Meguca Micro Empire Quest (PMMM)

[Elder Haman]

Well then Wikipedia is wrong about it being used in fencing. And so are the references to it that led me to Google it. Kevlar might not stop a normal knife, but most knives don't bend.

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Good point. I was thinking of the horror story they told us in the army about the guy who got himself a new Kevlar vest and was showing it off to his buddies how cool it was, and then told his friend to try and stab him in the chest.

His friend promptly did, it went through the Kelvar and killed his friend wearing the vest. (Which is why they added those metal plates, to counter shrapnel).

Of course, the friend was using a Bowie knife. Not a fencing foil.

I guess we have to get some fencing equipment and try and pass it off as a "high class boarding house" that trains girls in such things.

 

[inverted_helix]

Out of curiosity, I've been assuming that my out of canon omakes aren't good for cashing in, but is there anything I can put them towards?

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You can use them as minor bonuses same as the general gist of the others; which I generally give a +10 bonus to one of the low lethality rolls, or something like setting a normal wish magic type. Though some of them like Universal Translator or Telepath would not be an eligible result for typical bonuses, since I have them as rare.

When I apply bonuses towards things that are more likely to actually be fatal (and thus I gauge as more important to players) they tend to be smaller.

 

[Aranfan]

I see. Is the spiral roll eligible?

 

[notgreat]

@inverted_helix if we redistribute our territory, are the results for demon strength rounded immediately or are they not rounded until the end of the turn?

If they're rounded immediately I vote we transfer 17 territory to make Kyouko's a 25-large territory and bringing it to -1.56 (rounds to -2). This leaves our main with 30.

I guess we have to get some fencing equipment and try and pass it off as a "high class boarding house" that trains girls in such things.

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Pretty sure they'd just get more suspicious. Since if we were to do that, they'd have to question why we hadn't bought those previously. It'd look like we're trying to hide something (which we are).
The more I think about it the more I like the "enchanted kevlar" option. It fits our research goals, it's a good excuse (and the police will like it if we let them donate a few copies once it's complete) and it's another income source. Also, we can totally get away with not telling them much about the process since it's a trade secret and if it got out, others could start copying us. (totally untrue, sure, but they don't know that and it seems reasonable)

The hardest part would be explaining how we figured it out, but we can probably just cover that up with the excuse that telling them would reveal our process.

 

[MarkAren]

Good point. I was thinking of the horror story they told us in the army about the guy who got himself a new Kevlar vest and was showing it off to his buddies how cool it was, and then told his friend to try and stab him in the chest.

His friend promptly did, it went through the Kelvar and killed his friend wearing the vest. (Which is why they added those metal plates, to counter shrapnel).

Of course, the friend was using a Bowie knife. Not a fencing foil.

I guess we have to get some fencing equipment and try and pass it off as a "high class boarding house" that trains girls in such things.

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It's just a thought and would work a whole lot better if we had a cash surplus. However, we wouldn't need good quality anything else, just maybe buy two El Cheapo foils and 'practice' once or twice in the front yard. Let their imagination do the rest. If they wonder why we don't have more foils, well they can check our Financials and see for themselves.
If it's too expensive to do right now, it's something to remember for the future as a completely legitimate reason for buying high grade protective gear (and I wonder what magically reinforcing a bendy sword would do?) and possibly some other things.

 

[inverted_helix]

I see. Is the spiral roll eligible?

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See low lethality
Like for instance diplomacy rolls I only have those as resulting in a fight if you roll really bad, so there's not much chance of death, so a bonus applies +10 there.

I'm hesitant to let you apply bonuses to grief spiral roll since you guys have rolled high on that so many times that I don't want it to become totally nonexistent like people were beginning to think 2 turns ago.

I suppose I can probably allow one omake applied per turn for +5 to that roll. Though I reserve the right to revoke this in the future if it ends up unbalancing.

@inverted_helix if we redistribute our territory, are the results for demon strength rounded immediately or are they not rounded until the end of the turn?

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I'd normally round them immediately.

Strongly considering taking things out to a decimal before rounding though after the shenanigans that Kinematics tried to pull with rounding method last turn though Luckily in that case I was subtracting the extra partial cube from fun with magic from someplace anyways.

 

[Aranfan]

I suppose I can probably allow one omake applied per turn for +5 to that roll.

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Excellent, I would like to cash in Meanwhile in Tokyo for this turn's spiral roll.

 

[Kinematics]

Starting units
4 Elite Meguca: Mami (+20% persuasive), Kyouko (can act as if two Elites), Taya
34 Veteran Meguca, 8 Green Meguca, 1 Associate

[x] Upkeep: 12 Veteran, 7 Green, 1 Associate

>> 22 vets, 1 green


Main: 30 capacity, +1 strength. Underhunt by -1
Kyou: 25 capacity, -2 strength. Overhunt by +12 w/RT

[x] Main Territory
-[x] Target harvest: 30 - 1(underhunt for -1 demon strength) = 29
-[x] Demon strength: from +1 to +0, average of +1
-[x] Casualty risks: +21%/+17%/+11% (solo/pair/pack)
-[x] Hunting solo: 2 elites
-[x] Casualty: -26% vs +21% (avg territory strength of +1)
-[x] Harvest: @6.6 * 2 = 12.3
-[x] Hunting pairs: 4 vets
-[x] Casualty: -20% vs +17% (avg territory strength of +1)
-[x] Harvest: @3.96 * 4 = 15.84
-[x] Total harvest: 28.14


[x] Kyouko Territory
-[x] Rotating Tactics [+5% casualty rate, 0.66 strength multiplier]
-[x] Target harvest: 25 + 23(overhunt for +12 demon strength) = 48
-[x] Demon strength: from -2 to +10, average of +4
-[x] Casualty risks: +29%/+25%/+19% (solo/pair/pack)
-[x] Hunting pairs: 12 vets [12 kevlar clothes, 12 kevlar vests]
-[x] Casualty: -26% vs +25%
-[x] Harvest: @3.96 * 12 = 47.52 (cap 48)
-[x] Total harvest: 47.52


[x] Rural Territory
-[x] Demon strength: +0
-[x] Casualty risks: +20%/+16%/+10% (solo/pair/pack)
-[x] Hunting pairs: 1.0 vet
-[x] Casualty: -20%
-[x] Harvest: 2.16 (cap at 2)


Total hunters: 17 vets, 2 elites
Total harvest: 77.82 >> 78

Note that next turn the number of required hunters goes down because one of the territories will be significantly underhunted (in this turn, the main territory only does a -1 underhunt).


[X] Rising Stars (train vets to elite)
-[X] 1 Mami, 1 vet (Kaoru), -1 cube

Leaves 4 vets, 1 green, 1 elite.


Possible options:

[x] Poacher scouting (ongoing)
-[x] 1 elite, 1 vet (stealth+clairvoyant, either Kyouko+clair or Taya+stealth)

[X] Research, Improving Durability: Magical girls are naturally more durable than a human. But for the most part it isn't sufficient to make much difference against a demon's attacks. Maybe there are ways you could strengthen your own bodies further with magic? This is a significantly more ambitious project than you've previously undertaken, working directly to improve something you already have rather than just exploring the limits of your powers..
Cost: 3 Veteran 1 Green 3 grief cubes; Reward: Improved Durability; Chance of Success: 5% +5% per month researched


Cubes:
43 (starting) + 78 (harvest) - 1 (Kyuubey) - 1 (Kyouko) - 1 (elite training) - 3 (research) - 46 (upkeep) = 69

 

[notgreat]

@inverted_helix Is it possible to expand our courier operation into Itawa now that we have a permanent residence there?

Transfer:
17 territory to Kyouko's : it's now 25-large and is at -1.56 (rounds to -2).
This leaves our main with 30, still at +1.
The new urban can harvest up to 48 cubes, where it will gain +8 going to +9 total strength and +5 for mid-turn calculations (the very last safe %)
Kyouko's I'm harvesting 24.4 because I couldn't find a good way to harvest 25 and still keep enough people doing what I want afterwards. I'm basically hoping that someone harvest an extra 0.1 cubes.


[X] Move 17 territory from Urban to Kyouko (making Urban 30 and Kyouko 25)
[X] Upkeep: 12 Veteran, 7 Green, 1 Associate
[X] Urban - Hunting Pairs (7 vets, 27.72 cubes) + Hunting Solo (3 elite, 19.8 cubes)+ Rotating Tactics = 47.52 cubes of 30 (cap 48)
[X] Kyouko's - Hunting Solo (5 vets, 24.75 cubes, cap 25 of 25)
[X] Hunting Pairs, Rural (1.0 vet, 2.376 cubes, cap at 2)
total cubes hunted: 74.27
[X] Kyuubey hunting analysis (1 cube)

remaining: 9 vets, 1 elites, 1 green
[X] Enchanting, Duration
-2 months of: 2 Vets, 2 Cubes, $1000
[X] Research, Personal Enchanting Effects
-3 vets+1 Green, 2 Cubes; 80% success
[X] Research, Effects of Enchanting on Technology
-2 months of: 2 vets, 2 cubes, $1000; 80% success
[X] Poacher Patrol (2 vet)
[X] Therapy/Counseling/Talking with people. (1 Mami)


[X] Fun with magic (-4.5 cubes)

end cubes: 60 cubes (minus spirals)
end money: $6,264 in debt
end demon strength:
Urban: +9
Kyouko's: -2
Rural: +0

Excellent, I would like to cash in Meanwhile in Tokyo for this turn's spiral roll.

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This seems a bit weak. Math: (100-Spiral roll)/5=% of our population in a spiral. +5/5=1% of our population, times 45 people. You're reducing our total spiral count by 0.45 people. That saves us ~1 cube on average. Pretty good, but it could be better.
Though man, if we could've invested 4 omakes into last turn's diplomacy we would've had 100% success. That would've been nice.

 

[Kinematics]

Gives us an expected harvest of 59 cubes, gets all our territories back to 0 Demon Strength (to make it easy to split evenly for the oscillating plan)

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We really want to start the oscillating immediately. The excess hunters applied to the rising territory are balanced by the reduced hunters in the falling territory. We need a turn getting one of the territories up before we can start taking advantage of that, though.

With the setup I have, the following turn would be 3 vets in Kyouko's area plus 12 vets and 1 elite in the main area, for 15 vets + 1 elite vs the current turn's 17 vets and 2 elites. Saves 2 vets and 1 elite.

Also, gives 67 harvested cubes and would put our total reserves at about 80. Honestly feels almost excessive. Hmm. I might pull some hunters and target +8 top-end instead of +10. We're actually not cube-limited, but are more meguca-limited now. (stupid crit fail diplomacy)

Anti-poaching, investigating the police watchers, research, and scouting other territories.

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I've got the anti-poaching and research in mine, but it would be nice to get something on dissuading the police. Do you have any idea on what sort of plan to use? How many people?

 

[inverted_helix]

@inverted_helix Is it possible to expand our courier operation into Itawa now that we have a permanent residence there?

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I don't judge you to control enough area there for it to be viable.

This seems a bit weak. Math: (100-Spiral roll)/5=% of our population in a spiral. +5/5=1% of our population, times 45 people. You're reducing our total spiral count by 0.45 people. That saves us ~1 cube on average. Pretty good, but it could be better.
Though man, if we could've invested 4 omakes into last turn's diplomacy we would've had 100% success. That would've been nice.

Click to shrink...

Omakes are supposed to provide minor bonuses, not break the system

 

[Elder Haman]

[X] Upkeep: 12 Veteran, 7 Green, 1 Associate, -$12,800

Hunting Plan:
Cost 14 Vets, Expected Harvest of 59 cubes, 0% chance of injury, all territories at +0 Demon Strength

[X] Dispersed Hunting (main Urban Area): Magical Girl will individually hunt demons throughout your territory and gather the grief cubes for the central supply. This can be dangerous.
Cost: Variable, specify number of Meguca dedicated; Reward: 2 grief cubes per Meguca assigned. 20% base casualty (significant injury or death) chance.
-[X] 10 Vets w/ full sets of vests and clothing. Expected Harvest = 45 (cap at 45). Danger = 20% -11% -5% -6% = -2% chance of injury. Expected Demon Strength afterwards = +0 Demon Strength

[X] Dispersed Hunting (Kyouko's territory): Magical Girl will individually hunt demons throughout your territory and gather the grief cubes for the central supply. This can be dangerous.
Cost: Variable, specify number of Meguca dedicated; Reward: 2 grief cubes per Meguca assigned. 20% base casualty (significant injury or death) chance.
-[X] Use Rotating Tactics = +5% chance of injury, Demon strength increase by 66% instead of 100%
-[X] 2 Vets w/ full sets of vests and clothing. Expected Harvest = 9

[X] Pack Hunting (Kyouko's territory): Magical Girls will hunt in groups vastly reducing the danger, but because they are not covering as much area their efficiency is reduced. Death is significantly less likely.
Cost: Variable, specify number of Meguca dedicated; Reward 1.25 Grief Cubes per Meguca assigned; 10% base casualty chance
-[X] Use Rotating Tactics = +5% chance of injury, Demon strength increase by 66% instead of 100%
-[X] 1 Vet. Expected Harvest = 2.8

Cap total harvest in Kyouko's territory at 12.
Expected Change to Demon Strength in Kyouko's territory +7 (over hunting at 12 out of 8 w/ Rotating Tactics =+6.6), average demon strength for adjusting chance of injury = -3.5, rounding up to -3.

Danger to Solo Girls w/ Kevlar = 20% +5% -11% -5% -3% -6% = 0% chance of injury
Danger to Pack Hunting Girls = 10% +5% -13% -5% -3% = -6% chance of injury

[X] Hunting Pairs: Magical Girls will hunt in pairs reducing the danger, but because they are not covering as much area their efficiency is reduced. Death is less likely.
Cost: Variable, specify number of Meguca dedicated; Reward 1.6 Grief Cubes per Meguca assigned; 16% base casualty chance
-[X] Rural: Base modified to 1.2, dispatch bonus does not apply.
-[X] 1 Vet = 2.16 Expected Harvest (cap at 2). Danger = 16% - 15% -5% = -4% chance of injury.

Anti-Poaching: 2 Elites

[X] Anti-Poaching Patrol: 1 Kyouko, 1 Taya

Training and Research: 1 Elite, 4 Vets, 1 Green

[X] Rising Stars: In the time SIMP has been in existence you've noticed that you have a couple girls that stand out from the rest. With some personal training to hone their skills and push them to their limits and beyond they might be able to make it to Elite status. This can be run for up to two candidates at a time.
-[X] Mami, Kaoru and 1 grief cube

[X] Research, Improving Speed: Magical girls are naturally faster than a human, capable of physical feats that scoff at human limitations. But there's always value in being that little bit faster, to get out of the way of attacks or close or open the distance.
Cost: 3 Veteran 1 Green 3 grief cubes; Reward: Improved Speed; Chance of Success: 5% +5% per month researched

Scouting and Investigations: 1 Elite, and 4 Vets, -$600

[X] Handling the Police
-[X] Mariko and Taura are assigned to send some of their time this month figuring out what the police want and are suspecting. 1 vet (they don't spend all their time on it this month). Mariko provides the stealth, Taura the mind reading.
-[X] Mami decides she better discuss the problem with Kyubey. She does have an idea to suggest: They buy some fencing equipment and try to pass the Kevlar purchase off as improving the safety equipment for the fencers. She'd like Kyubey's help though in setting up a mailbox in Iwata that Mami can arrange for purchases to go to so that the mail does not track back to her. An alternate identity under which to purchase these items. Mami wants to give the police the impression that the Serene's already had the foils and masks before purchasing the Kevlar. Also an alternate identity will make it easier to conceal future purchases that might attract unwanted attention.
--[X] Budget: 1 to 2 Grief cubes to bribe Kuybey, $600 to buy 6 starter sets (foils, mask, etc). Starter sets are a little over $100 with my early googling, I'm assuming Mami hunts around for the best deal which is only slightly cheaper. Also, Mami decides she doesn't need a full 12 sets to deceive the police.
--[X] Hmm... Mami wonders what kind of protection those masks might offer. Might want to ask Keiko to do a little "Science" on them using her extra time. Just enough to see if it's worth investigating further.

[X] Scouting the city south of Mitakihara (area 1 and further south) 1 Elite, 4 Vets
-[X] 1 Kyouko, 1 Ayako, 1 Shinobou. Kyouko to provide stealth, Ayako clairvoyance, and Shinobu emergency teleport out if needed. (Kyouko and Ayako are both new to the Mitakihara area, so hopefully that will help in that they won't be looked for). Goals are to find out what the girl population is, their skill level, skill set, and headquarters (if any).
-[X] Once they locate headquarters, they are to return with Taura (mind reading) and Mariko (more stealth) to gain some insight into motivations, and what the factions are inside their community.

Fluff:

[X] Mami makes sure to talk to Kyouko and see how she's doing. Stuffing her full of a good breakfast is a good way to get her to let down her guard and talk to her. Mami can't stop herself from giving Kyouko a hug, she is so happy to have her back.

[X] Mami decides to make sure and let the Serene's all know about the reduced Demon Strength. She also wants to explain to them the plan for dividing the territory in two and oscillating over hunting with under hunting.

[X] Mami gets ready for an unpleasant discussion with Taura. Mami knows how much Taura hates using her powers, but really she's one of the most useful power sets on the team and Mami needs every edge. First she'll start off with the police. Surely Taura will understand that they need to know what the police are thinking so that they can convince them that there is nothing shady going on. I mean, it's even true! The Serene's have never participated in criminal activities! They just can't tell the police the truth that they need Kevlar to protect against demons. Mami needs to know what they suspect and are planning so as to best prepare a response that will keep them out of trouble.

-[X] Mami expects the request to spy on the girls to the south will be much less to Taura's liking. But it's also necessary! They refuse to even talk with anyone openly, and that means there is a huge unknown to the south. They might even be behind the poachers that were hunting in our territory. Even if they aren't it's important to know the neighbors. How many magical girls end up fighting each other needlessly because they wouldn't even trust each other to talk instead? It's not like you want to hurt those girls, the Serene territory is stable now and safe. You just want to make sure we aren't going to get attacked, and maybe have some insight on how to persuade them to be friendly instead of hostile.

-[X] During her meeting with Taura, Mami can't help but have stray thoughts during the talk. Would Taura be interested in a career counseling magical girls? There is no denying the girls could use someone, and a mind reader would know best how to help them. Although the girls might not like it. Or maybe they'd start treating Taura more as a doctor like person instead of someone scary? Would Taura need to go to college to study for this? Can the Serene's afford it? Ah... she might not even want to. There are just so many things that a mind reader can do to help. Like policing. Mami is dreading the day when it happens, but at some point there will need to be formal rules and order keeping. Mami can't keep them all as little girls forever. Truthfully they've been lucky that they've had so few conflicts for so long. But how do you make sure to judge justly? A mind reader would know the truth of what happened. Ah... but then Taura would be even more ostracized from the rest of the girls! Poor Taura. She tries so hard, and she's really such a good girl. Taura's such a good girl. She's always worrying about how to use her powers ethically. I'm so lucky! A mind reader could do so much damage and harm if she wanted too. But Taura is always trying to do the right thing instead of the easy thing. I'm so lucky I got a mind reader to join my group. An honest and loyal one that really wants to do what's right. She always so lonely, I know what that's like. Arrhgh! I want to give her a hug. She deserves one... wait a minute, she's trying to run- No! Tie her up in ribbons! Taura is getting a hug today no matter what! Even if I have to tie her up first!

Totals:
Man Power: 4 Elites, 34 Vest, 8 Greens, 1 Associate
Grief Cubes: 43 (stockpile) + 59 (Harvest) - 46 (Upkeep) -1 (Elite Training) -1 or -2 (Kyubey bribe) = 53 to 54 before grief spirals.
Money: -$12,800 - $600 -$153.5 (interest) +$17,900 = $4,346.5 (applied against debt)

 

[notgreat]

Ok, updated my plan. Dropping the elite training because it isn't as worthwhile with only 1 elite candidate (though depending on how big Taya's bonus is, I may reevaluate) More importantly, doing this lets me have significantly more people free for various other actions. This plan now harvests enough to easily let us keep Fun With Magic and still have a very comfortable buffer, and has 1/9/1 meguca to spare rather than 2/5/1 for Kinematics. (elite/vet/green) Elder Haman has many more people than me, but is also harvesting a much, much smaller number of cubes.

I'm only doing research that pays off in 1-2 turns, but those are the low-hanging fruit and it's a good idea to get all of those you can before going for the harder ones. I want to get all the research done that I can and see what we can get from that now that we can actually afford to do that.

 

[Kinematics]

Quick review on the results of overhunting with targeted max demon strength of +10, +8, and +6.


Kyouko:
Harvest 44 for 0 to +10 demon strength
Harvest 12 for +10 to 0 demon strength (limit of 13, but can't get there with hunting rates)

Main:
Harvest 15 for +10 to 0 demon strength
Harvest 53 for 0 to +10 demon strength

Rural:
Harvest 2

A: 14 vets, 1 elite, 61 cubes
B: 15 vets, 1 elite, 67 cubes [max, 12 vets with full kevlar]



Kyouko:
Harvest 40 for 0 to +8 demon strength
Harvest 15 for +8 to 0 demon strength

Main:
Harvest 18 for +8 to 0 demon strength
Harvest 48 for 0 to +8 demon strength

Rural:
Harvest 2

A: 14 vets, 1 elite, 60 cubes
B: 15 vets, 1 elite, 65 cubes



Kyouko:
Harvest 36 for 0 to +6 demon strength
Harvest 18 for +6 to 0 demon strength

Main:
Harvest 21 for +6 to 0 demon strength
Harvest 44 for 0 to +6 demon strength

Rural:
Harvest 2

A: 14 vets, 1 elite, 59 cubes
B: 15 vets, 1 elite, 64 cubes



Dropping strength doesn't reduce the number of hunters needed because they end up just shifting from the overhunt territory (needs less) to the underhunt territory (needs more). This is unfortunate, because it leaves us still being meguca-limited for other activities.

In general, dropping max strength only loses 1 cube per turn per -2 demon strength. It's a fairly minor loss, but it doesn't gain any real utility. Using the lower strengths would give a better margin of error for poaching, though.

 

[MarkAren]

I like that fluff on the police bit. It's hilariously true, because they could be off doing something productive to society rather than stalking a bunch of young girls (tb fair their suspicions that we are hiding something are correct).

 

[inverted_helix]

She deserves one... wait a minute, she's trying to run- No! Tie her up in ribbons! Taura is getting a hug today no matter what! Even if I have to tie her up first!

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Considering in turn 23 Taura jumped out of Mami's window to avoid the upcoming heartfelt talk with Kyouko this is a really funny line.

I like that fluff on the police bit. It's hilariously true, because they could be off doing something productive to society rather than stalking a bunch of young girls (tb fair their suspicions that we are hiding something are correct).

Click to shrink...

It's not stalking when it's the police.

I find it rather odd how long rotating tactics has been sitting there unused and then you finally try it out and immediately come up with optimization math for it.

 

[Kinematics]

Suppose we follow Haman's idea. Target +0 demon strength, and focus on meguca efficiency (because we're meguca-starved if we focus on cube harvesting) instead of using RT for more cubes.

Starting units
4 Elite Meguca: Mami (+20% persuasive), Kyouko (can act as if two Elites), Taya
34 Veteran Meguca, 8 Green Meguca, 1 Associate

[x] Upkeep: 12 Veteran, 7 Green, 1 Associate

[x] Demon forecasting
-[x] -1 grief cube to Kyuubey

[x] Main Territory
-[x] Target harvest: 30
-[x] Demon strength: +1
-[x] Casualty risks: +21%/+17%/+11% (solo/pair/pack)
-[x] Hunting Solo: 6 vets [full kevlar]
-[x] Casualty: -22% vs +21% (avg territory strength of +1)
-[x] Harvest: @4.95 * 6 = 29.7 (cap 30)
-[x] Total harvest: 29.7

[x] Kyouko Territory
-[x] Target harvest: 25 + 5 (overhunt for +4 demon strength)
-[x] Demon strength: from -2 to +2, average of 0
-[x] Casualty risks: +20%/+16%/+10% (solo/pair/pack)
-[x] Hunting Solo: 6 vets [full kevlar]
-[x] Casualty: -22% vs +20%
-[x] Harvest: @4.95 * 6 = 29.7 (cap 30)
-[x] Total harvest: 29.7

[x] Rural Territory
-[x] Demon strength: +0
-[x] Casualty risks: +20%/+16%/+10% (solo/pair/pack)
-[x] Hunting pairs: 1.0 vet
-[x] Casualty: -20%
-[x] Harvest: 2.16 (cap at 2)

Total harvest: 61.56 >> 62
Total hunters: 13 vets

This loses 16 cubes compared to the RT plan, but gains 4 vets and 2 elites, and is still decently above upkeep level.

Remaining: 4 elite, 9 vets, 1 green

[x] Rising Stars (train vets to elite)
-[x] 1 Mami, 1 vet (Kaoru), -1 cube

Going with notgreat's Research choices:

[x] Research, Personal Enchanting Effects
-3 vets+1 Green, 2 Cubes; 80% success
[x] Enchanting, Duration
-2 months of: 2 Vets, 2 Cubes, $1000
[x] Research, Effects of Enchanting on Technology
-2 months of: 2 vets, 2 cubes, $1000; 80% success

Remaining: 3 elite, 1 vet

[x] Anti-Poaching Patrol:
-[x] 2 elites: Kyouko, Taya

[x] Councillor
-[x] 1 vet

[x] Dissuading the police
-[x] Kyouko - Can she 'convince' them that there's nothing interesting to be found here? Her original powerset included a bit of mind control. A month of sitting in a surveillance van constantly convinced that you're wasting time here can make anyone very motivated to end the investigation.


Cubes:
43 + 62 (harvest) - 1 (Kyuubey) - 1 (Kyouko) - 1 (elite training) - 6 (research) - 46 (upkeep) = 50

This is a mild gain in reserve cubes, but we'll gain back 3 vets and a green next month after the first research project ends. Will have to use the vets on Kyouko's territory for RT hunting next month, though, unless we want to continue at subsistence level cube reserves.

 

[notgreat]

I find it rather odd how long rotating tactics has been sitting there unused and then you finally try it out and immediately come up with optimization math for it.

Click to shrink...

We never had a low enough casualty% to use it. With the Kevlar, we get enough bonus % that we can actually use it reasonably. Also, without 2 territories, the oscillations are too large to reasonably deal with. Same thing as research. We knew we needed it and that it'd clearly help in the long-term, but we couldn't afford its short-term costs.

Also, were there any side effects from doing "fun with magic" or do they not appear until later?


@Kinematics
If we're not doing the oscillation hunting this turn, I think it's more efficient to keep Kyouko's territory entirely separate this turn and overhunt it with solo+rotating tactics to get it to 0. Also, you get Kyouko's new territory to +2, which doesn't work very well. Math at the bottom.

I could definitely go for that general plan. Now that I've looked more at it, we're actually at the point where it's probably better to just keep our territories at 0. Kyouko's territory means that unless we begin permanent Fun with Magic (or grow without increasing our territory much more), we are actually for the first time limited by megucamonths, which makes optimizing megucamonth efficiency the goal- and that means solo hunting. While we could 'fix' that problem by asking Kyuubey for some more recruits, I'm not sure if we want to do that.

It'd be nice if we could get another Elite candidate, and we've had many meguca last for 2 years on us. That's virtually unheard of. While our elite count may seem high for our population, it really isn't if you assume that most potential elites die out in the green/vet stage without our massive amount of aid.

Though obviously all these plans could change depending on the Elite power we get.

I'd consider putting 0.5 Mami into paperwork (freeing a vet, put 0.5 Kyouko into the training: make it half and half)
This frees up 0.5 vets for other things such as additional hunting (assuming you make anti-poaching 0.5 vet+0.5 Kyouko+0.5 Taya)

Math:
To get to +0
Urban: solo harvest 45 = 9 vets (44.55 cubes)
Kyouko: solo harvest 12 (with rotating tactics) = 2.5 vets (12.375 cubes)
Rural: pair harvest 2, 1 vet
Total harvest: 59, 12.5 vets, all territory at +0 (and thus good for redistributing)
Everything should be at 0% total losses.

This leaves 4/9.5/1. It harvests 3 less cubes in exchange for a significant demon strength reduction. In terms of meguca/cubes efficiency it's almost equal to your plan, and it's basically a more-efficient version of Haman's plan (same cubes harvested for 1.5 less veterans spent, -1 cube from QB hunting analysis. A trade which should be obvious since we seem to be limited by meguca this month).

Ooh, just realized that we can over the course of a couple turns use rounding errors to continuously lower our demon strength at a fraction of the cost.

Spoiler: turn list

size@demon strength
T1
A: 16@-1
B: 32@0
T2
A: 31@-1 (-0.516 rounds to -1)
B: 17@0
T3
A: 40@-1
B: 8@0
T4 let B drop down (cost: 8 cubes)
A: 40@-1
B: 8@-5
T5
A: 0@?
B: 48@-2

This is incredibly delicate and unlikely to be practical, and almost certainly will be banned by the GM. But it's funny.

 

[inverted_helix]

Just realized you have 1 more green Meguca than I thought. Forgot to add the recruited green.

Greens: +1 recruited green, +2 Kyuubey gifted Greens, -1 green promoted to vet = +2 greens
Vets: -1 vet upgraded to elite, +1 green converted to vet
Elite +1

Also, without 2 territories, the oscillations are too large to reasonably deal with.

Click to shrink...

Not sure I really follow on that. The territory oscillation seems the same size either way. You could always have done packhunting vets on the overhunt turn and used virtually all your resources on that and then done research during the underhunt turn with the freed up meguca power.

This is incredibly delicate and unlikely to be practical, and almost certainly will be banned by the GM. But it's funny.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, abuse my rounding at your own risk.

 

[Chronic]

Did you guys consider buying some functional late medieval steel full plate armour instead of the Kevlar? Its probably more expensive (most examples i could find are between 1k and 5k dollars), but i don't think the plate armour would provide inferior protection. Especially given that we know how to enchant steel already, judging from the shields.

And most importantly, it would throw of the police.

 

[Aranfan]

Currently leaning towards notgreat's plan, since it has the territory reapportionment and fun with magic for morale, but I don't like getting rid of Rising Stars.

or something like setting a normal wish magic type

Click to shrink...

So could I cash in 20 Years Later to make one of the new greens a magic psychologist?

 

[FixerUpper]

So could I cash in 20 Years Later to make one of the new greens a magic psychologist?

Click to shrink...

Out of curiosity, how exactly do you envision that to work?

 

[Aranfan]

Out of curiosity, how exactly do you envision that to work?

Click to shrink...

She wished for the ability to help her friends through tough times, like a bad break up or something, and got psychologist powers. *shrug*

 

[veekie]

Depends on how you consider psychologist powers. Superior ability to assess mental state and knowing what to do to create certain emotional reactions? That sounds like it might make the girl in question more vulnerable to grief, but ease the load on others through their getting charmed.

Though IIRC the closest thing to it in canon was Yuma, who was pretty healing just by being herself.

 

[Elder Haman]

Quick review on the results of overhunting with targeted max demon strength of +10, +8, and +6.


Kyouko:
Harvest 44 for 0 to +10 demon strength
Harvest 12 for +10 to 0 demon strength (limit of 13, but can't get there with hunting rates)

Main:
Harvest 15 for +10 to 0 demon strength
Harvest 53 for 0 to +10 demon strength

Rural:
Harvest 2

A: 14 vets, 1 elite, 61 cubes
B: 15 vets, 1 elite, 67 cubes [max, 12 vets with full kevlar]



Kyouko:
Harvest 40 for 0 to +8 demon strength
Harvest 15 for +8 to 0 demon strength

Main:
Harvest 18 for +8 to 0 demon strength
Harvest 48 for 0 to +8 demon strength

Rural:
Harvest 2

A: 14 vets, 1 elite, 60 cubes
B: 15 vets, 1 elite, 65 cubes



Kyouko:
Harvest 36 for 0 to +6 demon strength
Harvest 18 for +6 to 0 demon strength

Main:
Harvest 21 for +6 to 0 demon strength
Harvest 44 for 0 to +6 demon strength

Rural:
Harvest 2

A: 14 vets, 1 elite, 59 cubes
B: 15 vets, 1 elite, 64 cubes



Dropping strength doesn't reduce the number of hunters needed because they end up just shifting from the overhunt territory (needs less) to the underhunt territory (needs more). This is unfortunate, because it leaves us still being meguca-limited for other activities.

In general, dropping max strength only loses 1 cube per turn per -2 demon strength. It's a fairly minor loss, but it doesn't gain any real utility. Using the lower strengths would give a better margin of error for poaching, though.

Click to shrink...

We can afford 14 to 15 megucas devoted to hunting a turn. Easy. I have that many hunting this turn and still have Elites and 8 Vets left over. So we'd alternate between 3 Elites, 8 Vets, and 2 Greens, to 3 Elites, 7 Vets, and 2 Greens.

We've often had much fewer then that available for additional things.

I think we definitely want to devote 3 Vets and 1 Green to one of the long term magic improvement research. I prefer to do speed first as it is probably the most versatile.

I only wanted to wait a turn before starting the oscillation so that we could start from 0 Demon Strength and more successfully deal with Kevlar distribution costs. +8 instead of +10 as the goal helps with that a lot, as the under hunt location won't need any Kevlar at all. With +10 we'd need at least vests for the under hunt team.

Hmm... also, your numbers seem to be a little simplified.

EDITED to fix a few math erros

Let's call the 30 harvest area "South" and the 25 Harvest area "North"

To get the 30 Harvest Area (South) to +8 strength (w/ RT) requires hunting 48 grief cubes in that area.
To get the 25 Harvest Area (North) to +8 strength (w/ RT) requires hunting 40 grief cubes in that area.
To drop the South from +8 to +0 Demon Strength requires a harvest of 18.
To drop the North from +8 to 0 Demon Strength requires a harvest of 15.

Alternating them means that (adding the +2 from the rural area):
On turns we over hunt the South (Over Hunt South) we get 65 grief cubes
On turns we over hunt the South (Over Hunt South) we get 60 grief cubes

As opposed to 57 grief cubes a turn that we could do right now with just sustainable hunting. So that's an average of an extra 10.5 cubes a turn. Definitely worth it.

Pair Hunting is +1% danger for injury (16% base - 15% bonuses)
Solo Hunting is +9% danger for injury (20% base - 11% bonuses)

Territory will average +4 demon strength so that puts us at +5% for Pair Hunting, and +14% for Solo Hunting
Rotating Tactics adds +5% danger, so on the over hunt turn the danger will be +10% for Pair Hunting and +19% for Solo Hunting.

This means that on Under Hunt turns Vets are safe Pair Hunting and Elites are safe Solo Hunting w/o any need for Kevlar.
On Over Hunt turns Vets Pair Hunting need the full set of Kevlar (-6%) to get a -1% chance of injury. Elites are very safe Pair Hunting w/o Kevlar, but need Kevlar to be safe Solo Hunting (-0% w/ just clothing, -2% with full set).

We currently have 12 sets of Kevlar.

Here some useful numbers for how expected harvests work out for different numbers of girls (assume Demon Forecasting and Pair Hunting unless specified otherwise):

1 Elite (Pair) = 5.28
1 Elite (Solo) = 6.6
2 Vets = 7.92
2.5 Vets = 9.9
3 Vets = 11.88
3.5 Vets = 13.86
4 Vets = 15.84
4.5 Vets = 17.82
8 Vets = 31.68
8.5 Vets = 33.66
9 Vets = 35.64
9.5 Vets = 37.62
10 Vets = 39.6
10.5 Vets = 41.58
11 Vets = 43.56
12 Vets = 47.52

Rural hunting:

1 Vet (Pair) = 2.376
1 Green (Pair) = 1.584 (needs at least vest to be safe)
0.5 Vet Solo = 1.46 (needs at least clothing to be safe)

I've listed these out because we can then use these to come up with multiple combos to get the harvest numbers we need.

Over Hunt South turns (30 cube territory):

12 Vets (all wearing Kevlar) for the South = 47.52 (capped at 48)
4 Vets for the North = 15.84 (capped at 15)
1 Vet Pair for rural = 2.376 (capped at 2)
Total = 17 Vets

10.5 Vets, and 1 Elite Solo (all 11.5 wearing Kevlar) for the South = 47.58 (capped at 48)
4 Vets for the North = 15.84 (capped at 15)
1 Vet Pair for rural = 2.376 (capped at 2)
Total = 15.5 Vets, 1 Elite

10.5 Vets, and 1 Elite Solo (all 11.5 wearing Kevlar) for the South = 48.18 (capped at 48)
4 Vets for the North = 15.84 (capped at 15)
1 Green Pair (w/ Kevlar) in rural = 1.584 (capped at 2)
Total = 14.5 Vets, 1 Elite, 1 Green

11 Vets, and 0.5 Elite Solo (all 11.5 wearing Kevlar) for the South = 47.16 (we'd be giving up a cube)
3 Vets, and 0.5 Elite Solo for the North = 15.48 (capped at 15)
1 Vet Pair for rural = 2.376 (capped at 2)
Total = 15 Vets, 1 Elite, costs 1 cube

11 Vets, and 0.5 Elite Solo (all 11.5 wearing Kevlar) for the South = 47.16 (we'd be giving up a cube)
3 Vets, and 0.5 Elite Solo for the North = 15.48 (capped at 15)
1 Green Pair (w/ .5 Kevlar Vests, and .5 Kevlar Clothing) in rural = 1.584 (capped at 2)
Total = 14 Vets, 1 Elite, 1 Green, costs 1 cube

9 Vets, 2 Elite Solo (all 11 wearing Kevlar) for the South = 47.64
4 Vets for the North = 15.84 (capped at 15)
1 Green Pair (w/ Kevlar) in rural = 1.584 (capped at 2)
Total = 13 Vets, 2 Elites, 1 Green

South: 10.5 Vets + 1 Elite Solo (all full Kevlar) = 47.58 (capped at 48)
North: 2 Vets + 1 Elite Solo = 14.52 (cap 15)
1 Vet Pair for rural = 2.376 (capped at 2)
Total = 13.5 Vets, 2 Elites


Over Hunt on the North turns (25 cube territory):


10 Vets (all w/ Kevlar) on North = 39.6 (capped at 40)
4.5 Vets on South = 17.82 (capped at 18)
1 Vet Pair for rural = 2.376 (capped at 2)
Total = 15.5 Vets, and 1.5 sets of Kevlar available

10 Vets (all w/ Kevlar) on North = 39.6 (capped at 40)
4.5 Vets on South = 17.82 (capped at 18)
1 Green Pair (w/ Kevlar) in rural = 1.584 (capped at 2)
Total = 14.5 Vets, 1 Green

8.5 Vets and 1 Elite Solo on North (all w/ Kevlar) = 30.26 (capped at 40)
4.5 Vets on South = 17.82 (capped at 18)
1 Green Pair (w/ .5 Kevlar Vest, and .5 clothing) in rural = 1.584 (capped at 2)
Total = 13 Vets, 1 Elite, 1 Green, 2 sets of Kevlar available

North: 8.5 Vets + 1 Elite Solo (all full Kevlar) = 40.26 (capped at 40)
South: 3 Vets + 1 Elite Solo = 18.48 (cap 18)
1 Vet Pair for rural = 2.376 (capped at 2)
Total = 12.5 Vets, 2 Elite, 2 spare sets of full Kevlar

All of these choices gives us plenty of flexibility on how we distribute resources depending on whether we need more vets or elites or whatever available.

We have 34 Vets total. 34 - 12 (Upkeep - 17 (high end) = At least 5 Vets available for other things. And by going for the lower usage we have 34 - 12 - 12 (low end) = 10 Vets available for other things.

I think we are fine doing the oscillating hunts. I just wanted to wait one turn before we did it to make sure the poachers are really gone.

Currently leaning towards notgreat's plan, since it has the territory reapportionment and fun with magic for morale, but I don't like getting rid of Rising Stars.

So could I cash in 20 Years Later to make one of the new greens a magic psychologist?

Click to shrink...

My plan still has Rising Stars!

On the wish magic thing, there are the basic skills that you could cash in for (Healing, Barrier, Teleporter), Maybe inverted helix will let you get Stealth/Illusion, or Clairvoyance. For something rarer, I think you have to write an (especially well done) omake specifically about a girl who made a wish that lead to that sort of wish magic. And even then the QM might over rule it.

For example, the Sasami wish magic in my omake was only hinted at, but I have her down as wishing for two of her friends to fall in love because she thought they were perfect for each other, (it was a tsundere and a jerk, so it's quite a violent and explosive romance), thus her wish magic is to make people feel love, and she tends to use it to make other girls love her and so accept her into the group. It's basically weak mind control magic.