RI Strategy

Ok, let's start with the ORDER in which we can tackle RIs.
I will use Zayne's excellent list as a starting point for third discussion.
His priority list assumes that one will do more than just the Fealties (otherwise, the RIs for fealties can be done fairly straightforward).

From the breakdown below, it seems we can classify RI cycles like this:
- low (only Set 2)
- average (Sets 1-5)
- high (Sets 1-8)
- extreme (all Sets)

Set 1 (8 RI): Sand Steed --> Martell
- 8 x RI for 24% Quest speed
- mandatory first RI set for anyone looking to do lots of RIs
- any level requirement for this (apart from 10 gold) ?

Set 2 (8 RI): Fealty Buildings
- 8 x RI to open all houses
- only 6 if you perm the point for your current Fealty and can wait to open the 8th when you settle in your final house
- requirements: level 13 in that RI

Set 3 (8 RI): Command Points
- 8 x RI for 8 extra CP
- is this really worth spending so much time doing an RI to level 90 ?
- by the time you do 8 of these, you can finish your entire RI cycle and level up to compensate for 8 extra CPs (Sam's style - huge character level)

Set 4 (8 RI): Arms of the Kraken --> Greyjoy
- 8 x RI for 24% Adventure speed
- huge boost for later in the game; could be skipped if one wants to settle in house Greyjoy
- requirements: level 35 in that RI

Set 5 (8 RI): "Winter is coming" --> Stark
- 8 x RI for 24% faster SS recovery
- I have placed it above the next 3 sets (compared to Zayne's list), because there are only 8 RIs needed
- requirements: level 23 in that RI

Set 6 (24 RI): Manufacturing Speed
- 8 x "Descendants of the First Men" (16% faster Units prod.) --> Stark; req. lvl 35
- 8 x "Queen Nymeria" (16% faster Weapons prod.) --> Martell; req. lvl 35
- 8 x "Stewards of the Reach" (16% faster Armor prod.) --> Tyrell; req. lvl 35

Set 7 (24 RI): Manufacturing Quality
- 8 x "Ours is the Fury" (16% chance better results Units) --> Baratheon; req. lvl 23
- 8 x "Fire and Blood" (16% chance better results Weapons) --> Targaryen; req. lvl 23
- 8 x "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken" (16% chance better results Armor) --> Martell; req. lvl 23

Set 8 (24 RI): Other Speed
- 8 x "Harvest" (16% faster Resource prod.) --> Tully; req. lvl 35
- 8 x "Bran the Builder" (16% faster Buildings constr.) --> Stark (10 gold)
- 8 x "Growing Strong" (8% faster Consumables prod.) --> Tyrell; req. lvl 23
- I have split this from set 6, because it seems less important
- even the buildings boost, it becomes useless once you build them all; also, 8% for Consumables might not be worth it at all

Set 9 (64 RI): Ability Bonuses
- 8 x each house, to improve 8 of the 9 specialties with 16% (everything except Steal)

Nice post dunc I really like how you broke this down.

Here's my two cents:

Everything in my mind depends on what you want to finish at. If you finish greyjoy you don't need to RI the adventure speedup, and I think that's the most useful perk outside the fealty houses and possibly ability percentages. If you want to end stark then maybe you do the fealtys, the arms of the kraken and any other ability percentages you might want.

I think all the silver stuff is pointless, once you level enough silver is never a problem, and most of the speed up stuff is too. Doing 8 RI's for sand steed is pointless and counterproductive unless your doing the mega RI you proposed, or for someone like Z who wants to do a ton.

I do think winter is coming could really REALLY be important. Tell me what you think but I've noticed that one problem with offensive attacks is the blowback damage if you lose, and the cumulative damage you take in waves. It's not uncommon now with all the speedups to be able to send your next attack before your guys can heal from the last wave. Having that ability to heal seems really nice for AvsA.

So for me when I RI next it will be for the ninth fealty, tully, probably the sabo ability %'s and winter is coming and finish greyjoy. But I might do barter instead of sabo as a secondary ability, I'm not sure.

Now let's talk a bit about the most useful items for RI, as well as the overall strategy - in terms of SS specialization and the like.
Seems clear that you should maximize Speed over any other things - and maybe only Quest speed in particular.

Considering you will do, say, 10+ RIs with different fealties, question is:
- should you maximize speed for only 1 specialty, like Spy or any Battle (for which you have bonuses from buildings) ?
- or should you aim for getting speed up for all specialties, considering you might use different during RIs (depending on the fealty) ?

Answer to the question above influences what items you buy for your Character, and with what SS type you will do most of your Quests during any RI.
Case in point; what option would be best for a longer RI cycle (10+):

- HAND: Podrick's Axe, with 5% to any attacks ? Oathkeeper, for 5% to only Quests and Adv. ? or one of Needle / Daenerys' Whip / Tyrion's Crossbow for 7% faster Battle/Trade/Intrigue respectively ?
- ARMOR: one of Rob Stark's Armor / Khal's Drogo's Gold Belt / Daenerys' Wedding Dress for 5-7% faster Battle/Trade/Intrigue respectively ? or something more all-round like King Robert's Armor, that gives 6% but only for Adventures ?
- UNIT: Direwolf Patriarch, for 9% speed but just for Quests ? or Dragon Egg for bonuses to everything ? or one of The Mountain Horse / Littlefinger's Ship / The Valyrian for 7% faster Battle/Trade/Intrigue respectively ?

I am currently thinking of using a more all-around approach, even if it means a few less speed % here and there.
For Units is simple, I could buy the Direwolf just for the RI cycle, but should use the Dragon Egg for the rest.
But for Hand is much more difficult. I currently have the Valyrian Greatsword that still seems the best all-around item, but it has no speed bonuses. Should I buy Podrick's Axe, just for RIs ?
Same for Armor; I currently have Bran's Tunic, that gives 5% strength and 3% speed to Adventures only. And it doesn't seem to be any armor that gives quest speed bonuses only, nor overall attack speed...

Pretty much the same case for SS. Should I only equip a few with speed-increasing items, and leave the rest with their own Peerless items ?
I plan to have 18 SS perm-ed, 2 for each specialty - so I can be prepared for everything, when I'm done :-) So their items currently are the best I can craft/find, for each specialty (I will post that later on).

So basically try to focus on one specialty and do all RIs with that ?
In your case, will you do all quests using Spy action ?
That means using "fastest" Spy set for both character and your SS...

You want to be as broad as possible, but I am trying to do that with as little gold as possible, so this is the formula that worked for me. 22% to all actions is the magic number, and I will likely move in that direction, picking up Seals of the Seven as I RI and possibly Picking up Podrick's Axe to replace Arya's Water Dancing Sword and rethinking my armor. i will take a break after 32 RI, I think, to Evolve my Dragon, which will change my math and allow me to use a non-speed general purpose armor. 

Reports from day one.

Preamble:
I was working on the spreadsheet and permaing items last night, so I started my RI slightly later than planned.

I played less today than I would have liked (about 15m throughout the day and an hour and a half just before bed) and so I am still on my first Sand Steed run.

I really like Sand Steed.
If you plan to do the fealty houses and command points, I would say that the time would not be wasted.

PermaSS make life easier.
I have found that having high level peerless SS is a definite boon. Most BB I can come close to completing with five hits.

Master Adventurer.
I also have found that having the point in Master Adventurer was exceptionally helpful. Using the adventure party after level five allowed me to keep my silver and resource reserves up.

So, still going more slowly than I would like, but am getting the hang of the RI spiral. I find myself constantly checking to make sure I need adventures before throwing bread at them, but that is part of the learning curve.

Edit: oops, forgot to pick up my ValDag... but finished the first cycle.

Master Adventurer or Journeyman Adventurer are helpful for speeding up the process. You have five CP at level 5 and by level 50 you have fourteen (if you RI for the CP you can have 13 at level 5). That isn't that long of a period actually. It saves you talent points, for speed-ups, and makes resource gathering generally easier. I would not say it is essential, but it is very beneficial.

Is it worth an extra RI? It depends on your goals and your playstyle.