I mean good tactics and good logistics isn't a bad thing or anything but it's kinda missing the point of the saying.
The thing about tactics is hat very rarely are you ever going to have consistently better tactics. You are fighting other people with roughly the same level of intelligence. Sometimes you will outsmart them and sometimes you will be the one being outsmarted.
If you are just looking at one individual battle or even a small string of battles then yes; tactics are what decides them. However in the grand scale of wars those individual battles get averaged out. So the fluctuations in gain/loss due to tactics tend to get washed out unless you have a consistent advantage.
That is why at the scale of wars logistics becomes king. Wars are ultimately decided by which side runs out of resources first. This could be material resources like gunpowder, human resources like troops, or even spiritual resources like morale.
FWIW, I usually prefer the extended saying usually rendered as: Amateurs study strategy, dilettantes study tactics, professionals study logistics
Logistics is the most important topic because you either don't have an army at all or you can't get an army to where it needs to go if you don't have it.
Tactics can be viewed as the thing that someone who studies (only) is doing to show off or doing as a hobby because of how little it should generally mean in the real world.
Strategy is the shiny bait that distracts from all the other actually important aspects of a campaign.
So I may be a little late in saying this because I've largely left this thread alone for a while, but someone gave me a look at the wide range of results I've been getting, and I'm a little worried that some of you may not entirely understand the purpose of the alternative vote system.
To put it nicely, what I'm using here is what I hope to be "the best of both worlds", so to speak; you get to vote with your heart with your first preference, but in case your first preference has no chance, your second preference allows you to get strategic by coalescing around an alternative you can live with (which may or may not also get those pushing for your second preference to address your own concerns).
There is no need to edit your votes or anything if you're comfortable with it, but my concern is that a potentially massively scattershot vote may result in an outcome that few are happy with because everyone's first and second preferences are tailor-made for their specific preferences, as opposed to something that groups of questers are happy with.
There is no need to edit your votes or anything if you're comfortable with it, but my concern is that a potentially massively scattershot vote may result in an outcome that few are happy with because everyone's first and second preferences are tailor-made for their specific preferences, as opposed to something that groups of questers are happy with.
*cough* Well, there's a slight problem insofar that the tally system does not play nicely with the way the votes are listed as presented, so it's a little unclear at first blush exactly -what- the trending preferences really are.
Also I honestly don't know how you're tallying, actually. Are you just taking the plan that has a plurality as is (given some kind of primary/secondary weighing) or are you factoring in if there are bunch of related plans that all pick some single thing different but agree in aggregate with everyone else, etc
*cough* Well, there's a slight problem insofar that the tally system does not play nicely with the way the votes are listed as presented, so it's a little unclear at first blush exactly -what- the trending preferences really are.
Also I honestly don't know how you're tallying, actually. Are you just taking the plan that has a plurality as is (given some kind of primary/secondary weighing) or are you factoring in if there are bunch of related plans that all pick some single thing different but agree in aggregate with everyone else, etc
Bad news, while all current votes have been recorded and given to Kei (who should still put the list against the votes in the thread to see if any were omitted) and math has been done, Kei still has to do it to make everything officials. Pray for our writing goddess, who gifts us all things Buster and Sword, Smol and Dryad.
Good news, I just saved on my car insurance by switching to Geico.
[x] Staff
[x] Strategy and Logistics
[x] Tactics and Command
[x] Trade and Commerce
[x] Buster Sword 16 Votes
Candesce
Sightedjt
King Prussia
Glau
serra2
Crow
SAGrognard
wingstrike96
veekie
Nicklance
UberJJK
Omniatrix
The Meddler
strauss
me.me.here
TimEd
[X] Dagger
[X] Buster Sword
[X] Tactics and Command
[X] Strategy and Logistics
[X] Trade and Commerce 7 Votes
Lazy Minx
Aze
BungieONI
AnonymousRabbit
Jrin
The Laurent
typeterra
[x] Bow
[x] Buster Sword
[x] Tactics and Command
[x] Alchemy and Botany
[x] Bestiary 6 Voters
PhDEevee
Wirdo
Nervos Belli
Muramasa
Guilop
buli-buli
[X] Dagger
[X] Buster Sword
[X] Tactics and Command
[X] Strategy and Logistics
[X] Alchemy and Botany 4 Voters
cB557
Karnax626
Salbazier
Kinruush
[x] Mace
[x] Buster Sword
[x] Tactics and Command
[x] Strategy and Logistics
[x] Trade and Commerce 4 Voters
Brainwasher
Stasis
angelofwhim
FatedBread
[x] Mace
[x] Buster Sword
[x] Tactics and Command
[x] Bestiary
[x] Trade and Commerce 3 Voters
Tnoz
VagueZ
Changeofheart
[x] Dagger
[x] Tactics and Command
[x] Buster Sword
[x] Bestiary
[x] Alchemy and Botany 3 Voters
Megaolix
HalaNisu
MiracleGrow
[x] Bow
[x] Beastiary
[x] Scouting and Tracking
[x] Tactics and Command
[x] Buster Sword 2 Voters
anowack
Arcus
[X] Mace
[X] Buster Sword
[X] Tactics and Command
[X] Scouting and Tracking
[X] Advanced Unarmed Combat 1 Voter
GGreader
[X] Mace
[X] Buster Sword
[X] Tactics and Command
[X] Scouting and Tracking
[X] Law and Politics 1 Voter
Spectrum
[x] Mace
[x] Buster Sword
[x] Tactics and Command
[x] Bestiary
[x] Trade and Commerce 1 Voter
pucflek
[x] Straight Sword
[x] Buster Sword
[x] Strategy and Logistics
[x] Tactics and Command
[x] Trade and Commerce 1 Voter
cheesyme
[x] Bow
[x] Buster Sword
[x] Strategy and Logistics
[x] Tactics and Command
[x] Trade and Commerce 1 Voter
Absum
A pretty solid initial lead for:
[] Staff
[] Strategy and Logistics
[] Tactics and Command
[] Trade and Commerce
[] Buster Sword
With over twice as many votes (16 vs. 7) as the runner up. However now secondary preferences come into play and things get complicated. There are multiple ways of doing this but I'm going for the relatively simple and straightforward method:
Look at the lowest scoring Vote.
Look at it's voter's second preferences.
Add their vote to the preferred vote.
Delete the lowest scored vote.
Repeat.
In cases where someone's second preference isn't actually in the primary vote, lots of people haven't quite voted the way they were meant to, I put it off to the side. Then once I was done I made sure it hadn't accumulated enough votes to be note worthy and if not removed it.
So with that in mind I've gone through and compiled the top two votes:
[x] Staff
[x] Strategy and Logistics
[x] Tactics and Command
[x] Trade and Commerce
[x] Buster Sword 18 Votes
Candesce
Sightedjt
King Prussia
Glau
serra2
Crow
SAGrognard
wingstrike96
veekie
Nicklance
UberJJK
Omniatrix
The Meddler
strauss
me.me.here
TimEd
Kinruush
Wirdo
[X] Dagger
[X] Buster Sword
[X] Tactics and Command
[X] Strategy and Logistics
[X] Trade and Commerce 13 Votes
So with preferences taking into account the above Staff vote is still winning with 19 votes but this Dagger vote:
[] Dagger
[] Buster Sword
[] Tactics and Command
[] Strategy and Logistics
[] Trade and Commerce
has managed to close the gap with 13 votes.
Still seeing as there are a total of 50 voters there is still plenty of room for this result to change in light of people altering their primary/secondary choices. Personally I'm hoping things will remain the same, honestly going into this I didn't think my first choice was winning but surprisingly it is, but with how muddled this thing is and how important this decision is people should have all the facts available to them.
Seriously though it is rather surprising how things basically come down to a choice of either Staff or Dagger with every other option being identical.
With how crucial plans are, I imagine the votes are gonna change a bit. I personally edited my second preference to be strategic with this new info, and just switched my first preference to something I personally adore since 3rd and below placers are likely far below anyway.
I tried to tally this earlier, got fed up before I could finish. Good job actually sticking with it.
One thing I was really surprised about was that, like, the mace is a fairly popular option, but seemingly not a lot of people who voted for it grouped up on it for second option, even when there are other votes that were really similar to their first one. It still probably wouldn't stop the juggernaut that is Neianne trucking around with a giant sword and a full-sized staff either way, but things like that result int he vote being surprisingly scattershot outside of that one plan that people liked a lot. Helps to actually have a catchy name, looks like!
Yeah, though, I don't blame people for having a hard time seeing who's winning, prior to this.
Not sure if I'm gonna change my vote. I think staff is a pretty weird pick, but otoh it's sort of a ranged option which I do currently prefer over a second melee. I'll see what I think after dinner I suppose.
fake edit: To anyone that's counting, is there any preferred method for changing votes? I normally strikethrough the old vote and make a new post when it's a manual count.
fake edit: To anyone that's counting, is there any preferred method for changing votes? I normally strikethrough the old vote and make a new post when it's a manual count.
I mean ultimately it's up to @Kei but personally for manually counted votes, which I haven't had to do for years, I prefer new posts since it means when you do a new tally you just start from the previous one and work forwards. Otherwise you have to start all over again to check if anyone has changed their votes.
I'll admit that after running the numbers I was tempted to just delete the post and let things sit. After all my preferred vote is currently winning with a solid lead.
However as things currently stand I predict there would be some serious backlash if this had gone un-posted. Having run the numbers Staff+ is mostly winning because everyone united around the one plan. Daggers, Mace, and Bow all have some solid support but that is scattered across variations of similar plans.
If we ignore the plans and just look at the components:
Vote Tally : On the Elsparian Road (Dryad Mercenary Drifter Quest) - Original - Fantasy | Page 81 | Sufficient Velocity [Posts: 2009-2111] ##### NetTally 1.9.9
A clear trend emerges. Pretty much everyone is in favor of:
[90%] Tactics and Command
[90%] Buster Sword
[78%] Trade and Commerce
[74%] Strategy and Logistics
which means the only major difference between plans tends to be the weapon. Looking at just those gives:
[26] Dagger
[17] Staff
[15] Mace
[14] Bow
Now admittedly these numbers aren't entirely accurate since I'm fairly sure Dagger doesn't have that big a lead (I think it is first/second preference weirdness) but it does suggest that Dagger could (possibly) win if people managed to unite behind one plan. Also that Mace and Bow are also pretty damn close and again united, or fusing with one of the other weapon options, could quite possibly end in their victory.
So this is pretty clearly important information for the voters. Especially when, as I said in my tally post, this is such an important vote for the quest.
I'd honestly rather that then like, a huge chunk of the people voting end up regretting their choices because they didn't understand the voting system or didn't know what was winning. It's supposed to be a best of both world's system that facilitates strategic voting while leaving room for a first preference, not a blind ballot.
Bluh. Well, I have entirely pointless votes right now (I suspected as much from a glance through but good to have confirmation), so...strategic voting go!
First
[X] Mace
[X] Tactics and Command
[X] Buster Sword
[X] Trade and Commerce
[X] Strategy and Logistics
Second
[X] Mace
[X] Tactics and Command
[X] Buster Sword
[X] Trade and Commerce
[X] Alchemy and Botany
So, those of us who've voted for daggers, what might be a good compromise vote to put as our secondary? The most obvious option would be this one, since it's in the lead out of the dagger votes:
[] Dagger
[] Buster Sword
[] Tactics and Command
[] Strategy and Logistics
[] Trade and Commerce
but maybe for some of the dagger votes the dagger is a secondary choice to something else, and they'd more likely push for a vote without the dagger but with that something else than vote for this. So, if that's the case, do speak up, and tell us what that something else it.
Finally cuaght up with this super cute story! Loved every moment of it.
Also got a big huge important question. I know you mentioned Dragons all of once. But are they 'mythological' dragons or anime ones. What I mean is can they transform into cute girls? This is a deeply important question.
