Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Passenger’s Log: Saint Didier’s Day

“Great commotion and excitement on deck this morning, and not a little confusion, as the Haniver lowered its boats for its first hunt of the season. As the boats splashed down into the water, a great silvery sunfish was sighted for the first time a way off to starboard. And perhaps attracted by the noise, a hammerhead shark thrashed through the water on the other side of our ship.”

Sailors Corona, Card and Jumble joined the Hunt. (Brendan and DeWaldo declared an intention to, but failed to increase their Hunger, so the declaration was invalid.) This Hunt has a Maneuver of 1 and a Power of 1, and it has two Encounters. As Card had the presence of mind to bring a Harpoon, each Encounter starts with +1 Power.

Starboard Encounter: A Benign Sunfish with Speed 3, Danger 1, Yield 2. The Encounter has 1 Maneuver Energy and 2 Power Energy, and Jumble is its Leader.

Port Encounter: An Angry Hammerhead Shark with Speed 3, Danger 1, Yield 2. The Encounter has 1 Maneuver Energy and 2 Power Energy, and Corona is its Leader.

Comments

Corona:

23-05-2018 09:26:53 UTC

Hmm, we’re going to lose, but we could lower their danger levels…

However, I don’t think we’re going to lose any HP, as it isn’t clear what “they” refers to in the rule:

[If all available turns for the Hunt has been used up, but the Danger of the Encounter’s Fast-Fish is above 0, then the Hunt is Defeated: they each lose Health equal to the Fast-Fish’s Danger.]

Port encounter turn order:
Corona, card, Jumble

I flank the Hammerhead Shark.
-1 Hammerhead Shark’s Speed
-1 Port encounter Maneuver Energy

Kevan: he/him

23-05-2018 09:43:14 UTC

What else could “they” plausibly refer to, there? Given that the only game entities that have anything called “Health” are Sailors, and that a Hunt is a thing that’s joined by a group of Sailors.

Lulu: she/her

23-05-2018 11:46:16 UTC

Starboard turn order: card, Corona, Jumble

Lulu: she/her

23-05-2018 11:46:23 UTC

Starboard turn order: card, Corona, Jumble

Lulu: she/her

23-05-2018 11:46:39 UTC

not another doublepost

Corona:

23-05-2018 12:16:25 UTC

Well, I’m used to more rigorous, literal interpretations of nomics’ rules.

If I were to judge, I would say “they” refers to “available turns”, the plural noun preceding it, and that the rule fails to make the “available turns” lose Health, as they don’t have any, so the paragraph has no effect.

Corona:

23-05-2018 12:19:53 UTC

Actually, it doesn’t matter, as we can simply not take our turns, so that the encounter never ends.

Lulu: she/her

23-05-2018 12:24:34 UTC

We should at least try until we run out of energy and then stall.

derrick: he/him

23-05-2018 12:56:16 UTC

Kevan, what’s the “uncommonness” on these creatures? If its 0, then the yield should be 3. If its not 0, then some of the stats are wrong.

Madrid:

23-05-2018 13:06:55 UTC

@Corona: “Well, I’m used to more rigorous, literal interpretations of nomics’ rules.”

You’re in for a wild ride lol.

derrick: he/him

23-05-2018 13:27:50 UTC

We don’t do win by paradox here, and there’s this social expectation that there will be a playable game in some form or another at the end of the dynasty.

I like it, because it puts the focus on the game mechanics rather than on the grammar.

Brendan: he/him

23-05-2018 14:43:19 UTC

I like it too.

Kevan: he/him

23-05-2018 14:59:16 UTC

[Derrick] Ah, my mistake, I’d missed the “1 +” on Danger. Sorry.

Both Creatures are Speed 3, Danger 2, Yield 2. Good luck out there.

(There’s probably not grounds for nullifying game actions on the grounds that I posted an illegal update, as I’m not actually required to list any of the stats, let alone correctly. Sailors are encouraged to CfJ if the Danger value would have changed any decisions made.)

Kevan: he/him

23-05-2018 15:07:27 UTC

[Corona] I’d read “the Hunt” as being a collective noun - in the same spirit as something like “the Team” - because a Hunt is pretty unambiguously a group of Sailors, with some numbers based on who those Sailors are.

Corona:

23-05-2018 16:25:46 UTC

@ Jumble - each of us has one turn only. We’re going to run out of turns at the same time as we’re going to run out of energy (well, we could skip turns, but that would be worse than pointless).

The optimal strategy here seems to be: flank, attack, attack

If the first attack doesn’t hit, the last person in the turn order should not take their turn, as they will have no chance of killing the creature - the hunt would end after the last turn, the creature dealing 1-2 damage to us - this is survivable, but we have 2 encounters to deal with, there could be accidents, and above all THERE’S CURRENTLY NO WAY TO RESTORE HP! (unless you’re already dead, then you can scramble to life in a week or so)

Corona:

23-05-2018 16:35:20 UTC

(Well, this was posted before the CfJ possibly reducing the creatures’ danger to 1. If that CfJ is enacted, the second attack would probably be worth it)

card:

23-05-2018 16:41:07 UTC

Since there separate encounters, don’t we get a different set of turns for each one? “Each Encounter has a single Creature ...”
Anyway if they’re Danger 2 we can probably win if people change positions to Harpooneers.

Kevan: he/him

23-05-2018 22:13:04 UTC

The CfJ has now enacted and taken both Creatures down to Danger 1.

card:

23-05-2018 22:53:33 UTC

Can you clarify if any of their other stats have changed as a result of their uncommonness lowering?

Lulu: she/her

23-05-2018 23:30:00 UTC

It’s lowered by 3, so the speed is the same and Yield has changed from 1 to 2 and vice versa.

card:

24-05-2018 03:07:27 UTC

Oh I didn’t notice that the main post was changed to reflect all of the new posts.
I’ll choose the Attack action for both encounters, as it’s my turn for both of them, and roll in the GNDT right afterward.
Please note that under the current rules nothing happens to the harpoon when I take this action so I can indeed use that action in both encounters without needing to take a harpoon between them.

card:

24-05-2018 03:10:23 UTC

well the sunfish has been felled

Kevan: he/him

24-05-2018 07:47:37 UTC

The Yield has always been 2, and the change in Uncommonness changed nothing - the stats are only set once, when the Creature is named (“If an uncommon creature has no name, the narrator shall: Set its speed…”).