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I think if you don't like cauldron and aren't willing to give them 'grey' motivations it's vastly better to just pretend they don't exist (or are doing 'imperceptible things' in the background if you don't quite hate them but hate their 'deus ex'); than make them dumb antagonists.

Making them 'smart' antagonists and not utterly fuck over a 'HFY' story 'just a normal super genius human' is hard, but i suppose it could also be done by exploiting the 'BB experiment' status to make it hands off until it's too late, but -imo- it also wouldn't lead to any 'grand confrontation', just maybe-maybe, cauldron exposed and cut off from resources and called a criminal organization - like in canon probably.
 
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Sono said:
Most of all, I think Cauldron would fully support Taylor. She's exactly the kind of thing they're looking for. Here it seems like they're being antagonistic for no real reason besides the author not liking them.
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Oh they would support her all right. They would do it in the most antagonistic and aggressive way possible but they would support her.
 
Sono said:
Whoa there. Getting a bit heated.

Overall, I like Cauldron well enough. They're trying, but everything they try ends up not working so they're stuck throwing things at the wall and hoping something sticks. It's a dumb way of doing things, and they know that, they just don't really have any other option. And in the end, it works. Purely by chance of course, but they were always playing the odds and trying to increase the chance of something like Khepri appearing.

Overall, this chapter felt a bit silly. Thinking Taylor's a parahuman is just Occam's razor. She's essentially a supergenius that wasn't spotted at any previous point, capable of total bs. How likely is it for someone like that to be a normal human? Pretty much zero. The odds if they're a parahuman are higher, and the 'proof' from DARPA could easily be faked. It just makes sense to draw said conclusion. It just proves that Occam's razor it fallible.

I do feel like them not knowing anything is a bit silly though. I mean, Taylor just happens to be fully immune to Contessa? Fine, author fiat to make a story possible. But their alternative is sending a guy in to ask questions, hoping that'll help?

They have more Thinkers than just Contessa, and one of them is Clairvoyant. They should be able to tell what's going on inside a building. Path some random scientist if necessary, just because there's a blind spot doesn't mean there's no way to work around it.

Most of all, I think Cauldron would fully support Taylor. She's exactly the kind of thing they're looking for. Here it seems like they're being antagonistic for no real reason besides the author not liking them.
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*shrugs* I'm just get really sick of people whining and complaining about this or that is 'wrong' just because it didn't happen in canon while reading fanfics it's something I find really annoying heck look at my sig lol I mean I've read fics where people was complaining about a pairing of all things just because the pairing wasn't a 'canon' pairing *sighs*
 
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Byzantine said:
Wildbow saying it is so doesn't make it make any more sense. Wildbow just needed cauldron to be simultaneously incredible competent and hyper incompetent.

He only ever showed the incompetence on screen, so he had to wog the competence in by making up a bunch of nonsense about things would totally be screwed without them, despite it making no sense.
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Plus, well, 'This is literally the best possible way it could go, any other would be hell' is lazy authoring.
 
He didn't do that, he pretty clearly showed in the story the effects of not having cauldron interfere (often because it was 'better' for the Scion fight anyway).

In BB, the CDU, russia and some alternate earths like the 'Godess' earth. Namely parahumans wreck everything and one thinker or super-master makes every other para and human submit, or one unmanageable cape makes everyone leave. 'Equilibrium' situations are still warzones, ie: europe and africa.

Frankly it's probably a PRT miracle that BB lasted that long in 'gang equilibrium', and probably explains quite a bit of the PRT reluctance to destroy gangs with organized campaigns when they could (such as the merchants, which you'd think would be easy to ambush while high).
Well that and Coil.
 
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Rule 3: Be Civil, or, "Even if you disagree with them, there's no reason to insult another user or the author of the source fiction. Let's avoid that in the future please and thank you."
SCO said:
A bunch of cauldron flanderization, predictable but kind of disappointing.
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..wat? They are massive fuckups end to end. Everything they did was done wrong on purpose from the shitty sorce writer.

So you'll have to explain a bit more. If anything mp3 autofixs most of the massive issues with them as a lot of it makes no damn sense.

Edit: pffft never mind, i posted to soon. Your some mix between a troll and winddip fanboy. You ever realize everything his ever said is what ever will make the biggest fights in the fan base? Your doing a good job of dancing for him.
 
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I just gave several examples in several posts. If you want more, maybe search for 'cauldron' in the wormverse thread in fanfiction discussion. Also calling the writer of the original work 'shitty' because he disagrees with your need for a villain you can punch without any guilt does not make it so, imo.

If you want to punch, do it without guilt and with the knowledge you might be screwing up (or the consequences if not the knowledge), i'd respect a story like that, where the SI decides 'cauldron has to go', does that easily and then suffers as a consequence from dancing from crisis to crisis (probably blaming cauldron all the while for leaving those timebombs).
 
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We can continue the Cauldron good or bad debate but it is getting to the point where the Worm thread exists and you can take it there as it has nothing to do with the story and more to do with what happened in canon or what Widbow says. In story Cauldron is antagonistic to DARPA's interests and haven't been able to figure anything out.
 
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Nice chapter

I have to ask even though she is a parahuman does Costa Browns have brain damage or somekind of mental disorder other than the telepathic tumour in her skull? Because she is playing with fire her office may give her some clout but chasing after stuff that is not covered by her security clearance is a good way to end up on the receiving end of official displeasure.

As well as have people in intelligence start to look at her because she is acting irrationally and perusing this. Heck it would really screw with Cauldrons plans if Alexandria lost her day job followed by prison time then again I've always read her as a Herbert Hoover wannabe she needs to learn to stop poking.

On to tech still need to deal with rail erosion maybe change up the alloy? As well as probably do some destructive testing but all seems to be going well. As does Taylor's various other projects seem to be moving along at a rapid pace.
 
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"To you, everything is parahuman Ms Costa - Brown. To a hammer everything is a nail. I am sure if Beethoven wrote his music today, you would likely be claiming jurisdiction over it, calling him a 'master'. I am sorry to disappoint you, but we at DARPA do science. Replicable, provable, peer reviewed even. None of that parahuman magic bullshit that is your jurisdiction. Good day!"
 
BerserkerZeroOne said:
Link for this story please?
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I follow it on RoyalRoad, find it more convenient than reddit. A fun story.

www.royalroad.com

First Contact | Royal Road

Eight Thousand Years after the Glassing of Earth, Terran Descent Humanity has largely become a post-scarcity society based on consent and enjoying life. With the discovery of another ancient race beyond the "Great Gulf", events and history collide to draw the Terran Confederacy into war against...
www.royalroad.com www.royalroad.com
 
Big Lurker said:
How here's a question for people (not mppi; where's the fun in that?):
In this chapter (and a previous one, I think) it mentions Contessa having issues. But there was also mention of a mysterious, unnamed woman with a hat at Taylor's examination and threatening Kaiser. Is Contessa playing games with Lexie, or do we just automatically assume any nameless woman with a hat is her and there's someone else involved?
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Oh, that wasn't Contessa. She was there as a representative of the alphabet soup agencies, informing Kaiser that they United States Military/Industrial Complex would take great offense if his little empire made any moves against their new national defense asset.
 
On another note, I'm insterested in people's thoughts on whether what Taylor is doing is plagiarism.

The core of everything Taylor has done is, in some ways, her copying the works of others and letting everyone believe she's come up with it on her own.

Which is almost sad, because from there she's made some incredible discoveries and inventions of her own. I doubt it will end badly, because that's not the kind of story MpPiPlayer writes, but this is the kind of thing that could ruin someone's entire career if it came out the wrong way.
 
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mp3.1415player said:
"There's science to be done..." she almost sang under her breath, thoroughly enjoying herself.
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Oh Frak, Taylors Channeling Glados... or Splunker...

cryptoam said:
Instead, they rely heavily on powers that can be countered and have blind spots to do the majority of their thinking/planning.
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You're forgetting that the leaders of cauldron are Dr Mother, who literally came from a feudal society and thinks the multiverse doesn't really exist (according to fanon, anyway) and Contessa, who is completely controlled by her power and who Eden may be influencing despite her ongoing case of princess bride syndrome. Clear thinking is not presently attending.

Orphiex said:
Second, she's been surrounded by quantum transceivers since she started making waves,
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No wonder the thinkers/precogs can't see Taylor; as Ridcully says "Quantum" is tricky stuff.

kelgar04 said:
I have to ask even though she is a parahuman does Costa Browns have brain damage or some kind of mental disorder other than the telepathic tumour in her skull? Because she is playing with fire her office may give her some clout but chasing after stuff that is not covered by her security clearance is a good way to end up on the receiving end of official displeasure.
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One thing you have to remember is that Rebecca is Alexandria - i'm sure that the fact she's 99% invulnerable (and doesn't know about the remaining 1%) will have influenced her attitude towards what she can get away with somewhat - kind of hard to worry about the squishy person getting annoyed when he/she can't hurt you...

Flenser said:
The closest I can think of or find for HatSG would Jeremy Leferts' Harry and the ShipGirls. Could you confirm that cryptoam?
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Sounds right to me - just be sure to get the right thread, it's already in its second due to size.
 
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