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Lex Sedet In Vertice: A Supervillain in the DCU CK2 quest

What sort of tone should I shoot for with this Quest?

  • Go as crack fueled as you can we want Ambush Bug, Snowflame and Duckseid

    Votes: 30 7.7%

  • Go for something silly but keep a little bit of reason

    Votes: 31 7.9%

  • Adam West Camp

    Votes: 27 6.9%

  • Balanced as all things should be

    Votes: 195 50.0%

  • Mostly serious but not self-involvedly so

    Votes: 73 18.7%

  • Dark and brooding but with light at the end of the tunnel

    Votes: 12 3.1%

  • We're evil and we don't want anyone to be happy

    Votes: 22 5.6%
  • Total voters
    390
  • Poll closed .
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Simon_Jester said:
The thing is, this is a power plant that derives its energy from cold, as I understand it, and I have no fucking idea how that's supposed to work. So screw it, it's a magic box that makes electricity from nowhere.

@_@
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Cold involves a lack of motion of particles. In essence, the cold engine is a contained space of heat death, so maybe it works by having entropy contained inside a space, and thereby increasing the energy state of particles outside the engine. Also might have something to do with false vacuum decay theory.
 
Silvereagle21 said:
So first off, I am very pleased with this turn. We had a ton of success in a lot of areas that definitely continues to keep Lex-Corp moving forward as well as advances our agenda. That being said, I am very concerned about the possibility of Braniac coming and especially his potential interest in the Cold Engine. That is why I think we should focus heavily on preparations for that next turn. I wanted to improve our weapons and defenses, improve potential resistance to him and overall make sure that Earth can resist/win and that Lex-Corp does not have problems as a result.
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I think most effective actions would be
[ ] Develop a custom battle suit (for Katherina Kane) DC 5
[ ] Fortify Metropolis DC 32
Kath has great coop with Pamela and if we reinforce her, we will have second strong martial pair in addition to Carol-Roxanna duo. Then we can have decent performance in at least to sectors at once.

As for fortify metropolis I think last time we have done it we were attacked by ninja and were stopped from completing it, but on the other hand it somewhat mitigated damage, so sending our strongest pair on it can somewhat improve situation on the ground and it can also work as more PR for Carol

Then there is also potentially hit or miss actions with
[ ] Begin training saboteurs in the use of Alan Morris' stealth suit
[ ] Improve signal jammers
Brainiac uses drones so really impressive signal jammers can possibly affect them. As for stealth suits efficiency it would depend on many factors, primary on how distracted Brainiac would be with fighting but potentially we can try to sneak group on board and plant bombs/steal something. Best case scenario would be to run away with one or two of his bottled cities.
Simon_Jester said:
Given that Johnny Sorrow's slipstream device was tried only once, by Johnny Sorrow, who disappeared without a trace...

...I think it would be, in practice, rather difficult to verify that it IS a teleportation device and not a "make things vanish without a trace" device.

On the other hand, if it works, I don't want to put the White Martians within easy convenient reach of a teleportation device. That sounds like a bad idea.
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They can still infiltrate any place with their shape shifting and mind reading. Teleportation would not increase their capabilities by that much, especially if it could be traced by energy emissions. On the other hand there is chance that they would disappear too, especially if we manage to sabotage device before it falling in their hands. Even better if it would unleash some kind of eldritch monster on them. It can be like typical space horror only with Martians in lead roles.

Swedish15 said:
We have broken Newtonian Physics. (Just in time as Cassie understands them. I can see her talking to Rice and the pausing and replying: "Well, that's just wrong."
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I think Cass already knows from Lex that all laws are mostly suggestions.
 
Some further thoughts from the update.

I think I want one of Cassandra's traits to be about psychology. As the heir to Lexcorp, Cassandra needs to be able to wheel and deal with people. I believe one of our biggest strengths has been our willingness to work with others and I want to make sure Cassandra is strong in that area. A psychology trait will probably give a boost to intrigue and diplomacy.

With a the Cold Engine our end goal may be able to align with Ra's. I forget his exact end goals, but generally its about how modern humanity is death to the planet and needs to be cut down. If we can make modern humanity have much less harmful impacts on the planet through free energy eventually getting rid of pollution we may be able to sway him more towards us. Of course there are still many environmental issues that would need to be rectified, but this is solid proof that Lexcorp can be the one to do it. Certainly would be easier than trying to destroy modern humanity.

We got the Governor of our state under control and need to give him marching orders. Besides supporting our Bill we need to think of things we want him to do. Now in the state of Maryland (where Metropolis is) the governor has a lot of power. They have full responsibility over the state budget planning, they can veto whichever items they want in a state bill (needing 3/5s to overturn) and they appoint many of the state administrative officials. Particularly they have sole responsibility over appointing administrative officials that deal with energy, no approval from any other groups necessary. I'm thinking we should have him heavily promote Kryptonite energy in the state as part of a green energy plan, put in sympathetic administrative officials, possibility provide tax breaks for companies that do certain things (that Lexcorp obviously qualifies for), and to pressure the Metropolis mayor to further fund the SCU. What would others like to see?

The Lydeckers are really peeking my interest at this point. Advance genetics research and DC 239 to investigate them. We got that through protagonist powers (double down) and luck. They are certainly a hard intrigue nut to crack. We now have a primary lead on Atlantean tech. No need for that Black Manta stuff right away, we go straight to the Lyderckers. I also further think that I want to bring Terrible Trio into our fold as allies. While Gotham factions are in general risky, I think they are uniquely one of the best ones we can work with. They are a small extremely well hidden group that we can easily provide carrots and sticks to. Of course, we'll have to wait and see how workable they truly are until we speak with them.
 
So just checking do we want to reveal that made the cold engine to the public? That would be the only way to get our employees Nobel prizes. However this seems like the type of thing that every government on the planet will try to steal or force us to give them it.
 
ThoughtMaster said:
Cold involves a lack of motion of particles. In essence, the cold engine is a contained space of heat death, so maybe it works by having entropy contained inside a space, and thereby increasing the energy state of particles outside the engine.
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Wouldn't work.

I could ramble on, but wouldn't work. I mean, except under comic book logic, but we know it runs on comic book logic.

I'm not complaining, I'm just saying that it's effectively a magic box for generating energy from nowhere. That's not a complaint. It's more of a maniacal laugh.

Also might have something to do with false vacuum decay theory.
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Almost certainly not, because it's not advertised as having anything to do with that. Aside from "this produces energy from nowhere, that is an occasionally discussed mechanism that might seem to produce energy from nowhere, therefore this might be that," there's nothing linking the two.

Serpentine said:
I think it would be good to build upon either what she's already good at or what will help her most in taking over LexCorp if/when the time comes. I don't have any specifics in mind though.
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Well, the traits she can get out of this are most likely to involve her excelling in specific fields, so we should take care to pick fields that we think will be the future of the company.

[Looks at all the wildly disparate shit we do]

This is gonna be a toughie.

Alex Sol said:
I think most effective actions would be
[ ] Develop a custom battle suit (for Katherina Kane) DC 5
[ ] Fortify Metropolis DC 32
Kath has great coop with Pamela and if we reinforce her, we will have second strong martial pair in addition to Carol-Roxanna duo. Then we can have decent performance in at least to sectors at once.

As for fortify metropolis I think last time we have done it we were attacked by ninja and were stopped from completing it, but on the other hand it somewhat mitigated damage, so sending our strongest pair on it can somewhat improve situation on the ground and it can also work as more PR for Carol

Then there is also potentially hit or miss actions with
[ ] Begin training saboteurs in the use of Alan Morris' stealth suit
[ ] Improve signal jammers
Brainiac uses drones so really impressive signal jammers can possibly affect them. As for stealth suits efficiency it would depend on many factors, primary on how distracted Brainiac would be with fighting but potentially we can try to sneak group on board and plant bombs/steal something. Best case scenario would be to run away with one or two of his bottled cities.
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All this sounds good but I have doubt about the idea of the invisible infiltrators paying off in the time available. Tempting, though.

They can still infiltrate any place with their shape shifting and mind reading. Teleportation would not increase their capabilities by that much, especially if it could be traced by energy emissions.
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I'm more concerned about their being able to use it as an easy, convenient way to travel from Mars to Earth. A bunch of malevolent telepathic shapeshifters on Mars are far less of a problem than a bunch of malevolent telepathic shapeshifters on Mars with interplanetary teleporters.

On the other hand there is chance that they would disappear too, especially if we manage to sabotage device before it falling in their hands. Even better if it would unleash some kind of eldritch monster on them. It can be like typical space horror only with Martians in lead roles.
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Unless we end up with an eldritch monster ruling Mars with an army of telepathic shapeshifting slaves who have been further weirded out and amplified. :p

drake_azathoth said:
They all got their wishes though. I mean, the Cold Engine is amazing and any sensible alien species would be interested, but just think of all those little girls whose wishes would not have been granted without Plan A!
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Lex Luthor: "I fail to see the point. You Incubators could stand to be a little more ruthless and pragmatic, I think."

:D

Erumpet said:
So just checking do we want to reveal that made the cold engine to the public? That would be the only way to get our employees Nobel prizes. However this seems like the type of thing that every government on the planet will try to steal or force us to give them it.
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Drs. Lincoln and Snow are not old women. Even if we wait twenty years to reveal we have this, they'll just get their Nobel Prizes then.
 
@King crimson a question: In the possible conclusion of project AMAZO, will it result in a new (loyal) hero unit for us, or more of a combat asset like the Young Justice Amazo that follow every command, or will it be more of independent character like the golden one from JLU?
 
Ryddler777 said:
@King crimson a question: In the possible conclusion of project AMAZO, will it result in a new (loyal) hero unit for us, or more of a combat asset like the Young Justice Amazo that follow every command, or will it be more of independent character like the golden one from JLU?
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The conclusion of the AMAZO project as initially drafted by Ivo will result in no new hero units as someone is meant to transfer their body into the robot.

If things conclude otherwise then that means things have not gone as was originally intended for the project. That's not to say other conclusions can't happen or that the result is set in stone but the objective of the project, if properly achieved, results in no new hero units.
 
We should try end finish amazo so we would have solution for alien invasion or any other problem that need an amazing solution
 
I'm now imagining Lex handing the reigns to LexCorp to Cassandra before transferring to an Amazo body to cheat death. He then becomes more of a shadowy advisor figure to Cassandra while pursuing other nebulous goals or something. Also, would LexCorp get rebranded as CasCorp upon Cassandra's takeover?
 
Serpentine said:
I'm now imagining Lex handing the reigns to LexCorp to Cassandra before transferring to an Amazo body to cheat death. He then becomes more of a shadowy advisor figure to Cassandra while pursuing other nebulous goals or something. Also, would LexCorp get rebranded as CasCorp upon Cassandra's takeover?
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She might just flip back to Luthor Industries.
 
King crimson said:
Yes. In the dcau Lex attempted to do just that after creating the first Amazo. His attempt was a lot more complicated at the end of the day but I'm more than happy to allow the thread to attempt it.
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Yeah. It was influenced by Brainiac who obviously was making him want to do it so he could hijack the transfer and leave Lex. Not that I can't say he wouldn't want to do it anyway. Immortality as a potentially all powerful robot (save for Dark Magic apparently because PLOT)

At the end of the day, AMAZO is kinda our only currently known option to handle the big ones of DC like Darkseid. And he's not even complete he's just an option we have to work towards.
 
@King crimson

Earlier you said:

King crimson said:
] Begin Producing Equalizer exo-suits
DC 25
Roll 50 + 22 (Felicity Smoak stewardship stat) = 72
Impressive success

Felicity on the other hand has managed to deliver what was promised. The Equalizer exo-suits are being steadily and effectively produced and the US is quite happy with you and the results you've given them. LexCorp has been making a mint doing so and the rate at which Equalizer suits are being made has even let you keep a few for your own use. Its not exactly computers but Felicity has shown that she can adapt to using almost any sort of technology and setting up systems to excel.

Results: Contract satisfied, LexCorp makes money and you get 200 Equalizer suits for your own use, Felicity Smoak is very close to gaining another trait.
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And this turn:

King crimson said:
[ ] Begin producing and marketing kryptonite cars
DC 21
Roll 74 + 22 (Felicity stewardship stat) = 96
Astounding success

Kryptonite cars have been a product you've been quietly working on for quite a while. With the acquisition of Keystone Motors you were finally able to make the move and begin selling them. Felicity has proved adequate at overseeing the rollout of these new cars and they've proven to be fairly successful in the grand scheme of things. While kryptonite powered cars have a decent niche in the US they aren't all that popular in Asia. The real standout success though has been in Europe where kryptonite cars have proven to be all the rage. It's not the ubiquity you'd initially desired but it's almost amusing in its own way. Kryptonite cars wouldn't be common enough for Superman to be especially wary of them in the states, but if he ever goes to Europe and isn't aware of the car market then he's sure to suffer. You've effectively deniably cordoned off the alien and made interacting with cars in the US long odds Russian roulette for the alien all while making a good profit and promoting clean energy. A victory all around.

Results: Kryptonite cars decently popular in the US and immensely popular in Europe but unpopular in Asia. Decent amount of money made and Superman now at risk when interacting with cars. New options opened up
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Was the roll not high enough for a new trait, or is it just wrong type of action?
 
Getting AMAZO up and running anytime in the near future is not going to happen. Just to get the cold engine finished required numerous actions to set up a VERY dedicated lab, putting all of the results from a great chemistry action to lower the DC, and having two heroes with nearly perfect coop and DC reductions to put on the action. That was also on top of delays we had with the sabotage and other actions to put said heroes on. Plus whatever amount needed to be sacrificed to the dice to get over 500 on a roll. :lol:

If we really want AMAZO, we'd need to dedicate some turns to making a lab, and possibly learn necromancy to bring Ivo back (which is actually something we can get with learning about magic). The DC is currently 200 and it needs to be cleared 15 times to be completed, and Ivo made it really worth it with his trait that gave us a free robotics learning reward every time he was assigned to it (along with the DC reduction of course).

With that being said I'd love for us to have AMAZO around as a hero unit similar to the DCAU version, it just won't happen until we can dedicate the actions towards that goal over numerous turns. For reference the first turn we took the cold engine action was turn 20, so it took about 7 turns to finish it all up, with all the benefits listed above.
 
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HavocOrder0999 said:
Getting AMAZO up and running anytime in the near future is not going to happen. Just to get the cold engine finished required numerous actions to set up a VERY dedicated lab, putting all of the results from a great chemistry action to lower the DC, and having two heroes with nearly perfect coop and DC reductions to put on the action. That was also on top of delays we had with the sabotage and other actions to put said heroes on. Plus whatever amount needed to be sacrificed to the dice to get over 500 on a roll. :lol:

If we really want AMAZO, we'd need to dedicate some turns to making a lab, and possibly learn necromancy to bring Ivo back (which is actually something we can get with learning about magic). The DC is currently 200 and it needs to be cleared 15 times to be completed, and Ivo made it really worth it with his trait that gave us a free robotics learning reward every time he was assigned to it (along with the DC reduction of course).

With that being said I'd love for us to have AMAZO around as a hero unit similar to the DCAU version, it just won't happen until we can dedicate the actions towards that goal.
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As said by King Crimson, The Cold Engine if miniaturized can and will greatly speed up the AMAZO project all by itself. And that's not taking into account how much it already will speed it up without miniaturization. Secondly, we don't need Necromancy. If we can (and we eventually will) find Ivo's Brain backup we can very easily just use that instead of bringing him back from the dead.

Lastly the AMAZO project is highly unique in that with Ivo's trait which we probably can get back from his copy. Can gift us gains in other projects as well through completion. And if we succeed very well which with the correct bonuses and co op scores isn't all that hard. We can complete multiple steps in one go.

The 15 times is just the bare minimum of getting exactly the DC every time.
 
Lockheart said:
Was the roll not high enough for a new trait, or is it just wrong type of action?
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Mostly the roll not being high enough and a little bit of it falling outside the scope of what the trait is supposed to do (if it was just production of kryptonite cars than the roll you got would have potentially earned you the trait but because there was the additional marketing component it was just far enough that it didn't feel justified to give you the trait then and there). That make sense?
 
Like the results so far and love that we have solved the heat death of the universe. Now all we have to do is upscale it and stop the many crazy aliens from Lex Luthor taking his rightful place in the universe.
 
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