>>4004903
“So what are we doin’ first?” the lambgirl next to you asks. The young trio of Tami, Noran (plus Mewla), and Harpsicorie AKA Harp are with you today (and likely tomorrow), as you’ve decided to bring them along as you handle some business in The Intersection for the next few cycles. You feel like there’s a number of things that you need to handle- resupply, logistics, that sort of thing.

...You’re already feeling kinda tired, but. Needs must. This must be just a portion of how bigger Division Leads feel. At any rate, Tami’s got a good question. On your list of to-dos at the moment:

>Suggest three tasks to do for the day.

>>4004905
>appraise weapons from shadow war mission - are there any enchanted ones?
>prepare recruitment ad
>practice techniques
welcome back, boss!

>>4004905
Welcome back, boss.

Let's head over to Grizzi's to modify some of our gear, and introduce them to the owner and his daughter. Maybe upgrade the rapier so that it can amplify our Nebula Buster?

Then let's see about letting them spend some of their motes on equipment, and maybe look into getting an actual weapon sized for Mewla.

Finally, let's see how well they're doing on self defense.

>>4004905
>>4004923
changing >practicing to
>check the place where you had your loot repaired and see if they can upgrade some of the stuff you have

>>4004923
>prepare recruitment ad

Let's not have a recruitment shitstorm on the very first thread of 2020, please?

>>4004903
pssst, twitter

>>4004905
> Check out some possible equipment upgrades with some appraisal on the side
> Resupply on explosives and ammunition
> Practice for the kids

Seems like at the very least we're going back to the dorfs and see what they can do.

Then we'll get into some creative works; in more than one way.

Writing.

>>4004905
>>4004923
>>4004927
>>4004928
>>4004982
“Well, first thing’s first,” you decide. “I need to get some weapon work done. And for that, we’re going to meet someone new. For you, that is.”

“Whossat?” Noran asks curiously. You just smile a bit as you head off, with the kids in tow…

“Ahh, lass! Good ta see ya ‘gain! Hope those weapons been workin’ out fer ya!” Well, to be fair, you hadn’t used them properly yet, but you weren’t going to douse his good mood.

“Hey again. Grizzi, these are Tami, Noran, Mewla, and Harpsicorie,” you introduce. “They’re hanging out with me for the day from the Care House, and I figured I’d bring them by to watch me go through a few chores for the day. Thought it’d be good to impress on ‘em how important weapon maintenance and modification is, and since I thought about doing it anyway…” you motion to him as example.

He barks out a laugh. “Well now! Glad ta be first in yer head! Cella’s work really stuck out atcha, did it! Grand, jus’ grand! Now then! You kiddos innerested in weapons, are ye? Well, fer sure I’d hope you’ve got yerself some trainin’, but beyond that, I s’pose I ken give ya a couple kernels o’ knowledge.” With that, he turns to you. “Afore that, though, whatcha got fer me?”

> “Well, I was thinking about modifying a few weapons I’d managed to get on the job…” (Which weapons?)
> “Actually, I was thinking of getting the kids here something special. Stuff just for them.”
> Other

>(https://pastebin.com/bQReS32N) - Spare Weapons List, but I'm pretty sure it's out of date...

>>4005044
>> “Well, I was thinking about modifying a few weapons I’d managed to get on the job…” (Which weapons?)

>Rapier
"This can channel a good number of my magical attacks, but I've got a really big ultimate attack as a finisher, and I'm worried that channeling it through this would break it."

>Gauntlets
"Now, these can reverse damage on any object I use it on, but I'd like to make it a bit more general use, if you get my drift? Maybe add some slots for magical stones or crystals?"

>Weapon for Mewla
"Now, I know your shop says "Repairs and Modifications", but I've got one of my wards who isn't suited for standard sized weapons. Do you know anybody who might be able to make something that can fit her?"

>>4005044
> “Well, I was thinking about modifying a few weapons I’d managed to get on the job…”
>Rapier - enhance it's magic boosting properties in general
Sorry, don't really think a finisher move is needed
>Gauntlet's - what the other anon said

>>4005070
>Sorry, don't really think a finisher move is needed
I meant, make it so that we can channel and amplify a Nebula Buster through the rapier.

Here's the Itemlist doc, with Winterfest Bash update
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Z3xqyWOe5upXuYIUsBSV4pWkC1sG0mnYzn_lJyRJZiI/edit#

>>4005079
That would be cool, but there's no point in spending money on it. It already wrecks anything it hits.

>>4005044

>Shu-Rith, aka bladed yo-yo
How the hell are you supposed to use this thing effectively?

>Rapier
"This can channel a good number of my magical attacks, but I've got a really big spell (edited for hide the chuunibyou), and I'm worried that channeling it through this would break it."

The gauntlet does work on organics and such I don't understand what you're asking for.

>>4005087
Oh geez I don't think I want to relink everything from that list but that's a lot of stuff to be appraised. Can we get that done here?

>>4005094
>(edited for hide the chuunibyou)
I mean, is it more chuuni to tell him what we named it, or is it more chuuni to tell him it's our strongest and most power intensive spell?

>>4005100
>>4005044
Items to be appraised
>Ha-Tshi's Folly, Lady Ferrah's Whip
>Winnower, Lady Ferrah's Curved Sword
>Ebonheart, Carrang's Sword
>Ebonsoul, Carrang's Buckler

we gave lady Malis' sword to Lori and Light-Bow to Izumi, Shu-Rith was described as gimmicky traditional weapon, we've already checked out the Katar and the Halberd was obviously mundane

Thanks for that, >>4005087. You're great.

Man, that's a lot of weapons.

At least, the Rapier is a lock, it seems.

>>4005044
> “Well, I was thinking about modifying a few weapons I’d managed to get on the job…” (Which weapons?)
See if we can boost the Rapier's abilities.
>Get appraisal for the unappraised stuff.

>>4005109
There was talk about trading one or two of those weapons for a magical axe. We could see if that Minus One storage system could do weapon trades between users...

>>4005116
I'm game for that.

>>4005111
You're welcome, boss.

Before I start writing, just to clarify, by Appraisal, do you mean treatment, or literally just 'how much is this worth?'

>>4005121
>does it do anything special at all?
There was an argument half a year ago about selling new stuff because anons thought that some of it MIGHT be special and couldn't decide what to keep.

>>4005121
I'm in the how much is it worth camp.

>>4005121
Mostly for how much it's worth and what they do, for now at least.

>>4005132
Carrang's stuff was really fancy, with ornaments and some other stuff, and there were rumors that Ferrah had enchanted gear. And none of it's been checked yet.

>>4005121
>>4005132
What do they do, if nothing we sell

Alright, writing, presuming just the weapons under Miranda in the list...

Now, I wonder if we could get some scabbards enchanted for fast-equip - so we'd spend much less time on arming ourselves rather than pulling everything out of the Holding Bag. Izumi has a scabbard, why shouldn't we?

>>4005162
we usually just quickdraw our fingergun

>>4005162
I just remembered a magic item from D&D 3.5, something called a Wand Bracelet. Basically, your character would wear it like a charm bracelet, then put up to four or five items on it as shrunken, charm-like versions of themselves after touching it to the bracelet and saying a command word. Pulling off the charm made the item appear in your hand, ready for use. It had a weight limit, but since this isn't 3.5, that probably won't matter here.

>>4005162
the bag of holding more or less is our scabbard and unlike a real one, the bag is inconspicuous and holds more than swords. pretty fair trade if you ask me.

>>4005248
I think Anon was thinking about action economy on drawing things out of the bag of holding versus having them at hand at all times. Though I think it's not as important here as it might be in classic pen and paper games, we are after all the only PC, no need to worry about action economy so much.
We ain't got nobody to outshine. Until the next Intersection tourney arc.

>>4005262
he has the right idea, but yeah, that doesn't apply here, specially because there is no real action economy to worry about.

>>4005278
Well, some anons keep bringing up the argument that 'picking up our weapon is too slow, let's punch stuff instead' - so that's why I made this suggestion.

>>4005285
To be fair, Miranda is a hand to hand specialist and punching is probably just as good if not more effective than pulling out a weapon, except for intimidation and fringe cases.

>>4005044
“Well, I was thinking about modifying a few weapons I’d managed to get on the job…” you say, pulling out your rapier. "This can channel a good number of my magical attacks, but I've got a really big spell, and I'm worried that channeling it through this would break it. So I was wondering if it was possible to check it out, maybe reinforce it."

“Mmmm…” he takes the blade from you, giving it a look from all angles. “ ‘Less this alloy is something mighty strong, I can understand tha worry. I’ll take a looksee at it and see ‘bout reinforcin’ it. Mebbe ‘round the base, from an eyeballin’. It’s a thin thing, this blade- more fer flash an’ show than a propa fight. ‘Kin still keep its piercin’ qualities while givin’ ‘er a bit more heft.” He spares a glance at the kids. “S’good ta always know what kinda combat yer tools is made fer. Blade ain’t jus a blade, y’see! Matters what it’s made of, the shape an’ all.”

“On that topic, actually,” you mention. “The other thing I was wondering is a bit of weaponry appraisal. How much a few things are worth, what they do if anything special…”

“Aye, kin do that. One Large per weapon, though. Tha’s my price.” Ah. Hmm...well, then.

“...Alright.” Might as well...

What follows is a determination of all of them after about an hour’s time, interspersed with Calla or Grizzi keeping the kids occupied via either pointing out various aspects of blades they’d been working on, or telling stories in general:

The Shu-Rith? 1 Large. “Issa unusual weapon; not too popular ‘round these parts. That said, I ‘spect I could find an audience if’n I made to add a mechanism to make it stay out at will, make retrieval easier...mebbe an elemental aspect.”

Ha-Tshi's Folly? 1.5 Large. “Not a bad whip, bein’ honest. Bit thick, but still got plenty o’ give, and she’s a bit elastic, meanin’ the range is longer than it looks. Blade on tha’ end helps despite the extra risk. Could find someone fer this without much problem. Still, largely nothin’ fancy ‘bout it.”

Winnower? 1 Large Mote. “Gotta admit, looked like it weren’t nothin’ more than a well-made blade. Cella took another look at it, though. Turns out it’s got a minor enchantment on it. Had ta give it a small test, buuuut seems like it makes whatever cut it inflicts hurt in particular. Not bad. Other than that, though...yeah, mostly jus’ a sword.”

Mancleaver? 30 Small Motes. “THIS, on tha’ other hand, is just a mass o’ misshapen metal. Nothin’ special ‘bout it.”

Ebonheart and Ebonsoul both come in together at about 2 Large Motes. “Nothin’ major ‘bout ‘em, either. They both got an enchantment, but ‘s just durability an’ sharpness an’, in tha case o’ the buckler, force absorption. Still, it helps, and they’re easy ta enchant or add ta otherwise. Now then!” He speaks once those are done. “Fer all that, I’m willin’ ta buy ‘em offa ya if’n ya care ta sell. Othawise, those are me prices, an’ you’ll owe me 4 Large fer tha work.”

>Current Motes: 114.80 LM

>Sell any?
>Just pay him.

>>4005314
Wow, those are ice cream money.

Maybe we should keep some and give them to the kids once they "graduated"?

If that doesn't win then I vote
>Sell all.

>>4005314
Sell off the the whip and the Ebon weapons, trade Winnower or Mancleaver for a magic axe.

>>4005314
>Keep Ebonheart and Ebonsoul - could leave them in the armory for our colleagues to try
>Sell everything else

>>4005314
>>4005319
> Just pay him
> Ask him if he can make something out of everything we showed him.
We can trade those weps for a mystery box.

>>4005314
>Sell all

>>4005323
Or this >>4005332. This works too.

Actually, we never determined whether we wanted a one handed or two handed axe.

>>4005332
Let's do this then.
>>4005339
I want something that gives utilities. We already have a lot of CQC options.

>>4005314
yeah, let's try this instead>>4005332

>>4005339
It doesnt matter. We're strong enough for either of those, but the main requirement should be that the axe fits inside the bag of holding.

>>4005344
I suggested that when I brought up the Gauntlets earlier. Other than that, I'm don't get what you mean by "utilities". Are you talking about ranged weapons?

>>4005354
Anything that helps with the missions but doesn't involve close-ranged hurty punchy, for me. Or something that does close-ranged hurty punchy in a creative and unorthodox way, catching people off-guard.

And more ranged options are also decent yes.

Huh. Pay him, then see if he can't use these weapons as material for something else?

Writing.

>>4005344
Lets just make the leviathan from GoW and be done with it.

>>4005379
Eeeeeeh, I mean what can that do but our Magiblasts can't? For what I know it's a magic boomerang axe.

>>4005363
>And more ranged options are also decent yes.
Wouldn't better ranged options be found at the gun shop, though?

>>4005379
Maybe inscribe a flight sigil into it? Hell, if we put in a strong enough one, we could use it for axe surfing!

>>4005381
Its a kinetic attack and if thrown right can pierce through several enemies and we can use it for backstabs with its return function. There are more tricks to it as well, but i'm not that creative at the moment.

>>4005332
>make something out of everything we showed him.
I imagine it could turn into some whip-sword, with blades shaped like axe-heads. Ultimate chuuny choice

>>4005385
That could work as well

>>4005404
On a yoyo

>>4005314
“Here,” you decided, passing over the motes. “I was actually wondering, now...is there any way you can use all this as raw material for something...I dunno, worthwhile?”

“Eh?” He scratches his head, looking over the weapons. “Hmmm...top o’ my head, nah. I’d haveta melt it all down, an’ by that point it’d be about as good fer ya to just get somethin’ from scratch, aye?” He pauses at that, eyes going back to the Mancleaver. “Well, mebbe somethin’ might come from this thing, perhaps...but mind, tha’s not ‘ard ta guess.”

“Well, maybe something…” Cella speaks up, having walked up besides her father and looking over the weapons. I’m not sure what, but if you don’t mind me using these to experiment, then…”

“Alright,” you decide. “When is payment due?”

She shakes her head. “Wouldn’t feel right to take it before I managed to do anything. If we get your contact information, I’ll call you when I think I have something, okay?”

“Sounds reasonable,” you decide. “What about the Rapier?”

“Easily doable,” Grizzi notes. “Two and a half Large.”

“Oh, and if you have any suggestions for what to make, might as well tell me now,” Cella says.

> “Something with versatility.”
> “Something with a lot of power.”
> “Something with range.”
> “I’ll leave it up to you.”

>>4005523
>> “Something with versatility.”
Good at close range or a distance.

And if you can make it fly with a person riding it...

>>4005523
> “Something with versatility.”

>>4005523
>> “Something with versatility.”

>>4005523
> “Something with versatility.”
a safe option

>>4005523
> “Something with versatility.”
What do I like more than mystery boxes? Deterministic ones.

>>4005523
> “Something with versatility.”
Axe, axe, axe!

File: Valentine.jpg (7 KB, 284x303)

7 KB JPG

>>4005404
Soul Calibur "Snake Sword"? Extends for range attacks, can be used as a whip for area control, or as a sword to block/power attack.

Could be useful for Mewla to start to learn with, since any kind of weird cludged together weapon would be best learnt from a young age for best effect.

And she can still use it as basic sword mode for practical use while learning to use its other abilities as time goes on.

Versatility it is.

Writing.

>>4005597
Maybe, if only she wasn't small enough to fit in Noran's palm...

>>4005523
>>4005532
>>4005535
>>4005536
>>4005538
>>4005568
>>4005592

“Something with versatility.” you decide as you hand over the motes to Grizzi. “A weapon that can fulfill a number of niches at once.”

“Hmm...alright. I think I can do that,” she decides. “It’ll take a while, though.”

“I’ve got time,” you dismiss. “Just so long as the work’s done well.”

“Is it gonna be something cool?” Tami asks eagerly. “Like a flyin’ shield axe? Or-”

“Maybe it’ll be somethin’ that can change shape,” Noran suggests. “I saw that there’s some weapons out there that can do that.” Mewla seems to agree, at least...although now you’re thinking just what kind of weapon would be good for someone this small...

“It’ll be...something sorta like that, maybe?” Cella says with a slightly nervous grin. “I’ll let you know when it’s done, okay?”

“Right,” you decide. “And since I’m thinking about it… now, I know your shop says "Repairs and Modifications", but I've got one of my wards here-” you motion to Mewla- “who isn't suited for standard sized weapons. Do you know anybody who might be able to make something that can fit her?"

They look at each other, but it’s Grizzi who speaks first. “Well...make something? Aye. We could, in fact, I’m pretty sure. Make somethin’ VIABLE? Nah. She might be better served lookin’ inta tech than anythin’ else. ‘Less ya wanted her to be nothin’ more than a bee o’ sorts. Even then...” he shrugs.

Hm… he raises something of a point, although Noran seems a bit put out at that news. “Thanks. In that case, then…”

He nods. “Aye, might know a lass. Works with all them micro and nano-whatsits, and messes ‘round wit’ tiny folk in ‘er spare time. Seems ta be most o’ what she hangs out it, really. Always singin’, that lass, gets nervous whenever there’s no lil’ creatures ‘round, either. Strange, it is. Just strange. Weren’t like that before, but this place does that ta some folk...”

“Oooh, you sound like you know her!” Tami notes.

“Eeeeh…” he shrugs. “We came from ‘round the same place. Was a surprise, but we go fer tea now an’ again.” With that, he gives a card- it’s more lace than anything else, really, with fancy pink and gold embrodiery. Inlaid is her contact information:

Princess Melianna’s Techniwonderful Boutique!

‘Where logic, love, and lace combine to form a rainbow of computationally crafted clothing!’

...Well then.

>...Might as well check them out now. This'll be interesting, to say the least.
>Maybe later. Right now, you have some wanted ads and posters to make...
>Might be best to let them get some more training in before worrying about gear...
>Other

(Last for tonight.)

>>4005774
>>...Might as well check them out now. This'll be interesting, to say the least.
Thanks for running

>>4005774
>...Might as well check them out now. This'll be interesting, to say the least.

>>4005774
>...Might as well check them out now. This'll be interesting, to say the least.

Night, boss. Same time tomorrow?

>>4005774
Nighty night!

>...Might as well check them out now. This'll be interesting, to say the least.
Mini-sized techs are underrated. Who knows, maybe we can get something for ourselves there too.

>>4005805
Same as normal due to work.

>>4005774
>...Might as well check them out now. This'll be interesting, to say the least.

>>4005774

>>4005610
I thought that was the snake girl. Oh well.
>...Might as well check them out now. This'll be interesting, to say the least.

Something ranged and poisoned.

Alternatively, if we're going the nano route, DOMAIN CONTROL. "Flower Seeds" that couldbe stealthily "planted" in an area and would be able to connect to each other and draw ambient mana as power. While individually weak, when linked up they can either transmit the power to Mewla directly for a Nac Mac'Feegle 10 tiny tons of terror, discharge debilitating waves of conflicting mana to create a disorientating field, or simply self destruct. Finally, the power boost of 10 tiny tons can instead be charged up into a previously planted turret and discharged all at once in a high powered beam shot.

While capable of using ambient mana, the "Flower Seeds" will happily tap into any available power supplies they are planted nearby. However, this risks early detection from the power drain. Can be used aggressively to rapidly grow and power up the seeds in combat situations, however.

Essentially giving her a strategic level weapon. Laying traps, setting up a sniper point, even weaking enemy systems if planted directly on them. The limit would of course be that the less prep time the weaker they are, and the lack of defense of individual seeds meaning enemies could target them instead so groups would easily counter them if given time to react. As well, too many seeds in one area would noticeably drop the mana level and provide diminishing returns.>>4005774


Still gives Mewla some quick combat ability by weakening the enemy while strengthing herself if she plants the seeds directly on an enemy, and if they take the time to tear out the seeds then that's time she can use to escape - or draw the enemy into a more thoroughly prepared zone.

>>4005871
that sounds unnecessarily complex.

>>4005927
I expect something like miniature mechas with hydraulic or better weapons, or some ridiculous pico-tech power armor suit. Square-cube law is still a thing too, so she can already carry stuff much bigger than her.

>>4006021
a dart gun full of jellyfish poison or arsenic should o the job as well, but given that they are kids(dunno about mewla), maybe lets give her something that can stun people or shut down machinery.

>>4005774
>>Might be best to let them get some more training in before worrying about gear...
Giving them gear before they know how to use it properly i asking for them to hurt themselves or the gear by messing around with it.

>>4006209
We can do it after this. Get all of the kids armed and start a training session - we practice our Body Shield technique and they start getting used to hitting real people.

>>4006215
well, they already have the weapons that we gave them when we returned from the mystical kingdom mission. we just need to go to the care house to get them.

This Princess Melianna sounds like she might be a bit off her gourd.

>>4006716
I mean, that's why I thought we were going, free entertainment right? I dunno why everyone's started talking about weapons, rituals and gundams.

>>4006719
>‘Where logic, love, and lace combine to form a rainbow of computationally crafted clothing!’

Betting on she's a strong advocate of traditional magical girl garbs.

>>4005774
>>4005797
>>4005801
>>4005805
>>4005806
>>4005823
>>4005871
“...Might as well see what they’re about.” Even as you say that, though, you swear a chill runs down your spine at what might be in store. “So...thanks,” you offer, as you ferry the kids out.

“Tell ‘er ol’ Grizzi and Cella say hi!” the dwarf calls after you as you leave. Right, sure.

To your surprise, it’s Harp who speaks first, looking up at you in surprise. “A-are we really going there right now?”

“Figured why not,” you say. “Why, there a problem? Wanted to go somewhere else?”

She only flinches a little, to her credit. “O-oh, n-no, no! It’s fine! I wasss just wondering if that meant we were going to be getting s-ssstuff to p-practice with…”

Ah. “Fair question,” you admit. “And that WAS on the agenda, actually. I’m not sure if the curriculum’s changed that much now that they’re really putting forward ‘Outgoer’ as a career to train for, so I wasn’t entirely certain how much practical training you’ve had in that area yet…” Were they giving them practice swords and shields or something? Maybe even basic firearms training with mock weapons and bullets? You hadn’t checked, honestly…

“O-oh. We, uh...kinda?” Harp shrugs.

Noran picks up the slack, though. “They got folks interested in that trainers. We kinda sorta do some basic training, but it weren’t nothin’ like what you showed us. It was like...real simple stuff. Forms with some basic hand to hand and melee weapons. We got ta decide what we liked.”

Oh. That’ll make things a lot easier. “And that was?”

He shrugs. “Well, I figured might as well stick ta what worked fer me. Got a warhammer. Mewla was too small fer ‘em to really figure out anythin’, though.” The fairy in question seems to droop a bit at that.

Tami shakes her head. “Iiii dunno, nothin’ really leapt out at me; I heard somewhere that there’s a way to use PUPPETS as a fighting style, and THAT sounds cool, but they didn’t have anyone who could do that there, so I stuck to the wand bit like when you helped us.”

Harp blushes. “I-I actually kinda liked a-a...ssstaff? It seemed nice, and they- they sssaid it was for ‘support specialists’. So maybe that meanssss I don’t- I don’t have to worry assss much.”

“Interesting.” You’ll have to test them about that later. “Alright, I’ll keep that in mind. For now, let’s go see if we can’t get the last of your quartet figured out.” Mewla buzzes around in agreement, clearly excited, and the lot of you head off.

(cont.)

>>4007054
The place is...well crafted, for sure. It reminds you of a three tiered cake, with fairies and squirrels and birds flittering all about- it’s in the Crafter’s District, but not far away from the park, which you suppose makes sense for a nature lover...that’s also a tech lover.

“Why’s it soo….pink?” Tami notes. “I feel like eating cotton candy all of a sudden.”

Okay, so maybe it doesn’t make sense. “Let’s just go in and hope for the best.” Mewla at the least seems excited, and it appears, judging by how some of the other glowing balls of light seem to pause and start buzzing about her, that she’s not the only one. A couple of them dart inside before you can get to the door. “Guess they’re letting her know we’re coming…”

The knob even FEELS sugary when you grasp it. Not the best feeling, but you’ll deal with it. You open the door-

“Weeeelcome! Weeeelcome!” Wow, she looks like she stepped right out of a fairy tale book, for certain. Large, poofy pink dress, silver tiara, long, curled hair, and a megawatt, perfect smile...all stuffed in a full body cleansuit.

Well, not the dress. The dress is outside of the suit. You can only presume it’s clean as well. “I’m Princess Melianna of the Solberra Kingdom, and let me just tell you how lovely, just lovely it is to have guests! Come come, you’ve just caught me during my sales hours- but that’s no excuse to not have a spot of tea ready!” You can already feel something pushing at your back- are those birds? And rats tugging at Tami? Very clean (and well dressed) rats, mind, but…

The kids seem utterly weirded out, the lot of them looking around and yelping in mild confusion, if at least no serious distress. Mewla seems taken up in their pace, swirling around with the other fairies to where you can hardly keep track of her. Princess Melianna seems to not notice. “Oh, and where would my manners be if we didn’t perhaps have a bit of sport! I have a ping-pong table that’s been oh-so-neglected recently; rather charming indoor sport, that!”

> Wha...you...gah, just...go with it, for now.
> Whoa, whoa, whoa, you’re just here for some gear. THAT’S ALL.
>You may have made a tactical error and perhaps need to rethink your approach.
>Other.

>>4007056
> Wha...you...gah, just...go with it, for now.
Comooon Miranda, you've seen weirder stuffs.

>>4007056
> Wha...you...gah, just...go with it, for now.
Looks like our tomboy is allergic to girly things.

>>4007056
> Wha...you...gah, just...go with it, for now.
"Tell me, do you do any work with crystals?"

>>4007056
> Wha...you...gah, just...go with it, for now.

We'll roll with it.

Ugh. You’re not really a fan of this kind of thing, but...you’d be lying if you said you hadn’t been through worse. Might as well just go with it for now. “Just...don’t worry about it,” you whisper to your charges. “You’re gonna have to get used to stuff like this.”

“...but why.” It’s not a question from Tami. You couldn’t answer it anyway.

Not that Melianna would’ve cared, judging by how she’s singing something about how lovely it is to have tea as you’re all seated - room for five somehow, of course...something something grace, something something friendship, something something pinch of sugar...you’re not really paying attention, and judging from the wandering eyes, neither are the kids. “Now, do tell me what you might’ve came here for?”

You have to blink once you realize that her song’s over with, as you wrack your head. “Oh, right, uh...so, I’m Miranda. Outgoer. This is Tami, Harpsicorie,” you introduce, “and Noran. He’s got a friend you might’ve noticed, and we’re trying to help her out. Mewla?” you look around for the fairy in question, and it takes a minute for her to buzz on down. “Right, we’re hoping to find some sort of gear for her. Something that’ll help her help her friend here.” You motion to the boy in question, who waves. “They’re both interested in the Outgoer profession, so…”

“Ooooh!” her eyes light up (you think literally a bit), and she leans forward, taking a closer look at the bright ruby spark in question. “How fascinating! So cuuuuute!” And then she gasps. “But I’ve heard that that’s so DANGEROUS! And violent! You’d really subject a cutesy-loveable thing like this to such threats?” She tries to snuggle the thing; but Mewla’s quick to zip out of her grip.

“Ain’t my choice,” Noran says easily. “S’all her.” Mewla seems to bob in confirmation. “She just wants to have a way to help out in case I get put in a rough spot.”

And Melianna pouts, of all things. “Awwww...that’s scary. Buuut...I guess if you tell me what you’d like, I’ll see what I can do. But she’s GOT to be protected! That’s a given! She’ll be fabulously pretty and protected to boot, no matter what!”

>Just...go with your gut. You’re the expert here, so I’ll leave it to you.
>What kind of support stuff can you devise? Like, helping with healing or defense for him, too?
>More offense is good, but as for how that can happen…
>Other

(Sorry for the delay. Watching speedruns.)

>>4007188
>>Just...go with your gut. You’re the expert here, so I’ll leave it to you.

>>4007188
>Just...go with your gut. You’re the expert here, so I’ll leave it to you.
>And, if it's possible, put in a non-lethal/low power training mode so she's able to practice with the others.

>>4007188
>Just...go with your gut. You’re the expert here, so I’ll leave it to you.
>Other
"If I may, what sort of wares can you offer an Outgoer? I know you have a distaste for such career, but..."

>>4007216
I'll go with this, might as well see what she has.

>>4007188
>Just...go with your gut. You’re the expert here, so I’ll leave it to you.

Writing!

>>4007188
>>4007196
>>4007211
>>4007216
>>4007236
You shake your head. “Just...go with your gut. You’re the expert here, so I’ll leave it to you.”

She nods eagerly. “Oh, of course! I’ve done stuff like this before- all the time, really! In fact, I might be able to offer you something a bit...hmm, ‘off the shelf’ is a bit unfair. But! She’s not too far off from my usual friends’ dimensions! I’ve got a lovely camofly suit that I can modify! I think she’d be rather taken with it!”

“Camofly?” you repeat?

“Yup! To keep it simple, it’s essentially a stealth suit that she can use that has full voice and visual recording features? Like a fly on the wall. Get it?”

“Oh, I get it!” Harp says, quickly.

“Aw, you’re so sweet!” she gets a pat on the arm for that. “But yeah, don’t you worry! I’ll have something in the preliminary stages by this time tomorrow!” Oh, well that’s good. “Now, how about we all have that tea?!”

Oh yeah, that.

The whole situation is somewhat awkward, but at least the food is good...Harp seems taken with some of the dresses around her, which results in her and Tami being invited to try a few ‘premades’ on; you’re not surprised. Girl probably sees two sales opportunities.

The end results aren’t...well, they aren’t horrible. After you had to dismiss the ones that you’d deemed either too little (“There’s no reason to have that much chest showing. Forget having the front for it, it’s just begging for someone to aim there.”) or too much (“You’re just going to get those frills caught on something and you’ll either hang yourself or be a sitting duck for someone to end you.”), they finally end up wearing something...MOSTLY sensible.

Tami had come to enjoy something resembling a classic wizard’s robe with a blue/grey/gold color scheme, with enlarged sleeves and multiple straps to keep it closed. The hood is far more form fitting than normal, and the outfit is paired with sandals. According to Melianna, the robe is weather resistant in all forms- heat, cold, rain, the whole nine yards. “Keeps you comfy and clean no matter where you are!” is her claim. It even protects against electrical shock, be it magical or mundane in nature.

Harpsicorie had shown interest in something you can only call Grecian-style hoplite armor, although she curiously seems to enjoy a headdress as well. It’s a pure white and loose and billowy, wrapped with a dark green cloth belt. For her tail is something of a loincloth, repurposed. The headdress matches, with a pattern of flowers with it. “It hardens in response to physical trauma,” the princess explains. “She looks so dashing in it! And she’s quite secure, to boot! Er, at least, the upper part of her is.”

Interesting… “So how much would these run? Just out of curiosity?” you ask.

She dismisses the idea with an innocent wave of her hand. “Oh, pshaw, not much! Only maybe 14 Large Motes for both! Because you’re all so sweet!”

...Princess or no. Clearly an Intersection resident.

(sorry, resuming tomorrow!)

>>4007415
Haha, well, intersting, sure is good we're window shopping and not intending to buy just yet, Also she didn't offer any advice with the whole helping out part, these are all armor.

>>4007538
Sound and video recording. Not sure what Mewla can do otherwise, also if she was powerful enough by helself won't she count as her own person by Intersection laws? Seems like having her do more than Navi would be a stretch

>>4007415
Well, 14 Lotes for three enchanted item sets is a fair price if you ask me.

>>4007698
Okay, misread some parts - ignore that post

>>4007698
Yeah, but we shouldn't buy them now.

>>4007684
she can poison people. there are poisons that can kill an elephant with a drop., so it shouldn't be hard to get her something like that.

>>4007415
So when do we get to find a dentist for some sharp fang braces, or fake teeth?
A mouth is looked at alot, meaning alot of character is in there.
We're in the crafter's district right now, so might as well, right?

>>4007726
..why?
every time we go in a mission or body changes, so the teeth will also change shape to a more normal shape, and we usually never stay more than three IC days in the intersection and everyone here is used to see weird shit, so the teeth won't do anything relevant ever.

>>4007733
Dragon stuff.
Also, braces look more comical, and probably more harmless. It'd be a good modifier we could easily wear, IMO. In that sense, it MIGHT do something relevant after all. Both of us got no real proof.

>>4007743
But...why???

>>4007848
Why not though?
Nothing permanent, talking about like... Fake ones, or clip on. You know,like any other clothing thing we have.

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77 KB PNG

>>4007743
>looked at alot
>alot of character
Anon, no one is talking about alots here. Although they might be nice to have as pets.

>>4007415
>After you had to dismiss the ones that you’d deemed either too little (“There’s no reason to have that much chest showing. Forget having the front for it, it’s just begging for someone to aim there.”) or too much (“You’re just going to get those frills caught on something and you’ll either hang yourself or be a sitting duck for someone to end you.”), they finally end up wearing something...MOSTLY sensible.
Hooray for not dying due to fashion silliness.

>>4007726
If you can figure out a reasonable way to generate an IC reason to do this, I'll back it. The dragon idea is cool, but is far enough outside of what randa would do on her own it's going to need justification.

>>4007868
actually, getting custom fit mouth stuff seems like overkill. I'm sure there is plenty of cheap halloween/costume vampire teeth or whatever floating around. Just gotta make sure to clean them thoroughly first.

Justification needs still stand though.

>>4007871
Every once in a while, somebody brings up the whole “let’s get some stuff to make Miranda look like a D&D dragonborn” thing apropos of nothing. The usual claim is that it would help us blend in fantasy based worlds (while ignoring the fact that most fantasy based worlds host something coming close to a basic human racial type), but it’s come up enough that I’m beginning to wonder if it’s for some other reason...

>>4007905
I've always found that funny.
>H-hey guises, we need to blend into a fantasy world, so lets do it by looking like one of the apex predators in any fantasy world
>wouldn't that be cool?
>i swear i'm not jerking off at the moment!

>>4007916
I don't get that either. I'm not horribly opposed, but I don't get it.

>>4007980
To be fair, i get the idea of when it can be useful, but that moment is incredibly specific and there are other disguises that require less preparation from out part and are more effective.

>>4007980
What's happening is that this person desperately wants to play a fantasy dragon and this is their only outlet because they've got no p&p group

>>4008220
Not like it's hard to find a dnd group these days, join a discord server and just ask around you'll get directed to rpers eventually.

Previous thread isn't archived yet

>>4008359
Archive it yourself.

>>4008359
done

You’re not really keen on buying just yet, either way. The kids seem spooked enough to want out of the costumes quicker than you’d thought, too…

Before long, they’re out of it, although she eyes you with a look beneath her cleansuit that you suspect would’ve worked better if she didn’t have it on. “Soooo? What do you say?”

“...how much will the fairy outfit be?” you hazard.

She titters. “Ohohoh, no, no, that’s not it! Although it’ll likely be somewhere around 5 Large Motes. Give or take.” Egh. “I mean ‘thank you’!”

“Ah. Sorry.” That WAS a bit impolite, admittedly. “Thanks.”

“Not a problem!” She beams. “Now, if you have any questions, I’d be happy to answer!”

> Anything?
> Nah, I think we’re good. We’ll leave you be.
> Other

>>4008915
>Nah, I think we’re good. We’ll leave you be.

May not have much tonight. I'm feeling pretty tired.

>>4008915
> Nah, I think we’re good. We’ll leave you be.

>>4008915
>"Do you have anything available besides clothing? Gadgets perhaps, ones that Outgoers can use."

>>4008915
this>>4008939

>>4008915
>"Out of curiosity, do you have anything around here that could fit a bit with a "Haughty Empress" type?"

>>4008939
This too.

>>4008951
you got something in mind for Cylica?

>>4008960
It was more a prompt to see if she could branch out from the more princess-y stuff, but off the top of my head, maybe some sort of eerie crown or ring that could help with Cylica's illusory spells.

>>4008915
>> Nah, I think we’re good. We’ll leave you be.

>>4008978
Cylica can buy her own stuff.

>>4008939
Supportan'.

>>4009013
Nothing wrong with checking.

>>4009024
and then what? tell her she should buy it because it looks cool?

>>4009033
Check the price and it's powers, then if it's a reasonable-ish price for what it can do (around about 3-4 Lotes max, personally) add it to the Camifly order. If it's a bit higher (up to 5-6 Lotes), keep a note of it to tell her later, or if it's too expensive (past 6), don't.

>>4009171
Nah

>>4009171
but why? she has more than enough money to get her own things

>>4009171
no, we're not buying random stuff because 'someone might like it'.

>>4009195
It's like when a friend buys something for you that they think you'd appreciate or need. They just do it because they're your friend.

>>4009196
Cool. It's just a suggestion, and it didn't get votes. No need to panic about it.

I passed out, sorry.

Writing to at least finish this.

As anon hazards everything, from suggesting others to buy stuff, to not buying themselves, the greed of anon forbids doing anything out of the ordinary.
So it's either a dumb gift grom Lori or waking up with this stuff in our hands after another drinking spree.
Which makes me ask what we'd have to roll for in order to get an outcome like this.

>>4007862
it's a bit early to talk about job outfits
>>4008978
we can talk about gear for other people when we actually choose to take them on the next mission. I'm both hands for taking our eggheads out on a mission with us, but like I said, talking about mission gear is a bit too early.

It sure does seem that some anons are way too stingy with money, but to be fair, none of those suggestions had a solid reasoning behind those choices. There's no point in saving up our motes if we're barely doing anything with them and we haven't agreed on saving up on some big purchase, so I don't see why we shouldn't look for more ways to improve our stats or company.

>>4009289
>There's no point in saving up our motes if we're barely doing anything with them and we haven't agreed on saving up on some big purchase, so I don't see why we shouldn't look for more ways to improve our stats or company.
Then we should get a plan of action first before buying a lot of stuff and discovering we're a few Lotes short on cash,

>>4009292
some anons just dread managing stuff, though instead of leaving it to others to handle that for them they just block the vote entirely. but yeah, what did we want to buy for our HQ next? There's like 100 Lotes in the Funds and other members can chip in, so our personal fat stack of cash is safe.

>>4008915
You shake your head. “Nah, I think we’re good. Do you have anything available besides clothing? Gadgets perhaps- ones that Outgoers can use?"

She responds in kind. “Oooh, sorry! I’m afraid this is a boutique most exclusive to clothing! I suppose if you use it right a scarf or a belt could be kind of a weapon...” she mulls, but that’s enough for you to dismiss the idea.

“No, no. It’s fine. We’ll leave you be.” you decide as you gather up the girls. “We’ll be back later to check on the progress of Mewla’s outfit, alright- actually, wait. Don’t you need to take her measurements?”

She waves you off. “Oh, not right now- I was actually about to mention that! Like I said, she’s almost perfect for my usual wares, so I can ballpark it. Either way, my nano-weave wears tend to automatically refit just as a general courtesy. Come back in about three days, or I can call you.”

Huh! “Well, good to know. Alright, then. Call me.” You give her your number, and with that, you and the kids make your leave.

“I liked her, kinda…” Harp admits.

“She was weeeird,” Tami insists. “Why’d she have to sing about us?”

“Dunno. Long as she helps Mewla, I can put up with it, I figure,” Noran shrugs. Mewla seems to agree. “Leaseways we don’t have to go back in there for a bit.”

“Right,” you agree as you consider what to do next… “How does some sparring strike you kids? Eh, no pun intended.”

Tami pouts lightly. “Aw, but I thought it was a good pun. But do we haaaave to?”

“Aw, you’re just sore because you ain’t one for fightin’ heads up,” Noran ribs, and from there that starts a miniature three-way debate on the merits of hand to hand combat as opposed to magic.

> “Okay, okay, we’ll just keep it simple. I’ll just run you through some basic paces.”
> “Why not test yourselves? Have a little round robin thing. I’ll bring judges.”
> “Alright, how about we postpone that- instead, let’s do something else.” (Other)

>>4009298
I think it's reasonable to end the thread with around 30-40 Lotes if those purchases will definitely help us both in long and short term. Maybe some of our mission outfit items could be upgraded as well? I don't belive we've ever worn Miranda's Jacket for the last two years - maybe some enchantments would change that. Our wardrobe is quite big by now, we could go to that naga craftswoman and adjust stats or add new effects to our old gear instead of buying new one.

>>4009300
>> “Okay, okay, we’ll just keep it simple. I’ll just run you through some basic paces.”

>>4009298
ok, first we should figure out what to do with the plane and the hangar. Those things are gaining dust since a literal year and a half and they have produced a grand amount of 0 motes. Either we find a way to monetize them or we sell the plane and convert the hangar to something else.

The options for monetizing the plane are basically:
a) We get a pilot and rent our services to other outgoer outfits that require either a bombing run, critical package delivery, recon, decoy or anything like that; basically anything that is too small for someone like dynamic solutions to take. I don't think we will get a lot of money from those, but it is a safe and reliable way to get Lotes.
b) We get a pilot and find missions that need a plane. More risk, probably the time required to find a good mission will also be higher but the rewards should be better as well.

Then we might want to finish upgrading the lab, followed by finishing the training areas, but given that the training areas don't have any real meta advantage, they would essentially be cosmetic in nature.


>>4009300
>“Okay, okay, we’ll just keep it simple. I’ll just run you through some basic paces.”

>>4009320
about the pilot - both of our skyworlders served in the military, so I believe they can do a good job if we send them on some specialized courses. I don't understand why some anons want to shoehorn them into pure R&D, they can still go on missions. Owlia was a former protag team member and Cylica traveled through some pretty inhospitable places that few dared to go through on her own (aside from the obvious warlord thing), and Handler draws attention from time to time that they are good melee fighters (just good, not stellar like Miranda). So I don't get why some anons treat them like civvies.
And I think some training software could be found for mini-bots. I assume that their mechanical nature would make them versatile, yet some anons openly get pissy and call them absolutely useless.

>>4009328
This is Artificer Charlist for SES members, and the doc info says that it was made and edited by Handler himself.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Kj00CtC5_cYWFCmRqc3h68q-OdQwCui3dgxQDbordEQ/edit
Entriy for Owlia mentions 'Dogfighting' skill. We've discovered aircraft storage, encountered hostile air support units, and there was an option to fly the airship right to our clients instead of holding our ground - so I assume there was a possibility to use stored aircraft and that Owlia could be given an opportunity to pilot one of these things. The argument that Randa or Izumi would be better than her at piloting because Owlia is not familiar with that type of aircraft is kinda moot cause the same could apply to them since it was advanced Precursor tech.

>>4009300
> “Okay, okay, we’ll just keep it simple. I’ll just run you through some basic paces.”

>>4009300
>> “Okay, okay, we’ll just keep it simple. I’ll just run you through some basic paces.”

>>4009289
Thing is, if we don't consider job outfits now, we'll just end up buying what is, in short, off the shelve. Ain't no custom feel there.
>>4009309
Personally, this works too, since any modifications eould certainly change the appearance of the clothing aswell.

>>4009328
the thing with O&C is that they are couriers and not enforcers. That by itself restricts the kind of missions that they can take although we can bring them into our missions because we would technically be their bodyguards, and they also haven't shown any real interest into flying the thing or becoming enforcers. We should definitely ask them to see if they want to pilot it, but again, they are couriers, Owlia has her side job/hobby as a mad scientist and so far are pretty happy in their positions.
s

Today was butts. I'm worn out. No run. Maybe tomorrow.

>>4009580
As far as I know, courier's have a pretty sweet gig compared to enforcers, and O&C can still put up a decent fight, if not one-girl armies like the MG trio. They get to play full on Recetear and buy and sell doodads they find and supply from the Intersection (So long as it's not banned goods like a Futuresight) For (fun and) Profit. Honestly bringing them along to worlds with decent conversion rates would pay for itself and we'd be able to provide direct feedback on the devices we've been having Owlia make for us. Speaking of, we've given her the data for that right?

>>4010277
It's alright Handler, take some you-time, we can hash out a buncha minor stuff between ourselves.

>>4009320
I don't think that we even have the hangar in the first place.

>>4010277
Sorry to hear that, boss. Take a night off, hopefully tomorrow's full of the good type of butts.

>>4010362
As far as i know, we do. that's where the plane is stored.

>>4010308
but that doesn't requires them having a plane.

>>4010362
>>Basic Hangar- A simple addition to the HQ that allows for the storage and protection of large vehicles. Has room for two vehicles, and comes with vehicle ‘security’’ zones to allow safe transportation of vehicles to mission location. (Maintenance Costs on Vehicles is Lowered)
Cost: 150 LMotes
>Available Additions: Diagnostics Bay (70 LMotes), Auto Cleaning Tools (50LMotes)
>Available Expansions: Double-Sized Hangar (100 LMotes), Repair Bay (70 LMotes), Flight Simulation Bay (90 LMotes)

Doesn't look like it. IIRC, where we have them now is basically just a warehouse.

>>4010378
Dat Shit is expensive!
Miranda isn't funding that!

>>4010380
anon, there's HQ funds + other members will chip in. This is not coming out of our pocket

>>4010381
>other members will chip in
We don't need to be asking employees to put part of their paycheck back into the business with any kind of regularity. It's kinda scummy.

I understand anon's reaction; HQ funds trickle in slowly, and others have mentioned dumping cash into the HQ projects.

>>4010390
I mean, we do that every time we purchase upgrades for HQ

>>4010381
I recall the last time we called the other SES members to chip in, they were reluctant to say the least. I don't MIND this, it doesn't exactly make sense for SES to suddenly be able to afford huge expenditures like a hangar bay for our two pilots and single vehicle that aren't even a major part of our operations like Dynamic Method's were.
>>4010393
That doesn't mean the characters like it though, I seem to recall a very "Fine, THIS time I'll help, but don't count on it next time" vibe

>>4010390
>>4010397
there were over 90 Lotes in there after purchasing the assistant bot, and maybe a bit more trickled in from off-screen donations in the meantime.

>>4010393
Only a few time, thankfully. But yes, it is scummy. Imagine if your boss once every few weeks asked you to 'chip in' on buying a faster server, fancier copier, update the A/C, switch out the carpet, etc.
Once, or very rarely when cash is tight and it's urgent, is it ok to ask employees to pay out of pocket for business expenses.
If we were having trouble saying out of the red we'd be talking to Sal or increasing company percentage or something. but this is nice-to-have stuff in the first place.

>>4010403
IIRC, company funds come in at ~50 Lotes between missions, which is 1/2 or less of many upgrades. And missions take a couple of months IRL. So yeah, they come in pretty slow.

Alright, if you want to use HQ funds only then we'll put it off after the next mission. The point of the discussion was that we've no long term plans on how we should spend our motes. I think the Hangar would pay off for itself after a couple of missions. On the other hand, purchasing Ranged Combat Training Room had the most support among our teammates (Mono, Bots, Owlia). But if we go with that, then the aircraft will have to wait for another year or two.
#56
>“Actually!” Owlia pipes up, causing a glance from Cylica, “It’s gonna sound weird from me, but maybe we could spring for the Ranged Training Area?” She immediately shuts up, not elaborating.
#76
>http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/3534271/#p3536286

>>4010439
personally i'd go for the hangar, BUT we need a pilot and missions. No, O&C can't be the pilots, unless the courier missions that require a plane are as profitable as the enforcer ones, or are so easy and fast to make that the cash difference is made up by the volume of missions you can do. Otherwise the only alternative we have is to sell the thing.

>>4010443
Personally, I thought we'd use aircraft for missions that require a big team (and bigger payout), not solo runs.

>all this talk about a pilot
I guess that's a segue into the topic of recruitment? Or not, and it could wait for a day or four?

>>4010439
I was eyeballing the range earlier, actually. Ranged combat is a fundamental, and just about everyone could use it.
No way the hangar pays off that fast, even if we got dedicated pilots. They cost 10(?) a week in idle maintenance. That's before pilot pay, fuel, munitions, repair, and overhaul costs/downtime.
This is doubly true when most groups that would need us to operate a vehicle usually have one we can use (thus we don't have to pay for maint on it, and we don't stick out like a sore thumb to the locals).

I wouldn't mind selling off the aircraft; they seem cool until you realize how much they cost to simply keep available. And realistically if we called them into an ongoing mission that mission is likely a wash financially.

>>4010483
I wouldn't mind pawning it off too, but not without a suitable price. The thing is not exactly a bargain bin model.

>>4009342
Easy. Owlia and Cylica don't want to do the job, and have the skills to leave SES and work elsewhere if we try and force them to. That crystal company would be thrilled to buy out their contract.

On the other hand, selling their contract is an option if we want to be cripplingly poor from spending lotes on tech upgrades instead of upgrading our base.

> Handler says he doesn't want to deal with running economic stats in the quest

> Makes the setting Ancap paradise with extinction for failing to pay the rent and puts the main character in charge of growing a small business.

Honestly I'm having trouble reconciling this. Seriously, if we aren't going to run any economic stuff why put all that in.

>>4010483
I want to sell the aircraft. The only way it makes sense to keep is if we had a mech specialist.

Really, we should shit or get off the pot regarding making money outside of combat. Nobody wants to sell things like Lori's soul creation for AI, or Owlias crystal tech, etc because Handler doesn't want to balance making money or something.

So we might as well just get rid of all the non-combat shit. Might as well get rid of Owlia and Cylica too because they're wasted characters on par with shopkeepers at this point.

>>4010483
I mean, most of maintenance and other upkeep stuff would be paid out of Company Funds, which is separate from HQ Funds. It wasn't clear how to use them, they only mention said that it could be used to restore HQ equipment and renovations, some of the research stuff, ammunition, uniforms and something else. Kinda like susbsidies I guess. The explanation wasn't clear.
The mere thought of selling the aircraft leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, but it is a reasonable option - Owlia got introduced to jets and helicopters and studied an advanced magitech hybrid of crystals, sigils and conventional stuff, all of which was interconnected in some novel way - this knowledge could be used in other projects, so it's already a net gain even if we've never got to use them. It just feels like a loss, even though it isn't.
And I certainly don't want to hire a pilot - not unless they can help our R&D with research and manufacturing.
by the way, have we ever scanned a Walker-mech with our FutureSight? I only remember scanning a mothballed shuttle from that world.

>>4010707
>Owlia and Cylica don't want to do the job
???where do you get these ideas from??? They are currently at odds with that company.

>>4010714
>The mere thought of selling the aircraft leaves a bitter taste in my mouth
Then lets get a pilot for it and put the thing in service. Hell, lets ask O&C if they want the job, but i'm betting that will be a hard no from both. Not because they won't want to(maybe C won't want to), but because they have other stuff to do.

>>4010713
I think anons who want to skip the intermissions and instantly want to rush to the next mission are at fault for this. Because of that we can't follow through with our plans for developing our stats, relations and company. They just want to get to the 'meat' without doing any maintenance, treating this quest like a collection of one-shots with recurring characters. What the fuck the point of motes if they never do anything with them? What's the point of sidemissions and following the Riders?

>>4010732
I mean, I don't like the idea, but logically it is a solid option.

>>4010746
To buy gadgets and loot we never use, of course!

But yeah, in-game economics are fucked at this point and I'm tired of caring about it.

It wasn't an issue earlier on when we had less income to worry about and only Miranda's personal costs, but now we have this vague "options for upgrades" but no real penalty for not growing SES in . . . Any direction at all.

It's like a drug front business, like Sal doesn't really give a shit about it.

So, can we agree that the next thing we should do is to sort out the issue of the plane?

>>4012050
I'd like to do that, and sort out the last hire. It shouldn't be a shitshow since we can just discuss *what* we're looking for first and then vote, instead of arguing about *who* to take or not take from a mission.

Otherwise it'll just be another shitshow later on.

>>4012187
>It shouldn't be a shitshow
Incorrect. there's plenty of us that don't want another hire at all.

>>4012217
why? its not like the other hires really matter; We only willingly interact with Lorelei, Izumi and the kids either way.

>>4012225
Speaking of which we should do something with Mono just to catch up with her. Such as a mission to see if she has improved as an Outgoer.

>>4012225
Anyone with the right skillset to be an Outgoer that isn't currently employed in the Intersection likely has a reason; unwillingness or character flaws being the most likely. Outgoing is lucrative for the Outgoers and the companies, so there's no reason to not join up otherwise.
Also, I prefer to take from on-job talent. It gives a much longer potential vetting period with them unaware, and they're more likely to not jump ship at the first decent offer.

>>4012235
I'm good with that. We haven't seen much of her in a while.

>>4012217
Haven't seen any of you guys at all, so it seems to me that it is just you. Every mission last year had several discussions about the last slot. I'm done with that noise, let's deal with it in this thread. Our R&D could use a hand. None of our new recruits could be called a heavy hitter. And some anons think a dedicated pilot could be a good pick.
And I'm getting annoyed with you speaking for others. Or do you just like obstructing other people so much?

>>4012247
That's heavy speculation on your part and what we need right now (a pilot if we decide to keep the plane, an engineer/lab assistant for owlicas mad experiments or a decent enforcer) requires flexibility, something that isn't really available from other universes.

>>4010416
By the way, HQ fund gets cash only from donations, so it is still scummy to use it without adding some of our own. So I still don't get this anon>>4010380. Miranda has never added any of her own motes.

>>4012253
I am also not over-eager to hire someone ATM.

>>4012279
that's wrong. We have more or less paid around 25% of all HQ upgrade prices from our pocket.

>>4012279
That anon is me, and we definitely did pay our own motes for rooms before, I don't recall hq funds being donations.

>>4012297
>>4012299
I meant as in just adding our own motes to the Fund and then using it later instead of paying right out of our pocket, sorry for being unclear

>>4012309
the difference does not exist, it's just using Miranda's money but with more steps in it. I'm pretty sure HQ funds are from Sal & the bosses' cut of our mission funds. Y'know, when they convert our payment to motes and then take the lion's share of the payment.

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>>4012299
from the last year's Q&A thread
I think some anons wanted to figure out how exactly this management stuff works during the next intermission, likely forgot about it when the time arrived. And the next intermission got cut short.

>>4012335
*the intermission after that got cut short

>>4012335
I don't think it makes sense. But can't really argue a direct quote from the QM.
:(

this management stuff is messy, the role got dumped on us by Sal and he hasn't explained jack shit, so I understand this anon's frustration>>4010713
Might as well finally confront Sal about the stuff that he's been neglecting to tell us (like investigations, discounts and other privileges).

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several months ago i posted this:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2XxnVA7iq07elE2SDZNRnJnTzA/view
its basically a book that allows you to create a fictional economy from scratch. If we want to help handler with this economy management dealio, we could try to make an economy system for this ancap world. i'm definitely not saying it would work very well, but it would definitely set some rules that can compliment and define the ones that already exist or already exist and at the same time support what we want to do.

Hell, even the first paragraph tells us about this whole ordeal we're going through.
>Too many good campaigns and good campaign worlds have gone down the tubes because the economics of the setting got out of control. Typically this happens when adventurers roll back into town with so much incredible loot that they off-balance the economy. One of the root causes of this is not the generosity of the game master (as is typically blamed), but instead the lack of logic and intelligence in the game systems economics. What every game master needs is an economy that works for all ranges of people: the rich, the poor, and everyone in-between.

I wonder if the Ingenious Ascension side plot would result in major changes

>>4012217
Well plenty of people *do* and I'd rather not have it constantly shitting up threads.

Personally I think the whole "corporate" aspect is fucked and should be abandoned entirely, in large part because of people like you who just shit all over the parts of the quest they aren't interested in leading to the game setting becoming smaller and honestly more boring.

You're a boring, petty person if you insist on avoiding entire aspects of quests that other people like because you can't be arsed to participate in it.

Just like the SoL fags, the combat fags, and the economy fags. Y'all need to learn the basic roleplaying concept of "Say Yes" or "Day Yes, And . . ." Instead of slowly choking the life out of the quest because it has parts that you can't handle.

I mean, your post pretty much says you're going to cause a shitshow if people in the quest try to play a part of it you don't like.

>>4012490
hey, don't add the other groups to the mess. most of the people that want to stay more time on the intersection are pretty chill.

and F.Y.I. I hate doing the economics stuff, but is a necessary evil that has been left unchecked for a long while.

>>4012356
You know what, fuck it I'm out. Yeah the economy is a pain but mostly this quest has devolved to have the most dissapointing players. It's like there's three quests trying to run and people act as if not running just the part they like ruins fucking everything.

Fuck.

I honestly don't know how Handler, well, handles it.

>>4012516
Ideally people who like doing it would get the chance to take care of it and the people like you who are less interested could take a more passive role, but instead we have "guaranteed shitstorms" where people bitch about wasted time.

Honestly I'm too frustrated and Handler doesn't seem interested in intervening in any way to calm people's tits and I just find the quest more exhausting than fun any more.

I have other options for shit to do, and I would prefer to actually enjoy questing.

Lots of other quests that don't constantly devolve into trying to ruin other people's fun on the board. This has just gone on too long, and if I stick around just to keep complaining about it then really aren't I becoming the thing I hate?

Best of luck with the quest, I hope you get whatever it is you enjoy out of it.

>>4012544
friendlyfire, he was arguing for hiring >>4012225

>>4012518
Well, we've voiced our complaints about the quest progression (it was mostly about training) and the only time that Handler could address the economy and Intersection is during intermissions. The intermission in may added HQ tasks so more people would care about what's happening on the home front and Lend&Borrow to show that our R&D was a good investment. The intermission after that got cut short though, so we haven't seen much - in my opinion because of the shitshow caused by a samefag, forcing Handler (in my opinion) to send us off to this Retirement mission much sooner, before we've done anything productive aside from finally purchasing an assistant for Owlia. The thread has just started and we've yet to see the results of our previous actions, so could you please bear with us and see this through 'till the end of this thread?

Mostly I just do as I please and don't stress overmuch.

But it seems like the quest is starting to in fact be less fun for a number of people? A lot of shitstorms have happened as of late over a number of people wanting different things out of it. The whole idea of the motes thing was indeed financially based, but I supposed I'd presumed that it'd be an important, yet simple resource that has balooned out of control...although if I'm being honest, I'm more fretful about the gear/items list than anything else. Just because you don't use everything all the time doesn't mean it's useless, to me, but clearly it all means something to you guys, so maybe it was a bad concept after all.

Perhaps it should take a serious break after all, and I'll reintroduce it later in a new form? Unless anyone has any ideas bar 'get rid of the money system'. Not because I don't want to consider the idea, but because I'd rather not just throw a quest from having what I've considered an important mechanic to not having one without any kind of settling period.

>>4012566
You've got a 'get out of jail free' card for changing the economy and other aspects of world mechanics >>4012439

>>4012582
in a narrative sense, that is

>>4012566
Well you did have the opportunity to reduce mote inflation via the taxes, I think the prices of things getting proportionally larger as we stockpile motes throws into question how anyone who isn't an out-goer affords anything nice without getting spaced.

Perhaps Miranda needs to wander the Intersection with Lori and see what she spends all her Dosh on, because she's perpetually in debt she's gotta know how to spend it, right?

>>4012566
The motes idea is fine, i'm just throwing provervial shit to the wall and see what sticks with the anons. But so far there are two or three anons that are very vocal about their...goals with the quest, not the rest that are quiet because they have nothing to complain about and are happy with how the quest is right now.

>>4012566
Entirely possible that these are just the voices of people on holiday, though there has been at least a few anons who were big on the management idea when it first came up.
IMO the base was just a minor thing we could dump excess motes into for some buffs plus a place for the team to hang out once we got bigger. Removing the costlier upgrades might help, I had fun with the movie and spaceballs thing so perhaps having upgrades linked to a job might work. I also like the Intersection segments since they let us get to know the universe and other SES members better.

>>4012566
I think most of the shitstorms last year were caused by the lack of clarity (is R&D doing anything useful? what can Gartoum do and when should we summon him? How can we make our company better if we don't know how to manage it? Is aircraft really viable - we have no idea how much cash they would bring) - so the only thing left is to speculate, sparking one argument after another. Feels like we might need another Q&A, since explaining stuff IC would be too taxing.

>>4012602
As funny as we might find it, there would be a huge backlash if we lost motes to perceived DMfiat again. Roll-to-not-drunkenly-destroy-everything is always a good time in my mind.

>>4012566
I think the gear is fine (mostly), but the cost for HQ upgrades is way too steep. It's a weird situation where purchasing outfits and weapons is no longer a problem but absolutely nothing can be done about base expansions - it takes a year to save up for the next expansion and then wait for another year's worth of missions to show the profits, so I see why some anons would be disappointed or disinterested about it.

and some anons are just fucking greedy and don't want to do anything with our motes at all - it's not like having more of them will make missions easier

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>>4012615
I kinda agree with you with the lack of clarity and purpose, particularly in the intersection.

Personal opinion incoming:
Given that this is -for all terms and purposes- Miranda's home, we spend little to no time here, which is fine if it weren't due to the fact that there is a lot to do here that we're being encouraged to do. I mean, we have a lab set up, Sal gave us a manager position, we have the daycare kids, after almost a century working here we have upgraded the HQ so SES becomes a decent place for outgoers(or at least our ragtag bunch of misfits) and we're given the potential to make the place better, there are even plans(more like one or two offshoot comments to be honest) to move miranda to a better apartment; hell you are even making a 3d model of the whole place, yet until now we can't stay here more than a week, and that was due to a flashforward. Its like if you were enticing us to stay in the intersection longer, but at the same time you want us to get the hell out of here ASAP, even though you have said that wasn't the case.

I'm not angry or anything, it's just...odd.

>>4012656
i wouldn't say that the cost is steep; building stuff is expensive, after all. I feel the problem is still liked to my previous rant. If we want to get more motes, we need to stay here longer, but at the same time we are always pushed away from the intersection. and if the only purpose of the intersection is to be a place that we only stay for very little, why are we given so many reasons to stay here for longer?

>>4012673
I still hold the opinion that people who were caring about developing our home front got blue-balled pretty badly because some samefag escalated the issue with Izumi and we had to cut our stay short.

>>4012673
>>4012673
>Its like if you were enticing us to stay in the intersection longer, but at the same time you want us to get the hell out of here ASAP
This. There was a case for racking up our job count so we don't die but now we've got a decent sized stash we could do more housekeeping. The problem is that some see it as just busy work instead of a part of the quest.

>>4012673
I can at least answer this:

I'd actually prefer to stay in the Intersection at longer stretches of time. That's just the case flat out.

HOWEVER. I also recognize that there's a decent number of people what would really would rather get to the fighting and jobs quicker, and I don't dislike that stuff either, honestly, so I'm amendable to doing so. What ALSO pushes me towards that is the thing that everyone constantly brings up- that jobs take a loooong time to finish nowadays. With me having an IRL job, they take far longer to complete, and this has come through, unfortunately, in both ends of things, jobs and Intersection encounters. I suppose the issue is that I'm trying to please everyone (and again, I enjoy both sides of the quest, otherwise I wouldn't do them, so it's not like I'm sour at one aspect or the other) and it's starting to please no one, from the looks of things.

>>4012703
I think reading the archives can satisfy the combat-seekers, we have plenty of Miranda going places and pulverizing people for now, we can spend a bit of time interacting with the intersection.

I think a bit of a more meandering pace would be fitting, it feels like bridging interactions have been cut out so that you can have us get to what people are requesting to get done faster, when I sorta want to see Miranda navigate a day in the intersection organically, talk with Izumi and Lorelei, see Sal in person as per the blue moon, and maybe read that instruction manual for summoning we got 20 threads ago.

On the subject of our hires I'd personally prefer our drill instructing be directed to Mono than the carehouse kids.

>>4012703
At the end of the day it's your call boss, if they don't like it they're free to sit it out. People do tend to forget the DM is also a player, especially online.

>>4012703
>HOWEVER. I also recognize that there's a decent number of people what would really would rather get to the fighting and jobs quicker,

Yeah this is pretty much me. I came here from another crossover(Artificer) when I tried to understand who and what the characters were, and I never really got into the SoL part between the missions. Thus I basically just lurk and check back every now and then to see when the next mission is being picked between jobs.

Other than buying the next newest pieces of gear or service I'm just don't get why people want to manage a growing company so much. Is the eventual goal to make Miranda use more time to help recruit and train more people over doing missions herself? If yes I'm kinda sad about it.

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>>4012703
hmmmm.....

The problem isn't that the missions take too long, or that
Most of those problems come from the same root; the dues we have to pay. which in conjunction with the... objective driven mindset several anons have and dissociation of real time and IC time(for reals, at most 5 months have passed in the quest), it created a funny feedback loop:

>we need motes, otherwise we get kicked out of the intersection
>to get motes, we need to go into missions
>The faster we go into missions, the faster we get motes
>we return, pay our dues and now we are running low on motes
>we need motes, otherwise we get kicked out of the intersection

Which is nice to have a reason to go to have adventures, but as it has been shown, we have only paid our taxes once or twice at most, we have more than enough money to pay several IC months(i guess) and yet the loop is still going, which eventually created the idea that if we stay in the intersection too long the IRS will come for our assets and our asses and we will be left with nothing.

I would say that getting rid of that tax (and moving it to a background tax in the items we buy and consume*) would solve most of our internal disputes. I gotta admit that it feels "dirty" to not have a solid reason to keep returning to do missions, other than because it's our job, but the idea that doing them is the only way we can get motes, should be enough to encourage us for better and bigger missions.

*this is just me rambling, please disregard because it probably won't make sense or it's a terrible idea:
What i mean is that, given this is basically an ancap world, it would make sense that the more you buy stuff, the better secured you are, so if an item costs 10 Lotes, 1 of those lotes goes to the "you get to live here" tax, which would encourage us to buy more and better stuff(not even material stuff, expensive food, or field trips are ways to use the money that doesn't really affect our physical space), allows us to explore the intersection, gives us a reason to keep going to missions and at the same time keeps the threat of death on the far horizon and our wallets relatively slim.

Maybe another way to fix this is to have an "obligatory" rest period? Like, i don't know, outgoing missions are really stressful to the enforcers, therefore they have to take... 2 obligatory weeks between jobs and players cannot skip them. if they want to do that, they have to jump to another character and we don't control the mission they are taking. But i just feel this is just the original problem, with another name and way more complex than before.

>>4012755
>Is the eventual goal to make Miranda use more time to help recruit and train more people over doing missions herself?
personally it's not about managing the company, that would be boring. But in all these years we know nothing about the intersection other than:
>it's a place
>live there. well, not really. We just get blackout drunk and then leave. just like an abusive father.

This might also be an offshoot of not having a played her civilian life basically ever, but miranda is implied to be more dimensional than being just a merc. somehow she managed to get a...hoverbike? that she loves to ride, was a chunni for a while(and all that entails), has friends that aren't lorelei and izumi and has a little bit of social life. we should be able to explore that part of her as well. the missions will still be there either way and socializing with others might open to us better missions or items.

>>4012780
>the eventual goal
oh boy, I don't think we've ever discussed this topic before. And we're 3 years in...
From my point of view, it is to rise through the outgoer ranks. For that we need to go on harder missions that bring lotsa motes. And harder mission that bring lotsa motes require cool gear and a good team, plus it's more fun to have a company. So training more people and developing our R&D would help with that. This 'do jobs or die' mentality should no longer be there.

>>>>4012755
For me at least the Intersection allows us to mingle with friends/peers so we can learn more about them and the Intersection as a whole. Why don't you like SoLs?

>>4012813
I don't see why people think SoL has to be exclusive to economy management or missions.

Connections with people can be a lead to specific missions. Helping other outgoers on their missions, for instance. We don't always have to get jobs through Sal, you know?

Hooking up with Owlia and Cylica. Heck it might even be fun to do a mini-mission thread where they go to a Crystal tech convention and get into hijinks, corporate espionage Shadow Runner style since they're honestly prime runner material personality wise. The R&D aspect with them is honestly big enough that it could support its own arcs instead of having it only be experienced through Miranda which distances it from feeling like it has tangible benefits.

The roller derby episode was fun, no? And what about that other companies open house day where we were involved in a tag team wrestling match that had hints of behind the scenes dealings with Dealmakers.

Even going back to the Western world we had more intersectionality with the retired Outgoer and the abandoned future-sight.

SoL doesn't have to be isolated from the conflict, same with economic management etc.

The tax system really does need to be reworked, as does reinvestment in the company. Maybe Sal could negotiate for missions that pay not just towards "upgrade motes" but also reductions in costs towards specific upgrades. Like, a high-tech world mission would give a reduction in cost towards building a firing range, or an airship world towards the hanger etc.

Combined with the "sales tax" idea instead of the annual tax idea it would further integrate the economy management into stuff we're doing *anyways*.

I've calmed down a bit now. There has been more good discussion than I had expected given the recent mood.

>>4012755
Now that i think about it, people that like doing missions should also look forward to the down time for one simple reason.

Skills upgrades.

There are a lot of skills that we have theorized, are still in their infancy, or otherwise have a long way to be refined. As we have seen, we would never even dream of using an experimental skill in a mission, because they cost too much mana, are unreliable and we usually have another tool that at that particular moment is more practical. By being here we can actually allocate time to practice those skills without any kind of danger looming above us.

>>4012813
It's not that I don't like SoLs completely, more like mostly. I'm happy to see Miranda having fun with the other members of SES such as Izumi and Lorelei, since I'm interested in understanding them as part of the team. But whenever it comes to other characters and residents in the intersection, much of the time it feels like a blur, where it's just a collection of new names that don't really do anything other than maybe add flavor to the downtime experience. This is probably because I'm the kind of player that don't pay attention to NPCs unless they give direct personal power-up bonuses based on social relation levels of something. It's why I remember the training sessions the Miranda and Lorelei went through before, but not much else.

>>4012830
>Connections with people can be a lead to specific missions.
This.
We actually know a S rank enforcer(or The Srank, i can't remember) and she seemed quite interested into meeting us again. that might lead to something.

>>4012844
akshually, she was a Courier. She mentioned that she used to be an enforcer before but switched later on.

>>4012804
I'm not sure being #1 fits with any of the girls. Sue, Sal and his boss would love it but SES is just a side project for them. Miranda and Lori are in it for the money, Zumi's moral code prevents ruthless efficiency and the others are still too new.
I suppose the end goal is to retire in comfort? Not get atomized? Head back to our original worlds and live happily ever after?

>>4012872
1 and 2 are more or less the same(although if we ever manage to retire we will probably die), while 3 is impossible.

>>4012872
This comes back to not spending enough time or knowing enough about the intersection to really make plans.

All the real power to effect change is in the hands of the Dealmakers like Sal, so anything really long term would involve supporting him.

Which would require growing SES while controlling it.

Or selling out to another Dealmaker.

The crux of any narrative is always going to be resolving conflict, and we've only found occasional hints of that in the intersection.

>>4012830
>I don't see why people think SoL has to be exclusive to economy management or missions
It seems to be the middle ground for those who want to get it over with asap and those who don't mind Intersection time. I'm all for shenanigans but others just want to optimise time.
>SoL doesn't have to be isolated from the conflict, same with economic management etc.
Yup, like you've mentioned there are some instances where it was fun
but that's just how the dice rolls.

>>4012839
>a blur, where it's just a collection of new names that don't really do anything other than maybe add flavor to the downtime experience
I see the flavour as the point, it is R&R afterall. Don't think anyone remembers the name or face of every mook we meet, and that's fine, the focus is on the SES crew.
>the kind of player that don't pay attention to NPCs unless they give direct personal power-up bonuses
Yup, I don't really remember any names outside of SES either but they're there if we want to look them up. Plus I enjoy the running around, it's s preferable to having Handler say "You won the job, here are your upgrades and loot. Choose new job. You have 5 seconds to comply"

>>4012887
Fair enough, and we've come full circle again to time spent in thr Intersection vs time spent on the job. I don't mind either but prefer the more light hearted side.

>>4012885
Suppose it all boils down to motes then. What are our intermediate goals then? I'd like to see Mono's progress as like anon mentioned before, we seem to have left her training herself in favour of playing daycare teacher. Miranda does seem to expect adults to take care of themselves so it fits

>>4012927
>What are our intermediate goals then?
upgrade our rank, i guess.

>>4012851
really? i don't remember that.

>>4012844
I thought she vanished off the intersection though like immediately after we finished talking to her.

>>4013154
>“So, first thing’s first, I work for Flashpoint, which, if you haven't heard, is an Outgoer company that specializes in acquisitions and retrieval! What that means, is that we get to go to a lot of really cool places, and we get to find really cool things and bring them back for The Intersection to use, or people hire us to find really cool things for them, or we use things for trade! We’re kinda like treasure hunters or adventuring traders and stuff!”

>“So, I have to say I think it's a really cool job! Before I came here I was kind of doing the same thing, only with a lot more beating down people like in action movies!” There's a brief pause for laughter before she continues. “But because of what I can do, I eventually decided that I was a lot more suited for runnin’ places, and I have to say it's worked out for me pretty well!
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2265195/#p2272039
well, it doesn't say so outright, but Flashpoint is courier only for the most part, with the exception of their 'heavy scouts' rescue team

>>4014083
so I could be wrong about her actually switching anything and she might've been a Courier from the start

>>4012830
>>4012765
yeah, i think reworking the tax that way would be great

>>4012566
>over a number of people wanting different things out of it.
I think that's the central cause. The reason for the lack of anons lack of unity (besides anons being anons) is that Randa is all about making money, but there's not a real purpose to collecting or hoarding it. It's not going towards anything in particular, and it's not for saving. Further, in the past tax has been taken out of held cash, not income, which is a disentive to saving.
Another issue is that Randa started powerful. So powerful, in fact, that most equipment is at best a sidegrade from using our fists. This is, I think, why we had that thing about training a while back; training was a way to actually improve, as gear wasn't doing that for us.

These, plus other things (such as being completely isolated from effects of our actions on-job), mean that there's no real driver for Randa; focusing on making money doesn't mean much if the money isn't being collected for a reason (even if that reason is 'blow it all on like a sailor on shore leave'). She's already powerful enough to not be really challenged on-mission. Her backstory doesn't give any motivations.
She's got nothing to strive for; just stuff it'd be nice to have.

Personally, I'd like to aim to get the next Outgoer rank, mainly to actually have something to work towards. But there's little info on what that would actually entail, and it seems few other anons are interested.


I don't mind hanging in the Intersection in short segments, but long segments are dull because they lack the focus of being on the job. While on-mission we have a goal, and a direction to go to obtain it.

>>4014314
>Further, in the past tax has been taken out of held cash, not income, which is a disentive to saving.

Yeah this is the part of the economy I dislike the most. If it was an income + set tax that only took a % of whatever previous jobs one did in a time period and a set base amount on top of that, I could understand and accept that. But the fact that the tax is a % of all currently held funds means it incentives spending and discourages saving, since trying to hoard would be inefficient and wasteful. The other part is also how it makes it feel like the intersection is actually actively trying to force Miranda to get out of it and do more missions via repeatedly taking away more funds the more she has, and not as logical as something like using tax for upkeep of the intersection with a income + base tax, which would only take funds once per income.

Essentially it felt like the players are told to never stay too long and keep doing missions to get motes, then spend them soon before you get taxed based on your current total, then go and do more missions because you're out of motes again. I was fine with that, but got confused as time went on with Miranda getting more responsibility and more reasons to stay. The mixed message was not easy to understand.

>>4014314
>but long segments are dull because they lack the focus of being on the job.
We have never reached that point though, and if we were ever to reach it, that would automatically send us to a mission, because we would get bored.

>>4014345
>The other part is also how it makes it feel like the intersection is actually actively trying to force Miranda to get out of it and do more missions
To be fair, the reason Outgoing is so lucrative is that it directly adds value to the Intersection. While the Dealmakers aren't known to be malicious, it would make sense for them to incentivize Outgoers to be on mission more often than not.

Not that makes me like that tax scheme any more.

>>4014371
Everyone's got a different threshold for 'long', and everyone's got things that make time seem long. Some anons hate Mono. Some hate the kids. Some hate shopping. And so on and so forth.

>>4014314
I feel bad about wanting to blow all Miranda's money on shore leave if only because it's characteristic of Lorelei. I feel it's not actually Miranda's M.O. even though two different people are allowed to do the same thing if they wanna.

About goals, I agree we haven't really had one beyond "be professional, get paid, and don't get fired" which has been pretty loosey goosey considering what you actually need to do to get fired, and also not being a goal so much as etiquette.

I don't see Miranda being powerful as a issue, it gives the adventuring part of the quest this fun reversal as opposed to the classic heroes journey where you have to become more powerful to accomplish your goals. Sometimes we even get to encounter the hero and execute them, which is fun in a moustache twirling sort of way. I'm fine with her always being "strong enough" and I've sorta treated the attempts at training and buying power as ingrained behavior from years of rpgs, like a skinner box.

>>4014381
>I feel it's not actually Miranda's M.O. even though two different people are allowed to do the same thing if they wanna.
Yeah, it would fit Randa, and spending mission money like that as an MC feels very wasteful even if it's not earmarked for something in particular.

>I don't see Miranda being powerful as a issue,
It's not an issue per say, and being powerful is pleasing, but it does contribute to the aimlessness problem. Improving (or at least changing) over time is a staple of almost all media, quests included. Without change of some type (positive or negative), things can start to feel stale after a while. Self improvement is also a common personal motivation.

There's also an appeal in that being more powerful would give us access to more lucrative jobs. But that feeds back into 'but why are we collecting money' thing, so...

>>4014381
Ironically Miranda being "powerful" doesn't translate to having actual decision making power in the Intersection. She doesn't deal with anything outside SES except in brief one shot interactions so far.

>>4014516
Well, yes there are different kinds of power, she doesn't have a lot of power in the intersection, social or otherwise (thanks intersection magic dampeners), so that's where she can be challenged. But we don't really spend enough time on those subplots to get anything juicy going on, gotta have that sweet dopamine hit from the travelling world conquering

Mentally (and not mentally) Workshopping some ideas on how to adjust this.

They involve Plot. In the Intersection. Seems like a lot of stuff boils down to 'we need a reason'. So. I've always had Plot ideas, but I treated it very much as an open-world game would: you progress down that path at your own pace. I COULD adjust that, though.

Also, Unrelated Query: How mad would people get if the method of choosing jobs changed a tad? Or is that not a factor for you?

>>4014750
it depends. You would need to tell us first.

>>4014756
Was thinking it'd be a 'recommended' or maybe 'roulette' system: instead of just giving you three to choose from I'd recommend one and you could vote on it or not. If not I'd give another one until one got majority yes.

Seems like it'd be too much work, though, thinking about it.

>>4014763
...that sounds like the current system but with extra steps. unless there is some sort of penalty to rejecting the mission, we would swipe away the ones we don't like. also, it seems like most, if not all the anons are fine with how the current choose your mission system works, we just need to be able to vote by ourselves when to leave. Most of the time the "missions select screen" is thrown into us without our input

>>4014750
I would like more options in choosing jobs.

More diverse benifits for choosing different jobs, working with other outgoer corporations, intersection specific bonuses like getting books and stuff from certain types of universes or even more targeted things like getting specific people or items from worlds.

Fleshing out the intersection through jobs.

>>4014763
Sounds . . . Cumbersome.

>>4014750
>>4014763
No on the job thing. The current one works great already, and the alternative sounds like it's just railroading. Most people would probably just pick the first one they see as interesting and not care to see what other options there are. At least currently we get to see every choice before we make a decision.

As for the intersection, does there have to be a Plot? I thought it was just a resting area between missions. .

>>4014750
There's also a chance this might backfire hilariously and anons would start voting to ignore jobs in favour of progressing plot, then some might whine about how we're being 'forced' to do unrelated stuff. Doubt it will happen but you never know.

>>4014750
I'm fine with plots in the Intersection. I'm fine with anything Intersection really.

>>4014750
More Intersection plot is good. I've enjoyed all of it so far, even the cook boy and the roller derby.

>>4014763
This would probably reduce the arguing between anons when picking a job so if that's what you're going for I suppose it's a good idea. And we've missed out on many jobs I've considered very interesting because we were offered multiple attractive jobs at the same time.
But on the other hand it would reduce the options to pick from as I think anons would every time vote to go on the first job that pops up. Rather than a negative I suppose this is a neutral point.
I prefer the current job system but I don't have anything bad to say about the suggested new one either so I'm fine with whichever one you end up picking.

>>4014750
Personal opinion: you're doing it wrong by catering to EVERYONE but not yourself. This is your quest and I fully support your decision to steer it into your choice of goals, as long as you enjoy it.

If you aren't having fun then the whole deal will damage your ability to write.

>>4015404
>>4014750
Crush us with your plot, Daddy.

But seriously, if you leave it too open then it's gonna eventually degenerate into constant arguments.

>>4015074
>This would probably reduce the arguing between anons when picking a job
i don't think there has ever been a huge argument when choosing jobs. the last one was the exception because the pay was extremely low, but just that.

>>4014750
Personay, I don't think that the job systems needs such drastic changes. Having an overarching plot sounds great tho.

>>4014750
Also google "Quantum Ogres" for ideas on hiw to railroad the plot, but not the players.

>>4014750
In fact, starting a /tg/ thread about how to change things up in the quest, to go from sandbox to a tighter and more directed narrative is a good idea.

Like, this situation is exactly what the board is for.

This, and generals. So many generals.

>>4016978
...maybe don't use quantum orges. There's a debate on their use, and one of their downsides is a loss of player agency.

>>4017012
>player agency
does it matter if the players never know about them, though?
Either way the idea of quantum ogres is to reuse the assets that you already have created in different scenarios, not to remove player agency. To remove player agency would be.... for example, that in the last mission we would have been forced to help junko take down the organization, like it or not.

>>4017021
>does it matter if the players never know about them, though?
Seeing as we, the players, are talking about them, I think that cat might already be out of the bag.
Recycling unused assets at a later date is fine. Great, even. But the QO in particular refers to making a decisions meaningless by making all options come to the same result.

>To remove player agency would be.... for example, that in the last mission we would have been forced to help junko take down the organization, like it or not.
Yeah, it would. But your definition is a little off. Player agency means that decisions are meaningful. A QO removes agency because either choice leads to the same thing happening.

>>4017098
>But the QO in particular refers to making a decisions meaningless by making all options come to the same result.
>A QO removes agency because either choice leads to the same thing happening.

A quantum ogre is when on a fork in the path you use the stats of a generic, premade monster and just give them a particular skin that fits the environment the players are because its not possible to plan for all the stuff the players can and will do. So if the players go on any of the paths AND they are unlucky enough to have a combat encounter, then:
On path "A" the enemies will be bandits, on path "B" they will be pirates, on "C" they will be griffons, and so on, and so forth.
and again, does it matter when your players don't know? because unless they are cheating, have mind reading powers or are convinced that everything is a QO, there is no way for them to know what is happening on the DM/QMs side.

>>4017137
See, this person gets how Quantum Ogres works.

For instance, planning on us facing intersection interventions or spy shenanigans on a mission to creste a reason to interact with other outgoers back at the intersection afterwards, but fitting it to whatever mission we choose.

So we would be getting put in a position to make allies or enemies with another outgoing individual but how we did it and what the resulting relationship is would be up to how we played it out.