Limits of Technomagc?

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Lamech

. Paying laborers a wage of say... 16$ a day.

The rate for a Struggling Job at TL6 would be $32 a day.

Raise Cone of Power would also add at least another hour to the duration of any Enchantments. The mage has to be in the Cone for at least an hour before he can cast a spell with its' energy. Then he'd have the 1 hour per 100 pts of the Q&D Enchantment.

But then I look at the rules for Cone f Power and I see that the spell the mage taps the energy of the Cone for must be cast on the mages next Turn. This might preclude uisng Cone of Power for Enchantment.

Generally I think with so much Drawable Power available no one would bother with Cone of Power

[Lamech]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

The rate for a Struggling Job at TL6 would be $32 a day.

I was using TL 6 wages, 'cause that was the standard used in Magic. But it doesn't change anything because enchanters wages need to go up too. At TL 6 the costs for hiring enchanters is multiplied by a little over two anyway. So pay the workers 32$ a day, and the enchanter takes 1600$ for the big item.

Raise Cone of Power would also add at least another hour to the duration of any Enchantments. The mage has to be in the Cone for at least an hour before he can cast a spell with its' energy. Then he'd have the 1 hour per 100 pts of the Q&D Enchantment.

Already considered. It costs him 8 hours of powering the spell, and then 32 hours enchanting the item. He gets 1600$. He uses vigil to stay awake, and works a 40 hour week. That is 4 times the standard monthly pay of a journeyman enchanter. Or twice the pay of a master enchanter.

But then I look at the rules for Cone f Power and I see that the spell the mage taps the energy of the Cone for must be cast on the mages next Turn. This might preclude uisng Cone of Power for Enchantment.

"Cone to power another spell, which must be cast starting on the next turn" The start of the spell is next turn. Nothing is said about energy.

Generally I think with so much Drawable Power available no one would bother with Cone of Power

By your own calculations it will only allow for 1000 cost Q&D enchantments. AND even those will be extra expensive. I don't see why that option would win out over a cheaper one. I don't see why anyone would work as a journeyman enchanter for the standard monthly pay, when he could quadruple it.

By your own assumptions draw power can't get enchantments over 1000. At the very least Raise Cone of Power would be used for those.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Lamech

By your own assumptions draw power can't get enchantments over 1000. At the very least Raise Cone of Power would be used for those.

Oh no. I said you can go higher than 1000. It's just that the law of dimishing returns applies to doing so. Doing a 2000 pt Enchantment is more than 2x as hard as doing 2 1000 pters if only for the Vigil spells and the -1 to Skill they impose.

You can try and charge more. In fact you really need to charge more but that doesn't mean that you'll find someone equally as happy to pay the 2x+ price.

250 energy for +1 Accuracy is a real bargain in the setting but the extra 750 to go to +2 isn't as good a deal and 4000 more than that for +3 is the sort of thing only crazed hermits living in towers in the wilderness go for.

There are many Enchantments at 1000 or less and few higher. Many or the higher ones are of dubious economic return in the setting also. 1 day and shorter Enchntments will undoubtedly dominate.

Mages act like normal people in Storm City. They aren't fantastic loonies living in the wilderness trying to accumulate more power by any means fair or foul. They are well paid professionals who go home to nice houses in nice neighborhoods and are just as likely to have a normal family as anyone else.

Of course, that could have been said of some of the Gambinos too so it's not a paradiscical setting even if you have Magery. It just isn't a stock fantasy setting.

[jeff_wilson]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

There are many Enchantments at 1000 or less and few higher. Many or the higher ones are of dubious economic return in the setting also. 1 day and shorter Enchntments will undoubtedly dominate.

I believe there is a ceiling at 2000 where Power +3 is raised to Power +4, which makes for an item that will do whatever it does at -8 to casting and maintenance costs in Storm City. The next increment is 4000, and nothing else at 2000 or less looks nearly as useful as "up to 8 energy per second until the end of time". I see a circle of Power enchanters being very influential selling Power+4 items to other enchanters without the knowledge. (No extra charge for the anti-patricidal Link.)

[jeff_wilson]

I just recalled that some beetles, like junebugs, sequester heavy metals in their carapces. This suggest that Create Animal will be handy for swarms of tomb scarabs and dung beetles to harvest elements from surplus organic matter, and perhaps a variation to create very large individual "coleoperatives" for dealing with still-animate surplus organic matter.

Periodically, they can be called in and sent into a NMZ sarcophagus. Poof! metallic dust ready to be separated and refined.