Okay, for a Taylor/Danny synergy, Taylor has my power and danny has a master power to directly direct any orginization he leads or any parts of a system he leads.
You want DWU to be the best gang? There, now they are S+ class gang.
Something to consider when messing with Humans (PRT/Protectorate/Cauldron aside) is the effect they would have on Shards.
Generally, there are three classes of Hosts:
1) No Corona. Hosts that can't (yet) Trigger are almost completely safe to abuse/mess with/help. By the time other Shards notice anything off with Hosts they don't control, you'd have bigger problems. Now, this is risky, because you Canon Foreknowledge only goes so far.
Emily Piggot? Emma Barnes? Canonically they were noted as incapable of Triggering. Madison Clements? Greg Veder? Giant question marks. Of course, once you have Shard senses working this will be much less of a risk, although there's always a chance that you could miss a latent connection to a non-sapient Shard.
2) UnTriggered. Hosts that are Connected but not Triggered. This comes down to good, old-fashioned diplomacy. Make an agreement with a sapient Shard and provide an alternate Host? No problem! Take a host away from a new and/or non-sapient Shard should be okay. Although you don't have the tech to force non-sapient Shards onto a new Host, which (if possible) would mostly mitigate any danger.
3) Triggered/Active. Hosts that are Connected and Generating Information. You don't have the technology to do anything with these yet. Even when you do, you're going to cause a lot of waves until you have a better handle on being subtle / you pre-emptively eat the Shard involved to prevent it from talking.
I would advise against doing this at this time but note that it should be possible to do this (more) safely later. And of course all plans should be on the table during an emergency.
EDIT: This is misleading, I'm sorry for the wording. You can, right now, "eat" a non-sapient Shard with a Triggered Host, take over, and pretend that everything's fine. Of course there are risks with that. The text above was attempting to point out that you can Research ways to make this not-risky.
Just brainstorming, but if we take over Sophia we could second trigger her dimensional intangibility into full dimensional teleportation, and maybe shadow control/tentacles to drag people with her. turn her into a shadowy multiverse eldritch abominantion. Could work as an excuse to change her state of mind entirely.
Just brainstorming, but if we take over Sophia we could second trigger her dimensional intangibility into full dimensional teleportation, and maybe shadow control/tentacles to turn her into a shadowy multiverse eldritch abominantion. Could work as an excuse to change her state of mind entirely.
ABB Japanese girls, beware! Perfect Anti-Bakuda Counter!
Personally I'm fine with route where Sophia suddenly realize how screwed up in the head she is, because while seeing her beaten up never gets old, it gets repetitive a bit at this point. And scenarios where Sophia comes back from her old mindset and suddenly becomes at least a decent human being would be nice? And if 'monster transformation' is what is needed for her 'wake up call' then it would be indeed amusing .
Shadow based minion power could also work for it? Like second trigger ends up with Master / Breaker / Trump power, where she can create 'shadow creatures' like fairies or pixies, which work for her, but also punish her in case she does something which they dislike (don't hurt Administrator Taylor, meanie!). Minion based Pavlovian conditioning, where her power punish her for doing something her minions dislike. Also it will force her to actually think, because Master powers require more tactical / strategical thinking as in this case she would loose her 'shadow form' safety from taking some hits. I think it would do her some good as she clearly isn't the smartest cookie around.
My personal outlook on the global goals and win conditions is that we ultimately want to move from "blind conflict results in new development" to "different species bring different perspectives to work together towards specified goals".
As to various power ideas - maybe we should make a list of what has been suggested so far? At some point, since this is a fairly design-intensive thing, we might want to do a second stage design (that is, narrowing the designs from the proposed lists, working out design kinks), rather than spawning more and more ideas.
Everyone, I'm making the command decision to implement this Turn in multiple chunks, because I don't want to deny you a chance to vote on things midday. (Voting on things that might affect Sophia and/or Taylor)
Think of this as a 3-4 hour span of time, it's still Monday and School is still in-session.
Worst-case, anything you didn't get to vote on is still possible because very little time has passed in-Quest. Absent further commentary, I am still planning to drop the rest of this Turn at roughly 6:00pm US-Pacific.
[X] Send a command to [Shift] - Now that you have its address, you don't need to rely on Taylor or Scion. You can just connect whenever you want.
- [X] Report known addresses.
- [X] Train [Shift] to properly organize information. We want to use it as a proxy to collect addresses of shards in return for this.
- [X] Give data on it's host and her psyche
- [X] Do not grab random information
- [X] Do not eat shift
Note: If a popular plan doesn't conflict with the winning plan, I will attempt to combine the non-conflicting options. Since this is the case, voting-by-plan isn't (yet) necessary. Your ideas count, even if it doesn't win overall!
If something forces a switch to voting-by-plan (only) in the future I will give advance warning.
Also, plan/option detail is one of my criteria when deciding tie-breakers. More detail is almost always better - I read very quickly and a long and rambling plan isn't a problem.
(Not enough time has passed to perform any Research)
You open a channel to [Shift] and start to interrogate the Shard. It's clear to you now that this poor Shard is small, new (although, strangely, not a Bud), and completely brain-dead. You consider consuming it, but… that's premature.
[Report - Known Addresses]
[Shift] - [Compliance!]
Administrator - ?/Taylor Hebert
Absorb - Grue/Brian Laborn
Armamentarium - Miss Militia/Hannah Washington
Armor - Hellhound(Bitch)/Rachel Lindt
Audible
Charge - Battery/?
Coopt - Alec/Regent
Emote - Gallant/Dean Stansfield
Gaea - Panacea/Amy Dallon
Growth - uh, not triggered yet, forget I mentioned this one, please?
Gymnastics
Jury-Rig
Knowledge
Module - Kid Win/Chris
Negotiator - Tattletale/Lisa Wilbourn
Optimize - Armsmaster/Colin Wallis
Shift - Shadow Stalker/Sophia Hess (you already have this Address)
Stasis - Clockblocker/Dennis Danger
Telekinetic - Glory Girl/Victoria Dallon
Warp - Vista/Missy Biron
You're pretty sure that Administrator is you, and [Shift] gave you its own… sigh. [Shift] seems to have taken you very literally. You'll need to watch out for that in the future.
[Shift] - [Report - Host]
Uhh. Hmm. That's… bad. Very bad indeed. You were vaguely aware that the Conflict Drive was a thing, but this is…
Okay, so assuming that this data is correct, the actual root cause of the problems here is that Sophia is fully compatible with [Shift]. Too compatible, in fact.
What was meant to be a mild urge to get into fights has mutated into full-on psychic contamination - Sophia can't even conceive of not getting into fights with every damn Parahuman available. But since she's Human and not a Shard, she's internalized some sort of inferiority complex as well.
She can't not get into fights, but she also is painfully aware that her power isn't a combat-focused one. So… she acts out against "safe targets", i.e. non-Parahumans. She's acting as if Taylor is personally offensive to her, because that's essentially correct.
But wait, that's not all! Because of her weird synchronization, [Shift] is quickly becoming sapient… and it's essentially copying Sophia's mind wholesale. In about another year, [Shift] will have a fully functioning mind.
Specifically, the mind of a racist (speciesist?) Social Darwinist. Well, it's a bit early to tell but that's what most of your simulations are coming up with. Joy.
You guess the 'good news' is that at least the bare beginnings of [Shift]'s mentality seems to regard you as a apex predator and it wants to please you. Score?
While you're on that topic… Let's see if we can train this program to sort data!
[Explain / Categorization]
[Shift] - [???]
Er, okay.
[Explain / Information Types]
[Shift] - [???]
Um. [Explain / Information (general)]
[Shift] - [<buh?>]
[Shift] - [...Provide Data?]
This… This is… You're fairly certain that Sophia has more processing power than this Shard. No, that's not normal or reasonable. You didn't realize that such a thing was even possible.
But here is it, right in front of you. A human body would be so useful right now. So that you could get drunk.
If you want to teach [Shift] anything, you'll have to keep it really simple. And it will probably take a while. You don't remember your Human life at all well, but you're almost positive that this process is going to resemble dog training more than anything else.
At least in the short term. After that it will be like training a angry teen. In the middle of the day. During summer vacation.
...You're really glad that your current state of being dampens emotions somewhat.
[ ] Multi-Host Connection 1: 100 Master Information, 100 Research. The capability (NOT the permission!) to connect to two hosts at once. This isn't a powers-effect, simply for the purpose of communication. The second Host would need to Trigger on their own (and more research would be needed) before a power could be assigned.
[ ] Assume Direct Control 1: 200 Master Information, 100 Research. The capability (NOT the permission!) to Master a Host. This isn't a powers-effect, simply the ability to control a Host's body without any permissions from them. This ability does not erase the person's mind, if control is somehow broken they may be upset. Using this massively increases Aberrance score.Note: In theory this ability could be used with the Host's permission, although the communication involved in arranging that would also increase Aberrance.
[X] View Host: Achieved! The capability to access a Host's senses before they Trigger. (You already have a basic ability that requires no research after the person Triggers. This is needed before a Trigger occurs / in order to view hosts beyond the first.)
[ ] The Dream Master: 50 Thinker Information, 200 Research. The capability to interact with the sleeping state of connected Hosts. A indirect form of communication that causes less Aberrance.
[X] Faster Research 1: Achieved! The capability to Research two things at once before incurring a penalty. Moar Economy!
[ ] Faster Research 2: 200 Thinker Information, 750 Research. The capability to Research three things at once before incurring a penalty. More!
[ ] Focussed Research 1: 150 Thinker Information, 950 Research. The capability to add a roll (1d100) for one skill per Turn of research. Better!
[ ] Improved Research 1: 150 Thinker Information, 950 Research. The capability to add a roll (1d100) evenly divided across all research performed per Turn. Faster!
[ ] Overload I: 150 Thinker Information, 250 Research. The capability to offensively transfer energy to another Shard. You're not Sting, but you're not completely helpless. This version of the ability can't kill another Shard, but they will need time to cool off before they can resume operation. Effect is similar to sedatives in Humans. Some Shards may attempt to block the initial connection to defend themselves, but that is unlikely to work. Will have reduced effect on energy-manipulation Shards, though.
[ ] DDoS I: 150 Trump Information, 250 Research. The capability to offensively open multiple communication connections with another Shard. You can MAKE them listen to you. This version of the ability can't kill another Shard, but they will need time to themselves to reorganize before they can resume operation. Effect is similar to sedatives in Humans. Some Shards may attempt to ignore the additional traffic to try and defend themselves. This defense will almost never work, although Thinker-based Shards will be harder to affect.
[ ] Communicate with Taylor. Note: This is hugely aberrant and there are now non-direct communication methods available to research. That said, it's also a giant advantage too.
[ ] With what voice?
Voice option examples: Normal Male, Normal Female, Robotic, Chorus (what kind?), famous celebrities or actors.
[*]Remember that Taylor may not be familiar with voices made famous after the mid-80's because of the dimensional fragmentation.
[*]Keep in mind that you can imitate any kind of accent perfectly (Russian, German, Aussie, UK, Scottish, etc) - including 'fake' versions.
[ ] How do you introduce yourself?
[ ] Do you talk about powers?
[ ] Do you reveal setting 'secrets'? Warning: Precogs. (QM will not reveal the exact mechanics of this danger)
[ ] Send a command to [Shift] - Now that you have its address, you don't need to rely on Taylor or Scion. You can just connect whenever you want.
[ ] Do you grab (random) information?
How much? All of it?
[ ] Do you send any kind of instruction?
[ ] Do you attempt to induce sapience (early)?
[ ] Do you attempt to Eat/Consume [Shift]? Warning: Aberrant behavior.
[ ] Timeskip forwards… to when?
[ ] Perform any Research rolls during the skipped time? (reduced rate: one roll per week skipped)
[ ] Write In. You're the Administrator Shard! You have a much better idea of what to do next than the QM does.
[Stasis] is Clockblocker.
[Warp] is Vista.
[Negotiator] is Tattletale, and a priority.
[Charge] is probably Battery, and thus a Cauldron shard.
[Armamentarium] is Miss Militia.
[Jury-Rig] is Squealer.
[Optimize] is Armsmaster, which means we might be able to get Dragon's address from it.
[Module] is Kid Win.
[Telekinetic] is Rune.
[Absorb] is Grue.
[Audible] is Cricket.
[Emote] is Gallant.
[Coopt] might be Regent?
[Armor] might be Bitch?
[Gymnastics] might be Circus?
[Growth] might be Menja/Fenja?
@Vhalidictes , do we need to vote on the research options again?
It looks like a defense option against other Shards has just jumped in priority. This is pretty bad, but I still don't really want to eat Shift until I have a better idea of the consequences. Here's my idea, but I'm willing to change it, based on the discussion:
[X] Send a command to [Shift] - Now that you have its address, you don't need to rely on Taylor or Scion. You can just connect whenever you want.
-[X] Have Shift send you its information so that you can sort it and take 5% as payment.
-[X] Try to emphasize how organisms can cooperate for a better end result than one oppressing the other.
-[X] Point out that if Shift's host dies, then it will have no way of performing its functions.
I'm not sure how well this will work, considering that Shift is pretty stupid and barely sapient. Also, taking any data might reinforce The Administrator's "alpha predator" image, but I want to get some benefit out of this. Maybe it could be a regular thing where The Administrator sorts any new data that Shift collects. Hopefully, Shift will find the sorted data more useful than it was before, but who knows.
I'd like to point out that Sophia's power is very much combat oriented. It is a nightmare to fight against, and, in Brockton Bay, she couldn't kill... Oh, Lung (incidentally, personal opinion - Lung is the host of adaptable propulsion system used for short range maneuvering), maybe? That's not counting how it is also likely a tinker's wet dream, or at least very useful for item crafting. How it has so many potential exploits and power synergies and interactions that it's not even funny.
[X] Send a command to [Shift] - Now that you have its address, you don't need to rely on Taylor or Scion. You can just connect whenever you want.
-[X] Start building a data categorization system, demonstrating how it improves data acquisition
@Vhalidictes , do we need to vote on the research options again?
It looks like a defense option against other Shards has just jumped in priority. This is pretty bad, but I still don't really want to eat Shift until I have a better idea of the consequences. Here's my idea, but I'm willing to change it, based on the discussion:
[X] Send a command to [Shift] - Now that you have its address, you don't need to rely on Taylor or Scion. You can just connect whenever you want.
-[X] Have Shift send you its information so that you can sort it and take 5% as payment.
-[X] Try to emphasize how organisms can cooperate for a better end result than one oppressing the other.
-[X] Point out that if Shift's host dies, then it will have no way of performing its functions.
I'm not sure how well this will work, considering that Shift is pretty stupid and barely sapient. Also, taking any data might reinforce The Administrator's "alpha predator" image, but I want to get some benefit out of this. Maybe it could be a regular thing where The Administrator sorts any new data that Shift collects. Hopefully, Shift will find the sorted data more useful than it was before, but who knows.
So Shift... I'm kind of tempted to actually eat it? It should be easier to do it on our own then try to train it and do it on our own? But I guess I also agree that waiting may be a better option for now and do more research.
I have an idea how to do so. Master Power where shadow forms are limited to only tentacles. Those tentacles gain additional 'smarts' the longer they walk freely around and 'absorb' materials/living biomass/etc and gain new abilities or pick up new knowledge. Second one is especially important as Sophia is... Sophia. Making her smarter and less aggresive should be a good goal.
If tentacle is fed enough, it may 'combine' with a host (in this case Sophia) and become sort of version of Worm-style Symbiote (like Venom from Marvel).
In this case you still get Master power, but Sophia may still become 'Tentacle Cthulhu Abomination'. Here it is - combined Master Power with a concept of 'Tentacle Goddess' or something similar.
I know some people use an option where Case 53's may happen in completely natural way, but are EXTREMELY rare mutations. But it may as well not be the case here.
[X] Send a command to [Shift] - Now that you have its address, you don't need to rely on Taylor or Scion. You can just connect whenever you want.
-[X] Have Shift send you its information so that you can sort it and take 5% as payment.
-[X] Try to emphasize how organisms can cooperate for a better end result than one oppressing the other.
-[X] Point out that if Shift's host dies, then it will have no way of performing its functions. Try to present idea that too aggresive behaviour may kill potential hosts too fast and not gathering enough data from them.
I think this little addition may be worth to consider? I think that lowering aggresive need of conflict would in the long run work as I also think it's a MIRACLE that Sophia didn't die early on in canon with how overaggresive Shift makes her.
Does Taylor need to be personally actively observing a parahuman for us to be able to do the "share senses/pool data" thing, or is it enough for her power to give her the potential to observe for us to get the info, even if she chooses not to watch?
Like, as an extremis case thought experiment, if we give Taylor the ability to get a top down live view of any cape she chooses to observe on the planet (Potential Cape Name: Voyeur ), would we be able to gather data from some random African cape warlord who Taylor herself isn't choosing to observe?
1) Citation, please, for Bitch being exception. When wards discuss her powers in canon, her not having direct power-based control over her dogs is noted, but is not considered something strange / exceptional at all.
The base designations are labels based on broad categories; they're initially designed for the PRT teams, and thus break down into very simplistic categories and ratings, so soldiers can know & communicate what they're up against in brief. If there's time for a broader explanation, they can then give it.
'Mover', therefore, covers anyone that can cross great distances at a time. Flight, teleportation, superspeed (Armsmaster uses this designation in 8.2). 'Master' refers to the ability to control others or (in the case of specialized cases of other powers, like Tinkers) to create minons… Taylor, Parian, Crusader, Heartbreaker and Nilbog all fit this classification. Bitch is kind of an outlying case in this category because she doesn't have absolute control or loyalty from those she creates. She has to train them – of the sixteen or so dogs she had at the one shelter, she only considered eight well trained enough to obey her and come with her in this chapter, and even then she was relying on Brutus and Judas to sort of herd them and keep them in line.
The actual number rating depends on the impact/strength of the power, obviously. It's perhaps an oversight, perhaps a deliberate action (or some combination of the two) that versatility of a power isn't counted unless it's explicit – and Taylor's isn't. An example on how this could be deliberate: a PRT squad that moves in on a situation with notice to expect a, say, Shaker-3 that was rated a three only because he's too much of a dumbass to use his powers to their full potential? They could be really screwed if said Shaker-3 had a fit of inspiration or some guidance/orders from someone that knew what they were doing. So dumbass gets rated a Shaker-5.
The flip side of the coin, the potential oversight, is that you get the opposite scenario. Taylor gets rated as a Master-5 based on a discussion & analysis of her power & it's potential on a surface examination, even though she might be 1-2 points higher given her creativity, versatility and other factors that perhaps the heroes aren't fully aware of (her range, ability to fabricate spider silk, etc). This sort of situation is mitigated by the fact that the PRT squads are instructed to expect the worst case scenarios, to expect that every enemy agent will be operating at peak efficiency, perhaps, but yeah.
Then there's also the factor that the bugs she controls are limited in their fashion. She isn't controlling stuffed animals the size of a second story building like Parian or directing squads of women with machine guns, grenades and zero self preservation like Heartbreaker.
Canary, had she gone evil, could have started an all out riot, turning any opponent into an ally within moments. Can anyone say whether she might have been able to use televisions, radio, speakers, to get hundreds, thousands, millions of people at a time? That, plus hysteria and the degree of control she appeared to exhibit (making someone mutilate themselves without them breaking free of the compulsion) all got factored into the 8.
Yes? No? More on designations in 9.1, I suspect. No promises – I haven't written it – but it's what I'm thinking.
"Bitch is kind of an outlying case in this category because she doesn't have absolute control or loyalty from those she creates."
2) You do remember that pain is a sensation? Do this or you experience pain is a master power. And this power allows for such conditioning (as long as you have some person somewhere in the network who is in pain).
Powers that inflict pain as sensory stimulation are thinker, because they're working with senses.
Given that this point hinges on your first (Bitch's power not giving control but still being called Master), there's no need to address this. But, Thinker powers work with knowledge, skills, information, and senses, and pain is a sense. Or, as you put it, a sensation.
Control over body or mind, as previously stated. Emotions is mind. Heartbreaker changes how a person's mind works so they cannot not behave in the way he wants them to. He's altering their behavior so that they're guaranteed to act in the way he wants them to, unless they're aware of the change and actively resist his control. The key difference here is as I've previously stated, that being they have to actively resist his control. Heartbreaker can make people loyal to him, like flipping a switch, so he meets the definition of a Master.
Emotion powers do fall under the weird overlap of master/stranger, though. They aren't exceptions, but they're a specific sub-category within one or both categories. So, yes, they're a little different, and blur the lines between the two.
The power as I outlined it, works by creating minions, and anti-master tactics are exactly what works (badly, but other tactics work even worse) against it.
The power doesn't create minions. You're saying it creates minions, but it isn't actually creating anything, and it most certainly does not control any of those people. It coerces them, yes, but that isn't the same as control.
That anti-master tactics work badly against it should be a hint that you're trying to force an interpretation of the power as a category it doesn't meet the definition of. Though, even then, we already both agreed that what the PRT calls a power is not an infallible reference for what that power actually is or how it works.
This is a breaker power, because it also allows redistribution of durability and strength. And sensory buffs are also a breaker state, if a subtle one.
That's not what a breaker power is. Breaker and trump are the two most commonly misunderstood classifications by fans, at least as WB puts it.
You could say that all powers are breaker, and as a matter of technicality you'd be right (like a pyrokinetic being immune to fire: that's technically breaker). But when talking about powers that focus on being breaker and don't just have breaker elements for side purposes, then a breaker power is one that's defined by a clear on/off state, or has a condition that must be met for the power. Even if you're going by the PRT's use, the power you described isn't solved by anti-breaker tactics. If using the PRT's terms, they wouldn't call it a breaker power; if going by how powers work internally, then it wouldn't be a breaker power any more than literally any other power is breaker (it isn't enough of one that it can be said to be breaker over anything else).
You can ask me to give citations, and I can pull up answers for everything I've posted in this thread so far. Even when I was wrong about Dragon's personality, it was because the source I was using was wrong and had been changed after the fact, and I just hadn't checked it in long enough.
So I'll do this the other way around: where are your citations? Because you're making an awful lot of claims here, but I'm not seeing any of it mentioned in the WoG thread.
Edit: if this comes off as a bit hostile, then I apologize. It isn't meant to be, and I'm not trying to shut you down or anything.
Eh. It comes down to what the QM wants, of course. But if we're talking about things Wildbow said, then he said this.
No one needs to re-Vote on research, because it hasn't happened yet. All current votes (any time after post "Prologue 3") are still valid.
Of course, you are still free to change your votes until I call it in the early evening of Sunday, Jan 6th. I can't give a precise time but it should be between 5:00pm and 7:00pm US-Pacific.
The chapter says that "[Shift] is quickly becoming sapient… and it's essentially copying Sophia's mind wholesale."
It also says that "If you want to teach [Shift] anything, you'll have to keep it really simple. And it will probably take a while. You don't remember your Human life at all well, but you're almost positive that this process is going to resemble dog training more than anything else."
Interacting with Shift might speed up the process of it becoming sapient and will hopefully give it another source of input than Sophia's mind. I don't know how well training it to categorize data will work at this point, but it might catch on somewhat if we sort the data for it a few times so that it can see the end result.
Yeah, I expect that Shift would want to bond with a different host, but I don't actually know what the process is for that if it hasn't budded. Will it still be able to see into dimensions with populated Earths without a connection to a host or a potential host? With how "new" it is, I doubt it's already budded.
I like Kejmur's addition so I'm changing my vote to include it.
[X] Send a command to [Shift] - Now that you have its address, you don't need to rely on Taylor or Scion. You can just connect whenever you want.
-[X] Have Shift send you its information so that you can sort it and take 5% as payment.
-[X] Try to emphasize how organisms can cooperate for a better end result than one oppressing the other.
-[X] Point out that if Shift's host dies, then it will have no way of performing its functions. Try to present idea that too aggresive behaviour may kill potential hosts too fast and not gathering enough data from them.
Does Taylor need to be personally actively observing a parahuman for us to be able to do the "share senses/pool data" thing, or is it enough for her power to give her the potential to observe for us to get the info, even if she chooses not to watch?
Like, as an extremis case thought experiment, if we give Taylor the ability to get a top down live view of any cape she chooses to observe on the planet (Potential Cape Name: Voyeur ), would we be able to gather data from some random African cape warlord who Taylor herself isn't choosing to observe?
Okay, so typically, the way this works is that you can use your own senses in a (radius) from the Host's Corona. You can collect data from any Shard(s) inside that (radius). Now, which power your Host(s) have affect that range, to an extent.
Now, there are a few things to consider, here.
1) Shards (other than you), even sapient ones, are inherently un-creative.
2) That said, things have been tried in the past. They aren't currently used because they don't work.
3) Gaining Aberrance and gaining "attention" aren't the same thing.
I can't see a way to get more descriptive than that, but researching things aside, just because you can do something doesn't mean that you should.
Gonna make a guess here, and say that our buddy [Shift] wants fights, but doesn't understand the idea of having reasons to fight.
Fortunately, this is a case where it'll do what we say whether it understands or not, and it can learn by observation through Sophia. So, anything Sophia herself can come to understand, [Shift] will eventually imprint on. Should be pretty easy, as long as we tell it to do something Sophia can wrap her head around. Trying to appeal to reason seems like a waste of time, since [Shift] lacks the ability to reason in the first place and, by the time it develops that ability, would be using Sophia as a reference guide. I think the brute force approach is probably better.
[x] Give instructions to [Shift] - state outright that the reasons behind conflict are more important for Information than the conflict itself. Don't worry if [Shift] gets confused or doesn't understand, all that matters is it does what we say.
-[x] Tell [Shift] to append a condition to its host's conflict drive: she only feels the urge for conflict when she sees a person being attacked by another parahuman.
-[x] Tell [Shift] to append a condition to that condition: the condition only applies if the attacking parahuman is someone the host believes is an enemy.
I don't want to contact any more Shards until we get an offensive power to use against Shards if necessary. The power would also be useful if talking to Shift doesn't work out, and The Administrator has to eat it. After all, if Shift is stunned, it can't broadcast to all of the other addresses it has that it's being eaten.
I don't want to contact any more Shards until we get an offensive power to use against Shards if necessary. The power would also be useful if talking to Shift doesn't work out, and The Administrator has to eat it. After all, if Shift is stunned, it can't broadcast to all of the other addresses it has that it's being eaten.
That's a great idea. That said, keep in minds that Shards don't normally attack each other.
It definitely does occur, but it's not something that happens a lot.
Most Shards aren't going to want to attack/eat [Administrator] if there are any other options. They would likely call in Scion to deal with the situation, first.
[X] Send a command to [Shift] - Now that you have its address, you don't need to rely on Taylor or Scion. You can just connect whenever you want.
-[X] Have Shift send you its information so that you can sort it and take 5% as payment.
-[X] Try to emphasize how organisms can cooperate for a better end result than one oppressing the other.
-[X] Point out that if Shift's host dies, then it will have no way of performing its functions. Try to present idea that too aggresive behaviour may kill potential hosts too fast and not gathering enough data from them.
I would like to suggest the idea of reinforcing shifts view of us as its superior. It's a decent way to ensure shifts cooperation without having to take any drastic action. Vhal, do we have shifts command code? Would it be possible to directly install loyalty/ obedience/ happiness in servitude to us into shift?
[x] Give instructions to [Shift] - state outright that the reasons behind conflict are more important for Information than the conflict itself. Don't worry if [Shift] gets confused or doesn't understand, all that matters is it does what we say.
-[x] Tell [Shift] to append a condition to its host's conflict drive: she only feels the urge for conflict when she sees a person being attacked by another parahuman.
-[x] Tell [Shift] to append a condition to that condition: the condition only applies if the attacking parahuman is someone the host believes is an enemy.
Does Sophia consider the Protectorate/Wards to be enemies, considering that she was forced into the Wards? I'm worried that one of the heroes will be fighting against an unpowered gang member, and she'll want to fight against the hero. Of course, Sophia wouldn't necessarily act on that urge for conflict because of the risk of being thrown into juvie for breaking her probation. I just don't know if we can trust Sophia to do the logical thing.
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), would we be able to gather data from some random African cape warlord who Taylor herself isn't choosing to observe?
