Cast-Offs of Divinity - A Merchants of Divinity Quest
- Thread starter JayTar
- Start date
- Sci-Fi Fantasy
Sure, removing the organ part for now.
Can I ask you to either switch out the Chemistry for Architecture or search hidden places for a university visit? We should be able to fulfill Infinium if we managed a 15 on the enchancer, but Steve requires us to get a Precision skill or something in the Science tree that can get us a building.
JayTar
Idea briefcase
*Looks in no particular direction*
I should mention that as a general trend subsequent contracts offered by a god become more powerful. Thus conversely, the more powerful effects are gated behind getting far enough down the contract chain.
This isn't meant to be an encouragement for any particular course of action. Just something I'm not sure has been directly stated before.
I should mention that as a general trend subsequent contracts offered by a god become more powerful. Thus conversely, the more powerful effects are gated behind getting far enough down the contract chain.
This isn't meant to be an encouragement for any particular course of action. Just something I'm not sure has been directly stated before.
Technically nothing stops you from using Biology for Steve. You would just need to acquire an Effect for it which could be scaled up to building size and come up with an idea. And answer questions like "Where are you going to be getting all that biomass"
Mh, the chemistry is for do-it-yourself explosives, which I want both for the sake of preparing for Steve and for its own sake.
For the sake of Steve I want to have it done before building to minimize the time the build needs to stay secret.
So I while I agree with that we need Architecture, I don't agree with needing it sooner than chemistry.
Sooooo...
If we invented ants capable of building it for us and made a bunch of those, we could have an anthill-building for the contract?
Maybe ants and special ant-pheromone spraycans that allow us to direct the ant swarm.
Or moles and house sized tunnel complexes.
JayTar
Idea briefcase
Hmm. That is an interesting idea.
Making ants (or other creatures) from scratch would require higher biology, but you could modify an existing strain. Though that might not even be necessary.
As long as the animals were sufficiently well directed then it would still qualify as "you" building it. So it could count. You would need Naturalism (Animal training) for it, though the right item could give you a bonus.
You would still need the animals and sufficient quantity of soil though. And would need to spend at least 10 AP on the actual making of the tunnels for it to count.
Basically the animals would be treated as tools with regards to the task.
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Make them depend on specially produces antfood.
They escape? They starve. Yeah, there is a time between escape and them becoming ineffective, but there wisdom from the Simic applies.
Plus, the majority of Ants probably wouldn't survive the explosion.
Would pheromone spraycans be a reasonable biology project (for a mad scientist) to get a bonus to Naturalism (Animal training) for ants?
- Location
- Sweden
Notably, this means that picking gods that vibe with you (for either personal or contextual reasons) is as or even more important than picking gods which are easy to contact/have easy early contracts.
I'm a bit too tired to make a plan right now, but why not finish off AI Protocols 3 with 3 TAP and go to the university? Training without a teacher is relatively speaking very inefficient, so it would be best to acquire a science trainer first if you want chemistry.
JayTar
Idea briefcase
Yes. It might even give a larger bonus then the standard 3/tier due to the high degree of specificity.
Time spent making the pheromones wouldn't count for the required 10 AP though as it would be working on a tool, not the project.
We could, but I'm not really aiming for high chemistry values.
Maybe a 2 (10+30=40 training progress base, effectively halved due to 2x multiplier on science learning) overall.
4 Tatp -> (4*3)d3 -> 12d3
Minimum: 12. (Guarantees lvl 1)
Expected: 24. (Enough for level 2 due to 2x multiplier)
And even a 1 to use science+chemistry feels better narratively.
Cool quest happy to join, just getting into the whole Merchants of Divinity concept.
Why do we want chemistry again? If it's just for blowing up a thing to contact a god that seems like a waste. Simple explosives probably aren't that expensive. Also, plenty of people get very powerful with just one god's contracts so we might not have to branch out from mad science for a while anyways.
The action to search for an opportunity to buy one says "likely to cost at least 1 high dot".
Our work is 1-3 Decent dots for 2 AP.
10/1-> 10 actions (20 AP) of work if we assume worst luck.
10/2-> 5 actions (10 AP) of work if we assume average luck.
10/3 -> 3 Actions of perfect luck + 1 Action regardless of luck. (8 AP)
That is actions of working purely for the explosives.
Ignoring the 1.2 decent dots we have in costs every turn, which means we either find an equally good second job or we try to get by on the 0.8 decent dots we have in profit each turn. (10/0.8->12.5 turns of average luck)
Chemistry 1 is guaranteed with that setup, Chemistry 2 is likely.
And it would leave us able to make our own explosives if/when our mad scientist (/her clients that can't go to a hospital) have need to schedule a rapid disassembly.
Ah. I didn't see that. I honestly don't really care about Steve's contracts, though I suppose that could change if we knew what they were.
Yeah, much too early to say If its a good or bad contract.
But the way to be offered it sounds fun.
- Location
- Gainful Employment
- Pronouns
- He/They
I mean, assuming that the Minecraft reference is the real idea behind Steve, and this isn't a bait-and-switch like a certain God from the original quest with a stealth reference in the name that I am avoiding mentioning by name so I don't spoil anyone who hasn't read it...
Steve's (presumed) themes of creativity, creation, resource acquisition, and greifing people should mean his high end contracts have costs that don't feel too much like costs for Levi-tan.
Steve's (presumed) themes of creativity, creation, resource acquisition, and greifing people should mean his high end contracts have costs that don't feel too much like costs for Levi-tan.
JayTar
Idea briefcase
Just giving notice: I'll be giving the vote at least another 24 hours or so.
Kinda but not really? The methods of contacting remain the same, but your AP/Resources/abilities increase. So something that costs 30 AP still costs 30 AP. It's just if you have 18 AP vs 10 AP you can get it done in less turns.
I should mention this is in part due to the quality. If you making it yourself you can substitute quantity for quality. But if you are buying it you need something human-portable which can blow up something the size of a small building.
- Location
- Sweden
Well, not that I truly mind the current plans, but I suppose I might as well throw in what I consider to be more optimal:
[X]Plan: To the University We Go
-[X] Skill training (Jörmungandr) (AI administrator protocols) (3 TAP)
-[X] Skill training (Jörmungandr) (Clandestine Proceedings) (1 TAP)
-[X] Work: Things seem to be back to "Business as usual". For however usual this business is. Expected pay: 1-3 Decent dots. (2 AP)
-[X] Now that you have some money, you should look back into the University? Not that you need help with improving your skills. But you weren't one to turn down an advantage. (3 AP)
-[X] Supplemental Research: MD Old Bones. You have questions about exactly how limiting his first contract is. Look into it. (2 1 AP)
-[X] Draft a schematic (Write in schematic) (1 AP)
--[X]Neuroplasticity enhancer: T3 Biology. Cost 9. Benefit: Gain +1 to dice size for your TAP training dice.
-[X] Reroll the schematic if the roll result is below 21, otherwise begin crafting! (3 AP)
Essentially, learning things without tutors is slow. Therefore, seek tutors. Simple, yes? Before we start learning Science specialties we should get a tutor so we can double our training speed. Until then we should use the tutor we have to get a level in an important skill, and I imagine that AI Protocols 3 is actually quite helpful to navigate the university.
On other actions: I don't think we need to talk to Old Man Jack. He's likely a tutor for Precision, but we don't need that skill for anything at the moment. And while I'm fine with contacting Steve, I believe we should first acquire the prerequisite wealth/skills before we begin that chain. Instead, I propose that we should just get on with getting our training booster. And since it seems like we're reasonably interested in Old Bones we might as well spend 1 AP on research to see if we can get a consensus on if we want the god or not.
By the way, I will note that the confetti bomb is actually pretty good? We're not great at combat, so getting +9 to that is good stuff. Combine it with the paint grease and the clown car and we got a pretty good escape kit. Keep it in mind for once we get into riskier situations.
Hm... also, we need a crafting project which costs 30 AP for Infinium? Not that much interesting stuff here at the moment though. Perhaps we can get Biology 4 and do an experimental.
[X]Plan: To the University We Go
-[X] Skill training (Jörmungandr) (AI administrator protocols) (3 TAP)
-[X] Skill training (Jörmungandr) (Clandestine Proceedings) (1 TAP)
-[X] Work: Things seem to be back to "Business as usual". For however usual this business is. Expected pay: 1-3 Decent dots. (2 AP)
-[X] Now that you have some money, you should look back into the University? Not that you need help with improving your skills. But you weren't one to turn down an advantage. (3 AP)
-[X] Supplemental Research: MD Old Bones. You have questions about exactly how limiting his first contract is. Look into it. (
-[X] Draft a schematic (Write in schematic) (1 AP)
--[X]Neuroplasticity enhancer: T3 Biology. Cost 9. Benefit: Gain +1 to dice size for your TAP training dice.
-[X] Reroll the schematic if the roll result is below 21, otherwise begin crafting! (3 AP)
Essentially, learning things without tutors is slow. Therefore, seek tutors. Simple, yes? Before we start learning Science specialties we should get a tutor so we can double our training speed. Until then we should use the tutor we have to get a level in an important skill, and I imagine that AI Protocols 3 is actually quite helpful to navigate the university.
On other actions: I don't think we need to talk to Old Man Jack. He's likely a tutor for Precision, but we don't need that skill for anything at the moment. And while I'm fine with contacting Steve, I believe we should first acquire the prerequisite wealth/skills before we begin that chain. Instead, I propose that we should just get on with getting our training booster. And since it seems like we're reasonably interested in Old Bones we might as well spend 1 AP on research to see if we can get a consensus on if we want the god or not.
By the way, I will note that the confetti bomb is actually pretty good? We're not great at combat, so getting +9 to that is good stuff. Combine it with the paint grease and the clown car and we got a pretty good escape kit. Keep it in mind for once we get into riskier situations.
Hm... also, we need a crafting project which costs 30 AP for Infinium? Not that much interesting stuff here at the moment though. Perhaps we can get Biology 4 and do an experimental.
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The plasticity enhancer.
A project to give Leviathan decorative dragon scales (confirmed possible as an organ project)
I think you mean "without tutors" in the first sentence?
And I'm aiming at chemistry 2, which we have a 94.7% chance of reaching in 1 turn with full tap on it. Thats not slow. And if we surprisingly fail next turn we can add one more tap on it while investing the rest into other things (like AI Protocols).
- Location
- Sweden
The plasticity enhancer only costs 17-ish AP as far as I'm aware, so that's not enough by itself.
Thanks for the correction.
I mean, sure, but if you had a tutor you could do the same in 2 TAP? In relative terms it's absolutely slow. But I understand your point of view.
We need to flood the city somehow. Leviathan is a sea creature. There are absolutely zero problems with this plan. There is no way the ominous void beneath the city would drain the water.
- Location
- Gainful Employment
- Pronouns
- He/They
Steve might have a contract that gives us a Bucket containing a Water Source Block.
[X]Plan: To the University We Go
JayTar
Idea briefcase
This comment is going to seem weirdly prescient once I post the next turn.
...Don't worry, it's not anything bad.