Threads Of Destiny(Eastern Fantasy, Sequel to Forge of Destiny)
- Thread starter yrsillar
- Start date
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Black Noise
Curious
- Location
- About 1AU from Sol
While hiding your true skill in a main focus area (like music skill for us) isn't too useful, there is still some merit in secrecy, specifically because it can let you eke out a win where otherwise you would lose. Take the case of CtE; someone who doesn't know to put distance from us if they're tagged by HR is liable to get hit by the full effect, very likely ending a fight right there.
In this system a win like this has knock-on effects, either a few AP worth of CP from a successful defense (and appearing weaker than you really are makes you more attractive of a target) or a jump to a new rank you might not have made if your capabilities were better known.
Cecylene
Eternal Idea Engine
- Location
- Massachusetts
- Pronouns
- He/They
Considering that the known Sites are as follows:
My guess would be that the "Standard Argent Vent" would increase the success factor to either 1.9 which would make it par with the Origin Temple of Winter's Muse for Cold, Dark, and Music arts but the Argent Arts are niche enough that I'd believe it. Another guess would be the bonus resource dice increasing 33% to 20 dice. And lastly, I'd assume a flat doubling of virtual yellow stones from 4 per turn to 8 per turn at minimum.
As for my two cents on some of the issues Ling Qi is encountering in regard to the various Cultivation levels within the Inner Sect, is that everyone we are challenging has by default been here for at least a year longer than us. They likely don't care about falling to the bottom of a bracket as long s they aren't at risk of falling out of their current bracket and only challenge to maintain their bracket or to move up to the next one. While the sect numbers people on a scale of 1-1000, the disciples only truly need to care about their Bracket and time we look into the next Bracket we're going to see the next threshold for power.
(Bracket 9) 951-1000: 25 yellow stones
(Bracket 8) 901-950: 1 green stone
(Bracket 7) 851-900: 1 green stone, Least Argent Vent
(Bracket 6) 825-850: 1 green +20 yellow, basic lessons, Lesser Argent Vent
(Bracket 5) 801-824: 1 green +40 yellow. Second floor access reduced to 30 points
(Bracket 4) 775-800: 2 green stone +40 yellow, second floor access reduced to 20 points. Standard Argent vent
(Bracket 3) 725-776: 2 green stones +40 yellow, Second floor access free, third floor available,
(Bracket 2) 701-724: 2 green stones +60 yellow, intermediate lessons. Third floor points reduced
(Bracket 1) 675-700: 3 green stones +60 yellow. Third floor reduced, minor elder tutoring available, Greater Argent Vent
Looking at this the people we are looking to challenge now have had an extra 40 dice, a better vent, and easier access to arts for what could be assumed to be at least a few months, if not more.
Our problem with our current situation is that while we on the Path of Material Superiority we simply can't crunch as much cultivation time into every day as we would like. We have loads of stones rather than needing to attempt to garner them from the Sect due to auctioning the Mirror. We are hyper-focused on our non-standard build rather than anything to do with the Argent arts, through the vent will be rather helpful in handling Argent Genesis more rapidly. Tossing onto that pile, we are a Cultivation Machine and are pretty much simply dealing with a bottleneck of time for Cultivation and other actions.
We have to perform social obligations, we need to handle political actions to prepare our future position with the Cai, we need to research our prospective
Ling Qi is known to grow faster than most other people of the Sect, due to her higher talent. Combined with our luck with the Music and Moon arts we got in the Outer Sect and the bonuses we've reaped from selling the Mirror and hooking up with Cai, we are always going to be straining against whatever place we are because the people above us have had more time to settle into their groove of moving up and down the Sect Ranking ladder.
One thing to consider when talking about CtE is that the touch isn't strictly necessary. If the touch fails then they are probably still next to us (within 5 meters) which means CtE still deals B30 unblocked damage. Given that we need to tag the person with HR first we can easily take someone with A0 health or less with it in one shot even if the rouch fails.
Heavenly Body
In the Stars
- Location
- Out there
[X] Liang He, Disciple 790
- Location
- The Star Kingdom of Manticore
[X] Liang He, Disciple 790
- Location
- Fabulously Rainbow Ireland
[X] Liang He, Disciple 790
Sooooooooooooo who here thinks we should have Sixiang introduce Meizhen to one of their cute siblings/cousins and see if they click? Might not be able to derail the engagement but at least Best Snek could have a partner she's actually attracted to even if she's stuck with a husbando she dislikes.
EDIT: Plus getting some of the Bai to embrace the Dreaming Moon might be amusing in the future.
Sooooooooooooo who here thinks we should have Sixiang introduce Meizhen to one of their cute siblings/cousins and see if they click? Might not be able to derail the engagement but at least Best Snek could have a partner she's actually attracted to even if she's stuck with a husbando she dislikes.
EDIT: Plus getting some of the Bai to embrace the Dreaming Moon might be amusing in the future.
So what I'm hearing is "cute genderfluid moon husbando route requires MOAR character development and/or higher cultivation level for Sixiang" :3
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Varder
Tired Cultist
- Location
- Hell
Hmm... now, rereading Ling Qi's character profile more carefully, it seems like I've been overestimating her quite a lot. Considering that C is yellow/silver peak, B-S are what is expected from a green/bronze cultivator, Ling Qi is barely there with only musical Hit getting into the average A tier.
- Location
- United Kingdom
A should not be considered average for our level.
Bear in mind this is spread over all 8 levels of Green, so if anything it should be more the average round the middle of Green (4/5).
If anything we're strong for our cultivation stage, though slightly less so for an Appraisal than we were at Early.
EternalObserver
eYe Gaze baCk
- Location
- The Void
Also went back to read some stuff and, well I might be wrong but
Have we got this one yet?
Have we got this one yet?
Black Noise
Curious
- Location
- About 1AU from Sol
Yes, it's what lets us open 2 meridians in 1 AP up to the 54~57 softcap.
- Location
- The Star Kingdom of Manticore
Yes it is the meridan cleanser thing. It allows us to clean 2 meridians for 1 action
I was wrong for the element vote. Wind is great, because it allow her to speak to our friend for even more glorious Six screen time.
Now that this has been said, let's talk about how great our domain is. It's a domain that benefit from not being focused (as the bonuses to our allies are capped to our level), which is incredible for us, as the thread isn't very focused. Secondly, it boost all our friends. This include our spirit beasts. And that's what make it incredibly good in the future as we will have half a dozen spirit beasts fighting with us on any serious combat situation in the far off future (like any other high level empire cultivators), which would all benefit from our domain. Even if a self focused domain give as good boosts (rank up), which is far from a given as our only self focused boost give half a rank up, it's still going to be inferior as it would only boost a single person of their spirit beast/cultivator team instead of the whole team like us. And that's not even entering the fact that that boost is conditionnal and while ours is always going to be true (thanks to our spirit beasts) it might not be the same for other cultivators.
In short our domain is, quite funnily given how our best arts come from spirits, a perfect fit for imperial style cultivation and combat. And it's a great domain both meta wise (as it prevent any potential salt about not having a perfect domain as we gain from being spread out), and in character as its conditionnal is very likely to be true.
Yes, it give 2 meridian for the price of one AP.
Now that this has been said, let's talk about how great our domain is. It's a domain that benefit from not being focused (as the bonuses to our allies are capped to our level), which is incredible for us, as the thread isn't very focused. Secondly, it boost all our friends. This include our spirit beasts. And that's what make it incredibly good in the future as we will have half a dozen spirit beasts fighting with us on any serious combat situation in the far off future (like any other high level empire cultivators), which would all benefit from our domain. Even if a self focused domain give as good boosts (rank up), which is far from a given as our only self focused boost give half a rank up, it's still going to be inferior as it would only boost a single person of their spirit beast/cultivator team instead of the whole team like us. And that's not even entering the fact that that boost is conditionnal and while ours is always going to be true (thanks to our spirit beasts) it might not be the same for other cultivators.
In short our domain is, quite funnily given how our best arts come from spirits, a perfect fit for imperial style cultivation and combat. And it's a great domain both meta wise (as it prevent any potential salt about not having a perfect domain as we gain from being spread out), and in character as its conditionnal is very likely to be true.
Yes, it give 2 meridian for the price of one AP.
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Consider that Green spans 8 discrete 'stages'. If 'A' is 'average' for a Green, then we're ahead of the curve by having an A-Rank stat in Appraisal (Green Two) rather than Threshold or Framing (Green Four or Green Five) - the 'middle' of Green.
Furthermore, consider all challenge targets seen so far. None of them has had an A-Rank stat. These most recent two have a few in the upper reaches of B, but those seem to be their best stats, much like Music is our best skill.
The only people who have A-Rank stats that we've gotten the stats for are Sun Liling and Ji Rong, and those stats are as of the Tournament, three months ago.
And Sun Liling is a Ducal, while Ji Rong outright has more talent than we do.
Our stats put us about where we've been - better than most, but a half-step or so behind the best, though we have closed that gap some, as Meizhen is half-Foundation now and we're looking at half-Foundation no later than turn 6, more probably turn 5.
Black Noise
Curious
- Location
- About 1AU from Sol
Calling A~S "average" is misleading, Green cultivators can't advance stats and skills beyond S unless they're uncapped, and even getting there in a skill is a trial and a half, requiring 2 insights to refine a skill (once at C>B, and once more at A>S).
People are gonna be running mid-B to mid-A derived stats more often though, but that's largely on account of passive bonuses adding up to 0.5~1.5 ranks. Then there's techs that can shift effective ranks around quite a lot (just look at Echoes) or outright ignore them with 'perfect' effects.
People are gonna be running mid-B to mid-A derived stats more often though, but that's largely on account of passive bonuses adding up to 0.5~1.5 ranks. Then there's techs that can shift effective ranks around quite a lot (just look at Echoes) or outright ignore them with 'perfect' effects.
EternalObserver
eYe Gaze baCk
- Location
- The Void
Kinda classified that item in my head as something else that was taken from the "Gnawing Ones", but yeah, you're right. It's probably that item.
- Location
- Canada
[X] Liang He, Disciple 790
Arkeus
Crazy cat guy
- Location
- France
OK, so, Liang He has a few unknown we have to watch out for 'just in case'. This is amusing a fight, and not some more tricky challenge.
The biggest unknowns are about our opponents attacks. So I'll first talk about how to deal with his offence.
Here are the possible variables:
For his spirit beast, there is nothing much we can be sure of when it comes to its offensive abilities, though as a Falcon, it probably has pretty decent perception, and maybe even exceptional one, so going stealth is probably not the way to go. However, it's worth noting that Echoes and HRA should be just as potent against the Falcon as against Liang He.
When it comes to his domain weapon, we can make rough guesses. He likes dueling, so he probably has a domain weapon vs domain weapon one, and it's likely a sword. Moreoever, we can make appropriate guesses as to his Stat + Skill combo being Dex + Sword:
If it's the former, our Domain Weapon should be quite a bit superior to his. If it's the latter, and his is more specialised toward dueling, we can expect his to be a bit superior to ours, depending on elemental coherency he has. Assuming he has the same rank domain as we do, but I think we can assume his domain rank is at best equal, considering you'd basically be well on your way to Green 4 before most get the next domain rank. If it's worse than ours, his domain weapon just can't compare.
I'd say that whether his domain weapon is a bit superior to ours or significantly inferior doesn't matter that much though, because ours should be good enough to at least counter his for a significant period of time.
His Phys Pen stat is the most likely to matter. Now, it's possible he has a significantly better Physical Penetration derived attribute than expected. Ji Rong certainly did, with a surprise 'My STR is super high, Psych' factor. There is 3 scenarios here: his Pen is A, it's B, it's under B. The third scenario doesn't need to be examined with much more than "If it's the case, we can ignore his offence completely".
So yeah, I'd say that Sixiang will likely do more in the fight than the Azure Inferno Falcon. They'll completely cut off their ability to ramp up. As such, we can consider Liang He's stats his 'in battle' stats, rather than 'before using buffs/techs' ones, like for Ling Qi.
If he has Pen B? That's going to be effectively Pen C thanks to Echoes against Armour halfway toward A as well as bladed weapon damage reduction from HRA and Fire damage reduction from Zhengui. We can expect Ping damage once we have Echo up, especially so once we have HRA up, though him having initiative is mean.
I'll also note that Deepwood Vitality might be of use if he tries to nuke us.
tl;dr While there is multiple points of unknown when it comes to his offence, the only real variable is going to be if his Pen is A, and even then a combination of increasing our dodge, deepwood vitality, perception filters and our own offence vastly outstripping his defence means that should be at most annoying because dammit he has initiative.
Oh, right: Our offence? it should vastly outstrip his defence without a contest, though if we do decide to do the Traveler's End nuke we might want to add Echoes for increase our pen a bit for full damage first.
Bolded is where he is better than us in a contest (Phys Hit bold, in this instance, is compared to our Phys Avoid), Italics are where we are better.Liang He said:
The biggest unknowns are about our opponents attacks. So I'll first talk about how to deal with his offence.
Here are the possible variables:
- His spirit beast. We know nothing about its offensive stats or capabilities beside it being flying Fire/Wind.
- His domain weapon. While ours is of higher quality, it really doesn't matter if his is 'only' made from Green 6 material at this point.
- We don't know his Phys Pen stat.
For his spirit beast, there is nothing much we can be sure of when it comes to its offensive abilities, though as a Falcon, it probably has pretty decent perception, and maybe even exceptional one, so going stealth is probably not the way to go. However, it's worth noting that Echoes and HRA should be just as potent against the Falcon as against Liang He.
When it comes to his domain weapon, we can make rough guesses. He likes dueling, so he probably has a domain weapon vs domain weapon one, and it's likely a sword. Moreoever, we can make appropriate guesses as to his Stat + Skill combo being Dex + Sword:
His Phys armor being so low tell us he has at best average stamina, and his P.avoid being similar-ish to his P.hit indicate that he has likely good Dex and uses it for hit. There is two scenarios here: Either he has Dex B, Sword B, 35 in passive/gear bonus as well as Dodge B and 25 in passive/gear bonus; or he he has Dex A Sword B 15 in bonus (and Dodge B with 5 in bonus).
If it's the former, our Domain Weapon should be quite a bit superior to his. If it's the latter, and his is more specialised toward dueling, we can expect his to be a bit superior to ours, depending on elemental coherency he has. Assuming he has the same rank domain as we do, but I think we can assume his domain rank is at best equal, considering you'd basically be well on your way to Green 4 before most get the next domain rank. If it's worse than ours, his domain weapon just can't compare.
I'd say that whether his domain weapon is a bit superior to ours or significantly inferior doesn't matter that much though, because ours should be good enough to at least counter his for a significant period of time.
His Phys Pen stat is the most likely to matter. Now, it's possible he has a significantly better Physical Penetration derived attribute than expected. Ji Rong certainly did, with a surprise 'My STR is super high, Psych' factor. There is 3 scenarios here: his Pen is A, it's B, it's under B. The third scenario doesn't need to be examined with much more than "If it's the case, we can ignore his offence completely".
- If his Physical Pen is B
Sixiang's offensive dispel is Presence B + PRR C= C15 + Passive 10 = C25, and can work on up to 5 enemies at once. Given that the Falcon is a fire/wind bird it likely won't have resolve B, and given that Liang He has s.armor C12 he likely won't have Resolve B either. This means that not only can Sixiang spam PRR, but she can dispel B rank buffs from both Liang He and his spirit beast with some reliability.
So yeah, I'd say that Sixiang will likely do more in the fight than the Azure Inferno Falcon. They'll completely cut off their ability to ramp up. As such, we can consider Liang He's stats his 'in battle' stats, rather than 'before using buffs/techs' ones, like for Ling Qi.
If he has Pen B? That's going to be effectively Pen C thanks to Echoes against Armour halfway toward A as well as bladed weapon damage reduction from HRA and Fire damage reduction from Zhengui. We can expect Ping damage once we have Echo up, especially so once we have HRA up, though him having initiative is mean.
- If he has Physical Pen A
I'll also note that Deepwood Vitality might be of use if he tries to nuke us.
tl;dr While there is multiple points of unknown when it comes to his offence, the only real variable is going to be if his Pen is A, and even then a combination of increasing our dodge, deepwood vitality, perception filters and our own offence vastly outstripping his defence means that should be at most annoying because dammit he has initiative.
Oh, right: Our offence? it should vastly outstrip his defence without a contest, though if we do decide to do the Traveler's End nuke we might want to add Echoes for increase our pen a bit for full damage first.
[X] Liang He, Disciple 790