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The Path Unending (A Cultivation Quest)

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CeBrudras said:
Does this really apply to all charms or were the other votes just too ambitious? I so far assumed that charm crafting ran the entire gamut from tiny gadgets that artists spend mere minutes on to the proper named stuff that Zhi usually creates.
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All charms that are being made from scratch. Remember how long Zhi's charms take to make? Add another step to that because most people have to diagram between the first two steps.
Enjou said:
Okay, well, a moratorium from 1 AM to 5 AM doesn't give a lot of us time to give input, lol. Still, I'm not quite enthused with any of the ideas so far, so I'll try to think of something.
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Yeah, I know. Just how the writing process shook out. There's a reason this vote's open for twice as long as usual.
 
Enjou said:
Not everyone is going to have talent in a given field of crafting. We're supposed to judge these people on their merits, not try to shoehorn them into our own little box.
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It's not like we're forcing them to use craft jewelry. IIRC we've used gem dust to inlay into the glyphs and runes. A previous idea I've seen was to somehow get gem infused onto a thread and use that for clothworking.
It's more about giving them potentially new knowledge and see how they use that knowledge.
 
Okay, so, what I want for this competition is for these people to show their creativity. I don't want to box them in. We've reached the stage of the competition where the weakest competitors have been eliminated.

[X] Plan Artistic Endeavor
- 6 people eliminated, 6 finalists remain
- 12 points for each competitor to spend at the market.
- Each competitor will have one hour to peruse the sect market for anam materials and supplies, limited to the 12 point budget granted. They will then be given some time to come up with a charm concept that would make use of the given materials in conjunction the rare material they had previously gathered. The charm can be anything, be it a weapon, a piece of art, something for utility, so long as it would end up a functional charm that suits its purpose. The goal is simple - convince Kong Zhi that their ideas have artistic and technical merit. They should keep in mind though that those who pass will need to actually make their charm, for that will be what they will have to enter into the finals.
-- The materials and supplies purchased by the losers will be confiscated. Anything that Mo Hanying doesn't want to keep or resell will be split between Kong Zhi and Fan Zhao.

Let them come up with whatever they can, with the limits on their materials imposed. They each get 12 points to work with, along with the fruits of their labor in the prior round. That ensures the playing field is fairly even, and it shows their skill rather than their ability to gain money. Anyone who comes up with a boring idea will be eliminated. Six finalists should ensure that enough of them actually are able to make their charm concept since some might experience explosions and not make it to the finals. This also lets us set what the final competition will be, and gives them plenty of time to make the best charm they can.
 
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OK, so the skills not tested so far:

--> Synergy: Crafting multiple charms which complement each other. Thing which were accused of lacking.
--> Exquisite Material: If given an exquisite material, can they craft a charm to justify that. This idea meshes with Rare Item Round done already. (But I am seeing people wanting to save that for Finals)

So, here is what I am thinking:
Charm crafting which allows for multiple charms using only Sect Points and scrapyard for this round. We only judge on design this round, and next round they actually craft the items.

And in Finals, then they use the rare material they have saved and craft masterpiece which has to serve both as masterpiece in itself, as well as fit thematically with other synergetic minor charms they created.
 
[X] Plan Artistic Flair
A lot of this is a lot more complicated than the stuff Fan Zhao has made, so I've got one that's a bit simpler, detailed earlier. See how good they are at making their work into art, rather than how long they can keep making it without quality going down.
 
@Vesvius, this was brought up in Discord, but for my plan here...

Enjou said:
- 12 points for each competitor to spend at the market.
- Each competitor will have one hour to peruse the sect market for anam materials and supplies, limited to the 12 point budget granted. They will then be given some time to come up with a charm concept that would make use of the given materials in conjunction the rare material they had previously gathered. The charm can be anything, be it a weapon, a piece of art, something for utility, so long as it would end up a functional charm that suits its purpose. The goal is simple - convince Kong Zhi that their ideas have artistic and technical merit. They should keep in mind though that those who pass will need to actually make their charm, for that will be what they will have to enter into the finals.
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...hypothetically what would happen to the materials purchased by the losers? Could we confiscate them, and distribute them between Kong Zhi and Fan Zhao? Mo did say we could benefit from putting work into the competition, and that seems like a way to do so. (though my personal sense of fairness would have Fan Zhao get either first pick or the lion's share, given he's put in more work for the competition)
 
Enjou said:
@Vesvius, this was brought up in Discord, but for my plan here...



...hypothetically what would happen to the materials purchased by the losers? Could we confiscate them, and distribute them between Kong Zhi and Fan Zhao? Mo did say we could benefit from putting work into the competition, and that seems like a way to do so. (though my personal sense of fairness would have Fan Zhao get either first pick or the lion's share, given he's put in more work for the competition)
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That is indeed certainly something you can do.
 
[X] Plan Prep for Finals
- 8 people eliminated, 4 finalists remain
- No points this part of the competition. Points saved for finals.
- Each participant is given a hypothetical budget of 25 sect points. With these they must conceptualize a charm that emphasizes their crafting qualities. In this planning they must choose materials, type of charm and function of said charm, this charm should also include the rare material from the previous round. After the planning each participant will be questioned on their concept by Zhi and Fan. They will mostly focus on creativity of the design, usefulness of the design and technical feasibility. After deliberations the best 4 participants will be chosen. Those 4 participants will be given 35 sect points to realize their charm concept for the final round (25 for the concept + 10 for unforeseen expenses)

In short create some paperware charm, defend idea for a panel, best 4 get to build it.
shouldn't take an action next turns as it sets up participants directly for the finals.

And this is actually the Semi-finals:
Vesvius said:
The next round after this one will be the finals
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zang269 said:
That's a little too blatantly profiteering from their failure for me, and I'm somewhat concerned about KZ's public image considering the last update.
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So, what, we're just supposed to let a bunch of losers keep the materials purchased with Mo Hanying's money even though they're out of the competition? That could be seen as wasting Mo Hanying's money.

@Vesvius - Quick question, for the losers of the rare materials challenge that Fan Zhao put forth, what happened to the materials they gathered? I'm wondering if Fan Zhao has been getting any profit off of the competition himself since Mo Hanying did imply there'd be benefits for putting work into this competition.

Mattias2912 said:
Those 4 participants will be given 35 sect points to realize their charm concept for the final round (25 for the concept + 10 for unforeseen expenses)
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That many points aren't available for us to give:

-What resources you require from Mo Hanying (Can be materials, charms, or resources totaling up to 15 Sect Points per competitor).
 
Enjou said:
@Vesvius - Quick question, for the losers of the rare materials challenge that Fan Zhao put forth, what happened to the materials they gathered? I'm wondering if Fan Zhao has been getting any profit off of the competition himself since Mo Hanying did imply there'd be benefits for putting work into this competition.
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One person returned empty handed, two came back with generic materials which were sold by Mo Hanying, and the three which didn't make the cut were indeed taken to be repurposed by Fan Zhao. No sense throwing the baby out with the bath water after all.
 
[X] Plan Engineering 1001
-8 people eliminated, 4 finalists remain.
-10 points for each competitor to spend
-Kong Zhi and Fan Zhao will work together to create a charm schematic meant to be made with relatively mundane, inexpensive materials. This schematic will have several flaws hidden within it, including safety problems, suboptimal materials, and unreliable components. The competitors will be given a budget with which they could purchase the materials for the schematic... Or, if they are skilled, more suitable materials that would solve some of the design flaws. Each contestant will then present their charm, which will be graded by Zhi and Fan. Contestants who merely submitted the same design as the faulty schematic will be eliminated. Other contestants will be graded based on the creativity, usefulness, and impact of their design changes, in a similar way to how the charms in the final round will be graded (thus introducing the finalists to the grading process for the last round). There will be no limits or restrictions to how they interpret the charm schematic provided. If a contestant chooses to create something entirely different that still fulfills the same function as the original schematic, this will be accepted and graded on the same system as the others.


The budget I assigned here might be a little too much or too little, I haven't been paying the most attention to the market system. This plan is based on an idea I discussed in the thread a few chapters ago, and I hope it works out.
 
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@Vesvius just to clarify. The final week of the contest is week 21. So will Fan Zhao be giving out the final challenge for the contestants in week 20? If Kong Zhi skips the contest action in week 20 and just goes to the one in week 21, will he only be judging the contest that Fan Zhao issued?

edit: actually we'll probably be issuing the challenge this week if we do a plan that involves judging them this week (anything non-crafting)
 
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Vesvius said:
One person returned empty handed, two came back with generic materials which were sold by Mo Hanying, and the three which didn't make the cut were indeed taken to be repurposed by Fan Zhao. No sense throwing the baby out with the bath water after all.
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Well, in that case, he's already profited, so I'll edit the option a bit. Mo Hanying selling some does make sense, though. It's not just the judge that can benefit.
 
[] Plan Lucky
-[] Eliminate 8
-[] Give everyone 15 Sect Points
-[] The next challenge shall be one of luck and resourcefulness. Randomly divide the competitors into 4 groups of 3. Each group will be given a different scenario that has a few problems that they must design a charm to fix. The groups will be competing with themselves, so that each group will have one winner and 2 losers. Each competitor will be given 15 sect points and will have a few hours to go to the Market and purchase materials to use in their design, they may only use these materials and mundane crafting supplies for this contest. Each competitor will have to bring receipts of their purchases or be followed by one of Lady Mo's runners to the market to make sure they follow this rule. Each competitor will then design a charm that will be able to solve their given scenario and the charm design that is most applicable for each scenario will be the winner for that group and that charmcrafter will move on to the Final. In the Path Unending, luck is as necessary as any other attribute. No one will be guaranteed to be in an easy group or receive an easy scenario or be able to find relevant mats in the Market. After the designs are judged, the winners will keep their materials and all materials bought by the losing competitors will be taken. Each final contestant will be allowed to choose 2 materials to use in their final project from this group, the order of who chooses first will be random. The remaining materials will be split between Fan Zhao and Kong Zhi.
-[] Four of the following scenarios will be chosen randomly, one given to each of the four groups. This, as well as which competitor is in which group, will be determined by a dice roll.
— The Lady is having a gathering in her garden, but the sun is so glaring, the temperature is so hot and the air is so humid. How can she entertain guests like this?
— The accomplished sailor has gone fishing. On his way back from a successful trip, The sailor leaves a trail of salt water and Fish blood. Someone might slip and fall.
— The great chef has been on the look out for a rare and rather pungent ingredient. But anyone who harvests it will have to make sure they can keep it fresh on the return journey and stop the smell from attracting any wild spirit beasts.
— The fighter has expressed her displeasure at her wooden training dummy not being able to stand up to her attacks.
— The dog trainer is in need of a chew toy for her dogs, one that will not break easily.
— The tired one is tired, but he can't sleep. Help him fall asleep.
— The Warrior is in need of competition, everyone he spars with gets hurt too easily.

Ok so updated the plan so we can do the judging this week and give the finalists two full weeks to work on their final project, which will probably just be to create the best charm they can with the rare material from last week. Also we get some free mats out of it!
 
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Evilness42 said:
[X] Plan Engineering 1001
-8 people eliminated, 4 finalists remain.
-10 points for each competitor to spend
-Kong Zhi and Fan Zhao will work together to create a charm schematic meant to be made with relatively mundane, inexpensive materials. This schematic will have several flaws hidden within it, including safety problems, suboptimal materials, and unreliable components. The competitors will be given a budget with which they could purchase the materials for the schematic... Or, if they are skilled, more suitable materials that would solve some of the design flaws. Each contestant will then present their charm, which will be graded by Zhi and Fan. Contestants who merely submitted the same design as the faulty schematic will be eliminated. Other contestants will be graded based on the creativity, usefulness, and impact of their design changes, in a similar way to how the charms in the final round will be graded (thus introducing the finalists to the grading process for the last round). There will be no limits or restrictions to how they interpret the charm schematic provided. If a contestant chooses to create something entirely different that still fulfills the same function as the original schematic, this will be accepted and graded on the same system as the others.


The budget I assigned here might be a little too much or too little, I haven't been paying the most attention to the market system. This plan is based on an idea I discussed in the thread a few chapters ago, and I hope it works out.
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Charm schematic? Do you mean a DIAGRAM!? What nonsense is this? In what world would Kong Zhi judge on the ability to make diagrams?
 
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