I did math it out, yeah. But I'm still uncomfortable with the idea of leaving a possible infiltrator unmolested. That we might need multiple points of influence this turn isn't something I'd actually considered but upon thought it looks pretty likely.
Yeah. I mean, I understand that, but we're just kinda stretched a bit. Honestly, regiments moving to being recruited off Influence might actually be a net negative for us.
I'm going to probably drop that action off my plan once I get around to making edits to reserve us 2 influence.
I think you might be, yeah. These guys are, when you get down to it, peasants. Whilst the chance that they've been co-opted by the Teuv is worrying Charlie Tellar isn't exactly terrible at conflict and should know well enough to go and grab a military regiment if it looks like she'll be heading into a fight. On that note actually,
Macchiato I assume that she'll take an escort with her on her trip?
Fair. I think I'll make that change, then.
I feel like it is, yes. Honestly I'd have him surveying Greater Harper, which is basically an autosux for him but where his action would hopefully support Charlie Tellar's action investigating the Yellow Banner. Honestly, some of those minor house actions are for us to give to Theo Raleigh when we don't have anything incredibly high risk for him to do IMHO.
I'll give my plan an edit in a bit (I'm going to be stealing your format) but its going to have to wait until after this essay is done. Fucking Precautionary Principle.
I think that's probably downplaying those Minor House actions a bit...well, let me just ask I guess. Honestly, if Theo Raleigh had nothing to do this turn then he should probably be going for Veteran Songweaver. Doing Minor House actions shouldn't be viewed as throwaways, it's part of being a good liege.
@Macchiato @OneirosTheWriter Can you provide more info on the Minor House actions? Specifically, for House Rios, it feels like there's still a roll of some kind needed there (presumably Martial since it's just buying ships) or is it mostly free? (I guess what I'm really asking about is there are a mix of actions, some with known base chance, some with explicitly ??? base chance, some with explicitly auto success, and some like these with nothing. How should we view these ones with nothing?) Additionally, this doesn't seem like that intensive an action time wise and so conceivably could be paired with something else? (As compared with the House Reynolds action which would probably take all their time.)
There's a few too many IC unknowns for me to give definitive answers there. As an approximation, Alice will be arriving at the mid-turn post. Fwiw, for a seafaring people, having to go around to Balan Harbour instead of docking at Billfarthing and coming up the Barossa River to Harper is like being told, "I'm afraid you can't stay up at my quaint fishing town, I've had to go away to Paris, so sorry, could you join me there?"
In terms of ports that sailors like to visit, there are three real attractions. You have Balan Harbour, which is Sonissimmo's, which is the most majestic city in Sartier and home to a enormous port facility, shipyards, and crazy fortifications. You have Carethlodom, which is Capo's harbour, where shore leave can earn you almost any earthly pleasure you're prepared to part with coins for. And you have Vicaria Bay, which is Carlisle's, which is a tremendous bustling hub of trade.
Just to follow on
OneirosTheWriter's reply, and
FriedIce's earlier query as well, because Evelyn is Alice's primary Sartieran contact, I would suggest that Evelyn not being present would have a negative impact and that Harper to see her would be first on the list of things to do.
Agree that we can't disclose how imminent, but would suggest that with our turns covering 6 month time spans, the likelihood of getting a message to Alice to change the itinerary at this point and also being able to confirm that it works for everyone is 50/50 at best.
Hrrrrrrm. I'm a little perplexed how to view this, honestly. Oneiros's reply seems to indicate that it would be kinda positive if the meeting was moved to Sonissimmo. But Macchiato then gave a rejoinder that if Alice got to Harper and Evelyn wasn't there that wouldn't be good and that there isn't better than an even chance that Alice could be told in time to just go to Sonissimmo first. So I think it's potentially not awful but probably not good in the most likely scenario?
Macchiato, for the purposes of Alice being happy, if Evelyn is doing stuff with the Minor Houses, will she count as being close enough by being inside Greater Harper or does she really need to stick around Harper itself? Further, if we wanted her to stay in Harper, would "Patching Up" also not be doable?
Also, if Rita isn't sent this turn to the Royal Navy, that option isn't going away barring some kind of diplomatic faux pax, correct? Alternatively, if she does manage to learn Naval Songweaver, would she then be capable of teaching that herself or would Evelyn (or whoever else) need to go visit the Royal Navy themselves to have a chance at learning it?
---
Musing out loud here on changes I think I need to make to my plan now that we have some more information.
1) Striking Janie Tellar. My gut tells me we'll want the Influence free for mid-turn.
2) Keeping Evelyn Tellar inside Harper. What exactly she'll end up doing is yet to be seen, but there are a lot of possibilities. She could get the Minor House work but she has mediocre Stewardship so that doesn't seem great for Reynolds (Rios fits better since it doesn't lock her in and it should be just Martial). She could do Recruitment but she's not a Spellsword so she can't get Longbows and yes we want some more Longbows. She can't take over for Luna and have Luna do that because the Royal Army action will also involve traveling all over. She could actually maybe take over for Dominic and have Dominic do that recruitment but that locks up Evelyn instead for 3 turns (ew, and sinks my plan of having her go to Sonissimmo with Rita next turn). So, I think it's either Minor House work, But Its So Big And Blue or some other military research, Survey Greater Harper, Loose Lips, or even an Eye for Talent. Hell, even the marriage/symphony one could be viable. Either Survey Greater Harper or But Its So Big And Blue would have potential synergy with the mid-turn actions...
3) Maybe keeping Rita Hulland inside Harper (ie not doing her research action this turn). This could let Evelyn still do the training action but my sense of synergy would still want to do that at the same time Rita is going for Naval Songweaver to give Evelyn a shot at it (pending answers above), so probably not.
4) Moving Hamid off the Yellow Banner actions, leaving Charlie Tellar to take only the one that disappears this turn, and into something else. Probably Loose Lips or Follow the Money, but it could be Survey Greater Etela instead. Or he could do Survey Greater Harper and let Evelyn take the ship research...
5)
Maybe moving Theo Raleigh into training Veteran Songweaver or An Eye for Talent if Hamid takes his spot instead. Nevermind, I remembered I wanted Hamid out of Carentan for a turn, so Theo stays there.
edit: Thought some stuff over while in the shower.
