Zinc Compounding

[Elsecaller_17.5]

So zinc stores speed of thought. Compounding would then provide virtually infinite speed of thought. We see Wax tap massive amounts of zinc during the end of the bands of mourning. If you could compound you could get even more so do you think that could be the 2nd era equivalent of atium burning?

[Aluminum]

I guess if you were smart enough. It would take a certain amount of skill to predict where objects would move and it really wouldn't work well on creatures. It would be very good though. Probably third most powerful compounding after gold and steel.

[Quantus]

It would certainly be a powerful combination and offer a lot of combat advantage, but Id say it wouldnt get you all teh way to Atium.  Atium allows actual precognition via a fortune effect that is tapping the Spiritual Realm, so at the end of the day it would always be limited by the quality and accuracy of the compounder's data input.  It wouldnt be able to predict things that the compounder cannot sense coming (with ordinary senses absent spikes, medallions, or being Full-born).  Atium also gives you an expanded mind sufficient to process all that data real-time which Im not sure Mental Speed alone is actually mimicking?

 

1 minute ago, Aluminum said:

I guess if you were smart enough. It would take a certain amount of skill to predict where objects would move and it really wouldn't work well on creatures. It would be very good though. Probably third most powerful compounding after gold and steel.

Dont forget Atium's own Immortality Compounding 

[Weltall]

Wax pretty much is getting the effect of compounding given how much he's tapping there. While you might be able to do more with it through actively compounding and using that sudden burst of power, it's also possible doing that would be actively dangerous to the user. There are limits to the ability of the magic to protect you from its own effects. Speed bubbles don't exhibit redshift for this reason (ie Brandon made it that way so Wayne doesn't fry everyone whenever he puts up a bubble) but we know this isn't an absolute protection. A Steelrunner will eventually outstrip the built-in protective effect and burn themselves up due to air resistance if they go too fast for example. I think if you tried to tap F-Zinc too heavily you'd eventually overload your mind and Bad Things would happen.

Oh, and since I forgot to do so in your other topic, welcome to the Shard!

[Karger]

8 minutes ago, Weltall said:

I think if you tried to tap F-Zinc too heavily you'd eventually overload your mind and Bad Things would happen.

 

1 hour ago, Truthwatcher_17.5 said:

So zinc stores speed of thought. Compounding would then provide virtually infinite speed of thought. We see Wax tap massive amounts of zinc during the end of the bands of mourning. If you could compound you could get even more so do you think that could be the 2nd era equivalent of atium burning?

Their are some downsides to using to much thought.  As Truthwatcher said strange things do happen to your mind also I believe you start needing a lot more food and get a bunch of health issues.   That being said.  You could use it like atium in some scenarios(hand to hand combat or even shoot outs that happen where everyone is visible) but I doubt it will be much help against snipers, on a large battlefield, or against someone else using atium or electrum. 

[Wandering Investor]

Zinc compounding does give some extra mental strength boost in addition to the speed. So you could use it to make some pretty good predictions. That said, its not on par with atium, and is only limited to things you're aware of.

[Aluminum]

2 hours ago, Quantus said:

Dont forget Atium's own Immortality Compounding 

Meh, Immortality is overrated

[Karger]

1 hour ago, Aluminum said:

Meh, Immortality is overrated

It could be useful.  I kind of want Brandon to have it at least for a few decades.

[+Oltux72]

10 hours ago, Truthwatcher_17.5 said:

So zinc stores speed of thought. Compounding would then provide virtually infinite speed of thought. We see Wax tap massive amounts of zinc during the end of the bands of mourning. If you could compound you could get even more so do you think that could be the 2nd era equivalent of atium burning?

You would be marginally faster in reaching the conclusion that you don't know enough to make a good prediction.

[Karger]

6 hours ago, Oltux72 said:

You would be marginally faster in reaching the conclusion that you don't know enough to make a good prediction.

I would not want to fight a zinc compounder hand to hand.  I would loose extremely quickly

[Aluminum]

13 hours ago, Karger said:

It could be useful.  I kind of want Brandon to have it at least for a few decades.

True, true. Though it would be ironic if he died before finishing the cosmere. Considering what he did with the wheel of time

[Pathfinder]

Alteroden

With [Feruchemical] zinc, you get mental speed. How is that any different from [Feruchemical] steel, except without [physical] speed?

Brandon Sanderson

I think of the mental speed actually turning you into... Let's say you sped up your body, and you wanted to figure out some really complex equations.

Alteroden

So it lets you have intuitive leaps.

Brandon Sanderson

Right. It basically turns you into Ken Jennings. That's how I imagine it.

Kurkistan

So it's not like bullet time?

Brandon Sanderson

No... It'll bullet time a little bit, it certainly will, because you're thinking faster than everyone else, but it has applications beyond bullet timing. Bullet time is really--

Kurkistan

That’s steel’s thing?

Brandon Sanderson

That’s kind of steel's thing. They kind of overlap on that one, because the steel thing... But yeah. It's more like "I think fast, but my reaction speed is not sped up".

[+Oltux72]

2 hours ago, Karger said:

I would not want to fight a zinc compounder hand to hand.  I would loose extremely quickly

Exactly. Therefore nobody would do that willingly. You'd lie in ambush and use a ranged weapon. If your are clever, you will use a less than obvious place. Atium or electrum would help against that. Zinc won't.

[Karger]

1 hour ago, Oltux72 said:

Exactly. Therefore nobody would do that willingly. You'd lie in ambush and use a ranged weapon. If your are clever, you will use a less than obvious place. Atium or electrum would help against that. Zinc won't.

Zinc would also help against ambushes.  You could spot the best sniper positions and cover from them.  It also has applications for tactics and strategy that atium does not(a seer would make a terrible commander but a zinc compounder would be extremely good).

[Weltall]

One thing to add about zinc is that since it only works with what you already have, if you're not at least reasonably trained in fighting and you're going up against someone who is well-trained, being able to think through all the tactical possibilities in the blink of an eye might just help you come to the conclusion that running would be a really bright idea, before you get caught in a situation where it stops being an option. If you've read Steelheart, the way that the characters dealt with a prescient enemy is a good illustration of the trap that a zinc user could be forced into even with the ability to think so much faster than normal, if they don't also have some fighting ability to back it up.

Or if you want an almost literal example from film, Holmes versus Moriarty in Game of Shadows. Each has the F-Zinc-esque ability to think through all the possible outcomes of a fight. Both of them run through the fight in their head and conclude that Moriarty will win because Sherlock is too injured from previous events and will eventually leave an opening to be exploited. True, anyone familiar with the original stories knows Holmes will take another option, but it was a situation where he had no way of winning in a straight fight despite his mental agility because the physical differences were too great.

But yeah, zinc compounding would be great for a battlefield commnder or a tactician.

[Karger]

26 minutes ago, Weltall said:

Or if you want an almost literal example from film, Holmes versus Moriarty in Game of Shadows. Each has the F-Zinc-esque ability to think through all the possible outcomes of a fight. Both of them run through the fight in their head and conclude that Moriarty will win because Sherlock is too injured from previous events and will eventually leave an opening to be exploited. True, anyone familiar with the original stories knows Holmes will take another option, but it was a situation where he had no way of winning in a straight fight despite his mental agility because the physical differences were too great.

This is a problem but it does rely on finding a way to disable, damage, ambush or weaken an opponent who is many times smarter then you.  Also even without combat training you will still begin to pick up on things.

[Coyote_Durango]

My question is how fast would a zinc compounder have to think in order to match Steris? 

[Karger]

1 hour ago, Coyote_Durango said:

My question is how fast would a zinc compounder have to think in order to match Steris? 

Hmm. Not sure matching Steris is possible via zinc compounding.  That girl has game.