to figure out the math on how we got to our current stockpile:
66.2 previous turn stockpile
-74 upkeep cubes
+53.7 hunt in our area
-14 (Research)
+3 (Purchase from Coalition)
-14 for spirals
+25 (for first youma kills)
+109 (for rest of youma kills, or does this include the 25 from part 1?)
-----------------------------------------
129.9 (if 109 includes the 25 from first mini-turn)
154.9 (if 109 does not include the 25 from first mini-turn)
Our current reserve is 114.3 so we must have consumed between 15.6 and 40.6 on excessive magic use?
4 Greens (non-refugee) Solo Hunting the Rural Area w/o teleport should harvest 7.9 cubes, require 4 kevlar sets. Ending DS: -4.9
8 Greens Pack Hunting in the South w/ teleport should harvest 22.4 cubes (w/ the vet leadership bonus), and require 8 pairs of full Kevlar clothing.
2 Vets Pack Hunting in the South w/ teleport should harvest 9.2 cubes, and require no armor.
1 Vet Solo Hunting in the South w/o teleport should harvest 5.4 cubes, and requires Kevlar clothing only (no vest)
Total South harvest = 37 cubes, DS stays at 0.
10 Greens Pack Hunting in the North w/ teleport should harvest 28 cubes (w/ the vet leadership bonus), and require 10 pairs of full Kevlar clothing.
2 Vets Pack Hunting in the North w/ teleport should harvest 9.2 cubes, and require no armor.
Total North Harvest is 37.2 cubes, DS goes to +0.
Total Gross Harvest is 82.1 cubes
-1 for Kyubey
-1.5 if Seto transports
-5.5 if non-Seto transports
Net Harvest 79.6 (w/ Seto) or 75.6 (w/o Seto)
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Shift 5 greens into current jobs to free up 5 vets
General Training: 3 Vets and 13 greens
------------------------------------------
Remaining available:
0 Greens
31.5 vets (30.5 if non-Seto transports)
5 Elite (4 if Seto transports)
7 Serena & Co.
6 full kevlar sets.
---------------------------------
That is a deficit of 34.4 cubes before research and grief cubes. But almost 7 vets more free.
However, we could have 2 Elites (Kyoko and clone) and 2 Vets pair hunt in Minamiashigara for about 25.4 cubes (-1 cube for the teleport transport). Give them teleport charms to evacuate at first sign of trouble? Or maybe make the two vets teleporters? Probably both.
That leaves us with a reasonable deficit. Add in Serena and Co killing another 2 to 3 youma and we'd have another 25 cubes or so.
Probably have Serena and Co. on standby to attack any youma that enter Minamiashigara while they work on incorporating the two new girls into her group.
Taya + Vet on dispatch duty. 2 teleport vets on standby to deploy Serena and make teleport charms.
Maybe another group of three vets (including a vet teleporter) for diplomacy efforts.
That's nine vets there.
We want them all + Serena & Co to have full kevlar so that's 11 more suits we would need to buy... well... 10 not counting Kyoclone.
Leaving 22.5 vets for other work (along with Mami on Diplomacy).
So... say 7.5 on diplomacy minimum.
1 Vet on getting apartments.
That's... 14 for research?
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@inverted_helix Trying to figure out the math on how we got to our current stockpile:
66.2 previous turn stockpile
-74 upkeep cubes
+53.7 hunt in our area
-14 (Research)
+3 (Purchase from Coalition)
-14 for spirals
+25 (for first youma kills)
+109 (for rest of youma kills, or does this include the 25 from part 1?)
-----------------------------------------
129.9 (if 109 includes the 25 from first mini-turn)
154.9 (if 109 does not include the 25 from first mini-turn)
Our current reserve is 114.3 so we must have consumed between 15.6 and 40.6 on excessive magic use?
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Hmm. You know, I'm wondering if these should be dispensed with for the month? Both are trading cubes for meguca-efficiency, and if there's one thing we have a ton of at this very moment it's meguca.
I think he also included some of the cubes that were passed out as emergency measures during the hunt as being used up.
Considered it, and ran the numbers without them too. It's just that Pack hunting benefits enormously from teleportation (0.8 cubes for a green refugee, and 1.2 for a vet). Usually it's not enough to overcome the gains from pair or solo hunting instead, but since we have to Pack Hunt anyway for safety... (notice I only teleport the pack hunters, and not the solo hunters).
And for Kyubey the cost doesn't scale, so it's really beneficial for a relatively cheep price.
You get to that because the GM fails at arithmetic and did 109 - 14 -26 and got to 79. (And god it took me rereading my math like three times to catch that.) I was originally planning 26 as the total of excess costs of the Tokyo expedition from heavy magic use and emergency measures to counter shock effects after ambush (keep in mind that grief cubes for magical girls are not just fuel but also anti-anxiety meds).
(Bear in mind that 35.3 was the base value before the results of spirals and Tokyo expedition so I was just going to add on the results of the expedition and spirals.)
I'm not going to correct it at this point since it was my mistake and a stupid one, but bear in mind that very heavy magic use like running around under triple bunker shields and stealth fields all the time (keeping in mind your plans as argued for and accepted were basically keep bunker shields active whenever close to combat) can rack up costs.
Will do, issue now is whether to charge you guys extra for the refugees on account of none of them living with family or to keep the charges flat to reduce bookkeeping overload.
Pricing in progress:
Fusion casting training: At present with the difficulties involved this is less assured then other forms of training. 1 veteran/elite + 1 GCU per pair to be trained, base success chance ~75% subject to modifiers.
Research, Fusion Pipelining:
Inspired by the pipelining technique used to improve processor throughput, you could develop a similar technique for allowing two pairs of casters to get the same throughput that would normally take 3 pairs of casters. It's a relatively simple idea, but there are potential difficult points.
Cost: 2 veterans, 2 GCU; Duration 1 month for basic level; Success Chance: 75%; Requires multiple matching pairs of trained fusion casters.
Research, Fusion Dependency Removal:
The requirement of trust between casters in fusion casting is a serious limitation which you'd like to work around. It's a tricky problem.
Cost: 3 veterans, 3 GCU; Success Chance 20%+10% per month
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Just a reminder about eventual research goals for Serena.
Aranfan
Team Plasma Grunt
@inverted_helix What is our impression of Nagoya's evaluation of our effectiveness?
Just say that as refugees they are more willing to double up on bunks without a morale hit. Say that evens out the none at home bit, and get the easier bookkeeping.
This may eventually increase as your organization grows, but the cost to run your data through Incubator computers is pretty much negligible. The price is there more for reasons other than actually costing them anything.
Oh I do like this. It satisfies my desire on bookkeeping and in universe fronts. That's accepted.
Refugees will have standard housing costs for now. And later as you clear Tokyo they'll return to their families more probably. Though I am planning to increase your housing costs as you move into Tokyo anyways to account for it being pricier there. Maybe like a 3x modifier. Or possibly just raising the standard housing cost and calling it an average?
Thoughts on what to offer Heaven's Chosen:
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Mami approaches Heaven's Chosen about a trade of research to mutual benefit:
Make our Hunting Manual the initial gift. Explain how crop rotation has allowed our area to support many more girls than is normal. Mention how the demon strength tracking once allowed us to swiftly identify poaching in our area.
Mention how on one occasion we accepted visitors from another organization to receive training for a month in our hunting techniques. Since our organization is focused heavily on Tokyo right now, our area is actually being under hunted right now. We could possibly host as many as twelve to twenty-eight veterans right now (twelve if they agree to pair hunting, twenty eight if they agree to pack hunting), if they were sufficiently experienced with safety measures. If Hiko seems interested, negotiate the price we would pay for a vet hunting in our territory (stay below 3 in they agree to pairs, below 1.5 if they agree only to pack hunting), as well as the safe level for them to hunt (try for at least -9% risk when pair hunting before agreeing to pairs, less than that means we cannot guarantee safety, packs we can guarantee safety no matter what, but still try to learn risk reduction).
Explain that being right next door to Tokyo the problems there effect us rather severely even now, what with both demons wandering into our area and with refugees coming and asking for help. (Share some specific examples). Mention that we have had 44 girls, mostly greens, come to us for refuge, and while we can manage to support them right now, you worry about more. If Hiko knows any groups that would accept refugees, including greens, if only temporarily, that would be useful. We have been training them in our hunting techniques, and would provide a copy of our Hunting Manual to anyone willing to take some in.
We're concerned that the Tokyo problem will only grow worse. Almost 1/4 of Japan's population lives in Tokyo, and if they all die the way Hong Kong did, it will have a devastating effect on the rest of Japan. In many ways the problem isn't directly the high level demons, it's that they prevent magical girls from hunting normal demons effectively. Making it impossible to fulfill the magical girl duty of protecting humans. Those normal demons are what then kill the city. Our thought is that first we need to kill the powerful demons in the city, and then rally the local meguca to hunting the normal demons back up to safe levels. After that, there is a need to put some system in place to prevent the conflicts that created the super demons in the first place.
We've managed to kill ten of the demons plaguing Tokyo last month. However, we have struggled with the teleporting demons. Many managed to escape because of this. Worse, we lost one girl last month, because a large number of demons teleported in on top of us in mass. We were there, but unable to save her. If we were only able to interdict teleportation clearing Tokyo would both become faster, and more importantly, much safer. We know it ought to be possible, since the floating eyeball demon is able to do it. We've made some initial progress on researching this ability, but it is still weak and not as effective as we need.
See what Hiko is willing to offer. Both in response to our gift, and to put on the table for trade. We have in addition our Tandem Research, Spell Anchoring, Duration, etc.
At the close, give our History of the Serenes as a gift. While only a short history, it may still hold some interest to her. Mention that we would be interested in learning the history of magical Japan as Hiko remembers it, if she someday has the time to record it.
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Something like that approach seems best to me. Self effacing, generous (putting her in our debt from the beginning), and then hitting the button of our duty to protect our girls. That we are personally involved in the fighting in Tokyo, that we are taking in refugees, etc. Every inch the generous feudal lady. (Also, I suspect that Hiko will approve greatly of Mami's essay on the importance of completing an education).
On hiring the vets idea, something I realized is that if we go with the all green 0 DS hunt this turn, we could hire enough vets to overhunt both areas next turn. At the prices quoted we could do that and still gain 100+ cubes while also having enough vets to support Serena anti-youma actions next turn, and to hunt in areas around Tokyo. Plus it seems like a huge benefit to Hiko if she is struggling with overhunting in her territory.
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Mami approaches Heaven's Chosen about a trade of research to mutual benefit:
Make our Hunting Manual the initial gift. Explain how crop rotation has allowed our area to support many more girls than is normal. Mention how the demon strength tracking once allowed us to swiftly identify poaching in our area.
Mention how on one occasion we accepted visitors from another organization to receive training for a month in our hunting techniques. Since our organization is focused heavily on Tokyo right now, our area is actually being under hunted right now. We could possibly host as many as twelve to twenty-eight veterans right now (twelve if they agree to pair hunting, twenty eight if they agree to pack hunting), if they were sufficiently experienced with safety measures. If Hiko seems interested, negotiate the price we would pay for a vet hunting in our territory (stay below 3 in they agree to pairs, below 1.5 if they agree only to pack hunting), as well as the safe level for them to hunt (try for at least -9% risk when pair hunting before agreeing to pairs, less than that means we cannot guarantee safety, packs we can guarantee safety no matter what, but still try to learn risk reduction).
Explain that being right next door to Tokyo the problems there effect us rather severely even now, what with both demons wandering into our area and with refugees coming and asking for help. (Share some specific examples). Mention that we have had 44 girls, mostly greens, come to us for refuge, and while we can manage to support them right now, you worry about more. If Hiko knows any groups that would accept refugees, including greens, if only temporarily, that would be useful. We have been training them in our hunting techniques, and would provide a copy of our Hunting Manual to anyone willing to take some in.
We're concerned that the Tokyo problem will only grow worse. Almost 1/4 of Japan's population lives in Tokyo, and if they all die the way Hong Kong did, it will have a devastating effect on the rest of Japan. In many ways the problem isn't directly the high level demons, it's that they prevent magical girls from hunting normal demons effectively. Making it impossible to fulfill the magical girl duty of protecting humans. Those normal demons are what then kill the city. Our thought is that first we need to kill the powerful demons in the city, and then rally the local meguca to hunting the normal demons back up to safe levels. After that, there is a need to put some system in place to prevent the conflicts that created the super demons in the first place.
We've managed to kill ten of the demons plaguing Tokyo last month. However, we have struggled with the teleporting demons. Many managed to escape because of this. Worse, we lost one girl last month, because a large number of demons teleported in on top of us in mass. We were there, but unable to save her. If we were only able to interdict teleportation clearing Tokyo would both become faster, and more importantly, much safer. We know it ought to be possible, since the floating eyeball demon is able to do it. We've made some initial progress on researching this ability, but it is still weak and not as effective as we need.
See what Hiko is willing to offer. Both in response to our gift, and to put on the table for trade. We have in addition our Tandem Research, Spell Anchoring, Duration, etc.
At the close, give our History of the Serenes as a gift. While only a short history, it may still hold some interest to her. Mention that we would be interested in learning the history of magical Japan as Hiko remembers it, if she someday has the time to record it.
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Something like that approach seems best to me. Self effacing, generous (putting her in our debt from the beginning), and then hitting the button of our duty to protect our girls. That we are personally involved in the fighting in Tokyo, that we are taking in refugees, etc. Every inch the generous feudal lady. (Also, I suspect that Hiko will approve greatly of Mami's essay on the importance of completing an education).
On hiring the vets idea, something I realized is that if we go with the all green 0 DS hunt this turn, we could hire enough vets to overhunt both areas next turn. At the prices quoted we could do that and still gain 100+ cubes while also having enough vets to support Serena anti-youma actions next turn, and to hunt in areas around Tokyo. Plus it seems like a huge benefit to Hiko if she is struggling with overhunting in her territory.
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OK, we have a price on this now. Need to spec out what sort of fusion training we want to have done by the end of the month.
Also, from the pricing, it looks like one individual could do up to two types of fusion trainings. Relevant for powers that we have low numbers of.
Options:
1) Barrier/Teleport - Our basic goal. Limited functionality, but potentially useful to interfere with an escape attempt at just the right time to allow another round of fire to kill a youma. Alternatively, present a safe zone to keep a drop squad from landing right on top of us without warning.
2) Barrier/Clairvoyance - Possible means of screening our position from being spotted by demons that are watching out for us. Probably of limited use by itself, due to demonic communication from any demon we're actively attacking.
2a) Stealth/Clairvoyance - Same as above, but different methodologies.
3) Barrier/Telepathy - Possible means of cutting off communication between demons, so that they can't call for help.
3a) Stealth/Telepathy - Same as above, but different methodologies.
4) Barrier/Healer - Self-healing barrier that doesn't need to be maintained, reducing magical upkeep and more easily allowing for replacement. Lita/Betty Rae experiment?
5) Translator/Telepath (might possibly need Speak to Animals added in, or in place of) - Means of listening in on demonic communication?
6) Teleporter/Stealth/Illusion - Create an illusion of our fight at a remote location, to make incoming assistance hit the wrong target. Probably outside our power range.
Anyway, these are the ideas I can think of that are possibly doable, and useful in some way in dealing with the Tokyo situation.
For any given option, we really want at least two pairs attempting to learn it (if possible), so that the odds are in our favor for at least one of them doing so.
We don't yet have info on making these into charm effects. Using them on the battlefield will be tricky, at best, without that. The teleport-barrier in particular would be risky. Many of the others also require precise timing to really be useful, which means using them 'live' may not even be workable.
I do remember that the last development was able to be implemented into charms without too much issue, but even without that hurdle, I'm not sure how time is going to be arranged. I'll assume that even if we can't do the charms this month (because they're spending all the time training), that we can make charms next month in time before we actually begin the attacks.
We should also consider what would be most useful even after we get the teleportation interdiction from Heaven's Chosen.
Other than the teleport barrier, I think the telepathy barrier effect would be most useful, assuming it can properly interfere with the demons' ability to communicate. Trap them in a spot where they can't get out, and can't call for help. That would give us a pretty strong advantage for a while. On the other hand, we only have one telepath.
So, I'd put Taura on two rotations, here, with one or two different barrier users. As a bonus, it may help with her own experiments on telepathic shielding.
[] Barrier/Telepath - Taura+Barrier user x2 (2.0 vets, 2 cubes)
Let's add two more teleport barriers, and one with Seto for extra oomph. This combines with the pair we already have.
[] Barrier/Teleporter x2 - (2.0 vets, 2 cubes)
[] Barrier/Teleporter - Seto+Barrier user (0.5 elite, 0.5 vet, 1 cube)
And finally, a barrier against clairvoyance to help shield magical girls from being found by patrol demons. Very useful in future attempts to hunt the city. Putting 3 in the expectation that 2 will succeed.
[] Barrier/Clairvoyance x3 - (3.0 vets, 3 cubes)
Oh, and Lita+Betty Rae
[] Healer/Barrier - Lita, Betty Rae (0.5 each), 1 cube
Total:
0.5 Seto
1.0 Taura
4.0 barrier users
1.0 teleporters
1.5 clairvoyants
(0.5 elite, 7.5 vets, 1.0 Serena vets, 9 cubes)
That's a rather significant amount of training, and would be my starting point when trying to work out total meguca available.
I like the last half, but I'm not sure about the bit about hiring them to help us hunt. I'd need to see the numbers you're using for that.
Better argument: not only are there tens of millions of humans living on Tokyo, there are still 900 magical girls. Should Tokyo die, as Hong Kong did a few months ago, those magical girls, along with the remaining youma, will spread over Japan. The meguca will be forced to poach on others' territories to survive, causing more high-power demons to appear, and the youma themselves will cause a similar amount of chaos in other cities, in particular because most of them are teleport-capable and thus resist efforts to hunt them down as they flee whenever they are injured.
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Isn't that what stealth already does?
Seems like a way to make Barrier + Clairs work as a replacement for stealth.
This seems more promising to specifically block clairvoyance better. Or alternatively to improve the piercing of stealth. But demons use something other than clairvoyance to find magical girls.
Again, I don't see what this gives us that a stealth specialist doesn't already give us.
Actually, the Hong Kong argument may not fly, given what just happened, there.
As such, Hong Kong is not a sound argument. If Tokyo went the way of Hong Kong, after a few months of magical girls dying off there would be a few months of people dying and lots of panicking, and then it would all be over. It may not even have a heavy impact on the Osaka/Kyoto region, particularly since people are already moving over there, implying they actually gain from the whole ordeal.
Remember that Hiko takes the long view. There was the Kanto Earthquake of 1923 that burned Tokyo down, and the firebombings of WW2, and Japan is still here today. Just because it's bad doesn't mean it's not survivable. A few hundred thousand dead (much less a few hundred magical girls) is just a dip in the graph compared to the total population.
Keep that in mind when making arguments.
Whatever happened, ended. Nothing in the rumors has told us anything about how many people are now alive, or how many died, but from the way it's worded it sounds like most of the normal population is still alive.
As such, Hong Kong is not a sound argument. If Tokyo went the way of Hong Kong, after a few months of magical girls dying off there would be a few months of people dying and lots of panicking, and then it would all be over. It may not even have a heavy impact on the Osaka/Kyoto region, particularly since people are already moving over there, implying they actually gain from the whole ordeal.
Remember that Hiko takes the long view. There was the Kanto Earthquake of 1923 that burned Tokyo down, and the firebombings of WW2, and Japan is still here today. Just because it's bad doesn't mean it's not survivable. A few hundred thousand dead (much less a few hundred magical girls) is just a dip in the graph compared to the total population.
Keep that in mind when making arguments.