A name for builds that achieve goals in a way that is opposite of straightforward?

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

I guess I'm just used to thinking that the straightforward approach to 'omnidisciplinary' is 'more, more IQ!' followed by 'a Talent!'.

All sorts of Engineering isn't omnidisciplinary, it's pretty narrow. Anyway, of your examples:
#1 and #4 I would class as 'straightforward'. You're just directly buying the ability that lets you do what you want to do.
#2 and #3 I would class as 'inefficient'; they're likely to either not work at all, or cost more than a normal build doing the same thing.
#5 and #6 aren't "builds".

[robkelk]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Greetings, all!

Does anybody of you have a unifying name for the sorts of builds that achieve the goal in a way that is opposite of straightforward.

My first thought was "Byzantine", but my second thought says that might not be right. My third thought was to ask everyone else...

[Mark Skarr]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Greetings, all!

Does anybody of you have a unifying name for the sorts of builds that achieve the goal in a way that is opposite of straightforward.
Examples:

Clumsy.

We've had a couple of players who liked doing that. We just called them "Dave Characters."

"That's great, Dave. That's what the party needed: a back up Bonsai gardener . . .."

[Boomerang]

I've never heard of a special name for builds like that. I would probably just call them: "unconventional".

[whswhs]

I've been thinking about it, and I'm going to suggest two words for it. If you want a highfalutin', formal word, I'd go for an adjective: recherché. But if you want a slangy word that almost exactly fits, I think you want a noun: hack.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by robkelk

My first thought was "Byzantine", but my second thought says that might not be right. My third thought was to ask everyone else...

I wouldn't say "Byzantine" because it implies elaborate, conspiratorial thinking and plotting. I've read, for example, of the concept of "Byzantine failures" in a technological system, which can only result if several different things all go wrong at once, as if they had been plotting together. I think you could do what Vicky is talking about with just one clever think. "Byzantine" really ought to imply more than cleverness.

Now "Baroque" would be closer, but I wasn't quite happy with it when I thought of my other proposals. . . .

[PK]

"Convoluted."

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by whswhs

But if you want a slangy word that almost exactly fits, I think you want a noun: hack.

The general difference between a hack and an exploit is that hacks introduce something external or make changes, whereas exploits are using unexpected properties of the existing system. The concept here seems more exploit to me, although most of the examples aren't really either, IMO. #2 and #3 are the closest, but they strike me as unlikely to be more effective than a straightforward approach, which makes suggestions like baroque or convoluted seem to be pretty appropriate. Maybe "baroque exploit".

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

The general difference between a hack and an exploit is that hacks introduce something external or make changes, whereas exploits are using unexpected properties of the existing system. The concept here seems more exploit to me, although most of the examples aren't really either, IMO.

Unless we're using the other meaning of hack (a person, as an artist or writer, who exploits, for money, his or her creative ability or training in the production of dull, unimaginative, and trite work), in which case doing it the 'normal' way might be interpreted as hackery.

[Johnny Angel]

"Gordian"


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