Can we build the math from the ground up? (And does Vancian help or hurt that?)

[Ignimortis]

There's a reason why I specified game hours as unit for the first question. Be honest, you aren't playing 504 hours at every level - or if you are, it explains the difference in opinion, because your games are absolutely glacial in pace and you are spending too much time on playing them.

So, please clarify: three weeks means what? Three weekly session of about 4 hours, for a total of 12 hours?

Three weekly sessions of about 5-6 hours, I'd say. So about 15-20 hours per level on average.