Tally incoming
Adhoc vote count started by Conjured Blade on May 23, 2020 at 11:50 PM, finished with 54 posts and 26 votes.
 
Second point. It's been established that Astral Denizens can spawn lesser creatures. Whatever it is they're hunting, their darkness armor may well be the optimal gear to use against it.

Benign explanation: They're a whaling party targeting Astral Denizens, and we looked too much like one from a distance. The Black Flag is like the flag of the Emirate of Afghanistan from 1880 to 1901.

Edit: Extending on this further, there were actual lesser astral denizens we were fighting on top of the mech to confound the issue. This being a misunderstanding is entirely within the realm of possibility, why else would we be getting Arete for a wise decision for not continuing the fight?
 
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A whaling party with harpoons meat for boarding? Be serious. The very fact that they attacked us immediately and only asked to negotiate when they started losing makes their bad intentions evident. If they were a "whaling party", clearly they were just dandy with killing us and taking our stuff, so why wouldn't we treat them like pirates.
 
A whaling party with harpoons meat for boarding? Be serious. The very fact that they attacked us immediately and only asked to negotiate when they started losing makes their bad intentions evident. If they were a "whaling party", clearly they were just dandy with killing us and taking our stuff, so why wouldn't we treat them like pirates.

I don't know if you caught my most recent edit, but there were literally actual lesser astral denizens confounding the issue. Also, what is the difference between a harpoon meant for boarding and a harpoon meant for whaling? What data in the update is there about the harpoons to extrapolate they were specifically meant as boarding tools?

Finally... I'd like to refer you to the case of Pyke from League of Legends. A harpooner who launched himself at his targets to butcher them while they were still alive. The trope exists, they could be a band that hunts in a similar manner. This is the Rihakuverse. You need a lot of firepower to bring down some creatures.

leagueoflegends.fandom.com

Pyke

A renowned harpooner from the slaughter docks of Bilgewater, Pyke should have met his death in the belly of a gigantic jaull-fish; and yet, he returned. Now, stalking the dank alleys and backways of his former hometown, he uses his new supernatural gifts to bring a swift and gruesome end to...
 
As he spoke, the ship continued to approach, gaining with impetuous speed. A set of powerfully launched grappling hooks shot out from the shadowy figures on its deck, latching onto pits, gouges, and crevices in Verschlengorge's armor. As presumptive boarders began making their way up the ropes, he ran down, severing one on his way, and tucked the Forebear's Blade between his teeth as he grabbed another. With his open hand he rode the rope down, the friction sting of passage burning through his gauntlet, and leapt to land heavily on the deck, ruinous force splintering the site of impact. The ship unbalanced, heaving as if roiled.

Malice directed specifically at us was never conclusively established. We Action heroed our way onto their ship armed and started wrecking their shit before they could actually do anything, the rest is self defense and apocrypha bullshit.
 
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I think one issue you guys may be running into is an overestimation of how much mitigation Unburdening is going to get you, and furthermore the value of the mitigation you are getting. What's important in a time- and safety-limited environment like this is spending every resource you get in an efficient way that directly contributes to your chances of overall success. If you're going to mitigate the Decimator's for some time by (presumably) killing this guy, why then triple down on Unburdening as well when half of its mitigation will be less relevant for some number of days?

Conversely, getting physical power or political knowledge are areas with low-hanging fruit. While I know it can be difficult to maintain strategic focus across the voterbase for prolonged periods of time, that is one of the benefits of argument and omake power! It's true that curses are bad. Their badness can be addressed by mitigation (on a superexponential curve) or having enough power (personal, political, mental) to deal with their shit. Ideally you combine the two solutions for compound reward.

Similarly, your vote on No Quarter vs Prudence Dictates will decide the degree of aggression Hunger demonstrates against the continuous threats Verschlengorge attracts. A more aggressive posture here could result in great rewards as the ring feeds and Hunger resolves some of his trauma, but it also means he's the type of person to take such risks. A favorable risk in isolation will still grind you down if you take too many coinflips, or injure you for truly critical fights. You were lucky that this Apocryphal proc was easy enough to deal with and you can certainly fight worthy opponents outside of Aprocryphal procs that are designed to dredge up Hunger's traumas and provoke him under unfavorable circumstances. Consider carefully!
 
[X] Prudence Dictates
[X] Knowledge

I would stick by Unburdened if Prudence Dictates were doing better, but since No Quarter has a sizable lead I will switch my vote to an option that better accomodates it.
 
Malice directed specifically at us was never conclusively established. We Action heroed our way onto their ship armed and started wrecking their shit before they could actually do anything, the rest is self defense and apocrypha bullshit.

Why the hell did they keep attacking when we boarded then? If they are here to hunt presumably non-human entities, having a human board on would be a pretty giant red flag, to say the least. I don't think they would fail to recognize an Armament either.
I think one issue you guys may be running into is an overestimation of how much mitigation Unburdening is going to get you, and furthermore the value of the mitigation you are getting. What's important in a time- and safety-limited environment like this is spending every resource you get in an efficient way that directly contributes to your chances of overall success. If you're going to mitigate the Decimator's for some time by (presumably) killing this guy, why then triple down on Unburdening as well when half of its mitigation will be less relevant for some number of days?

Conversely, getting physical power or political knowledge are areas with low-hanging fruit. While I know it can be difficult to maintain strategic focus across the voterbase for prolonged periods of time, that is one of the benefits of argument and omake power! It's true that curses are bad. Their badness can be addressed by mitigation (on a superexponential curve) or having enough power (personal, political, mental) to deal with their shit. Ideally you combine the two solutions for compound reward.

Similarly, your vote on No Quarter vs Prudence Dictates will decide the degree of aggression Hunger demonstrates against the continuous threats Verschlengorge attracts. A more aggressive posture here could result in great rewards as the ring feeds and Hunger resolves some of his trauma, but it also means he's the type of person to take such risks. A favorable risk in isolation will still grind you down if you take too many coinflips, or injure you for truly critical fights. You were lucky that this Apocryphal proc was easy enough to deal with and you can certainly fight worthy opponents outside of Aprocryphal procs that are designed to dredge up Hunger's traumas and provoke him under unfavorable circumstances. Consider carefully!

Well, I'm convinced.

[X] No Quarter
[X] Power


No rewards without risks. Considering the monumental nature of the task ahead; we can't afford to hang back. We essentially have 2 months for every planet we want to conquer; despite the large sum of years we were given, time is in fact of the essence. Ver called us here, so I also think it's wise to hear what he has to say, isn't it? The information he may provide might be more crucial than of any other social interaction. Let's draw upon that plot hook.
 
Why the hell did they keep attacking when we boarded then? If they are here to hunt presumably non-human entities, having a human board on would be a pretty giant red flag, to say the least. I don't think they would fail to recognize an Armament either.

We grievously damaged their ship with our entry and they paniced/assumed us malicious based on that, with the probability of something like that happening being enhanced because Apocrypha? They could be a native society that developed inside the gigantic artificial universe that hasn't seen an Armament before too.



Getting my case down here all in one post for the audience:

1. The Meaning of Black Flags is not a singular, multiversal constant, the Emirate of Afghanistan had a solid black flag from 1880 to 1901(List of black flags - Wikipedia).

2. Astral Denizens can spawn lesser creatures. There were lesser creatures on top of our mech that may have made the humans difficult to recognize. Our mech is a superpowered biotech abomination that probably has common ground with Astral denizens.

3. The Trope exists for people using harpoons to board giant sea creatures and butcher them while they're still alive per League of Legends and Pyke(Pyke).

4. The Creepy Armor and Electrified ballista bolts can be explained by it being the Rihakuverse and you need a lot of firepower for big game hunting.

5. Malice against us specifically was never conclusively established, we action heroed onto their ship and started wrecking their shit before they could actually do anything.

As he spoke, the ship continued to approach, gaining with impetuous speed. A set of powerfully launched grappling hooks shot out from the shadowy figures on its deck, latching onto pits, gouges, and crevices in Verschlengorge's armor. As presumptive boarders began making their way up the ropes, he ran down, severing one on his way, and tucked the Forebear's Blade between his teeth as he grabbed another. With his open hand he rode the rope down, the friction sting of passage burning through his gauntlet, and leapt to land heavily on the deck, ruinous force splintering the site of impact. The ship unbalanced, heaving as if roiled.

Benign Explanation: An Astral Denizen hunting boat with a flag like the flag of the Emirate of Afghanistan mistook us for prey given the Astral Denizens on our mech, or saw us and were trying to help us fight them off. They attempted to harpoon and board to start the butchering of the Astral Creature or join us in fighting the Astral Denizens, we action heroed onto their ship and started wrecking their shit before they could do anything. The rest is self defense on their part and Apocrypha bullshit.
 
We essentially have 2 months for every planet we want to conquer; despite the large sum of years we were given, time is in fact of the essence.
I don't think that's the right way to think of this. Conquering areas isn't a linear process because you can use the gains from one region to help concur further regions. It's probably exponential to start with, tapering off to n^3 as travel time to the front becomes the major limitation.
 
[X] Knowledge
[X] Prudence Dictates

I honestly don't understand this thread sometimes. We are in no hurry to mitigate our curse, we have a long time before it becomes an issue.

I would double down on power...if we had a build more well suited to it. As it is, going after power is risky, better to grab knowledge for now.
 
[x]Prudence Dictates
[x]Unburdening

[X] Knowledge
[X] Prudence Dictates

I honestly don't understand this thread sometimes. We are in no hurry to mitigate our curse, we have a long time before it becomes an issue.

I would double down on power...if we had a build more well suited to it. As it is, going after power is risky, better to grab knowledge for now.

Remember Rihaku's warning about the possibility of our magic sword getting us into trouble with law enforcement because Doom of the Tyrant?

Edit: Let's get that in here with link for context(A Simple Transaction I Original)
The real problems might arise when you get to civilization while carrying around a giant magic sword...

"Will you come quietly, sir?"

"...No."

But it's a great chance to level up with Hunger! At least eventually once they start sending worthy opponents...
 
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I don't think that's the right way to think of this. Conquering areas isn't a linear process because you can use the gains from one region to help concur further regions. It's probably exponential to start with, tapering off to n^3 as travel time to the front becomes the major limitation.

I think it is an useful reminder of the scale of our task, even if I agree with you. It's not like we can start conquering planets right now anyway.
Benign Explanation: An Astral Denizen hunting boat with a flag like the flag of the Emirate of Afghanistan mistook us for prey given the Astral Denizens on our mech, or saw us and were trying to help us fight them off. They attempted to harpoon and board to start the butchering of the Astral Creature or join us in fighting the Astral Denizens, we action heroed onto their ship and started wrecking their shit before they could do anything. The rest is self defense on their part and Apocrypha bullshit.
These benevolent Samaritans just harpooned onto the weakpoints of the Armament without even a word. In what world is that not hostile action? If they wanted to negotiate, wouldn't it be logical to do so when we were weakened by the attack of the creatures and needed help rather than when they risk losing their ship? It's pretty obvious that if they weren't in such a bad situation; they wouldn't have bothered to negotiate. Dude even hesitates before calling it a "misunderstanding".
Another thing, is why would Ballista bolts need to be electrified if they were targeting inorganic ships? What benefit would that provide?
Given the magical nature of the bolts, we cannot assume their effect upon inorganic material. Who knows what they would do.
I honestly don't understand this thread sometimes. We are in no hurry to mitigate our curse, we have a long time before it becomes an issue.

I would double down on power...if we had a build more well suited to it. As it is, going after power is risky, better to grab knowledge for now.
The Apocryphal Curse is already putting us into trouble lol

Grabbing power will always be risky because of Hunger; we can't just sit and train. We have to take the risk anyway.
 
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These benevolent Samaritans just harpooned onto the weakpoints of the Armament without even a word. In what world is that not hostile action? If they wanted to negotiate, wouldn't it be logical to do so when we were weakened by the attack of the creatures and needed help rather than when they risk losing their ship? It's pretty obvious that if they weren't in such a bad situation; they wouldn't have bothered to negotiate. Dude even hesitates before calling it a "misunderstanding"

Given the magical nature of the bolts, we cannot assume their effect upon inorganic material. Who knows what they would do.

For the Bolts, we've got material to extrapolate from here:

No time for games. He released the Blade from his mouth and caught it with his now-free hand, then turned and sent an arc of blade-wind through the grappling ropes, severing them at once. Pirates rushed at him, men in hauberks of dark plate wreathed in shadow, but he launched a second cleaving strike down into the ship itself, carving a great abscess in the hull to impede their movement.

Ignoring them, he turned to the ballista and began to saw away at the string of its bow. It was curiously resilient, thread the color of gold that bounced sprightily away from the edge of his sword, but he pinned it in place with a foot and it yielded swiftly enough.

By the time he had carved his way through, a number of pirates had crossed the gap. He grabbed a group of ballista bolts and hurled them, catching two in the stomach; they groaned piteously when skewered, golden lightning discharging through their forms. His work done, he kicked the remaining bolts overboard and dropped down the side of the ship, breaking his fall by jamming his blade into its hull, and made his way over to the earlier cut. A few dozen blows and he could split the ship in twain; such was the power of ruin embedded within the Forebear's Blade.

The men were wearing shadow plate hauberks, which can reasonably be considered Inorganic material. They pierced through the plate to shock the organic being inside. As for which world it's not hostile action in? The world where we weren't seen among the astral denizens on the mech.
 
The men were wearing shadow plate hauberks, which can reasonably be considered Inorganic material. They pierced through the plate to shock the organic being inside. As for which world it's not hostile action in? The world where we weren't seen among the astral denizens on the mech.
Gisena is often accused of many things, but being subtle is not among them. There is no way they didn't see her there. Why give them such an incredible benefit of the doubt? There were many, many ways to establish non-hostility with an unknown vessel; they chose precisely none of them. Not even any form of hail, the most basic away to communicate with other vessels. If they were there to help, why the hell not warn us of that fact?
 
Gisena is often accused of many things, but being subtle is not among them. There is no way they didn't see her there. Why give them such an incredible benefit of the doubt? There were many, many ways to establish non-hostility with an unknown vessel; they chose precisely none of them. Not even any form of hail, the most basic away to communicate with other vessels. If they were there to help, why the hell not warn us of that fact?
The Apocryphal Curse is a stern and harsh shackle.
 
Gisena is often accused of many things, but being subtle is not among them. There is no way they didn't see her there. Why give them such an incredible benefit of the doubt? There were many, many ways to establish non-hostility with an unknown vessel; they chose precisely none of them. Not even any form of hail, the most basic away to communicate with other vessels. If they were there to help, why the hell not warn us of that fact?

Gisena not being seen can be explained by Apocrypha bullshit as Aabcehmu mentioned.

As for the hailing explanation, for all we know the flag was the hail. Remember how I mentioned the meaning of Black Flags not being a multiversal constant?

What, is every person who wants to kill us just a misunderstood good guy given terminal brain damage by the Curse?

Insufficient data for a meaningful answer.
 
Yes, but there are zero mitigating circumstances here. If they were really non-hostile, they should have responded with non-hostility. Just a fucking scream would have been helpful.
As for the hailing explanation, for all we know the flag was the hail. Remember how I mentioned the meaning of Black Flags not being a multiversal constant?
That requires that both Letrizia didn't know that information and that they didn't bother waiting for a response because..? If they wanted to help, they don't need the harpoons, the mech can just give them a lift. Why even restrain the mech like that?
 
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