This sounds like a pretty great spell, but truthfully, the 1hr CD seems excessive given the other limitations on the spell. What is the reasoning behind the CD?

>>3) Someone testing it with me had it say Amlothi and then when they tried to observe it, it still made them use a telescope.

Can anyone reliably reproduce this? Preferably with logs? Or with something that isn't a planet?

>>What is the reasoning behind the CD?

To limit how quickly you can fill observation pools overall.

-Raesh

"It was wise enough to know itself, and brave enough to BE itself, and wild enough to change itself while somehow staying altogether true." ― The Slow Regard of Silent Things

>To limit how quickly you can fill observation pools overall.

Right - this seems odd to me, though maybe I'm just underestimating the utility of prediction pools overall. Since this spell is impaired by Teleologic sorceries, it seems not terribly exploitable for a mage to use it to keep their pools more full for more time. I dunno, it sounds like a really neat spell that does a really neat thing, and the 1 hr CD seems to be particularly harsh.

Any chance of cutting out the cooldown timer while it's on premium preview to facilitate testing?

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<<Right - this seems odd to me, though maybe I'm just underestimating the utility of prediction pools overall. Since this spell is impaired by Teleologic sorceries, it seems not terribly exploitable for a mage to use it to keep their pools more full for more time. I dunno, it sounds like a really neat spell that does a really neat thing, and the 1 hr CD seems to be particularly harsh

The spell speeds up astrology experience gain by a lot, so having a low recast on it would alter experience gain too much with no cost. The timer seems aligned with how long it takes to drain astrology from mind lock for this reason. Fuller pools also means larger buffs more often, so having a low recast on it would make the prediction system far too powerful.

Teleologic sorcery already has a spell (Tezirah's Veil) that enhances astrology learning rates at the cost of injury and the effects of corruption. Being able to increase pool filling rates on top of that would make learning rates even higher, so corruption has to limit the use of RTR mechanically. TV doesn't have a cooldown, however, because corruption completely neuters the effectiveness of the prediction system for buffs. Since non-sorcerors don't have any inherent limiters, RTR has a cooldown implemented instead.

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cleared my pools before casting and this was the end result of observing. Also i feel like the panther is a favorite of this spell and i see that constellation pop up the most

You consider your recent observations:
You have a fledgling understanding of the celestial influences over magic.
You have a potent understanding of the celestial influences over lore.
You have a significant understanding of the celestial influences over offensive combat.
You have a modest understanding of the celestial influences over defensive combat.
You have an insightful understanding of the celestial influences over survival.
You have no understanding of the celestial influences over future events.
Roundtime: 17 sec.

capped cast ~10 min duration

<<cleared my pools before casting and this was the end result of observing
<<You have a fledgling understanding of the celestial influences over magic. (23-33%)
<<You have a potent understanding of the celestial influences over lore. (67-77%)
<<You have a significant understanding of the celestial influences over offensive combat. (56-66%)
<<You have a modest understanding of the celestial influences over defensive combat. (34-44%)
<<You have an insightful understanding of the celestial influences over survival. (78-88%)
<<capped cast ~10 min duration

Okay, so for that data that was 51.6% to 61.6% of your total pools filled per hour with a capped cast. To make the math easier and give the benefit of the doubt to random chance making yours a high result, lets round that down to 50% thereby assuming the worst case scenario. Given that a min prep cast is 1/5th the duration that should mean that a minimum prep cast will fill your total pools by about 10% once per hour.

It takes approximately 2 full pools worth of predictions, or 40% of your total pool size, to lock Astrology. It doesn't matter how they're split up since you get the same from multiple small predictions as with a single large one as long as the total pool size used is the same. This means that a single cast at cap will lock your astrology once per hour with some left over. At minimum prep you will only get to about 8 or 9 mindstates towards a single mindlock. This is all on top of the little bit of experience you get for the observations themselves, but that's relatively minor to the point of near insignificance.

Lets take Raesh's possibility that the cooldown timer is related to the full duration of the unreleased effect. To make it equally useful as a capped cast it would need to be 1/5th the duration of a capped cast which would put a minimum prep cooldown at 12 minutes. Now, this results in almost equal efficiency across all mana levels with the only difference being in the number of times you have to cast the spell. There does need to be some level of improvement beyond that for using increased amounts of mana. So if we pull back the cooldown at minimum prep to 30 minutes and scale it from there to 60 minutes at cap then an increasing effect on experience will be gained from mana used. I.e. at minimum prep you would be able to cast it twice in the same time as a max cast resulting in ~20% of your total pools worth of observations and ~17/34 worth of experience per hour. Assuming a linear scale, at 50% mana you would be able to cast a 6 minute duration once every 45 minutes. This would result in ~37.5% of your total pools' worth of observations and ~32/34 worth of experience per hour. At max cap you, as indicated above you would get ~50% of your total pools' worth of observations and 34/34 plus ~8/34 worth of experience per hour.

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let me know if you want me to run this a few more times and post result or change up casting rates. happy to post data.

Hooray. I just tested this for the first time, and it looks great. Clear pools at the start, 650 mana cast for ~9min duration, nighttime.

You have an insightful understanding of the celestial influences over magic.
You have an insightful understanding of the celestial influences over lore.
You have a complete understanding of the celestial influences over offensive combat.
You have an insightful understanding of the celestial influences over defensive combat.
You have a decent understanding of the celestial influences over survival.

Anyone tested yet what happens if you stand up at some point?

Also Raesh, your recent changes made me think about Scholarship's role. If it plays such a heavy role in observing, I wonder why it doesn't teach more? I tested with a single observation and got to dabbling, but just after I was done with RTR I checked and was clear.


- Navesi

>Anyone tested yet what happens if you stand up at some point?

It stops the ritual instantly and you have to wait to recast.

>It stops the ritual instantly and you have to wait to recast.

I'm wondering if it'd make sense to have the cast itself force us to at least kneel? It was annoying to accidentally cast it a couple times during testing only to have it fail because I was standing. I'd think from a ritual point of view, and understanding of the spell, it'd take into account that you need to be at least kneel before you complete it.

Is there any chance it could be cast inside buildings that have a view of the sky? If I can look out the window to see the sky for a normal prediction, why can't I do the same while using this spell?

You gaze towards the heavens seeking their silent guidance.
The mental strain of this pattern is considerably eased by your ritual focus.
The energy contained in your ritual flutters away impotently as it seeks the open skies.

s> obs sky
You glance outside.
The night winter sky is a crisp, clear, starry black.

The following heavenly bodies are visible:
The planet Szeldia (O-S) is unobscured by clouds.
The Unicorn (S) is unobscured by clouds.
The Heart (S) is unobscured by clouds.
The Nightingale (D-M) is unobscured by clouds.
The Magpie (D) is unobscured by clouds.
The Wolf (M) is unobscured by clouds.
The Coyote (M-O) is unobscured by clouds.
The Shark (O-S) is unobscured by clouds.
The Ram (S) is unobscured by clouds.
The Cat (O) is unobscured by clouds.
The Raven (L) is unobscured by clouds.
The Welkin (D-L) is unobscured by clouds.
The Goshawk (D-S) is unobscured by clouds.
The Brigantine (S-L) is unobscured by clouds.
The Spider (O) is unobscured by clouds.
The Toad (M) is unobscured by clouds.
The Dolphin (S-L) is unobscured by clouds.
The Giant (D) is unobscured by clouds.
The Shrike (M-S) is unobscured by clouds.
Katamba (D) is unobscured by clouds.
Xibar (L) is unobscured by clouds.
Yavash (M) is unobscured by clouds.
Roundtime: 5 sec.

>Is there any chance it could be cast inside buildings that have a view of the sky?

Nope.

-Raesh

"It was wise enough to know itself, and brave enough to BE itself, and wild enough to change itself while somehow staying altogether true." ― The Slow Regard of Silent Things

and i should amend that statement as i was not planning on using the spell, but this spell opens up a lot of possibility.

>>Since you made the changes to Astrology I have noticed that some of the constellations seem to be filling up pools that they didn't before (at least with RTR up).

From the list of tweaks made to RTR when it went on general preview:

5) When observing the proper target under the influence of Read the Ripples you will gain some additional knowledge into a random pool.

>>Mind explaining the reasoning why not?

For the same reason you have to sit or kneel to perform the ritual - it's thematically appropriate. (Okay, I admit, the sitting/kneeling is ALSO because I don't want people trying to find a way to use this while in combat...)

-Raesh

"It was wise enough to know itself, and brave enough to BE itself, and wild enough to change itself while somehow staying altogether true." ― The Slow Regard of Silent Things

Really wish I'd had this when I was bonding my bones. Maybe I'll work up a second tool, now.

> It would be hard to use in combat since you can't observe while in combat...

You can if you retreat to missile.

I bet you could use RTR in combat with WD.

You guys are going to make me put a hard engagement check on it aren't you? Instead of tempting you with the possibility and then letting something eat your face while you sit around stargazing.

-Raesh

"It was wise enough to know itself, and brave enough to BE itself, and wild enough to change itself while somehow staying altogether true." ― The Slow Regard of Silent Things

It only works in downward dog.

Monster Elec

You hear the distant echo of a savage Horde snarling in barbaric disapproval of your deeds.