- Location
- Voidbetweenstars
For everyone talking about winning the quest it should be reminded that their is a way to lose the quest other then dying, if we reach the end of school year 3 without getting 1 of the victory conditions we lose.
Battle Action Harem Highschool Side Character Quest (No SV, you are the Waifu)
- Thread starter Avalanche
- Start date
- Original
- Location
- Mountains and rivers
We just recently got the quote that says that.
Please don't doubt in our capacity for exponentially increasing dakka.
Check Anna's backstory; we're told the exact year she was born.
Suffice to say, that idea requires hideous amounts of retcon.
Well not HIDEOUS amounts. That could just be the official paperwork, since they have this seemingly 16 year old girl from a town that has literally NO paperwork to backtrack or ID someone from.
They were completely off the grid. Noone knew anything about them, how long they'd been isolated, etc.
But yea, not likely to happen.
- Location
- Mountains and rivers
... I don't think you fully understood what I meant by "Word of QM". It means it's canon. Not speculation, not official documents, it's canon as the author dictates.
How would they know all the circumstances of Anna's backstory otherwise? And official documents most certainly don't have that format.
That's one of the parts that I disliked, honestly.
I prefer it when the whole anime meta-plot works with the characters and world, instead of against it. Or less...artificial in what it induces.
I'm probably explaining myself wrong.
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Aioria
The Gold-fanged Lion
To me part of the problem is that there are several possible stories that could be told. But due to the way the Quest is structured and our own choices we are only getting one of those stories.
I dunno about you, but as interesting as Anna's struggle to reconnect with society is. I'd personally also be very interested in a story where Sandra did the best she could to help humanity be it through her connections or by being a valkyrie. Or one that focused on her struggles as Squadron Leader to take care of her flight. Or Shuri's time on Pakistan and how she is dealing with it in the present day. Or Yukari taking care of Koujirou and Setsuna and so on.
This is in good part because Anna's issues make it harder for her to get into everyone else's lives. But it still feels kinda dissapointing
I dunno about you, but as interesting as Anna's struggle to reconnect with society is. I'd personally also be very interested in a story where Sandra did the best she could to help humanity be it through her connections or by being a valkyrie. Or one that focused on her struggles as Squadron Leader to take care of her flight. Or Shuri's time on Pakistan and how she is dealing with it in the present day. Or Yukari taking care of Koujirou and Setsuna and so on.
This is in good part because Anna's issues make it harder for her to get into everyone else's lives. But it still feels kinda dissapointing
SolipsistSerpent
Endlessly Devouring
I rather suspect that's practically unavoidable, for a quest. Except maybe by having a setting that isn't rich enough to support more than one story.
- Location
- United States, EST
- Pronouns
- He/Him
...If I could go back in time to the me that first brought up the whole kerfuffle about not wanting to end the quest too soon via Relevance, I would smack that idiot. It has brought nothing but trouble. Can't we just play the quest and enjoy ourselves?
Random thought possibly brought on by sleepiness: it occurs to me that the whole deal about STRATNET actually speaks fairly highly of UN high command in its own way. Here's the computer system saying that throwing Anna at the front is the best, most logical choice, most likely to bring about a best-case scenario - maybe even an accelerated victory - for humanity overall. And here's the UN high command saying "no. We are going to make sure this girl gets as much of a life, as good treatment as we can provide for her. We are not going to hurl her back into a warzone when she so recently came out of so traumatizing an experience. This is a line we will not cross."
...I dunno, I thought it was a good sign.
Random thought possibly brought on by sleepiness: it occurs to me that the whole deal about STRATNET actually speaks fairly highly of UN high command in its own way. Here's the computer system saying that throwing Anna at the front is the best, most logical choice, most likely to bring about a best-case scenario - maybe even an accelerated victory - for humanity overall. And here's the UN high command saying "no. We are going to make sure this girl gets as much of a life, as good treatment as we can provide for her. We are not going to hurl her back into a warzone when she so recently came out of so traumatizing an experience. This is a line we will not cross."
...I dunno, I thought it was a good sign.
- Location
- Rockford, USA
- Pronouns
- They/Them
...huh. There are cynical ways to see it as well, but that's a surprisingly compelling interpretation.
I disgree. STRATNET is tactical on a global scale. It's telling them that the best thing to do is throw her into the meatgrinder.
But its a mistake in the big picture, and wastes her vast potential. The see how much she is growing, and how she is developing revolutionary weapons.
High command realizes that using untrained valks simply gets them killed without much gain, as is the case here. Yes, she might have been able to close another breach at the cost of her life, but they realize she can do much more given time to develop.
It isn't a moral choice, it is simply the most logical one.
No reason it can't be both.
Maybe it can, but it doesn't do both.
Well, here's the thing: what's stopping her from developing her skills and weapons while serving on the front lines? She did before, afterall.
In fact, serving on the front-line would probably help with the weapon development: give her a few Particle Cannons, and detail how they improve over time into HPP's. Wave Force? She'd have all the same resources to experiment with it, and nothing like sleep, clubs or classes to interfere.
And your assuming that STRATNET is "tactical on a global scale", rather then including, as the name says, strategy. That it hasn't looked at how Anna might improve, or develop new things, and determined that those are of lesser benefit. And most importantly, your assuming STRATNET is saying to sacrifice Anna, rather then it coming to the conclusion that it thinks Anna will survive, thrive and win.
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- Location
- United States, EST
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Strategy, which is what a system named STRATNET seems logically inclined to handle (while tactics are handled by the known-to-exist TACNET which treats Anna as memetic!Ramirez), encompasses everything about war. Not just the fighting; logistics, troop movements, equipment quality and availability, value of holding a given area or leaving it to the enemy. I can go on. It would also include the training level of troops - what your argument is based on - and R&D - which Anna has arguably been doing with her research into Wave Force and making it teachable to others. Given the tech level we're working with here, I frankly call bull on all of these considerations not being taken into account by STRATNET. Which, therefore, leads to the assumption that STRATNET has determined that the "big picture", including all possibly knowable figures and predictions and so forth, is best served with Anna on the front lines - and that UN high command has overruled it.
Now again, I am quite tired right now, so I may be missing possibilities. But the only reasons I can think of right now for STRATNET to be overruled like that are as follows: 1.) someone disagrees with STRATNET's evaluation of the situation, in which case you'd think they'd work on fixing the coding and evaluation processes rather than ignoring recommendations from the program they literally use for that purpose alone, 2.) the UN's actual goal differs from the goal given to STRATNET, at which point I start looking for councils of immortality-and-power-obsessed old men and asking why there are so many Angels and Evangelions that have gotten so small, 3.) STRATNET has not been given all available information, which... doesn't honestly make a lot of sense to me, but alright, or 4.) the UN high command has morals. Occam's Razor and a preference for the more optimistic option until proven otherwise suggest 4 to be more likely, at least in my mind.
Sorry if that rambled or was hard to understand in any way. I should really make use of my pillow now.
That's actually possible. Whether it's because the information is classified to the point they don't want to risk it leaking through STRATNET, or simple human error in forgetting to upload relevant pieces of data.
Also, if STRATNET could predict Anna's development of later forms of the waveforce, then they may as well build a bigger computer that can develop the waveforce itself (or have Anna build it, given how hax she is). It could well be that the idea the waveforce can be developed escapes STRATNET entirely. No program is perfect.
I think that High Command is keeping her in reserve as a contingency against the next wave of Antagonist bullshit. There is likely no small degree of trauma involved in this, depending on how many times the UN has gotten burned.
- Location
- United States, EST
- Pronouns
- He/Him
What would be high enough classification that a system which knows about Anna and her capabilities isn't allowed the info, considering how very highly classified her and Wave Force are? As for human error... Yeah, fair enough, but would human error be recognized enough for the order to be seen as a bad idea? I mean, if it were recognized as a bad order on logical grounds I'd think they'd go through trying to find what's causing it to produce a bad order rather than merely countermanding the bad order once it's suggested. And if it isn't recognized as a bad order, then the only grounds to object by my earlier (minimal) logic comes back around to the moral grounds.
It wouldn't need to simulate Wave Force entirely, though? You could probably establish a basic workaround to not knowing how the attack works by just inputting the parameters "this unit can destroy all of this in exchange for an amount of damage equal to [value] and resources equal to [value]", with possible improvements being worked in as something like "with research time, this attack can also be used by other units/can be bigger/can go further/etc.". I'm no programmer, but it certainly seems like something that should be possible to me.
Yeah, but someone would actually have to tell it that. It probably does have the damage and cost of our original static wave, but no one but Anna knows that Blue Wave or Red Wave are possible, for example. It's also possible that STRATNET doesn't account for research at all. What I'm saying is it's possible the program is more limited than we expect it to be.
- Location
- Voidbetweenstars
I enjoy the fact that so many people are arguing that the machine is incorrect because they doubt that the UN high command is incapable of making a decision that is not the best decision in an known anime and thus is not at all due to moral or downright PR reasons.
Well, I would also assert that tactical commanders even at the lowest level seem to have the right to override TACNET, and that therefore the same is likely the case for STRATNET and strategic command. My guess is that it is an advisory program, not that it serves as commands or orders.
I can only speculate at the reasons as to why this is the case, but my guess is that the programs are lacking in one or many important areas.
I can only speculate at the reasons as to why this is the case, but my guess is that the programs are lacking in one or many important areas.
I have this Omake idea in my head where Anna has a deep conversation with STRATNET. STRATNET obliges due to wanting more data to make it's analysis. The actual talk would be spiced by Durga giving a datadump on what it's done to keep her mostly stable. This would end with STRATNET doing it's equivalent of 'ohshitohshitohshit', sending out a Hi-Com level memorandum that Anna's psychological stability is now listed as a jeopardized strategic priority. This end with Sandra being given a 'do-or-die' long term assignment as the case worker.
Steelhooves
Star Paladin
- Location
- Maripony-Damn it.
it could be something as simple as the valks at the front being able to upload and deal with situations at the front faster then any meaningful analysis can be made of it so it wold be better to let humans at the front call the moment to moment shots and when all the facts are there TACNET can drop its advice onto the ones not directly in the line of fire to ease load, well that and not many people would be happy taking orders from a faceless machine and so doing this puts a human face on the program.
- Location
- UTC -6
'Past results do not guarantee future performance' seems a good enough reason to have the machine serve as an advisor rather than commander. STRATNET holds a lot of variables for suggesting deployment of forces and resources, to make the tricky comparisons like "is Anna better used as a Builder in this circumstance?" and answer "While Anna is the best available Builder the comparative advantage is to deploy her as a combatant". The actual strategic command uses this in combination with 'soft' factors like; "are things so dire we need to send in the underage Aces?", "she's researching something shiny", and "how reliable is our data" to make a decision.
- Location
- Mobile, Alabama
It'd be funny if the system looked at her and promptly put her on building crew.
Like I can't see Anna reacting well to that. Also funny enough it'd for the audience seem to be the worf effect everyone is expecting. They go through schooling with Anna and at the end? They all get shipped off to war zones and Anna is sent to rebuild all the cities of man.
Throw that one on the Au pile.