Turn-by-Turn Action Analysis
So since we arrived at K8P there have been 7 turns of actions voted on, Turn 19 through Turn 25 (the current turn). I thought it might be interesting to look at our actions over the course of those 7 turns and see what has ben devoted to what. I'm going to look at what we assigned Max, Johann, and the Ducklings to do but not EIC actions since those are very separate and usually do not interact with the rest of our actions in any way.
Max: Spiders, Spiders, Spiders, Write a Paper, Practice Shooting, Translate Anatomy Book, Translate Anatomy Book
So as we can see Max hasn't been used much for writing papers, but he has been very useful in generally supporting the Current Task. We started off by having him help with with the We for the first 3 Turns, and then most recently he's spent 2 actions translating the Anatomy Book. His Patient trait has been a big winner. Arguably having him practice shooting ended up being a waste since a low roll meant he learned nothing, but it probably at least improved his morale. Spending two turns translating the anatomy book didn't do much directly, but it did serve to double-check Qrech as well as leave Max with a knowledge of written Queekish that he can use to help us write Queekish dictionaries.
Johann: "Graduate", Skaven Observations, Help New Wizards Settle In, Spider Autopsies, Practice Pugilism, Skaven Raids, Skaven Raids
Johann has been a bit more of a mixed bag. Despite his excellent analysis spells (especially for metal objects) the only research project we've ever really put him on was doing autopsies of We corpses. He had to spend the first action wasted on pretending to graduate. On the plus side it's evident that he's our first choice of back-up for violence now that he's learned how to fight unarmed. I really think that now that the Skaven have cleared out we can get years of actions from him concentrating on the Skaven artifact backlog.
Ducklings (starting Turn 23): Help Johann Raise Rat-Wolf Pack, Skaven Raiding, Skaven Raiding
Duckling actions are kind of a mixed bag. Johann and Max are out employees so we can just order them around as we please, but for the other wizards the actions must be at least mutually beneficial and can sometimes even help only them. Still, we should again note that the last year of actions have been tied up doing raiding for Queekish to translate.
Now for Mathilde's own personal actions. Going to list them by Turn.
Turn 19 - Negotiate with We (TASK), Set up labs/quarters for visiting wizards, Undumgi Leadership, Explore Lower Citadel
Turn 20 - Train Wolf, Help Move the We (TASK), Assist Gunnar, Set up Ranald Shrine, Spy on Skaven (with Johann)
The first year at K8P was all about set-up and consolidating. We got a chance to weigh on on human leadership, spend time on our Current Task of the We, picked out a shrine, and started gathering information on our skaven neighbors. Mathilde didn't have time for research actions and only one real self-improvement action (training wolf). Helping Gunnar was a set-up to getting help back from him for training over the next couple of Turns, though.
Turn 21 - Fetch Roswita (TASK), Research Aerthyic Vitae, Greatsword Training, College Classes (spells)
Turn 22 - Greatsword Training, Map Karagril, Sylvania Actions x 3 (TASK), Set up Duckling Club
Second year at K8P had a heavy focus on personal improvement with 3 actions devoted to it. Mathilde mastered a greatsword style to improve her martial and give situational bonuses and managed to fit in college classes. She also spent a lot of time dealing with Sylvania, especially in Turn 22. Those actions were heavily dice dpeendnet, though. We needed a really good roll (whcih fortunately we got) to drag Roswita to K8P for the sword award ceremony. We also finally managed to start long-delayed research on the Snake's Blood, albeit we couldn't follow it up because of the necessity of prepping for the coming Karagril struggle as well as the heavy Sylvania focus.
Turn 23 - College Lessons (Enchantment), College Lessons (Spells), Building the Eye of Gazul x 2 (TASK), Get to know Qrech.
Turn 24 - College Lessons (Spells), Building Eye of Gazul x 2 (TASK), Qrech Translations
Third years also had 3 full actions devoted to personal improvement... admittedly I'm not entirely sure of the logic behind studying Enchantment since we never seem to use it. It's starting to seem to me like Personal Improvement actions are the primary competitor for Research actions. Over the 6 turns I've looked at so far, we spent 7 actions on personal improvement (training Wolf, training greatsword x 2, College lessons x4) and only one Research actions. If those had been balanced more, say 4 and 4, then we could be several actions deep into Aerthic Vitae and started on Theurgy or Tongs. And you notice I'm not counting "set up shrine" or "select Umdumgi leader" or "help Gunnar" in that total, even though all three were arguably devoted to either increasing Mathilde's influence or setting up for training (Gunnar).
Turn 25 (current turn) - Qrech Translations (TASK), College Lectures, Set up Gambler Temple to Ranald, Aerthyic Vitae
The reason we're "getting away" with only spending one personal action on the Queekish task is that we've spent all subordinate (Max, Johann, and Duckling) actions to support it. Here in the start of Year 4 we're finally getting back to a pure Research action... but again it's being overwhelmed 2 to 1 by "increase Mathilde's power/influence" actions with the Temple and Lecturing both being means to increase her "soft power" and reputation.
So in conclusion, for those of you frustrating by not enough research getting done I think I've made a pretty strong case that the actual "problem" is the popularity of actions that either directly improve Mathilde's personal capabilities or increase her soft power influence/reputation. For the most part it's not that she's spending too much time on her job. Even if more actions suddenly opened up you'd run into the same problem where personal power/influence is always a shiny temptation. We didn't really have to vote to go give lectures this turn, but people preferred it to doing two Research actions.
Make sense?
