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The Path Unending (A Cultivation Quest)

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bookofportals said:
Forge has the same general advantage as Heart, but techniques are a bit more interesting than channels, and we've gotta integrate techniques before starting the Farmer's step anyway.
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So, this is just my guess, but it seems that integrating techniques is necessary in order to form a channel. Bi said something about forming channels making you stronger/smarter/wiser, which sounds suspiciously like the attribute bonuses that technique integration gives. Plus, Siani said that we should only start channel-carving when we have one technique of each aspect of our Core integrated since otherwise we'd cripple our foundation for years to come.

I suspect what Siani is going to have us do is make a Time, Smoke, and Steel channel to start with once we have those techniques integrated, tbh.
 
[X] The Forge of Idealization

There are some good ones here, but wasn't there something about trying to carve as many channels as you are able? This seems like it would help with that, and I also like the idea of the sarcophagus.
 
[X] A Family United

Two reasons: 1) Multi-limbed people are a staple of the genre. Having a limb we can use as an "Electrician's Third Hand" or the like is not only expected in the genre but useful.

2) Kong Zhi is a true Kong. His limbs are not disabilities, just differences. What makes his family is that they are unique, with different experiences giving different abilities and thoughts. It's what makes their crafting so special, the materials make the charm, rather than the charm just being made from materials. As I said before, to want to be rid of the limbs and eye is to want to distance ourselves from what makes Kong Zhi a Kong. The family was saddened but proud. And when he wrote to them about it, they simply said "Make yourself." Build the person you want to be, as you would a charm. Here is a material to help you do such.

They will always love us, no matter what we look like. Being different from everyone else just means that there is something new about us to love. And the third arm is an acknowledgement of that. We no longer had the limbs we desired. So we built new ones.
 
Sickul said:
but wasn't there something about trying to carve as many channels as you are able? This seems like it would help with that
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It would, but we also can't start doing that until we're done integrating the techniques Siani gave us, which will take a good while. And we'll be stuck with the limbs while we're doing that since the sarcophagus changes us back to normal slowly over the entirety of the Farmer's Step.
 
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[X] The Forge of Idealization
[X] Chrysalis of the Polestar

Literally voting for fancy xp gain mechanics. :V
 
So I have seen a lot of arguing for Heart of Kong and other ideas so I hope it doesn't seem too conceited to argue for mine.

Some people have been saying that the transformation will not solve Zhi's problem with his limbs. The idea of a Fractal View has been workshopped for a while in the discord. From feedback on it, I can basically guarantee that any form we pick from the 3 would solve our problem with our limbs and the malus they give us as a base.
Then there would be additional benefits built upon it based on the forms. (Exact mechanics I cannot specify)

Also, I want to pitch the A E S T H E T I C of a Fractal View.

It's all about mediation, about choosing a destiny in the form we want. I imagine stargazing and careful thought.
A transformation made with the guidance of stellar energy as a boy carefully manipulates a shining puzzle box.

I think it speaks to Zhi's personality rather than implanting a charm into our chest.
(I am not dissing the Heart of Kong it's a great charm i just find its effect very violent for our introspective crafter boy)
 
I like the upgrade feature of Fractal. Like the Heart, Fractal will also never really get outscaled. With Heart we get some extra bonuses from integrations, and with Fractal we get new forms that can adapt to any situation we need it for (depending on time/mats/treasures available).

And I don't really get the fear about Fractal eating up mats leading to fighting in thread. As we get further along on our path, the amount mats and treasures available to us will only increase, as will the quality of them. A lack of mats won't be an issue for charms or for Fractal.

And why wouldn't we want to upgrade the pinnacle of our charm crafting that our family gave us a priceless Mat to make.

They're all great options tho, and Amber should get more love!! That's probably my favorite design.
 
[x] The Forge of Idealization
 
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Honestly, the arguments about passive benefits and us not having enough AP/resources are starting to convince me: Heart of Kong for the integration bonus, A Family United to so as a crafter we can crafter better (also maybe some kind of combat benefit? put an Archer or shielding charm in it?)
[X] The Heart of Kong
[X] A Family United
 
I will say this.

Forge bugs me for a few reasons.

  • It's a big, immobile piece of furniture. What skill would we even use to make it? Would we have to learn an entirely NEW crafting skill just to make this thing?
  • It uses the Anvil we got to make Fa's axe, putting off her charm even further.
  • It's effect is tied to carving channels for Farmer, something we can't do until we integrate our techs, and once we finish the farmer's step, will no longer have a function.
  • It's a goddamn coffin. Please don't turn Kong Zhi into an edgy tween vampire. :cry:

In contrast. Heart and Fractal provide an immediate use, and will provide long term benefits as we continue to gather materials and techniques.

Maybe Forge will end up with a benefit outside the channel carving thing, maybe not, I can't read Ves's mind.

But all I'm saying is, I don't want to wait several ingame month/weeks before we start working on the limb issue, after spending all the time actually crafting the charm.

But this is just my thoughts
 
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Knight-Radiant said:
It uses the Anvil we got to make Fa's axe, putting off her charm even further.
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What's one more trip to the market, in the grand scheme of things? Turning our focus to ALT now already somewhat delays starting the axe.
Knight-Radiant said:
But all I'm saying is, I don't want to wait several ingame month/weeks before we start working on the limb issue, after spending all the time actually crafting the charm.
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By the time we are done crafting whatever we make with ALT, we might be closer to Farmer than you might think. Especially if we're going to work on Fa's axe, Wonder search, and do Siani's tasks simultaneously.
 
glare31337 said:
What's one more trip to the market, in the grand scheme of things? Turning our focus to ALT now already somewhat delays starting the axe.
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Except that it's the only Steel Material we've found in all the trips we've made to the market since the start of the quest?

So, it's not "just one more trip" to the market.

It's however many actions it takes to find another Steel mat that will let us Pay Fa back for services rendered. After she's already waited a long time.

glare31337 said:
By the time we are done crafting whatever we make with ALT, we might be closer to Farmer than you might think. Especially if we're going to work on Fa's axe, Wonder search, and do Siani's tasks simultaneously.
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I really hope that's not the case tbh. 😞

I really wish we could finish the Axe and Pay back our friend instead of focusing on ALT but that's out of my control.
 
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Knight-Radiant said:
I really wish we could finish the Axe and Pay back our friend instead of focusing on ALT but that's out of my control.
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Fair.
Re: scarcity of steel mats though, we do have our hammer friend now. If they don't have any at the market, we could just pick up whatever metal mats they do have and turn them into steel during the crafting process.
 
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glare31337 said:
Fair.
Re: scarcity of steel mats though, we do have our hammer friend now. We could just pick up whatever metal mats they have and turn them into steel during the crafting process.
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Except not really.

Chui Dao turns part of the anam into steel, but it's a d6 roll. So if we rely on that , we risk giving Fa an Axe that has only 1 Steel anam.

Only 1 point of anam, of the aspect she requested we base the charm on.

That's... that's just messed up man

Fa didn't cheap out on us, we shouldn't cheap out on her. She deserves way more
 
Knight-Radiant said:
  • It's a big, immobile piece of furniture. What skill would we even use to make it? Would we have to learn an entirely NEW crafting skill just to make this thing?
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I think that's a fair point. This by its own would disqualify it from being possible to craft if it wasn't for one factor: Chui Dao. I'll spare you the math, but giving +5 successes per roll is equivalent to artificially raising the skill in question by +10. Thanks to our Hammery Boi, it's doable.

(I always was curious about making a Charm apparently skyrocketing your skill if you started with a low skill, tbh. This is one way to find out how that'd work, I suppose.)
Knight-Radiant said:
  • It uses the Anvil we got to make Fa's axe, putting off her charm even further.
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That Anvil was just 4 Sect Points. Replacing it with an equivalent material is more simple than you'd think.
Knight-Radiant said:
  • It's effect is tied to carving channels for Farmer, something we can't do until we integrate our techs, and once we finish the farmer's step, will no longer have a function.
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Kong Zhi doesn't even know how to carve channels, is the issue. I don't think it'll manifest as something dedicated to carving channels and nothing else just because of that factor, so I suspect it will have some immediate effects as well, especially considering that Zhi's intent will be on the lines of fixing his body with this Charm. Remember, as Ves and Ct said, the mechanics of each of the Charms are still evolving. I think looking at what the Charm is actually trying to do is a good way to guess a few of those later additions, but I will fully admit this is speculation.
Knight-Radiant said:
Except that it's the only Steel Material we've found in all the trips we've made to the market since the start of the quest?

So, it's not "just one more trip" to the market.
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That could have just been bad RNG, to be fair. Remember, Steel is a Third Order Aspect. If we've seen aspects like Royalty and Victory in the materials a few times, I think it wouldn't be unreasonable to think that Steel should be more common than them.
 
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