Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-75.100.64.94-20190326150138/@comment-75.100.64.94-20190329215007

Jp356 wrote: Howard,

Seeker's Star is the only luck talisman that will drop the quest CI (when necessary conditions are met). The "specificity" of SS cannot be explained by the description.

Jp,

This is incorrect.

Following a successful room exploration, each class of reward item (CIs, fixers, passes, reagents, etc.) gets its own “dice roll” to determine if, and how many, will drop. This is followed by an identity roll to pick which member of the class drops.

Quest items (identified with “!”) are their own class of reward item and get their own “dice roll” for selection. Typically there is only one member of this class at a site so the identity roll is moot. Since Quest items are CIs they share the same base drop rate (10%) and their chance is affected by the same luck talisman as other CIs. However, their selection roll is in addition to the one made for other CIs.

So, with NO luck talisman running, there is a 10% chance for the quest item to drop and another 10% chance for a different CI to drop.

Now, let’s say the Eagle Eye is running. EE increases the chance for both “dice rolls” to 60%. There are four possible outcomes: the Quest CI only, another CI only, both the Quest CI and another CI, or nothing. These outcomes should be expected 24% of time, 24% of time, 36% of time, and 16% of the time, respectively.

The Seekers Star increases the base chance by 90%, giving 100%. Therefore SS should always drop the Quest item and an additional CI. There is no “specificity” in play. Any luck talisman increases the chance of the Quest item dropping, but only SS assures it. When there is only one Quest item at a location its identity is certain.

Although it is unusual, there are times (especially at early levels of play) when more than one Quest item (!) can appear at a location. In this case, the identity roll will determine which one drops.

I appreciate you bringing this case to my attention.

Thank you for reading.

Howard