Not worth eating. The technique isn't worth the corruption. Corruption slows our cultivation, we should focus on growing our cultivation after we have settled our foundation.
We should take it easy on the core eating. Yes, we should eat on occasion but only when the rewards are worth it and when we don't risk addiction. Pass on this one, and regain our sense of self control.
[X][Recipe Book] Yes (??? effects)
[X][Cores] Eat none of the cores.
[X][Orcs] Yes
[X] Yes - Guarantees an additional raid encounter with your retinue in addition to any encounter(s) you may roll from exploration. Adds 15 Days to Tour. Gain the title: Protector (+2 Martial, upgradeable). Also, encounter Orc cultivators for the first time and gauge what they can use.
Bai Shen (Uninjured)
Bai Chenshen (Uninjured)
Liu Chen (Uninjured)
Wong Hui (Uninjured)
Knights: 7/15
Bloody Hand: 12/20
Cavalry: 30/100
The Orcs had been practically swarming in these mountains and your retinue is badly depleted, it was time to make good on your promise to help defend Mors against the Orc Scourge. You honestly had some doubts about the effectiveness of Mors's defenders due to the fact they were mostly militia and their knight had been injured in one of your many battles this season. Battles that were as unfortunate as they were necessary for the greater good. The ruthless elimination of orcs and outsiders was the bare minimum expectation of a Lord's duties.
The journey from the northern Tian Shen mountains to Mors took several days, during which your trail rations began to run low. Fortunately, a little light hunting and trading with shepherds for sheep was able to stretch them until you reached the gates of Mors. You disposed of the spirit cores discreetly during the journey, eating another core was just too much risk for too little reward right now. A fire technique would be nice but you were happy being a close-in bruiser who took your enemies apart with your bare hands. Sure, it might have utility on the battlefield but you just killed the cultivator casting spells at your men and that was good enough was it not? Of course it was!
The people of Mors still looked over their shoulder as they worked the fields that surrounded the walled village. Their hands shook slightly as they wielded their tools, something only a cultivator would notice at a distance. It was unfortunate that your people lived under such a yolk of fear that they could not escape it on a daily basis but you had to admit the orcs were dangerous creatures, prone to fits of eating human flesh as well as rape and pillaging. It was understandable for people to be afraid of such things happening to their family, their clan.
You had your men setup camp in a field left fallow just outside the walls of Mors. You had no intention of troubling Jun-fan for a feast this time given he was injured in your service. It would seem ungracious and could cause you to lose face to impose on someone wounded in your service. That was the sort of thing a Lord should avoid.
A messenger was dispatched on your order for a company of Bai infantry to come to Mors for its defense. You hoped there were no raids in the five days it would take for them to march from Toril to Mors. If you were honest with yourself, you should have come as soon as you encountered the first Orc raiding party but you wanted to finish your survey of the mountains badly enough you had ignored that thought.
Four days passed where you could cut the tension with a knife. Peasants came to your camp to trade food for hard currency, as one would expect. Hard currency was hard to find in villages like these, they were too often forced to barter because the value of a few coins was too little for a sheep but a few coins was all they had. No orcs came during this time and you were thankful for that, it was good to avoid battle when your numbers were so badly depleted.
The First Toril Foot arrived on the fifth day in all their splendor and joined your retinue in making camp in an empty field. A solid hundred men to fight on your behalf and the relief your retinue desperately needed.
It was on the sixth day when a small army approached Mors, three hundred orcs by your scout's estimations. A force to be reckoned with. There was no doubt about that.
The Mors militia numbered sixty men of fighting age. Men ready to do battle to defend their homes regardless of the odds, odds that were much better with you here. All told, you force numbered a little over two hundred men. It was a sizable disadvantage but you suspected between your elite troops and your cultivators it would be as fair a fight as any modern battle could be considered.
Your force formed its battle line in the middle of a field of wheat. The wheat plants were trampled underfoot as your men closed ranks and girded themselves for battle. A part of you pitied the poor farmer whose field had been chosen for today's battle, a field that would have likely been harvested in a couple of days if the orcs had not shown up when they did. All in all you had your men form a double line a hundred men long with the militia and your retinue in the second line.
Your infantry, the first line of defense, formed a shield wall with locked rectangular Imperial shields that protected them from their feet to their heads. The shields were six feet by three feet, massive things intended to protect an infantry man in the heat of battle. Your infantrymen wielded swords they would try to pierce Orc flesh with.
The orcs likewise lined up in an impressive battle line three orcs deep. They planned to grind things out through sheer numbers it appeared. A bloody struggle but one you were still confident you could win.
A large Orc stood in the center of their battle line and grunted something in their guttural tongue. The enemy began to advance slowly on your position, measured steps. It seems they realized you had no archers with which to pelt them with arrows. Oh well, a minor issue.
You shouted at the top of your qi-enhanced lungs, "Win the battle and then take prisoners! Even five prisoners will be enough, kill the rest!"
A look of confusion flashed across your men's faces. It was not normal for a Lord to capture Orc prisoners. Orcs were for killing.
A few minutes later the battle was joined as your line held its ground and the Orcs tried to break it with crude sword and crude spear. The enemy cultivators did not show themselves in the initial engagement, apparently hanging back in fear of being singled out. That was just as well with you. You had fought enough battles personally to not mind sitting this one out.
Blood stained the fields as Orc and Man slew each other over who would take advantage of the peasants contained within the walls of the village of Mors. Would it be a human lord? Or would it be an Orc raider?
It slowly became clear as your battle line slowly gave ground that the infantry were tiring and there were still plenty of Orcs in reserve. So you did what any cultivator would do. You jumped into the middle of the battle with Ironwood Fortress and Heaven's Grace both in effect. And then you ripped off an Orc's head which splashed you in the creature's green blood.
That did not rouse their cultivator from his watchful slumber so you tore into the center of the Orc's battle line, tearing Orcs quite literally limb from limb with your bare hands. Their crude iron weapons wielded by mortal muscle slammed into your hardened flesh but the injuries were few and even the strongest of blows merely left the equivalent of a papercut on your flesh.
It was when you tore apart your twelfth or thirteenth Orc that the leader of your enemy dared show himself. A solid wall of muscle in the form of a seven foot Orc advanced through the battlefield and shoved his fellow Orcs out of his way, even if sometimes he shoved them straight onto the waiting swords of the First Toril. A challenge had been issued and this Orc intended to meet it.
You fell into Hawk catches the Crow.
He countered with Hunter Looses the Arrow.
You responded with Boar Rushes Down The Hill.
He answered you with Farmer Reaps the Chaff.
Odd. Orcs should not know their forms, or even if they did, not know the counter to the forms they knew. Something was amiss here. Someone taught this Orc the traditional form of martial arts among the Empire. You somehow doubted it was a captive. A captive cultivator would have found some way to escape. This was a consensual, meaningful exchange. That meant someone in the Zhou clan had gone past finger pointing and drawings in the sand with an Orc. Someone had taught an Orc cultivator the forms so that he could give battle and possibly win.
That was bad.
Your moment of introspection nearly cost you the fight as the Orc flowed into the Cyclone Rages and you barely, oh so barely, blocked that particular series of blows due to Heaven's Grace.
This Orc was a danger to you so you did what any brave commander did in the face of a serious problem.
You slowly backed off.
The Orc followed. It seemed he knew who you were and had no intention of letting you disengage only to reappear somewhere else.
One of your knights, a Lu Fan, tried to intervene only to have his arm broken in two places in an instant. The air cultivator quickly withdrew from the battlefield with preternatural speed.
Thankfully, the battle as a whole began to go your way as your second line relieved the first and the Orcs began to be worn down by the cultivators you had at your command. This leader of Orcs was only one Orc and he was thoroughly occupied exchanging blows with you. You could keep him busy long enough for the battle to end.
It was a near thing but you managed to keep him at bay long enough for the battle to clearly begin to go in your favor and the Orc lines broke and they fled back into the mountains.
Note: No real vote here, I'll have the Fall turn orders up tomorrow.
Matters with the Orcs resolved at the battle of Mors, you withdraw to Toril with your retinue to contemplate your next move. You have orders to give and a fief to run after all, you cannot spend all your time adventuring around the fief in search of trouble.
Strategic Actions (Pick 5; Please vote by Plan)
Casualties are recovered on the Winter turn.
You may write in actions that are not listed if you so desire. Please @ me so I can confirm they are valid and give details.
Revenue: 1357 Silver Bars / Season Treasury: 2063 Silver Bars
Actions are DC 50 unless specifically mentioned or contested (i.e. Acting against someone such as Flood the Market is an opposed check to determine effects).
Alchemy aka Learning (+30)
[ ] Flood the Market - The Zhou Clan depended on revenues from Heizhu Valley to prosecute their war against you. If you disrupted that flow of income, you would disrupt their ability to attack you directly. Of course, this was not free. It would cost you 500 Silver Bars / Season in losses from your Alchemy products. That said, your spies estimated that would choke off almost all the money your enemies could afford to spend attacking you. A fair trade? You decide.
[ ] Cultivation Aids - With the new hot spring, you were tempted to go into Seclusion. Winter was a relatively safe season to do so. The only problem is to make best use of your time you would need to source more than common pills and cultivation aids. You would need the high end products the powerful nobility normally reserved for themselves. This would cost you something and some time but the results would be worth it. 1x - 5x cultivation speed increase, depending on rolls, corruption, and spend (0-400 silver bars). These can be shared with your retainers if you so choose for additional cost.
[ ] Begin research into cheap single-use grenades - You had a wild hair of an idea of providing alchemical grenades to common troops to take out large quantities of orcs. You are not sure exactly how long this research will take or even if it will be successful. However, grenadiers would likely simplify your conflicts with the Orcs substantially and create results in your favor.
[ ] Experimentation (DC 100) - You had an entire guild of Alchemists at your beck and call. It was time to fund some R&D and see what they could come up with. New products were new sources of revenue and you needed money for your clan's cold war with Zhou. The only real problem was research was high risk and there could be catastrophic failures and casualties. That said, funding it was relatively cheap and would not substantially impact your budget.
[ ] Enhance Spirit Grain Production (DC 100) - A steady diet of spirit grain was important to cultivation and you intended to have the best spirit grain in the Seto region. Of course the selective breeding spirit-energy infused rice was a time consuming endeavor and was fraught with difficulties. That said, why not shoot for the stars?
[ ] Enhance Spirit Herb Garden Yield (DC 100) - You needed spirit herbs for your alchemists and leveraging your existing garden to yield more products was an endeavor worth engaging in. It would increase the profits from your Alchemy guild as well as your own personal cultivation power. The finest pills and cultivation aids required the finest ingredients money could buy, after all.
Diplomacy (+10)
[ ] Parley with the Zhou Clan - Perhaps you could work out some sort of arrangement that would nip this cold war in the bud. Paying a little tribute and losing a little face was a small price for peace, wasn't it? It certainly would save you on military expenses! Of course, it would make your clan look weak as well and could you really stand for that? Perhaps you could, perhaps you could.
[ ] Call in a favor - Conflict with the Zhou Clan was the sort of thing the Bai Clan at a whole should be handling, not you alone and isolated on the frontier of civilization. Your family owed you a favor for employing Bai Chenshen. It was time to call it in for support against the Zhou Clan.
[ ] Host a party for the Bai Clan's Allies - You do not know them well and you would like to get to know them better, particularly with war on the horizon. It was time to meet, greet, and strengthen your alliances with various clans. Alliances that you could tap when you had evidence against the Zhou Clan. Open war was forbidden but having your allies willing to shoulder some of the burden would make things easier on you.
Martial (+33)
[ ] Military Reforms (Pick any combination of the following declarations)
--- [ ] 200 Silver Bars / Season - Increase pay for your existing troops, increases Tradition by 10. Increases the cost of all Increase Military Spending options by 10%.
--- [ ] Landed Pensions - Pensioners are granted land to grow rice in your villages as freeholders. This annoys your Knights (-10 Loyalty) but increases Tradition by 10.
--- [ ] Meritocracy - Promote men based on merit, not connections, to improve the effectiveness of your army. This will annoy some of the existing leadership. -10 Tradition; +10 Effectiveness
--- [ ] Looters' Rights - Your men may keep loot earned in battle but they might be a bit aggressive at declaring what loot is "theirs". +5 Tradition; Some chance of incidents when involving third parties in your battles.
[ ] Increase Military Spending (Pick any combination of the following options)
--- [ ] 200 Silver Bars / Season - Hire an adventuring party in Summer to fight the Orcs and/or Spirit Beasts. (4 Rank 3 Cultivators to fight on your behalf for each Summer)
--- [ ] 200 Silver Bars / Season - Hire 1 Rank 3 Knight to fight on your behalf, a Lord's Champion if you will.
--- [ ] 200 Silver Bars / Season - Add 1 company of Cavalry to your forces, a quick reaction force to deal with problems.
--- [ ] 200 Silver Bars / Season - Add 2 companies of Infantry to garrison your most vulnerable villages.
[ ] Border Forts - Establish a network of small forts to alert you to the presence of raiders and also to hold against those same raiders until reinforcements arrive. It would make you look good to your people and if you were expecting increased raids, it would reduce the damage they caused to your lands. This will strengthen you against Orc Raids but weaken you against Bandit Raids.
[ ] Heavy Road Patrols - Build defensible posts along the road to the Imperial Highway upon which most of your trade flows and establish heavier patrols along the roads. It will weaken your defense against Orc Raids but will strengthen you against Bandit Raids.
Stewardship (+60)
[ ] Tax Reform - Now that you have settled in and surveyed what there is to survey, you have some ideas on how to increase tax revenue. It may not result in a great inflow of cash but it is something. Increases tax revenue by 150 Silver Bars / Season.
[ ] Develop River Mills - Watermills are a known technology to the Empire but one that is not in common use on the far frontier for it requires substantial investment of funds and is easily destroyed by raiders. However, if you think you can protect it, it would make a good source of revenue. These would be hammer mills, saw mills, and flour mills. The initial outlay would be 1200 Silver Bars but it would provide a revenue of 300 Silver Bars / Season.
Intrigue (+30)
[ ] Hire human bandits to plague Heizhu Valley. Attacking trade caravans, raiding villages, and generally making a nuisance of themselves. This is similar to Orc Raids but more politically acceptable if you get caught, the more you spend the more damage you will do. Of course, humans are less effective raiders than Orcs so you can expect a step less damage to be inflicted.
--- [ ] 200 Silver Bars
--- [ ] 400 Silver Bars
--- [ ] 600 Silver Bars
[ ] Hire Orcs to raid Heizhu Valley. An Orc Tribe will raid Heizhu Valley instead of their current target, this may or may not reduce the number of raids you experience this Summer. The net result will be a degree of damage to Heizhu Valley, the exact effectiveness will be directly related to how much you spend. Of course the more you spend, the more likely it is tongues will wag and you will get "caught".
--- [ ] 200 Silver Bars
--- [ ] 400 Silver Bars
--- [ ] 600 Silver Bars
[ ] Hire Ninja to protect yourself against enemy Ninja. Hidden Villages were mercenaries first and foremost and would do anything for a price. It was best to have countermeasures in place before disaster struck. Provides +20 vs. Intrigue actions.
--- [ ] Through the end of the year (-600 Silver Bars)
--- [ ] Ongoing (-200 Silver Bars / Season, indefinitely)
[ ] Hire Ninja to poison the Lord of Heizhu Valley. It would be a slow acting poison, one that would need to be administered multiple times in succession, but it would send a very strong message to leave you alone to the Zhou Clan. Powerful cultivators were difficult to replace. Of course, it also invited retaliation in kind so it would be best to have your defenses in place in the event you went through with this. This action must be taken multiple times on consecutive turns to be successful. A single failure will not reset the counter to 0 since poison does damage even if it isn't fatal, merely alert the enemy to your actions.
[ ] Hire Ninja to poison the spirit herb garden of the Zhou Clan's Heizhu Valley. If their products became unsafe, sales would dwindle and the damage it would do to their reputation would be irreparable. Of course, they could do the same thing to you...something to think about when you plotted your next move. (20% penalty to income to Heizhu Valley for 2 years until memories fade)
[ ] Hire Ninja to steal Technique Scrolls from the Zhou Clan. You might not be a master of Fire but sometimes it was best to fight fire with fire. You would discover their techniques, master them, master their chosen element and face your enemies with their own power. It also wouldn't hurt to have access to the element you were weakest against. ( Accelerates Element mastery time from 2 years to 3 months. )
[ ] Hire Ninja to steal Technique Scrolls from a random clan. With the hot springs in play, a mastery of Earth or Water would play to your strengths. Both elements were also strong against the Fire techniques of the Zhou clan, shoring up your one weakness. Of course, you would make enemies of another clan if you were caught. So there was that. ( Accelerates Element mastery time from 2 years to 3 months. )
--- [ ] Earth
--- [ ] Water
--- [ ] Some other element
Personal Actions (2 Actions)
[ ] Social Actions (You may take 2 of these in exchange for 1 personal action)
--- [ ] Have Liu Chen over for tea.
--- [ ] Have Wong Hui over for tea.
--- [ ] Have Bai Chenshen over for tea.
--- [ ] Have tea with the head of the Adventurer's Guild
--- [ ] Have tea with the head of the Alchemist's Guild
--- [ ] Have tea with the mayor of Toril
--- [ ] Have a Knight over for tea. (Knight selected randomly at first so I don't have to list out fifteen options today with no real IC knowledge of what they mean)
--- [ ] Have tea with Myeong Kimora
--- [ ] Have tea with Nae Fang
--- [ ] Have tea with Ka Rushan
--- [ ] Have tea with Han Xin
[ ] Purge the wolves: Lead an expedition to purge the wolf pack that exists in your lands. They need to be dealt with eventually.
[ ] Call in a favor: The Bai Clan owes you a favor, its time to call it in.
--- [ ] Write in what you want.
[ ] A Visit to the Imperial Court: The Imperial Court is the main power center in the entire Empire. Han Xin suggested you visit, you could take him up on the offer and have him show you around and meet eligible women. It could broaden your marriage options but you probably do not want to visit if you have a high corruption stat. People with Corruption-sense exist at the Imperial Court, its a rare talent but one that has its uses in politics.
[ ] Purchase technique scroll(s): Costs vary depending on the quality and rank of the technique scroll. For your current level, costs are about 500 Silver Bars for an average quality technique. High quality techniques double the price. Secret techniques are not for sale and must be stolen.
--- [ ] Write in technique you want to learn.
--- [ ] Water and Earth cultivation techniques to build an elemental affinity to gain access to the extra .5 from the Culitvation Resort are options to look for but their effectiveness is less than stealing a bunch of technique scrolls related to it.
--- [ ] You may name as many techniques as you like, although the fewer you name the more options you will receive for purchase.
[ ] Purchase spirit treasure(s): Costs vary depending on the quality and rank of the spirit treasure. Rank 3 spirit treasures of high quality generally cost around 1000 Silver Bars per treasure. Rank 4 of high quality would cost around 2000 Silver Bars per treasure. Rank 5 of high quality would cost around 4000 Silver Bars per treasure. etc. Generally, you would not buy spirit treasures of lower rank than yourself.
--- [ ] Name a spirit treasure you are looking for. (i.e. Flying Sword)
--- [ ] You may name as many spirit treasures as you like, although the fewer you name the more options you will receive for purchase.
[ ] Alchemical Purification: You must cleanse yourself of corruption if you are to advance through Cultivation. This is basically taking the Purification action except enhanced by expensive drugs. It costs 1000 Silver Bars.
++ Corruption Reduced by (1d100+Cultivation)/10.
[ ] Purification: You must cleanse yourself of corruption if you are to advance through Cultivation. This is the process by which impurities are purged from the flesh and the soul and you are covered in a black gunk.
++ Corruption Reduced by (1d100+Cultivation)/25
[ ] Cultivation: Cultivation is a standard personal action that causes a cultivator to cultivate. If a named character is a cultivator, it is assumed that they take this personal action if no actions are specified. (i.e. Your advisers will gain power each turn they can cultivate normally)
++ (1d100+Cultivation)/10 Power * 2.5 (Resort bonus) Increase.
[ ] Seclusion: Seclusion is a personal action that consumes all personal actions for a given turn in return for doubling your Cultivation rate for that turn.
++ 2x Cultivation, each action consumed is the equivalent of one Cultivate action.
++ Characters in Seclusion have 50% passive resistance to assassination attempts.
--- Characters in Seclusion are unavailable to respond to intra-turn crises that might arise, such as orc raids.
--- Characters in Seclusion do not provide their normal bonuses (such as an Intrigue Adviser providing Intrigue Bonuses) as they are considered unavailable for that turn.
Do you send any advisers into Seclusion?
[ ] Write in names (if any)
Do you inform the Bai Clan about the potential Spirit Stone Mine site?
[ ] Inform them of the spirit stone mine site.
[ ] Do not inform them of the spirit stone mine site.
[X] Plan Winter Wrap Up and Level Up
-[X] Cultivation Aids - With the new hot spring, you were tempted to go into Seclusion. Winter was a relatively safe season to do so. The only problem is to make best use of your time you would need to source more than common pills and cultivation aids. You would need the high end products the powerful nobility normally reserved for themselves. This would cost you something and some time but the results would be worth it. 1x - 5x cultivation speed increase, depending on rolls, corruption, and spend (0-400 silver bars). These can be shared with your retainers if you so choose for additional cost.
-[X] Begin research into cheap single-use grenades - You had a wild hair of an idea of providing alchemical grenades to common troops to take out large quantities of orcs. You are not sure exactly how long this research will take or even if it will be successful. However, grenadiers would likely simplify your conflicts with the Orcs substantially and create results in your favor.
-[X] Tax Reform - Now that you have settled in and surveyed what there is to survey, you have some ideas on how to increase tax revenue. It may not result in a great inflow of cash but it is something. Increases tax revenue by 150 Silver Bars / Season.
-[X] Develop River Mills - Watermills are a known technology to the Empire but one that is not in common use on the far frontier for it requires substantial investment of funds and is easily destroyed by raiders. However, if you think you can protect it, it would make a good source of revenue. These would be hammer mills, saw mills, and flour mills. The initial outlay would be 1200 Silver Bars but it would provide a revenue of 300 Silver Bars / Season.
-[X] Hire Ninja to steal Technique Scrolls from a random clan. With the hot springs in play, a mastery of Earth or Water would play to your strengths. Both elements were also strong against the Fire techniques of the Zhou clan, shoring up your one weakness. Of course, you would make enemies of another clan if you were caught. So there was that. ( Accelerates Element mastery time from 2 years to 3 months. )
--- [X] Water
-[X] Seclusion: Seclusion is a personal action that consumes all personal actions for a given turn in return for doubling your Cultivation rate for that turn.
-[X] Advisor Seclusion
— [X] Bai Chenshen
-[X] Inform them of the spirit stone mine site.
so my plan is basically getting our cultivation up, but aids, steal some water techniques because wood already has high def.
I picked both stewardship option because we have some spare cash and winter is good time for these projects. I also pick grenades because we can throw them into the wolf dens to kill them with less of a fight
Hopefully they send some development aid when they hear about the potential mine. I would prefer to raise some more troops, but I can see the logic in our risk taking.
[X] Plan: Sabotage and Cultivation
-[X] Flood the Market - The Zhou Clan depended on revenues from Heizhu Valley to prosecute their war against you. If you disrupted that flow of income, you would disrupt their ability to attack you directly. Of course, this was not free. It would cost you 500 Silver Bars / Season in losses from your Alchemy products. That said, your spies estimated that would choke off almost all the money your enemies could afford to spend attacking you. A fair trade? You decide.
-[X] Cultivation Aids - With the new hot spring, you were tempted to go into Seclusion. Winter was a relatively safe season to do so. The only problem is to make best use of your time you would need to source more than common pills and cultivation aids. You would need the high end products the powerful nobility normally reserved for themselves. This would cost you something and some time but the results would be worth it. 1x - 5x cultivation speed increase, depending on rolls, corruption, and spend (0-400 silver bars). These can be shared with your retainers if you so choose for additional cost.
-[X] Develop River Mills - Watermills are a known technology to the Empire but one that is not in common use on the far frontier for it requires substantial investment of funds and is easily destroyed by raiders. However, if you think you can protect it, it would make a good source of revenue. These would be hammer mills, saw mills, and flour mills. The initial outlay would be 1200 Silver Bars but it would provide a revenue of 300 Silver Bars / Season.
-[X] Hire Ninja to poison the spirit herb garden of the Zhou Clan's Heizhu Valley. If their products became unsafe, sales would dwindle and the damage it would do to their reputation would be irreparable. Of course, they could do the same thing to you...something to think about when you plotted your next move. (20% penalty to income to Heizhu Valley for 2 years until memories fade)
-[X] Hire Ninja to protect yourself against enemy Ninja. Hidden Villages were mercenaries first and foremost and would do anything for a price. It was best to have countermeasures in place before disaster struck. Provides +20 vs. Intrigue actions.
--- [X] Through the end of the year (-600 Silver Bars)
-[X] Seclusion: Seclusion is a personal action that consumes all personal actions for a given turn in return for doubling your Cultivation rate for that turn.
--[X] Use maximum Cultivation Aids & Spirit Stones per round of cultivation. (One Rank 4 Spirit Stone, ten Rank 3 Spirit Stones for 3x speed per round)
-[X] Inform them of the spirit stone mine site.
So:
I want to give the combination of flooding the market and poisoning the Zhou herb garden another shot, since that would allow us to really cripple them economically if it succeeds.
Building up our income is very important, both to allow things like Flood the Market, and because it will allow us to hire more troops.
I've also decided to hire Ninja in case the Zhou decide to return the favour, and I've paid for coverage through the end of the year so that we don't have to spend additional actions next turn and afterwards on it, freeing us up for more useful stuff.
We need to make some progress with cultivating, so going into seclusion will be useful, and getting some cultivation aids should improve our progress substantially.
Since we'll be in seclusion this turn, I think we need to make sure that our advisors won't be, so that they can be on hand to put out any fires as needed.
Sigh... Sometimes I lament short-sighted decision-making that come up without further thought.
Plan Winter Up seems fine initially but ignores any momentum we built up with the previous Plan. If we stopped 'Flooding the Market' our previous action would be wasted since the pressure only lasted for 1 season. We basically shot ourselves in the foot in that case, since the Zhou Clan opted to preserve their herbs instead of trying to compete with our lower prices last time.
Not to mention the Zhou Clan detected our attempted sabotage through ninjas, meaning they took Ninja precaution, but we aren't going to? Stealing a Water technique scroll from an Unaffiliated Clan without even hiring our own Defense seems like putting another cart before the horse, the Zhou Clan would be over the moon if they found out that dirty secret.
Furthermore, why are we using up an important action on Experimental research of Grenades if we wanted to counter the Orc Raids? It'd be much more beneficial in the immediate-term to fortify with the Martial action 'Border Forts' if the priority is really Orcs; the dire wolves aren't a high priority as there have been no incidents involving them before until we found them. We don't know if cheap grenades would even succeed, because it is quote:
@ChaosCircle Do we need to specify that we will use Spirit Stones for Seclusion? Are there any other available resources to us currently that will boost Cultivation speed?
Also, does Bai Shen qualify for the 3x multiple from Seclusion at the Retreat, or do we need to find a Earth/Water technique to cultivate first?
Also, can you put these other Spirit Stones we found into the Informational threadmarks, since the rank 3 Spirit Stones we received as Birthday Gift is listed?
@ChaosCircle Do we need to specify that we will use Spirit Stones for Seclusion? Are there any other available resources to us currently that will boost Cultivation speed?
You need an Earth/Water mastery to do it which requires a technique scroll + a period of training.
Also, can you put these other Spirit Stones we found into the Informational threadmarks, since the rank 3 Spirit Stones we received as Birthday Gift is listed?
@Ptolemy Could you consider specifying further details for our Seclusion, something like:
-[D] Seclusion: Seclusion is a personal action that consumes all personal actions for a given turn in return for doubling your Cultivation rate for that turn.
--[D] Use Cultivation Aids, a Rank 4 Spirit Stone (x3), Cultivation Retreat (x2.5)
++ You (and your Knights/Advisers and Bai Clan members) may enter Seclusion to use the Cultivation Resort to speed up Cultivation by 2.5x, in addition to the usual effects of Seclusion.
This would cost you something and some time but the results would be worth it. 1x - 5x cultivation speed increase, depending on rolls, corruption, and spend (0-400 silver bars). These can be shared with your retainers if you so choose for additional cost.
Do we need to specify using Cultivation Aids or that we will go into Seclusion using the Hot Spring Retreat?
Does Seclusion itself grant 2x speed separate from the Retreat's 2.5x multiplier, so it'd be 5x total with both for example?
When you say each Action consumed, since there are 2 Personal actions used up, does this mean we get 2 rounds of Cultivate actions at 5x speed, for example?
What's the extra cost for sharing the results of Cultivation Aid action with our retainers?
