Now that I finally have the time to sit down and Andres the insanity that was this turn:
[ ] Continue preparing for Trigon's arrival
DC 27
Roll 22 + 28 (Beatriz martial stat) + 44 (Tora martial stat times coop score with Beatriz rounded up) + 20 (Rebecca martial stat times coop score with Beatriz rounded up) + 79 (reroll bonus) + 28 (Beatriz martial stat) + 44 (Tora martial stat times coop score with Beatriz rounded up) + 20 (Rebecca martial stat times coop score with Beatriz rounded up) + 53 (second reroll bonus) + 28 (Beatriz martial stat) + 44 (Tora martial stat times coop score with Beatriz rounded up) + 20 (Rebecca martial stat times coop score with Beatriz rounded up) + 92 (third reroll bonus) + 28 (Beatriz martial stat) + 44 (Tora martial stat times coop score with Beatriz rounded up) + 20 (Rebecca martial stat times coop score with Beatriz rounded up)
Total 614
Cosmic success
You'd not expected anything near the breakthrough that has occurred as of late. Every bit of information you've had on Trigon's capabilities have suggested that he's far beyond any normal person's ability to prevent from crossing over into this world. As such most of your preparations have been additional defenses and contingency set-ups to deal with worst case scenarios. Somehow Rebecca has managed to make a massive breakthrough in terms of demonology and with help from Fire and Ice has managed to push things to such a point where you now can say that you've created an additional condition that Trigon needs to achieve in order to crossover. Rebecca herself isn't fully sure how she achieved this but she managed to make it so that as long as she remains alive and on Earth, Trigon will automatically be teleported to hell when attempting to cross over out of the dimension he's imprisoned in. That's by no means a permanent solution but considering the denizens of hell initially imprisoned Trigon, this means that Trigon cannot reach the Earth and will be forced into a dangerous spot if he attempts to do so regardless. It's an incredible unexpected masterstroke and you feel fairly confident in saying that you've more or less prevented any potential invasion by Trigon, provided Rebecca does not die any time soon. It's an incredible achievement and invigorating to know that Rebecca has finally pulled her weight as an occultist for LexCorp and then some.
Results: Anti-demonic influence wards created and spread around Alexandria and Metropolis, anti-posession wards created and spread around Alexandria and Metropolis, Rebecca Carstairs creates and casts a ritual that will prevent Trigon from being able to reach the Earth, and will send him to hell instead, so long as she is alive and on Earth, Rebecca Carstairs Martial and Learning +1, Fire Martial +2, Ice Martial +1, Rebecca trait subvote, Ice trait subvote, Fire's "Too Hot to Handle" trait is modified such that whenever she's hit by Hellfire, she temporarily gains +3 martial while in combat.
This is amazing, we basically don't have to worry about Trigon so long as we can keep Rebecca alive though it does mean we should probably invest significant resources into that and finally get around to investigating what is up with her.
It's also worth noting that the modification to Fire's trait makes her and Rebecca an even better duo in combat though we probably don't want the latter on the front lines anymore. I'm also curious what traits Rebecca and Ice may have gotten from this.
Oh and an important question
@King crimson, does Trigon/his cultists automatically know about this new limitation or would he have to try and escape Azarath first? And if he does know then does he also know whose life the barrier is bound to or would he have to learn that separately?
[ ] Engage in superpowered crimefighting abroad in Italy
DC 17
Roll 42 + 40 (Coldcast martial stat) + 42 (Centurion martial stat times coop score with Coldcast rounded up) + 45 (reroll bonus) + 40 (Coldcast martial stat) + 42 (Centurion martial stat times coop score with Coldcast rounded up) + 8 (second reroll bonus) + 40 (Coldcast martial stat) + 42 (Centurion martial stat times coop score with Coldcast rounded up)
Total 341
Incredibly enormous success
Your international efforts have gone well as well. Italy was not suspected to be a hotbed of international crime but Coldcast and Centurion have managed to do so exceedingly well and have earned a fair bit of popularity there. The pair of them ended up taking down the secret emperor of Italian Crime, Carlo Calzone, who operated under the name "Caligula". In the process of doing so they uprooted traditional mafia organizations, disrupted Shard's metahuman trafficking in the country and took down the more normal but no less significant human trafficker Paulo Moretti, and they dealt with costumed crooks like Thantos, the Sun Archer, and Cinder. Cinder in particular was a massive victory for the two as Centurion's ability to talk her down from her rampage, made it far easier to put together a case to permanently put away Paulo Moretti as Cinder was his abused daughter. Cinder is currently spending time in an Italian rehabilitation center but she has expressed interest in joining up with Bastion later on down the line. The country of Italy is immensely grateful and the entire world has borne witness to your team's effectiveness on the world stage.
Results: Bastion's global popularity is significantly improved and absolutely massively improved in Italy, Coldcast and Centurion are considered national heroes for Italy, Caligula's entire secret crime empire is dismantled, the mafia takes a massive hit, losing about 3/4ths of everyone involved, Thanatos and the Sun Archer are defeated and captured, Cinder is talked down and captured and is convinced to turn evidence on her father Paulo Moretti, Shard's metahuman trafficking ring in Italy is discovered and destroyed, a Kobra cell is found and destroyed, Italy's opinion of LexCorp massively improves, Italy willing to donate money to Bastion, Russia and China significantly more concerned about LexCorp's resources, Cinder will be recruitable in 6 turns, Coldcast martial +1, Centurion martial and diplomacy +1, Coldcast and Centurion coop score +0.1, DC for a number of actions reduced, DC for building new LexCorp towers in Italy massively reduced, numerous new actions now available.
This is also incredible, not only is this exactly the sort of big first impression we wanted Bastion to have it's basically guaranteed us the support of another G7 member bringing us up to around half. I think it's also worth noting that with the issues that Italy has traditionally had with corruption this probably exposed a lot of corrupt politicians as well, which means that there's probably bunch of new up and coming Italian politicians looking to get on our good side.
As for the people we actually defeated; I'm unsure how to feel about Shard since I suspect that's connected to Vandal in some way, causing Kobra problems is always a good thing and will make Karl happy, Thanatos and Sun Archer are interesting because neither of them are traditionally Italian but I guess they were just employed by the mafia? As for Cinder, Centurion talking her down is amazing because it shows that Bastion isn't just about brute force and the possibility of recruiting her is interesting even if only as a peripheral local hero maybe?
Also I imagine that Centurion is glad to have done so much good in and be so well received by his homeland.
[ ] Train Carol Ferris to better use her powers
DC 52
Roll 67 + 33 (Carol martial stat) + 2 (Meena martial stat times coop score with Carol rounded up) + 53 (Roxy martial stat times coop score with Carol rounded up) + 54 (reroll bonus) + 33 (Carol martial stat) + 2 (Meena martial stat times coop score with Carol rounded up) + 53 (Roxy martial stat times coop score with Carol rounded up) + 91 (second reroll bonus) + 33 (Carol martial stat) + 2 (Meena martial stat times coop score with Carol rounded up) + 53 (Roxy martial stat times coop score with Carol rounded up) + 15 (third reroll bonus) + 33 (Carol martial stat) + 2 (Meena martial stat times coop score with Carol rounded up) + 53 (Roxy martial stat times coop score with Carol rounded up)
Total 582
Galactic success
You did not expect Carol's training session with Meena and Roxy to succeed nearly as well as it has. However it ended up paying massive dividends. It all resulted from Meena realizing that Ultraviolet's power ring had to have some sort of artificial intelligence to it. From there numerous new functions and abilities have opened up as the base artificial intelligence came with a training manual and Carol was able to utilize a vast array of abilities hitherto unknown to her. Most notable of these is that the ring can travel to planets at speeds so fast that Carol must be moving faster than the speed of light. While this level of speed is only possible for interstellar flight, it is a notable new ability. Furthermore with the knowledge that the ring is a Star Sapphire ring, and access to its database, Carol and by extension you, are far more capable of making use of it.
Results: Carol martial +4, Carol intrigue +1, Carol learning +1, Carol gains interstellar flight, Carol can now "overclock" her ring, Carol gains control over the clothing creation aspect of the ring, Carol gains access to the Star Sapphire ring's database and all of its information, the ring is identified as the Star Sapphire ring, Carol learns that she's capable of interstellar flight without much issue, Carol learns how to make use of semi autonomous constructs, Carol learns to make constructs that can give off radiation like materials studied on earth, Carol learns how to make constructs that can create sound, Carol gains access to the ring's health monitoring.
Pretty much everything we could have asked for, we not only got Carol the ability to emit kryptonite radiation and sound (two of the kryptonians only real weaknesses) but we also got access to most of the advanced abilities of the ring including its database.
I'm curious to see how having access to said database will change things, an action to search it for information about the galaxy? I also wonder if developing our own FTL will be easier now that we have Carol's as a model.
Also I can't help but find it funny that all of this came about basically as a result of Meena pointing out to Carol that her ring had Siri.
[ ] Have Nightshade train in your metahuman training room
DC 0
Roll 99 + 18 (Eve martial stat) + 18 (Mina martial stat times coop score with Eve) + 16 (Katherine martial stat times coop score with Eve) + 45 (reroll bonus) + 18 (Eve martial stat) + 18 (Mina martial stat times coop score with Eve) + 16 (Katherine martial stat times coop score with Eve) + 10 (Katherine trait)
Total 258
Stupendously Stunning success
Eve Eden ended up putting herself through some fairly intensive training and with the aid of Mina and Katherine, she's come out significantly more skilled. While Eve hasn't learned any new skills, her hand to hand skills have been significantly improved and she's gotten far, far better at using shadows to teleport out of danger and her resources are absolutely top notch. She's come out of this scenario significantly more powerful than she was before. However notably, thanks to Mina being fond of attacking from unexpected and unseen angles, Eve has gotten significantly more capable of observing her surroundings and adapting to them as necessary. Add in to all of this that there has been theorizing by Mina that Eve could perform soul-based attacks via drawing on something called the Nalusa Chito, and you've gotten something very interesting out of this whole deal.
Results: Eve Eden Martial + 6, Intrigue + 1, Chasing Shadows is now altered and improved such that in combat in an area where their could be shadows Eve will automatically disengage with no penalties instead of taking damage (meaning so long as there are shadows Eve cannot be hit, injured or killed in combat), Behind the Black is improved to be +20 instead of +15
This is fantastic. Our stealth specialist is now better at both fighting and stealth and has the ability to escape any situation unharmed so long as their are shadows, she's managed to become an opponent that people will have to actively plan around.
Though
@King crimson I am confused by one thing, the part about Behind the Black being "improved to +20 instead of +15" makes no sense. That's the trait that makes Nightshade easier to find or locate, it's an inherently negative trait. I feel this is either meant to be a reduction or it's just worded wrong.
Also I thing that "resources" is supposed to say her "reactions" are top notch,
[ ] Meet with the League of Shadows
DC 14
Roll 3 + 16 (Paige diplomacy stat) = 19
Bare success
There have been some blemishes in your endeavors admittedly. Whilst you did manage to get in contact with the League of Shadows and meet with Ra's al Ghul, the meeting wasn't for very long and wasn't as secure as you would have hoped for in ideal circumstances. Still it was something at least and you'll at least be able to get something across.
Results: Meeting the League subvote, DC for people looking into Lex-League of Shadows connections temporarily reduced
One of the few disappointments of this turn but not a massive one, we should hopefully still be ab,e to discuss all the stuff we wanted to (The person wishing the government, Kobra, etc) and I doubt there are very many people investigating supposed ties between us since we had that big war a few years ago.
The only person who might, maybe suspect a connection afaik is Batman and he's gonna have his hands full for the next few turns.
[ ] Negotiate with the Democratic Republic of Congo
DC 17
Roll 48 + 25 (Marie diplomacy stat) = 73
Incredible success
On the other hand it's proven significantly easier to meet with the Democratic Republic of Congo. Marie managed to grease the wheels of bureaucracy just right and now negotiations have been set up smoothly and efficiently. The Democratic Republic of Congo is eager to begin negotiating with you and you're quite confident you can get exactly what you want out of this deal thanks to Marie's effective negotiations.
Results: Congo conversation subvote
Good old Marie, hopefully this will help us get our hands on some sweet, sweet nebulously useful blue Kryptonite,
[ ] Lexpo
DC 0
Roll 64 + 25 (Pamela diplomacy stat) + 27 (Oswald diplomacy stat times coop score with Pamela rounded up) + 30 (reroll bonus) + 25 (Pamela diplomacy stat) + 27 (Oswald diplomacy stat times coop score with Pamela rounded up)
Total 198
Planetary success
It has been a very long while since you've held a Lexpo and the world has changed wildly since then. That being said LexCorp has only risen in its popularity since then and now the whole world is watching and waiting to see what exactly your going to do. You already know that the president, both potential presidential candidates, Wade Eiling, Diana Prince, Amanda Waller, and many more significant figures have all expressed massive interest in showing up to the Lexpo and seeing what exactly you are going to unveil. The eyes of the world are upon you and the event is sure to be massive.
Results: Lexpo set-up subvote, Lexpo event will commence and you will be given a massive amount of free reign to set it up as you please and a lot of public attention and interest.
Hopefully at least some of these points went towards security.
This is very good for us, especially since it might give us a chance to meet with the presidential candidates without spending actions in them.
I'm also curious who the current President is? Assuming that Garner has stepped down already and his VP has been sworn in.
Also I don't know if this will be part of the subvote but I kinda want to vote Wanda and the rest of the Royal Flush for a reunion and to give her and Diana some surrogate mother/daughter time.
[ ] Donate more to reconstruction efforts
DC 0
Roll 47
Impressive success
The reconstruction efforts in Metropolis have continued to go on and you've managed to continue to pour in money to make sure your city will eventually be fully rebuilt. It's almost finished healing from Brainiac's attack and you are quite hopeful to see things go your way in the future. Donating money to help with reconstruction does seem to be getting diminishing returns on the PR front, but you are at least able to ensure that reconstruction of the city will be completed faster.
Results: public opinion remains the same and is still very positive, 3 contributions made to repairing the city, bringing the total to 41 out of 50.
Progress is always nice even if it's nothing groundbreaking, pun intended.
[ ] Donate to Native American communities
DC 0
Roll 10
Bare success
With everything going on, especially with the chaos of setting up Lexpo, budgeting out money to donate to Native American communities was by no means your focus. You still did it and you're certain that those who got the money were grateful for it, but you haven't really done much to maximize the impact and so it largely remains underwheliming.
Results: Native American communities opinions of Lex Luthor raises by a small amount
Hey a small amount is probably a decent increase when you're talking about Native American's opinion of a white billionaire whose ancestor probably stole their land, though I can't remember if any of the Luthor's were particularly bad for the natives. I'd have to ask Simon.
More seriously, it's a decent start even if we should probably put Nathan and/or Mina on this the next time we can spare one or both of them.
[ ] Begin a hard propaganda push across all of your news sources
DC 15
Roll 52 + 25 (Rene diplomacy stat) + 28 (Lucy diplomacy stat times coop score with Rene) + 12 (Catherine diplomacy stat times coop score with Rene) + 24 (reroll bonus) + 25 (Rene diplomacy stat) + 28 (Lucy diplomacy stat times coop score with Rene) + 12 (Catherine diplomacy stat times coop score with Rene)
Total 206
Planetary success
Meanwhile the many pieces of a multi-media empire you've acquired over the years have come together to enable you to make a hard PR blitz in a way that you never could before. This level of coordination and the scale of the propaganda you are pushing is not something seen before throughout all of history. You've been able to reach and subsequently shape hearts and minds in a way that will allow you to ensure that your narrative is the one people whole-heartedly believe. You are in control and you have the power to shape the future.
Results: Propaganda push subvote
Now this is a big one, the opportunity to make the single largest propaganda push
in human history!
Assuming we're limited to just one topic this will be a huge "Fuck You" to Wayne Enterprises and help to remind everyone why you don't mess with LexCorp, the fact that Bruce himself can't even be angry about it is just the icing on the cake.
If we can spread our focus a bit, it may be worth deciding what candidate we're backing in advance and send some of this love their way.
[ ] Meet with Joan Dale
DC 3
Roll 67
Impressive success (rewards capped)
With LexCorp's massive surge into the public eye, Joan Dale was intensely eager to meet with you. The California congresswoman and vice presidential nominee of Walter Reilly seems to have realized that getting in LexCorp's good books will almost certainly ensure a set outcome during the election. As such she's quite open to discussing things with you and it's likely you'll have a productive meeting.
Results: Meeting with Dale subvote
This has the potential to be interesting, especially since Reilly is probably my favoured candidate right now. This is our chance to get a more solid grasp on their platform, how much they're willing to give and potentially if Dale would be interested in running for President herself with our backing.
[ ] Donate to Bookworm
DC 0
Roll 20 + 5 (Elaine Marsh-Morton diplomacy stat) = 25
Decent success
Additionally your continued success has allowed you to pour more money into Bookworm. The company is supposedly neutral, but all the goodwill you have earned has managed to at least associate it with you and has gotten people to tie it to you. You're confident that while you won't outright purchase it, people are going to come to associate you with the free information it provides.
Results: Bookworm is now somewhat associated in the public mind with Lex Luthor, Lex Luthor's reputation amongst academics slightly increases
Not at all what I was expecting but I'll certainly take it. Between this and our big anti-Wayne push now might be the best time to approach Kord about the suggested cooperation.
[ ] Meet with Wade Eiling
DC 16
Roll 13 + 8 (Lance Gardner contribution) = 21
Bare success
That being said Wade has been rather busy. Lance Gardner has not proven to be the most effective at actually reaching the man and with the two of you being fairly busy, it was difficult to communicate a time to do so. You did manage to find a way to arrange a secure call, but you won't have much time and won't be meeting face to face for very long.
Another minor frustration but that's all it is, I honestly can't really remember what we wanted to tell Eiling? Other than maybe filling him in on the Maxima situation. We should probably also meet with Diana and tell her about what Rebecca did next turn huh?
Btw
@King crimson this seems to be missing its "results" section.
[ ] Meet with Veronica Cale
DC 13
Roll 88
Amazing success
With the rash of meetings that were brief or had some sort of complication to them, it was nice to manage to arrange a meeting with Veronica Cale. It has been a very long while since the last time you spoke to her, but Veronica proved fairly eager to get to working with you and you managed to secure a fairly sizeable meeting where you can go over whatever you need to go over.
Results: Conversing with Cale subvote.
I'm curious to see what arises from this, I for one am hoping to establish a working relationship here.
My ideal situation would probably be to have Cale oversee and run a new subsidiary of ours, say for example in the video game market, with her taking on the responsibility of establishing and running it on our behalf.
[ ] Expand LexCorp
DC 39
Roll 67 + 22 (Starfire stewardship stat) + 20 (Nathan stewardship stat times coop score with Starfire rounded up) + 20 (Talia stewardship stat times coop score with Starfire) + 70 (reroll bonus) + 22 (Starfire stewardship stat) + 20 (Nathan stewardship stat times coop score with Starfire rounded up) + 20 (Talia stewardship stat times coop score with Starfire) + 74 (second reroll bonus) + 22 (Starfire stewardship stat) + 20 (Nathan stewardship stat times coop score with Starfire rounded up) + 20 (Talia stewardship stat times coop score with Starfire) + 23 (third reroll bonus) + 22 (Starfire stewardship stat) + 20 (Nathan stewardship stat times coop score with Starfire rounded up) + 20 (Talia stewardship stat times coop score with Starfire)
Total 482
Utterly incredible success
LexCorp has seen a massive boom as of late and so your endeavors in attempting to expand the company have proven remarkably successful. Talia in particular has rather enjoyed the opportunity to get used to building up an organization and recruiting notable individuals. All in all its been an interesting experience to see your empire be built out further as the choices made by Talia, and to an extent Starfire and Nathan Warbow, are not necessarily the ones you might've made, but considering how much they've managed to build up the company, it's proven immensely useful for you.
Results: Talia and Lex Luthor coop score +0.2, LexCorp Expansion subvote
Hopefully Talia didn't use her trait here.
Other than that it's great to see such a successful expansion, hopefully that will ease our hero unit cap concerns somewhat, and I'm glad to see that co-op boost between Lex and Talia. I'm also curious as to what our expansion options will be.
[ ] Continue funding the Lillian Luthor Foundation
DC 0
Roll 73
Amazing success
The Lillian Luthor Foundation has continued to prove to be something quite effective. With the funding you've put into it, you've managed to ensure that the various orphanages you've got going have remained sufficiently staffed and will remain so for a while. It wouldn't be good Pr to let them lapse and you're liable to get relevant information from them soon. All in all it's not a bad thing to do.
Result: Lex Luthor's positive image maintained, you don't need to fund for four more turns, Lillian Luthor function of checking for relevant orphans remains functional
"Relevant orphans" just sounds like a supervillain phrase.
Anyway, always good to keep this going and the mention of relevant information soon is exciting. At the absolute minimum it's kids we can tell Diana about.
[ ] Continue to repair Metropolis
DC 27
Roll 21 + 26 (Vivian stewardship) + 52 (Constance stewardship plus trait boost times coop score with Vivian) = 99
Amazing success
Where pouring in money yourself didn't work out too well taking a more personal touch and repairing Metropolis yourself has proven to be more successful. You've not completely upended the status quo but once again, Metropolis is soon to recover entirely and be rebuilt in the image you choose for it. The city is soon to be healed from the wounds inflicted upon it and you can't help but be satisfied at the knowledge that you did it.
Results: 4 contributions made to repairing the city, bringing the total to 45 out of 50, Repair and Reshape subvote
Good progress though it is slightly annoying that Superman will probably get the last bit of progress in but oh well, at least it will finally be done.
[ ] Give Leslie Willis her own TV show
DC 8
Roll 71 + 12 (Leslie stewardship stat) + 12 (Lisa stewardship stat times coop score with Leslie rounded up) = 95
Astounding success
Leslie Willis has long been a well-known and at least somewhat popular figure in Metropolis and has only gotten more well-known with time. However thus far she's primarily stuck with radio as her preferred medium. As such her foray into television was considered a risk but it's paid off and Leslie managed to make the show fairly popular. The Leslie Willis Show is not a rehash of her radio show, instead being a little more satirical and prone to sketches involving Leslie changing her appearance and putting on performances. Leslie's "quick change" gimmick gives the show a unique flair and while it's still topical, the show itself is less inflammatory than her radio show if still provocative. Notably the radio show is still running concurrently as Leslie has refused to compromise on the two and there has been some cross-pollination between the two shows. All in all giving Leslie Willis her own TV show has proven fairly successful.
Results: Leslie Willis's TV show proves to be fairly popular amongst people in the United States, particularly those in Metropolis and the nearby area, Leslie Willis and Lex Luthor coop stat +0.1, new actions now available
Excellent, Leslie having access to a wider audience means more people who are likely to have their opinions swayed against Superman. Also Lex and Leslie now have a coop score of 0.9 which outs us within spitting distance of another action.
[ ] Begin producing music
DC 10
Roll 71 + 3 (Siobhan stewardship stat) + 12 (Johnny Charisma contribution) + 25 (Siobhan trait) = 109
Enormous success
Siobhan's musical career has proven to be significantly more successful. Whilst Siobhan doesn't know heads or tails about marketing, your employees do and as such Silver Symphony records was able to make her into a star, primarily marketing her music towards disaffected youth who found solace in knowing that even amongst superheroes there was somebody like them. Siobhan's record proved fairly successful and Johnny Charisma managed to group a few people he knew to produce some smaller musical sales for the company, whilst also selecting which of Siobhan's music was likely to be most palatable to the widest possible audience. All in all you've managed to make your way into the music industry fairly successfully.
Results: Siobhan becomes a known celebrity with a teenage fanbase for her music, Silver Symphony records turns a decent profit, Silver Banshee's popularity significantly increases. Johnny Charisma managed to increase interest in other artists in working with Silver Symphony and has generated hype for his own career.
Excellent. Siobhan getting to focus on making music will hopefully keep her happy, the reputation boost is always nice and Johnny drawing in other artists sounds interesting.
[ ] Provide Diana Prince with further funding for the West Coast metahuman training facility
DC 0
Roll 99
Enormous success
Diana Prince has long proven to be quite the useful ally and so naturally you have continued to support her and the DOMA. The West Coast metahuman training facility has been fairly successfully funded and you've thoroughly kept yourself in Diana's good books. It's satisfying to know that your money can still be effectively leveraged to get both what you want and what you need when push comes to shove. It's good to remain on top of thing.
Results: West Coast metahuman training facility fully funded, Diana Prince's opinion of Lex Luthor improves, Schooling subvote
Very nice, I wasn't expecting this result but I will happily take it.
[ ] Build another supercomputer
DC 40
Roll 35 + 29 (Felicity stewardship stat plus trait boost) + 27 (Mr. Frost stewardship stat times coop score with Felicity rounded up) = 91
Incredible success
You've managed to make a fair bit of headway into creating a second supercomputer. It hasn't been easy and the work is not yet complete, but you're beginning to make progress towards the end result. Soon you'll have two supercomputers ready to make use of and you're quite looking forward to fully being able to make use of this massively expanded range of capability. You're confident that Felicity will deliver on this front soon enough.
I didn't realise/had forgotten that this was a multi step action but that's not a problem, being halfway to another supercomputer is worth another action next turn.
[ ] Develop and produce Costumes
DC 16
Roll 26 + 19 (Mari stewardship stat) +23 (Lana stewardship stat times coop score with Mari rounded up) = 68
Incredible success
Admittedly you're not too well versed in fashion but Mari and Lana certainly are and they've managed to do so fairly effectively. They've mostly chosen to focus on a few members of Bastion, but they've come up with functional and practical designs and made steps to tie everything closer together. It's good work and you hope to continue to see them continue to deliver good results.
Results: New Costume subvote
Looking forward to seeing the options, I'm probably the most interested in getting costumes for Coldcast, Mina and Zatanna. The first two because they kinda really need them and the latter to see how she distinguishes her two identities.
[ ] Renovate LexCorp Tower
DC 0
Roll 15 + 10 (Future Construction bonus) + 15 (Production facilities bonus) = 40
Impressive success
It's mostly small scale work that you've achieved on this front, but you have managed to make a good amount of forward momentum on this matter and get a few more renovations completed. Like your previous renovations, it's by no means exemplary or earth shattering, but it is a solid amount of work and importantly helping to keep you on top of things.
Results: Tower Renovations 1 subvote, Tower Renovations 2 subvote
Always fun to see what options come up with this. Maybe we can make a guest room and sparring ring/date room for Maxima?
[ ] Buy more Gingo fruits
DC 8
Roll 18
Bare success
You haven't had much success acquiring new Gingo fruits, they are fairly rare after all, but you have managed to acquire a few more. fifteen more fruits is by no means and incredible amount of fruit but it is a decent uptick in how many you have and it could ensure that you have enough samples to keep going. That being said is people learn your interest in the fruit they are likely to start price gouging you going forwards from here.
Results: Gain fifteen more Gingo fruits, if you select this action again in the next 3 turns you will lose more money.
Eh fifteen is enough, especially when we're about to get plant cloning technology. Unlimited gingo fruit baby! We're the supply and the demand! Gonna bend the market like Elongated Man!
[ ] Begin producing handheld consoles
DC 7
Roll 74 + 11 (Barbara stewardship contribution) = 85
Amazing success
The handheld console market is not one you are immensely well versed in, but as a venture it's fairly safe and one LexCorp has managed to convincingly come out on top with. An L-Phone with a larger screen and no calling capabilities, with greater graphical fidelity and more memory is easy enough to make. And since it wasn't difficult to make and you don't need to outsource much for new parts, you are able to sell it at a low cost and keep the device popular. It's a new market for you to successfully break into and succeed in.
Results: LexCorp's handheld console sells significantly well but isn't taking the entire industry by storm, New System subvote
A good start. Not amazing but a solid way to get our foot in the door of this market, especially since I always intended for us to push harder on the proper console action.
[ ] Begin creating helicopters
DC 3
Roll 8
Bare success
Admittedly your new helicopters are not nearly as exciting. They're functional but there's been little done to differentiate them from what you're already selling and with the existence of exosuits, the market for helicopters has shrunk a bit. You still made some money off of this but not as much as you might've liked.
Results: You make a small amount of money, gain 20 LexCorp helicopters, DC on producing more helicopters increased
[ ] Design and produce small combat drones
DC 12
Roll 10 + 14 (Louise stewardship stat) = 24
Decent success
Your new combat drones aren't all that new either but they work and they're competent enough. Louise has proven that she simply doesn't care to innovate when it's not on her terms, and frankly you've gotten all you need from her. The drones aren't bad but they're certainly underwhelming in the grand scheme of things.
Results: Gain 30 combat drones
These are both unfortunate but no big deal. I would like to try again at some point but it doesn't have to be soon,
] Create a worldwide spy network
DC 64
Roll 94 + 29 (Edward Nygma intrigue stat plus trait boost) + 26 (Carl intrigue stat times coop score with Nygma rounded up) + 39 (Brittney Meld intrigue stat times coop score with Nygma rounded up) + 82 (reroll bonus) + 29 (Edward Nygma intrigue stat plus trait boost) + 26 (Carl intrigue stat times coop score with Nygma rounded up) + 39 (Brittney Meld intrigue stat times coop score with Nygma rounded up) + 32 (second reroll bonus) + 29 (Edward Nygma intrigue stat plus trait boost) + 26 (Carl intrigue stat times coop score with Nygma rounded up) + 39 (Brittney Meld intrigue stat times coop score with Nygma rounded up) + 48 (third reroll bonus) + 29 (Edward Nygma intrigue stat plus trait boost) + 26 (Carl intrigue stat times coop score with Nygma rounded up) + 39 (Brittney Meld intrigue stat times coop score with Nygma rounded up)
Total 632
Planetary success
Edward Nygma is an idiot savant. That's the only way you can justify an arrogant blowhard somehow setting up a spy network that covers the entire planet and operates in almost every single country. Admittedly part of it might be Brittney Meld knowing how to effectively direct him, and Carl Draper's knowledge of how to run an organization designed to keep information confidential but this is well beyond what you expected. The "Paradox Organization" or simply "Paradox" is a nested chain of several dozen chains of spies all working for people they don't know. Every cell operates individually and no one knows who is behind everything. Add in satellites and some automated monitoring and Edward Nygma has managed to create a truly worldwide spy organization. Already you're getting reports from China, Russia and more that you thought would have been permenantly blocked off to you. Admittedly Paradox will not be going unnoticed in the intelligence community but Nygma did take many, many steps to ensure that it wouldn't be connected with LexCorp. It's exhilarating to know that soon no one will be able to hide from you.
Results: Global spy organization under your control called "Paradox" created, Paradox members cannot identify who their leader or what other cells are, intelligence agencies know of Paradox, DC decreased to autosuccess on many actions, numerous new actions now available, Spy Selection subvote
Well… shit, that's huge. Good job Nygma.
Our first priority should still be investigating the Church of Blood IMO but this opens a lot of doors.
Out of curiosity
@King crimson what sort of roll would we have ended to create an organisation like this without it being noticed?
[ ] Search for other viable presidential candidates
DC 30 (success is capped)
Roll 3 + 19 (Sam intrigue stat) + 16 (Leonard intrigue stat times coop score with Sam rounded up) = 38
Bare success
Unfortunately not a lot of other viable presidential candidates seem to be willing to take the field as of right now. You can still find a few but you're not confident they'll work well for you. The first potential candidate you managed to locate was actually Wayne Eden, Eve's father. Wayne Eden is a career politician, who's known in DC but who also is likely to cause problems for Eve considering her estrangement from him. Working closely with him could cause problems on that front. The other candidate is Anthony Monetti. As a senator he's fairly well known and popular and he could make a solid run for president. The one thing you are worried about is that you have caught wind that he has a bit of a substance abuse problem. It's not fully confirmed and it hasn't affected his career thus far but you might want to be careful in trying to sell him as your candidate.
Results: Found Wayne Eden and Anthony Moretti as potential viable presidential candidates but both come with their own problems
This is probably the closest thing to a failure this turn. Neither Eden or Monetti are great options especially since we don't know much about their actual politics. Monetti is probably the more inviting option if only because I've wanted Cassandra to befriend his daughter for a while now but trying to push him while also covering up his drug problem would be difficult.
I'm probably still leaning towards Reilly right now.
[ ] Use Zeta Beam transmat stations to smuggle in restricted materials
DC 0
Autosuccess
The Zeta beam transmat stations are revolutionary as they've allowed you to to begin to bring in plenty of things that otherwise might raise some eyebrows. Most of what Queen Bee has brough in for you is some additional technology from what she managed to take from H.I.V.E., including some fairly advanced combat drones and a few metahumans for study. Admittedly none of the three sent over to you were incredible, as you've gained access to some kind of geokinetic, an individual with an elastic body, and an individual with razor sharp claws, but they are at least useful to have for study and relatively simple to contain. It's not a bad haul.
Results: Gain 50 more life model decoy drones, gain 200 samples of H.I.V.E. weapons, gain access to H.I.V.E. experimental stimulant, gain control of Rock, Paper and Scissors, who are kept contained and hidden from the world at large.
This isn't bad, and I'm particularly interested in that experimental stimulant, but it is also kinda exactly what I was worried about. We've just participated in metahuman trafficking.
Rock, Paper and Scissors aren't terrible but I can't think of many uses for them other than as test subjects or to brainwash them and send them off to Vertigo or maybe Ra's.
[ ] [Raven] Teach Raven propaganda
DC 7
Roll 93 + 28 (Helena intrigue stat) + 43 (Jinx intrigue stat times coop score with Helena rounded up) +29 (Mercy intrigue stat times coop score with Helena rounded up) - 36 (Raven resistance) + 26 (reroll bonus) + 28 (Helena intrigue stat) + 43 (Jinx intrigue stat times coop score with Helena rounded up) +29 (Mercy intrigue stat times coop score with Helena rounded up) - 36 (Raven resistance)
Total 247
Incredibly amazing success
Getting Raven to accept LexCorp propaganda was a difficult thing to do and it took a good amount of careful consideration as to how best to achieve it. In the end Jinx ended up being the lynchpin of the effort. Raven generally was suspicious enough of others to not take LexCorp propaganda at face value and would attempt to challenge overt attempts at manipulation. Helena certainly thought the best of yourself and by extension LexCorp, but she wasn't willing to go out of her way to manipulate a teenage girl. Jinx on the other hand was. With some coaching Jinx slowly but surely made enough comments to undermine Raven's sense that she could belong anywhere outside of LexCorp. Fundamentally Raven wanted to belong somewhere and with Jinx constantly telling Raven casually that "she was lucky LexCorp took her in" eventually Raven internalized that idea. Compound that with Helena genuinely telling Raven that Lex Luthor at least did care about things and was willing to help her and others and Raven's perception of things were shifted just enough that now instead of using her intellect to try and question what people said, she instead used it to rationalize and justify LexCorp. After all if Lex Luthor cared about her and no one else would take her in and the company was the only thing she could have even remotely resembling a family, well then it was only natural that Raven didn't risk her place in it and didn't try to rock the boat. LexCorp was where Raven belonged and the only place she could belong and they were clearly acting to help people when dealing with Trigon and so Raven began to justify that everything else LexCorp was doing was for the greater good. Presenting her with information that confirmed the answers she wanted only furthered this impression and Mercy proved fairly adept at pushing this even further. It's a fairly impressive bit of propaganda and you're quite confident that Raven won't ever leave LexCorp or prove disloyal as she's now fully committed herself into staying with the company.
Results: Raven now believes that the people running LexCorp care about her have her best interests in mind and are acting for the greater good and that she will not find a place to belong outside of LexCorp, Raven will do her best to justify any bad information she finds out about LexCorp as being necessary or not that bad in some capacity in order to not rock the boat and lose her place, Raven may react poorly to having her world view challenged and won't attempt to engage with criticism of LexCorp, Raven's coop scores all shift, generally trending towards being more positive towards higher ups in LexCorp as they are now what Raven views as the closest thing she can have to a family.
Absolutely amazing, went pretty much as well as it possibly could have. The only remote downsides are the potential decreases in Raven's coop scores with certain hero units but that's well worth it and we'll have to wait to see the damage there.
[ ] Develop a new standard laser rifle for General Wells
DC 7
Roll 26 + 30 (Mick learning stat plus trait boost) = 56
Impressive success
Mick Rory meanwhile has proven to successfully deliver on a new standard laser rifle for General Wells. An increased amount of stopping power and higher rate of fire doesn't sound like much when said plainly, but the increase is substantial and is likely to prove quite effective in the long run. The rifles don't have any issues with overheating and are generally fairly easy to use and aim. They likely won't fully replace conventional arms entirely, but General Wells was impressed enough with the development that he wants to order more of them and is quite satisfied with the end result.
Results: A laser rifle with improved stopping power and rate of fire is created, General Wells is impressed with this new weapon and has purchased a large amount of them beyond the initially agreed upon amount, LexCorp makes a decent amount of money.
Very good. It's not quite total saturation but it's certainly a major step in the right direction.
A quick question
@King crimson, are these Kryptonite lasers or just regular ones? Because if is the latter then I do kinda wish we'd assigned Meena to this instead.
[ ] Improve necessary tech for the O.D.I.N. system
DC 24
Roll 62 + 38 (Lex Luthor learning stat) + 49 (Caitlin learning stat times coop score with Lex rounded up) + 7 (Lex trait) + 99 (reroll bonus) + 38 (Lex Luthor learning stat) + 49 (Caitlin learning stat times coop score with Lex rounded up) + 7 (Lex trait) + 72 (second reroll bonus) + 38 (Lex Luthor learning stat) + 49 (Caitlin learning stat times coop score with Lex rounded up) +7 (Lex trait) + 4 (third reroll bonus) + 38 (Lex Luthor learning stat) + 49 (Caitlin learning stat times coop score with Lex rounded up) +7 (Lex trait)
Total 613
Planetary success
The O.D.I.N. system is both revolutionary and completed well ahead of schedule. Initially it was thought that you'd need to do more research in order to get all the satellites up in space, get them linked up, and get the targetting system to a more advanced level. You've done all of that and more and have managed to get the O.D.I.N. system up well in advance. It's been a while since you proved your credentials as one of the smartest men on earth, and while the world likely will not know of all of your achievements, the creation of the O.D.I.N. system well ahead of schedule is more than enough to prove to yourself that you're incredibly capable on this front. Caitlin Snow was certainly suitably impressed. Eiling will no doubt be incredibly pleased with things and you've got time to set up the O.D.I.N. system to your exact specifications and get everything working exactly as you want it. A lot of superheroes might just find themselves being obsoleted as the O.D.I.N. system is a truly global gamechanger and no one else is quite ready for it.
Results: All of the necessary tech for the O.D.I.N. system is completed, O.D.I.N. system is built and ready to go, O.D.I.N.'s Eye subvote, Ready to Launch subvote, Lex Luthor gains the trait Mind of Mass Destruction which adds +5 to the end of the roll whenever he works on a superweapon of some kind, numerous new options now available
Astounding. Managing to vastly improve and launch O.D.I.N all in one action is a huge timesaver and will nail home for both Eiling and a recalcitrant Waller just why Lex is such a vital asset. I'm curious to see what kind of changes we'll be able to make.
I'm not entirely sure how useful the new trait will be but I certainly won't say not to it.
[ ] Attempt to reverse engineer Brainiac's cloaking system
DC 58
Autosuccess (Fixit trait)
Fixit's technological breakthrough pales in comparison to everything else you've managed to achieve as of late but it's no less significant in the grand scheme of things. Fixit has managed to crudely recreate Brainiac's cloaking system, allowing for drones to temporarily turn themselves invisible and to hide where they are receiving signals from. It's not perfect, as methods of detection like sonar would still work and a complete absence of data still would out their position, but it is nice to at least have a basic version of the cloaking system to use for yourself.
Results: Reverse engineered a version of Brainiac's cloaking system that turns drones invisible and makes it impossible to pick up where they are getting signals from, but can still be detected by methods like Sonar, or for looking for deadzones of information. This cloaking system only works on non-living things but is energy efficient and can be scaled up and down.
A great start, a flawed method of cloaking is still cloaking and it would require people to have dedicated equipment to detect anything using it.
[ ] Learn about robotics
DC 3
Roll 58 + 24 (Arthur learning stat) + 29 (Karl learning stat times coop score with Arthur rounded up) + 1 (Turgo contribution) + 97 (reroll bonus) + 24 (Arthur learning stat) + 29 (Karl learning stat times coop score with Arthur rounded up) + 1 (Turgo contribution) + 42 (second reroll bonus) + 24 (Arthur learning stat) + 29 (Karl learning stat times coop score with Arthur rounded up) + 1 (Turgo contribution)
Total 359
Planetary success
Arthur Villain and Karl Helfern meanwhile have managed to push for a revolution in the field of robotics. It's absolutely massive and will change the world forever. You're quite confident that this is something no one could have predicted and the leap forward in automation is going to be unmatched. You haven't quite created anything on the level of the Metal Men, but the pairs innovation have just put LexCorp on the map as the premier robot creator on the planet. LexCorp has siezed the future once more and the possibilities that will sprawl before you are utterly endless.
Results: Robotics Breakthrough subvote, Robotic Creations subvote, numerous new options will be available based on what you choose in the Robotics Breakthrough subvote.
Incredible. My main focus here remains grabbing whatever we can to perfect LMD's but I'll happily grab whatever other goodies we can while we're at it.
I'm also extremely curious what the robotic creations subvote will be about. From the sounds of it we may have just created our own unique robot hero unit.
[ ] Improve Kryptonite bombs
DC 3
Roll 68 +13 (Rose learning stat) = 81
Astounding success
Your scientists have meanwhile made an improvement to your kryptonite bombs, actually taking inspiration from what records of Toyman's work you could acquire. Using his achievements as inspiration, the team figured out a number of ways to further improve your own kryptonite bombs. As such the US military has proven quite interested in purchasing a larger number of them from you and you've managed to make more money off of something you intended to work on regardless.
Results: Improve Kryptonite Bombs subvote, US government purchases more Kryptonite bombs and LexCorp makes a relatively small amount of money.
Also very nice, good to know that even if our new laser rifles aren't Kryptonite powered we've helped to proliferate kryptonite weaponry another way,
And it's also yet more proof that Toybro is the best.
[ ] Attempt to create Auto-Dissector (action changed from producing auto-kitchen due to Dr. Moon's trait activating)
DC 35
Roll 26 + 18 (Dr. Moon learning stat) + 10 (Dr. Moon trait) = 54
Decent success
Dr. Moon meanwhile produced something that you have no real interest in. Sure an auto-dissector can have some kind of theoretical use being sold to people performing autopsies, but it's not exactly a money maker and is significantly less useful than an auto-kitchen. Dr. Moon at least provided you with something useful and you managed to break even on it, but it's frustrating to see him go off on his own to do what he found interesting. In a lot of ways this validated your decision to send the man off to Count Vertigo so he could go be someone else's problem. Dr. Moon was brilliant but you had other brilliant scientists who could do the same and when you asked them to produce an auto-kitchen, they'd do as they were told.
Results: Dr. Moon creates Auto-Dissector which does manage to sell but more or less breaks even.
Typical, well at least were rid of him and in the bright side it leaves another easy anti-Wayne Enterprises action in the table for next turn.
[ ] [Cass] Teach Cassandra zoology and ecology
DC 20
Roll 41 + 31 (Cassandra learning stat) + 48 (Enoch learning stat times coop score with Cassandra rounded up) + 17 (Emily Rice contribution) + 16 (reroll bonus) + 31 (Cassandra learning stat) + 48 (Enoch learning stat times coop score with Cassandra rounded up) + 17 (Emily Rice contribution) + 2 (second reroll bonus) + 31 (Cassandra learning stat) + 48 (Enoch learning stat times coop score with Cassandra rounded up) + 17 (Emily Rice contribution) +10 (Cassandra trait) +15 (Cassandra trait activating because of Emily Rice trait)
Total 372
Utterly amazing success
Cassandra has once again proven her intelligence and it appears as though zoology and ecology came very easily to her since she was already interested in the subjects. Emily Rice proved surprisingly capable of helping, contributing textbooks and assisting in helping get her up to speed whilst Enoch handled the bulk of the more difficult and groundbreaking work. It appears as though Cassandra rapidly began to understand a lot of Enoch's more advanced work, and whilst she doesn't quite have the background in chemistry to match his ability to modify animals, Cassandra has proven to be remarkably adept in taking care of, controlling and modelling ecological phenomena. Even more interestingly, Cassandra has used her time and studies to figure out how to use her body reading on some animals, and glean their intentions. It's quite interesting to see how things will go going forwards from here, and Cassandra very much enjoyed her time doing so. It's always satisfying to see your daughter continuing to excel.
Results: Cassandra learns zoology and ecology, as well as very basic biochemistry, Cassandra wants to get a new pet and is interested in doing more zoology and ecology based work, DC on certain actions is reduced, Animal Reading subvote, Cassandra Learning and Martial +1, Cassandra is close to getting a new trait and will do so if she's put on another action involving animals that succeeds by more than 8, new actions now available.
Always nice to see Cassandra succeed, it would probably make sense to put Cassandra on the action to get herself a new pet next turn which could also be a good way to puff up her Stewardship some.
] [Comp] Analyze Dhawan's particle
DC 9
Roll 27 + 25 (Meena learning stat) + 20 (Meena trait) = 72
Amazing success
Analyzing Dhawan's particle has proven to make Meena rather excitable as she's made a further breakthrough on the matter. Whilst the exact mechanics of the particle were unknown, Meenah as managed to grasp that the particle actually appears in very high quantities in Nth metal, and in turn that appears to be why Nth Metal has it's unique gravity defying effects. Furthermore Meena has begun to suspect that Dhawan's particle reacts to some degree in response to the material it's attached to, but in all cases it can be detected through finding discrepancies in an objects inertial and gravitational mass, and that the effects of Dhawan's particle are what are causing those discrepancies. Whilst you're no closer to figuring out how exactly the particle works, Meena has found a consistent property of the particle, and a way to detect the particle's presence in an object, as well as the degree to which it is present. It's a solid step forward.
Results: Meena discovers that Dhawan's particle is present in high quantities in Nth Metal and manages to discover that Dhawan's particle always interacts strangely with gravity and that it can be detected by finding the difference between an objects gravitational mass and inertial mass, new options now available
An interesting series of breakthroughs, arguably enough to merit another Nobel prize, which should hopefully make studying nth metal easier.
[ ] [Jobs] Fire Louise Lincoln
Louise took getting let go off fairly easily all things considered. A generous severance package and a promise to credit her for the Cold Engine was enough to keep her from lashing out even if she did find the order somewhat troubling. Louise has since claimed that she knew something like this would come, but is confident in her ability to find work for others, especially since she still knows how to make Cold Engines and can no doubt contribute to more of them. All in all it was a rather calm parting that could have gone much worse.
Results: Louise leaves LexCorp without much issue even if she is still fairly sour and not fond of the place, though this admittedly is a result of her opinion remaining fairly static.
Went about as well as can be expected, we just have to hope that nobody else approaches her about building a Cold Engine.
[ ] [Jobs] Fire Elaine Marsh-Morton
Elaine Marsh-Morton meanwhile took getting let go a lot harder. Elaine has openly stated that since LexCorp is no longer keeping her on retainer, she no longer has an obligation to inform them first if someone else makes a better offer. Couple this with a combination of her poor financial management and her extravagant lifestyle and it's clear that her newfound lack of loyalty might result in her deciding to sell LexCorp secrets to anyone who can afford it. It might be problematic in the long run but you might need to find some way to deal with Lady Vic in the long run. You could try and offer her money to keep her silent, but implicit blackmail working will potentially encourage others to do the same thing. Alternatively, you could ask Talia or Vertigo or Queen Bee to do you a favor but it is a situation that needs resolving.
Results: Elaine Marsh-Morton leaves LexCorp and it's highly likely that if you do not take steps to prevent this from happening Elaine will eventually end up selling LexCorp secrets mostly due to her own poor judgement, Hush Money subvote.
This on the other hand…
Welp, it's time to kill Elaine. I say we pay her whatever she wants initially and then maybe ask Ra's to knock her off for us. Or we do it ourselves and send as good a team as we can.
The last thing we want is another Whale situation.
Cassandra cassandraing. That said, as tempting as new traits are, I want to let Cassandra either do something with the public or manage a Lexcorp branch.
I definitely want to have Cassandra manage a branch sometime soon but getting her a pet may be a good way to boost her Stewardship one last time before we do so.
After all, with a high enough success there's only so many points that can go into "Cassandra found an even more exotic pet."
It does mean that we can no longer afford to get rid of Nygma, much as I might have preferred that. So... is there anything we an do to fix the boy? Even a little? Like, could we find him a woman or something? It might help.
In at least some continuities Nygma actually gets better as a result of therapy so theoretically having him meet with Rene might, and I emphasise
might, help him be more stable. It helps that Rene's trait would fire when trying to treat Nygma.
Unfortunately there's a chance that Nygma could react poorly to any attempt to treat him and ultimately his issues aren't that bad. So long as we let him solve or create the occasional riddle the worst thing about him is his poor coop scores and as long as we keep him with Meld or occasionally Carl that shouldn't be too much of an issue.
So we gonna put down the cold engine hero? Can't exactly let her sell secrets to other companies and polties. That's extremely valuable to aliens let alone anything terrestrial.
Edit: Unless we can make her forget.
Eh Louise working for someone else isn't the end of the world.
Even if somebody else does hire her to build a Cold Engine that's not a cheap or fast process nor one that's easy to hide from people that know how one is built. And once it's built it's not like they'd have some doomsday weapon or something, they just have an infinite source of power.
Demonology is something we should tackle with Raven lead team which includes Rebecca next turn, to try and understand what happened with Rebecca, and to increase our understanding of the overall Trigon problem.
I'm all for going all in on demonology next turn with Raven, Rebecca and Mina. Ideally it nets us a bunch of information on Trigon, Incubus and potentially Rebecca's situation.
Bigger issue is superman is actively looking for things to pin Lexcorp with. Time to do that nemesis action where every villain and their retired villainous grandma go after superman because of a ludicrous fortune of a bounty.
Eh my reading is that it's only easier to find connections between us and the League if you're actively looking for them.
For all that Supes is suspicious of us he has no reason to believe we're actively connected to the League of Shadows, if he even knows they exist,
Unfortunately, cost was one of the things we increased with lasers last turn.
Iirc in that situation improving cost actually meant making them cheaper to produce.
mean, if things are really unworkable, we could just take the find candidate action again. Bare success all but guarantees we missed someone. Just need a proper team on it now that we have a spy network to find our needle in a hey stack candidate, though honestly, I'm feeling like we can probably get either leading candidate onboard now. We have so many cards in our hands.
Unfortunately I don't think we have the time to search out any other candidates.
The election is on Turn 36 so assuming that we look for other candidates Turn 34 and find one that suits us we would have
at most two turns to push that candidate as hard as we can, while also having other actions to work around, to try and give them an edge over the current front runners.
IMO if we were going to find an alternative it had to be this turn.
What is the leverage? His friend, right? Who you think is with the league of shadows. How does the spy network make it easier? Do you want to go behind Ra's back on this?
I'm not sure about leverage but Paradox almost certainly makes finding Richard Dragon significantly easier and the higher over the lowered DC we roll the more likely we are to get some5ing that we could potentially use to our advantage.
Plus there's a decent chance that Dragon can tell who Cassandra's mother is and agrees to teach her just because of that.
So with Trigon, could we just try to summon him to Earth now so that he instead gets shoved into Hell, rather than wait for someone to try and take out Rebecca? If he's gonna try it might as well do it at a time of our choice.
Absolutely not, for two reasons.
1) Assuming that Trigon and his cultists don't know about the new restriction then the longer we can keep it a secret the better. I'd rather actively attempt to prevent Trigon's summoning and if we fail be able to rely on our new safety net than allow a summoning to happen, lose the element of surprise and then have to develop all new defences.
2) The way that Trigon travelling between dimensions works means that once the Trigon trapped in Azarath tries and fails to enter Earth it doesn't necessarily mean he can't try again.
This is highly subject to change, but I think just Cassandra on getting her a pet is a good move for next month special action. I don't want it influenced by any other heroes, and it will be revealing to see what Cassandra picks without further influence.
Eh I kinda want to put Starfire on it, both for the boost and because I can see her either opening up the possibility of alien pets or else just encouraging Cassandra's tendency towards exotic ones.
Our main push should be in energy sector. Introduce Cold Engine and start selling patents for Kryptonite generators, or maybe even offer them for free as fuck you to Wayne Enterprises
I'm all for offering Reilly a deal where we let the government use them in exchange for some minor concessions.
