That’s kinda complicated.
With Haphaesta supervising a visionary student, you can get 25 surveys in a total of 6 actions (1 to choose the research, 4 to get the research, 1 to finish) for a total of 4.16 surveys per action. You do need to graduate students from time to time which reduces this. With a newspaper, you spend a whirring contraption and 19 actions (13 to publish the newspaper, 6 to gather rumors, need an opp card) to get 98 surveys.
Now, the most efficient way to get Whirring Contraptions is Wilmot’s End, which gives you 2 for 11 actions, so at the end of the day a full sustainable grind spends 49 actions for 196 surveys, for a total of 4 surveys per action, slightly less than the lab.
BUT, the newspaper also gives you 1000 rostygold over the course of the grind if you use theatrical accountancy and also 4 thighs of St. Fiacre, which have a potential value of over a hundred echoes and may well push this grind over 2 EPA without surveys. Overall, I’d heartily recommend the newspaper grind.
edited by NotaWalrus on 2/4/2021