Capping/Blanketing Chronology and Late Check In.

Sheakhan

Sheakhan

Adept
I had a few quick questions in preparation for returning for the next event.
1. If I purchase a cap for May, will that be applied for the May 30-Jun 1 event, as it takes place at the very end of the month? Or will it wait to apply until afterwards?
1a. If it applies afterwards, will it apply before or after event xp is tabulated? Can I choose which order to apply them in?
2. When purchasing blankets and caps, do they apply in the order of my choosing, or chronologically? IE: If I wanted to apply the monthly blanket for the long April event I missed, if it were more advantageous to apply it AFTER the May cap, would I be able to do so? If not, would they be applied in the order I purchased them if I instead opted to purchase them separately to allow for this alternate ordering?
3. For the May event, I won't be able to arrive until late Friday night, thereby missing the opening ceremonies, how will check-in work for myself and the new player who is riding with me?
 
Apologies in advance, I could've swore I posted this in OOG Discussion.
 
When you buyback an event/purchase a monthly blanket, the exp is applied the moment the Logistics team processes the request and updates your character. So it could be the next day, it could be the next week.

If you're buying a blanket from another chapter, it gets applied when the Logistics team for that chapter submits the request to your home chapter's Logistics team, and then when the home team applies it to your character.

In either situation, you should get an email when the process is completed.

Also, I don't know what you mean by "cap." All xp is measured in blankets, either event blankets or monthly blankets (or Dragon blankets, but that's using dragon stamps, which are kinda special circumstance).

Basically, buy them as early as you can to ensure the request gets handled in time for your character to be updated. Also, sometimes things are happening in the lives of the volunteer staff, so if it doesn't get processed in your expected time frame, be patient. If you don't hear anything in a couple weeks, reach out to the staff or chapter (maybe your email was lost, etc).

Hope that helps.
 
It does answer some questions, though I'm still not sure if I would be better off purchasing all of the blankets I want at once and specifying the order I want them applied (to maximize build gain) or buy them separately to ensure they are applied in the order desired.

To further explain, I am sitting at 32 build, say I went in chronological order. I blanket February, gaining 32 xp which is divided by 7, bumping me to 36 build. I then blanket March, netting 36 more xp, divided by 12, putting me at 39 build. Finally, I blanket April (long event) gaining 39x3 XP (117) divided by 12, netting another 9xp. I'm now sitting at 48 build, a solid level 4.

Now, say I go in the order I decide. I take the blanket for April first. 32x3, divided by 7. I gain 13 build, putting me at 45. I then blanket February and March, gaining 4 total build, putting me at 49.

This is a one build difference, and only compares opposite approaches to the blanketing order. I'm just curious what the rules are regarding this, if any?

Also, I'm still uncertain if I can blanket May prior to the upcoming event or not.
 
Sheakhan said:
It does answer some questions, though I'm still not sure if I would be better off purchasing all of the blankets I want at once and specifying the order I want them applied (to maximize build gain) or buy them separately to ensure they are applied in the order desired.

To further explain, I am sitting at 32 build, say I went in chronological order. I blanket February, gaining 32 xp which is divided by 7, bumping me to 36 build. I then blanket March, netting 36 more xp, divided by 12, putting me at 39 build. Finally, I blanket April (long event) gaining 39x3 XP (117) divided by 12, netting another 9xp. I'm now sitting at 48 build, a solid level 4.

Now, say I go in the order I decide. I take the blanket for April first. 32x3, divided by 7. I gain 13 build, putting me at 45. I then blanket February and March, gaining 4 total build, putting me at 49.

This is a one build difference, and only compares opposite approaches to the blanketing order. I'm just curious what the rules are regarding this, if any?
Click to expand...

To answer your question, there aren't any specifics. Logistics applies the blankets in the order they apply it. It doesn't hurt to ask for them to apply it per your preference, but it may not always come out as you expect.

Also, your math as above is not adding up for me. With 32 build I am assuming you are at 80 xp total. If that is true, per your first example you would be at 265 xp, or 47 build (9xp from another build point). While your second example would put you at 261 xp, or 47 build (13xp from another build point).

I think the error is in thinking the rate is a straight conversion for the total xp earned, when it is actually a partial conversion. For instance, you are at 32 build right now so the next 3 build acquired are at the 7xp per build rate. The excess xp is then converted into build at the next high rate (12xp per build) until either (a) the xp is converted as best it can (with the remainder hanging around until more xp is acquired), or (b) you cross the next build threshold thereby increasing the xp rate again.

It is a bit complicated. I believe a few players have posted their calculators around here somewhere on the subject ...

Sheakhan said:
Also, I'm still uncertain if I can blanket May prior to the upcoming event or not.
Click to expand...
A Monthly Blanket for a specific month can be applied once the calendar date has entered that month and for up to three months afterwards. So, basically, you can purchase the Monthly Blanket for May 2014 as of May 1st.

Additionally, there is a Monthly Blanket List you can be put on where the Logistics team will automatically purchase a Monthly Blanket for your character provided you have the Goblin Stamps to support.

Hope this helps!

P.S. After the May blanket is applied you can probably expect to have 49 or 50 build.
 
I'm still not sure I fully understand. I used the character gen spreadsheet to check my calculations, which puts me at 52 build after Jan, Feb, March, April and May blankets are accounted for.
 
Sheakhan said:
I'm still not sure I fully understand. I used the character gen spreadsheet to check my calculations, which puts me at 52 build after Jan, Feb, March, April and May blankets are accounted for.
Click to expand...

There are a few things to keep in mind when trying to track your XP and build.

1) It matters when each blanket of XP is applied, and the order in which they are applied. A monthly blanket applied before a weekend event in the database can give you a different amount of XP than if you applied the monthly blanket after a weekend event. It all depends on your loose XP (see below) and your xp:build threshold.

2a) Loose XP matters, and outside of having the actual database to track your loose XP, and knowing in what order the logistics team applies blankets, it is difficult (at best) to be accurate in determining your XP and build totals.

2b) Your best bet is to simply email Logistics and ask how much free build you have available for your character to spend and go from there.

3) The XP to build conversions that are done in the database are stupidly complicated and without obtaining exact numbers after each monthly or event or gameday is applied, your calculations WILL be off/wrong at some point. (See 2b.) I don't even know that the worksheet calculates things in the same way the database does.

A note about the spreadsheet and database:
As you probably know, Alliance Seattle is part of a National organization. As part of that organization, it is imperative that data (and therefore character) integrity be maintained. So while the spreadsheet worksheet may be generally accurate, the only calculations and totals that ultimately matter are the ones in the database itself, and unless you can show that a weekend event, long weekend event, gameday, monthly blanket, or module blanket has not been applied* in the database, the database is always correct and cannot be changed or adjusted unless it can be proven that an event wasn't applied.

4) What you want to keep track of is the weekend events that you attend, events or gamedays that you "buy back" with gobbies, and monthly blankets that you buy with gobbies. As long as those are being applied, whatever your build and XP totals in the database are, those are your build and XP totals regardless of what your spreadsheet may show. Remember: the order in which events are applied impacts XP and build totals.




*You can ask that blankets be applied in a certain order, but the logistics team is under no obligation to honor your request; so if you are expecting a blanket be applied in a certain order and it ends up not being so, it cannot be changed/altered/reversed. The rules don't allow for it, plus there is no functionality in the database to do so.
 
Ultimately, if there's a mathematical difference, it's so marginal it doesn't matter. At early levels, it might be a single build in difference, but once you reach higher levels, it won't even matter.
 
For the purposes of applying blankets for the maximum amount of build it is always more advantageous to apply single blanket blankets (monthly blankets and gamedays) before weekend or long weekend blankets.

Which spreadsheet are you using? Are you playing around with Jimmy's found here? Because I am getting the same numbers from Jimmy's spreadsheet that I had calculated on my own worksheet.

P.S. Putting in the April and May monthly blankets puts the expected build total to be around 52 or 53.
 
It occurs to me that I am splitting hairs either way, though I feel I have a better understanding of how these totals are calculated after reading your responses again sober. Thanks for the responses. Hopefully I'll have it all completely sorted by the end of May so I can come back with a productive character!
 
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