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Battle Action Harem Highschool Side Character Quest (No SV, you are the Waifu)

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[X] Randomly generated scenario
[X] Difficult
[X]Hold back. Allow the others to do most of the work, see if Sandra can put her money where her mouth is. You're still going to intervene if you see one of them in danger though.

I don't see why we want to traumatize Anna so soon into her new flightmates.
 
[X]Battle of Britain (Survival/Objective. Hold the island until the first of the 300 frames arrive.)
[X]Hold back. Allow the others to do most of the work, see if Sandra can put her money where her mouth is. You're still going to intervene if you see one of them in danger though.
 
Redshirt Army said:
Guys. You're looking at this wrong. What gets more focus put on us: showing off in a simulator now and inevitably getting worfed later, or holding back, combined with our reluctance to be a role model or fight humans, and our general mysteriousness, spawning a sub-plot where the MC tries to discover our past and help us overcome our trauma?

Beyond that, it keeps our exact full power level vague, which is very good for us, prevents a potential PTSD meltdown, let's the newbies get more practice in, and will piss off Sandra after her bit about trusting them, which is ripe subplot material for which the resolution should coincide with us being freaking sweet.
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On the flip side of this however is that so far BAHHSCQ seems to be avoiding age old tropes like that. Instead of a generic MC Koji feels like he is an actual character with depth. Instead of the Tsundere getting to beat on the MC without any reaction she keeps getting Tsunblocked. Instead of the MC's Limit Break letting him pull out a win in a no win scenario he still loses.

I could go on. My point is that while we should absolutely be aware of the narrative nature of the quest setting we should also remember that our universe's tropes do not necessarily apply. Instead we seem to be getting more reasonable takes on tropes.

So given that the whole "Worf Effect" trope never made any sense, to me at least, since if the threat is serious enough that the strongest character gets utterly owned then frankly everyone else is screwed. After all the strongest character is the strongest character. There is no, reasonable, way anyone else could defeat an enemy they could not, barring certain character only weaknesses like Kryptonite.

Therefore I doubt we'll see the "Worf Effect" here. Instead I think we'll see them taking advantage of the plethora of named characters. Take Zoe Hermann for example. The "Other Ace" is mentioned a couple times in Koji's presence and just recently got named on screen. Odds are she'll show up in the Tournament as well.

She would be the perfect character to use to demonstrate how serious the situation is. Show her, and maybe her entire squad, dying on screen. It will definitely hammer home how dangerous the situation is, after all Aces were literally described on screen as Symbols of Hope. Have one die casually, no epic battle just a single attack blowing through her Impeller Field, would easily make the point that combat is risky and that people die with no warning or reason.
 
[X] Randomly generated scenario
[X] Difficult
[X] As this is a training exercise, ask Sandra if she wants Shuri and us to hold back a bit.

There's arguments for going all out and arguments for holding back. I'm on the side of holding back in most training, because Anna needs to learn how to fight as part of a team1​ and all the non-Aces need the combat practice. But we need to let the Flight know if what we show in the sim is our full ability;2​ knowing what teammates can do is essential. It'd be polite to let the Flight leader make the call this time.

Voting for Random Scenario because 'we already know what's going to happen' is never going to apply to a real combat.

1​ Which she has never done in all her ridiculous badass Alaska fighting years. Someone with Ace-level skills (let alone Anna-level skills) and no teamwork experience is almost certainly unprecedented, and that's probably going to be the biggest gap in Anna's skills for the foreseeable future.
2 ​As far as a sim can allow.
 
[X]Future Simulated Scenarios (Varies)
[X]Manifest Destiny (The West Coast is now under human control. With only the major breaches left and isolated, clear a path to the East Coast of the North American Continent.)

[X]Use everything. No mercy, no calculus, no hesitation. No risk to the others. All you need is kill.

Here's the thing: our votes have been consistently very passive and milquetoast-ish. I think Anna needs to cut loose a little bit and do something to cut off some of the walking over she's been receiving socially. Forcing somebody to be nice all the time risks some kind of furious temper snap at some point in the future, and also risks making us boring for the viewers.

Sandra wants to talk a big game about catching up with us? Let's show her what the mountaintop looks like.

Strategically, this would also serve to cement our status as alpha badass before we fade into the background during the tournament arc.
 
[X]Historic Scenarios (Difficult to Impossible)
-[X] Uralsk Massacre (Survival/Objective. First human attack on a Breach. Succeed.)
[X] Since there are two aces in the flight now, would you like Shuri and I to hold back further? Or should we stop for the next exercise and decide after that?

Or any vote as long as Vae Victis doesn't win.
Cassiemouse said:
It's a matter of approach. I tend to see quests as stories rather than games. I think it would interesting to read about Anna flipping out.
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Yes, I agree that it would be very interesting to read... as an omake.

However, Anna having a fucking breakdown has severe consequences far beyond the next fucking update. She goes apeshit? She loses whatever improvements she had gained over the past few days. She alienates the rest of her flight due to how dangerous and unstable she is. Her failing to defend her teammates just reinforces her (unhealthy) mindset that they shouldn't depend on her to save and support them.

Worst case/nat 1 scenario is that she goes full-on berserk, wrecks the simulator, and possibly grievously hurt someone in the flight before she's restrained or regains control.

Again, interesting to read for an update, but I would hate having to cleanup from the fallout for the rest of the anime's season.
 
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[X] Randomly generated scenario
[X] Difficult
[X] Since there are two aces in the flight now, would you like Shuri and I to hold back further? Or should we stop for the next exercise and decide after that?

Sandra is our flight leader now, so asking her about holding back seems like the right thing to do. If we defeat every enemy on our own the other less experienced flight members aslo won't learn aynthing.
 
[X]Historic Scenarios (Difficult to Impossible)
-[X] Uralsk Massacre (Survival/Objective. First human attack on a Breach. Succeed.)
[X] Since there are two aces in the flight now, would you like Shuri and I to hold back further? Or should we stop for the next exercise and decide after that?
 
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[X] Randomly generated scenario
[X] Difficult
[X]Hold back. Allow the others to do most of the work, see if Sandra can put her money where her mouth is. You're still going to intervene if you see one of them in danger though.
 
Cassiemouse said:
I disagree. I would like to deal with the fallout from that. :)
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Then I guess we disagree on what direction, tone, and subject matter the quest should focus on, and that's the end of the discussion.

E: I'm not saying you're wrong: personal preferences can't be wrong, for one, and plenty of people like darker toned material - that's why tragedies exist. But I'm not going to convince you, you probably aren't going to convince me, and the direction of the quest will be decided by majority rules anyway, so further discussion is pointless.
 
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[X]Historic Scenarios (Difficult to Impossible)
-[X] Uralsk Massacre (Survival/Objective. First human attack on a Breach. Succeed.)
[X] Since there are two aces in the flight now, would you like Shuri and I to hold back further? Or should we stop for the next exercise and decide after that?
 
[X]Historic Scenarios (Difficult to Impossible)
-[X]Once more unto the Breach (Objective. The Elazig Breach is ahead, Type Zero Indra is behind. Destroy the Breach before you are destroyed.)
-[X]Hold back. Allow the others to do most of the work, see if Sandra can put her money where her mouth is. You're still going to intervene if you see one of them in danger though.
 
[X]Uralsk Massacre (Survival/Objective. First human attack on a Breach. Succeed.)
[X]Use everything. No mercy, no calculus, no hesitation. No risk to the others. All you need is kill.
 
Cassiemouse said:
I disagree. I would like to deal with the fallout from that. :)
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...usually it's the GM's job to introduce conflict (of various forms) into the quest to keep things interesting. But hey, if you want to pile more shit from entirely avoidable circumstances on top of all that, be my guest.

Me? I'm far more interested in watching (and helping) Anna reintegrate into society, form lasting friendships with her peers, help Koujiro and Setsuna grow into Aces, and have Anna eventually forgive herself for her failure and move on from the 8000+ ghosts haunting her from her past.
 
[X] Randomly generated scenario
[X] Difficult
[X] Since there are two aces in the flight now, would you like Shuri and I to hold back further? Or should we stop for the next exercise and decide after that?
 
defenestrator said:
...usually it's the GM's job to introduce conflict (of various forms) into the quest to keep things interesting. But hey, if you want to pile more shit from entirely avoidable circumstances on top of all that, be my guest.

Me? I'm far more interested in watching (and helping) Anna reintegrate into society, form lasting friendships with her peers, help Koujiro and Setsuna grow into Aces, and have Anna eventually forgive herself for her failure and move on from the 8000+ ghosts haunting her from her past.
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That is fine. They are the one writing the quest so what actually happens is up to them. I just try to pick options that will be interesting for me to read. :)
 
[X]Battle of Britain (Survival/Objective. Hold the island until the first of the 300 frames arrive.)
[X]Use everything. No mercy, no calculus, no hesitation. No risk to the others. All you need is kill.


Err. Guys, junior valks won't be able to handle difficult-to-impossible runs. If you voting for one of those, wouldn't that be explicitly to let Anna and Shuri run wild?
 
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The other thing I think is worth noting is that being kind and pleasant to be around and generally competent was the best way to get to the level of relevance Anna's at now, but if she wants to go past that she's going to have to have some kind of drama. Having difficulty treating simulators like a game (kind of a reverse Ender's Game situation) is consistent with her character, relatively safe, and keeps us out of the role of the boringly competent teammate.
 
[X] Randomly generated scenario
[X] Difficult
[X] Since there are two aces in the flight now, would you like Shuri and I to hold back further? Or should we stop for the next exercise and decide after that?

I guess just asking is better and if there is a chance we wont cut lose we shouldnt do a hard historic mission.
 
Just going to point out that earlier we had this whole discussion about little sisters and all that...

We had like hopeful training thoughts for the future. Anna getting better...

And then people go "TRAUMA. YEAH LET'S CAUSE SOME SORT OF FALLOUT."

...


Seriously guys. Seriously? There's also not that much point going full out if we want them to get better at it themselves instead of us doing everything for them. We'll ask at least for this one.


Need I remind you how Anna treats friendly fire in the past. Need I remind you how Anna has trouble with Sims? Let's not upgrade that with *TYPE ZERO* killing our scrubby teammates. That just reads like horrible results. DICE ARE ROLLED IN THIS QUEST. SOCIAL ONES, and d52's and stuff. KEEP THAT IN MIND.



[X] Randomly generated scenario
[X] Difficult
[X] Since there are two aces in the flight now, would you like Shuri and I to hold back further? Or should we stop for the next exercise and decide after that?
 
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[X] Randomly generated scenario
[X] Difficult
[X] Since there are two aces in the flight now, would you like Shuri and I to hold back further? Or should we stop for the next exercise and decide after that?
 
jacobk said:
The other thing I think is worth noting is that being kind and pleasant to be around and generally competent was the best way to get to the level of relevance Anna's at now, but if she wants to go past that she's going to have to have some kind of drama. Having difficulty treating simulators like a game (kind of a reverse Ender's Game situation) is consistent with her character, relatively safe, and keeps us out of the role of the boringly competent teammate.
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I am not sure how the character relevance system works but that does seem like a good point. Using our tragic past and current trauma to pull the focus of the story more towards us would seem to be an option. Making your characters suffer is a time honored tradition among writers. :)
 
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