DoofQuest- a Disney Villains Victorious CK2-Style Quest

Underdog Emiya · May 2, 2024

@Argidoll

Behold, the Summer-Inator!

You want some vacations! Being a CEO is so damn hard! So you built an Inator to force Summer to come early...wait, you still worked even in summer. What was even the point of doing that?! However, Mirage and Jumba approached you with some...intriguing ideas.

If it would be summer in the next turn, then this Inator does nothing. If it's not, then the next turn is treated as being summer in a localized area. Mirage and Jumba approach you with some ideas to use to help your company...or to have some fun. Take a guess in who made each suggestion. Actions unlocked! Also, roll a dice. If it passes a certain DC (AN: to be set by the GMs), then Phineas and Ferb are let free of their school and can act this turn!

Behold, the Boot-In-The-Face-Inator!

It's...not your most creative Inator. You were frustrated by this one play you saw last week and wished you have a boot to throw in the face of the actors. So, it materializes boots in someone's hands in dramatic moments and compels the one who got it to interrupt the event with boots in the face. Yeah. Maybe you should have only thrown your shoes and be happy with what you got.

The Boot-In-The-Face Syndrome is in full-effect this turn! DEI has a malus of -10 because of a compulsion to throw boots into people's faces!

hleghe · May 2, 2024

Razzocnor said:
For maximum effect, assign Phineas and Ferb to the transit reconstruction.

Phineas and Ferb crit success would probably be a good opportunity for making something really effective if we can manage it, but unfortunately their "suck at business deals" malus would probably proc here since it's at least partially out of our territory. could get around this by setting them on a relevant research/tech development action instead? you know, if it's a valid option/writein (edit, looking at character profiles, big ideas aren't nescesarily replicatable? hmm, whether it would work out depends on what traits apply here I guess)

you know, stewardship heroes are pretty cool but sadly those two haven't gotten much opportunity to shine with how social media failed (seems like the only successful big idea action was energy conservation, which happened at the same time as kat did).
was curious how long it'd be until we get access to them again and turns out I forgot they're currently available, whoops. at least if there are any projects/research available it can be attempted next turn?

note: due to the above I re-checked the results of last turn, and wow the stuff going on is pretty fun (except for impending liquidator, which is too serious for that). in spite of quite a few failures we've finally sorted out some high priority items like reorganisation/government hatchet-buying which is nice, and there's more desirable stuff available next time with all of the bare fail dc reductions and stat boosting personals.
what sort of options stand out for you?

( if we're doing any ambitious projects/schemes then presumably the already existing ones like the new man project/streamlining accession laws are ideal since they're the most accessible, and other than that it's basically just a matter of being successful and keeping threats in check, right?)

Soberan 123 · May 2, 2024

hleghe said:
Phineas and Ferb crit success would probably be a good opportunity for making something really effective if we can manage it, but unfortunately their "suck at business deals" malus would probably proc here since it's at least partially out of our territory. could get around this by setting them on a relevant research/tech development action instead? you know, if it's a valid option/writein (edit, looking at character profiles, big ideas aren't nescesarily replicatable? hmm, whether it would work out depends on what traits apply here I guess)

you know, stewardship heroes are pretty cool but sadly those two haven't gotten much opportunity to shine with how social media failed (seems like the only successful big idea action was energy conservation, which happened at the same time as kat did).
was curious how long it'd be until we get access to them again and turns out I forgot they're currently available, whoops. at least if there are any projects/research available it can be attempted next turn?

note: due to the above I re-checked the results of last turn, and wow the stuff going on is pretty fun (except for impending liquidator, which is too serious for that). in spite of quite a few failures we've finally sorted out some high priority items like reorganisation/government hatchet-buying which is nice, and there's more desirable stuff available next time with all of the bare fail dc reductions and stat boosting personals.
what sort of options stand out for you?

( if we're doing any ambitious projects/schemes then presumably the already existing ones like the new man project/streamlining accession laws are ideal since they're the most accessible, and other than that it's basically just a matter of being successful and keeping threats in check, right?)

They description even mention they have the potential in becoming the greatest engineers of this generation:

Made in Heaven said:
Stewardship: 38 (The world has never seen engineers like Phineas and Ferb. Nearly anything, as far as you can tell, is within the realm of possibilities with them.)

Unfortunate projects they are assigned can't be mass produced or used to bypass technological advancement.

A good project for them is the Extradimensional tech, since is not something that is going to be commercialized or mass produced.

Speaking of projects we should reversed engineer the Galfed Cloaking tech one of these days, I mean this is technology from a advanced alien civilization that's light years ahead from humanity, even a inferior version will be far more advanced than any other cloaking tech the other corporations can produce.

KnownParadox · May 2, 2024

hleghe said:
what sort of options stand out for you?

Doing Diecast again just makes sense for the big robotics push turn I want to do, and while Expand to France is lowered I think we should do it the turn after next, because next turn we'll have a big bonus to Diplomacy, and thus should take advantage of it, like Lobbying and either the Imagination Institute or Expand to Japan (my favoured choice for advanced robotics reasons)

Diecast Robotics + Expand to Japan + Bakaemono Supply Chain + Buyout Pyroclast.

Think about how big a push that is! Diecast is a "significant" boost so probably more than the single point an action usually gets per Industry. Japan is the place for advanced robotics, Bakaemono Supply Chain is more funding and makes any further robotics actions easier, and Pyroclast makes robots.

Even if Diecast only gets us two points into Advanced Robotics, and Pyroclast only one, that still jumps us up from Established (+2) to Thriving (+4) in a single turn. Hell if either gives even one additional point, like Diecast gives us three or Pyroclast two, that puts us at (1/2) inside of Thriving, meaning a single successful Advanced Robotics action following that turn would push us up to Dominant (+5)!

That's a pretty great boost, not even counting the supply chain's boost of +2 to Income and whatever Expanding does, still not sure what exactly it does but it's probably good.

Honestly once we hit Dominant I'd feel safe to pivot to another Industry to focus on like Genetics, Healthcare, or Mass Media. But hitting Overbearing in another field besides our starter Widgets would feel fantastic I'm not gonna lie.

Once San Fransokyo starts imploding I vote we start grabbing chunks out of the Zaibatsu's, and steal those Microbots from the Yokai since I bet those would be as big a boost as Diecast Robotics will be.

Fans of robotics should keep an eye out for my plan in the future.

hleghe · May 2, 2024

Soberan 123 said:
They description even mention they have the potential in becoming the greatest engineers of this generation:

I know right? language like that seems weirdly serious, could be some pretty wild foreshadowing, especially when their stewardship is the same as our learning/they're from our series.

Soberan 123 said:
we should reversed engineer the Galfed Cloaking tech

might not be an immediate priority. true that stuff is really effective but it IIRC it has awkward energy requirements, it probably doesn't unlock tons of new stuff on its own(tech tree-wise), and is pretty situational?
though would be better later on if we get access to something to deal with energy costs to make it more viable/get into the defence industry and can add it to products, or to apply to heroes/nationals once we need a leg up for higher intrigue DCs or such

KnownParadox said:
Doing Diecast again just makes sense for the big robotics push turn I want to do

all that seems like a very good/profitable call if we're not worried about negative responses to monopolising the parts industry even more(edit, my bad, was mixing it up with notes in diecast that mass production would polarise some people. seems like the advanced robotics industries and widgets are different sectors so it'd probably be fine, if still close to issues.).
regarding monopolies, we do keep everything cheap and it's not like we're choking startups (because who would make a parts industry startup?) so it should be fine? giving people a malus to competing with us sounds fun but the risk of sanctions isn't so much, lol. definitely shouldn't stop us from doing actions like this when available, just something to be mindful of

you know, with us being able to create AI and getting even greater mass production ability, there would usually be worries about instigating a robot apocalypse or something, but there's already multiple robot-based factions around (and most kings having tons of robot security.) so it's sort of redundant? probably for the best.

-

personally, now we've unlocked our second martial action I'm wondering what options are worthwhile. there's still the convenient money making options, but other than that presumably we want precautions?
traps/vehicles look great to improve our rolls/DCs (maybe the prior will even improve that trait we have? and vehicles could be a nice buff to our PMC whilst also not cutting into our finances like power armour would), and sabotage can be a good call once we exhaust options for building up.
now obviously there'd probably be potential responses if liquidator/our crit fails this turn cause problems, but can't exactly respond to threats that aren't here yet.

one important thing though IMO is to *not* invade unless accession laws are implemented (if that's even worth doing in the first place), like seriously. the action's dubiously a good call to begin with, but if we do it beforehand people are probably going to try and prevent us giving it to America because it'd be obvious, and we'd have to deal with Drusselstein for longer.

(seems like temujin is more likely to get use out of his atomic genes trait unless we want to dedicate QMS to it, so good thing it's an option I guess)
by the way, don't we have the objective now for eliminating Genghis Khan's maluses? there's some other ones too (like possibly having repaired relationships with Roger/norm/monogram?), but not sure if it's wise to pester for it when I can't tell whether they're actually achieved or not)

Soberan 123 · May 2, 2024

hleghe said:
might not be an immediate priority. true that stuff is really effective but it IIRC it has awkward energy requirements, it probably doesn't unlock tons of new stuff on its own(tech tree-wise), and is pretty situational?
though would be better later on if we get access to something to deal with energy costs to make it more viable/get into the defence industry and can add it to products, or to apply to heroes/nationals once we need a leg up for higher intrigue DCs or such

Maybe it can unlock personal cloak that can be used for NOWCA agents and give a boost in intrigue. Still want to go after Kat, that thing is a menace but right now, after Negaduck crisis, InventCo takes priority since it probably started it's plans to conquer the world.

Still, how about exotic cars then?

Maybe it can unlock options to start making custom made vehicles for hero units and perhaps even upgrade Russ spycyle.

woweed · May 3, 2024

Heh...Ya know, I know their Learning isn't the best...But I just pictured a Phineas and Ferb/Imagination Institute collab.

Penguinbowler · May 3, 2024

KnownParadox said:
Doing Diecast again just makes sense for the big robotics push turn I want to do, and while Expand to France is lowered I think we should do it the turn after next, because next turn we'll have a big bonus to Diplomacy, and thus should take advantage of it, like Lobbying and either the Imagination Institute or Expand to Japan (my favoured choice for advanced robotics reasons)

Diecast Robotics + Expand to Japan + Bakaemono Supply Chain + Buyout Pyroclast.

Think about how big a push that is! Diecast is a "significant" boost so probably more than the single point an action usually gets per Industry. Japan is the place for advanced robotics, Bakaemono Supply Chain is more funding and makes any further robotics actions easier, and Pyroclast makes robots.

Even if Diecast only gets us two points into Advanced Robotics, and Pyroclast only one, that still jumps us up from Established (+2) to Thriving (+4) in a single turn. Hell if either gives even one additional point, like Diecast gives us three or Pyroclast two, that puts us at (1/2) inside of Thriving, meaning a single successful Advanced Robotics action following that turn would push us up to Dominant (+5)!

That's a pretty great boost, not even counting the supply chain's boost of +2 to Income and whatever Expanding does, still not sure what exactly it does but it's probably good.

Honestly once we hit Dominant I'd feel safe to pivot to another Industry to focus on like Genetics, Healthcare, or Mass Media. But hitting Overbearing in another field besides our starter Widgets would feel fantastic I'm not gonna lie.

Once San Fransokyo starts imploding I vote we start grabbing chunks out of the Zaibatsu's, and steal those Microbots from the Yokai since I bet those would be as big a boost as Diecast Robotics will be.

Fans of robotics should keep an eye out for my plan in the future.

My big issue with this plan is that sinces its just standing, we wont get the pay out for a while, unless the funds rework comes through.

Like, I'd be fine with doing Supply Chain or Diecaste again, but I would like to have something that will give us a more immediate benefit instead of just standing. Like, I probably will push for Dino Leather since Cruella will become a lot more managable with positive loyalty.

hleghe · May 3, 2024

Soberan 123 said:
Maybe it can unlock personal cloak that can be used for NOWCA agents and give a boost in intrigue

I mean, that was basically what I was suggesting, though assumed it'd be russ/mez or such.
not sure about NOWCA specifically, since they're 1: animals who don't wear many clothes 2: already inconspicuous and 3: not the sort of unit we send on high risk offensive intrigue actions. they're heroic so better to put them on stuff that's less likely to be morally dubious, and those tend to have lower DCs?(them being a heroic heroball and having "and put a stop to them" also makes them better at defence I think)?

Soberan 123 said:
Kat, that thing is a menace but right now, after Negaduck crisis, InventCo takes priority

after our failure, kat's only likely to be a target if they show up again. they're out of the way since they were recruited by that guy in france. that's a double edged sword but they're out of our hair for now at least :/
inventCo is is problem but thankfully other people (the government) are aware of the threat they face. right now we have mental defences as an available action to combat mind control, so I would recommend getting our heroes that first. they're the sort of threat that slowly builds up over time (rather than explode) so have been put on the backburner for now, but that means we at least have an opportunity to prepare better?

Soberan 123 said:
Still, how about exotic cars then?

exotic cars as an investment seem like another "here's something to make situational things" unlock, though might be more useful if they can be sold? though it isn't our focus as a business.
giving heroes them seems similar to janus's custom design personal that we don't get much access to that since they're a councillor. either to replace or upgrade it.
could also result in boosting janus's opinion, which definitely seems worthwhile in order to make them hate us less and thus be more amenable to not doing something stupid with the new man project. might also be handy if we see the duke of detroit again later?

woweed said:
Heh...Ya know, I know their Learning isn't the best...But I just pictured a Phineas and Ferb/Imagination Institute collab.

I think they'd get along fine with dreamfinder and it'd also be a good learning experience for them, but yeah sadly there's not really an opportunity for them to shine as it stands :/ also a bit concerned that we're collaborating on things the II itself isn't too interested in, if they're further along the tech trees than we are it'd be wasting their time (and thus negatively impact future relations)

woweed · May 3, 2024

hleghe said:
I mean, that was basically what I was suggesting, though assumed it'd be russ/mez or such.
not sure about NOWCA specifically, since they're 1: animals who don't wear many clothes 2: already inconspicuous and 3: not the sort of unit we send on high risk offensive intrigue actions. they're heroic so better to put them on stuff that's less likely to be morally dubious, and those tend to have lower DCs?(them being a heroic heroball and having "and put a stop to them" also makes them better at defence I think)?

after our failure, kat's only likely to be a target if they show up again. they're out of the way since they were recruited by that guy in france. that's a double edged sword but they're out of our hair for now at least :/
inventCo is is problem but thankfully other people (the government) are aware of the threat they face. right now we have mental defences as an available action to combat mind control, so I would recommend getting our heroes that first. they're the sort of threat that slowly builds up over time (rather than explode) so have been put on the backburner for now, but that means we at least have an opportunity to prepare better?

exotic cars as an investment seem like another "here's something to make situational things" unlock, though might be more useful if they can be sold? though it isn't our focus as a business.
giving heroes them seems similar to janus's custom design personal that we don't get much access to that since they're a councillor. either to replace or upgrade it.
could also result in boosting janus's opinion, which definitely seems worthwhile in order to make them hate us less and thus be more amenable to not doing something stupid with the new man project. might also be handy if we see the duke of detroit again later?

I think they'd get along fine with dreamfinder and it'd also be a good learning experience for them, but yeah sadly there's not really an opportunity for them to shine as it stands :/ also a bit concerned that we're collaborating on things the II itself isn't too interested in, if they're further along the tech trees than we are it'd be wasting their time (and thus negatively impact future relations)

I really want to collab with the II on robots, once the, ya know, DOOM has passed.

hleghe · May 3, 2024

woweed said:
I really want to collab with the II on robots, once the, ya know, DOOM has passed.

can't tell if you mean negaduck or judge doom lmao. if it's the former fair enough, if it's the latter i wouldn't worry about them too much? they're probably not going away any time soon so might as well do stuff in the meantime.
that said, what's next for robots anyhow? we've figured out how sparks work which is the big thing, do you mean applying that idea to other things to figure out where toons/other magical beings come from? that could be dangerous if doom's around yeah, but it also could be what we need to respond to them right? just need to keep him out of it for the time being (keep out any spies so they don't catch wind, try and be aware of any planned actions of his so we can pre-empt them etc) so they don't mess literally everything up if we choose to research it

woweed · May 3, 2024

hleghe said:
can't tell if you mean negaduck or judge doom lmao. if it's the former fair enough, if it's the latter i wouldn't worry about them too much? they're probably not going away any time soon so might as well do stuff in the meantime.
that said, what's next for robots anyhow? we've figured out how sparks work which is the big thing, do you mean applying that idea to other things to figure out where toons/other magical beings come from? that could be dangerous if doom's around yeah, but it also could be what we need to respond to them right? just need to keep him out of it for the time being so they don't mess literally everything up

Negaduck. And they have a collab action to figure our why sparks work like that.

KnownParadox · May 3, 2024

Penguinbowler said:
My big issue with this plan is that sinces its just standing, we wont get the pay out for a while, unless the funds rework comes through.

Like, I'd be fine with doing Supply Chain or Diecaste again, but I would like to have something that will give us a more immediate benefit instead of just standing. Like, I probably will push for Dino Leather since Cruella will become a lot more managable with positive loyalty.

Dino Leather in place of Supply Chain perhaps? We can do Supply Chain at a later date, any time before March/April works. Even if I'd rather do it early in case that pushback Diecast Robotics talks about is particularly intense, we could do with some lowered DC on that front if it ever gets dangerous.

Soberan 123 · May 3, 2024

hleghe said:
after our failure, kat's only likely to be a target if they show up again. they're out of the way since they were recruited by that guy in france. that's a double edged sword but they're out of our hair for now at least :/
inventCo is is problem but thankfully other people (the government) are aware of the threat they face. right now we have mental defences as an available action to combat mind control, so I would recommend getting our heroes that first. they're the sort of threat that slowly builds up over time (rather than explode) so have been put on the backburner for now, but that means we at least have an opportunity to prepare better?

InventCo is actually done building up. It don't take them much to control a region since the only thing they need is enough helping hats.

The only thing we done was banish them from the DEI premises but not our territory.

Not only that but the entire council is in agreement to investigate Celebraton.

Also Mr. Brock said he will receive funding but he still need to train agents and needs evidence to prove DOR-15 used or using time travel to make him handle the threat otherwise the US goverment would still figh over what deparment will handle the problem.

There's no one qualify to handle it and the ones that do are too busy in petty disputes. It's not something that will go away or handle by itself.

Penguinbowler · May 3, 2024

If needed, we can have Tobe do his Mr. Block personal and do 2 other Intrigue actions.

Soberan 123 · May 3, 2024

Penguinbowler said:
If needed, we can have Tobe do his Mr. Block personal and do 2 other Intrigue actions.

I think Mezmerella and Russ/Tobe doing the investigation of Celebraton should allow a easy pass if pair together and Mezm knowledge in mind control make her a natural to actions against the helping hats, I think it's hinted the situation bothers her in some level so it has the narrative backing her up.

I kinda like this quest that @Made in Heaven has a grasp the narrative is just as important as the rolls. Most QMs tend to have the misfortune of letting the dices rule everything and the quest spiral out of control as consequence.

Penguinbowler · May 3, 2024

Soberan 123 said:
I think Mezmerella and Russ/Tobe doing the investigation of Celebraton should allow a easy pass if pair together and Mezm knowledge in mind control make her a natural to actions against the helping hats, I think it's hinted the situation bothers her in some level so it has the narrative backing her up.

I kinda like this quest that @Made in Heaven has a grasp the narrative is just as important as the rolls. Most QMs tend to have the misfortune of letting the dices rule everything and the quest spiral out of control as consequence.

Mez is a free action this turn, In theory if we use Russ, janna, Tobe, Mez, and Monogram we can do 5 Intrigue Actions that turn.

hleghe · May 3, 2024

Soberan 123 said:
InventCo is actually done building up. It don't take them much to control a region since the only thing they need is enough helping hats.

yeah true but I mean, they're currently trying to popularise the hats to prep for a future takeover, which takes time? presumably they'll keep doing that until they're forced into the open and then they become an active threat
can't exactly leave them alone since they might be working on some potentially really dangerous tech, but they're not the only impending threat so we can't commit everything to messing with them? we know the rough shape of the threat from that direction and won't be caught completely flatfooted, so it's probably better to now find out about totally unknown threats (and thus be able to keep track of them and react when efficient/useful)

Soberan 123 said:
pair together and Mezm knowledge in mind control make her a natural to actions against the helping hats

hmm, interesting idea.(though I don't think you can use 2 heroes on a single action normally)
not sure if mez is available right now due to infiltrations but she might have an advantage/mental defences available already. even so, I'm a bit wary of risking the mind control expert being mind controlled because that would be even worse lmao
realistically any hero-loss related crit fails are going to be terrible regardless but best to keep heroes useful to inventCo out of the way? for example, if someone with valuable knowledge messes up, they could be mindread or something? and that could really screw us over.

if we had the option between where to send her I'd prefer using mez to reverse engineer any captured hats/develop mental defences, though giving her knowledge on exactly how the mental defences work might be putting eggs in a single basket... (see above information security points. not sure what the hats can do but we should expect at least *some* sort of enhanced interrogation capability. mez could also just betray us or turn out to be a mole or something, you never know :P)

Penguinbowler said:
If needed, we can have Tobe do his Mr. Block personal and do 2 other Intrigue actions.

good point here:) whilst giving hero units away for little gain rankles a bit it's probably a pretty efficient way of getting things done(they need the hero units so it's a notable buff to them), and Mr. block's from doof's series too so any potential interractions may be interesting. since Mr. block isn't able to mess with doof freely without causing paradoxes, we have way less to fear from their department than the others, and thus. strengthening them in any US internal politics is tenuously good for us? just enough to unruffle minmaxing feathers I guess)
bureaucracy may happen yeah, but the worse the situation gets the more people are going to respond, and they're certainly better positioned than us right now to address threats that aren't in our direct sphere of influence.

Soberan 123 · May 3, 2024

hleghe said:
yeah true but I mean, they're currently trying to popularise the hats to prep for a future takeover, which takes time? presumably they'll keep doing that until they're forced into the open and then they become an active threat
can't exactly leave them alone since they might be working on some potentially really dangerous tech, but they're not the only impending threat so we can't commit everything to messing with them? we know the rough shape of the threat from that direction, so it's better to now find out about threats we're not aware of at all, and thus the most efficient/useful things we can do overall

The problem is that helping hats are very useful for day to day things so they popularization is not that hard, as long you don't mind using old time hats. Not only that DOR-15 probably is aware or suspect DEI have extracted Goob since it recently take a stance in 'no hats police' or other high end gadgets beyond company mandatory for no reason. Actually the guy may have been a trojan horse since is weird for him manage to survive all these years and the AI not done a thing about him.

Since they are interconnected and some of our employers probably has a few they possible use it at home or day offs, meaning they can gather intelligence during these times.

The other crisis that can definitely happen, the villains are facing some roadblock, MCP still facing problems at home front and needs time to infiltrate the systems it wants (although LEGACY may have fix it), Bill is trapped in the field in Gravity Falls forcing to act through intermediaries and Toffe needs Star for his plans and still not close of finding her.

Comparing to DOR-15, It's ridiculous easy for it to win since the victory condition is just get enough people to wear enough helping hat, activate the mind control and force the remaining population population in wearing them or kill the rest, it don't need to compete with the other megacorps only keeping the facade long enough to no longer be useful. Although it's weird that take that long to start branching outside of it's territory, it's possible they may have face some problems at home front and just now fix them or become less of a threat.

Thanks to the stupidity of the US government in keeping everything under wraps, the entire country is unaware of the danger. We need to give Mr. Brock hard solid evidence of time travel, so that Uncle Sam finally mobilize against them however that itself is another challenge since it will be stored in some place extremely protected.

hleghe said:
hmm, interesting idea.(though i don't think you can use 2 heroes on a single action normally)
not sure if mez is available right now due to infiltrations but she might have an advantage/mental defences available already. even so, I'm a bit wary of risking the mind control expert being mind controlled because that would be even worse lmao
realistically any hero-loss related crit fails are going to be terrible regardless but best to keep useful heroes out of the way?

I pick Mez for the infiltration because is hinted she is bothered by it, so it's possible the narrative is backing her. But any other Intrigue Hero should do, NOWCA possible perfect for it since nobody suspect animals as spies but ideally we should find something that buff them. I don't if Monograma bonus of +10 roll would apply but the dice is 100 for the investigation.

Mirage is another pick due to her high stats in intrigue as alternative of Mez but there's no way to force her way out if being discovered.

hleghe · May 3, 2024

Soberan 123 said:
for no reason

hopefully we have enough plausible deniability here. we did take an extremely roundabout way of doing it (you can see what it was listed on in rival reports). it's not like InventCo hasn't got higher priorities? they might suspect we know what's going on, but there actually isn't confirmation yet. goob *might* be suspicious (I'm a little incredulous they stayed free successfully), but iirc we know they were previously mind-controlled but got out of it due to a freak incident in a construction site or something. he's not our problem anymore regardless, which is nice :)

them still being able to get information from employees does suck though. depends how much can be accessed without being at DEI HQ, i guess

Soberan 123 said:
Comparing to DOR-15, It's ridiculous easy for it to win

one reason why I think DOR15 is less of a threat than other factions (not just the big ones, also various potential crisis' and things we don't know of yet) is because there's magic and stuff. they have access to it as well sure, but it makes them less overwhelming when you can use superpowers or have access to your own supertech that could disable communication signals in an area or something

luckily DOR15 doesn't count as magic/aliens or so, so them existing publicly won't break a masquerade. only reason they haven't been revealed already is because they're a king and the US doesn't want to look weak, but if things worsen it'd presumably become worthwhile for the government to declare the heats a threat publicly.

Soberan 123 said:
we need to give Mr. Brock hard solid evidence of time travel

they probably have all the evidence that actually matters/is obtainable with goob, anything else would probably require high tier infiltration or such and I doubt that'd be very doable for InventCo since the leadership are mind-controlling hats. in order to get them to actually respond, maybe it'd be better to figure out how to grease the wheels there internally? speed up the bureaucracy/progress interractions with Mr. Block to enable things

also mirage is our intrigue councillor (if they're not *in* the council, would be best to do any actions to boost her stats possible), so they would be a pretty weird pick? if we're sending people out we could just use russ if nothing's going on with them.

Soberan 123 · May 4, 2024

hleghe said:
one reason why I think DOR15 is less of a threat than other factions (not just the big ones, also various potential crisis' and things we don't know of yet) is because there's magic and stuff. they have access to it as well sure, but it makes them less overwhelming when you can use superpowers or have access to your own supertech that could disable communication signals in an area or something

luckily DOR15 doesn't count as magic/aliens or so, so them existing publicly won't break a masquerade. only reason they haven't been revealed already is because they're a king and the US doesn't want to look weak, but if things worsen it'd presumably become worthwhile for the government to declare the heats a threat publicly.

DOR-15 win condition is just to spread helping hats, there's no complex planning or scheming involved while the other threats does. It plays the game only to be left alone and ultimately the megacorps have little to no interest in moving against something harmless as a robotic personal helper.

The fact it start spreading now means it finally decided manage to handle enough of internal matters to feel confidant in start it's plans for world domination. Remember the population of our territory still buying helping hats along with the employees of DEI subsidiaries.

It doesn't need to mind control everybody, only enough people to be able to corral the rest. Also the fact that it uses innocent people and the wrong can fry someone brain. I also said that is not a hive mind rather a interconnected system that can operate independent from each other if the situation calls.

I would not call them the most dangerous true but one that's the closer to achieve it's goal to the simplicity of it and the fact it has no significant roadblock as the others, ENCOM is perhaps in second due to the fact nobody is aware the MCP is even a thing save a few and may be approaching the endgame, Bill can't leave Gravity Falls and Toffe needs Star.

I mean Kat almost succeed in it's plans to transform Danville in the ground zero for a alien invasion if was not for a Galfed Supreme Grand Councilwoman and her fleet passing by. Sure it didn't have any actions to do something about him but we have a chance to do something about this threat plus perhaps we can gain goodwill among the population and the US government for handling the threat.

It may be less dangerous than the others but it's still dangerous, and it have years to study and upgrade it's arsenal in preparation for it's plans. So who knows what it did in the meantime.

hleghe said:
they probably have all the evidence that actually matters/is obtainable with goob, anything else would probably require high tier infiltration or such and I doubt that'd be very doable for InventCo since the leadership are mind-controlling hats. in order to get them to actually respond, maybe it'd be better to figure out how to grease the wheels there internally? speed up the bureaucracy/progress interractions with Mr. Block to enable things

also mirage is our intrigue councillor (if they're not *in* the council, would be best to do any actions to boost her stats possible), so they would be a pretty weird pick? if we're sending people out we could just use russ if nothing's going on with them.

Mr. Brock mention in Broken Clock that the US government is aware of the threat, it's just the departments are too busy fighting among themselves over who gets to handle it instead of doing something about it. It sounds like only the guy is taking Goob serious about time travel and even with funding of the new temporal agency it would still part of the infighting since there's no hard evidence of time travel.

That's why if proof of at least time travel was used, show up, instead of testimony of hobo that can easly be dismiss as crazy, Mr. Brock could swoop in and handle the problem since it would fall to his department but until there the deadlock resumes.

Penguinbowler · May 4, 2024

Soberan 123 said:
Mr. Brock mention in Broken Clock that the US government is aware of the threat, it's just the departments are too busy fighting among themselves over who gets to handle it instead of doing something about it. It sounds like only the guy is taking Goob serious about time travel and even with funding of the new temporal agency it would still part of the infighting since there's no hard evidence of time travel.

That's why if proof of at least time travel was used, show up, instead of testimony of hobo that can easly be dismiss as crazy, Mr. Brock could swoop in and handle the problem since it would fall to his department but until there the deadlock resumes.

As the guy who wrote A Broken Clock thats not how CAIA works.

While Mr. Block now has a lead, getting hard evidence of the existential threat will be really hard. Not only will he need to prove DOR-15 is a problem, he needs to prove she is the biggest problem.

CAIA has to put out fires around the country, and while they're all focused on Negsie right now; but thats because he established himself the most immediate threat. Mr. Block will need to compete with 5 other Agencies (Paranormal, Metahuman, Anthromorphic, Extraterrestial, and Doorway) to get the investigation he wants, and he then needs to get hard, concrete evidence DOR-15 is the biggest issue before he can get CAIA to actually give him the resources to deal with her.

Helping Mr. Block defeat DOR-15 is absolutely something we should do, even if it's just through sending Tobe to do his personal action; since Chronoanamolous has the least amount of influence in CAIA. If Doorway says they found a lead to Monsters Inc, or Paranormal sees the Rise of Belos and want to shut it down fast, Chronoanamolous might not get the Evidence they need to deal with DOR-15 over everything else.

Soberan 123 · May 4, 2024

Penguinbowler said:
While Mr. Block now has a lead, getting hard evidence of the existential threat will be really hard. Not only will he need to prove DOR-15 is a problem, he needs to prove she is the biggest problem.

CAIA has to put out fires around the country, and while they're all focused on Negsie right now; but thats because he established himself the most immediate threat. Mr. Block will need to compete with 5 other Agencies (Paranormal, Metahuman, Anthromorphic, Extraterrestial, and Doorway) to get the investigation he wants, and he then needs to get hard, concrete evidence DOR-15 is the biggest issue before he can get CAIA to actually give him the resources to deal with her.

Helping Mr. Block defeat DOR-15 is absolutely something we should do, even if it's just through sending Tobe to do his personal action; since Chronoanamolous has the least amount of influence in CAIA. If Doorway says they found a lead to Monsters Inc, or Paranormal sees the Rise of Belos and want to shut it down fast, Chronoanamolous might not get the Evidence they need to deal with DOR-15 over everything else.

Speaking of time travel, DOR-15 is now a paradox since is possible she either killed or enslaved her creator or Lewis still trapped in the bad future. Perhaps the AI is using her knowledge of temporal mechanics to create a anchor to keep existing and keep sending copies to her past when things go wrong, like Skynet from Terminator, and use it that knowledge for her advantage. Like every turn has a random chance of receiving a helping hat from the future warning of the outcome of a random decision that either ended in success or failure, it could either avoid it all together or use the knowledge to give a bonus in the roll but the bonus and warning is only available for that turn since the future is ever changing, mostly because of you.

Also DOR-15 is aware of magic since it has under it's employ a magic hat in a interlude way back when, although the latter mentions the AI struggling to comprehend such knowledge but has no doubt that it will in time.

woweed · May 4, 2024

Soberan 123 said:
Actually the guy may have been a trojan horse since is weird for him manage to survive all these years and the AI not done a thing about him.

He seems to have gotten free off a crit-fail caused by our Probability wedgie.

hleghe · May 4, 2024

(seems like we might be repeating arguments here. isn't a major issue since these are probably mostly opinions on both sides, but something to be mindful of? also sorry if my posts are getting crazy long, there's a lot to talk about)

Soberan 123 said:
DOR-15 win condition is just to spread helping hats,

my take is that the US government is aware of what sort of threats helping hats are, but either doesn't consider it an immediate issue for at least until after negaduck, or that DOR15 has been doing king stuff in the background and are currently in a standoff with the government where both sides benefit from inaction
DOR15 might win this exchange because they're juggling less and have an endgame to work to, but all the other kings also get more chances to build up as time goes on, just need to make sure that doesn't get subverted

the situation is probably way better than you think because for instance toons exist and while they're not immune to mind control if it's funny, they're definitely not going to be effective zombies and could really mess with stuff. due to the fusion setting the world is way bigger than in meet the Robinsons, and thus world domination is way harder. many other dangerous forces want world domination and they *will* squabble if one of them looks to be eclipsing them.

(to be clear, i wasn't assuming DOR15 was a hive mind, there's still things you can do to reduce communication and make them less effective, and it was only one example)

Soberan 123 said:
I mean Kat almost succeed in it's plans

not sure how kat/the kataclysm is relevant here. sure it was pretty bad, but that crit on GalFed assistance wasn't entirely essential (i assume if it didn't, the invading ships would eventually give up
if you're asking where the options were to address the threat, they were reorganising OWCA and various internal investigation actions. we just failed them until things kicked off :P

Soberan 123 said:
but we have a chance to do something about this threat plus perhaps we can gain goodwill among the population and the US government for handling the threat.

regarding this, there's the fact we're not specialised to fight a war so probably aren't capable of wide-scale heroism, how the government does not want to broadcast this unless it's absolutely needed, and that we might not want it publicly known *either*? DEI benefits from keeping things on the down low too, and being known to publicly do stuff like fight off a zombie army would get a lot of eyes on us. the government might be happy we're helping, but probably better to get permission first since getting in the way and messing with things could screw up any plans they have and really annoy them.

providing science/type assistance should still be fine though, so seems like trying to get a hat to reverse engineer is looking like an even better call (and we don't even need to fight and capture one in a intrigue action, we can just (discretely while under a cover identity) buy a publicly released one, stick it in a box with a faraday cage, disassemble it and do some science!)

Soberan 123 said:
he US government is aware of the threat, it's just the departments are too busy fighting among themselves over who gets to handle it instead of doing something about it.

large organisations tend to be slower to move because they're bulkier, though that does mean when they strike they'd probably strike decisively. the time department on its own probably isn't enough to destroy a king+robot army? so getting through the inertia also means they'd have more resources to bring to bear.
other parts of the government would be needed is what I'm saying? the red tape is there for a reason. the other parts of the government are doing important stuff too, i bet.

Soberan 123 said:
Also DOR-15 is aware of magic since it has under it's employ a magic hat in a interlude way back when, although the latter mentions the AI struggling to comprehend such knowledge but has no doubt that it will in time.

time travel might be related to their secret mechanic yeah, though hopefully for balance reasons it isn't gamebreaking.
by now you can probably assume all kings by now are aware of magic/aliens (this is mentioned in an informational post) unless there's something weird going on

DoofQuest- a Disney Villains Victorious CK2-Style Quest

God-Emperor of Underkind

Not a sphere

Not a sphere