On the Road to Elspar [Book 1] (Dryad Mercenary Schoolgirl Quest)

[Kei]

Right, closing the votes, opening Microsoft Excel, copy-pasting all the votes, lining them up, beginning the count, switching votes around to account for secondary preferences when the first preferences don't make it, and...

...It's a tie.

... ...

...Right, on an unrelated note, I need to step away from my desk. I'll deal with this when I get back. Until then, you get to sit on this. >_>

 

[Spectrum]

"Request denied. Dismissed."

Lucille blinks and almost physically recoils at the two words that immediately leaves Rastangard's lips.

Click to shrink...

Oh. She's trying to get de-selected, isn't she?

Girl, you were publicly named in front of your entire cohort as a squad leader. You ain't getting out of this one.

Her shoulder slumping, the soft laugh that comes out of Lucille's constricted throat moments later is bitter. "All this because I was born into one right family. Because I have a Celestia at the end of my name, we're all here and you don't like it and my instructors don't like it and my squad doesn't like it and I don't..."

Click to shrink...

I'm not entirely unsympathetic but being born into that position, you theoretically should have gotten MUCH more training than the others starting at a younger age.

And if you were still that shit at it, then perhaps your obligation should've been not to attend in the first place, somehow.

Lucille gives a mirthless laugh. She isn't trying to be impudent; she knows full well that she's getting away with this in part because - as has been mentioned - she's a Celestia. But she can't help it. "So you're saying I'm so awful that I'm a lesson for the others in how to deal with a horrible squad leader."

Click to shrink...

Well...yes.

"Yes," answers Rastangard, and her reply is so immediate and so without hesitation

Click to shrink...

...harsh.

*ducks*

"And they are a lesson for you on how to deal with them and become a better squad leader. You are not the first highborn girl who is less naturally talented than her peers to grace these halls, nor are they the first angry girls of lesser means to find their way here. Our task is to turn each of you into mercenaries who will see this academy proud. Not to make your lives easy."

Click to shrink...

You'll learn or you'll get fragged!

...

Wendy moves over to her bed, watching Lucille collapse into her own without bothering to change, so forlorn as she is. Finally, after a moment, she asks, "Are we going to have a problem?"

Click to shrink...

Wow, power move there Wendy.

 

[UberJJK]

...It's a tie.

Click to shrink...

This is something that very rarely comes up but in the case of ties I think the general rule is to go with the vote with the most first preferences. The same number of people want each choice but the one with more first preferences is preferred by more people.

But you should probably look that up to confirm. Especially since I am bised towards Staff.

 

[TimEd]

Staff! A healer Neianne with a Door as her shield. How can anyone choose anything else?

 

[Spectrum]

This is something that very rarely comes up but in the case of ties I think the general rule is to go with the vote with the most first preferences. The same number of people want each choice but the one with more first preferences is preferred by more people.

But you should probably look that up to confirm. Especially since I am bised towards Staff.

Click to shrink...

I'm pretty sure the way it works is that the two tied votes knife fight to the death and the third place sneaks up and bushwhacks them both.

 

[AnonymousRabbit]

Anyone that doesn't want to get jumped in an alley with little room to swing a buster sword?

 

[UberJJK]

But you should probably look that up to confirm.

Click to shrink...

Turns out I was wrong according to Electowiki:

Tie-breaking rules:

• LAST ROUND: Eliminate the candidate in the tie with the least votes from a previous round.
  • Traditional rule; violates purity of one-person, one vote ideal

Click to shrink...

This is the rule.

 

[Muramasa]

Staff! A healer Neianne with a Door as her shield. How can anyone choose anything else?

Click to shrink...

Neianne's Buster Sword has some pretty significant drawbacks, and while yes, more training can mitigate some deficiencies, a secondary weapon to address those gaps can go a long way to making Neianne a much more effective fighter.

The staff gives Neianne another skillset but it doesn't really address her problems.

I can understand why people went for the dagger set even if it wasn't my first choice.

I personally feel Alchemy is a better fit for Neianne over the staff, given it's not another tall weapon that's awkward to carry in combination with the Buster Sword, and adds a rare, versatile and potentially invaluable skillset that doesn't seem to be practiced much anymore.

 

[Arcus]

What are we tied on?

 

[Brainwasher]

What are we tied on?

Click to shrink...

[] Dagger VS [] Staff
[] Buster Sword
[] Tactics and Command
[] Strategy and Logistics
[] Trade and Commerce

Same plan with a different second weapon choice.

 

[UberJJK]

Right, closing the votes, opening Microsoft Excel, copy-pasting all the votes, lining them up, beginning the count, switching votes around to account for secondary preferences when the first preferences don't make it, and...

...It's a tie.

Click to shrink...

@Kei - Are you sure it's a tie? Because from my post here to now there are only four votes. Two for twin variations of Mace which shouldn't change anything, one for Bow/Dagger, and one for Staff/Bow. So the final tally should be at 20 vs. 14 in favor of Staff. I'm currently rerunning things using a Netally scrapping of all the votes (no partitioning + manual separation into primary/secondary) to account for anyone who edited their plan but I doubt that will result in any significant changes.

 

[Arcus]

[] Dagger VS [] Staff
[] Buster Sword
[] Tactics and Command
[] Strategy and Logistics
[] Trade and Commerce

Same plan with a different second weapon choice.

Click to shrink...

...Well, both options are equally unpalatable to me, so... *shrugs*

 

[Mother Nyx]

@UberJJK Bro, I did the math myself and if anything, Dagger should have won last time I check around vote 47. Let Kei do her job and stop trying to force the vote to Staff, this is really starting to anger me.

This is twice that Staff voters have tried to influence the vote in different ways. I let it fly the first time, when the argument led to this whole alternative vote thing because I had faith it was altruistic, but this seems like trying to rig the system now.

 

[Muramasa]

Getting a little chippy here. I agree we should leave it to Kei to handle the vote.

 

[Brainwasher]

Trust in Kei's capabilities. If it makes any of you feel better though, I cross-checked using excel. I got 16 leading staff plan votes (15 from a first pref, 1 from second pref) and 16 leading dagger plan votes (8 from a first pref, 8 from a second pref).

 

[Arcus]

I personally don't get why people who want a secondary weapon think that a dagger is a more fitting choice than a mace, sword or axe.

It's just... *waves hands*

But whatever, no point in complaining at this juncture.

 

[TimEd]

Can i get a tldr why people are choosing trade and commerce? I cant seem to see how it would be relevant to Neianne. So enlightenment would be massively thanked.

 

[Brainwasher]

Can i get a tldr why people are choosing trade and commerce? I cant seem to see how it would be relevant to Neianne. So enlightenment would be massively thanked.

Click to shrink...

#1799

I personally don't get why people who want a secondary weapon think that a dagger is a more fitting choice than a mace, sword or axe.

It's just... *waves hands*

But whatever, no point in complaining at this juncture.

Click to shrink...

It's the quickest weapon to switch to if someone ambushes us or they get past our buster into super CQC. Also an easy weapon to carry at all times. Its derivatives are also kind of cool, supposing we keep the original along with the derivative. Wasn't my ideal second weapon, but it has its advantages.

 

[Spectrum]

And as discussed previously, if Neianne is in a position where someone got past her sword, she's going to take damage. That's going to be an occurrence that happens faster than she'll be able to drop weapon and draw dagger. Secondary weapons should always have been viewed through the lens of deliberate alternate decision, not desperate split second defense.

But we're going in circles and the vote's done, so whatever.

 

[TimEd]

799

Click to shrink...

thanks for that.

Now all we gotta do is wait for QM final deliberation. Hopefully it leans towards the more interesting Staff.

 

[Kinruush]

@Kei - Are you sure it's a tie? Because from my post here to now there are only four votes. Two for twin variations of Mace which shouldn't change anything, one for Bow/Dagger, and one for Staff/Bow. So the final tally should be at 20 vs. 14 in favor of Staff. I'm currently rerunning things using a Netally scrapping of all the votes (no partitioning + manual separation into primary/secondary) to account for anyone who edited their plan but I doubt that will result in any significant changes.

Click to shrink...

I'm not sure how you're getting those numbers. I ran through the vote myself manually, and my numbers back up Kei's with 16 for each.

 

[Absum]

@Kei - Are you sure it's a tie? Because from my post here to now there are only four votes. Two for twin variations of Mace which shouldn't change anything, one for Bow/Dagger, and one for Staff/Bow. So the final tally should be at 20 vs. 14 in favor of Staff. I'm currently rerunning things using a Netally scrapping of all the votes (no partitioning + manual separation into primary/secondary) to account for anyone who edited their plan but I doubt that will result in any significant changes.

Click to shrink...

@UberJJK Bro, I did the math myself and if anything, Dagger should have won last time I check around vote 47. Let Kei do her job and stop trying to force the vote to Staff, this is really starting to anger me.

This is twice that Staff voters have tried to influence the vote in different ways. I let it fly the first time, when the argument led to this whole alternative vote thing because I had faith it was altruistic, but this seems like trying to rig the system now.

Click to shrink...

I'm not sure how you're getting those numbers. I ran through the vote myself manually, and my numbers back up Kei's with 16 for each.

Click to shrink...

It's because some people changed their votes but only edited their old posts and didn't make new ones and UberJJK didn't do a full recount.

 

[UberJJK]

Spoiler: First Preferences

[x] Staff
[x] Strategy and Logistics
[x] Tactics and Command
[x] Trade and Commerce
[x] Buster Sword
No. of Votes: 15

Spoiler: Voters

serra2
SAGrognard
UberJJK
wingstrike96
Nicklance
veekie
Sightedjt
The Meddler
Crow
strauss
King Prussia
Glau
Wirdo
Omniatrix
me.me.here

[X] Dagger
[X] Buster Sword
[X] Tactics and Command
[X] Strategy and Logistics
[X] Trade and Commerce
No. of Votes: 8

Spoiler: Voters

Lazy Minx
AnonymousRabbit
Aze
BungieONI
Kinruush
Jrin
The Laurent
typeterra

[X] Mace
[X] Tactics and Command
[X] Buster Sword
[X] Trade and Commerce
[X] Strategy and Logistics
No. of Votes: 6

Spoiler: Voters

MiracleGrow
Spectrum
VagueZ
Stasis
angelofwhim
FatedBread

[x] Bow
[x] Tactics and Command
[x] Buster Sword
[x] Bestiary
[x] Alchemy and Botany
No. of Votes: 5

Spoiler: Voters

Muramasa
buli-buli
PhDEevee
Nervos Belli
Guilop

[x] Bow
[x] Beastiary
[x] Scouting and Tracking
[x] Tactics and Command
[x] Buster Sword
No. of Votes: 4

Spoiler: Voters

Candesce
anowack
Absum
Arcus

[X] Dagger
[X] Buster Sword
[X] Tactics and Command
[X] Strategy and Logistics
[X] Alchemy and Botany
No. of Votes: 3

Spoiler: Voters

cB557
Salbazier
Karnax626

[x] Mace
[x] Buster Sword
[x] Tactics and Command
[x] Bestiary
[x] Trade and Commerce
No. of Votes: 3

Spoiler: Voters

Tnoz
pucflek
Changeofheart

[x] Dagger
[x] Tactics and Command
[x] Buster Sword
[x] Bestiary
[x] Alchemy and Botany
No. of Votes: 2

Spoiler: Voters

Megaolix
HalaNisu

[X] Mace
[X] Buster Sword
[X] Tactics and Command
[X] Scouting and Tracking
[X] Advanced Unarmed Combat
No. of Votes: 1

Spoiler: Voters

GGreader

[X] Tome
[X] Buster Sword
[X] Tactics and Command
[X] Strategy and Logistics
[X] Alchemy and Botany
No. of Votes: 1

Spoiler: Voters

Brainwasher

[x] Straight Sword
[x] Buster Sword
[x] Strategy and Logistics
[x] Tactics and Command
[x] Trade and Commerce
No. of Votes: 1

Spoiler: Voters

cheesyme

[X] Staff
[X] Buster Sword
[X] Tactics and Command
[X] Strategy and Logistics
[x] Beastiary
No. of Votes: 1

Spoiler: Voters

TimEd

Spoiler: Second Preferences

[X] Dagger
[X] Buster Sword
[X] Tactics and Command
[X] Strategy and Logistics
[X] Trade and Commerce
No. of Votes: 10

Spoiler: Voters

cB557
Salbazier
Crow
strauss
Muramasa
buli-buli
Brainwasher
Absum
HalaNisu
FatedBread

[X] Dagger
[X] Buster Sword
[X] Tactics and Command
[X] Strategy and Logistics
[X] Alchemy and Botany
No. of Votes: 5

Spoiler: Voters

Lazy Minx
AnonymousRabbit
Aze
BungieONI
Glau

[x] Mace
[x] Buster Sword
[x] Tactics and Command
[x] Strategy and Logistics
[x] Trade and Commerce
No. of Votes: 5

Spoiler: Voters

serra2
SAGrognard
UberJJK
anowack
cheesyme

[X] Tome
[X] Buster Sword
[X] Tactics and Command
[X] Strategy and Logistics
[X] Alchemy and Botany
No. of Votes: 5

Spoiler: Voters

wingstrike96
Nicklance
veekie
Changeofheart
Megaolix

[x] Dagger
[x] Alchemy and Botany
[x] Tactics and Command
[x] Trade and Commerce
[x] Buster Sword
No. of Votes: 3

Spoiler: Voters

Tnoz
pucflek
Nervos Belli

[X] Mace
[X] Tactics and Command
[X] Buster Sword
[X] Trade and Commerce
[X] Alchemy and Botany
No. of Votes: 3

Spoiler: Voters

MiracleGrow
Spectrum
VagueZ

[x] Bow
[x] Beastiary
[x] Scouting and Tracking
[x] Tactics and Command
[x] Buster Sword
No. of Votes: 3

Spoiler: Voters

Stasis
angelofwhim
King Prussia

[x] Staff
[x] Strategy and Logistics
[x] Tactics and Command
[x] Trade and Commerce
[x] Buster Sword
No. of Votes: 3

Spoiler: Voters

Candesce
Kinruush
Jrin

[X] Dagger
[X] Buster Sword
[X] Tactics and Command
[X] Alchemy and Botany
[X] Advanced Unarmed Combat
No. of Votes: 2

Spoiler: Voters

GGreader
PhDEevee

[x] Bow
[x] Buster Sword
[x] Tactics and Command
[x] Alchemy and Botany
[x] Bestiary
No. of Votes: 2

Spoiler: Voters

Wirdo
Omniatrix

[x] Mace
[x] Buster Sword
[x] Tactics and Command
[x] Bestiary
[x] Trade and Commerce
No. of Votes: 1

Spoiler: Voters

Arcus

[X] Mace
[X] Tactics and Command
[X] Alchemy and Botany
[X] Beastiary
[X] Trade and Commerce
No. of Votes: 1

Spoiler: Voters

me.me.here

[X] Advanced Unarmed Combat
[X] Buster Sword
[X] Stealth
[X] Strategy and Logistics
[x] Beastiary
No. of Votes: 1

Spoiler: Voters

TimEd

Spoiler: Instant Run-off

Spoiler: Round 1 - 1 Vote Plans

Lowest Scoring Voters:
GGreader
Brainwasher
cheesyme
TimEd

Votes Eliminated (Transfers to either eliminated plans or plans below current threshold):
TimEd
GGreader

Votes Transferred:
Brainwasher

[X] Dagger
[X] Buster Sword
[X] Tactics and Command
[X] Strategy and Logistics
[X] Trade and Commerce
No. of Votes: 8 -> 9​

cheesyme

[X] Mace
[X] Tactics and Command
[X] Buster Sword
[X] Trade and Commerce
[X] Strategy and Logistics
No. of Votes: 6 -> 7​

Spoiler: Round 2 - 2 Vote Plans

Lowest Scoring Voters:
Megaolix
HalaNisu

Votes Eliminated (Transfers to either eliminated plans or plans below current threshold):
Megaolix

Votes Transferred:

HalaNisu

[X] Dagger
[X] Buster Sword
[X] Tactics and Command
[X] Strategy and Logistics
[X] Trade and Commerce
No. of Votes: 9-> 10​

Spoiler: Round 3 - 3 Vote Plans

Lowest Scoring Voters:
Tnoz
pucflek
Changeofheart
cB557
Salbazier
Karnax626

Votes Eliminated (Transfers to either eliminated plans or plans below current threshold):
Tnoz
pucflek
Changeofheart
Karnax626

Votes Transferred:
cB557
Salbazier

[X] Dagger
[X] Buster Sword
[X] Tactics and Command
[X] Strategy and Logistics
[X] Trade and Commerce
No. of Votes: 10 -> 11 -> 12​

Spoiler: Round 4 - 4 Vote Plans

Lowest Scoring Voters:
Candesce
anowack
Absum
Arcus

Votes Eliminated (Transfers to either eliminated plans or plans below current threshold):
Arcus

Votes Transferred:
Candesce

[x] Staff
[x] Strategy and Logistics
[x] Tactics and Command
[x] Trade and Commerce
[x] Buster Sword
No. of Votes: 15 -> 16​

anowack

[X] Mace
[X] Tactics and Command
[X] Buster Sword
[X] Trade and Commerce
[X] Strategy and Logistics
No. of Votes: 7 -> 8​

Absum

[X] Dagger
[X] Buster Sword
[X] Tactics and Command
[X] Strategy and Logistics
[X] Trade and Commerce
No. of Votes: 12 -> 13​

Spoiler: Round 5 - 5 Vote Plans

Lowest Scoring Voters:
Muramasa
buli-buli
PhDEevee
Nervos Belli
Guilop

Votes Eliminated (Transfers to either eliminated plans or plans below current threshold):
PhDEevee
Nervos Belli
Guilop


Votes Transferred:
Muramasa
buli-buli

[X] Dagger
[X] Buster Sword
[X] Tactics and Command
[X] Strategy and Logistics
[X] Trade and Commerce
No. of Votes: 13 -> 14 -> 15​

Spoiler: Round 6 - 7 Vote Plans

Lowest Scoring Voters:
MiracleGrow
Spectrum
VagueZ
Stasis
angelofwhim
FatedBread
(Second Preference) cheesyme
(Second Preference) anowack

Votes Eliminated (Transfers to either eliminated plans or plans below current threshold):
MiracleGrow
Spectrum
VagueZ
Stasis
angelofwhim

Votes Transferred:
FatedBread

[X] Dagger
[X] Buster Sword
[X] Tactics and Command
[X] Strategy and Logistics
[X] Trade and Commerce
No. of Votes: 15 -> 16​

Final Two Votes:
[X] Dagger
[X] Buster Sword
[X] Tactics and Command
[X] Strategy and Logistics
[X] Trade and Commerce
No. of Votes: 16

Spoiler: Voters

Lazy Minx
AnonymousRabbit
Aze
BungieONI
Kinruush
Jrin
The Laurent
typeterra
(Second Preference) Brainwasher
(Second Preference) HalaNisu
(Second Preference) cB557
(Second Preference) Salbazier
(Second Preference) Absum
(Second Preference) Muramasa
(Second Preference) buli-buli
(Second Preference) FatedBread

[x] Staff
[x] Strategy and Logistics
[x] Tactics and Command
[x] Trade and Commerce
[x] Buster Sword
No. of Votes: 16

Spoiler: Voters

serra2
SAGrognard
UberJJK
wingstrike96
Nicklance
veekie
Sightedjt
The Meddler
Crow
strauss
King Prussia
Glau
Wirdo
Omniatrix
me.me.here
(Second Preference) Candesce

Huh. I would not have called that. It is a tie at 16-16. Quite the surprising number of people edited their votes.

 

[Kinruush]

It's because some people changed their votes but only edited their old posts and didn't make new ones and UberJJK didn't do a full recount.

Click to shrink...

Ah, that explains it.

 

[TimEd]

Huh. Sad to see my vote get eliminated so early. Wpuld have tripped the Staff vote to majority if I folded and included Trade and Commerce.