Report 1291

Report #1291
Skillset: Astrology Skill: None
 Org: Nihilists Status: Completed Apr 2016
Furies' Decision:
Solution 1.
Problem: Currently, an astrology sign ray will choose randomly between any
planets in the chosen sign for the resulting affect. This is annoying for both
basic rays and constellations, since it means if you try to throw aeon it just
won't work something like half the time and you'll get ego curse instead, any
given affliction only being available a third of the time anyway. Keeping in
mind that constellations aren't actually masked as long as you have a clock,
this report aims at improving the reliability of sign rays in worst case
scenarios.
[A: 0 R: 0] Solution #1: Add a new ability, Disjunct. Disjunct makes it
 impossible to cast a specific planet through sign
 rays. Disjunct costs 5 power and lasts until death,
 but can be lowered at no cost while you have balance
 and equilibrium.
[A: 0 R: 0] Solution #2: Solution 1, but disjunct costs 3 power, lasts 5
 minutes, and cannot be lowered.
Player Comments:
---[Esca on 4/15 @ 22:55 writes]:
Envoy position was supposed to have switched hands by now, so this report is
rushed. Sorry!
---[Wobou on 4/16 @ 15:57 writes]:
I'm mostly ignorant of astrology, would this essentially make signs have a 1/2
chance of causing the remaining two afflictions?
---[Shedrin on 4/17 @ 03:35 writes]:
Currently, if there are multiple planets within a sign, whenever you cast that
sign, it will choose one of the planets randomly to afflict with (unless one of
the planets are retrogade, in which case it will always appear. Retrogardes
aren't too common, though). Removing one of the planets will help in the very
common situation that you have an affliction you want, such as aeon, along with
something you don't wana, for example, ego curse, as in the problem statement.
You can remove Papaxi, and leave only Aapek, and thus get aeon 100%. If there's
three planets, you can remove one, and leave the remaining two at 50/50 chance.
---[Shedrin on 4/17 @ 03:36 writes]:
I support either solution.
---[Wobou on 4/17 @ 15:00 writes]:
Thanks to Shedrin's excellent explanation and another one I received privately I
believe I understand this proposal better now. Making astrology more predictable
is a buff, in a way, but given the rarity that I see astrology being used for
anything but meteor or buffs on allies I think this is okay. Either solution
sounds fine to me.