9/15/2015
Blades of Azeyma- Periodic Wall of Text #1(?)
"Because I feel like I wanna say a lot of stuff and so now you have to read it."

So just a current observation of where everything is at, and kind of an update of where we stand and where we want to go from here.
We are running into some problems, which have gone from small possible issues, to big problems we're dealing with /now/.

Company Credits
We are quickly running dry on our free company credits, currently standing at 34k (soon to be almost 0, see why below) as of writing this, dropping down from 250k~ as of only a few months ago. This is primary attributed to the drop in play time across the board from members. Currently we have only 30 members, only 15-20 of which are actually active. This is a big issue if we wish to continue providing services to the Free Company at full capacity.

As such, I'm asking one of two things of all of you:
-Until we get back to 60k-100k, we need to, unfortunately, stop the purchases of /all/ company actions. Until then, all points are going to be dedicated to help leveling up our airships, which will allow us to build a better aetheryte wheel along with everything we need to generate /free/ actions.
-RECRUIT. Getting new, fresh faces if of high urgency. We need to have more members who are playing the game to generate the numbers we need. More members means more people whom are able to reap the rewards our FC can contribute to said members. It's a win/win situation. We will take any members who are 18+, at least semi-active, and are good people. We're happy to take on new players, friends, family, ect ect. We need to keep a constant, good pace for bringing new members in.

Stabled Chocobos
One of our most popular services within the FC has been leveling chocobos within the stable via Krakka Roots from the garden. Howeve, even with three gardens consistently churning out krakka roots (thank's to Jaiba's massive donation of soil and seed) we have a tough time producing enough Krakka to satisfy the high demand of hungry mouths.
I feel it's worth mentioning a few small facts about feeding in the stable. The effectiveness of chocobo feeding, exponentially rises as your chocobo levels up. As a quick example, one Krakka root fed to a level 5 Chocobo gives it a mere 4400 exp, while feeding a level 17 Chocobo gives it 17700 exp. In addition, any chocobo below level 10 requires exactly 100 Krakka roots to level once, which costs the FC about 125,000~ gil per full chocobo level (more if you're chocobo is level 10 or above). It doesn't matter if this chocobo is going from level 9 to 10, or from level 1 to 2.
This statistic isn't intended to dissuade members with low level chocobos from using the stables; chocobos even at lower levels are very hard to level with grinding alone. I only mention this to bring to light to cost of this service.
I hope that we won't ever be pushed to placing a level cap for feeding chocobos, but I would ask the every member to try and please make sure to, at the very least, pull their chocobo from the stables to at least get the bosom buddies 1 & 2 challenges every week. Doing this can save the FC tons of money, and gives your chocobo lots of extra experience!

Airships
In 30~ hours, we should be able to have a second airship to use. I've taken it upon myself to personally build this airship myself, but it will cost our FC 30k~ in credits, which will run us dry. At some point in the future, we'll be able to have four airships consistently making runs, providing us with rare mats and other needed components. Please look forward to it.

Gardening
Gardening is in a strange place currently. Previously, we had a complicated (http://i.imgur.com/tRON2uA.png), but well oiled machine where we were producing thavnarian onions to help fund the FC. However, thanks to 3.0, Thav Onions now sell for ~10% of what they were selling for in 2.57. As far as we can tell, nothing, besides Krakka roots, is worth producing in the gardening thanks to this, among other changes coming from 3.0. We highly suspect that at some point, SE will catch on, and create additional seeds and cross breeds for gardening at some point, we're just not sure /when/. For this reason, we're simply holding onto our seeds and wait for whatever the future will throw our way.

To the officers
It's been kind of a lazy period, but it's time now to perhaps focus a little less on personal ambitions and instead work harder for the FC. Please keep in mind, that while I am trying my best to catch up on crafting and gathering, I am only one person, and crafting in 3.0 is more difficult than it was in 2.0. One person can no longer craft everything in the game by themselves. Gathering materials is much more time consuming than it use to be.
Being an officer is a burden before it is a privilege. By being an officer, you work for the FC and it's members before you work for yourself. Yes, it does have a few benefits, but the work that's needed far outweighs such benefits. The Free Company depends on you, and it is the responsibility you have taken that keep us afloat.

Please reply to this thread if you have any questions or concerns. As always, you can contact me or the officers directly through the game, or you can add me on steam if you need to contact me for a more urgent matter. http://steamcommunity.com/id/Lohpopo/
-Loh