Max DeGroot on Sep 3, 2017 wrote:

I have several pirates at level 70, and I am sending the crew out Plunderin', Scavangin', and Pet Wranglin' to get items I can put in my shared bank for lower level pirates to sell to buy training tomes.

I find, whenever I go back and collect par of their booty, when I go to send them out again, the very first companion I send out has a certain set of times for each. I select the one that takes the least time, then go to the next companion...

...only to find at least one of the time remaining of the ones that were NOT chosen have changed to a slightly lower value. For example, If I send my first companion out Plunderin', the second one now has a lower time for Pet Wranglin'. And vice versa. If I send the first one Pet Wranglin', Plunderin' gets a lower value.

This happens only with the first companion I send out the New Orders. All the others don't change.

What's up with that?

Each task has different times, it are also different times per the companion's level.
For example: the first order for Scavengin' will always start at 12 hrs. with extra time per companion set to the task, this is regardless of level.
However, Plunderin', Sailin' & Wranglin' times are set to the level of the companion and how many are set to a certain task.
Keel Haulin' always takes 24 hrs. + per companion set to the task, unless said companion/s have rank/s in Officer.

Max DeGroot on Sep 6, 2017 wrote:

That's not what I'm talking about. Here is what I see:

All of my companions are level 70. I bring up any one of them and I see the following:

Keel Haulin'/Brawlin' is locked (because all companions are at their highest level, and I am holding 10 training tomes)

Plunderin' shows a time of 1D 8H (1 day 8 hours) to complete if I choose to send the companion out to do that.

Sailin' is locked (already at level 70).

Scavengin' shows a time of 1D 7H to complete if I choose to send the companion out to do that.

Pet Wranglin' shows a time of 1D 9H to complete if I choose to send the companion out to do that.

I choose the lowest time, Scavengin', and that companion then shows they will be busy for the next 1 day and 7 hours.

I pull up the next companion. Keel Haulin'/Brawlin' and Sailin' are still locked. Savengin' now shows a time of 1D 12H as expected, since I send a companion out to do that. Pet Wranglin' still shows a time of 1D 9H.

But Plunderin', instead of showing 1D 8H like it did before, now shows 1D 7H. An hour less than it did just seconds ago.

Why did the time for it go DOWN when no companion has completed a Plunderin' mission in the meantime?

I think you have a serious glitch with your companion orders. Perhaps you should report this in the Bilge Pump or contact support.

Max DeGroot on Sep 6, 2017 wrote:

That's not what I'm talking about. Here is what I see:

All of my companions are level 70. I bring up any one of them and I see the following:

Keel Haulin'/Brawlin' is locked (because all companions are at their highest level, and I am holding 10 training tomes)

Plunderin' shows a time of 1D 8H (1 day 8 hours) to complete if I choose to send the companion out to do that.

Sailin' is locked (already at level 70).

Scavengin' shows a time of 1D 7H to complete if I choose to send the companion out to do that.

Pet Wranglin' shows a time of 1D 9H to complete if I choose to send the companion out to do that.

I choose the lowest time, Scavengin', and that companion then shows they will be busy for the next 1 day and 7 hours.

I pull up the next companion. Keel Haulin'/Brawlin' and Sailin' are still locked. Savengin' now shows a time of 1D 12H as expected, since I send a companion out to do that. Pet Wranglin' still shows a time of 1D 9H.

But Plunderin', instead of showing 1D 8H like it did before, now shows 1D 7H. An hour less than it did just seconds ago.

Why did the time for it go DOWN when no companion has completed a Plunderin' mission in the meantime?

Hey there Max. I'm not positive about this, but I believe that the tasks' programming is smarter than we think & calculations occur in a way that make sure we don't put all our companions in one pet nest.

When Boochy gives us that tip about making sure we diversify our companion orders, I think it hints at the algorithms being a bit more intelligent than it appears. Besides the obvious, "the more companions we put on one task -- the longer it takes to complete each subsequent same-type task", I believe the programming also takes into account what would be the most efficient task to perform & adjusts the times (as a whole) depending on how many companions are allocated to each task (& based upon the importance/rewards for each task).

When we overload a certain task, in addition to raising that task's time, the system may also decrease the time needed to complete the least used task. Kind of like there is an overall percentage/ratio of efficiency spread out across all of the tasks. Maybe they start out even (based upon their pre-determined, weighted importance/appeal/rewards). At a certain point if we shift that weight too much to 1 or 2 types of tasks...the programming compensates by lowering the time needed to complete our least-assigned companion task (based upon that "ratio of importance"). So it is telling us that "sure you can keep adding to those other more preferred tasks, but it may be more efficient to first add to the least-preferred tasks to help level the timers back out." By efficiently diversifying the orders...those other preferred-task timers may then come down too -- because we will have shifted that percentage/ratio around again.

Wow....I don't know if that made much (or any) sense, but I hope you get the gist of what once sounded coherent in my head.

Perhaps RB could put down the cheddar & chives to share some insight as to how the calculations work for companion orders. It would actually be pretty fascinating to hear it from the Admiral himself.