Hmmph... this junior is a good seed [Cultivation Management Quest]

[occipitallobe]

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Omake Writer Instructions:

There are four fields you need to fill out.

Omake Link, which is just a link to your first omake for the turn. This makes it easier for me to read them as I do the update - without this it's tough to know off the bat which omake were written this turn, and to properly

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[Taut_Templar]

[X] Plan Vassal Synergies

 

[afterthought53]

[X] Plan Clean Backyard
-[X] The Coloneia
-[X] The Scorpion Trade Palace
-[X] Unification
-[X] Rebuild the Bandit Kingdoms

 

[overmind]

[X] Plan Clean Backyard
-[X] The Coloneia
-[X] The Scorpion Trade Palace
-[X] Unification
-[X] Rebuild the Bandit Kingdoms

 

[Simon_Jester]

Can you clarify what you meant here? I don't recall any mention of Ma Clan formations.

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I think they meant "formations" in the standard military sense of "large organized groups of combatants, such as a cavalry or infantry division," not "formations" in the xianxia sense of "thing a bunch of cultivators do in order to collectively punch up."

But I could be wrong.

 

[Sirrocco]

We can't truly co-opt the Ma Clan because they are still Righteous, they fundamentally remain part of the opposite faction even when being used as a political tool.

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Technically, it's possible that we could truly co-opt the Ma Clan, but it would take extensive effort, it might well not succeed, it might well depend on random event rolls, and even if it did work, it still wouldn't be as good as having that many more Golden Devils. Basically, not impossible, but probably not worth shooting for or even particularly taking into consideration.

Can you clarify what you meant here? I don't recall any mention of Ma Clan formations.

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"formations" in this case meaning the standard military parlance of "organized, discrete groups of soldiers/warriors"

edit:

I think they meant "formations" in the standard military sense of "large organized groups of combatants, such as a cavalry or infantry division," not "formations" in the xianxia sense of "thing a bunch of cultivators do in order to collectively punch up."

But I could be wrong.

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Yes. That.

 

[no.]

203 actually
Hopefully
I actually have no clue, but I'm hoping 9 pillar is at 600 or 650 at most

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Pretty sure WoG puts it at 700. Early on it was listed as 700-800, because in-universe it isn't known well by the characters, but was changed to an exact number after people said they'd go for it.

 

[RebelYell]

[X] Plan Vassal Synergies

 

[Immenotyou]

[X] Plan Clean Backyard

 

[BadAtScreenNames]

[X] Plan Clean Backyard

 

[occipitallobe]

@occipitallobe if we were to adopt the Ma clan, what else would we get from the population and the 10 legion worth of forces at the Great battlefield?
Like, would they share some of their cavalry stuff with us?

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You'd get the Legions, largely. The Clan aren't exceptional cavalry because you need horses, a place to rear them, ambient Qi for them to feed on to become Spirit Beasts, and also an environment suited for them. Cavalry-wise you'd gain light horsemen as auxiliaries - not dissimilar to how the Romans tended to take on auxiliaries in various cavalry roles (especially the ERE) they weren't specialists in.

 

[Catpetter1981]

[X] Plan Clean Backyard
-[X] The Coloneia
-[X] The Scorpion Trade Palace
-[X] Unification
-[X] Rebuild the Bandit Kingdoms

 

[no.]

I just don't see what the Ma clan could have to offer us. They don't bring anything that we would find useful, their combat style doesn't mesh with ours, and it's not that big an improvement to our numbers. Other than that, I don't have any strategic opinions on this vote. This stuff seems like mostly fluff, and I'm not super interested in any of these factions. I guess the daylight monks are cool, it would be fun to have them around.

 

[Sirrocco]

I just don't see what the Ma clan could have to offer us. They don't bring anything that we would find useful, their combat style doesn't mesh with ours, and it's not that big an improvement to our numbers. Other than that, I don't have any strategic opinions on this vote. This stuff seems like mostly fluff, and I'm not super interested in any of these factions. I guess the daylight monks are cool, it would be fun to have them around.

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They bring us a bunch of outrider cavalry, that we can use to aid in our efforts to garner favor among the righteous, or possibly deploy militarily. They're not worth as much in that as actual legions of actual Golden Devils, but they are worth something. That's pretty much it.

 

[Kaboomatic]

I just don't see what the Ma clan could have to offer us. They don't bring anything that we would find useful, their combat style doesn't mesh with ours, and it's not that big an improvement to our numbers. Other than that, I don't have any strategic opinions on this vote. This stuff seems like mostly fluff, and I'm not super interested in any of these factions. I guess the daylight monks are cool, it would be fun to have them around.

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Ima be real i just like the ma clan
I feel bad for em
thats basically it

[X] Plan Vassal Synergies

 

[adamashield]

[X] Plan Vassal Synergies

I like them, I think having a ally we can actually trust a little (in the plains but less than the bandits under the NS) is worth some and that surviving this long is a virtue.

And for other reasons. Like to see if their (mortal) horses would help our (mortal) civilians too. Or if only the spirit horse that bring anything to the table (kek)

But it also mostly because I like those guys too^^.

 

[Resonant]

So just a heads up, the Clan Stats spreadsheet has been partially updated, and Occi has given an estimate of our current pop-cap as of this vote:

Resonant — Today at 5:18 PM
can you give us an estimate on how much Coloneia increases our total population capacity, percentage wise?

Occipitallobe — Today at 8:48 PM
Your current Core capacity sits at around 240 with the capture of the Jingshen core territories.
So another 12 is a 5% increase.

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So we've truly grown into a respectable power with over half the total Cores the strongest Sect have - SPS was mentioned to have 400 Cores. 240/400 isn't too shabby.

Coloneia also presents another 5% boost to Clan numbers, compounding on the insane advantages brought by Silver Cores. Furthermore, this 5% increase scales even further with the Oasis Formation's multiplying effect on top of that! Securing foundational advantages like this goes a long way to winning.

Coloneia's new Legions aren't just the Clan's military wing, they ARE the Clan. They are our economy and the recruitment base for supporting Nascent Souls, etc. The legions are the reliable bread-and-butter, whereas I believe the Ma Clan are too loose to be depended on with their Blood Path vulnerability & goal of leaving the Desert eventually.

 

[Mochinator]

[X] Plan Vassal Synergies

As long as i get some fucking Calv! WOOT

 

[Aventur]

[X] Plan Clean Backyard

 

[Lampshade]

I just don't see what the Ma clan could have to offer us.

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Well, if I'm playing devil's advocate . . .

It's a decent way to go all-in on Altar Lord being in terminal decline. If we count on the war in the north concluding in 5 or less turns and if these guys are tough enough to go from victory to victory, accumulate so much merit that everyone has to shut up and are left somewhat intact in the aftermath, we earn a massive return of investment.

On the other hand, we've just seen how things can play out for legions without NS support during AL's endgame. Any part of the Battlefield can turn into a meat grinder at any time. It is quite plausible that within 2-3 turns they are all wiped out, scattered or converted to BP, leaving us with disloyal and undisciplined refugees that hate the desert due to extreme difficulties with acclimatizing.

There's also the part where they need a stable piece of land to replenish horses. If the gamble fails, even best case scenarios might turn sour as they are whittled down by attrition. Then it becomes a challenge to squeeze the most out of them before they are spent and I have no idea where to even begin counting that, especially since we have no specific objectives up front.

My guess regarding an avarage scenario is that by the time of the Cannibal deadline, they will be down to 5 limping legions that are getting yanked around for peanuts, whereas the Coloneia Legions would be money in the bank.

Ima be real i just like the ma clan

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As long as i get some fucking Calv! WOOT

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So I have this vision where the The Coloneia becomes the Capital of Weirdos due to being so far from the RP, like a watered down version of the Maze. The rest is just glitter lol.

 

[Simon_Jester]

I just don't see what the Ma clan could have to offer us. They don't bring anything that we would find useful, their combat style doesn't mesh with ours...

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Their having a different combat style is why they bring something we could find useful. Our forces are slow-ass and excel at defensive or clashing-colliding 'shock' warfare. Their forces are less 'slow-ass' and more 'haul ass,' and they excel at mobile warfare, hitting the enemy where the enemy does not think they can be hit, and fading away from enemy strength.

Having guys like that is very helpful at both the tactical and strategic level.

 

[TheCount]

my hope is really that we can get and adapt some of their stuff to our own needs for the scorpion cavalry....
Although, if we were to find camels down south....

 

[CuriousRaptor]

I just don't see what the Ma clan could have to offer us. They don't bring anything that we would find useful, their combat style doesn't mesh with ours, and it's not that big an improvement to our numbers. Other than that, I don't have any strategic opinions on this vote. This stuff seems like mostly fluff, and I'm not super interested in any of these factions. I guess the daylight monks are cool, it would be fun to have them around.

Click to shrink...

They Bring us an in with the RP, and potentially depending on how we handle them, another ally to the GD akin to the Flod Dragons if they ever manage to get their lands back. Which would be a long time coming as they are basically on the other side of the map from the RP and they have no NS to actually win back said lands. The fact they have rapid deployment troops who can be buffers for us unaffected by the Trials is also a plus if we need to send force projection somewhere.

Given we'd be doing this and keeping them from dissolution and the MA clan being written off entirely, they're going to be pretty heavily disposed to us, especially since the ENTIRETY of the RP treats them with disdain if not outright Scorn, similarly to the Flood Dragons. While goodwill might be ephemeral as resonant argued, knowing that someone is going to treat you fairly when everyone else has not, and you know they never will, leaves you to try and cleave close to what allies you have.

[X] Plan Vassal Synergies

 

[nothingtoseehere]

[X] Plan Vassal Synergies
-[X] The Ma Clan
-[X] The Scorpion Trade Palace
-[X] Unification
-[X] Rebuild the Bandit Kingdoms


Colonia is boring and doesn't do anything but boost a cap we'd never reach. I'd rather take the Ma clan, it's not like the Righteous Path likes them much at the moment anyways - this is the time to flip them.

 

[Valkyrien]

[X] Plan Vassal Synergies

 

[Resonant]

Colonia is boring and doesn't do anything but boost a cap we'd never reach. I'd rather take the Ma clan, it's not like the Righteous Path likes them much at the moment anyways - this is the time to flip them.

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Coloneia doesn't just increase the cap, it directly boosts cultivator growth rate from the extra recruitment + resources available in the Southlands. It synergizes with Underground Devil Fortress greatly accelerating training speed, and Silver Blood benefits from the larger candidate pool. Oasis Formation compounds the total cap increase since it applies proportionally!
All of this builds upon our previous choices. The Coloneia offers the safest/greatest growth potential, which is crucial for securing a buffer for the next 100-year Trials, as it's expected to be much worse.

The Ma Clan is intriguing, but they will be an entirely new project that requires further investment. We have to integrate them, balancing their separate agenda, etc...
If they successfully reclaim their home in the Plains and leave the Desert, we'll need to revisit this decision on the Southlands again. The region would be less developed than if we secured it ourselves.

Ma Clan would be more appealing if we had an comprehensive diplomatic agenda to pursue with the RP, but we're trying to maintain our distance in a strictly mercenary relationship. In terms of overall strategy, we are gearing up for eventual confrontation with the Devil Bees / Sorrowful Blacksmiths which are both located in Mountain terrain. Cavalry will be of limited use there.