Outcast Quest [Updated 10/10/18 - Turn 14]

[alpha]

Voted.

[X] Improving Relations
[X] Barracking for Barracks
[X] Crop Diversification
[X] Mining Operations Expansion
[X] Live Interview
[X] Time Out
[X] Wind Current Analysis

Let's work towards the science annex.

[joestej]

Wherever it's logical to apply an overflow of knowledge to the next project, I'll do so, but don't expect it to apply for everything.

Okay, cool.

[dragoongfa]

I think that Razor learned a lesson and decided to post the second interlude right after the end turn results

[Razor One]

Actually I was playing with my nephew. He has a bad habit of making bad bets and I was rather busy teaching him a lesson about gambling, debt, and what happens when you fail to pay up.

Lesson learned: Never bet against your computer gaming obsessed uncle that he can't possibly clock a game in one night. Especially when he fully informs you of the odds. Especially when everyone says not to take that bet. You especially shouldn't up the ante from five dollars to thirty because you're that confident your totally uncool uncle can't do it. You should also never state that Enter Sandman is horrible music, but you can at least get away with that since you're young and stupid. But you're not getting away without paying up. Oh yes.

Lesson double-learned: I have a tendency to meander when I am victorious and have successfully taught my nephew valuable life lessons. Stop that.

Turn 5 Results

Military

[X] Barracking for Barracks: The Marines under Colonel Pierce's command appreciate their civilian digs but would prefer proper facilities to train in and hard beds to sleep in.

Cost: 2000 RU, 250 RU Upkeep, Time: 1 Month, Chance of Success: 100%, Reward: Room for 250 Marines to train in, able to train civilian militia, more options.

-The Marines construct their barracks like a well oiled machine. The last month of assisting on civilian operations has given them all experience that came in handy here, and the fact that they now have a decent shooting range, sparring yard, parade grounds, and sufficiently hard beds helps them against getting too soft.

Reward: More military options unlocked. Marines now have their own annex seperate from civilian sectors.

Diplomacy

[X] Improving Relations: Your last exchange with your Loroi guests went quite well, but there are still things you don't know about one another and steps to take if they're going to do more than sit tight.

Cost: 0, Time: 1 Month, Chance of Success: 100%, Reward: Boost in Loroi Opinion, ???

What do you ask the Loroi? (Choose 4)

[] Ancient History
[] Recent History
[] Personal History
[] House Politics
[] Culture
[] Technology
[] Personal Inquiries

What do you choose to divulge? (Choose 4)

[] Ancient History
[] Recent History
[] Personal History
[] Culture
[] Personal Inquiries
[] Regional Knowledge

To be continued in: "Ice and Fury"

Stewardship

[X] Crop Diversification: You brought more than just potatoes with you. Introduce these crops to your agri-complex and diversify your foods.

Cost: Agricultural Yield Halved, Time: 8 Months, Reward: Diversified Crops, chance of crop failure falls to zero, colonists happy about not having a diet of 100% potatoes, once executed, does not occupy Stewardship slot.

-Preparations have begun to diversify your monoculture of potatoes. From the moment planting begins, half of your capacity will be taken up by potatoes, the other half by various grains and staples you've brought, such as rice, corn, and wheat. The proportions will change and rotate over the coming months so as to give you a nice and steady income of all available crops, allowing you to both diversify your colonists diet while ensuring food security. Although this is a lengthy process, the rewards are certain to be worth it.

[X] Mining Operations Expansion: Expand your existing mine on Niflheim for more glorious ore.

Cost: +250 Per Expansion (500) Time: 1 Month, Chance of Success: 100%, Reward: +500 RU per turn

-There's a joke amongst the mining crew that if you keep digging deeper at this rate your drill bits are going to smack into Dvalinn's head and wake him up. You have to look that joke up to get it.

Intrigue

[X] Live Interview: If it's a live interview that reporter wants, it's a live interview that reporter gets. You can take them.

Cost: 0, Time: 1 Month, Chance of Success: ???, Reward: ???

Rolled: 11 + 20 = 31, to be Continued in “Seven Hard Questions”

Learning

[X] Wind Current Analysis: A few civilians want to analyse the wind currents around your home. They feel it could have important implications in determining nearby satellite movements, whatever those strange noises are rumbling off in the distance, and possible defensive applications.

Cost: 0, Value Needed: 195 / 200, Reward: Knowledge of wind currents. Bonus to defensive actions around your home, better able to simulate combat operations, ???

Rolled: 97 + 15 = 112, Value Needed: 200/200, Overflow: 107 --> Wind Riders

[X] Wind Riders: With the wind currents analysed, a few of your more ambitious colonists have proposed utilising the local atmosphere and low gravity to your advantage. Basic gliders and wing suits could be added to your equipment for comparatively little cost and would free up your shuttles from personnel rotations. People could literally fly to and from their work assignments, though they recommend keeping at least one shuttle on standby for safety.

Cost: 250 RU, Value Needed: 0 / 100, Reward: Shuttles freed from personnel rotations. Allows for actions using shuttles. Colonists get to fly to and from work.

Overflow: 107 / 100

Rewards: You now have a complete understanding of the wind currents that affect your home. Your people can forecast stormy weather, predict sudden gusts, and have a complete map of the various drafts that affect wind speed and direction.

Not only that, the research team hooks up with the engineers responsible for proposing wing suits and together they accomplish glorious science. There's frankly no reason why, with such a thick atmosphere and so little gravity, people shouldn't be able to fly under their own power. They modify the standard space and pressure suits with wings and stabilisation structures to allow for easy, intuitive, and natural feeling flight.

And the tests are wondrous to behold. The engineers responsible are a bit awkward at first, but once they get a feel for it they're doing barrel rolls, somersaults, loop the doops and flying rings around your asteroid home. One of the braver ones, Nikolev, does a bold solo half hour long flight under her own power from Niflheim to Muninn, touching down to bring a piece of the Chondrite back as a symbol of her victory, before making the half hour return journey, once again under her own power.

The tests are so positive that they become the standard for your suits when operating in the Briar Patch. There's simply no reason not to have the wing attachments, and you overhear Nikolev and a few others chatting about setting up some kind of race later down the track.

Truly, man was meant to fly.

+10 Bonus to military defensive actions around your home due to knowledge of wind currents
Shuttles now needed only to ferry freight from cargo hold to colony and between mining stations, able to spare shuttles for other duties.
Wing Suits are totally amazing.

Personal

[X] Time Out: You've been pulling more than your fair share of the weight recently and it shows. Take a chill pill. Put your feet up. Try to relax and reflect on all that's happened, and where you're going.

Cost: 0, Time: 1 Month, Chance of Success: 100%, Reward: +5 Stat Points to allocate as you wish, character fully destresses.

With the interview firmly behind you, you decide to take the rest of the month off. You initially intended to put your feet up and do absolutely nothing but kept fidgeting too much. You couldn't stop thinking, long and hard, about what you've been doing, where you've been going, what you could have done better, and what you could improve upon.

Reward:

You have five stat points to allocate to the following categories. Place a number in the box for how many stat points you want allocated to that stat. Please ensure that the total stat points allocated do not exceed 5 points.

[] Martial
[] Diplomacy
[] Stewardship
[] Intrigue
[] Learning

Sample Vote:

[3] Martial
[] Diplomacy
[1] Stewardship
[] Intrigue
[1] Learning

^^A Valid Vote

[5] Martial
[5] Diplomacy
[5] Stewardship
[5] Intrigue
[5] Learning

^^An Invalid Vote

Votes are counted individually. A vote for [3] Martial is counted separately from a vote for [4] Martial. The winning vote is locked in, and I will then runoff to the next most popular appropriate level of stat allocation points, two for the former and one for the latter.

<< Turn 5 || Seven Hard Questions >>

[Razor One]

Seven Hard Questions

You fidget in your seat nervously as the man who clearly has it in for you adjusts the last set of lights for the interview. Anyone who's anyone in your colony is tuning in. Your crew doesn't really care; they know who you are and trust in your command. Most of the marines and the colonists though... to them you were just some person who happened to be in charge. They don't know who you are, and a few are more inclined to question your command of the situation.

They do have a right to know who you are. They do deserve to see you stand or fall upon your own credentials. You just wish that this 'reporter' would actually do his job properly, rather than clearly having it in for you.

Still, you've crossed swords with Sam Whittaker once before, and now you'll do so again.

One last microphone check and he begins.

“Greetings ladies and gentlemen of Niflheim Colony, I am your host, Sam Whittaker. Today we will be interviewing someone not well known to us, but is someone chiefly responsible for our survival in this new and hostile universe. Captain Mira Sheridan,”

Rolled: 81 + 14 = 95

You feel the cameras upon you and give them a nod with a winning smile. You haven't lost your edge in the slightest. In fact, you think you may have gotten sharper.

“Mr. Whittaker,” you say by way of greeting.

“I'll get straight to the point, does a captain of your level of experience have what it takes to act as our military governor?”

Rolled: 55 + 14 + 20 = 89

“What do you mean by my level of experience?” you ask.

“Well, you are just a transport captain, ma'am, no offense,”

“None taken, Mr. Whittaker. I rose up through the ranks same as any other. In fact, my rise was just a bit too quick, by the time I'd earned a promotion to captain there were simply no ships left in the fleet for me, not without pushing out someone who deserved their command just as much. I was assigned to the L'Amour until there was an opening in the ranks,” you explain.

“So, you're just a substitute captain then?” he asks.

“Not at all, I've been in command of the L'Amour for two years now, and I take command of her quite seriously. A transport vessel is just a few upgrades in terms of armour and armament away from being a fully fledged warship, much like the Centaur class a generation back, so command of such ships is not doled out lightly,” you respond.

Making no clear headway, he skips to his next question.

“Captain, given our current situation, should the military really be calling the shots?”

Rolled: 41 + 14 + 20 = 75

“TCA law and regulations stipulate that in a survival situation without any meaningful support, the military is to do all it can to safeguard TCA citizens. Furthermore, colonies under a certain size and standard of living must be assigned a military governor. As the military chain of command stops with me, under these circumstances it is both lawful and necessary for me to 'call the shots',” you explain.

“Surely that can't be fair,” he protests, “our civilian government certainly deserves a chance to be in charge of affairs.”

“With all due respect to the esteemed candidates running for the current election, no. All colonies under a certain size are ascribed a military governor until standards of living and stability is assured for all its citizens. As of right now, that's not possible. Perhaps in the future as our population grows we might be able to transition to a system where supreme executive authority is wielded by an elected official, but now is not that time. If it's any consolation, I grew up under such a system on the colonies and paid attention to the politics of the time. Rest assured I know how much, and how little, to intefere with the domestic side of politics.”

Mr Whittaker shifts gears again as you deflect his questions with ease.

“Many of us are beginning to wonder if we'll ever see our homes and families again, considering how rapidly we're putting down roots here. Why the lack of even a pretence of attempting to find a way home?”

Rolled: 74 + 14 + 20 = 108 (Supercrit)

Oh? Hardball is it? Hah.

“Mr. Whittaker, I don't think I need to remind you what the usual result of a misjump entails. The fact that we beat the odds and neither wound up skipping off into eternity nor crashing into a gravity well and dying horribly if quickly is already a miracle of the highest order. To repeat that trick, backwards and blindfolded, is more likely to kill us all, if it even is repeatable in reverse in the first place. I needn't remind you that those people who might have misjumped in a manner such as ours have all failed to return home and report in,” you say.

“But we haven't even tried to fire up the jump drive,” he says.

You suppress a smirk at that. His delivery is poor and makes him look whiny. You captalise on that mercilessly.

“Mr. Whittaker, the jump drive nearly tore itself out of its housing and was shut down for safety long ago. This universe operates under a completely different sent of physical laws, and given the effort it took to puzzle out jump drive theory in the first place in our universe, it seems that we'll require a lot of time and resource in order to pursue that avenue of research, time and resources that are, for now, better put towards our survival.”

Oh yes. Nailed it. You can see him subtly grinding his teeth in frustration and the urge to do a little victory dance is almost too good to resist. Almost. You know you've won, he knows you've won, and just like that he changes the subject.

“Although we are now well ensconced in our new homes, it took us a while to get there. Why did it take so long to establish housing on Niflheim?”

Rolled: 41 + 14 + 20 = 75

“We had to prioritise material and agricultural income upfront before we could afford to begin moving people down to the surface. In the former case, this has allowed us to relax rationing somewhat and may well put us on the path to eliminating them altogether in due time, whilst the latter case is so that we can always have a stockpile of material on hand to avoid wasting the precious time we do have waiting for the appropriate supplies,” you say.

At this point he doesn't even bother with a follow up question. He just changes the subject, desperately looking to stick you with something.

“We made first contact with aliens shortly after arriving here. Why are civilians being denied access to the aliens?”

Rolled: 86 – 8 + 20 = 98

“We're in the process of learning more about the aliens and determining their threat levels. We're confident that once we've learned more about their language and their customs that civilians will be able to regularly contact them soon. I think we'd all rather avoid an affair where someone makes an offhand remark that translates to a terrible insult for our alien guests and the only recourse for them is to wage a terrible war for generations before forgiveness can be bestowed,” you explain, smirking towards the end.

“Given that our alien 'guests' have some form of ESP, what precautions are being taken to guard against alien telepathy?”

Rolled: 45 – 8 + 20 = 57

“As far as our alien guests surmise, we appear to be immune to their telepathy. They can neither sense our presence nor read our minds,” you reply.

“But you only have their word,” says Mr. Whittaker, “they could be lying.”

“Possibly,” you admit, “but given their cooperative nature and having met with them a few times, it strikes me that deception is not necessarily within their nature.”

“That seems a bit naive, Captain,” says Mr. Whittaker.

“Naivete has nothing to do with, Mr. Whittaker. They're children who have been through a harrowing experience, and they owe us for getting them out of that rust bucket alive,” you reply.

Not your best performance, but you'll deal, you can feel that this interview is just about over.

“Final question, Captain. One of your crew members died shortly after arriving in this new realm. Is there any reason his death was kept a secret?”

Reaction: 90 + 14 + 20 = 124 (Supercrit)

Hot button: Deal with internal rage, shame, guilt.

Rolled: 55, 88, 71

Your eyes narrow as your opinion of Mr. Whittaker drops through the floor like a lump of neutronium. He wouldn't ask this question unless he knew everything. If you try to dodge he'll nail you. The only recourse is to nail him right back.

“There are still unknown factors surrounding Ensign Jackson Kelly's death, such as why he awoke just six minutes after our misjump as opposed to several hours for the rest of us, his clearly delusional behaviour as caught on our security film, and the ultimate reason for his suicide. Because of our tense situation upon our arrival here in this new universe, I felt it best to keep such a sensitive matter firmly to those it affected most; my ship and crew,” you explain tersely.

“But surely the public have a right to know about such military casualties,” says Mr. Whittaker, “we surely owe it to Ensign Kelly to remember his sacrifice.”

Hot button: Deal with Rage

Rolled: 77 + 14 + 20 = 111 (Supercrit)

“Tell me about him, then,” you ask.

“Uh, what?” asks Mr. Whittaker, confused by the sudden turnaround.

“Tell me about Ensign Kelly, Mr. Whittaker. If you are intent upon remembering his noble sacrifice, then by all means, eulogise him,” you say viciously.

“Uh, um, well, he uh, he signed up for the military in uh-”

“Just stop,” you say, almost hissing, before turning to a more gentle tone, “His favourite ice cream was chocolate mint. He was such an enormous night owl that we assigned him the grave yard shift in engineering and he never even noticed. He had a collection of World War Two fighter memorabilia that took up his entire allotment of personal items. He never made a fuss, was always the quiet but sensitive one of the group, right up until you got a few beers into him and he started telling the funniest jokes you'd ever heard, and if we were still alive today, Mr. Whittaker, he'd have given you the meanest right hook for trying to make hay of his or anyone's death. This interview is over.”

You peel the microphone off and stalk out.

–

Overall Reception:

95 + 89 + 75 + 108 + 75 + 98 + 57 + 124 + 111 = 832 / 9 = 92.44

Reward: Your population not only knows who you are now, they saw you completely destroy every question thrown towards you. You faltered a bit on certain points, but overall, you were forthright, honest, strong, and above all, the very picture of someone that people want to have in charge and making the big decisions.

Your reaction to Mr. Whittakers 'gotcha' question regarding Ensign Kelly is something especially notable. People remark about your apparently effortless self control combined with your well tuned moral outrage. More to the point, you hear from quite a few people that there were standing ovations at your reaction and even a few tears.

You've absolutely solidified your position as military governor of your colony.

–

SpoilerShow

Code: Select all

To: Captain Mira Sheridan
From: Sam Whittaker
Subject: RE: The Interview

Well played, oh captain our captain, most entertaining indeed. 

The Blue Rose cell will be at your service the next time you have need of us. Sam will be our point of contact with you in future. Please try to avoid harbouring ill will, he did work quite hard at making you look good. 

Regards,
Blue Rose Cell,
TCA Special Operations Division.

PS: Don't worry about deleting this email. We've got it covered.

<< Turn 5 Results || Ice and Fury >>

[dragoongfa]

Nice life lesson to the nephew, you should have reminded him that you probably game for longer than he is alive, I have done it for someone who is just seven years younger than me

Hmm...

Love the fact that we got two birds with one stone in regards to research, I think that everyone will agree on 'over yonder' being next now that the wing suits are taken care off. After that I will suggest Loroi Biochemistry (3 turns if above average rolls with 2 d100 dice).

The interview went almost perfect as well and as it turns out Sam Whittaker is actually a spook. Maybe we will need them later with aliens but for now the spooks are almost useless.

Now for diplomacy and the points asked and divulged.

We ask what we didn't ask before

[X] Ancient History
[X] Recent History
[X] Personal History
[X] Personal Inquiries

We divulge pretty much the same on 1 to 1 ratio

[X] Ancient History
[X] Recent History
[X] Personal History
[X] Personal Inquiries

Technology and House politics are a little tricky. First of all they are children and as such they may not know much but on the other hand if they do know something they will divulge it after we have gained more trust with them.

Now for the stats:

Martial: 13
Diplomacy: 17
Stewardship: 12
Intrigue: 13
Learning: 13

I got a feeling that we will need high diplomacy plenty of times until we get teched up but martial and intrigue should not be ignored.

[2] Martial
[2] Diplomacy
[0] Stewardship
[1] Intrigue
[0] Learning

The thinking behind this is to take what we are good and make it better while also enhancing the stat that we will need in case of a skirmish with Urkuk. The lone point in intrigue may not seem much but in case anyone hasn't noticed we have failed many intrigue rolls so far and I want to invest there after diplomacy and martial.

One of the meetings with people is an 100% increase in diplo by 1 as well and I wonder if our chances for the other increases will improve slightly with a high diplomacy.

Updated head plan after fixing a mistake: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

[Razor One]

He is constantly reminded that we have all been gaming for longer than he's been alive, but he's cocky and never seems to learn. Several months ago my brother and I rolled him using nothing but infantry in Red Alert 3 while he had access to the full arsenal. The tears were glorious, especially when contrasted against his cocksure claim that he could best the both of us.

He's getting better at Planetary Annihilation lately. In the fullness of time, he may pose a small challenge to me, though I prefer teaming up with him to defeat the AI on hardmode while outnumbered. Going back to Red Alert, me my brother and him had fairly a epic three hour battle trying to take down just a single AI on Brutal. It didn't help that there were infinite resources, so it was basically a grind fest of production, micromanagement and patience. While the kiddo got rolled early on, he kept up a running commentary that made the match infinitely more fun.

Ice and Fury will come along sometime tomorrow since it hasn't been written yet. The update + the interview took up most of my free time.

Regarding the 100% chance on diplo gains, that's Homura Izumi, and I had to represent her bullshit gains and bullshit rolls from earlier alongside her bullshit 25 Diplo. You spend time with her, and you're guaranteed to get better at the diplomancy game. You may also reveal certain bits of info if you keep pecking away at her. Don't forget that each character does have three items that are lurking there in the background, hidden. Could be delicious bonuses. Could be just simple backstory. Could be enjoyable fluff. Could be personal issues that, when resolved, improve their stats in addition to yours.

[dragoongfa]

Let's not forget that one of those options will get our captain pierced.

EDIT: I hope that we will get more achievements soon

[Absalom]

Razor, will points in Stewardship eventually increase the maximum number of Stewardship actions, or is that tied more to the population?

Edited in: If the "Noisy Disturbance" is a storm instead of aliens, then Stabilization Thrusters can probably be delayed a month for Clinic. Probably.

[Razor One]

It's more tied to population at the moment more than anything. You've got scantly more than 500 people and it's difficult to justify you getting more than that at this level.

There are paths to improving the situation there though. You just need to find them. Bear in mind that it isn't a strictly linear phenomenon, doubling your pop will not necessarily double your stewardship actions.

[dragoongfa]

I think that will be down to population expertise and the policies that we will follow. For the time being though let's see how things will progress until we can get to the Loroi expedition.

[Razor One]

Holding the update until a few more voters wander in. Weekends seem to be a dry point and it appears that everyone out there have lives away from the computer.

[dragoongfa]

[alpha]

Blue Rose Cell, TCA Special Operations

Interesting… Well, that explains a lot.

Ask and divulge:
[X] Ancient History
[X] Recent History
[X] Personal History
[X] Personal Inquiries

That supercrit on the last question though…

Anyways, stat increases:
[1] Martial
[2] Diplomacy
[1] Stewardship
[1] Intrigue

I want a better chance on those less than 100% chance stewardship rolls.

Ignore this, changing mind. See my later post (which may not be posted yet).

[joestej]

We ask what we didn't ask before

[X] Ancient History
[X] Recent History
[X] Personal History
[X] Personal Inquiries

We divulge pretty much the same on 1 to 1 ratio

[X] Ancient History
[X] Recent History
[X] Personal History
[X] Personal Inquiries

[...]

Now for the stats:

Martial: 13
Diplomacy: 17
Stewardship: 12
Intrigue: 13
Learning: 13

I got a feeling that we will need high diplomacy plenty of times until we get teched up but martial and intrigue should not be ignored.

[2] Martial
[2] Diplomacy
[0] Stewardship
[1] Intrigue
[0] Learning

I want a better chance on those less than 100% chance stewardship rolls.

I agree that increased Diplomacy will be very useful. We seem to be using it a lot for both domestic problems and foreign affairs.

At the same time, I agree with alpha's statement that increased Stewardship would be very useful. The last thing we need is for our schedule to get derailed because we rolled a 10 or something.

Thus I would propose the following upgrade pattern:

[0] Martial
[2] Diplomacy
[2] Stewardship
[1] Intrigue
[0] Learning

Martial doesn't seem to be a skill we'll be relying on in the immediate future, so I'd rather put it on hold while we pick up some stuff that will be useful right now.

---

With regards to diplomacy, I have no trouble with the existing plan.

Ask:

[X] Ancient History
[X] Recent History
[X] Personal History
[X] Personal Inquiries

Divulge:

[X] Ancient History
[X] Recent History
[X] Personal History
[X] Personal Inquiries

[dragoongfa]

Are we sure however that our stewardship stat will improve building chances?

I can see the possibility of a military governor overseeing the logistical side of stuff, correcting and even predicting problems through the paper pushing. If Razor gives a nod that the odds are better with a higher stewardship then I will agree on not improving the martial in favor of stewardship.

[Razor One]

I've been using Alex Cole for your stewardship rolls, your supply officer. He has a total of 17, but with jump sickness that's 14. Your character is currently on 9 with that same malus. I go with whatever is better, so it's up to you if you want to invest points there.

I've been thinking of making research a little more transparent. Currently there are different rolls for each kind of research. Language gets 4d100 + 4d20 since Ensign Izumi is doing it, whilst biochemistry and the like gets a straight 1d100 + Dr. Campos learning stat. I've been thinking along the lines of:

Very Easy, Easy, Medium, Hard, Very Hard, Almost Impossible

You'll still get the point indicators and still have to roll, but it should give a better rule of thumb with regards to assessing difficulty. Languages would be in the easy range, the collar would be the almost impossible range, with biochemistry slotting into either hard or very hard, drones being medium etc.

Structures like the science annex and its addons give bonus rolls to these, lowering the difficulty. Story related shenanigans may also lower the difficulty.

I've also updated your bookkeeping. Dragoon, you forgot a teensy bit of expense related to the wing suits research. It's a minor drop in the bucket but it is worth noting.

Since there enough votes to get a general consensus, I'll get to writing that interlude then.

[dragoongfa]

So I will have to detract 250 from everything...

EDIT: Done

With Razor's input about Stewardship I will remain with my proposal.

EDIT: IIRC Biochemistry got a bonus d100 roll for going through the Loroi physiology first.

[joestej]

I've been using Alex Cole for your stewardship rolls, your supply officer. He has a total of 17, but with jump sickness that's 14. Your character is currently on 9 with that same malus. I go with whatever is better, so it's up to you if you want to invest points there.

I've been thinking of making research a little more transparent. Currently there are different rolls for each kind of research. Language gets 4d100 + 4d20 since Ensign Izumi is doing it, whilst biochemistry and the like gets a straight 1d100 + Dr. Campos learning stat. I've been thinking along the lines of:

Very Easy, Easy, Medium, Hard, Very Hard, Almost Impossible

You'll still get the point indicators and still have to roll, but it should give a better rule of thumb with regards to assessing difficulty. Languages would be in the easy range, the collar would be the almost impossible range, with biochemistry slotting into either hard or very hard, drones being medium etc.

Structures like the science annex and its addons give bonus rolls to these, lowering the difficulty. Story related shenanigans may also lower the difficulty.

I've also updated your bookkeeping. Dragoon, you forgot a teensy bit of expense related to the wing suits research. It's a minor drop in the bucket but it is worth noting.

Since there enough votes to get a general consensus, I'll get to writing that interlude then.

Ah. If it's an either/or choice then, I'd say we should forget Stewardship. By the time we increase our score high enough to see a benefit we'll be way behind everywhere else. Let's stick to our strengths.

New vote:

[2] Martial
[2] Diplomacy
[0] Stewardship
[1] Intrigue
[0] Learning

EDIT:

As an additional thought, do our subordinates gain additional points like we do, or is that one of the things we'd need to spend time with them to unlock?

[dragoongfa]

Those 5 points were for us only, our subordinates will be improved the hard way.

@ Razor

The food income of turn 6 will be 500 potatoes since it was planted before we took the corp diversification action.