Test of the Covered Cartouche

Opening Message

The Test of the Covered Cartouche takes place at specific times, announced at Universities of Leadership.

You will be placed in a group with eleven others, and tasked with building a Ceremonial Voting Booth. From there, a series of rounds are played. The nature of each round depends on whether an odd or even number of participants remain in the group.

When the group has an even number of participants, an individual project is assigned. The player who builds the smallest is eliminated.

When the group has an odd number of participants, elimination is by voting.

Overview

The Test of the Covered Cartouche is a test played out in periodic rounds. Every so often, there will be a sign-up period of 24 hours at a specific University of Leadership (not just any university...it will be in a specific region). At the end of the period, groups of twelve will be randomly formed out of everybody who has signed up. If there are any leftovers, they will not be placed in a group. In previous tales, the university reported how many people had signed up for the round, and an effort was made to make the total people signed up a multiple of twelve, including people who didn't care to advance so that others who wanted to would have a chance. This has been confirmed to be the case in Tale 4.

The groups then compete in a series of rounds alternating between building and voting, with each eliminating one person. As such, the test resembles reality television shows like Survivor, both in the rules and social aspects. Therefore, it is worth noting that this test IS competitive, and can cause a lot of arguments, even between friends. Numerous people have quit the game over this test in past tales. You have been warned.

Building Round

Every odd-numbered round is a building round. In these rounds, everybody is assigned a project to build. These projects are relatively cheap to start with, and are then upgradeable in size. These are similar to obelisks in that costs for bigger sizes increase exponentially, but different from the obelisks in that you first build it, then upgrade it. The buildings start at size 1. You can only build one project per round, and once built, it cannot be disassembled until after the round is over.

The goal of the building round is to avoid building the smallest building, because at the end of the round, the person who built the smallest is eliminated. In the case of a tie, a person from the tie is randomly selected. If nobody builds, the entire group is eliminated and everyone loses. So if you want the elimination to go to a tiebreaker for whatever reason, always be sure to build size 1.

The name of the test comes from this round - a cartouche is a frame that encloses a name. During the building rounds, you are unable to see who built the given building of the round. Hence, a "covered cartouche." If a person built their building in or around their camp, it may still be easy to tell that they're the owner of the said building, of course. So if you want to keep your building size quiet, then it may not be a bad idea to build somewhere remote that doesn't give any clues as to who built it.

Potential buildings and costs are currently unknown, but the Tale 2/ Tale 3 test page has all the building costs discovered then, and costs may be the same (or at least similar).

Note you can enhance the building to a greater size during the voting round that follows even if you have been eliminated.

All Tale 4 Confirmed Cartouche Buildings are listed here.

Voting Round

NOTE: All data here is based on T3 Wiki, Subject to Possible Change

After every building round comes a voting round. In this round, everybody still in the round gets to vote on a person to eliminate. The person who receives the most votes is eliminated. Again, in the case of a tie, a random person among the tie is selected to be eliminated. And like last round, if nobody votes, the entire group is eliminated. So in this round, if you want a tiebreaker elimination, have everybody vote for one other person, such that everybody has one vote.

Advancement

The test is divided into two ranks. Advancing in the first rank gives you the opportunity to compete in the second rank, and placing in the top 3 in the second rank passes the test.

The last remaining player in the round is awarded 4 certificates. The second to last is awarded 2, and the third to last gets 1. If awarded from a rank 1 group, these certificates allow a player to sign up for a rank 2 round. A certificate is consumed to sign up for the round, but if you fail to get in a group because there isn't a multiple of 12 people signed up, the certificate will be refunded.

If the certificate is from a rank 2 group, read the certificate to pass the test.

Groups

These are from T4 and are to give a layout idea

• 14 April 2010 - Calaeno
  • Group 1 (Etma, Avanya, Robare, biggeek, Tashienna, Kitten, Sunstrider, Ramases, Jericho, LuluDivine, McArine, Sabahl)
  • Group 2 (tefnut, Skyfeather, Stevehotep, Cassi, Subira, lilinou, Casino, Ninfa, Akilla, RoyCallahan, talos, Lill)
  • Group 3 ()
  • Group 4 ()
  • Group 5 ()