Olympia PBEM

12.4: Diminishing returns from study

Study is a mentally taxing activity. The more a character studies during a month, the less advancement each attempt will yield.

The first seven days of study each month are fully effective. The second week yields 4/7th the normal advancement, the third yields 2/7th, and the fourth, 1/7th.

days spent
studying        yield
----------      -----
   1-7          full
   8-14         4/7th
  15-21         2/7th
   22+          1/7th

For example, a character could learn a skill requiring two weeks of study by either issuing four study order for one month, or two study orders for two separate months.

Another way to view diminishing study results is that a character who studies four weeks per month will progress twice as fast one studying one week per month.

This limit exists on the act of studying, and is not related to the study of a particular skill. For example, a character who studied Shipbuilding the first week, and Combat the second, would have 7/7th effectiveness for learning Shipbuilding, but 4/7th for learning Combat.

Intervening tasks during the month do not affect the tally of study time. One could study the first week, engage in other tasks the second and third, and study again on the fourth week. The study command issued on the fourth week would yield 4/7th.

Study results are kept track of daily. For instance, if a character studies a skill for three days, and then is interrupted, the three days of study are not lost. If the skill requires a week to learn, four more days of study are needed.

A study command which continues into the next month will revert to the fully effective rate of return. For instance, suppose a character spent all month studying skills. The last study command doesn't finish at the end of the turn:

unit 5499  # Osswid
   # > study 161 (executing for three more days)

Although this study command was yielding 1/7th per day at the end of this turn, the remaining three days will yield 7/7th. The total advancement from this command would therefore be 3 4/7 days of study credit.

Partially known skills:
   Weather magic [161], 3.57/21