- Location
- Pindorama
Wow, the bullying is real. Just vote for whatever you like most @Microwave MKII, you've contributed enough to have everyone at least respect that. Don't worry about viability, we will sort this out ourselves.
A Simple Transaction I
- Thread starter Rihaku
- Start date
- Original
Aabcehmu
Confusion as a Natural State of Being
- Location
- Aurora, CO
- Pronouns
- Any/All
Man, looking over a bunch of vote colors from ASTI and EFB and trying to put together thematics for each color/combination of colors is so trippy. I don't know what patterns are real and what patterns are just me seeing things.
- Location
- a place
[X] Be the Change
[X] The Tower Itself
[X] Feat: Crown
There we go.
ImperatorV
The Laughing One
- Location
- The Voyaging Realm
Ugh. From a Not Dying perspective, Crown is terrible. If our Arete generation comes up short, we straight up lose. Crown is greedy, Intervention + Walls is guaranteed safety against Ber and likely against the Tower as well.
...In the interests of preventing the worse option from winning, and because I want Walls of Myth, here's what I'm going to do. I'm putting an Arete bounty on Change losing. If Change loses and Walls of Myth wins, I will write 2k or more words worth of Omakes, vote analysis, and other means of Arete generation every vote cycle until the Walls of Myth arc is completed.
If Change wins, OTOH, I'm leaving until the politics arc is over baring a sudden surge in my interest. If ya'll want to be super greedy over Rank of all things, you can generate your own darn discussion Arete.
Really, we bought Core Panoply, which is a potential-focused option that requires OaF to be made full use of. And then we voted Opalescent Tower, which was the riskier play. We do not need to follow those up with more greed and risk! We should take the safe option that gets us to OaF faster.
...In the interests of preventing the worse option from winning, and because I want Walls of Myth, here's what I'm going to do. I'm putting an Arete bounty on Change losing. If Change loses and Walls of Myth wins, I will write 2k or more words worth of Omakes, vote analysis, and other means of Arete generation every vote cycle until the Walls of Myth arc is completed.
If Change wins, OTOH, I'm leaving until the politics arc is over baring a sudden surge in my interest. If ya'll want to be super greedy over Rank of all things, you can generate your own darn discussion Arete.
Really, we bought Core Panoply, which is a potential-focused option that requires OaF to be made full use of. And then we voted Opalescent Tower, which was the riskier play. We do not need to follow those up with more greed and risk! We should take the safe option that gets us to OaF faster.
- Location
- a place
For what it's worth, I absolutely love politics arcs and had a lot of fun during those portions where that came up in the Temple Civ during and after our civil war stuff, which generated a bunch of discussion. I'm really looking forward to talking out different plans with you guys all over again.
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OctarineShrike
Avatar of Mandos
[x]Intervention Mk. 1
[x]The Tower Itself
[x]Towards Stranglethorn
[x]Honing
[x]The Tower Itself
[x]Towards Stranglethorn
[x]Honing
[X] Intervention Mk. I
[X] The Walls of Myth
[X] Towards Stranglethorn
Arete doesn't grow on trees, and throwing over half the price of Once and Future after a bonus we're not even guaranteed to get the full value of is unfortunate. If we select Stranglethorn here, between the Mk. I sidequest, encounters during our travels, and the Walls of Myth we should have acquired the entire advancement before we tackle the Tower. Hell, getting Stranglethorn actually improves the Tower's Errantry payout by 20%; the sooner we get it, the easier Rank farming is. Better still, this combination is actually Arete-positive with no need to lean on OOC considerations! The hardest part of saving up for an EFB is getting over the hump where we're stuck with a baker's dozen Arete, enough to afford any of the numerous temptations but too far from the goal for the SAVE snowball to start rolling. If we can just exercise a little spending discipline here, it'll soon be within striking range. OaF's external Rank is much more valuable than Crown's base increase, which might even diminish the Tower's payout; there's no better demonstration of diminishing Rank returns than Crown's cost.
The Walls of Myth offers juicy lore and secrets, potentially more Artifacts for our Panoply. Once and Future offers Forebear lore, which is to me more appealing than the massive Rank-up. Those topics are much more interesting fodder for reactions and speculation than the Elixir Sovereignty's politics, which I expect to be paradoxically dry. And are voters so eager to add another fiddly component to our build, another Trinity to work toward so soon after we liberated ourselves from the last one's spending constraints? 'We can't do that, it'll break Trinity; we have to save for Silver.' Those arguments were as exasperating to write as they were to read. With Intervention Mk. I we can get some of the benefits of an allied polity without assuming formal responsibility for the Sovereignty's well-being. To quote Gisena:
That element of his personality can be advantageous when combined with the Doom of the Tyrant, but it also means that he will not blow off the Sovereignty, should Gondor call for aid. Not without a major change in his character for the worse. He will in fact prioritize their well-being, perhaps at the expense of other objectives. And the Apocryphal Curse, in its nigh-omniscience, will know this and act accordingly. Carefully consider whether long-term association with Hunger is actually in the Sovereignty's best interests, and whether you as a voter are okay with the long-term ramifications of committing to kingship. Heavy is the head that wears the Crown. We're Geas-bound to conquer one civilization already; there's no need to bind ourselves to another when we don't even get Remittance Value for it.
[X] The Walls of Myth
[X] Towards Stranglethorn
Arete doesn't grow on trees, and throwing over half the price of Once and Future after a bonus we're not even guaranteed to get the full value of is unfortunate. If we select Stranglethorn here, between the Mk. I sidequest, encounters during our travels, and the Walls of Myth we should have acquired the entire advancement before we tackle the Tower. Hell, getting Stranglethorn actually improves the Tower's Errantry payout by 20%; the sooner we get it, the easier Rank farming is. Better still, this combination is actually Arete-positive with no need to lean on OOC considerations! The hardest part of saving up for an EFB is getting over the hump where we're stuck with a baker's dozen Arete, enough to afford any of the numerous temptations but too far from the goal for the SAVE snowball to start rolling. If we can just exercise a little spending discipline here, it'll soon be within striking range. OaF's external Rank is much more valuable than Crown's base increase, which might even diminish the Tower's payout; there's no better demonstration of diminishing Rank returns than Crown's cost.
The Walls of Myth offers juicy lore and secrets, potentially more Artifacts for our Panoply. Once and Future offers Forebear lore, which is to me more appealing than the massive Rank-up. Those topics are much more interesting fodder for reactions and speculation than the Elixir Sovereignty's politics, which I expect to be paradoxically dry. And are voters so eager to add another fiddly component to our build, another Trinity to work toward so soon after we liberated ourselves from the last one's spending constraints? 'We can't do that, it'll break Trinity; we have to save for Silver.' Those arguments were as exasperating to write as they were to read. With Intervention Mk. I we can get some of the benefits of an allied polity without assuming formal responsibility for the Sovereignty's well-being. To quote Gisena:
But with Be the Change, they can. People want the power inherent in enshrining Hunger as their Sovereign, the fulfillment that comes with rekindling his dreams of democracy. That's understandable. But proclamations that he has achieved strength sufficient to succeed where his former self failed are wildly premature, when he's been a Cursebearer for three weeks. Also, remember that Hunger takes his obligations seriously. This is a defining trait of his, evident in everything from his interactions with the Accursed to his willingness to cede the Temple's Treasure to the Brutes had he but given his word to do so.
That element of his personality can be advantageous when combined with the Doom of the Tyrant, but it also means that he will not blow off the Sovereignty, should Gondor call for aid. Not without a major change in his character for the worse. He will in fact prioritize their well-being, perhaps at the expense of other objectives. And the Apocryphal Curse, in its nigh-omniscience, will know this and act accordingly. Carefully consider whether long-term association with Hunger is actually in the Sovereignty's best interests, and whether you as a voter are okay with the long-term ramifications of committing to kingship. Heavy is the head that wears the Crown. We're Geas-bound to conquer one civilization already; there's no need to bind ourselves to another when we don't even get Remittance Value for it.
Projectile
Thinking of Rabbits
- Location
- USA
[X] The Tower Itself
[X] Be the Change
[X] Feat: Crown (12 Arete)
Laissez-faire, is doomed at this point, so I'll go ahead and switch. There's no way I'm going to vote to put people we know nothing about other than that they made "several critical errors in business" in charge because they're related to a mercenary we hired. That's not even half-assed, it's one-sixteenth assed at best.
[X] Be the Change
[X] Feat: Crown (12 Arete)
Laissez-faire, is doomed at this point, so I'll go ahead and switch. There's no way I'm going to vote to put people we know nothing about other than that they made "several critical errors in business" in charge because they're related to a mercenary we hired. That's not even half-assed, it's one-sixteenth assed at best.
[X] Intervention Mk. I
[X] The Walls of Myth
[X] Towards Stranglethorn
Well I have been holding off on voting because it feels hard to get a grasp on what I really want and what people really want. I am tempted by become the change, and have less reservations about taking it with walls because Ber showing up while we are at the tower could be fun and it is not like it reduces the amount of time we have until Ber arrives, just where we will face him. That may not necessarily be a disadvantage if we can plan around it, though ultimately Hunger really doesn't know when Ber will be coming at him to my knowledge and it feels a bit too greedy. We may have other chances to truly reform the Elixer sovereignty but it is much more likely that we will never have another opportunity to see the walls.
All that aside is anyone else interested in cultivating an artifact from the beginning? That is making a new one whose power and legends derive from what we use it for as we create its history. While I love legendary artifacts, it is equally cool to see an artifact become legendary. Even though it would give little immediate power it would be super interesting.
[X] The Walls of Myth
[X] Towards Stranglethorn
Well I have been holding off on voting because it feels hard to get a grasp on what I really want and what people really want. I am tempted by become the change, and have less reservations about taking it with walls because Ber showing up while we are at the tower could be fun and it is not like it reduces the amount of time we have until Ber arrives, just where we will face him. That may not necessarily be a disadvantage if we can plan around it, though ultimately Hunger really doesn't know when Ber will be coming at him to my knowledge and it feels a bit too greedy. We may have other chances to truly reform the Elixer sovereignty but it is much more likely that we will never have another opportunity to see the walls.
All that aside is anyone else interested in cultivating an artifact from the beginning? That is making a new one whose power and legends derive from what we use it for as we create its history. While I love legendary artifacts, it is equally cool to see an artifact become legendary. Even though it would give little immediate power it would be super interesting.
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Zampano
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈
- Location
- Simping for DSB
Fan-Words pledged to each option:
I counted the contributions from the previous update cycle separately from the current one so that you can account for the decay function as the influence of those works falls off. I did not account for images or quality modifiers.
Though it's a fragile alliance, the Arete miners do mostly seem to be on-board for Change / Walls / Crown. Of course, a few strategic defections might eliminate this lead.
| Be the Change | Intervention | Walls | Tower | Crown | Stranglethorn | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Current Period | 8600 | 2350 | 5865 | 4298 | 8600 | 2350 |
| Previous Period (Decay x1) | 10721 | 3623 | 9123 | 5221 | 10721 | 3623 |
I counted the contributions from the previous update cycle separately from the current one so that you can account for the decay function as the influence of those works falls off. I did not account for images or quality modifiers.
Though it's a fragile alliance, the Arete miners do mostly seem to be on-board for Change / Walls / Crown. Of course, a few strategic defections might eliminate this lead.
[X] The Tower Itself
[X] Towards Stranglethorn
[X] Intervention Mk. I
A meh combo, but Tower itself needs a boost looking at the current winning set.
[X] Towards Stranglethorn
[X] Intervention Mk. I
A meh combo, but Tower itself needs a boost looking at the current winning set.
- Location
- a place
Actually, Rihaku straight up stated the opposite, that we could always see the walls on our way back as long as we don't deliberate destroy them.
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Elevating a random failed family to power to run our puppet state based entirely on nepotism from the handful of days we've spent with their daughter is a terrible idea. Either take over and run things right or leave entirely.
Intervention means that the family will forever be dependent on us for their power. They didn't earn and don't deserve that power, so they know that only the threat of our return keeps them from being deposed. They will be obedient lackeys, but I don't like the characterization. I'll do evil and corrupt for a lot of power but not for whatever piddling gains we get from this.
Intervention means that the family will forever be dependent on us for their power. They didn't earn and don't deserve that power, so they know that only the threat of our return keeps them from being deposed. They will be obedient lackeys, but I don't like the characterization. I'll do evil and corrupt for a lot of power but not for whatever piddling gains we get from this.
Aabcehmu
Confusion as a Natural State of Being
- Location
- Aurora, CO
- Pronouns
- Any/All
Technically he never said we had to destroy them deliberately, and IMO the possibility that we (or our enemies) will destroy them through collateral damage seems non-trivial.
- Location
- a place
Sure, but i'd say us never forming elxier after this vote is also pretty non-trivial as far as possibilities go. How much do you want to bet we'll ever head back to the Temple and turn them into the army in anything close to the medium term?
HoratioVonBecker
Imperfectly Aligned
Look, that's straight-up missing a piece. Intervention + Walls + Saving while at the walls, in the face of interesting and possibly synergistic magics, is guaranteed safety from Ber if Arete generation is sufficient.
Going to the Walls may also gate important tactical data behind learning the magic, offering a choice between death chance from Ber, and death chance from the Tower. Crown does provide some immediate safety from the Tower, quite possibly speeds travel a bit, and is a significant boost in several ways, current and future.
I am not voting for it. I think Stranglethorn is probably safer. But please, don't be so hard on it.
- Location
- a place
I'll also point that taking Be The Change and Stranglethorn is also a option. Change doesn't lock us into to spending the arete on crown.
Rihaku
The Internet
Well, they let Aeira travel with you, which is nothing less than a sign of great, even prescient, judgement! Consider - those very travels put them in position to potentially take control of the entire Sovereignty!
- Location
- a place
I know this is probably meant but like....hmm. Thinking on this it makes sense? Like, okay, Aeira is a very good combatant and field agent.Hunger is a insanely strong combatant even by the standards of the Sovereignty sentimentalists, travels along with a future imperial duchess with armanent, and another powerful magic user. The idea that she might pick up useful tactical information and alliances while going through the voyaging realm, with them and other cvilization, and possibly learning Hunger's secrets magics that made him so strong if she impressed him enough to make her his apprentice...
I can kind of see the thought process here? Might just be motivated cognition on my part though.
Projectile
Thinking of Rabbits
- Location
- USA
Don't fall for his circular logic, might as well toss out half the resumes you get without a glance because you don't want to hire unlucky people. Anyway, she had to badger them for a day straight to get permission, so I think it speaks more to Aeira's persuasiveness/initiative/foresight than her family's. So leave them out of it, let's just set her up as god-queen.
Author's note: Keikaku means plan
[X] Be the Change
[X] The Tower Itself
[X] Feat: Crown
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