- Location
- in the trash
Hmm, can we try to grab one of the previous hires we passed over (like Enforcer Kingsley)
Okay yeah let's try to hire Elsa the VA/VE cyborg ninja.
Okay yeah let's try to hire Elsa the VA/VE cyborg ninja.
Panopticon: A Game of Posthumans, Perniciousness, Paranoia, Politics, and Plasmaguns
Heroes of Iteration X:
So congratulations! Your help has managed to turn this operation from a brutal slog through horrible enemy terrain into a sterling example of why you don't fuck with the Technocracy. So now with this you want to...
[X] Insinuate to General Garrison that he doesn't need more equipment, just closer working relationships with the other Conventions, which this operation has built.
[X] Start grassroots canvassing of the rank-and-file, using the Heroes of The Technocracy as your faces to show what the current military assets of Iteration X can do.
Fat Lutes:
Choose three fat lutes to get with your horrible murder spree. MMO Economics is the best kind of economics! You can choose one category multiple times, but in that case you need to choose a subcategory.
[X] New Hires! Go headhunt someone like:
-[X] Elsa.
-[X] A Syndicate Enforcer Associate because LAW.
[X] In the form of a share in the Node you've just captured and are going to be milking for Prime Energy.
So congratulations! Your help has managed to turn this operation from a brutal slog through horrible enemy terrain into a sterling example of why you don't fuck with the Technocracy. So now with this you want to...
[X] Insinuate to General Garrison that he doesn't need more equipment, just closer working relationships with the other Conventions, which this operation has built.
[X] Start grassroots canvassing of the rank-and-file, using the Heroes of The Technocracy as your faces to show what the current military assets of Iteration X can do.
Fat Lutes:
Choose three fat lutes to get with your horrible murder spree. MMO Economics is the best kind of economics! You can choose one category multiple times, but in that case you need to choose a subcategory.
[X] New Hires! Go headhunt someone like:
-[X] Elsa.
-[X] A Syndicate Enforcer Associate because LAW.
[X] In the form of a share in the Node you've just captured and are going to be milking for Prime Energy.
It's merely very efficiently packed. Very, very efficiently
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- Location
- National Capital Region, USA
Agreed. Sylia, while awesomely fun as a character, is not what we need for IC Amalgam purposes or Convention political maneuverings. And Elsa is much more interesting than the Major. PRe-established ties, already worked with and somewhat trusts our Amalgam, has useful skills and can be buffed-up in-house by Henriette and Serafina, and (@Aleph) I don't think she's read-in on Threat Null, but given what she did see in Moscow it won't be hard to bring her inside on that. Might even help if she gets to hear it from Serafina as part of her therapy.
[X] Hire Elsa
[X] Hire Elsa
Cornuthaum
Be kind to each other.
- Location
- Austria
- Pronouns
- He/Him
In the same vein of thought, we really should avoid overloading on Iterators if we want to present ourselves as a working example of a cross-convention amalgam.
Currently, we have:
1 senior NWO Field Operative (Director Jamelia Belltower)
2 Militant Iterators (SSgt John Kessler and Pilot Henriette Langley)
1 Progenitor Enlighted Combat Construct (Dr. Rose Ashford)
1 Progenitor Researcher (Dr. Serafina Rosario)
1 Syndicate Financier (Donald Sykes)
in short - 1 NWO, 1 $, 2 ItX, 2 Prog.
We are decidingly lacking in any VE team member, even if we know for certain that they'd use anyone with us to, well, spy on us (and that would end bitterly badly, to the sound of plasma cannons), and if our goal is a total of eight enlightened scientists split into 2+2/2+2, we should see about striking a balance between four field and four support agents, of which we currently have:
Field:
- Jamelia Belltower, NWO
- John Kessler, ItX
- Henriette Langley, ItX
- Rose Ashford, Progenitor
Support:
- Jamelia Belltower, NWO
- Henriette Langley, ItX
- Donald Sykes, $
- Serafina Rosario, Progenitor
Conclusion: We require, in total, at least one other Field/Support hybrid character and probably another pure-support character to bring us to a comfortable 2+2/2+2 configuration.
-
Spheres
What do we have? What do we need?
- Correspondence: 3 (Jamelia), 2 (Henriette), 3 (Donald), 2 (Serafina)
- Entropy: 3 (Jamelia), 1 (Donald)
- Forces: 2 (Jamelia), 3 (Henriette), 2 (Kessler), 2 (Rose)
- Life: 2 (Jamelia), 2 (Kessler), 3 (Rose), 4 (Serafina)
- Matter: 2 (Jamelia), 4 (Henriette), 3 (Kessler)
- Mind: 2 (Jamelia), 1 (Rose), 5 (Serafina)
- Time: 2 (Jamelia), 3 (Donald)
- Prime: 2 (Henriette), 2 (Kessler), 2 (Serafina)
- Dimensional Science: 1 (Jamelia), 3 (Rose),
- Spirit: 3 (Kessler), 4 (Donald)
- Primal Utility: 1 (Rose), 3 (Donald)
Highest Ratings:
- Correspondence: 3 (Jamelia, Donald)
- Entropy: 3 (Jamelia)
- Forces: 3 (Henriette)
- Life: 4 (Serafina)
- Matter: 4 (Henriette)
- Mind: 5 (Serafina)
- Time: 3 (Donald)
- Prime: 2 (Henriette, Kessler, Serafina)
- Dimensional Science: 3 (Rose),
- Spirit: 4 (Donald)
- Primal Utility: 3 (Donald)
-
Shortcomings:
- We have no Prime expertise beyond Journeyman level
- We have no Field Agent with good (3+) Time
- We are catastrophically short on DSci
- We only have one character with good (3+) Entropy
- We only have one character with good (3+) Forces
- Two of our four Field Agents do not have Correspondence 2 (everyone should have that.)
- All Support Agents have Correspondence 2
- We have specialists (3+) for every sphere other than Prime
- We have a double-whammy of Spirit, both in a somewhat Technoparadigm-friendly way.
- Jamelia is an Omnitactical Sphere Hydra
-
Recommendations:
Based off spheres alone, Jane Clarent and Antoinette Sylia would both do wonders in our line-up. Elsa Naryshkin, being a former Virtual Adept and now Void Engineer probably covers both Field Correspondence (VA speciality) and Dimensional Science (Void Engineers, yo).
Both Jane and Antoinette would heavily lopside the Amalgam towards ItX with a total of three Iterators Militant - almost our entire combatant pool, whereas Elsa could be, if we can persuade the Void Engineers to remand her into our care (which I consider highly doubtful), a much-needed sign of VE support for pan-Union operations.
All in all, I suggest that we fill out the remaining two slots for a pool of 8 enlightened scientists with a Void Engineer and either another NWOperative or a Syndicate agent (no, not that kind of Syndicate Agent.)
Edit: MJ says 8-10 while I write. Damn you, @MJ12 Commando
In this case, my worries about overloading on Iterators recedes somewhat, we can/should nevertheless aim for representation from every convention, and in doing so probably fill out to 3 Iterators / 2 Progenitors / 2 NWOps / 2 $yndicate / 1 Void Engineer.
We can then use such a balanced ("It's like wrangling cats! With egos! Argh." - Jamelia Belltower) amalgam into being an union showcase for what cooperation can achieve.
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- Location
- National Capital Region, USA
Damn, @Cornuthaum. That is some very impressive and helpful analysis. You're making me want Sylia on the team more...but she's bad politically right now. Later. Elsa is a definite good fit now. Her, plus a NWO or Syndicate support member is just what we need.
Cornuthaum
Be kind to each other.
- Location
- Austria
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Unrelated suggestions include increasing Jamelia's Time to 3, because if Cross can do Multishot, so can Jamelia (and she can literally do Titanfall style wallrunning with a smart pistol for Blatancy: Titanfall 
)
)
Eh. I'm iffy that you can really count them as critical weaknesses, because PU and Spirit sub for them. Especially for PU, for Technocrats the main things PU loses over Prime aren't too great losses because Technocrats aren't really meant to be throwing balls of celestial fire (they have normal Forces for plasma guns) or summoning swords made of the light of the cosmos.
DSci and Spirit are more different, yeah.
Unrelated suggestions include increasing Jamelia's Time to 3, because if Cross can do Multishot, so can Jamelia (and she can literally do Titanfall style wallrunning with a smart pistol for Blatancy: Titanfall
So, basically you want to make Jamelia even more the kind of Acanthus you have nightmares about?
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Cornuthaum
Be kind to each other.
- Location
- Austria
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Just because I consider the Acanthus path arcana to be grossly overpowered in comparison to the other eight doesn't mean that Gunknifecanthus isn't a terrifyingly murderous thing.
And, @EarthScorpion, PU or not, I think we should cover every base. With 8-10 willworkers in total there is no reason not to have a specialist for every occasion, especially since Primal Utility is not the best at field work whereas prime can be, for emergency recharges of guns if nothing else.
And, @EarthScorpion, PU or not, I think we should cover every base. With 8-10 willworkers in total there is no reason not to have a specialist for every occasion, especially since Primal Utility is not the best at field work whereas prime can be, for emergency recharges of guns if nothing else.
Quantumboost
Now with 50% more dots in Dimensional Science
- Location
- Ensemble Space
Aside from all those lightsabers the VEs have/had, anyway.
The main benefits of DSci over Spirit at the levels we really care about are lowering the Gauntlet to zero to bypass the Anomaly near a Node (Dreamspeakers need to use conjuncted Prime 1 to do the same, Kessler can do this and maybe Donald), manipulating extradimensiomal Forces/Matter at Rank 3 level without actually having those (Kessler has Matter 3 and Forces 2, Donald is lacking in this but I'm not sure if we care), and permakilling EDEs (important given Agents, though some VE surplus Phase Disrupters can fill in potentially). Unless we're planning on extended extradimensional travel, the DSci 4 "travel in the Umbrae longer than three months without turning into an insane alien" isn't particularly relevant.
Aside from that, the major differences are individual-paradigmatic.
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13th Bee
Worker
- Location
- Tennessee, USA.
We might be able to get Elsa, but it won't be for a while in-game as she is still in training.
I don't care for Sylia, and I don't think she actually adds anything we actually need.
Loot:
[X] Headhunting.
>[X] The Major.
[X] Influence.
>[X] Favors.
>[X] Node-share.
I'm voting for the Major over Elsa because we have enough wacky hijinks people. Cold professionalism compared to the rest of our whackjob group is one of the things that makes Jamalia fun, and adding the Major helps us keep the ratio of serious:funny. Also, we have a better chance of getting the Major nowish rather than at some vague point in the future.
Elsa is fun, but I think she is more fun as a rucurring character than a regular.
On the influence choices, favors are always good and a constant income is better than a lump sum. (I have no clue what a node is)
I don't care for Sylia, and I don't think she actually adds anything we actually need.
Loot:
[X] Headhunting.
>[X] The Major.
[X] Influence.
>[X] Favors.
>[X] Node-share.
I'm voting for the Major over Elsa because we have enough wacky hijinks people. Cold professionalism compared to the rest of our whackjob group is one of the things that makes Jamalia fun, and adding the Major helps us keep the ratio of serious:funny. Also, we have a better chance of getting the Major nowish rather than at some vague point in the future.
Elsa is fun, but I think she is more fun as a rucurring character than a regular.
On the influence choices, favors are always good and a constant income is better than a lump sum. (I have no clue what a node is)
Cornuthaum
Be kind to each other.
- Location
- Austria
- Pronouns
- He/Him
@Quantumboost
"VE Surplus"
What surplus? But yeah, we need to get us some phasers anyways, not least so Henriette can set phaser to tsun.
"VE Surplus"
What surplus? But yeah, we need to get us some phasers anyways, not least so Henriette can set phaser to tsun.
One-Upmanship
Antionette has found herself with the other uninjured and walking wounded among the Iterators - well, there's also two Damage Control constables with them - and she isn't quite sure how it happened. The entire room smells of ozone and sweat and oil and blood, and she barely minds. The other soldiers are... are accepting her. She has a big bruise on her back from where she got slapped on the back in a congratulatory manner by a walking tank.
According to Jordan Pondsmith, she is "no longer a noob".
She is also blushing bright scarlet, because they're watching the combat footage from the mission and have got to the bit where she's being hefted into the air by slime covered tentacles. There is sniggering going on. She wishes she had active camouflage with her so she could vanish.
They better not make her prom queen and then dump pig blood on her. She has no idea why they'd want to recreate the plot of Carrie, but it might be some kind of soldier hazing ritual.
"Ah, chill out," one of the hulking stupid tinheads said, nudging one of the chairs back with his foot. "Have a beer. If you'd got here sooner, someone," he shoots a glare at another exojock, "wouldn't have eaten all the pepperoni pizza, but I think we have some other stuff left."
"Okay, who ordered the ham and pineapple?" one of the HITMarks, her right arm wrapped in skinbind and missing its hand, asks. "Ham and pineapple is an objectively inferior pizza topping. Possibly a sign of RD sympathies. Whoever ordered it must report for summary execution! Terminate!"
"Overruled," the man with the sergeant's stripes says lazily.
"Understood. Standing down. Pineapple lovers shall be spared another day."
"Sorry 'bout that," the sergeant says to Antionette, with a shrug. "Her Advanced Ethics Emulation Core glitched from the entropic field, and she's running on her original EEC. It's a bit temperamental."
"... she's labelling liking pineapple as RDism," Antoinette says, feeling faint.
"She really doesn't like pineapple."
Antionette likes pineapple, and after the events of today, could totally do with a beer. "Well, if that's all that's left..." she says, shifting awkwardly in her seat, trying to not look too enthusiastic. There are cheers all around from mildly tipsy soldiers as they watch her blow the head off the shapeshifter monster, and she can't help but grin. The enthusiasm is infectious. And almost no one is calling her a princess and the only ones who do seem to be doing it in an almost kindly way.
One person did call her Sailor Autocthonia and she's not quite sure what to think of that.
Another trooper hands her the box, and she digs in. "Have you seen the scores for the mission?" he asks.
"Myuu fcucore?" she asks, and swallows. "My score?"
The other soldiers seem pretty surprised that she isn't aware of the Iteration X KillCount, and she isn't about to draw attention to the fact that she only has one deployment before. She just eats pizza and listens.
It seems to be pretty simple. One point per deployment. One point per baseline human-level opponent. Two to three points per EDE possessee. Five points per shapeshifter, plus bonuses if they're elite. A Hind is worth ten, but she gets double points for them as they were EDE possessed. All in all, they're still counting the points, but she looks like she's getting a pretty amazing seventy-ish points from this mission. Which is much better than her previous "one point", from her single previous deployment.
There's a bit of her which is horrified at the way that this is turning killing into a points score. This entire scheme is no doubt the fault of the Syndicate, because making meaningless numbers get bigger and obsessing about them is basically the reason for the other Convention's existence. There's another bit of her which really wants the number next to her name to get bigger, and - oh wow, it's close, but she certainly looks like she's going to be in the top three for this mission. They're still trying to work out how many points that horrible EDE-twisted shapeshifter was worth.
No wonder they seem to be accepting her much more. Seventy points is the kind that puts someone outside the 'rank noob' category. She's shown herself. She can take a bit of ribbing over the fact she was attacked by a tentacle-fiend when... well, she has points! Over seventy points! Almost all of them from this mission!
She pauses, checking a few other people's lifetime ratings.
"... why the fuck is Langley's score being shown by an exponent?"
According to Jordan Pondsmith, she is "no longer a noob".
She is also blushing bright scarlet, because they're watching the combat footage from the mission and have got to the bit where she's being hefted into the air by slime covered tentacles. There is sniggering going on. She wishes she had active camouflage with her so she could vanish.
They better not make her prom queen and then dump pig blood on her. She has no idea why they'd want to recreate the plot of Carrie, but it might be some kind of soldier hazing ritual.
"Ah, chill out," one of the hulking stupid tinheads said, nudging one of the chairs back with his foot. "Have a beer. If you'd got here sooner, someone," he shoots a glare at another exojock, "wouldn't have eaten all the pepperoni pizza, but I think we have some other stuff left."
"Okay, who ordered the ham and pineapple?" one of the HITMarks, her right arm wrapped in skinbind and missing its hand, asks. "Ham and pineapple is an objectively inferior pizza topping. Possibly a sign of RD sympathies. Whoever ordered it must report for summary execution! Terminate!"
"Overruled," the man with the sergeant's stripes says lazily.
"Understood. Standing down. Pineapple lovers shall be spared another day."
"Sorry 'bout that," the sergeant says to Antionette, with a shrug. "Her Advanced Ethics Emulation Core glitched from the entropic field, and she's running on her original EEC. It's a bit temperamental."
"... she's labelling liking pineapple as RDism," Antoinette says, feeling faint.
"She really doesn't like pineapple."
Antionette likes pineapple, and after the events of today, could totally do with a beer. "Well, if that's all that's left..." she says, shifting awkwardly in her seat, trying to not look too enthusiastic. There are cheers all around from mildly tipsy soldiers as they watch her blow the head off the shapeshifter monster, and she can't help but grin. The enthusiasm is infectious. And almost no one is calling her a princess and the only ones who do seem to be doing it in an almost kindly way.
One person did call her Sailor Autocthonia and she's not quite sure what to think of that.
Another trooper hands her the box, and she digs in. "Have you seen the scores for the mission?" he asks.
"Myuu fcucore?" she asks, and swallows. "My score?"
The other soldiers seem pretty surprised that she isn't aware of the Iteration X KillCount, and she isn't about to draw attention to the fact that she only has one deployment before. She just eats pizza and listens.
It seems to be pretty simple. One point per deployment. One point per baseline human-level opponent. Two to three points per EDE possessee. Five points per shapeshifter, plus bonuses if they're elite. A Hind is worth ten, but she gets double points for them as they were EDE possessed. All in all, they're still counting the points, but she looks like she's getting a pretty amazing seventy-ish points from this mission. Which is much better than her previous "one point", from her single previous deployment.
There's a bit of her which is horrified at the way that this is turning killing into a points score. This entire scheme is no doubt the fault of the Syndicate, because making meaningless numbers get bigger and obsessing about them is basically the reason for the other Convention's existence. There's another bit of her which really wants the number next to her name to get bigger, and - oh wow, it's close, but she certainly looks like she's going to be in the top three for this mission. They're still trying to work out how many points that horrible EDE-twisted shapeshifter was worth.
No wonder they seem to be accepting her much more. Seventy points is the kind that puts someone outside the 'rank noob' category. She's shown herself. She can take a bit of ribbing over the fact she was attacked by a tentacle-fiend when... well, she has points! Over seventy points! Almost all of them from this mission!
She pauses, checking a few other people's lifetime ratings.
"... why the fuck is Langley's score being shown by an exponent?"
Cornuthaum
Be kind to each other.
- Location
- Austria
- Pronouns
- He/Him
"You don't want to know."
"Bu-"
"Seriously, you don't want to know."
This HITMark is more empathically human than all those filthy deviants who put ananas on a perfectly fine pizza.
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- Location
- in the trash
Antoinette: "That's not fair! She was piloting a giant robot at the time! Why does her score get to be so... argh!!!"
Henriette: "Well, maybe if you destroyed a warship or three, you might be able to get one tenth of my score... can you do that with your Angel?" *smug*
Henriette: "Well, maybe if you destroyed a warship or three, you might be able to get one tenth of my score... can you do that with your Angel?" *smug*
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"Turns out, canceling the apocalypse is worth all of the points."
"... but points aren't an exhaustively quantifiable -"
"ALL THE POINTS."
"... but points aren't an exhaustively quantifiable -"
"ALL THE POINTS."
Henriette has all the prettiest dresses for appearance customization unlocked. Even the ones which use literal space magic to hold themselves together, thus being very exciting to wear in public due to the inevitability of a wardrobe malfunction. She didn't want them, but cosmetic rewards!
Also, she cashed in the points for her new sexy spy supercar.
There is the Normalized Combat Efficiency Ratio, the NCER, which the NWO uses. The NWO generally uses it because it means that suddenly all those impressive Iteration X killcounts don't look very impressive. And of course, then people like Jamelia suddenly rate much higher, because defeating a giant death robot with your own giant death robot is rated moderately lower than defeating a squad of armed guards with nothing but a kitchen's worth of condiments and a thermometer with no internal augmentations.
Heroes of Iteration X:
[X] None of the above (write-in).
->[X] Arrange a talk with Lovelace to address the issues her convention has
-->[X] Mention the two options we see:
---->[X] Use our influence to help move her organization in that direction.
Somewhat risky and may not work...
But probably the best long term option, all in all.
This transitionary state where the Iteration X can't decide who they are will not end well and any half measures would very likely backfire badly in the end.
Fat Lutes:
[X] New Hires! Go headhunt someone like:
--[X] Elsa
Actually still really want Sylia... But agree that it is probably not the best time.
Major Clarent would also be amazing... but she is another Iterator, and Elsa is a (somewhat) known quantity and (more important) a Void Engineer, a representative of the group the amalgam lacks.
[X] Influence!
--[X] In the form of favours.
If significant changes are to be achieved the wheels of bureaucracy will be in need of greasing.
--[X] In the form of a share in the Node you've just captured and are going to be milking for Prime Energy.
Just too good to pass up.
[X] None of the above (write-in).
->[X] Arrange a talk with Lovelace to address the issues her convention has
-->[X] Mention the two options we see:
- Move back towards being the Union military arm, which means she needs to increase there funding
- Move towards being a Science Convention, which means she should begin shifting her military arm to Ragnarok Command
---->[X] Use our influence to help move her organization in that direction.
Somewhat risky and may not work...
But probably the best long term option, all in all.
This transitionary state where the Iteration X can't decide who they are will not end well and any half measures would very likely backfire badly in the end.
Fat Lutes:
[X] New Hires! Go headhunt someone like:
--[X] Elsa
Actually still really want Sylia... But agree that it is probably not the best time.
Major Clarent would also be amazing... but she is another Iterator, and Elsa is a (somewhat) known quantity and (more important) a Void Engineer, a representative of the group the amalgam lacks.
[X] Influence!
--[X] In the form of favours.
If significant changes are to be achieved the wheels of bureaucracy will be in need of greasing.
--[X] In the form of a share in the Node you've just captured and are going to be milking for Prime Energy.
Just too good to pass up.
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I'd like to reiterate the importance of favours for our high-level objectives.
People may recall that before this fight, we were considering various ways to assist Sylvia with her goal of getting ItX's combat divisions better equipment. If her successes in this venture aren't sufficient to to that on their own, getting someone in their hierarchy to entertain and support her efforts would be a favour.
People may recall that the incident with the Euthanatos Mercenaries could have gone very, very badly, because ItX can be trigger-happy and often don't have rules of engagement that help our methods of "confuse and subvert." In situations where we have less pull, getting useful rules of engagement installed instead of having the commander-on-site simply go for "shoot them all and let God sort them out" is a favour.
So long as our objectives align strongly with the other factions in the Union, we don't need favours. But there are explicit currents and direction in the Union that we want to work against - see: Threat Null. Favours will help quite a bit with working with the parts of the Union that might not be controlled by Threat Null, but are still less than friendly to us and our goals.
People may recall that before this fight, we were considering various ways to assist Sylvia with her goal of getting ItX's combat divisions better equipment. If her successes in this venture aren't sufficient to to that on their own, getting someone in their hierarchy to entertain and support her efforts would be a favour.
People may recall that the incident with the Euthanatos Mercenaries could have gone very, very badly, because ItX can be trigger-happy and often don't have rules of engagement that help our methods of "confuse and subvert." In situations where we have less pull, getting useful rules of engagement installed instead of having the commander-on-site simply go for "shoot them all and let God sort them out" is a favour.
So long as our objectives align strongly with the other factions in the Union, we don't need favours. But there are explicit currents and direction in the Union that we want to work against - see: Threat Null. Favours will help quite a bit with working with the parts of the Union that might not be controlled by Threat Null, but are still less than friendly to us and our goals.
Let's not forget something: Lovelace runs a Convention. Jamelia may have good rep from Russia and this, but we're still very much lower in rank than Lovelace. People seem to think that Jamelia is going to be goin in there and dictating to Lovelace which is ... hhahahahaha NO!
Jamelia is going to be able to offer carefully framed thoughts opinions that might approach being advice, and perhaps make a single "impassioned plea" but in the end Jamelia doesn't get to "be open to other options she might present" because it's the other way around: Jamelia is leaning on the rep she's accrued to try to get Lovelace to "be open" to ideas Jamelia might present in exchange for helping to prop up Lovelace's political power.
Meeting Lovelace isn't going to be a debate or a policy meeting, but rather more along the lines of "President presents celebrated soldier with a medal". Lovelace may be in a rather shaky position but in the end she could almost certainly give an order to have Jamelia taken out back and shot if she really wanted to. Sure, it'd probably break her career, but the point is that that's the power disparity going on here.
That's why I lean more towards
[X] Insinuate to General Garrison that he doesn't need more equipment, just closer working relationships with the other Conventions, which this operation has built.
[X] Go to Ada personally to ask that she increase military funding.
[X] Some of the above. Choose 2 of the 3.
It shows moderation, doesn't make the troops feel even more put upon, and a slight increase in funding from Ada will seem amazing for Garrison if he gets it after Heroes of the Technocracy told him to suck it up. Meanwhile Jamelia will be able to pursue a course of action where "increase military funding" includes something along the lines of "for cross convention cooperation initiatives and training exercises" and possibly a frank assessment that Jamelia is trying to keep Ada's Convention from falling apart.
The nice part of that is that from Ada's perspective this isn't Jamelia coming in and being highhanded, this is Jamelia coming in and saying "I'm an NWO spook so spying on my allies is my job. Here's my report about what I've found about the grassroots perspective of your convention and here's my recomendations as the field agent that gathered the info."
this is probably terrible but: "It is obviously counter to the interests of the TU for your Convention to fall apart, so at your discretion I'm prepared to use my," Jamelia grimaces and grudgingly forces the word from between clenched teeth," celebrity to try to pressure the detractors into going along with your policies. That way any small concession from you would have a greatly magnified effect. As I mentioned in my report, if you do decided to go that route, statistical forcasting and group dynamic modeling by myself and Financier Sykes indicate that cross-convention cooperation initiatives should have a high ratio of increase in morale and combat effectiveness compared to budgetary impact. Especially if you can get other conventions to shoulder some of the costs."
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Question - would Elsa count as another "Infamous" party member?
Due to being a former VA before Moscow, and then having joined up with the Void Engineers to do who-knows-what?
Plus, would Elsa really have all that much background as a Void Engineer? She's been one for, what, several weeks? Would people who look at her go "Oh, classic VE! Look, the VEs are helping out too!" or would they go "VA who joined up after Moscow and is moving about from Convention to Amalgam, probably trying to find a place or niche comfortable for her, maybe even joining the Heroes of Moscow Amalgam."
Due to being a former VA before Moscow, and then having joined up with the Void Engineers to do who-knows-what?
Plus, would Elsa really have all that much background as a Void Engineer? She's been one for, what, several weeks? Would people who look at her go "Oh, classic VE! Look, the VEs are helping out too!" or would they go "VA who joined up after Moscow and is moving about from Convention to Amalgam, probably trying to find a place or niche comfortable for her, maybe even joining the Heroes of Moscow Amalgam."
Lurker here.
Do we actually want Iteration X to go back to being the Technocracy military?
Redundancy is very much something to be prized in the post-1999 Technocracy, and concentrating military force in one convention/Command again loses the flexibility derived from the existence of organic Convention direct action teams, with their different approaches.
Let alone the risk of someone *cough* Threat Null *cough* managing to get senior agents in charge of it; note how senior NWO agents that are going for body augmentation are already at risk of being zombied
No, better to have military forces decentralized.
Loss of efficiency, but the redundancy is worth it.
Do we actually want Iteration X to go back to being the Technocracy military?
Redundancy is very much something to be prized in the post-1999 Technocracy, and concentrating military force in one convention/Command again loses the flexibility derived from the existence of organic Convention direct action teams, with their different approaches.
Let alone the risk of someone *cough* Threat Null *cough* managing to get senior agents in charge of it; note how senior NWO agents that are going for body augmentation are already at risk of being zombied
No, better to have military forces decentralized.
Loss of efficiency, but the redundancy is worth it.
Bursting Eagerness Soul
Threadwalking Rating Machine
- Location
- Wisconsin
Heroes of Iteration X:
[X] None of the above (write-in).
->[X] Arrange a talk with Lovelace to address the issues her convention has
-->[X] Mention the two options we see:
---->[X] Use our influence to help move her organization in that direction.
Fat Lutes:
[X] New Hires! Go headhunt someone like:
[X] None of the above (write-in).
->[X] Arrange a talk with Lovelace to address the issues her convention has
-->[X] Mention the two options we see:
- Move back towards being the Union military arm, which means she needs to increase there funding
- Move towards being a Science Convention, which means she should begin shifting her military arm to Ragnarok Command
---->[X] Use our influence to help move her organization in that direction.
Fat Lutes:
[X] New Hires! Go headhunt someone like:
[X] Elsa (at some point in the undefined future).
[X] Influence![X] In the form of favours.
[X] In the form of a share in the Node you've just captured and are going to be milking for Prime Energy.
Whoever said that we were doing anything even approaching "dictating to Lovelace"? The entire point of this is to help fix things by saying, "This is what I see going on. What are you thinking about doing with it?" and then letting her bounce ideas off of us.
After that, we let her decide and, if we agree with what she wants to do, throw our (rather considerable in the mid- to low-levels of the Technocracy) political capital behind it.
Because what we want is an Iteration X that isn't at war with itself. However we can do that.
[X] In the form of a share in the Node you've just captured and are going to be milking for Prime Energy.
Whoever said that we were doing anything even approaching "dictating to Lovelace"? The entire point of this is to help fix things by saying, "This is what I see going on. What are you thinking about doing with it?" and then letting her bounce ideas off of us.
After that, we let her decide and, if we agree with what she wants to do, throw our (rather considerable in the mid- to low-levels of the Technocracy) political capital behind it.
Because what we want is an Iteration X that isn't at war with itself. However we can do that.
Asking this of Lovelace and standing there expecting her to answer is above Jamelia's paygrade.