Methodology -- Data Tables -- Conclusions

Methodology:
For this experiment, I rolled up 3 fresh characters. I tested these subjects by having them focus self before and after removal of skills.

All three test subjects were males, and all of the same age. If anyone else wants to use use this data as a baseline and run the experiments again with fluxuations in age and gender, they may feel free to do so.

A fourth test subject was added later, to measure the effects at higher levels of Humanities.

*Note*
Success = You attempt to focus within yourself and find peace. You get distracted a bit, but slowly immerse yourself into a deep state of relaxation and realization.
Fail = You attempt to focus within yourself and find peace. You feel yourself slipping away for a moment, but get distracted.
C. Fail (Complete Failure) = You attempt to focus within yourself and find peace, but only find failure.



Data Tables:

Subject A is a 25 year-old male of average height, average build, and average fitness.
He started at 35 ESP, 35 Occult, and 35 Humanities.
The test began with 10 attempts to self focus. Then he removed all ESP skills and reset Humanities to 35, followed by another round of 10 self focus attempts. Finally, all Occult was removed, Humanities reset to 35, and 10 final self focus attempts were made.

I insisted on the removal of all learned Humanities skills to validate the test by removing that additional knowledge as a factor, maintaining it as a control.

Data from Subject A
Attempt
Number
1st Series
(all Skills)
2nd Series
(- ESP)
3rd Series
(-ESP & Occ)
1 Fail Fail Fail
2 Fail Fail Fail
3 C. Fail Fail Fail
4 Fail Fail Fail
5 C. Fail Fail Success
6 C. Fail C. Fail Fail
7 Fail Success Success
8 C. Fail C. Fail Fail
9 C. Fail Fail Fail
10 C. Fail Fail Success



Subject B is a 25 year-old male of average height, average build, and average fitness.
He started at 35 ESP, 35 Occult, and 35 Humanities.
The test began with 10 attempts to self focus. Then he removed all Occult skills and reset Humanities to 35, followed by another round of 10 self focus attempts. Finally, all ESP was removed, Humanities reset to 35, and 10 final self focus attempts were made.

I insisted on the removal of all learned Humanities skills to validate the test by removing that additional knowledge as a factor, maintaining it as a control.

Data from Subject B
Attempt
Number
1st Series
(all Skills)
2nd Series
(- Occ)
3rd Series
(-ESP & Occ)
1 Fail C. Fail Fail
2 Fail Fail Fail
3 C. Fail Fail Fail
4 Fail Fail Fail
5 Fail Fail Success
6 Fail Fail Fail
7 Fail Fail Fail
8 C. Fail Fail Fail
9 C. Fail Fail Success
10 Fail C. Fail Fail



Subject C is a 25 year-old male of average height, average build, and average fitness.
He started at 35 ESP, 35 Occult, and 35 Humanities.
Subject C served as the control subject.
The test began with 10 attempts to self focus. Then he learned enough to reset Humanities to 35, followed by another round of 10 self focus attempts. Finally, Humanities was reset to 35 again, and 10 final self focus attempts were made.

I insisted on the removal of all learned Humanities skills to validate the test by removing that additional knowledge as a factor, maintaining it as a control.

Data from Subject C
Attempt
Number
1st Series
(all Skills)
2nd Series
(all Skills)
3rd Series
(all Skills)
1 Fail Fail C. Fail
2 Fail Fail C. Fail
3 Fail Fail Fail
4 Fail Fail C. Fail
5 Fail Fail C. Fail
6 C. Fail Fail C. Fail
7 Fail C. Fail Fail
8 Fail Fail Fail
9 C. Fail C. Fail Fail
10 Fail Fail Fail



Subject D is a female, and I know better than to ask ages.
She began at 500 Humanities, 0 ESP, and 0 Occult.
Her test was much different, as she would learn Occult, then check to see if it had an effect on RT reduction from focus self.

I didn't have her forget any Humanities, since she was maxed out it was a constant already.

Data from Subject D
Occult Level RT Reduction experienced
0 2/3 reduction
10 2/3 reduction
20 2/3 reduction
30 2/3 reduction
40 2/3 reduction
50 2/3 reduction
54 some effect
56 1/2 reduction



Subject M.
Myself.
After analyzing the data collected on Subjects A, B, C, and D, I decided to take the drastic step of hacking at my own skills. I have always been somewhere in the middle between paras and non-paras, but I have decided that I want to be able to gain greater amounts of focusing than I am concerned with hunting paraperps.

I decided to step down the elimination gradualy, to see if I could keep some ability to focus (weapon) while raising my RT reduction abilities.

I'm forced to admit that I've been a bit lax regarding mental training, my humanities is only intermediate, and my ESP is basic at around 100 (that one I deliberately kept lower, really only use telepathy and infravision, with just the occasional blast for fun). To make numbers easier, I did all my testing in the Van Gogh studio, painting watercolors.

Data from Subject M
Occult Level RT Reduction
57 5-6 seconds
56 5-6 seconds
54 5-6 seconds
50 5-6 seconds



Conclusions:

Knowledge of the Occult appears to have a definate negative effect on Humanities skills.

ESP ability is the far more dammaging of the two, as evidenced by the ability of the Subject A to begin successfully focusing with Occult and no ESP, but for Subject B to fail with no Occult and some ESP.

The most telling evidence was Subject D, who exhibited a dramatic loss of focusing effectiveness with 500 Humanities and 0 ESP.

Unfortunately, when I applied these results to myself I did not gain any extra measure of time, but I believe this was largely to do with my neglected Humanities and high (for someone who wants to focus) ESP Ability.