Terminus Quest: A CKII Mass Effect Quest

[Thors_Alumni]

Here is my tentative plan.

[] Plan Green Space Cops
-[ ] Expand Military Shipbuilding: Cost: 47,000 credits. Chance of Success: 80%.
--[ ] Commit Hero Unit (Mira): Cost: Free.
-[ ] Legislature Maneuvers: Cost: 30,000 credits. Chance of Success: 65%.
-[ ] Alliance Allies: Cost: 40,000 credits. Chance of Success: N/A, leads to further votes and rolls.
-[ ] Space Cops: Cost: 30,000 credits. Chance of Success: 70%.
-[ ] Power Is Power: Cost: 75,000 credits. Chance of Success: 70%.
-[ ] Purge the Embassies: Cost: 31,000 credits. Chance of Success: 65%.
-[ ] Go Hunting: Cost: 15,000 credits. Chance of Success: 45%.
--[ ] Double Down
-[ ] Military Schools: Cost: -40,000 yearly income.
-[ ] Curriculum Review: Cost: -15,000 yearly income. Chance of Success: 75%.
-[ ] Take a Break: Cost: Free.
-[ ] Visit Li'Sai [Marae]: Cost: Risk.


Starting Credit Reserves: 342,500.

Edit:Made some changes on Simon Jesters advice and chose Marae because of her high Diplomacy.
Yearly Income: 489,000.

Costs: 47.000 30.000 40.000 30.000 75.000 31.000 15.000 40.000 15.000
Cost total 323.000
Ending credit Reserves. 19.500

 

[agumentic]

Our intelligence apparatus is far from infallible and I have plenty of reason to disbelieve their statement considering basic observation of IRL political systems. I'd appreciate it if you could elaborate on how the Council could fail to enforce their will upon the Senate since I don't really see a way for that to happen?

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According to the agent's report, employees of the Senators bear witness to a realm of influence that shames the Council chambers. Councilors issue commands, and the Senate must obey, but if the Senate does not approve of those commands, it is quite simple for them to simply...misfire. By accident, of course. And the other side of the token is that the Senate, serving at least in theory as an intermediary between the concerns of the populace and the ears of the mighty, finds itself in a position of incredible influence on which issues the Council even views as significant.

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I am not sure there's even any way for the Council to enforce its will on the Senate should it try to.

 

[Simon_Jester]

-[ ] Expand Military Shipbuilding: Cost: 47,000 credits. Chance of Success: 80%.
--[ ] Commit Hero Unit (Kurik): Cost: Free.

Click to shrink...

Why, hypothetically, should we spend a personal action to have Kurik take care of this, instead of spending a personal action to have Mira take care of this personally? She has the higher Martial score, doesn't she?

Also, I'm not sure Kurik is usable for a "build military infrastructure" action, since that's pretty far outside his described wheelhouse ("Kurik may activate for scouting operations, military skirmishes, survey missions, and covert operations.") We might do better with Admiral Solus ("Mordin may activate for military-facing missions, particularly raids.")

Though I'm actually not sure we can use him for that either.

-[ ] Visit Li'Sai [Personally/Kirai/Marae/Lissa/K'Sharr/Kurik/Shurna/Shalaya]: Cost: Risk.

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OK but you have to pick a specific individual to do this.

I am not sure there's even any way for the Council to enforce its will on the Senate should it try to.

Click to shrink...

Hm. Looking at this, it sounds like the Council has 'king' power and the Senate has 'vizier' power, so to speak. The king theoretically has all the power. But this theory remains only a theory if the king is not a strong, vigorous individual who is alert to the vizier's self-serving designs. Then, the vizier may maneuver himself into a position where de facto he has more control over the country than the king does. In extreme cases this can even become institutionalized (see Japan for an example). It can reach a point where the king is effectively a pampered figurehead, with only occasional relevance to political affairs.

This is further complicated in the case of the Terminus Alliance by the fact that the Senate's "vizier" role is apparently constitutionally enshrined. In a classical monarchy, the king can in theory usually get rid of a scheming vizier at will if they think there's a problem, because having him dragged behind the palace and shot is a realistic option. I'm pretty sure the Council can't do that to the Senate.

By the way, I'm still taking suggestions about:

1) What action in my plan Mira should pay personal attention to, and

2) Which hero unit should visit our jailed Ardat-Yakshi. Mira's an obvious choice since her primary stat is very high (Martial 26), but other options are possible and feasible. San Shurna (Intrigue 23) and Tamara Kirai (Diplomacy 26) would be interesting and plausible choices.

 

[Thors_Alumni]

Why, hypothetically, should we spend a personal action to have Kurik take care of this, instead of spending a personal action to have Mira take care of this personally? She has the higher Martial score, doesn't she?

Also, I'm not sure Kurik is usable for a "build military infrastructure" action, since that's pretty far outside his described wheelhouse ("Kurik may activate for scouting operations, military skirmishes, survey missions, and covert operations.") We might do better with Admiral Solus ("Mordin may activate for military-facing missions, particularly raids.")

Though I'm actually not sure we can use him for that either.

OK but you have to pick a specific individual to do this.

Hm. Looking at this, it sounds like the Council has 'king' power and the Senate has 'vizier' power, so to speak. The king theoretically has all the power. But this theory remains only a theory if the king is not a strong, vigorous individual who is alert to the vizier's self-serving designs. Then, the vizier may maneuver himself into a position where de facto he has more control over the country than the king does. In extreme cases this can even become institutionalized (see Japan for an example). It can reach a point where the king is effectively a pampered figurehead, with only occasional relevance to political affairs.

This is further complicated in the case of the Terminus Alliance by the fact that the Senate's "vizier" role is apparently constitutionally enshrined. In a classical monarchy, the king can in theory usually get rid of a scheming vizier at will if they think there's a problem, because having him dragged behind the palace and shot is a realistic option. I'm pretty sure the Council can't do that to the Senate.

By the way, I'm still taking suggestions about:

1) What action in my plan Mira should pay personal attention to, and

2) Which hero unit should visit our jailed Ardat-Yakshi. Mira's an obvious choice since her primary stat is very high (Martial 26), but other options are possible and feasible. San Shurna (Intrigue 23) and Tamara Kirai (Diplomacy 26) would be interesting and plausible choices.

Click to shrink...

thanks for the Help Simon. I had honestly forgotten about Admiral Solus. That's what I get for not checking the information tabs for just such a reason.

 

[EBR]

What military surplus gear? The civilians can be armed to reserve status and the navy is taking all the ships.

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Well there's always some kind of surplus equipment- outdated stuff, stuff that was too damaged to be worth repairing but not completely non-functional, stuff that was accidentally over-produced, that experimental new weapon that ended up being mediocre, etc.

Surely there is something available...

Military surplus is ordinarily what you would give to a paramilitary force. However, in these circumstances, your military surplus has just recently and suddenly become your front line military equipment.

Click to shrink...

I guess not!

 

[PoptartProdigy]

Well, that was a direct statement by our intelligence, and I don't see any reason to doubt it. Sure, the Senate is technically subordinate, but if the Council tries to enforce that, it may very well just fail.

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Our intelligence apparatus is far from infallible and I have plenty of reason to disbelieve their statement considering basic observation of IRL political systems. I'd appreciate it if you could elaborate on how the Council could fail to enforce their will upon the Senate since I don't really see a way for that to happen?

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If the Council feels that the Senate is being insubordinate or self-serving in executing the Council's directives, they are, of course, at liberty to reign in their lower house at their leisure.

They simply need to pass a unanimous vote to do so. As they do for anything.

@PoptartProdigy , is the lost yearly income permanent, or are we only charged for it during the 3-year lock period, or during the 7-year to completion period? Also, is that "3 years to of Learning actions, 7 more years to finish" or "3 years of Learning actions, 4 more years to finish?

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7 years to completion, of which only 3 would be locked.

--[For Mira this probably means Martial and pretty good chances since her stat is excellent. @PoptartProdigy , is the modifier equal to the person's primary stat, or half their primary stat, just to double-check?]

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Full primary, as this would be your chosen individually effectively doing a Personal Attention to the matter.

 

[Simon_Jester]

Meanwhile, in the Systems Alliance
(Part 5 of ???, 510-513 GS)​

Nero consolidates his power in the Roman Empire. He expels his mother Agrippina from the Imperial palace and establishes her in a separate villa. Agrippina had been niece and wife (!) of the previous emperor, Claudius, and also the sister of Caligula, emperor before Claudius. Agrippina showed signs of intending to rule through Nero, but Nero's tolerance of this intention would appear to be limited. Nero reached out to the oligarchs of the Senate, giving speeches indicating that he would respect their autonomy and end secret trials.

Nero has himself appointed as consul, a Republic-vintage position that reinforces his authority. While during Republican times it was traditional that no man would be consul more than once, this custom was already breaking down in the late Republic, and Nero will be made consul repeatedly, on many separate occasions.

On the frontiers, efforts to take some of the Roman legions on the borders of Persia and whip them into shape prove to have been timely. War breaks out between the Roman and Persian empires, after a Persian-backed invasion and regime change in the independent and contested kingdom of Armenia.

Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo amasses a sizeable force of four legions and marches them through the Armenian mountains, assaulting and sacking the fortress of Volandum after a single day's fighting. He then proceeds to the Armenian capital of Artaxata, shadowed by Persian horse archers. The city willingly throws open its gates to Corbulo's troops; Corbulo responds by giving the inhabitants a few hours to pack up their valuables before burning the place to the ground.

Fighting continues on the island of Britannia, where Roman governors appointed by Claudius and Nero struggle to subdue the stubbornly independent Celtic locals.

The messianic 'Christian' cult continues to spread through the Eastern Mediterranean. The apostle Paul travels extensively and writes letters to the Christians of various cities, outlining his own opinions about how the Christian religion should proceed in the coming years.

In China, the Han emperor Guang Wu sends a golden seal to the state of Nakoku, located on the islands of Japan, shortly before his death. This seal would subsequently be unearthed roughly 1500 years later by a farmer, constituting the oldest known evidence of written documents in Japan. Diplomatic contact between China and various entities of Japan continued during the Han period.

Guang Wu's son, Han Mingdi (or 'Ming of Han'), institutes new religious policies, introducing Buddhism to China and ordering sacrifices to Confucius in government schools. Ming and his successor Zhang are widely regarded as having reigned over the golden age of the Han dynasty during the subsequent three decades, notable for able administration and a variety of economic and technological advances.

 

[Mr Tebbs]

I'm of the opinion that we need to get a move on with the Power is Power option... like right now. Everyone's rebuilding their fleets, but our ships have always been the second weakest in the galaxy. If we get the power option, that could easily cause a generational improvement in our navy, just in time for everyone to finish rebuilding.

We've got the doctrine to fight ships with shields, we've got the doctrine to raid to great effect, if we get the power plants in 3 years we'll have the ships to punch as hard as current heavyweights with the know how to punch even harder. This is the best time to build a navy for the next war (shielded Rachini ships), not the current war where the Rachini don't have barriers worth a damn.

in light of that, here's my plan

[ ] Plan Unlimited Powaaaah
-[ ] Expand Military Shipbuilding: Time: 2 years. Cost: 47,000 credits. Chance of Success: 80%. Effect: Subsidize or purchase expansions to your various shipbuilders' ability to produce the weapons of a naval war, allowing you to withstand a higher rate of production.
-[ ] Legislature Maneuvers: Time: 1 year. Cost: 30,000 credits. Chance of Success: 65%. Effect: Get a coalition going to oppose the Virmirean Security Party and Socialist Party's alliance, as Senatorial appointments loom.
--[ ] Personal Attention
-[ ] Alliance Allies: Time: 1 year. Cost: 40,000 credits. Chance of Success: N/A, leads to further votes and rolls. Effect: Have Councilor Shereel get to know her counterparts on the Terminus Council and start sounding out the factions for their specific agendas in the near future, and how the Commonwealth might fight into them. With Kurik's information in hand, she should be able to cut somewhat directly to the heart of things.
-[ ] Space Cops: 1 year. Cost: 30,000 credits. Chance of Success: 70%. Effect: Authorize the creation of an interstellar law enforcement agency. Given the present bottlenecks in military production, the resulting branch will be built unarmed, or armed only to civilians standards, and will not be capable of reliably serving a paramilitary role.
-[ ] Power Is Power: Time: 3 years. Cost: 75,000 credits. Chance of Success: 70%. Effect: Better warships, +40,000 yearly income.
-[ ] Purge the Embassies: Time: 1 year. Cost: 31,000 credits. Chance of Success: 65%. Effect: Secure your embassies and ascertain the extent of the damage in terms of foreign infiltration.
-[ ] Go Hunting: Time: 1 year. Cost: 15,000 credits. Chance of Success: 45%. Effect: Find the ardat-yakshi coven before they finish covering their tracks and going fully underground.
--[ ] DD
-[ ] Curriculum Review: Time: 3 years locked, 7 years to completion. Cost: -15,000 yearly income. Chance of Success: 75%. Effect: Finish the process of integrating your new reforms to Virmire's new school system, instilling the desired overall martial tendency and giving staff the tools they need to identify promising military candidates early.
--[ ] free EX
-[ ] The Home of the Yulair: Time: 1 year. Cost: 38,000 credits. Chance of Success: 65%. Effect: Improve the background research rolls relating to Xibek Sha Prime on any roll, and gain immediate insight on a success.
-[ ] Take a Break: Time: 1 year. Chance of Success: 50%. Cost: Free. Effect: Take a step back from work, clear your schedule, and take a Goddess-damned vacation. Possible stat or trait gain; possible relationship gain with advisers or people of importance. Trait gain/stat growth for Loreia.
-[ ] Personal Attention: (Legislature Maneuvers)
-[ ] Visit Li'Sai [Kirai]: Time: 1 year. Chance of Success: 85% for personal safety, 35% for actionable intelligence. Cost: Risk. Effect: Try to use Li'Sai to try and find out what the others are doing. The person selected as the subject of the vote is the one to conduct the questioning, and their primary stat will be the one that modifies the roll.

Credit Reserves: 342,500
cost: 321,000
rem: 21,500
Yearly Income: 489,000
cost: 15,000
rem: 474,000

I'd be willing to swap the shipyards for the evacuation plan this year if people feel strongly about that instead

 

[Simon_Jester]

[ ] Plan Unlimited Powaaaah

Click to shrink...

Hmmm.

Your plan differs from me only in a few places.

-[ ] Alliance Allies: Time: 1 year. Cost: 40,000 credits. Chance of Success: N/A, leads to further votes and rolls. Effect: Have Councilor Shereel get to know her counterparts on the Terminus Council and start sounding out the factions for their specific agendas in the near future, and how the Commonwealth might fight into them. With Kurik's information in hand, she should be able to cut somewhat directly to the heart of things.

Click to shrink...

You support doing this first, rather than Good Fences. I can see the logic behind doing so, admittedly, even if I disagree somewhat.

-[ ] Go Hunting: Time: 1 year. Cost: 15,000 credits. Chance of Success: 45%. Effect: Find the ardat-yakshi coven before they finish covering their tracks and going fully underground.
--[ ] DD
--[ ] Commit Kurik

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You support doing with Kurik, instead of using personal attention from Mira or possibly sending Mordin to do something else. I'm not sure I agree. With a double-down, San Shuurna already has a 91% chance of succeeding at this action without further assistance. I would rather put personal hero unit attention on matters of larger-scale state politics, all things considered. Finding the ardat-yakshi is important but it's not so super-de-duper important that we should put two of our three (?) available ways to boost an action on it.

-[ ] Curriculum Review: Time: 3 years locked, 7 years to completion. Cost: -15,000 yearly income. Chance of Success: 75%. Effect: Finish the process of integrating your new reforms to Virmire's new school system, instilling the desired overall martial tendency and giving staff the tools they need to identify promising military candidates early.
--[ ] free EX

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What's this about a free expedite? I forgot about this and would like to integrate it into my plans.

I'd be willing to swap the shipyards for the evacuation plan this year if people feel strongly about that instead

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I think most people with strong opinions on that issue are pro-shipyard, so it's probably good as-is.

 

[Mr Tebbs]

What's this about a free expedite? I forgot about this and would like to integrate it into my plans.

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Unless i've forgotten something from last turn, as a result from our whirlwind tour of the galaxy the Asari Republics are willing to give us a free expedite on our next school related action

You support doing with Kurik, instead of using personal attention from Mira or possibly sending Mordin to do something else. I'm not sure I agree. With a double-down, San Shuurna already has a 91% chance of succeeding at this action without further assistance. I would rather put personal hero unit attention on matters of larger-scale state politics, all things considered. Finding the ardat-yakshi is important but it's not so super-de-duper important that we should put two of our three (?) available ways to boost an action on it.

Click to shrink...

Fair point.. but i'm not sure which other item to give PA to

 

[picklepikkl]

What's this about a free expedite? I forgot about this and would like to integrate it into my plans.

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I searched through the thread and found this:

[X][KIRAI] Matriarch Kirai's ultimate loyalties are still uncertain. Make no public demonstration of authority over her, but don't give her a party line to follow. See what she does with this assumption, and hopefully gain insight on where her allegiance lies.
[X][POLITICS] Investigating the educational system of the Asari Republics from a far better angle than old records and secondhand accounts provide, gathering insights to better direct your ongoing reforms. (Free expedite on next multi-year education action.)

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Our Asari diplomacy got us a free expedite on a multi-year education action, which I just checked following turns for and we have not yet used.

 

[carterhall]

Why, hypothetically, should we spend a personal action to have Kurik take care of this, instead of spending a personal action to have Mira take care of this personally? She has the higher Martial score, doesn't she?

Also, I'm not sure Kurik is usable for a "build military infrastructure" action, since that's pretty far outside his described wheelhouse ("Kurik may activate for scouting operations, military skirmishes, survey missions, and covert operations.") We might do better with Admiral Solus ("Mordin may activate for military-facing missions, particularly raids.")

By the way, I'm still taking suggestions about:

1) What action in my plan Mira should pay personal attention to, and

2) Which hero unit should visit our jailed Ardat-Yakshi. Mira's an obvious choice since her primary stat is very high (Martial 26), but other options are possible and feasible. San Shurna (Intrigue 23) and Tamara Kirai (Diplomacy 26) would be interesting and plausible choices.

Click to shrink...

I'm going with Kurik for The Hunt instead of Mira for RP reasons. I figure going to Visit Li'Sai is sufficiently safe (85% + any of Mira's stats? *knock-on-wood*), but personally going after the larger coven would generate a lot of concern and ill-will from Ilena and all the ministers.

PoptartProdigy : Does The Hunt fall under covert operations for assigning Kurik? And do any of our stats get added to Visit Li'Sai?

 

[Simon_Jester]

Unless i've forgotten something from last turn, as a result from our whirlwind tour of the galaxy the Asari Republics are willing to give us a free expedite on our next school related action

Click to shrink...

@PoptartProdigy , is this the case?

I have this hilarious image of the resulting expedite taking the form of:

"Okay, this is a really good asari curriculum... now we just have to figure out how to compress it enough that our batarian students don't literally die of old age before completing it."

"Don't you mean salarian students?"

"I know what I said."

Fair point.. but i'm not sure which other item to give PA to

Click to shrink...

The shipyard expansion (it's Martial, Mira has really good Martial, match made in heaven).

Either/any diplomatic action (since failing means we have a weaker position in the Terminus Alliance, and shoring up our position in the Alliance is our next major foreign policy priority and may influence a lot of things to come).

The power plant upgrade action (since it has military as well as economic implications and the chance of a major crit on it could be very beneficial)

Or even the Learning actions (which would be awkward to fail and waste considerable money, plus more successes on the Yulair homeworld mean more tech loot).

Almost anything, really, is a reasonable possibility even if not stereotypically a 'Mira' thing to do.

I'm going with Kurik for The Hunt instead of Mira for RP reasons. I figure going to Visit Li'Sai is sufficiently safe (85% + any of Mira's stats? *knock-on-wood*), but personally going after the larger coven would generate a lot of concern and ill-will from Ilena and all the ministers.

Click to shrink...

No I mean, why commit a hero unit to that action at all, when a Double Down already gets us up to 91% chance of success?

---

Anyway, I've put down Kirai for "talk to the ardat-yakshi in jail," because her Diplomacy is just as good as Mira's Martial and it honestly makes more sense for us to Diplomacy answers out of the prisoner than to Martial them out.

I'm still not sure myself which action should get Mira's personal attention; see my comments above about that.

 

[agumentic]

1) What action in my plan Mira should pay personal attention to, and

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I suggest that instead of Mira's Personal Attention, we assign Kurik and his +15 Intrigue to Embassy Purge.

 

[Pittauro]

@PoptartProdigy , is this the case?

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If we never took a school action we should still have it. It's a result of us researching the asari school sistem.

We can even combine it with a payed expedite if we want to, as it doesn't count for the "1 per turn" limit (though we'd likely want to use it somewhere else instead of adding it for a lower reduction)

 

[PoptartProdigy]

@PoptartProdigy , is this the case?

I have this hilarious image of the resulting expedite taking the form of:

"Okay, this is a really good asari curriculum... now we just have to figure out how to compress it enough that our batarian students don't literally die of old age before completing it."

"Don't you mean salarian students?"

"I know what I said."

Click to shrink...

It is still the case, yes.

And also that mental image makes me laugh as well.

 

[Simon_Jester]

I suggest that instead of Mira's Personal Attention, we assign Kurik and his +15 Intrigue to Embassy Purge.

Click to shrink...

That's a reasonable suggestion. I'm going to keep things open a bit longer but it's worth considering.

Most of the actions on my list are high probability enough that the right hero can bump them up to a nearly certain success. From most to least shaky, we have:

-[] Go Hunting: (Intrigue, 91% with Double Down)
-[] Expand Military Shipbuilding: (Martial, 91%)
-[] Curriculum Review: (Learning, 84%)
-[] Space Cops (Stewardship, 81%)
-[] Power Is Power (Stewardship, 81%)
-[] Good Fences (Diplomacy, 80%)
-[] Purge the Embassies (Intrigue, 76%)
-[] Legislature Maneuvers: (Diplomacy, 75%)
-[] The Home of the Yulair (Learning, 74%)

Some of the actions I'm not too worried about failing. Failure on the shipyard just means we try again or it goes over budget or something. Not so bad. Failure on the Learning actions, likewise; we may waste some resources but it's unlikely that anything specifically bad will happen to the country as a whole beyond opportunity costs. "Good Fences" failing will probably just mean we make no diplomatic headway with those factions this year. That leaves:

-[] Go Hunting: (Intrigue, 91% with Double Down)
-[] Space Cops (Stewardship, 81%)
-[] Power Is Power (Stewardship, 81%)
-[] Purge the Embassies (Intrigue, 76%)
-[] Legislature Maneuvers: (Diplomacy, 75%)

The power plant option didn't get poofed yet because the opportunity cost of failure is relatively high, but in the next elimination round... I have to admit I'm letting it go. If we fail, it likely just means a delay of one year, which COULD make a difference but isn't sure to. The ardat-yakshi hunt is already getting a very powerful +34% boost to success rate from the Double Down, and failure is likely to be acceptable if not exactly ideal.

-[] Space Cops (Stewardship, 81%)
-[] Purge the Embassies (Intrigue, 76%)
-[] Legislature Maneuvers: (Diplomacy, 75%)

That leaves three actions that could reasonably be boosted through heropower. All are actions with significant potential to bite us in the butt if they fail. Space Cops, on a failure, leaves us vulnerable and our space entirely unpatrolled for another year, meaning increased risk of pirates, smugglers, and criminals infiltrating our space. Purge the Embassies gives us problems with intelligence leaks on a failure. Legislature Maneuvers, if unsuccessful, means we may have problems with our representatives in the Alliance Senate, and may also empower a political bloc to move against us.

Our options, under my plan, reduce to one of the following unless we sacrifice Mira's "mom time" and don't take a break:

-[] Space Cops (Stewardship+Mira, 81%+19% = 100%)
-[] Purge the Embassies (Intrigue+Kurik, 76+15 = 91%)
-[] Legislature Maneuvers: (Diplomacy+Mira, 75%+16% = 91%)

Hm. I'm honestly torn here.

 

[Pittauro]

Most of the actions on my list are high probability enough that the right hero can bump them up to a nearly certain success. From most to least shaky, we have:

Click to shrink...

just a quick reminder: a success by an high enough margin can unlock more heroes for us. That's worth considering when we decide what we want to boost.

The best way to maximize the chances to get a new hero would likely be to take an action with an high success rate, and boost it as much as possible (which means personal attention, double down and (not sure if it stops us from getting another hero) assign hero.

Of course we might prefer to expedite a long action, or to double down on low chance actions, but it's still worth remembering all the alternatives

 

[Mr Tebbs]

True... but the Go Hunting option is likely to outright fail which will have the coven go to ground... likely until the Krogan rebellions at the worst possible moment when it turns out they cultivated a pseudo shadow broker faction and have thrown in with a few warlords and go haring off the network along Kurik's Run.

 

[Pittauro]

True... but the Go Hunting option is likely to outright fail which will have the coven go to ground... likely until the Krogan rebellions at the worst possible moment when it turns out they cultivated a pseudo shadow broker faction and have thrown in with a few warlords and go haring off the network along Kurik's Run.

Click to shrink...

Maybe we could go all in on the AY hunt?

double down, personal attention, hero, and the interrogation to the captured AY. That might be enough to completely solve the problem and give us a chance to capture the whole coven at once.

 

[Mr Tebbs]

i don't think we're allowed to put both PA and a hero on the same task? Putting Kirai on the AY in prison should have the same % chance as putting Mira on it due to max stats for both being 26

 

[Simon_Jester]

just a quick reminder: a success by an high enough margin can unlock more heroes for us. That's worth considering when we decide what we want to boost.

The best way to maximize the chances to get a new hero would likely be to take an action with an high success rate, and boost it as much as possible (which means personal attention, double down and (not sure if it stops us from getting another hero) assign hero.

Click to shrink...

Remember, though, that having new heroes only helps us so much. Because using heroes require investment from the action economy. Having a large hero stable is not as powerful here as in some other games I can think of.

If we could get, say, +1 free action from having a hero unit, or even if we were free to apply the hero's bonus at half strength every turn for free, then we would have a stronger incentive to go hero-mining.

With that said, success by high margin is desirable in general, not just for hero unit mining. It's just that avoiding failure is also important, and it's easier to estimate the magnitude of the bad consequences for a failure than for a critical success. For example, succeeding on the "Yulair homeworld" action by a huge margin could net us very large benefits by unlocking new technologies that we might otherwise not get for years, or not get at all.

Likewise, over in the Victoria Falls Quest (also by Poptart), no one really expected critting the organize the libraries action, of all things, to result in us finding the freaking Declaration of Independence that we could then leverage for massive diplomatic advantages. That was... not something we would have predicted. Of course, in that quest we have fewer ways of influencing the dice rolls and therefore cannot try to generate crits, but still.

Of course we might prefer to expedite a long action, or to double down on low chance actions, but it's still worth remembering all the alternatives

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I'm allocating the double-down to a low chance action, and already using a free expedite on a long action.

 

[pbluekan]

@Simon_Jester I like the plan you've got going there, with the sole exception of "Purge The Embassies". Yes we definitely need to do it, but we have been operating at shit capacity for too long. We will always have something that needs doing right this turn, especially for Intrigue. We need to build up the agency so these things actually get done properly.

 

[Pittauro]

Remember, though, that having new heroes only helps us so much. Because using heroes require investment from the action economy. Having a large hero stable is not as powerful here as in some other games I can think of.

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there was also that random chance of a hero intervening in a compatible action of its own initiative. I'd have to check the rules, but I think it was if we get at least double the DC?


ok, sort of. Here's the quote

Hero units are individuals specialized within a given area of a given field -- thus, a Martial hero might be an Army officer, as opposed to a, "general Martial expert," in the way advisers are. For every action you take relating to a hero's area of specialty, I roll against twice the option's DC, with no bonus. If that check passes, the hero applies their full relevant stat to the main roll for the option in addition to personal or adviser bonuses. Heroes can appear multiple times in a year with no penalties.

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this basically means that an hero will never act of its own initiative on actions with dc>50 though.

An intrigue hero would be really valuable by the way. That's Mira's weak spot, which means it's usually not a good idea to use personal attention for intrigue actions.

Likewise, over in the Victoria Falls Quest (also by Poptart), no one really expected critting the organize the libraries action, of all things, to result in us finding the freaking Declaration of Independence that we could then leverage for massive diplomatic advantages. That was... not something we would have predicted. Of course, in that quest we have fewer ways of influencing the dice rolls and therefore cannot try to generate crits, but still.

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I think crits weren't even supposed to be a thing there. Poptart was uncharacteristically nice to give us that.

I'm allocating the double-down to a low chance action, and already using a free expedite on a long action.

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well, the free expedite can only be used on a school action anyway.

Actually I think it should be AUTOMATICALLY used on the first school action we take, regardless of what we want. (no, I won't search for the quote. I'm feeling lazy right now )

@Simon_Jester I like the plan you've got going there, with the sole exception of "Purge The Embassies". Yes we definitely need to do it, but we have been operating at shit capacity for too long. We will always have something that needs doing right this turn, especially for Intrigue. We need to build up the agency so these things actually get done properly.

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is getting more agents really more important that stopping people from looking through what we KNOW is a weak spot?

If we only suspected an infiltration I might agree, but as we're pretty much sure of it..

 

[picklepikkl]

Because using heroes require investment from the action economy.

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That's not totally true.

For every action you take relating to a hero's area of specialty, I roll against twice the option's DC, with no bonus. If that check passes, the hero applies their full relevant stat to the main roll for the option in addition to personal or adviser bonuses. Heroes can appear multiple times in a year with no penalties.

Hero bonuses are random, but if you wish, you can make one apply with a personal action, representing you instructing that your Ministers break out the real experts for this one. This locks the hero down to that option and means their bonus will apply (particularly useful if they have a high stat where you have a low one, hello Mister Intrigue 15 Kurik), but burns an action and means that the hero will not appear on any other actions.

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Having a larger hero stable increases the odds that one will come around to help out on a given action (more possible specialties, and in the case of overlapping specialties, possibly both get a crack at it?). But because of how that works (you need to beat the DC in a straight-up random roll, twice), that mostly helps us out on stuff we're going to succeed at anyway and push it into greater magnitudes of success, and obviously we can't count on it. So while I am a pedantic jerk, I don't actually disagree with your conclusion of "hero units are not such gamechangers that we should fish for them by blowing sure things out of the water if we can instead apply bonuses to making something unlikely-but-valuable likely to succeed."