Thoughts on the Gu Tai offer:
Unfortunately for Gu Tai, the timelines of the competing offers don't really work in his favor. His option basically said that we have a decent amount of time before answering, and even if we say yes, it'd still take years to sort out all the details, with us being able to gracefully back out for a decent portion of it.
Whereas Cai's was "I'll ask again for a definitive answer after you breakthrough.", which is just a few turns away. And we can't put off our breakthrough in order to keep up with, well, everything else. And while we wouldn't necessarily be permanently locked out of becoming her vassal later if we said no or asked for more time, it would drastically weaken our rapport and position. While some might find it irritating that Cai is kind of forcing us into the decision before we've really come into our own and discovered our opportunities, from her position it makes perfect sense.
Apart from her Talent, the main reason Cai wants Ling Qi is because of her Loyalty. Is Qi willing to tie herself to Cai and get in with her early despite the uncertainty? If Qi is the kind of person to quibble over the decision while jockeying for other opportunities, then she's not the kind of person Cai can depend on to always have her back in her inner circle.
In order to still be "considering" Gu Tai's marriage offer by the time we breakthrough, we're basically saying no to Cai. Of course if we say yes to Cai, then we're saying no to Gu by default. It's not a great situation, but there's not much we or Tai can do about it. Which sucks for him, since he came into this competition for Ling Qi's future late, with less time to win us over, but that's honestly his problem.
Even though we've only had one interaction with him, the guy seems pretty good. Unfortunately "pretty good" isn't enough to be competitive here. His deal isn't just a matter of joining his "faction", it's a marriage, with all that entails. It would make him Ling Qi's life partner, the father of her children. He'd be integrated into most aspects of her life. And as the commoner marrying into his family, Ling Qi would start off on the back foot as far as influence in the relationship goes, despite whatever her personal power is at the time. And that's not even touching the personal issues she has with the whole business.
And what he's offering in exchange honestly isn't that great. Fighting off monsters and hunting for lost treasures. That can be fun, but we don't have to get married or plant ourselves in a radioactive desert to find similar activities elsewhere. And we'd be given resources, but we'd be expected to use them for what they're meant for, terraforming our little patch of desert and establishing our Branch House (which would be subordinate to the main Gu family and everyone above them), not so much for our personal development. So really the main thing to draw us into the option is Tai himself, and I just don't see him being able to win over either Ling Qi or the majority of the thread in the few turns that he has.
He seems nice enough, but he's not as immediately engaging as a lot of the other characters. To be honest he didn't impress me much with the initial meeting, wasting most of it just catching up with his cousin. Sure, he was trying not to come on too strong, and Ling Qi didn't help at all with her shrinking violet behavior. But he went into it knowing that she would already be presented with enticing competition for her allegiance, and the onus was on him to put his best foot forward when making his case. Again, he didn't do badly at all, just not necessarily good enough for the circumstances and time he has at hand.
, in this case however MS has 11 less dice than FSS (3 dot, -4d vs 3 dots +7d); so even if we don't have 29/40, the gap will stay 11 and the conclusions wrt relative enemy defense remain more or less the same.
