Purely adversarial, no. However, that's not exactly the context that seeking someone out explicitly to kill them for the power doing so would provide would be.
Fucking around and spending too much time not trainng over the break is how we lose in the tournament and Jiriaya loses the hat and makes everything one order of magnitude more difficult for us afterwards.
Jiraiya should keep the hat as long as we make the tournament. Winning shouldn't be necessary. Even if we get curb stomped.
That being said, if all goes according to plan the tournament will consist of Uplift, ISC, and a bunch of random scrubs. Beating ISC will be difficult, but not extremely so.
Jiraiya should keep the hat as long as we make the tournament. Winning shouldn't be necessary. Even if we get curb stomped.
That being said, if all goes according to plan the tournament will consist of Uplift, ISC, and a bunch of random scrubs. Beating ISC will be difficult, but not extremely so.
We need to outdo Hinata et all on a global scale otherwise Hiashi looks good and J looks bad. Proxy wars. Merely getting to the tournament doesnt suffice. And it also isnt optimal for us to merely get to the tournament, even if it did suffice.
We need to outdo Hinata et all on a global scale otherwise Hiashi looks good and J looks bad. Proxy wars. Merely getting to the tournament doesnt suffice. And it also isnt optimal for us to merely get to the tournament, even if it did suffice.
Didn't we beat Hinata in spars? It should be no problem for us. Also, I agree that we need to be ready for missions, especially if it's Akatsuki related.
We need to outdo Hinata et all on a global scale otherwise Hiashi looks good and J looks bad. Proxy wars. Merely getting to the tournament doesnt suffice. And it also isnt optimal for us to merely get to the tournament, even if it did suffice.
I think that Neji has dealt the Hyuuga enough of a blow that even if Hinata takes the tournament Jiraiya will still be able to keep the hat. I agree though that it is optimal for us to win the tournament; the Goketsu clan is newly (and controversially) formed, so the reputational effects of our performance in the tournament are greatly amplified.
It may be faster if Hazō did it himself. We can nudge Hazō into having "good idea" to nudge improvements.
Although Hazō has his work cut out for him as a sealmaster. Being able to tell how hot your furnace is getting instead of merely relying on color will be a godsend.
Didn't we beat Hinata in spars? It should be no problem for us. Also, I agree that we need to be ready for missions, especially if it's Akatsuki related.
Yeah, I think we can cheese the tournament more or less once we spend a pile of XP on Alertness and filling everything else up a bit combatwise depending on our indIvidual specs.
My main worry is not the tournament. Assuming unfirom distribution of contestants, we have a solid chance of a team uplift finals. Beating the tar out of 3 rounds of opponents isnt TOO problematic. It will be a bit dicey though.
After we get promoted we start getting sent out on missions that are srs business though, and I want to make sure our stats wont cripple us on those.
I think that Neji has dealt the Hyuuga enough of a blow that even if Hinata takes the tournament Jiraiya will still be able to keep the hat. I agree though that it is optimal for us to win the tournament; the Goketsu clan is newly (and controversially) formed, so the reputational effects of our performance in the tournament are greatly amplified.
I disagree a bit here. I think the Neji thing is a huge problem in the short term. However, if it was enough to do the job, J wouldnt have asked us specifically to rough up Team Kurenai ("I need to make Hinata's father look bad.") so this issue is still present.
If we get two of us into the finals, the question is put to rest forever. I think this almost permanently solves the Hyuga problem for the foreseable future.
I agree with this, but the pedant in me requires that I point this out: assuming the seal is simple enough for your research assistants to check, and assuming that you have enough assistants, you could actually have a production line of seal production. One person draws a seal, then ten people check it. If all of them sign off on it then it goes in the 'probably okay to infuse' pile. If one of them down checks it then you rip it up. Put a million people on this and you'd get a decent amount of throughput. I'm not sure that would be a useful allocation of resources, but it's possible.
Of course, if the seal is too complex for them to desk-check but they don't realize that...
We should make a seal that can check if a blank has been drawn right. That seems much easier than other ideas that have been proposed, but still hard enough that other people might not have done
Edit: Read farther and found that other people have already come up with this idea.
We should make a seal that can check if a blank has been drawn right. That seems much easier than other ideas that have been proposed, but still hard enough that other people might not have done it.
I disagree a bit here. I think the Neji thing is a huge problem in the short term. However, if it was enough to do the job, J wouldnt have asked us specifically to rough up Team Kurenai ("I need to make Hinata's father look bad.") so this issue is still present.
If we get two of us into the finals, the question is put to rest forever. I think this almost permanently solves the Hyuga problem for the foreseable future.
Given that Hiashi leads the obstructionist bloc and is generally Jiraiya's biggest pain domestically, Jiraiya will appreciate extra advantages against the Hyuuga because shutting them up will make Jiraiya's job easier. So even if us just getting into the tournament secures Jiraiya the hat (and Jiraiya can point to all those fancy trade deals we earned if he needs to) he'll still want us to trounce Hinata to make Hiashi look bad.
I'm not saying we shouldn't beat her if that comes up, I'm just saying that I don't think the hat's in the balance if we make the tournament.
Given that Hiashi leads the obstructionist bloc and is generally Jiraiya's biggest pain domestically, Jiraiya will appreciate extra advantages against the Hyuuga because shutting them up will make Jiraiya's job easier. So even if us just getting into the tournament secures Jiraiya the hat (and Jiraiya can point to all those fancy trade deals we earned if he needs to) he'll still want us to trounce Hinata to make Hiashi look bad.
I'm not saying we shouldn't beat her if that comes up, I'm just saying that I don't think the hat's in the balance if we make the tournament.
Im hesitant to say anything certain about complex issues like this. IMO the only guaranteed safe path is "Crush it."
For example: We make the tournament and one of us gets absolutely humiliated in a particular match. Does this offset any political gain we earned by getting to the tourny in rhe first place? It might.
Is J telling us these things because theyre necessary or because it gives him political icing on the cake? I dont know, but assuming the later seems dangerous.
1)They have some form of steel presumably since that word is used throughout MfD. (If not, make that somehow for sure. Try to reverse engineer Steelspine metal?)Working on production of that would help.
2) General metalworking stuff: if they dont have molds for things like kunai we gotta do that.
3) We need to advance the economical system and mercantalism a bit. Perhaps we cannot directly compete with civilian merchants due to Merchant Council bullshit, but we should look into buying portions of a merchants business and backing them behind the scenes.
4) Getting the educational system tweaked a bit
We are basically rich modulo the few months itll take for us to get approval to sell seals to the public. After that we can ruthlessly corner the explosive tags and storage scroll markets , flood them and drive profits down for competing sealmasters. By the time we establish a soft monopoly, we likely have enough startup cash to move to another trade good. Once we get a solid network of merchants running things on an international scale (perhaps coordinated through the Yakuza to give us another layer of plausible deniability), I expect us to own a solid fraction of the continent in the following 3-5 years.
This is not taking into account other low hanging renaissance stuff similar to the printing press.
Make a large metal tube put a explosive seal in it. Then have a hollow ball with a much more powerful explosive seal in it. Put ball in tube. What should we call it? Something beginning with a C.
Im hesitant to say anything certain about complex issues like this. IMO the only guaranteed safe path is "Crush it."
For example: We make the tournament and one of us gets absolutely humiliated in a particular match. Does this offset any political gain we earned by getting to the tourny in rhe first place? It might.
Is J telling us these things because theyre necessary or because it gives him political icing on the cake? I dont know, but assuming the later seems dangerous.
We're going to optimize our tournament run whether the hat's at stake or not, so our underlying assumption of what's at stake doesn't really matter. Since it doesn't matter, I prefer to go with the assumption I personally believe is closest to the truth. There's no danger to it, because we're still aiming for the top.
Incidentally, what should we do if and when we end up fighting each other? Just fight as best we can and see who wins?
We're going to optimize our tournament run whether the hat's at stake or not, so our underlying assumption of what's at stake doesn't really matter. Since it doesn't matter, I prefer to go with the assumption I personally believe is closest to the truth. There's no danger to it, because we're still aiming for the top.
Incidentally, what should we do if and when we end up fighting each other? Just fight as best we can and see who wins?
30*4 (covers for Initiative, Athletics, [combat stat], and [jutsu])
Advantage
Tunable Effect
+20
Disadvantage
Skill Penalty: Stealth
-20
Strain
325+(30, 70, 120[...])
Chakra Cost
65+(6, 14, 24[...])
One of the techniques the pangolins provided Clan Goketsu in exchange for 5SB that hasn't yet been given mechanics. I decided to.
In the old system, it provided a signfiicant bonus to combat stats and granted additional supplemental actions.
In this one, it provides a bonus of up to Aspect Bonus +2 to all combat stats and Aspect Bonus /2 (round down) additional supplemental actions.
However, given the effectiveness in the old system and relative-lack that buffs such as these provide in the new system, I decided to add the line "Allows Reflexive Supplemental Actions". Notably, using (and drawing from one's pockets) seals is a supplemental action. Unfortunately, none of the kids on the team have Lightning affinity; however, Mari, Kagome, and Jiraiya all do. Both of the latter two would put this to exceedingly good use. Even Mari might -- I strongly suspect she has a few Supplemental-Action genjutsu up her sleeves, to say nothing of the seals Kagome and Jiraiya might provide her -- though she has little interest in shinobi life any longer, so that's moot.
Make a large metal tube put a explosive seal in it. Then have a hollow ball with a much more powerful explosive seal in it. Put ball in tube. What should we call it? Something beginning with a C.
We're going to optimize our tournament run whether the hat's at stake or not, so our underlying assumption of what's at stake doesn't really matter. Since it doesn't matter, I prefer to go with the assumption I personally believe is closest to the truth. There's no danger to it, because we're still aiming for the top.
Incidentally, what should we do if and when we end up fighting each other? Just fight as best we can and see who wins?
We should just stage something mildly impressive in that scenario.
Clarification: I dont really care about the particular reasons as long as people are still focused on Optimizing for Tournament during the break. There has been a smattering of talk to the effect of "We should spend most of the time politicking." or "We should spend time doing X" where X is a potentially significant distraction from training. I view this as a bad outcome for a variety of reasons (one possible: IMO bad for us politically in Konoha), and so Im trying to voice those concerns before this becomes super important.
If it turns out that Noburi can't use them (they split your chakra evenly, that may interact weirdly with his bloodline's increase in technique cost), then he could still get a substantial amount of training in Vampiric Dew in relatively-compressed time due to having so many things to drain, so he might still get a bonus XP pool for that.
"Uh, Hazou?" Noburi inquired, looking over one of the unconscious competitors that Red Team One was busy gathering up.
"Yeah?" Hazou responded, dragging the last of the downed foes from this location over to the ring of bodies, arranged with their heads in toward the center.
Noburi grimaced. "I found that other Leaf guy, Nakano. He's going to be on red next round."
The other members of Red One were watching now, with varying levels of interest. Hazou kept his face neutral, but swore internally. Show that Leaf is fair, or show that we care for our own? A compromise occurred to him. "Damn, I hope he doesn't hate us for this. What do you say we pay for a really good medic for him back in Leaf?"
"As long as I get to tell him this wasn't my idea," Noburi quipped, reaching up to tap the sound-dampening Banshee Slayers held to his ears by a long strip of cloth. All the other Red One members covered their ears. A moment later, reaching his hand out to the center of the ring, Noburi dropped an Earbuster before leaping away.
Against the quiet evening, the sound was deafening. Literally, if you were one of the unfortunate ninja ringed around the seal who wasn't wearing ear protection. It was more of a high-pitched roar instead of any particular tone. A long second later, the sound cut off, and all was quiet again.
Noburi reached up to deactivate the Banshee Slayers. "Jashin-damn, that thing leaves your lungs feeling like they're about to ex- what?" He looked around at the variously raised and furrowed brows of his teammates for a moment, then shrugged broadly. "Whaaaat? The Jashin thing? I thought it sounded cool!"
Hazou was laughing so hard he could barely aim his perfume-laden macerator at the unconscious nin.
-o-o-
Keiko and Paneru returned from their rapid tour of the various forts, hopping down from Pandamonium's enormous shoulders before he bowed and dismissed himself so Keiko could conserve chakra.
"How'd it go?" Hazou asked Keiko, ignoring Paneru's grumbling's. Something about only ever getting to see 'shoddy post-bruto-minimalist architecture' when she came to the Human Path.
"While Fort Specialist Paneru has lodged a complaint against the idea that we want to encourage an all-out assault next round," Keiko relayed dryly, "I believe we have some contributions to make to the discussion."
"Let's not keep them waiting, then," Hazou said, turning and walking through the doorway of Ino-Shika-Cho's intact fort. Intact, that is, minus the couple corners and walls that had been destroyed to help to give the appearance that there had been conflict. (Aside from Shikamaru stomping Uplift flat in strategic maneuvering. Not that Hazou was bitter.)
They stepped into the bunker's spartan 'office'. "Keiko! Welcome back," Akimichi called from around a mouthful of some pastry or other.
"Thank... you," Keiko answered hesitantly. "I assure you there was hardly any chance of my not returning." The large boy simply nodded sagely in response.
"So, to business," Yamanaka began, taking charge of the situation. "I'm sure Hazou will insist on assembling a list of all the affinities and likely fighting styles of Reds next round, so I move to treat that part as dealt with."
"Ideally, it'll also include whether they're a priority target for re-draining when we get near the end of the round," Hazou added helpfully.
"Oooooof course it will," Yamanaka drawled.
"Don't give me that. We wouldn't want the reasonable ones waking up in time to stop the momentum behind Super Team Red."
"Which brings me to my next point! We all need to be coordinating to make sure Super Team Red happens. Shika thinks it'll practically happen on its own, but he's never had the best grasp of people--"
"Oy," Nara mumbled, opening one eye slowly.
"--oh hush. Even when you're looking down on people less clever than you, you still manage to overestimate them sometimes. Getting the hotheads and morons to wake up first is a good starting point. What else do we have?"
Nara summoned an enormous effort and sat up from off the floor. "We tell everyone we snagged Gouketsu Noburi in an ambush, having anticipated their strategy. Specifics can be choreographed out and rehearsed tomorrow. We convince the Red contestants that the only appropriate response is to wipe Team Gouketsu out next round, and we do so before any calmer voices or social manipulators can prevail. Other than you, you insufferably troublesome girl. Re-draining contestants so they wake up shortly before the start of the round reduces the amount of time they have to think things through, with the exception of anyone woken by proctor intervention."
Having exhausted his burst of energy, Nara flopped back to the ground and shut his eyes. Nobody spoke for an uncomfortably long moment, until Hazou turned to Paneru and asked, "So, I hear you may have some ideas about fortifying ourselves next round?"
A couple of the larger pangolins had a competition to see who could chop up more trees by slamming them into the thin side of a force wall. In totally unrelated news, the area immediately around Blue Team Two's bunker is thoroughly stripped of trees, and you have plenty of lumber projectiles available.
Having examined all the affinities, equipment, and (snerk) anatomies of the Round Two Reds, each member of Team Uplift will get some number of free Invocations* of the Aspect "Rolodex of Doom".
The pangolins lack immediate access to the kind of thick-drying paint one would need to make a 'single object' by the definition of the Five Seal Barrier. Paneru did point out that a thin layer of MEW lifting up the bunker should be amenable to such treatment. She had a wide array of suggestions for incorporating traps and enemy-herding elements in the field around the bunker as well. The Zone(s) in the immediate vicinity of the bunker will therefore have some number of floating free Invocations* on the Aspect "Pantokrator's Protective Preparations".
Approximately two metric buttloads of word halves are currently residing in Pandaa's residence on the Seventh Path. Some of these were bought from conscious teammates with storage or explosive seals scribed by Hazou in the eight hours or so he spent sealsmithing during the day.
You used the Dispel technique randomly many times, just in case.
*: Subject to change depending on how QMs want to adjudicate your preparations. This seemed like a good way to give them some oomph without spending too many spoons.
Voting is open until 9am Eastern Time on Sunday. See below for allowable voting information.
There will be three independent votes happening. These are the only subjects for the vote.
(A) The nature of your defenses for round 2;
(2) Whether you are willing to do a "Come at me, brah" speech at dinner; and,
(Γ) Whether you are willing to loudly announce, and then actually follow through on, using lethal traps on three sides of your fort.
Please tag your votes as follows for clear identification. Votes not so tagged will not be counted. Case sensitive.
Noburi grimaced. "I found that other Leaf guy, Nakano. He's going to be on red next round."
The other members of Red One were watching now, with varying levels of interest. Hazou kept his face neutral, but swore internally. Show that Leaf is fair, or show that we care for our own? A compromise occurred to him. "Damn, I hope he doesn't hate us for this. What do you say we pay for a really good medic for him back in Leaf?"
"As long as I get to tell him this wasn't my idea," Noburi quipped, reaching up to tap the sound-dampening Banshee Slayers held to his ears by a long strip of cloth. All the other Red One members covered their ears. A second later, reaching his hand out to the center of the ring and craning his neck away, Noburi triggered an Earbuster.
Oh Hazou, this really does not help fix everyone's perception of you as excessively perverted. Maybe you can clear things up once you get back from your night at the strip clu- oh wait.
