I forgot to mention this in the update while commenting on the office layout, but as you might expect, Nadine no longer has a personal relaxation point. Prepare to make liberal use of the Water Cooler, since there's a very good reason her desk is right beside it. There's another aspect that'll make the AC not as difficult to use, though, but we'll get to that in the Employee Writeup for our final team member.
However, We At C.A.I. Believe in Second Chances - Let's Play Miss Management!
Nadine may some kind of personal umbrage with Brooke, or at least with Brooke's type. She seems overly-ruffled to me.
If I may point something out: Back in Nadine's bio, LPFinale says that she gets stressed byyamiaainferno wrote: ↑Sun Sep 20, 2020 2:22 pmNadine may some kind of personal umbrage with Brooke, or at least with Brooke's type. She seems overly-ruffled to me.
1. people at the couch
2. people at the water cooler
3. music
4. "A relaxation point we haven't seen yet"
Brooke Writeup
Task Type Stats
Art Tasks
Financial Tasks
Technical Tasks
Writing Tasks
Likes/Dislikes Summary
Brooke introduces our final relaxation point, the Treadmill. Not only does this station boast a Moodifier of -7, uncontested by any other relaxation point but the Bathroom, but it will also only ever bother a single person, the ever-grumpy Nadine. Granted, this can be a problem with no relaxation point for Nadine aside from the Water Cooler and the AC, but it's a small price to pay for the thing that makes Season 5 feasible.
Despite mentioning coffee, Brooke's LIKES section is referring to one thing and one thing only: Tasks. We're talking entire days' workloads here. She wants them, and she'll be demanding to be the primary source of work in this office; she hired us as a delegation team, after all. Just keep in mind that her overbearing nature in regards to this stuff has a tendency to rub Nadine the wrong way when working on Financial and Writing Tasks...
Brooke, like Timothy before he mellowed out, is an indiscriminate Stress Sink Employee who gets at least +1 to her Moodifier if people are doing literally anything besides working. She even gets worked up by both the AC and Radio (I guess the humming noise of the AC outweighs the benefits of cool air while working out in her case, oof), but there's a catch here. Unlike every other Employee in the game who dislikes those global relaxation points, she only gets a +1 Moodifier per device that's active instead of +2 or higher. Keep this firmly in mind, and use it to your advantage, especially when the Water Cooler and the Treadmill exist. You'll need to. Aside from that, the things that bother her the most change per Episode and are based on the Goals in each one, so stay on your toes or you'll be seeing her keel over time and time again.
General Summary
While Brooke's stats seem pretty alright, those Moodifiers... dear god. We haven't seen a spread rivaling that since Timothy. In terms of Stress efficiency, she's just a light-speed Mahavir that also happens to be a Stress Sink Employee. Specialized Employees overtake her handily in the Stress department, with the respective specialties for Ashley, Winston, and Nadine being 7.5, 10.4, and 13.9 Stress per 4-Bar Task respectively; Brooke, on the other hand, is at a Stress total per 4-Bar Task of 18.8. That Treadmill is among the best relaxers in the game for a reason, she can't function without it. And again, that's before taking her status as a Stress Sink into account, so it's even worse on average!
While Brooke can handle any Task you give her, she'll need items to do them well without reaching a Burn Out in record time. On top of that, she gets Nadine all huffy when handling either of her specialties, which funnels even more Stress into the office. You want to minimize the time she spends actually working while maximizing the Tasks she completes for her Goals, but unfortunately, the Task Bursts at this point in the game are too large and too frequent to funnel things into her. There is ONE thing that makes all this possible, though... her addiction, Choco-Cafficinos. Pair them with a Diet Soda for Denise, and she'll burn through mountains of Tasks before she needs a break. Conveniently enough, if there are no other stressors, she can work for 20 Seconds straight, while Coffee and its upgraded self, the Choco-Cafficino, last 15 Seconds. It's INCREDIBLY well-timed if you can set aside time for her to work calmly.
To be clear, Brooke is even more of an obstacle character than Pearl was, but she does have some functionality within her thanks to the new item this Season. I was initially going to nominate her for a Top 3 spot in the cast, but honestly? Reviewing all this and getting the hard numbers alongside the reality of her Stress efficiency (or lack thereof) makes me put her in mid-tier at best. We'll see a performance from the actual best Employee in the game soon, though, don't you worry; they're still among us, after all~
Burn Out Sprite
Task Type Stats
Art Tasks
- Work Rate: 12, Trainable to 14
- Moodifier: +5
Financial Tasks
- Work Rate: 12, Trainable to 14
- Moodifier: +5
Technical Tasks
- Work Rate: 12, Trainable to 14
- Moodifier: +5
Writing Tasks
- Work Rate: 12, Trainable to 14
- Moodifier: +5
Likes/Dislikes Summary
Brooke introduces our final relaxation point, the Treadmill. Not only does this station boast a Moodifier of -7, uncontested by any other relaxation point but the Bathroom, but it will also only ever bother a single person, the ever-grumpy Nadine. Granted, this can be a problem with no relaxation point for Nadine aside from the Water Cooler and the AC, but it's a small price to pay for the thing that makes Season 5 feasible.
Despite mentioning coffee, Brooke's LIKES section is referring to one thing and one thing only: Tasks. We're talking entire days' workloads here. She wants them, and she'll be demanding to be the primary source of work in this office; she hired us as a delegation team, after all. Just keep in mind that her overbearing nature in regards to this stuff has a tendency to rub Nadine the wrong way when working on Financial and Writing Tasks...
Brooke, like Timothy before he mellowed out, is an indiscriminate Stress Sink Employee who gets at least +1 to her Moodifier if people are doing literally anything besides working. She even gets worked up by both the AC and Radio (I guess the humming noise of the AC outweighs the benefits of cool air while working out in her case, oof), but there's a catch here. Unlike every other Employee in the game who dislikes those global relaxation points, she only gets a +1 Moodifier per device that's active instead of +2 or higher. Keep this firmly in mind, and use it to your advantage, especially when the Water Cooler and the Treadmill exist. You'll need to. Aside from that, the things that bother her the most change per Episode and are based on the Goals in each one, so stay on your toes or you'll be seeing her keel over time and time again.
General Summary
While Brooke's stats seem pretty alright, those Moodifiers... dear god. We haven't seen a spread rivaling that since Timothy. In terms of Stress efficiency, she's just a light-speed Mahavir that also happens to be a Stress Sink Employee. Specialized Employees overtake her handily in the Stress department, with the respective specialties for Ashley, Winston, and Nadine being 7.5, 10.4, and 13.9 Stress per 4-Bar Task respectively; Brooke, on the other hand, is at a Stress total per 4-Bar Task of 18.8. That Treadmill is among the best relaxers in the game for a reason, she can't function without it. And again, that's before taking her status as a Stress Sink into account, so it's even worse on average!
While Brooke can handle any Task you give her, she'll need items to do them well without reaching a Burn Out in record time. On top of that, she gets Nadine all huffy when handling either of her specialties, which funnels even more Stress into the office. You want to minimize the time she spends actually working while maximizing the Tasks she completes for her Goals, but unfortunately, the Task Bursts at this point in the game are too large and too frequent to funnel things into her. There is ONE thing that makes all this possible, though... her addiction, Choco-Cafficinos. Pair them with a Diet Soda for Denise, and she'll burn through mountains of Tasks before she needs a break. Conveniently enough, if there are no other stressors, she can work for 20 Seconds straight, while Coffee and its upgraded self, the Choco-Cafficino, last 15 Seconds. It's INCREDIBLY well-timed if you can set aside time for her to work calmly.
To be clear, Brooke is even more of an obstacle character than Pearl was, but she does have some functionality within her thanks to the new item this Season. I was initially going to nominate her for a Top 3 spot in the cast, but honestly? Reviewing all this and getting the hard numbers alongside the reality of her Stress efficiency (or lack thereof) makes me put her in mid-tier at best. We'll see a performance from the actual best Employee in the game soon, though, don't you worry; they're still among us, after all~
Burn Out Sprite
So, back when people were discussing if Brooke was the last person on the title screen and her possible relationship with Winston, it made me think about the ethnicity of the characters.
Because like, there are hints, but it's kind of subtle. Mahavir just gets a few comments from other people up to this point-Duncan calling him 'swarthy' and Ashley, when she complained about his first meeting with her, saying he looked like a 'Pakistani cab driver type'.
Luke is even subtler. I actual thought for a bit that the reference to that Skydance Music Festival in-between seasons 3 and 4 was a subtle way of implying that he was, at least partially, Native American.
And I don't think it's ever said if Brooke and Winston are mixed or fully black or what.
It's just an... interesting thing to note that out of the 11 employees, only 4 are implied non-white.
Because like, there are hints, but it's kind of subtle. Mahavir just gets a few comments from other people up to this point-Duncan calling him 'swarthy' and Ashley, when she complained about his first meeting with her, saying he looked like a 'Pakistani cab driver type'.
Luke is even subtler. I actual thought for a bit that the reference to that Skydance Music Festival in-between seasons 3 and 4 was a subtle way of implying that he was, at least partially, Native American.
And I don't think it's ever said if Brooke and Winston are mixed or fully black or what.
It's just an... interesting thing to note that out of the 11 employees, only 4 are implied non-white.
I always read Nadine as Asian, for some reason. I think it's the very square haircut. And while I really hope it's not the case, some of Pearl's traits (big nosed, miserly, naggy) could mean the developers were trying to write her as a cringey stereotype of a Jewish person. I didn't think about it until I was looking at the cover image again thinking about what you said, though, so here's hoping I'm just reading too much into it.
I could see it being a possibility, but I mostly took it as trying to evoke that sort of cartoonish design for witches with the long nose and the jutted out chin to pair with how she acts towards the others. Seems fitting.yamiaainferno wrote: ↑Wed Sep 23, 2020 1:52 pmAnd while I really hope it's not the case, some of Pearl's traits (big nosed, miserly, naggy) could mean the developers were trying to write her as a cringey stereotype of a Jewish person. I didn't think about it until I was looking at the cover image again thinking about what you said, though, so here's hoping I'm just reading too much into it.
That was my initial assumption, yeah. She certainly has the personality for it.
Dang, we really got a swishy new office. Also going back to Pearl, I really liked her leaving. "Don't misbehave." is a shittier way of saying "Be good." but it's still a strangely warm send-off, and I tend to really like the more morally ambiguous characters who are extremely negative in ways but have explanations for it (Yotsuyu from FFXIV, Granny Weatherwax kind of.) so I'm more prone to be sympathetic towards her.
About Brooke though... I wonder how she inherited the company from her husband. Did she get it in a divorce, or is she a widow? Or did her husband just go "Here's a company babe." I guess inheritance implies death.
About Brooke though... I wonder how she inherited the company from her husband. Did she get it in a divorce, or is she a widow? Or did her husband just go "Here's a company babe." I guess inheritance implies death.
Ugh, I remember this game I think was on Big Fish but I can't seem to find it. It was this puzzle/point and click adventure game set in a magic school, and you go to different elemental areas and each time you went somewhere new, you had to play this game of solitaire (or something like it) against a death-looking monster, and early on you go to an earth area and you help this cute little tree elemental baby thing by making a basket to hold it by drawing runes with your mouse?
Looking forward to seeing what Season 5 throws at the team here, so I hope this is coming back! 
Episode 25: Gameplay Update, "The Lady Upstairs"
Video:
Welcome back, school's a schedule-filler.
It begins. Time to try not to die.
I'll say it straight out, Season 5's throwing us a softball here, and it's still pretty rough. Brooke is a basketcase, and she wants to finish more Tasks than anyone else does today, all while Winston's hogging the Technical Tasks (which are more common than the other types by a little bit). On top of that, Winston wants time at the Arcade Machine AAAAAAAAALL the way on the other side of the office, and we've got a Denise Water Cooler Goal. A low-stakes one, but a red flag for what's to come later on.
You might notice the new petty cash Goal. There will be one of these in every Season 5 Episode, and they'll get progressively higher. They mostly exist as a breakpoint you need to meet before you can spam items too heavily, for reasons we're going to see shortly.
Brooke. Brooke is the latest Stress Sink Employee, but she at least has a little bit of merit in that she gets Tasks done quickly. She'll go ballistic doing them, but hey, she also relaxes quickly from her Treadmill.
She may get bothered by absolutely everything, but at least she's only half as bothered by the AC and the Radio as anyone else who dislikes those things. This may become very important.
Her Stress efficiency may be as bad or worse than Mahavir, but hey, we can work with those stats to an extent, and so we shall.
This. This thing right here. Brooke's addiction, and soon to be ours.
This coffee, nay, this ELDRITCH CONCOCTION, boosts an Employee's Work Rates by not double like the fine nectar from coffee beans, but TRIPLE!!!
All that, and it's only twice as much as a regular Coffee. Those things are now worthless to us. The only thing that's kind of eh about it is that Denise will need a Diet Soda to give the Employee the Tasks fast enough to make fully efficient use of those 15 Seconds of experiencing an ascension. Cherish these things. Cherish their very existence, because they're one of the things that make Season 5's demands bearable, and it'll expect you to buy them, even with that budget Goal breathing down your neck.
Starting positions. Despite being so deeply overworked she needs a therapist, Brooke doesn't have any starting Stress by default. Interesting.
As our first wave of orders, we have Winston and Nadine work on the Goals they're involved with while keeping Ashley and Brooke calm. Ashley's still mad about the Arcade Machine, unfortunately.
Since Tasks are coming in rather quickly (and will only continue to grow more numerous as new Episodes are reached
), what do you say we make use of that $6 of petty cash we started with? After all, we've got someone who wants to do a LOT of work today, and we'll need to give them every Task we can to avoid getting screwed over by Technical Task RNG.
Here it is. Our savior. Our lifeline.
I have Brooke head to the Water Cooler so she's nearby once I'm done bringing her Tasks. Winston will be coming back too, for a while. So anyways... wanna see paper get shredded?
This is the kind of power you can expect from the Choco-Cafficino, and believe me, we'll be relying on these for Brooke a lot; she can't do any work without going over the Stress State Threshold, much like Timothy.
Oh yeah, and in case you didn't think Nadine would be this petty, she does indeed gain Stress from Brooke working on Financial and Writing Tasks. We'll demonstrate how much later. Note that Winston is mostly fine with her doing them, it's just that Goal stopping us from giving them to her right now.
Oh yeah, and remember when I mentioned these pairing well with a Diet Soda? Prepare yourself. But first, let's see the Treadmill in action:
Keep in mind that this is while the Arcade Machine is going, so it's only at a -5 Moodifier. This thing can relax her even FASTER than this, as well as sustain her through an intense storm of Stress. Now then...
ONCE MORE, WITH FEELING
With both of these at once, we can supply the Tasks just as fast as they're completed, making an incredibly efficient use of the time limit on the cafficino.
With that done, we can finally sit back and relax, mostly. We'll still need to take care of those Tasks, though; we need as much petty cash as we can earn.
Since Brooke's done more than enough work to avoid ever being dethroned as Most Tasks Completed for today, we can hand these to Nadine instead; they'll be done quicker in her hands.
Did I mention Ashley is still fuming about the Arcade Machine? Because it's a fact that's making itself known.
At the very least, we got both of these End of Day Goals done. Every Required Goal in a Season 5 Episode unlocks an Optional Goal except the budget Goal, so this was vital for us to do on Day 1.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, those Goals unlocked a new one for their respective Employees. Brooke's is pretty clear, but Winston's... Winston's is special.
So, uh, remember how this office layout has both the AC and the Radio? Winston wants to remind us of that.
All in all, Ashley's going to be cycling back and forth from the Bathroom at a +3 Moodifier, while Nadine and Brooke are going to be at +1 Moodifiers total; Nadine hates the Radio slightly more than she likes the AC, and Brooke only gets +1 from each device rather than the usual +2 for Dislikes of this nature. ...it's gonna be higher though, since Ashley needs to use the Bathroom constantly to stay calm. Oof.
Here we go. Today, we'll be devoting our time to clearing Winston's Goal while polishing off the Required ones we have left.
It's a good thing Winston won't be at the Arcade Machine for long, because Ashley's absolutely losing it right now.
Oh yeah, and I went and bought all these for this time period. No reason in particular, just getting ready to explain why a certain someone is the best Employee in the game by a country mile.
Side note, Mahavir just unlocked a rather infuriating Optional Goal. We'll worry about that later, though, we've got someone to pump full of legal amphetamines.
It's Winston.
SO, UH... YEAH! When both the AC and Radio are active, Winston gets a total -4 Moodifier applied to everything he does. His only Task Moodifier higher than +4 is his Art one, at +6. That comes to a mere +2 Moodifier, and working on Technical Tasks will actually RELAX HIM like this, at a -1 total Moodifier. It's absolutely nutty, and we honestly only needed the Cafficino for demonstration purposes. ...this time. This time, it was superfluous. That will not remain the case. GOD, it will not.
So yeah, anyways, this is why finishing that Denise Water Cooler Goal on Day 1 wasn't too big a deal; we can finish it today, and we'll even be able to make use of the Optional Goal it unlocks right about now. Heck, talking to Nadine like this even helps relax her in the midst of this mess of cross-Stressing.
There it is, there's the inevitable Treadmill Goal. That's gonna come up a lot, and in many cases, you were going to have Brooke use the Treadmill anyway.
So yeah, this has been my life for a long while. How's your day going? Decent?
Finally, it's over. With our lesson in who the office's Employee of the Year is, let's turn these off to prep for Brooke's Task Goal.
Like so. I've shown this off enough, you can see what's about to happen, though in this case I have something else to show:
I hope you've got Cafficinos for whenever Brooke needs to do work on Financial or Writing Tasks, or else Nadine's gonna throw a hissy fit with a +5 Moodifier. The Idle Bonus is the only thing keeping her under the Stress State Threshold.
Oh yeah, and this little stunt finally gave us enough on-hand petty cash to clear the Goal. We'll have full access to what I like to call the Snack Pack from this point onwards this Episode.
There we go, finally we see the notification. Prepare for it to be this late pretty often in Season 5, because WHEW
Oh right, and that annoying as hell Goal Mahavir gave us?
It's flirting with Ashley, and on top of giving Ashley a headache, the on-the-clock flirting also sends Brooke off the deep end with a +4 Moodifier from that alone. Nadine's not exactly happy about it either, and definitely won't be once Brooke needs the Treadmill to calm down. We need to find a way through 90 Seconds of this, too.
So with the Day coming to an end, I went and got the Snack Pack. Look at it. So majestic. So mighty. So sickening for the stomach on repeated exposure, but we make sacrifices for the sake of our work, of course.
Alright, so... cleanup Days in Season 5 are far from smooth pleasure cruises. This is probably close to the best we could've done by now, and it's still gonna be excruciating to manage Mahavir's latest misguided efforts.
Right, then... let's begin the grind.
Might as well start making use of the Snack Pack. It has a much more focused use later, but for now, we're going to be splitting up its distribution as the need arises.
Because, uhhh... yeaaah, Nadine's not gonna take today too well, and we can't turn on the AC or Ashley's going to lose her mind.
Here's the trick layout I use to get the Snack Pack to look just right, by the way; It always bothered me that buying two of everything sequentially would lead to one of the items being on opposite corners of the storage cubbies. We're all about the aesthetics, here.
Alright, there's our perfect breakpoint. We can send Ashley to go calm down and let Brooke do some Tasks in the meantime.
Not before completing her Treadmill Goal, of course; that Morale Boost is invaluable for resetting the Stress values. I've also turned on the AC to keep Nadine calm.
Yup, it's looking like we have enough supplies for this run. It's nice to look back on this and see how well in hand this was at this point.
Heck, I'm even taking the time to calm these two down so we can get that last Task done. It'll be close as a result, but we had the time to spare.
Nice, another Morale Boost for us. All the better to stretch out our remaining supplies with.
You know, I was expecting needing to use one of the Cinnabuns on Ashley at this point, but it seems like we'll make it. ...Nadine will still need one, though.
Like so. I even had that Cinnabun ready, but we didn't need it in the end. Better safe than sorry, though, especially considering the numerous runs this took to get right. Like... GOD, this is rough, and it only gets rougher.
And there we have it. Everything taken care of, and a Day in advance, too. That was a rough time limit they threw at us early on, and... well, I'd be repeating myself yet again to say it's always going to be like this.
I hope you're prepared to be flying by the seat of your pants in this part of the game, because that's basically the game plan unless you're me and kinda obsessed with seeing how far you can whittle it down. Turns out playing this game on a laptop mouse pad when I was like 11 or 12 or something until I could get all the 3-Star Ratings has prepared me for optimizing things now that I'm armed with many more years of life, an actual mouse, and the code the game runs on ready to reference.
Next time... things get even tighter, for various reasons. See you then.
Goal Writeup
Time Per Day: 140 Seconds
Task Types
Video:Welcome back, school's a schedule-filler.
It begins. Time to try not to die.
I'll say it straight out, Season 5's throwing us a softball here, and it's still pretty rough. Brooke is a basketcase, and she wants to finish more Tasks than anyone else does today, all while Winston's hogging the Technical Tasks (which are more common than the other types by a little bit). On top of that, Winston wants time at the Arcade Machine AAAAAAAAALL the way on the other side of the office, and we've got a Denise Water Cooler Goal. A low-stakes one, but a red flag for what's to come later on.
You might notice the new petty cash Goal. There will be one of these in every Season 5 Episode, and they'll get progressively higher. They mostly exist as a breakpoint you need to meet before you can spam items too heavily, for reasons we're going to see shortly.
Brooke. Brooke is the latest Stress Sink Employee, but she at least has a little bit of merit in that she gets Tasks done quickly. She'll go ballistic doing them, but hey, she also relaxes quickly from her Treadmill.
She may get bothered by absolutely everything, but at least she's only half as bothered by the AC and the Radio as anyone else who dislikes those things. This may become very important.
Her Stress efficiency may be as bad or worse than Mahavir, but hey, we can work with those stats to an extent, and so we shall.
This. This thing right here. Brooke's addiction, and soon to be ours.
This coffee, nay, this ELDRITCH CONCOCTION, boosts an Employee's Work Rates by not double like the fine nectar from coffee beans, but TRIPLE!!!
All that, and it's only twice as much as a regular Coffee. Those things are now worthless to us. The only thing that's kind of eh about it is that Denise will need a Diet Soda to give the Employee the Tasks fast enough to make fully efficient use of those 15 Seconds of experiencing an ascension. Cherish these things. Cherish their very existence, because they're one of the things that make Season 5's demands bearable, and it'll expect you to buy them, even with that budget Goal breathing down your neck.
Starting positions. Despite being so deeply overworked she needs a therapist, Brooke doesn't have any starting Stress by default. Interesting.
As our first wave of orders, we have Winston and Nadine work on the Goals they're involved with while keeping Ashley and Brooke calm. Ashley's still mad about the Arcade Machine, unfortunately.
Since Tasks are coming in rather quickly (and will only continue to grow more numerous as new Episodes are reached
), what do you say we make use of that $6 of petty cash we started with? After all, we've got someone who wants to do a LOT of work today, and we'll need to give them every Task we can to avoid getting screwed over by Technical Task RNG.Here it is. Our savior. Our lifeline.
I have Brooke head to the Water Cooler so she's nearby once I'm done bringing her Tasks. Winston will be coming back too, for a while. So anyways... wanna see paper get shredded?
This is the kind of power you can expect from the Choco-Cafficino, and believe me, we'll be relying on these for Brooke a lot; she can't do any work without going over the Stress State Threshold, much like Timothy.
Oh yeah, and in case you didn't think Nadine would be this petty, she does indeed gain Stress from Brooke working on Financial and Writing Tasks. We'll demonstrate how much later. Note that Winston is mostly fine with her doing them, it's just that Goal stopping us from giving them to her right now.
Oh yeah, and remember when I mentioned these pairing well with a Diet Soda? Prepare yourself. But first, let's see the Treadmill in action:
Keep in mind that this is while the Arcade Machine is going, so it's only at a -5 Moodifier. This thing can relax her even FASTER than this, as well as sustain her through an intense storm of Stress. Now then...
ONCE MORE, WITH FEELING
With both of these at once, we can supply the Tasks just as fast as they're completed, making an incredibly efficient use of the time limit on the cafficino.
With that done, we can finally sit back and relax, mostly. We'll still need to take care of those Tasks, though; we need as much petty cash as we can earn.
Since Brooke's done more than enough work to avoid ever being dethroned as Most Tasks Completed for today, we can hand these to Nadine instead; they'll be done quicker in her hands.
Did I mention Ashley is still fuming about the Arcade Machine? Because it's a fact that's making itself known.
At the very least, we got both of these End of Day Goals done. Every Required Goal in a Season 5 Episode unlocks an Optional Goal except the budget Goal, so this was vital for us to do on Day 1.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, those Goals unlocked a new one for their respective Employees. Brooke's is pretty clear, but Winston's... Winston's is special.
So, uh, remember how this office layout has both the AC and the Radio? Winston wants to remind us of that.
All in all, Ashley's going to be cycling back and forth from the Bathroom at a +3 Moodifier, while Nadine and Brooke are going to be at +1 Moodifiers total; Nadine hates the Radio slightly more than she likes the AC, and Brooke only gets +1 from each device rather than the usual +2 for Dislikes of this nature. ...it's gonna be higher though, since Ashley needs to use the Bathroom constantly to stay calm. Oof.
Here we go. Today, we'll be devoting our time to clearing Winston's Goal while polishing off the Required ones we have left.
It's a good thing Winston won't be at the Arcade Machine for long, because Ashley's absolutely losing it right now.
Oh yeah, and I went and bought all these for this time period. No reason in particular, just getting ready to explain why a certain someone is the best Employee in the game by a country mile.
Side note, Mahavir just unlocked a rather infuriating Optional Goal. We'll worry about that later, though, we've got someone to pump full of legal amphetamines.
It's Winston.
SO, UH... YEAH! When both the AC and Radio are active, Winston gets a total -4 Moodifier applied to everything he does. His only Task Moodifier higher than +4 is his Art one, at +6. That comes to a mere +2 Moodifier, and working on Technical Tasks will actually RELAX HIM like this, at a -1 total Moodifier. It's absolutely nutty, and we honestly only needed the Cafficino for demonstration purposes. ...this time. This time, it was superfluous. That will not remain the case. GOD, it will not.
So yeah, anyways, this is why finishing that Denise Water Cooler Goal on Day 1 wasn't too big a deal; we can finish it today, and we'll even be able to make use of the Optional Goal it unlocks right about now. Heck, talking to Nadine like this even helps relax her in the midst of this mess of cross-Stressing.
There it is, there's the inevitable Treadmill Goal. That's gonna come up a lot, and in many cases, you were going to have Brooke use the Treadmill anyway.
So yeah, this has been my life for a long while. How's your day going? Decent?
Finally, it's over. With our lesson in who the office's Employee of the Year is, let's turn these off to prep for Brooke's Task Goal.
Like so. I've shown this off enough, you can see what's about to happen, though in this case I have something else to show:
I hope you've got Cafficinos for whenever Brooke needs to do work on Financial or Writing Tasks, or else Nadine's gonna throw a hissy fit with a +5 Moodifier. The Idle Bonus is the only thing keeping her under the Stress State Threshold.
Oh yeah, and this little stunt finally gave us enough on-hand petty cash to clear the Goal. We'll have full access to what I like to call the Snack Pack from this point onwards this Episode.
There we go, finally we see the notification. Prepare for it to be this late pretty often in Season 5, because WHEW
Oh right, and that annoying as hell Goal Mahavir gave us?
It's flirting with Ashley, and on top of giving Ashley a headache, the on-the-clock flirting also sends Brooke off the deep end with a +4 Moodifier from that alone. Nadine's not exactly happy about it either, and definitely won't be once Brooke needs the Treadmill to calm down. We need to find a way through 90 Seconds of this, too.
So with the Day coming to an end, I went and got the Snack Pack. Look at it. So majestic. So mighty. So sickening for the stomach on repeated exposure, but we make sacrifices for the sake of our work, of course.
Alright, so... cleanup Days in Season 5 are far from smooth pleasure cruises. This is probably close to the best we could've done by now, and it's still gonna be excruciating to manage Mahavir's latest misguided efforts.
Right, then... let's begin the grind.
Might as well start making use of the Snack Pack. It has a much more focused use later, but for now, we're going to be splitting up its distribution as the need arises.
Because, uhhh... yeaaah, Nadine's not gonna take today too well, and we can't turn on the AC or Ashley's going to lose her mind.
Here's the trick layout I use to get the Snack Pack to look just right, by the way; It always bothered me that buying two of everything sequentially would lead to one of the items being on opposite corners of the storage cubbies. We're all about the aesthetics, here.
Alright, there's our perfect breakpoint. We can send Ashley to go calm down and let Brooke do some Tasks in the meantime.
Not before completing her Treadmill Goal, of course; that Morale Boost is invaluable for resetting the Stress values. I've also turned on the AC to keep Nadine calm.
Yup, it's looking like we have enough supplies for this run. It's nice to look back on this and see how well in hand this was at this point.
Heck, I'm even taking the time to calm these two down so we can get that last Task done. It'll be close as a result, but we had the time to spare.
Nice, another Morale Boost for us. All the better to stretch out our remaining supplies with.
You know, I was expecting needing to use one of the Cinnabuns on Ashley at this point, but it seems like we'll make it. ...Nadine will still need one, though.
Like so. I even had that Cinnabun ready, but we didn't need it in the end. Better safe than sorry, though, especially considering the numerous runs this took to get right. Like... GOD, this is rough, and it only gets rougher.
And there we have it. Everything taken care of, and a Day in advance, too. That was a rough time limit they threw at us early on, and... well, I'd be repeating myself yet again to say it's always going to be like this.
I hope you're prepared to be flying by the seat of your pants in this part of the game, because that's basically the game plan unless you're me and kinda obsessed with seeing how far you can whittle it down. Turns out playing this game on a laptop mouse pad when I was like 11 or 12 or something until I could get all the 3-Star Ratings has prepared me for optimizing things now that I'm armed with many more years of life, an actual mouse, and the code the game runs on ready to reference.
Next time... things get even tighter, for various reasons. See you then.
Goal Writeup
Time Per Day: 140 Seconds
Task Types
- Art Tasks: 20%
- Financial Tasks: 20%
- Technical Tasks: 40%
- Writing Tasks: 20%
- 1-Task Burst, Applies Delay of 5-8 Seconds: 33.3%
- 2-Task Burst, Applies Delay of 7-9 Seconds: 33.3%
- 2-Task Burst, Applies Delay of 8-10 Seconds: 33.3%
3-Bar Tasks: 50%
4-Bar Tasks: 50%
"Earn $70 to meet budget goals. ($70 Current Petty Cash)"
"Do more work than everyone else in one day. (Most Completed Tasks)" Unlocks Optional Goal #3
"Zone out at the arcade machine. (90 Seconds)" Unlocks Optional Goal #1- "Don't let anybody else do any technical tasks for one day. (No Completed Technical Tasks)" Unlocks Optional Goal #2
- "Listen to Nadine boast about her qualifications at the water cooler. (60 Seconds)" Unlocks Optional Goal #4
"Stare into Ashley's sparkling eyes while chatting at the water cooler. (90 Seconds)"- "Keep both the AC and the radio on for a while. (80 Seconds)"
- "Handle thirty tasks solo. (30 Tasks)"
- "Complete high-impact cardio routine on the treadmill. (100 Seconds)"
Last edited by LPFinale on Sun Jan 10, 2021 2:02 am, edited 1 time in total.
Unlikely. I feel more comfy here in general, and besides that, the original thread has probably had its archive lock activate by now even if I wanted to continue over there. All in all, I'm rather pleased with how things have turned out, considering the move gave me the opportunity to add the Disc conversations.
Episode 26: Story Update
Video:
Yeesh... Season 5 started out swinging. Where will it go from here, ya think?
...yup, seems about right.
I'm sure everyone was wonderingif when this would come up.
Huh?
So you're a CEO, huh? That sounds so... enchanting.
Yeah, sure. Enchanting.
...oh this is gonna be good, huh.
And I really admire women who keep themselves fit. I work out myself too, you know!
When I was younger, I took this as Brooke just going full oblivious mode while focused on work and encouraging his supposed exercise plan. Nowadays, though... it feels more like she's directly responding to how he's trying to flirt and sarcastically saying "Mmm, yeah, perfect line right there, nailed it, Romeo."
Also the only workout Mahavir would be doing is the mid-sleep Iron Bun Workout.
Hmm. Mahavir, right? Can you get me another choco-cafficino, please?
Womp womp
Meanwhile, at a more important desk:
Can you believe it? Mahavir is even hitting on your sister!
This, this whole text box, just. Perfect.
By the way, have you seen Ashley? She hasn't come in yet.
...that, on the other hand, is less than perfect. We currently have no artists in the office aside from Brooke, and, uh... she's not exactly readily available at any given moment due to her Moodifiers.
Hmm, I haven't. But we have bigger problems than the disappearance of the ditzy debutante.
Bigger problems?
Check your e-mail. I just forwarded you a memo...
I have my ways. The less you know about them, the better.
Perhaps it's a bit unsurprising the IT guy knows how to intercept e-mails, but this is... well, let's hope the news is that important.
Let's see... it's the end of the fiscal year and they're demanding...
...oh. Too much coffee.
Apparently she hasn't been keeping a close enough eye on the books. Or keeping an eye on her e-mail. I doubt she's even read this. The girl's got something like 800 unread e-mails!
...
Nervously glances at my unread count of 18,452
Drastic action? What does that mean?
It means they'll try to get rid of her.
Cigar-smoking bigots...
"What's a bye-gott?" ~ LPFinale, Age 12
Well, we're going to have to help her prove them wrong.
Really? How on earth are you going to get her out of this fix? They're demanding to see positive cash flow on a regular basis!
Don't forget, I'm in charge of the budget here too. I can make sure we're in the black.
If you say so... hmm.
There it is. There's our reason to be brought up here.
I just think you might be able to pull it off.
She's my big sister, but I have to keep an eye out for her, you know?
In most any other situation, I'd question this level of it, but here? In this corporation, in this office, with this board breathing down our necks? We won't tell a soul.
And this whole crisis is a good example...
I getcha, Winston. This whole thing... well, it's barely even started, and look at the mess we're in. This has been building up for years, all while she's likely spent the majority of it in that chair.
OK... I mean, I don't like keeping secrets, but...
It would just stress her out even more, and we can't afford that.
I hope you're right about all this.
Stay good, Winston.
...feels like we're forgetting someone in all this, though. Ah, I'm sure it's nothing important.
Next time, we deal with being an Employee down. See you then.
Video:
Yeesh... Season 5 started out swinging. Where will it go from here, ya think?
...yup, seems about right.
I'm sure everyone was wondering
Huh? So you're a CEO, huh? That sounds so... enchanting. Yeah, sure. Enchanting....oh this is gonna be good, huh.
And I really admire women who keep themselves fit. I work out myself too, you know!When I was younger, I took this as Brooke just going full oblivious mode while focused on work and encouraging his supposed exercise plan. Nowadays, though... it feels more like she's directly responding to how he's trying to flirt and sarcastically saying "Mmm, yeah, perfect line right there, nailed it, Romeo."
Also the only workout Mahavir would be doing is the mid-sleep Iron Bun Workout.
Hmm. Mahavir, right? Can you get me another choco-cafficino, please?Womp womp
Meanwhile, at a more important desk:
Can you believe it? Mahavir is even hitting on your sister!This, this whole text box, just. Perfect.
By the way, have you seen Ashley? She hasn't come in yet....that, on the other hand, is less than perfect. We currently have no artists in the office aside from Brooke, and, uh... she's not exactly readily available at any given moment due to her Moodifiers.
Hmm, I haven't. But we have bigger problems than the disappearance of the ditzy debutante. Bigger problems? Check your e-mail. I just forwarded you a memo... I have my ways. The less you know about them, the better.Perhaps it's a bit unsurprising the IT guy knows how to intercept e-mails, but this is... well, let's hope the news is that important.
Let's see... it's the end of the fiscal year and they're demanding......oh. Too much coffee.
Apparently she hasn't been keeping a close enough eye on the books. Or keeping an eye on her e-mail. I doubt she's even read this. The girl's got something like 800 unread e-mails!...
Drastic action? What does that mean? It means they'll try to get rid of her. Cigar-smoking bigots..."What's a bye-gott?" ~ LPFinale, Age 12
Well, we're going to have to help her prove them wrong. Really? How on earth are you going to get her out of this fix? They're demanding to see positive cash flow on a regular basis! Don't forget, I'm in charge of the budget here too. I can make sure we're in the black. If you say so... hmm.There it is. There's our reason to be brought up here.
I just think you might be able to pull it off. She's my big sister, but I have to keep an eye out for her, you know?In most any other situation, I'd question this level of it, but here? In this corporation, in this office, with this board breathing down our necks? We won't tell a soul.
And this whole crisis is a good example...I getcha, Winston. This whole thing... well, it's barely even started, and look at the mess we're in. This has been building up for years, all while she's likely spent the majority of it in that chair.
OK... I mean, I don't like keeping secrets, but... It would just stress her out even more, and we can't afford that. I hope you're right about all this.Stay good, Winston.
...feels like we're forgetting someone in all this, though. Ah, I'm sure it's nothing important.
Next time, we deal with being an Employee down. See you then.
Yeah Nadine is definitely standing in the back there eavesdropping. Nothing good will come of this.
So pretty much Keto, which does work, but is... well its hard on you, especially during the initial phase when the body shifts gearQuackles wrote: ↑Tue Sep 08, 2020 5:46 amApparently, the way the Atkins diet is supposed to work is that, by eating no carbohydrates, it forces the body to burn fat, instead.
I'm told a side effect of this is that you get really really hungry, because your body thinks you're in a famine (which, technically, you are).
Still, it's nice to see Nadine not being the cause of drama, for a change.
Episode 26: Gameplay Update, "Baleful Boards and Budgets"
Video:
Well then... here we go. Got a long one today.
Since Mahavir's skull is made of finely-layered steel, he's yet to get the message that Brooke is extremely uninterested in what he has to say. This is going to go about as well as you'd expect.
As for the other stuff, it's business as usual aside from that Water Cooler goal with Winston and Denise. We'll take care of that eventually, but for now we'll be focusing on the rest. ...especially Brooke's orders to take on 40 Tasks. Get used to that one.
Starting positions. Not much here except the clear lack of Ashley, and Denise happens to have her upwards-facing sprite to start here.
First things first, let's get that Goal with Mahavir over and done with. We'll need this finished early for... reasons, but in any case, a Water Cooler Goal that takes up the time of 2 of our 4 Employees and stresses out one of the remaining two is something we want off of our agenda IMMEDIATELY.
Especially when one of the conversation participants gains a total +4 Moodifier from it!
Considering we won't be able to get much of that Water Cooler Goal done at once, we might as well chip away at some Tasks for Brooke. Winston's basically our only option for this, since Nadine is just a great big Stress magnet for almost everything we'll be doing today.
And of course, Choco-Cafficinos are outright required here; Brooke gains way too much Stress from the Goals and Tasks, and Nadine will be completely unmanageable if Brooke is working on Financial/Writing Tasks for too long.
Speaking of which, it's time for a reminder of what these things can do, since they're about to save Denise from immolating.
Ahhhhh, feels good to see that after so long without an update. ...though I must admit, the feeling will dull after a while of this being the standard strategy for quick play.
With some actual cash for a supply of powerups, it's time we let Brooke relax and stock up; we'll need to be a bit sparing in our spending so that we deliver on that "positive cash flow" bit Winston mentioned before (at least until the Goal of $85), but after that point, we can spend as much as we want. Consider it a test in item efficiency, one I'm all too happy to take on.
Trying to get some Winston time in here, but Nadine is the great limiter for all of this. Thankfully, Brooke's just about ready to get to work, and there's something that can keep Nadine calm, at least while Brooke's being kept stable by the Treadmill...
While grabbing the Diet Soda and Cafficino, let's make a pit stop by the AC; the amount of Stress it deals to Brooke is negligible at best, and it'll keep Nadine from blowing a gasket and slowing the rest of us down as a result. ...or I could just let her Burn Out, but hey, details~
As much as I'd like to say the AC keeps Nadine relaxed, that's an extremely relative term in Season 5.
That time already? Feels like we didn't accomplish that much, but sometimes slow and steady is the way to go; making decent progress on several Goals can be more impactful than focusing on just one of them.
I feel like that could've gone better? Not sure, but at least we got the Task-based Goal mostly completed already.
Well, I'd like to think our starting strategy is obvious; get the Task Goal out of the way, calm Brooke down, then clear the Water Cooler Goal she's involved with. Anything to keep the Stress Sink from spiraling.
Okay so I may have deviated from that plan a little bit since only a Task or two came in during the starting Task Burst, but whatever, this isn't too different from what'd have happened normally.
I, uh, got a bit distracted while I was having Winston chip down some Tasks. This is still fine.
Well wouldja look at that, half the day gone already! Felt shorter than that. ...Season 5 feels like time's been sped up sometimes, honestly, even though I have the footage to prove that isn't ACTUALLY what's happening.
With that finally taken care of, it's time to move on to more pressing matters; namely, getting Mahavir to be done inviting sarcastic remarks in his general direction.
...and also a nap. Both Nadine and Brooke will gain the same Stress from him resting during this Episode, and it's pretty minor, but it's more of a cumulative threat with other things that'll be coming in as we complete the Required Goals.
In the meantime, Winston will be assisting us from his comfortable position directly next to the desk where the Tasks come in. Rock on, big guy.
And with that taken care of, I do believe Mahavir has flirted with and been shut down by absolutely every female Employee in the game. ...except Pearl. And I'd rather not find out how that would go.
And in case you couldn't tell what this new Goal is that Mahavir needs 10 of, I'll let the game demonstrate what it is shortly. ...and no, it's not 10 Cinnabuns.
First things first, let's make the job easier, shall we?
If it wasn't abundantly clear, Brooke wants Mahavir to do some of the Writing Tasks, and we're at the point in the game where there is quite literally no such things as a 2-Bar Task or 3-Bar Task; it's all 4-Bar Tasks from here on out, with all of the difficulty that entails. Hoooooo boy.
So anyway that sure was a point to end on, huh? Lots of cleanup ready for tomorrow.
Some Writing for Mahavir to do, as well as taking care of any Required Goals remaining. By now, it should be clear we're not doing this in 3 Days, but hey, the game expected 5 Days and the requirements for Season 5 3-Star Ratings are kinda brutal, soooooo... I see this as an absolute win if we finish before then~
Some chipping away at that Couch Goal before some more Writing Tasks come in. Standard procedure.
Ah right, and the limiters have been removed. Let us begin.
I should perhaps mention that we're talking about the company's problems right next to Brooke's desk. Mahavir's naps don't actually Stress her that much, just +2, but Denise and Winston's talks offer a meaty +4 Moodifier, reaching the Stress State threshold when combined with Mahavir's antics. Rather unfortunate that the Water Cooler is the de facto conversation point...
To be clear, though this shouldn't be an issue, we do NEED to finish Mahavir's Writing Task Goal today. As such, it takes priority over his naps.
He'll also need to handle other things since Winston will be busy and Nadine's a basketcase who can't calm down quickly, but at least we're getting most of the Writing done already.
Oh right, and Brooke wrapped up her Goal that we were totally thinking about, I swear.
Here comes Winston, with what I'll tell you right now is an Arcade Machine Goal. Pretty simple stuff, only Brooke gets bothered by it and not by much, but that'll be layered on top of other things, as is tradition.
Oh, and as you can probably tell from this shot...
...Mahavir has completed the writing. Hopefully it was worthy of his English Literature degree even if the speed generally wasn't aside from thecoffee time juice.
Since I want more leeway on Mahavir's Goal tomorrow, I opt to have him take a quick rest here while Winston handles all the incoming Tasks. ...god, this would be SO much easier if Ashley weren't truant for several days.
Not much happens once Winston takes care of that initial workload, aside from having Brooke step off the Treadmill, turn on the AC, and stay there to keep Nadine under control for the rest of the day. Nearly done...
And there we have it. All the Required Goals, shelved. Now all that remains is two and a half Optional Goals.
Aaaaaaaaand that's why we needed Mahavir to finish the Writing by Day 3's end. That Goal says that Nadine needs to complete ALL of the Writing and Financial Tasks for a Day, and with all these other Goals that threaten Nadine with a Burn Out, completing them while having her do more than half of the office's Tasks (Writing Tasks are more common this Episode) is an ordeal that I'm not willing to put myself through just to check if I can somehow cram all these long time bars and conditions within 3 Days. The estimations on that front are pretty grim, regardless.
Ah right, this still exists. Still not opting out.
Tomorrow will be the very definition of a cleanup Day, though we do have to play through the whole thing thanks to Nadine.
Yeesh, even when she's staying in the background, she finds a way to be the worst. At least her methods are pretty consistent on that front.
One last hurrah.
And of course, the plan starts by getting Nadine to do everything while Brooke burns calories and stress away, give or take an Art Task I'll be throwing Mahavir's way using that extra time we have.
Y'all know this song and dance, we don't need gifs for it more than twice per Episode.
Basically the only thing of interest that happened was when I sent Brooke to her desk for a bit to let Nadine decompress without using my Cinnabuns and we got to see Brooke's Stress State while walking. Neat!
This has been my whole in-game Day, how's yours going?
One down, and now we have a dedicatedunwilling artist.
Another one, right on schedule. Now we can basically leave the AC on forever since Brooke doesn't gain overall Stress from it alone.
Okay so I nearly threw this run in the dumpster by handing Winston a Writing Task and I think some small part of me would've died if THAT was the reason I lost.
Almost free from the second test of six...
At last, the monster's ego is sated. Now please, get going. You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here. ...except maybe Brooke and Winston, they probably have the credentials to be here overnight, however that works.
In case this wasn't obvious enough, Season 5 will be getting long despite our efficiency, and we'll be getting plenty of wrenches thrown in our efficiency. Trust me. The only sure things are Choco-Cafficinos and Diet Sodas in this place.
Next time, someone's leave of absence ends... sort of. See you then.
Goal Writeup
Time Per Day: 140 Seconds
Task Types
Video:Well then... here we go. Got a long one today.
Since Mahavir's skull is made of finely-layered steel, he's yet to get the message that Brooke is extremely uninterested in what he has to say. This is going to go about as well as you'd expect.
As for the other stuff, it's business as usual aside from that Water Cooler goal with Winston and Denise. We'll take care of that eventually, but for now we'll be focusing on the rest. ...especially Brooke's orders to take on 40 Tasks. Get used to that one.
Starting positions. Not much here except the clear lack of Ashley, and Denise happens to have her upwards-facing sprite to start here.
First things first, let's get that Goal with Mahavir over and done with. We'll need this finished early for... reasons, but in any case, a Water Cooler Goal that takes up the time of 2 of our 4 Employees and stresses out one of the remaining two is something we want off of our agenda IMMEDIATELY.
Especially when one of the conversation participants gains a total +4 Moodifier from it!
Considering we won't be able to get much of that Water Cooler Goal done at once, we might as well chip away at some Tasks for Brooke. Winston's basically our only option for this, since Nadine is just a great big Stress magnet for almost everything we'll be doing today.
And of course, Choco-Cafficinos are outright required here; Brooke gains way too much Stress from the Goals and Tasks, and Nadine will be completely unmanageable if Brooke is working on Financial/Writing Tasks for too long.
Speaking of which, it's time for a reminder of what these things can do, since they're about to save Denise from immolating.
Ahhhhh, feels good to see that after so long without an update. ...though I must admit, the feeling will dull after a while of this being the standard strategy for quick play.
With some actual cash for a supply of powerups, it's time we let Brooke relax and stock up; we'll need to be a bit sparing in our spending so that we deliver on that "positive cash flow" bit Winston mentioned before (at least until the Goal of $85), but after that point, we can spend as much as we want. Consider it a test in item efficiency, one I'm all too happy to take on.
Trying to get some Winston time in here, but Nadine is the great limiter for all of this. Thankfully, Brooke's just about ready to get to work, and there's something that can keep Nadine calm, at least while Brooke's being kept stable by the Treadmill...
While grabbing the Diet Soda and Cafficino, let's make a pit stop by the AC; the amount of Stress it deals to Brooke is negligible at best, and it'll keep Nadine from blowing a gasket and slowing the rest of us down as a result. ...or I could just let her Burn Out, but hey, details~
As much as I'd like to say the AC keeps Nadine relaxed, that's an extremely relative term in Season 5.
That time already? Feels like we didn't accomplish that much, but sometimes slow and steady is the way to go; making decent progress on several Goals can be more impactful than focusing on just one of them.
I feel like that could've gone better? Not sure, but at least we got the Task-based Goal mostly completed already.
Well, I'd like to think our starting strategy is obvious; get the Task Goal out of the way, calm Brooke down, then clear the Water Cooler Goal she's involved with. Anything to keep the Stress Sink from spiraling.
Okay so I may have deviated from that plan a little bit since only a Task or two came in during the starting Task Burst, but whatever, this isn't too different from what'd have happened normally.
I, uh, got a bit distracted while I was having Winston chip down some Tasks. This is still fine.
Well wouldja look at that, half the day gone already! Felt shorter than that. ...Season 5 feels like time's been sped up sometimes, honestly, even though I have the footage to prove that isn't ACTUALLY what's happening.
With that finally taken care of, it's time to move on to more pressing matters; namely, getting Mahavir to be done inviting sarcastic remarks in his general direction.
...and also a nap. Both Nadine and Brooke will gain the same Stress from him resting during this Episode, and it's pretty minor, but it's more of a cumulative threat with other things that'll be coming in as we complete the Required Goals.
In the meantime, Winston will be assisting us from his comfortable position directly next to the desk where the Tasks come in. Rock on, big guy.
And with that taken care of, I do believe Mahavir has flirted with and been shut down by absolutely every female Employee in the game. ...except Pearl. And I'd rather not find out how that would go.
And in case you couldn't tell what this new Goal is that Mahavir needs 10 of, I'll let the game demonstrate what it is shortly. ...and no, it's not 10 Cinnabuns.
First things first, let's make the job easier, shall we?
If it wasn't abundantly clear, Brooke wants Mahavir to do some of the Writing Tasks, and we're at the point in the game where there is quite literally no such things as a 2-Bar Task or 3-Bar Task; it's all 4-Bar Tasks from here on out, with all of the difficulty that entails. Hoooooo boy.
So anyway that sure was a point to end on, huh? Lots of cleanup ready for tomorrow.
Some Writing for Mahavir to do, as well as taking care of any Required Goals remaining. By now, it should be clear we're not doing this in 3 Days, but hey, the game expected 5 Days and the requirements for Season 5 3-Star Ratings are kinda brutal, soooooo... I see this as an absolute win if we finish before then~
Some chipping away at that Couch Goal before some more Writing Tasks come in. Standard procedure.
Ah right, and the limiters have been removed. Let us begin.
I should perhaps mention that we're talking about the company's problems right next to Brooke's desk. Mahavir's naps don't actually Stress her that much, just +2, but Denise and Winston's talks offer a meaty +4 Moodifier, reaching the Stress State threshold when combined with Mahavir's antics. Rather unfortunate that the Water Cooler is the de facto conversation point...
To be clear, though this shouldn't be an issue, we do NEED to finish Mahavir's Writing Task Goal today. As such, it takes priority over his naps.
He'll also need to handle other things since Winston will be busy and Nadine's a basketcase who can't calm down quickly, but at least we're getting most of the Writing done already.
Oh right, and Brooke wrapped up her Goal that we were totally thinking about, I swear.
Here comes Winston, with what I'll tell you right now is an Arcade Machine Goal. Pretty simple stuff, only Brooke gets bothered by it and not by much, but that'll be layered on top of other things, as is tradition.
Oh, and as you can probably tell from this shot...
...Mahavir has completed the writing. Hopefully it was worthy of his English Literature degree even if the speed generally wasn't aside from the
Since I want more leeway on Mahavir's Goal tomorrow, I opt to have him take a quick rest here while Winston handles all the incoming Tasks. ...god, this would be SO much easier if Ashley weren't truant for several days.
Not much happens once Winston takes care of that initial workload, aside from having Brooke step off the Treadmill, turn on the AC, and stay there to keep Nadine under control for the rest of the day. Nearly done...
And there we have it. All the Required Goals, shelved. Now all that remains is two and a half Optional Goals.
Aaaaaaaaand that's why we needed Mahavir to finish the Writing by Day 3's end. That Goal says that Nadine needs to complete ALL of the Writing and Financial Tasks for a Day, and with all these other Goals that threaten Nadine with a Burn Out, completing them while having her do more than half of the office's Tasks (Writing Tasks are more common this Episode) is an ordeal that I'm not willing to put myself through just to check if I can somehow cram all these long time bars and conditions within 3 Days. The estimations on that front are pretty grim, regardless.
Ah right, this still exists. Still not opting out.
Tomorrow will be the very definition of a cleanup Day, though we do have to play through the whole thing thanks to Nadine.
Yeesh, even when she's staying in the background, she finds a way to be the worst. At least her methods are pretty consistent on that front.
One last hurrah.
And of course, the plan starts by getting Nadine to do everything while Brooke burns calories and stress away, give or take an Art Task I'll be throwing Mahavir's way using that extra time we have.
Y'all know this song and dance, we don't need gifs for it more than twice per Episode.
Basically the only thing of interest that happened was when I sent Brooke to her desk for a bit to let Nadine decompress without using my Cinnabuns and we got to see Brooke's Stress State while walking. Neat!
This has been my whole in-game Day, how's yours going?
One down, and now we have a dedicated
Another one, right on schedule. Now we can basically leave the AC on forever since Brooke doesn't gain overall Stress from it alone.
Okay so I nearly threw this run in the dumpster by handing Winston a Writing Task and I think some small part of me would've died if THAT was the reason I lost.
Almost free from the second test of six...
At last, the monster's ego is sated. Now please, get going. You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here. ...except maybe Brooke and Winston, they probably have the credentials to be here overnight, however that works.
In case this wasn't obvious enough, Season 5 will be getting long despite our efficiency, and we'll be getting plenty of wrenches thrown in our efficiency. Trust me. The only sure things are Choco-Cafficinos and Diet Sodas in this place.
Next time, someone's leave of absence ends... sort of. See you then.
Goal Writeup
Time Per Day: 140 Seconds
Task Types
- Art Tasks: 20%
- Financial Tasks: 20%
- Technical Tasks: 20%
- Writing Tasks: 40%
- 1-Task Burst, Applies Delay of 6-9 Seconds: 33.3%
- 2-Task Burst, Applies Delay of 11-14 Seconds: 33.3%
- 3-Task Burst, Applies Delay of 8-11 Seconds: 33.3%
- 4-Bar Tasks: 100%
- “Earn $85 to meet budget goals. ($85 Current Petty Cash)”
- “Brooke wants to complete at least forty tasks. (40 Tasks)” Unlocks Optional Goal #4
- “Talk about company problems with Winston at the water cooler. (70 Seconds)” Unlocks Optional Goal #1
- “Impress Brooke by talking about workout routines at the water cooler. (70 Seconds)” Unlocks Optional Goal #3
- “Complete high-impact cardio routine on the treadmill. (100 Seconds)” Unlocks Optional Goal #2
“Do all financial and writing tasks for one day. (All Completed Financial/Writing Tasks)”- “Zone out on the arcade. (100 Seconds)”
- “Brooke wants Mahavir to complete ten writing tasks. (10 Writing Tasks)”
- “Take a long nap on the sofa. (100 Seconds)”
Last edited by LPFinale on Sun Jan 10, 2021 2:03 am, edited 1 time in total.
Episode 27: Story Update
Video:
Welp, we just had to deal with being down an Employee. And now...
...we... might still technically be down an Employee.
There she is. Wonder where she's been this whole time...
Let me guess. Jimmy Choo sample sale?
Congrats, Nadine. You've managed to channel your coarseness into snark at someone who probably deserves it right about now.
Also Jimmy Choo is some kind of shoe company that also sells perfume
Even better! I know that's hard to believe. I'm getting married!
Congratulations! Who's the lucky guy?
His name is Charles, and he's a hedge fund manager!
Absolutely none of those details surprise any of us, considering your history.
Oh, his proposal was so romantic, we were on the French Riviera...
And the day before that, and the day before that, and the day before THAT... and even more days if we took longer with the Episode. Yeesh.
The French Riviera is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France, so sayeth our lord and savior Wikipedia. It's apparently right along a sovereign city-state called Monaco.
Anyway the point is she was off yachting with a banker boy while we worked our asses off and Denise stressed about the board of directors. Thanks, Ashley.
Yes! I'll have to tell you all about it, Denise! You too, Nadine! And then, one day... you'll be as lucky as me...
One can only dream.
I don't need to dream. Wait until you see the ROCK he got me! I'm afraid to even wear it in this seedy neighborhood.
When I first played this, I didn't know that "rock" was some kind of shorthand for a diamond, so I thought she was even more nuts than intended. ...granted, diamonds are intrinsically worthless, so it's not far off from what I thought, I suppose.
Ooh, better not make your boss mad! Hee hee! You poor working stiffs.
...um. What. What? Wat???
Excuse me? She's your boss, too.
What? When are you getting married?
This weekend!
WHAT
Okay, yeah, she's absolutely lost it. A lifetime of the rich lifestyle and mindset has lead up to this, and she's way too far gone to fix that if this is any indication.
Oh... I'm so... happy for you, but don't you think this is a little rushed?
Mrs. Charles Babbington III... how delightful it sounds!
Oh, Mahavir... It's just that I'm not sure what we're going to do with only four employees!
Well, you might have to eventually...
As much as Mahavir's gotten worse over time due to Task length giving him very little downtime to get rid of Stress without the Couch, he's still pretty much our best option to offload Art Tasks onto now that Ashley will be taking a hike after this; Brooke gets far too stressed to hand her more than one or two, and despite Winston's unlimited power with the right setup, Art Tasks will still take up a lot of his time relative to other Task types.
Also, uhhhhh, this. This'll be fun.
Oh, the injustice of this cruel, cruel world!
Cutting away from that, our next point of interest is...
...Nadine, still snooping around. Hmmmmm...
Pretty much, yeah. I inherited the computer couch potato genes, and she got the yoga marathon ones.
Keep trying, maybe you'll eventually accomplish something besides making Brooke freak out even more than usual.
Anyways... next time, we indulge the rich girl in her wildest fantasies of gossip, as much as I wish we could not. See you then.
Video:
Welp, we just had to deal with being down an Employee. And now...
...we... might still technically be down an Employee.
There she is. Wonder where she's been this whole time...
Let me guess. Jimmy Choo sample sale?Congrats, Nadine. You've managed to channel your coarseness into snark at someone who probably deserves it right about now.
Even better! I know that's hard to believe. I'm getting married! Congratulations! Who's the lucky guy? His name is Charles, and he's a hedge fund manager!Absolutely none of those details surprise any of us, considering your history.
Oh, his proposal was so romantic, we were on the French Riviera...And the day before that, and the day before that, and the day before THAT... and even more days if we took longer with the Episode. Yeesh.
The French Riviera is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France, so sayeth our lord and savior Wikipedia. It's apparently right along a sovereign city-state called Monaco.
Anyway the point is she was off yachting with a banker boy while we worked our asses off and Denise stressed about the board of directors. Thanks, Ashley.
Yes! I'll have to tell you all about it, Denise! You too, Nadine! And then, one day... you'll be as lucky as me... One can only dream. I don't need to dream. Wait until you see the ROCK he got me! I'm afraid to even wear it in this seedy neighborhood.When I first played this, I didn't know that "rock" was some kind of shorthand for a diamond, so I thought she was even more nuts than intended. ...granted, diamonds are intrinsically worthless, so it's not far off from what I thought, I suppose.
Ooh, better not make your boss mad! Hee hee! You poor working stiffs....um. What. What? Wat???
Excuse me? She's your boss, too. What? When are you getting married? This weekend!WHAT
Okay, yeah, she's absolutely lost it. A lifetime of the rich lifestyle and mindset has lead up to this, and she's way too far gone to fix that if this is any indication.
Oh... I'm so... happy for you, but don't you think this is a little rushed? Mrs. Charles Babbington III... how delightful it sounds! Oh, Mahavir... It's just that I'm not sure what we're going to do with only four employees! Well, you might have to eventually...As much as Mahavir's gotten worse over time due to Task length giving him very little downtime to get rid of Stress without the Couch, he's still pretty much our best option to offload Art Tasks onto now that Ashley will be taking a hike after this; Brooke gets far too stressed to hand her more than one or two, and despite Winston's unlimited power with the right setup, Art Tasks will still take up a lot of his time relative to other Task types.
Also, uhhhhh, this. This'll be fun.
Oh, the injustice of this cruel, cruel world!Cutting away from that, our next point of interest is...
...Nadine, still snooping around. Hmmmmm...
Pretty much, yeah. I inherited the computer couch potato genes, and she got the yoga marathon ones.Keep trying, maybe you'll eventually accomplish something besides making Brooke freak out even more than usual.
Anyways... next time, we indulge the rich girl in her wildest fantasies of gossip, as much as I wish we could not. See you then.
Yeah, mostly was bogged down with quite literally 5 term projects. Working on the last one, then I can get back to this. Next one's even partially typed already. Sorry for the radio silence, though, I really ought to have popped in once in a while.
Episode 27: Gameplay Update, "What a Girl Wants...?"
Video:
One last hurrah for "the ditzy debutante," as Winston once said.
I hope you weren't expecting anything besides Ashley fully intent on keeping her promise to rant about her trip on the Riviera to Denise and Nadine, because that's what you're getting. Prepare for this to be a pattern.
Brooke and Nadine will be switching back and forth on the Treadmill, and as you'd expect, Brooke's gonna be an utter wreck about someone else using it and others being at the Water Cooler. That's just part of the challenge today, see?
Starting positions, with our desks back to normal.
This was the start I did for most of my attempts, though we'll be deviating from this pretty soon since, uh... this start doesn't get you to the end quite as reliably, as I'd already discovered by this attempt
Here's the actual start. You might notice that Brooke's reached her Stress State Threshold already. We-e-e-ll...
So uh, yeah, this right here is the biggest obstacle challenging our efficiency in this Episode: a total Moodifier of +6, totalled from the Idle Bonus of -1, the Water Cooler's +2, and Nadine's meaty +5 Moodifier against Brooke while she's using the Treadmill. The upside of this is that Nadine actually has a Relaxation Point at a -3 Moodifier, but it's overall Stress inefficient, especially when compared to using the AC. The Stress reduction is just a consolation prize for dealing with Brooke here. Think we're prepared for all that? I'd hope so, or you haven't been paying too much heed to what we've worked through already.
This is basically going to be the rest of the day, juggling work, Ashley's talks, and the two Treadmill users. ...that really makes it sound so much simpler than it is, huh.
Since Ashley's gonna be occupied for the entire Day, Mahavir and Winston will have to do everything. ...by which I mean Mahavir will be doing the Art Tasks while Winston does literally everything else, during which the AC will hopefully keep his mind from snapping like a twig. It also helps Nadine here, so that's nice.
Whenever Brooke finishes calming down, that's our cue to send Nadine right back to the Treadmill and start the process over again. Just be sure to turn off the AC whenever the swap happens; there's enough for Brooke to be stressed about without it humming away.
So yeah, this'll be another Day of no completed Goals, but setting up a lot of them to be done soon. It's kinda surprising how efficient this can be, but you just have to sacrifice that tiny hit of dopamine until the next Day or two for that sweet, sweet efficiency.
Of course, a consequence of that is that there isn't much to talk about, since we're kinda repeating the same shuffle over and over.
With the slight variation of me opting to go for Denise's Goal first, of course. We've established how easy it is to do Nadine's talk with Ashley, so we might as well get this one as close to done as possible since Denise is needed to... well, do basically everything around here. The less Days she's stuck here, the better.
Oh right, and I think I lost a few seconds on the Treadmill in the short term because I forgot to send Winston back to his desk before Brooke made the swap. Ah well, he needed the break and this isn't a run-ender.
Now to squeeze in a few last-second Tasks for the Petty Cash Goal... which is a good time to demonstrate why exactly Ashley won't be doing much work, aside from the whole "Talk to everyone in this entire office" bit.
SO, UH. Ashley's Moodifiers for all Task Types have been increased from +2 to, uh...
checks notes
...+9. So combined with a Work Rate of 12 and a Task Size of 45, that's 33.75 Stress per Art Task. And 135 Stress per literally-anything-else due to those Work Rates being 3.
....................
So anyway that was Day 1 and Brooke has had a lovely time as you can probably tell.
Feels like a cleanup Day just looking at this, but of course, there's Goals beneath the surface to be ready for. And some very meticulous note-taking has us fully ready for them, I assure you.
Starting up... so let's get to work.
This may look close, but we'll be getting quite a few things out of the way pretty quickly, if you couldn't already tell.
There we go. No more of that massive Stress inefficiency.
So if you didn't catch on to what I meant when I said Ashley's talking would become a pattern, I hope you do now. That one's for Mahavir, if I remember correctly.
And here we have a relatively stable state of the office, for once. With the AC on, this can continue almost indefinitely, to the point where this was my initial strategy in most of my practice runs. Turned out that the other start was faster overall, or at least a lot cleaner in execution.
And that's the budget goal out of the way, so it's time to stock up real quick...
There we go. We'll not be using most of it until later, but it's good to get it beforehand.
There. Now, we'll need to get as much progress on Mahavir's talk with Ashley out of the way as we can, because...
...there's yet another one she wants. It's Winston this time.
She'll have nothing to say to Brooke, just to be clear. Guess she's just "the boss" to her.
Since Mahavir's not around to siphon away the Art Tasks, we'll need to get Winston on these, since Nadine and Brooke aren't gonna be able to do much for the rest of the day.
Oh, and funny thing here, Ashley doesn't mind talking to Mahavir this time. ...likely because she set the Goal herself, but hey, we may never know the reason whyuntil we see the wording on the next Day's Goal review and laugh our asses off
And Brooke's done as well. As usual, this is probably the easiest Goal to take care of since Brooke always needs a good run on the Treadmill.
Mahavir Goal with a timer and he's already getting the Water Cooler stuff over with, guess where he's going. Three guesses and the first two don't count.
Almost forgot about getting some progress on Winston's talk with Ashley. Failing to get this far enough along would've been killer for Day 3, so it's good that I remembered. ...should've been earlier, frankly, but ah well.
Thankfully, the AC's pretty great at keeping this place under control whenever Brooke doesn't need to be working.
And there we go. ...oh right, this is only Day 2, huh? How intriguing of a prospect on a 6-Day 3-Star Requirement.
Well, whaddaya know, Ashley's Water Cooler Goals total just under 100 Seconds now. And there's 140 Seconds in a day.
It begins...
Firstly, we'll need this Goal out of the way before the Day can begin in earnest; we haven't gotten the last Optional Goal, after all.
And with that done, you might notice I've already turned on the Radio and am dashing for the AC. Guess what tiiiiime it is~?
Winston's making some demands for his devices again, and we'll be dealing with that, Mahavir's naps, AND Ashley's talks all at the same time. Hooooo boy.
Why yes I would love to be ejected from this perfect run, why do you ask?
So anyways you know exactly what's gonna happen here and I love showing it almost every single time:
May this performance never get old.
Since Ashley's basically never going to go back to her desk today, we can keep the Cinnabuns right there for whenever Nadine's about to Burn Out from all of this going on.
And no I totally didn't almost just accidentally buy a Donut that would screw up my entire storage space while trying to time sending Mahavir to the Couch once Ashley's Goal is over with...
There we go. Now, this is the brutal part right here... we need to keep the AC and Radio on. We also need to have Mahavir work on his nap on the Couch. We ALSO need Winston to be talking with Ashley, so he can't contribute, and Brooke's a basketcase anyway. That leaves...
...our dollar-store version of a god unit.
Nadine, even under all this Stress, is still passable. "Passable" being the key word, as it's definitely preferable to have Winston doing all this, but hey, beggars can't be choosers when we forget to do more progress on Winston's Goal yesterday, but then again, we needed a lot of progress on Mahavir's Goal so he'd have enough time for his nap today, soooooo...
So yeah, this is going... kind of okay. We'll definitely need to keep shoving sugar, carbs, and caffeine down Nadine's throat to sustain this, but hopefully it'll be over soon.
Can't see this ending horribly or anything, nope
There, no more Radio, this immediately becomes SO much easier. God, she hates that thing.
And then everything fell into place like a neat little table full of intricately-placed dominoes,
The End
Oh my would you look at that, a 6-Day limit and that there sure does say Day 3, oh boy oh boy oh boy
Also, there's no Outro for this Episode. Ashley just kinda... leaves. Very suddenly. I'm guessing they realized they had a cast of 6 characters they needed to wrap up and Ashley probably had the least to work with among them. Unfortunate, since she's been amazing with Art Tasks, but now she's not even really capable of doing THAT, so...
So, uh, anyways.
Next time... we challenge the roadblock that stumped me as a child and forced me to learn some of the many things I've been employing all throughout this run-through of Season 5. See you then...
...oh, and school's finally goddamn over for the semester, so this shouldn't take like a month again just because the likelihood of five (5) term projects getting lined up at the same time is incredibly low over Winter Break. At least, it should be a pretty low chance.
Goal Writeup
Time Per Day: 140 Seconds
Task Types
...oh right, I forgot something, didn't I~
Intense expression of "...this isn't working."
Video:One last hurrah for "the ditzy debutante," as Winston once said.
I hope you weren't expecting anything besides Ashley fully intent on keeping her promise to rant about her trip on the Riviera to Denise and Nadine, because that's what you're getting. Prepare for this to be a pattern.
Brooke and Nadine will be switching back and forth on the Treadmill, and as you'd expect, Brooke's gonna be an utter wreck about someone else using it and others being at the Water Cooler. That's just part of the challenge today, see?
Starting positions, with our desks back to normal.
This was the start I did for most of my attempts, though we'll be deviating from this pretty soon since, uh... this start doesn't get you to the end quite as reliably, as I'd already discovered by this attempt
Here's the actual start. You might notice that Brooke's reached her Stress State Threshold already. We-e-e-ll...
So uh, yeah, this right here is the biggest obstacle challenging our efficiency in this Episode: a total Moodifier of +6, totalled from the Idle Bonus of -1, the Water Cooler's +2, and Nadine's meaty +5 Moodifier against Brooke while she's using the Treadmill. The upside of this is that Nadine actually has a Relaxation Point at a -3 Moodifier, but it's overall Stress inefficient, especially when compared to using the AC. The Stress reduction is just a consolation prize for dealing with Brooke here. Think we're prepared for all that? I'd hope so, or you haven't been paying too much heed to what we've worked through already.
This is basically going to be the rest of the day, juggling work, Ashley's talks, and the two Treadmill users. ...that really makes it sound so much simpler than it is, huh.
Since Ashley's gonna be occupied for the entire Day, Mahavir and Winston will have to do everything. ...by which I mean Mahavir will be doing the Art Tasks while Winston does literally everything else, during which the AC will hopefully keep his mind from snapping like a twig. It also helps Nadine here, so that's nice.
Whenever Brooke finishes calming down, that's our cue to send Nadine right back to the Treadmill and start the process over again. Just be sure to turn off the AC whenever the swap happens; there's enough for Brooke to be stressed about without it humming away.
So yeah, this'll be another Day of no completed Goals, but setting up a lot of them to be done soon. It's kinda surprising how efficient this can be, but you just have to sacrifice that tiny hit of dopamine until the next Day or two for that sweet, sweet efficiency.
Of course, a consequence of that is that there isn't much to talk about, since we're kinda repeating the same shuffle over and over.
With the slight variation of me opting to go for Denise's Goal first, of course. We've established how easy it is to do Nadine's talk with Ashley, so we might as well get this one as close to done as possible since Denise is needed to... well, do basically everything around here. The less Days she's stuck here, the better.
Oh right, and I think I lost a few seconds on the Treadmill in the short term because I forgot to send Winston back to his desk before Brooke made the swap. Ah well, he needed the break and this isn't a run-ender.
Now to squeeze in a few last-second Tasks for the Petty Cash Goal... which is a good time to demonstrate why exactly Ashley won't be doing much work, aside from the whole "Talk to everyone in this entire office" bit.
SO, UH. Ashley's Moodifiers for all Task Types have been increased from +2 to, uh...
...+9. So combined with a Work Rate of 12 and a Task Size of 45, that's 33.75 Stress per Art Task. And 135 Stress per literally-anything-else due to those Work Rates being 3.
....................
So anyway that was Day 1 and Brooke has had a lovely time as you can probably tell.
Feels like a cleanup Day just looking at this, but of course, there's Goals beneath the surface to be ready for. And some very meticulous note-taking has us fully ready for them, I assure you.
Starting up... so let's get to work.
This may look close, but we'll be getting quite a few things out of the way pretty quickly, if you couldn't already tell.
There we go. No more of that massive Stress inefficiency.
So if you didn't catch on to what I meant when I said Ashley's talking would become a pattern, I hope you do now. That one's for Mahavir, if I remember correctly.
And here we have a relatively stable state of the office, for once. With the AC on, this can continue almost indefinitely, to the point where this was my initial strategy in most of my practice runs. Turned out that the other start was faster overall, or at least a lot cleaner in execution.
And that's the budget goal out of the way, so it's time to stock up real quick...
There we go. We'll not be using most of it until later, but it's good to get it beforehand.
There. Now, we'll need to get as much progress on Mahavir's talk with Ashley out of the way as we can, because...
...there's yet another one she wants. It's Winston this time.
She'll have nothing to say to Brooke, just to be clear. Guess she's just "the boss" to her.
Since Mahavir's not around to siphon away the Art Tasks, we'll need to get Winston on these, since Nadine and Brooke aren't gonna be able to do much for the rest of the day.
Oh, and funny thing here, Ashley doesn't mind talking to Mahavir this time. ...likely because she set the Goal herself, but hey, we may never know the reason why
And Brooke's done as well. As usual, this is probably the easiest Goal to take care of since Brooke always needs a good run on the Treadmill.
Mahavir Goal with a timer and he's already getting the Water Cooler stuff over with, guess where he's going. Three guesses and the first two don't count.
Almost forgot about getting some progress on Winston's talk with Ashley. Failing to get this far enough along would've been killer for Day 3, so it's good that I remembered. ...should've been earlier, frankly, but ah well.
Thankfully, the AC's pretty great at keeping this place under control whenever Brooke doesn't need to be working.
And there we go. ...oh right, this is only Day 2, huh? How intriguing of a prospect on a 6-Day 3-Star Requirement.
Well, whaddaya know, Ashley's Water Cooler Goals total just under 100 Seconds now. And there's 140 Seconds in a day.
It begins...
Firstly, we'll need this Goal out of the way before the Day can begin in earnest; we haven't gotten the last Optional Goal, after all.
And with that done, you might notice I've already turned on the Radio and am dashing for the AC. Guess what tiiiiime it is~?
Winston's making some demands for his devices again, and we'll be dealing with that, Mahavir's naps, AND Ashley's talks all at the same time. Hooooo boy.
Why yes I would love to be ejected from this perfect run, why do you ask?
So anyways you know exactly what's gonna happen here and I love showing it almost every single time:
May this performance never get old.
Since Ashley's basically never going to go back to her desk today, we can keep the Cinnabuns right there for whenever Nadine's about to Burn Out from all of this going on.
And no I totally didn't almost just accidentally buy a Donut that would screw up my entire storage space while trying to time sending Mahavir to the Couch once Ashley's Goal is over with...
There we go. Now, this is the brutal part right here... we need to keep the AC and Radio on. We also need to have Mahavir work on his nap on the Couch. We ALSO need Winston to be talking with Ashley, so he can't contribute, and Brooke's a basketcase anyway. That leaves...
...our dollar-store version of a god unit.
Nadine, even under all this Stress, is still passable. "Passable" being the key word, as it's definitely preferable to have Winston doing all this, but hey, beggars can't be choosers when we forget to do more progress on Winston's Goal yesterday, but then again, we needed a lot of progress on Mahavir's Goal so he'd have enough time for his nap today, soooooo...
So yeah, this is going... kind of okay. We'll definitely need to keep shoving sugar, carbs, and caffeine down Nadine's throat to sustain this, but hopefully it'll be over soon.
Can't see this ending horribly or anything, nope
There, no more Radio, this immediately becomes SO much easier. God, she hates that thing.
And then everything fell into place like a neat little table full of intricately-placed dominoes,
The End
Oh my would you look at that, a 6-Day limit and that there sure does say Day 3, oh boy oh boy oh boy
Also, there's no Outro for this Episode. Ashley just kinda... leaves. Very suddenly. I'm guessing they realized they had a cast of 6 characters they needed to wrap up and Ashley probably had the least to work with among them. Unfortunate, since she's been amazing with Art Tasks, but now she's not even really capable of doing THAT, so...
So, uh, anyways.
Next time... we challenge the roadblock that stumped me as a child and forced me to learn some of the many things I've been employing all throughout this run-through of Season 5. See you then...
...oh, and school's finally goddamn over for the semester, so this shouldn't take like a month again just because the likelihood of five (5) term projects getting lined up at the same time is incredibly low over Winter Break. At least, it should be a pretty low chance.
Goal Writeup
Time Per Day: 140 Seconds
Task Types
- Art Tasks: 40%
- Financial Tasks: 20%
- Technical Tasks: 20%
- Writing Tasks: 20%
- 1-Task Burst, Applies Delay of 10-13 Seconds: 50%
- 3-Task Burst, Applies Delay of 8-11 Seconds: 50%
- 4-Bar Tasks: 100%
- "Earn $100 to meet budget goals. ($100 Current Petty Cash)"
"Talk to Nadine at the water cooler about fashionable shoe stores in Monaco. (70 Seconds)" Unlocks Optional Goal #1
"Describe to Denise at the water cooler how big a four carat stone really is. (70 Seconds) Unlocks Optional Goal #3
"Find the secret of Brooke's success by exercising at the treadmill. (90 Seconds)" Unlocks Optional Goal #2
"Complete high-impact cardio routine on the treadmill. (120 Seconds)" Unlocks Optional Goal #4
- "Tell Winston at the water cooler how much better rich guys are. (80 Seconds)"
"Take pity on Mahavir and chat with him at the water cooler. (80 Seconds)"
"Keep the AC and radio on for a while during one day, without anyone stressing out. (90 Seconds, One Day Rush, No Burnout)
"Take a long nap on the couch, within a single day. (80 Seconds, One Day Rush)"
...oh right, I forgot something, didn't I~
Intense expression of "...this isn't working."
Last edited by LPFinale on Sun Jan 10, 2021 2:05 am, edited 1 time in total.
I made a giant cinnabun over the weekend and thought of this LP. Glad to see you back, happy holidays!