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Lex Sedet In Vertice: A Supervillain in the DCU CK2 quest

What sort of tone should I shoot for with this Quest?

  • Go as crack fueled as you can we want Ambush Bug, Snowflame and Duckseid

    Votes: 30 7.7%

  • Go for something silly but keep a little bit of reason

    Votes: 31 7.9%

  • Adam West Camp

    Votes: 27 6.9%

  • Balanced as all things should be

    Votes: 195 50.0%

  • Mostly serious but not self-involvedly so

    Votes: 73 18.7%

  • Dark and brooding but with light at the end of the tunnel

    Votes: 12 3.1%

  • We're evil and we don't want anyone to be happy

    Votes: 22 5.6%
  • Total voters
    390
  • Poll closed .
Reader mode
My own version of the speech. I dislike acting like a businessman who just got a profitable branch. I want to win her heart

[X] Plan Dream
-Main approach: Passionate man who strives to improve humanity
--Topic to hit: Ferris Aircraft will play a major role in reaching LexCorp's ambitions.
---Argument: Ferris Aircraft to be renamed to Ferris Aerospace and expand into making spacecrafts. Ferris surname will be associated with spaceships that will bring human colonists to Mars and beyond (appeal to aspirations)
--Question: But Ferris Aircraft was always famous for their aircrafts. Won't such transition to space distance company from its roots?
---Rebuttal: No. Because it is not a transformation but expansion. Ferris will remain a leading aircraft producer. Now with the access to LexCorp advanced technologies and LexCorp military contracts.
--Question: What will happen to my employees and me?
---Rebuttal: You still run Ferris Aerospace as you see fit (including staff management) as long as you follow the general strategy of LexCorp.
--Question: What about these terrorist attacks on your company? How will you keep my people safe?
---Rebuttal: These madmen seem fixated on me personally, only attacking the main Lexcorp building in our home city of Metropolis. Our holdings in California, Texas, and Kansas have not come under any attacks. And rest assured that we are actively working to end the danger.


[X] [reveal] Reveal a highly edited version of what you know about Ra's al Ghul to Lois Lane
[X] [Spray] Don't use the pheromone spray
[X] [Talia] Work regularly with Talia but don't let her in your inner circle

I am against being too careful with Talia. This option looks like a good start. Maybe later we'll trust her more and get a good hero unit. Going proxy makes it far harder to achieve
 
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[X] [reveal] Reveal a highly edited version of what you know about Ra's al Ghul to Lois Lane
[X] [Spray] Don't use the pheromone spray
[X] Plan Integration
[X] [Talia] Work through proxies with Talia
 
[X] [reveal] Reveal a highly edited version of what you know about Ra's al Ghul to Lois Lane
[X] [Spray] Don't use the pheromone spray
[X] Plan Dream
[X] [Talia] Work regularly with Talia but don't let her in your inner circle
 
[X] [reveal] Reveal a highly edited version of what you know about Ra's al Ghul to Lois Lane
[X] [Spray] Don't use the pheromone spray
[X] Plan Dream
[X] [Talia] Let Talia into your inner circle but keep an eye on her
 
[X] [reveal] Reveal a highly edited version of what you know about Ra's al Ghul to Lois Lane
[X] [Spray] Don't use the pheromone spray
[X] Plan Dream
[X] [Talia] Work through proxies with Talia
 
[X] [reveal] Reveal a highly edited version of what you know about Ra's al Ghul to Lois Lane
[X] [Spray] Don't use the pheromone spray
[X] Plan Integration
[X] [Talia] Work through proxies with Talia
 
[X] [reveal] Reveal a highly edited version of what you know about Ra's al Ghul to Lois Lane
[X] [Spray] Don't use the pheromone spray
[X] Plan Integration
[X] [Talia] Work regularly with Talia but don't let her in your inner circle
 
Why I think that Dream is better than Integration:

- Calm and confident approach creates an impression of Luthor, who cares little about anything but money
- The message of "Welcome to the family" is way too generic and bland. She came to hear what plans Luthor has. Not that he is happy about the purchase, plan to make Ferris Aircrafts larger and ready to work together. All of this is quite obvious without Luthor's words. Dream gives a powerful message - I want to go space, your company can not only contribute but be a key element of LexCorp space program. Rebuttals of Dream handles her possible worries
- 3 different arguments dilute the effect of each of them. More is not better.
 
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I don't understand the reluctance in telling the full story to Lois about the league of Assassins. Also i'm sorry but that roll for the attack on the city was BS that bonus to them was unfairly high.
 
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[X] [reveal] Reveal a highly edited version of what you know about Ra's al Ghul to Lois Lane

[X] [Spray] Don't use the pheromone spray

[X] [Talia] Work through proxies with Talia
 
[X] [Spray] Don't use the pheromone spray
[X] Plan Integration
-Main approach: Calm and confident businessman
--Topic to hit: Welcome to the greater Lexcorp family
---Argument: You still run Ferris Aerospace under the Lexcorp umbrella with my backing (appeal to loyalty)
---Argument: Your existing military contacts and my existing military contacts allow for great synergy in the field (appeal to logic)
---Argument: My designs toward space exploration will propel Ferris to new heights, figurative and literal (appeal to aspirations)
--Question: What about these terrorist attacks on your company? How will you keep my people safe?
---Rebuttal: These madmen seem fixated on me personally, only attacking the main Lexcorp building in our home city of Metropolis. Our holdings in California, Texas, and Kansas have not come under any attacks. And rest assured that we are actively working to end the danger in toto.
--Question: If I now work for you what does that mean for me?
---Rebuttal: It means that you still have control over your employees and facilities, but access to my resources and expertise to fund them all and help drive innovation.
[X] [Talia] Work regularly with Talia but don't let her in your inner circle
 
[X] [reveal] Reveal a highly edited version of what you know about Ra's al Ghul to Lois Lane
[X] [Spray] Don't use the pheromone spray
[X] Plan Dream
[X] [Talia] Work regularly with Talia but don't let her in your inner circle
 
Thought of four new actions:

- [ ] Earn Doctorate/s (aka PHB majoring in anti-villainy, minor in anvilicious evil)

You already have forgotten more than most Tenured Professors will ever know, but if the example of Bruce Wanye and your interest in the mechanics of politics have taught you anything, the "optics" of your image matters in the court of public opinion. Right now you are a victim of your own success, as your business accomplishments overshadow your incredible intelligence and "Renaissance Man" appeal. Now, this is not always a disadvantage when you need to be underestimated, but as you step further into the limelight it may be more advantageous to attempt to throw off the persona of living condensed capitalism and show the world that you really are the apex of human potential. And in order to convince the ignorant and attention-short masses what better place to start than being titled Dr.Lex Luthor (shallow, you know, but what it takes to hold a headline these days - even among so-called "intellectuals"). You just need to fast track some course-projects, complete a few exams - provided nobody takes the time to try to sabotage or kill you and a crisis doesn't brew back at the Tower everything should be fine! Let's see how Ivo takes this slice of humble pie (and who more humble to give it)...

:V (Slight chance to provoke one-upmanship contest next turn with Ivo to see who can earn the greatest number of shiny plaques on the wall and - oh God were we meant to be productive this quarter!?!) :V

- [ ] Repurpose animal-AI for software use.

As a result of being developed while creating the A.M.A.Z.O project, the AI is based around piloting a machine, how the if not creativity, initiative (dare you to say intuitive?) and intelligence of the code could be used to make revolutionary software to play the stock market, manage huge databases, aviation, agriculture, speech recognition, self-driving or assisted-driving cars, articles and predicting sales, medical diagnostics and monitoring, business management, customer support 24/7, facial and emotional recognition, better search engines, chatbots, filters of fake reviews, more efficient planning, - what it couldn't do it could assist a human do. A billion variants would be severely underselling the potential of this product, but first, you need to lay the foundational rewrites. Granted you may need to work on creating better computers so that even supercomputer owners have the hardware to run a program as complex as this but the rewards will pay you back a thousand-fold.

NOTE: These last two options may be too controversial, but as an arms dealer I thought these options were justified to propose. There is overlap between the reasoning of donating to gun-rights groups and selling domestically so maybe they could be rolled together, or perhaps I missed an option intended to fulfil the same purpose - it's your call, King.

- [ ] Donate to gun-rights groups

The bombings in Metropolis have proven, now more than ever citizens need to stay safe, so not only promote but keep the legislation open for citizens to buy your weapons with as few restrictions as possible (domestic market in America is like no other). Also helps make your security... unique firepower capabilities less legally ambiguous plus give your less than legal employees more options that need fewer questions. Of course, you can shop for more moderate groups to donate to if you feel that you could lose control at a point - the specifics a]can change to suit you. It would help play into an "all-American hero narrative" to a demographic that is already inclined towards you as the leading defence contractor in the country, which could perhaps be the foundations of the all-important political base in American politics.

- [ ] Sell weapons domestically

Work on improving your weapon business by expanding into the civilian market. Helps make it easier for totally rogue (not connected to you at all, no siree) criminal actors have explanations for why they are armed with the best of LexCorp. Blame Congress, not honest hard-working Americans serving the free market! Commies.

Also, my votes are:

[X] [reveal] Reveal a highly edited version of what you know about Ra's al Ghul to Lois Lane

This is a warning to Ra that things are getting deathly serious - if he keeps this up we will pull no more punches. But I want to leave the opportunity for us to deescalate because he could be a very useful ally, at least in the medium term (not to mention we could play Batman and Ra against each other).

[X] [Spray] Don't use the pheromone spray

She is already greatly indebted (in her mind, no less) to us and we don't anything to suggest radically different from what she was already doing (she already sells to the military and would be delighted to move in on space industry) and the spray wouldn't work on what is inconceivable for her - so it seems low reward, high risk to use the spray - diminishing returns. If we hadn't rolled so well I may have been willing to take the risk.

[X] [Talia] Work regularly with Talia but don't let her in your inner circle

If this relationship is going to be salvaged between us and the League then we need to take more risk, but the fact she tried to infiltrate our organisation as a first resort makes me feel a little uneasy (plus how our almost nemesis is her farther...), so this is where we need to be right now, close enough to start to really collaborate but distant enough that the backlash isn't crippling.

We should also think of really beefing up our security (in particular replace our lost goons and then some) and selling to the government next turn to increase our edge over the League. Plus, now is the perfect opportunity to be the saviour of Metropolis and found our construction company, repairing and improving Metropolis perhaps with a discount for those without home insurance to earn some extra hero points.

Woo, longest post I've ever written. Ask me if anything doesn't make sense.
 
Why there is so little actual discussion or proposals regarding the speech? It is quite important. Should we do well, we'll get a good cooperation score with our new hero unit.
 
Negentropy said:
Thought of four new actions:

- [ ] Earn Doctorate/s (aka PHB majoring in anti-villainy, minor in anvilicious evil)

You already have forgotten more than most Tenured Professors will ever know, but if the example of Bruce Wanye and your interest in the mechanics of politics have taught you anything, the "optics" of your image matters in the court of public opinion. Right now you are a victim of your own success, as your business accomplishments overshadow your incredible intelligence and "Renaissance Man" appeal. Now, this is not always a disadvantage when you need to be underestimated, but as you step further into the limelight it may be more advantageous to attempt to throw off the persona of living condensed capitalism and show the world that you really are the apex of human potential. And in order to convince the ignorant and attention-short masses what better place to start than being titled Dr.Lex Luthor (shallow, you know, but what it takes to hold a headline these days - even among so-called "intellectuals"). You just need to fast track some course-projects, complete a few exams - provided nobody takes the time to try to sabotage or kill you and a crisis doesn't brew back at the Tower everything should be fine! Let's see how Ivo takes this slice of humble pie (and who more humble to give it)...

:V (Slight chance to provoke one-upmanship contest next turn with Ivo to see who can earn the greatest number of shiny plaques on the wall and - oh God were we meant to be productive this quarter!?!) :V

- [ ] Repurpose animal-AI for software use.

As a result of being developed while creating the A.M.A.Z.O project, the AI is based around piloting a machine, how the if not creativity, initiative (dare you to say intuitive?) and intelligence of the code could be used to make revolutionary software to play the stock market, manage huge databases, aviation, agriculture, speech recognition, self-driving or assisted-driving cars, articles and predicting sales, medical diagnostics and monitoring, business management, customer support 24/7, facial and emotional recognition, better search engines, chatbots, filters of fake reviews, more efficient planning, - what it couldn't do it could assist a human do. A billion variants would be severely underselling the potential of this product, but first, you need to lay the foundational rewrites. Granted you may need to work on creating better computers so that even supercomputer owners have the hardware to run a program as complex as this but the rewards will pay you back a thousand-fold.

NOTE: These last two options may be too controversial, but as an arms dealer I thought these options were justified to propose. There is overlap between the reasoning of donating to gun-rights groups and selling domestically so maybe they could be rolled together, or perhaps I missed an option intended to fulfil the same purpose - it's your call, King.

- [ ] Donate to gun-rights groups

The bombings in Metropolis have proven, now more than ever citizens need to stay safe, so not only promote but keep the legislation open for citizens to buy your weapons with as few restrictions as possible (domestic market in America is like no other). Also helps make your security... unique firepower capabilities less legally ambiguous plus give your less than legal employees more options that need fewer questions. Of course, you can shop for more moderate groups to donate to if you feel that you could lose control at a point - the specifics a]can change to suit you. It would help play into an "all-American hero narrative" to a demographic that is already inclined towards you as the leading defence contractor in the country, which could perhaps be the foundations of the all-important political base in American politics.

- [ ] Sell weapons domestically

Work on improving your weapon business by expanding into the civilian market. Helps make it easier for totally rogue (not connected to you at all, no siree) criminal actors have explanations for why they are armed with the best of LexCorp. Blame Congress, not honest hard-working Americans serving the free market! Commies.

Also, my votes are:

[X] [reveal] Reveal a highly edited version of what you know about Ra's al Ghul to Lois Lane

This is a warning to Ra that things are getting deathly serious - if he keeps this up we will pull no more punches. But I want to leave the opportunity for us to deescalate because he could be a very useful ally, at least in the medium term (not to mention we could play Batman and Ra against each other).

[X] [Spray] Don't use the pheromone spray

She is already greatly indebted (in her mind, no less) to us and we don't anything to suggest radically different from what she was already doing (she already sells to the military and would be delighted to move in on space industry) and the spray wouldn't work on what is inconceivable for her - so it seems low reward, high risk to use the spray - diminishing returns. If we hadn't rolled so well I may have been willing to take the risk.

[X] [Talia] Work regularly with Talia but don't let her in your inner circle

If this relationship is going to be salvaged between us and the League then we need to take more risk, but the fact she tried to infiltrate our organisation as a first resort makes me feel a little uneasy (plus how our almost nemesis is her farther...), so this is where we need to be right now, close enough to start to really collaborate but distant enough that the backlash isn't crippling.

We should also think of really beefing up our security (in particular replace our lost goons and then some) and selling to the government next turn to increase our edge over the League. Plus, now is the perfect opportunity to be the saviour of Metropolis and found our construction company, repairing and improving Metropolis perhaps with a discount for those without home insurance to earn some extra hero points.

Woo, longest post I've ever written. Ask me if anything doesn't make sense.
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Click to shrink...
Gun rights write in accepted. (Animal AI cannot be repurposed, Ivo simply doesn't care about degrees seeing as he is automatically convinced he is the smartest and the option of [ ] sell close to home already exists. You've earned 100 exp.
 
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Can't say that I am in love with my proposal for the speech, some refinement would be nice. But I actively dislike Integration

My problem with the current leading speech plan is that it basically repeats what was written in the update:

Carol Ferris now feels personally indebted to you and is incredibly loyal to the LexCorp brand which has not only saved her family's company but also possibly elevated it to new heights. Miss Ferris has decided to fly out from Coast City on the opposite side of the country to speak with you about what new directions you have in mind for Ferris Aircraft

Results: Ferris Aircraft acquired. Ferris Aircraft expanded to a much larger size. Hero unit Carol Ferris gained (I'll put her stats up after the meeting with her). Ferris' Future subvote unlocked.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Compare this to the wording of the Integration plan. It almost repeats the text above. Carol arrives at Lex Tower to hear what she already knows. That Ferris now will be a part of LexCorp (she knows that), That Lex is happy about the purchase (she knows that) that LexCorp will bring money for growth (LexCorp already did it) and new customers (she should understand that). The only new things she'll get are that she'll get higher autonomy then she may have expected and that Ferris will be slightly involved in the space program. And what do we want to achieve with an emotionless delivery of calm and confident businessman?
 
[X] [reveal] Reveal a highly edited version of what you know about Ra's al Ghul to Lois Lane
[X] [Spray] Don't use the pheromone spray
[X] Plan Dream
[X] [Talia] Work regularly with Talia but don't let her in your inner circle
 
[X] [reveal] Reveal a highly edited version of what you know about Ra's al Ghul to Lois Lane
[X] [Spray] Don't use the pheromone spray
[X] Plan Dream
[X] [Talia] Work regularly with Talia but don't let her in your inner circle
 
Thanks for the exp! I would like to spend 100 exp on intrigue.

King crimson said:
[ ] Sell close to home
DC 35 The United States government likes having shiny new toys and LexCorp sells only the best. Sell some of your newest stock to make some money and earn some friends in the military.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Sorry to bother you but just to clarify, I thought that the close to home option focused exclusively on selling to the US government, while I was suggesting an action to focus selling to the US civilian population - is that covered in the close to home action?

Also, I meant the competition with Ivo as a joke, my bad, I didn't make that clear enough - what I was suggesting is that as a PR move to cement our image as a man of science in the public's eye Lex could fast track one or more PhD/PhB's (depending on degrees of success). It's just a diplomacy stunt really to help project ourselves as intelligent (as let's face it most people will make a judgement when they see the Dr. in front of your name on a title card), us like our green promises (from a purely PR standpoint) show our commitment to environmentalism.

Just wanted to clarify this is what I meant in case it came out wrong on my previous post.
 
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[X] [reveal] Reveal a highly edited version of what you know about Ra's al Ghul to Lois Lane
[X] [Spray] Don't use the pheromone spray
[X] Plan Dream
[X] [Talia] Let Talia into your inner circle but keep an eye on her
 
[X] [reveal] Reveal a highly edited version of what you know about Ra's al Ghul to Lois Lane
[X] [Spray] Don't use the pheromone spray
[X] Plan Integration
[X] [Talia] Work through proxies with Talia
 
[X] [reveal] Reveal a highly edited version of what you know about Ra's al Ghul to Lois Lane
[X] [Spray] Don't use the pheromone spray
[X] Plan Dream
[X] [Talia] Work regularly with Talia but don't let her in your inner circle
 
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Beginning
  • Sidestory
    • Beginning​
    He had grown complacent.

    That is what Lex thought as he watched Metropolis burning from the security room of LexCorp. His city was burning. His city.

    All because some man with delusions of grandeur in a far-away country hadn't bothered to do his due diligence before starting a shadow war. And all because Lex had not taken the threat particularly seriously. He should have known better.

    After all of the books on military strategy he had pored over, all the biographies he read about great military strategists, and his own weapons designs, he should have internalized: a war of pure defense did not work. The results of his own attempt at making a Maginot Line in Metropolis laid bare: killed security guards, burning buildings, and the screams of civilians. Mercy, at least, was attempting to minimize the losses to all.

    After the worst had died down, he thanked Mercy for all her work. She'd discovered that the entire attack on the city was but an attempt to put Lex's defenses on the backfoot in an attempt to assassinate him. Another reminder of the ruthlessness of the enemy.

    And, Lex sat at his desk and saw the messages awaiting him. Communications from all over- Lois Lane was demanding information on Ra's Al Ghul so that she could let her readers know what was going on. Leave it to a reporter to try to get more readers in the middle of an attack. But...she could have her uses. Something to think about.

    According to the television new President was set to make a public speech at the White House regarding the largest terrorist attack on United States soil. Lex knew that the government was going to get involved in this no-longer shadow war. No President could allow such a blatant attack on US soil from a foreign element.

    But, mostly, Lex planned. Possibilities and plans arose and were debated in his mind as he considered the best course to take with what he had on hand. Because, right now, he could not end the war with Ra's Al Ghul even had there been a peace offering. Lex had been publicly attacked. If he were to endure it without taking his own pound of flesh, no one would fear him. While Lex demanded respect and desired adoration, he needed fear. It was what prevented possible enemies from striking out in the first place.

    Lex needed to make a statement in action- in blood. Perhaps not publicly. But, before this war was over, these League of Assassins needed to be shown that poking at Lex Luthor wasn't poking at a bear- it was poking at the Red Button.

    And so, he began to plan. And so, it began.
     
    Last edited:
  • Sidestory
    • [X] [reveal] Reveal a highly edited version of what you know about Ra's al Ghul to Lois Lane
    [X] [Spray] Don't use the pheromone spray
    [X] [Talia] Work through proxies with Talia
    [X] Plan Dream

    We really want to recruit veterans next turn and kit them in all the tech / prosthetics we got. They dealt with battlefield and terrorism before.
     
    And idea to get police reputation up while also bolstering our own employee's morale after people died:

    [ ] Metropolis Heros' Fund: Started and funded by Lex Luthor after the attack on Metropolis, this fund's purpose is to look after the families of those who gave their lives while in service to LexCorp or while in service to law enforcement.
     
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