I loved this chapter. Akane being an absurd combat badass straight out of DBZ - hovering, golden flaming aura - but we also see her be empathetic and helpful to a new (instantly relatable) character. Seeing Yuno in action is great fun, too.

Sidebar - is there a list of 'projects the QMs would like done' somewhere? My job has given me paid time to work on anything open-sourcable. I vaguely remember someone making a combat simulator back in the day, anything along those lines need making/updating? Or, god forbid, economics modelling, which is my actual job?
 
[X] Give Akane lots of hugs for having to kill civilians. Bring Ino and hot chocolate.

Edit: so we just burned down a valuable Rock town? The city was Rock's primary(?) source of a valuable medical ingredient (Rockskipper Eggs). We've deprived Rock of medical supplies and struck a blow to their morale by depriving them of a major R&R destination. And that's not even mentioning the loss/capture of Rock's jonin.

This is a big win for Leaf.
 
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Vote time! What to do now?
Was this plan that we voted in ever implemented?
[X] Action Plan: Definitely Another Normal Birthday
Words: 298
  • Snowflake:
    • You're reluctant to create two discontinuous Snowflakes.
      • If you aren't comfortable, don't do it. We respect your boundaries with or without explanation.
      • This new plan allows for 12 hours of freedom immediately, with more coming.
  • Celebrate Snowflake's birthday (on/offscreen per QM spoons).
  • Following Days
    • Meet with Shikamaru to discuss Rock Strategies, high OPSEC.
      • We are currently considering researching a series of seals to allow us to destroy sections of Rock at distance (Suborbital strikes).
      • Shikaku once told us to come up with countermeasures before releasing WMDs.
      • We have preliminary ideas for protecting Leaf from this type of attack (Skyslicer nets, 5SB shields, nets above shields).
      • Could he provide his insight regarding topics of concern?
        • Do not mention Kei's request to spare some Tama.
  • Gaku (offscreen):
    • We need stone samples.
      • Provide reasons and specifications. Describe the Great Seal's stone and the surrounding area.
      • Please reach out to merchants, geologists, anyone you think could help.
    • Please collate as much geometry and geology knowledge as is reasonable without seriously denting the budget. Have summaries written if possible.
    • Does Tsunade run an aid organization? If so, where does she get clerks? Does she need more?
      • Could we encourage excellent GED graduates to go work for her, or increase GED output and direct them to her?
  • Offscreen:
    • Continue work on Air Tunnel Seal.
    • Experiment with anything we can earthshape. See if you can alter things to create a more suitable medium. What are the tradeoffs (smoothness lowers density, etc.)?
      • Obsidian? Diamond and other gems?
      • Can we increase the transparency of quartz?
    • Ask Kei to speak to Pangolin engineers/masons - have they seen similar material? Samples of 7th path stone?
    • Check in with Kumokugo about skyslicer teams
      • Report that skyslicers are vulnerable to dragonfire
      • Ask for ETA of mission
 
Leaf dispatches Akane and Yuno immediately to kill or capture the jōnin.

Uhhh, right, about me saying that Akane is unlikely to interact with a Jonin, I did not anticipate that Asuma regarded the Akane-Yuno team as being reliably able to kill/capture a Jonin, but they also did very well, so....

She tapped a finger on he telescope case that hung on her belt.

There's a telescope in Leaf?
 
[X] Give Akane lots of hugs for having to kill civilians. Bring Ino and hot chocolate.

Edit: so we just burned down a valuable Rock town? The city was Rock's primary(?) source of a valuable medical ingredient (Rockskipper Eggs). We've deprived Rock of medical supplies and struck a blow to their morale by depriving them of a major R&R destination. And that's not even mentioning the loss/capture of Rock's jonin.

This is a big win for Leaf.

But what about our losses? It may be a win for Leaf, but surely Rock did more things than just mount an unprovoked attack on Leaf and declared war?
 
Resubmitting @Insert's plan for consideration.


[X] Action Plan: Definitely Another Normal Birthday
Words: 297
  • Snowflake:
    • You're reluctant to create two discontinuous Snowflakes.
      • If you aren't comfortable, don't do it. We respect your boundaries with or without explanation.
      • This new plan allows for 12 hours of freedom immediately, with more coming.
  • Celebrate Snowflake's birthday (on/offscreen per QM spoons).
  • Following Days
    • Meet with Shikamaru to discuss Rock Strategies, high OPSEC.
      • We're currently considering researching a series of seals to allow us to destroy sections of Rock at distance (Suborbital strikes).
      • Shikaku once told us to come up with countermeasures before releasing WMDs.
      • We have preliminary ideas for protecting Leaf from this type of attack (Skyslicer nets, 5SB shields, nets above shields).
      • Could he provide his insight regarding topics of concern?
        • Do not mention Kei's request to spare some Tama.
  • Gaku (offscreen):
    • We need stone samples.
      • Provide reasons and specifications. Describe the Great Seal's stone and the surrounding area.
      • Please reach out to merchants, geologists, anyone you think could help.
    • Please collate as much geometry and geology knowledge as is reasonable without seriously denting the budget. Have summaries written if possible.
    • Does Tsunade run an aid organization? If so, where does she get clerks? Does she need more?
      • Could we encourage excellent GED graduates to go work for her, or increase GED output and direct them to her?
  • Offscreen:
    • Continue work on Air Tunnel Seal.
    • Experiment with anything we can earthshape. See if you can alter things to create a more suitable medium. What are the tradeoffs (smoothness lowers density, etc.)?
      • Obsidian? Diamond and other gems?
      • Can we increase the transparency of quartz?
    • Ask Kei to speak to Pangolin engineers/masons - have they seen similar material? Samples of 7th path stone?
    • Check in with Kumokugo about skyslicer teams
      • Report that skyslicers are vulnerable to dragonfire
      • Ask for ETA of mission
 
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I loved this chapter. Akane being an absurd combat badass straight out of DBZ - hovering, golden flaming aura - but we also see her be empathetic and helpful to a new (instantly relatable) character. Seeing Yuno in action is great fun, too.

Sidebar - is there a list of 'projects the QMs would like done' somewhere? My job has given me paid time to work on anything open-sourcable. I vaguely remember someone making a combat simulator back in the day, anything along those lines need making/updating? Or, god forbid, economics modelling, which is my actual job?
We already have a combat simulator, though @eaglejarl would know better than me what kind of room for improvement there is. In addition, @Paperclipped is, as you see, being extremely helpful with fights where every detail matters otherwise/and therefore protagonists will die. The notion of economics modelling, as a thing which would involve more economics for the quest, is terrifying, but what kind of thing did you have in mind?
 
We already have a combat simulator, though @eaglejarl would know better than me what kind of room for improvement there is. In addition, @Paperclipped is, as you see, being extremely helpful with fights where every detail matters otherwise/and therefore protagonists will die. The notion of economics modelling, as a thing which would involve more economics for the quest, is terrifying, but what kind of thing did you have in mind?
I don't have anything super specific in mind - I was hoping there were outstanding bounties. Happy to work on whatever would be the most headache relieving that a middling data scientist/programmer could do. Economic models for food/trade/Gōketsu finances? Maybe data models for other things, like population + power scales of the main villages? A GPT powered tool to generate seal failure ideas?
 
Chapter 495: Surprise Capture
That was fucking awesome!


Given how badly I've crumped it lately, this update would not have happened at all without your hard work.
Tsk tsk, none of that. Not having energy isn't a mistake, and you shouldn't feel remorse about it! I do hope you feel the way you want to soon but you shouldn't be mad at yourself for not having the juice. It just happens sometimes

Paper is awesome for helping out though :^)
 
Okay, now let's vote in some training plans. The new cap system seems to want more, smaller training periods, and for a lot of skills having the score a bit higher now is easily worth the loss is (former) flexibility at XP allocation later.

What I'm saying is, cast fist for Akane, earth shaping &sealing for Hazou, and hoping he survived for Haru? Best bro... Chakra capacity and med skills are my vote, right now.
 
Resubmitting @Insert's plan for consideration.


[X] Action Plan: Definitely Another Normal Birthday
Words: 297
  • Snowflake:
    • You're reluctant to create two discontinuous Snowflakes.
      • If you aren't comfortable, don't do it. We respect your boundaries with or without explanation.
      • This new plan allows for 12 hours of freedom immediately, with more coming.
  • Celebrate Snowflake's birthday (on/offscreen per QM spoons).
  • Following Days
    • Meet with Shikamaru to discuss Rock Strategies, high OPSEC.
      • We're currently considering researching a series of seals to allow us to destroy sections of Rock at distance (Suborbital strikes).
      • Shikaku once told us to come up with countermeasures before releasing WMDs.
      • We have preliminary ideas for protecting Leaf from this type of attack (Skyslicer nets, 5SB shields, nets above shields).
      • Could he provide his insight regarding topics of concern?
        • Do not mention Kei's request to spare some Tama.
  • Gaku (offscreen):
    • We need stone samples.
      • Provide reasons and specifications. Describe the Great Seal's stone and the surrounding area.
      • Please reach out to merchants, geologists, anyone you think could help.
    • Please collate as much geometry and geology knowledge as is reasonable without seriously denting the budget. Have summaries written if possible.
    • Does Tsunade run an aid organization? If so, where does she get clerks? Does she need more?
      • Could we encourage excellent GED graduates to go work for her, or increase GED output and direct them to her?
  • Offscreen:
    • Continue work on Air Tunnel Seal.
    • Experiment with anything we can earthshape. See if you can alter things to create a more suitable medium. What are the tradeoffs (smoothness lowers density, etc.)?
      • Obsidian? Diamond and other gems?
      • Can we increase the transparency of quartz?
    • Ask Kei to speak to Pangolin engineers/masons - have they seen similar material? Samples of 7th path stone?
    • Check in with Kumokugo about skyslicer teams
      • Report that skyslicers are vulnerable to dragonfire
      • Ask for ETA of mission
I think that we've learned some stuff since we made this plan, mainly that it's not a matter of what stone but instead how pure it is. We can probably cut the section with Gaku and the geologists/geometry.
 
Chakra capacity and med skills are my vote, right now.
For Noburi, I'm still partial towards Medical skills. He's supposed to be the next Tsunade, but his stats don't reflect that whatsoever. Sure, his primary utility is his chakra capacity (to leverage mass summonings), but that sort of instrumentality will eventually drive Noburi away. We already know that Noburi feels insecure because he's not part of the war planning "with the other geniuses."

Noburi has a mix of pride and insecurity about his bloodline, but his feelings about his medical skills are pure. They're something that are the result of his own efforts, hard-won by study and practice --rather than an accident of birth.

Boost medical skills.
 
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I think that we've learned some stuff since we made this plan, mainly that it's not a matter of what stone but instead how pure it is. We can probably cut the section with Gaku and the geologists/geometry.
I don't remember that, but the past few months have been insane irl, so I recognize that doesn't mean much. If you can find the infopost where we've gotten that information, then I'll cut the redundant parts of the action plan later tonight.
 
I see we can put Akane and Yuno on team "murdered innocent civilians" with Hazou now, eh? :V

It's fun to realize that they're both actually solidly powerful on their own; we've just been dealing with the monsters at the peak of the power curve for long enough that our perceptions on what is "strong" have been heavily skewed.
Also the value of prepared terrain, a chuunin and a special jounin just wrecked two chuunin and a jounin because while our enemies were sleeping we had stacked every card of the deck in our favour. Just looking at all the buffs we got to add to our rolls compared to them, getting the ambush off turned one kind of curbstomp into the other kind of curbstomp.

I bet in Shirogane Quest the players are gnashing their teeth at how they never got the chance to use any of their OP tricks, and a few are probably calling shenanigans on Akane's Shadow Clones :D
 
Of course he knew why it wasn't working. The stone was too diffuse, too impure. It needed to be denser and made of only one material. He had tried multiple different kinds of stone but none had been suitable. He had tried to fix it himself with Earthshaping and failed every time. No matter how much he pushed at the jutsu, no matter how carefully he attempted to comb through the stone in order to filter the intrusions, it wasn't enough. His metaphysical fingers were too fat, his metaphysical eyes too blurry. They had improved as he practiced with the jutsu—when he first learned it he had barely been able to tell anything about the internals of the material whereas now it was as though he was looking through a thick gauze blindfold
I don't remember that, but the past few months have been insane irl, so I recognize that doesn't mean much. If you can find the infopost where we've gotten that information, then I'll cut the redundant parts of the action plan later tonight.
 
For Noburi, I'm still partial towards Medical skills. He's supposed to be the next Tsunade, but his stats don't reflect that whatsoever. Sure, his primary utility is his chakra capacity (to leverage mass summonings), but that sort of instrumentality will eventually drive Noburi away. We already know that Noburi feels insecure because he's not part of the war planning "with the other geniuses."

Noburi has a mix of pride and insecurity about his bloodline, but his feelings about his medical skills are pure. They're something that are the result of his own efforts, hard-won by study and practice --rather than an accident of birth.

Boost medical skills.

Doing that would be giving up on trying to rush the prerequisites for sage mode
 
I... might have missed something, but I don't recall any indication that Sage Mode is something we can get soon. We know the stat pre-reqs for it, but we don't need to have those pre-reqs fulfilled until Noburi has enough favour with the Toads for them to teach him. In the meantime, Noburi has other goals for his build (WDB 50, mednin into the 20's, etc.) and we're in the middle of a world war so stats which benefit that are also probably more pressing than Physique.

Though, CR does appear to overlap 'Sage Mode pre-reqs' and 'helps the war' (via Zoo Rush) so I can plausibly get behind pushing CR now.
 
I think that we've learned some stuff since we made this plan, mainly that it's not a matter of what stone but instead how pure it is. We can probably cut the section with Gaku and the geologists/geometry.
I think that trying many different sorts of stone makes sense because there is presumably a lot to learn, and not just from a 3D sealing perspective. Maybe quartz is unusually easy to shape, or we can't make sharp edges in obsidian for some reason.

[X] Action Plan: Definitely Another Normal Birthday
 
Sidebar - is there a list of 'projects the QMs would like done' somewhere? My job has given me paid time to work on anything open-sourcable. I vaguely remember someone making a combat simulator back in the day, anything along those lines need making/updating? Or, god forbid, economics modelling, which is my actual job?
Economics sim would be amazing, although I have no idea what would be involved. Maybe ping us in PM?
 
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