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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@King crimson

Wait, wow. Did the DC of the A.M.A.Z.O. project just balloon from 180 (105 with Ivo) to 250 (175 with Ivo)? Is some of that due to Ivo himself being out of commission because of the transplant? What's going on? Because at DC 110 or something we could hope to get some progress just with Ivo or Ivo+Marie, but at DC 175 it's pretty much out of the question and taking DC-reducing actions is effectively mandatory if we want to make significant progress.
 
@King crimson

Sorry for the doublepost but I want to be sure you get tagged on this question

Just to be clear, Carol Ferris' trait applies to planes, but does it apply only to planes? Or to pure space applications such as "launch satellites?"
 
[ ] Purchase Risk Management Firm
DC 43 There are quite a few PI and Risk Management Firms whose job it is to minimize the risk of various investments through pro-active investigation. With the recent attack on LexCorp and the industry disruption that Lex plans on doing, it's not a bad idea to buy the largest and most prestigious of these firms for LexCorp's own use. The in-house attorneys at Siegel and Shuster would appreciate it, at least.

This may be very important down the line. It will give us a bigger picture and lower DCs for some investigation actions as shit ramps up from Turn 20 onwards.

[ ] Hire Ex-Cons
DC 11 (DC 22 for Leonard Snart) Oftentimes people who are caught breaking the law are utterly unable to get work. This would make them extremely devoted to you if you were to offer them jobs at LexCorp since it would beat every other option they have. On top of that hiring ex-cons may give you good PR and change societal views on certain crimes. Sounds like a win-win-win to you. And you like winning. (Note if this option is selected a sub-vote on the type of ex-con's you hire will occur).

I still want to get Captain Boomerang & Weather Wizard.

[ ] Begin producing hologram technology
DC 10 Hologram technology is immensely useful. While you won't be distributing the most dangerous aspects of it just yet, you can certainly see a market for illusions cropping up.

This will save Ozzy a lot of budget and make us famous.

[ ] Develop Houston Idaho
DC 3 You admittedly bought Houston Idaho on a whim but you can make some good out of it. Developing it further could give you numerous advantages later on down the line.

I really want to develop this place so we can build a hidden Kryptonite/animal/human testing lab. If General Zod lands here sometime in the future, the lab boys can use him as target practice for our kryptonite weaponry.
 
Wait, wow. Did the DC of the A.M.A.Z.O. project just balloon from 180 (105 with Ivo) to 250 (175 with Ivo)? Is some of that due to Ivo himself being out of commission because of the transplant? What's going on? Because at DC 110 or something we could hope to get some progress just with Ivo or Ivo+Marie, but at DC 175 it's pretty much out of the question and taking DC-reducing actions is effectively mandatory if we want to make significant progress.

Lol I just noticed that too, eventually it'll reach the point where the whole company has to be on the action, and we all need to sacrifice a goat to the dice gods. :lol:
Nth metal, supertank, or learn engineering/robotics collab+megacrit may help out on lowering A.M.A.Z.O. DC, but piss off Ivo. We didn't lose collab when he worked on reverse engineering alien tech because of the insane result, we rolled 434 and gained 10 advancements on A.M.A.Z.O.
 
@King crimson
If we build another supercomputer, will it have all the upgrades our current one has already built in? It'll give us two supercomputer actions per turn?
No it will not.

You will get two supercomputer special actions though.
...

@King crimson

Wait, wow. Did the DC of the A.M.A.Z.O. project just balloon from 180 (105 with Ivo) to 250 (175 with Ivo)? Is some of that due to Ivo himself being out of commission because of the transplant? What's going on? Because at DC 110 or something we could hope to get some progress just with Ivo or Ivo+Marie, but at DC 175 it's pretty much out of the question and taking DC-reducing actions is effectively mandatory if we want to make significant progress.
It's that you are in the endgame now. Every single upgrade to AMAZO is incredibly potent now to stupid good levels.
@King crimson

Sorry for the doublepost but I want to be sure you get tagged on this question

Just to be clear, Carol Ferris' trait applies to planes, but does it apply only to planes? Or to pure space applications such as "launch satellites?"
Only planes right now
 
[ ] Learn from the Red Tornado data
DC 78 The Red Tornado data while incomplete and full of holes is utterly fascinating. If you can reverse engineer and replicate T.O. Morrow's results then you will have successfully created synthetic life. The possibilities are astounding.

We pribably need to get data from this to lower the A.M.A.Z.O DCs

[ ] Develop a social media platform
DC 54 (DC 34 if Felicity is assigned) The internet is still rather new in its current state and isn't thoroughly organized. By creating a revolutionary new type of site in which people would interact with each other and use it to manage interpersonal relationships would allow you to gain a lot of metrics on a lot of people and possibly make a ton of money in advertising.
I want Felicity + Carol on this due to their high Co-Op.
 
This may be very important down the line. It will give us a bigger picture and lower DCs for some investigation actions as shit ramps up from Turn 20 onwards.
Good idea but I want to do spy satellites this turn, and a lot of our good Stewardship heroes will be busy with something else. Let's... put it off a bit but do it soon.

I still want to get Captain Boomerang & Weather Wizard.
I'd rather not this turn. If they're on the same general tier as the heroes we get, I doubt they'll have high co-op with us and I doubt they'll be immediately impressive and effective.

This will save Ozzy a lot of budget and make us famous.
I'm for it.

I really want to develop this place so we can build a hidden Kryptonite/animal/human testing lab. If General Zod lands here sometime in the future, the lab boys can use him as target practice for our kryptonite weaponry.
I'm pretty sure we won't be using the Superman II canon version of Zod- it SOUNDS like we're using the version where Avruskin is a thing, and that's different. So while I intend to do this, i don't want to burn an AP on it right now. Not when we could, for example, use that same AP to buy a new headquarters or recruit a new hero.

Lol I just noticed that too, eventually it'll reach the point where the whole company has to be on the action, and we all need to sacrifice a goat to the dice gods. :lol:
Nth metal, supertank, or learn engineering/robotics collab+megacrit may help out on lowering A.M.A.Z.O. DC, but piss off Ivo. We didn't lose collab when he worked on reverse engineering alien tech because of the insane result, we rolled 434 and gained 10 advancements on A.M.A.Z.O.
I think the easiest angle of attack would be for us to work on the Red Tornado data. That's the project most LIKE A.M.A.Z.O., so a critical success (which we can engineer) will almost certainly help with A.M.A.Z.O.

It's that you are in the endgame now. Every single upgrade to AMAZO is incredibly potent now to stupid good levels.
@King crimson

Can Ivo upload himself into an unfinished A.M.A.Z.O.? I mean, he's working on a robot he can upload his consciousness into, but he's also planning for this robot to be absurdly powerful.

I assume he would prefer to upload himself into a weaker but still functional robot body than to straight-up die, and at this point he may realistically be faced with that choice. So this is a pretty important question for us. Has he developed a workable robot body he can upload into, and the project is getting harder because now he's trying to figure out how to endow it with absurdly powerful superpowers? Or is he still facing major snags in the "upload my consciousness to a machine at all" part, and the project is getting harder because that hurdle is itself difficult to achieve?

I asked about this a turn or two ago, but I think the question got lost in the shuffle. It's kind of an important question because it impacts our decision-making process. We're looking at very different outcomes if:
1) Ivo has already developed a workable robot body he can upload into and is trying to make it super-duper-perfect before he dies, versus
2) Ivo is close to a workable robot but not close to giving it super-duper-powers, versus
3) Ivo is deliberately leaving the "figure out how to upload my consciousness" parts for last and fussing around perfecting the super-duper-powerful body while his life runs out.
 
[X] Improve your dedicated lab space
[X] Release what you have
[X] Restore damaged environments
[X] Repair the damaged Supercomputer
[X] Develop and sell high fashion clothing
[X] Begin producing computers
[X] Learn about genetics
[X] Learn more about the brain
[X] Learn about chemistry
[X] Learn about robotics
[X] Learn more about engineering
[X] Learn about military strategy
[X] Learn more about space
[X] Learn more about computers
[X] Improve wards
[X] The A.M.A.Z.O. project
[X] Develop countermeasures to pheromone spray

I REALLY want to improve Lex right now
ivy action-restore enviro
oswald action - release what we have
ivo - amazo
mari - high class clothing
fix super comp
make anti pheremone
work on comps
work on wards
everything else to making Lex Better so we can do harder actions
 
[ ] Fortify LexCorp tower (DC 35)
[ ] Assist the US Government with the war effort in Santa Prisca (DC 20)

[ ] Recruit Lucy Lane as a personal lawyer (DC 33)
[ ] Consult with the DOMA (DC 12)

[ ] Build a new LexCorp building in Vienna (DC 21)
[ ] Develop and sell high fashion clothing (DC 28)
[ ] Release what you have (DC 0)
[ ] Develop a social media platform (DC 54 (DC 34 if Felicity is assigned))
[ ] Begin producing hologram technology (DC 10)
[ ] Repair the damaged Supercomputer (DC 0)
[ ] Build a secret lab in a remote location (DC 16)

[ ] Build surveillance satellites (DC 32)
[ ] Investigate the unknown individual (DC 88)
[ ] Investigate Bradford Sackett's death (DC ???)

[ ] Learn about Kryptonite (DC 44)
[ ] Learn from the Red Tornado data (DC 78)
[ ] The A.M.A.Z.O. project (DC 250, 175 if Ivo assigned))


Here's the version that can be copy-pasted:

[X] Fortify LexCorp tower
[X] Assist the US Government with the war effort in Santa Prisca

[X] Recruit Lucy Lane as a personal lawyer
[X] Consult with the DOMA

[X] Build a new LexCorp building in Vienna
[X] Develop and sell high fashion clothing
[X] Release what you have
[X] Develop a social media platform
[X] Begin producing hologram technology
[X] Repair the damaged Supercomputer
[X] Build a secret lab in a remote location

[X] Build surveillance satellites
[X] Investigate the unknown individual
[X] Investigate Bradford Sackett's death

[X] Learn about Kryptonite
[X] Learn from the Red Tornado data
[X] The A.M.A.Z.O. project
 
@King crimson

Can Ivo upload himself into an unfinished A.M.A.Z.O.? I mean, he's working on a robot he can upload his consciousness into, but he's also planning for this robot to be absurdly powerful.

I assume he would prefer to upload himself into a weaker but still functional robot body than to straight-up die, and at this point he may realistically be faced with that choice. So this is a pretty important question for us. Has he developed a workable robot body he can upload into, and the project is getting harder because now he's trying to figure out how to endow it with absurdly powerful superpowers? Or is he still facing major snags in the "upload my consciousness to a machine at all" part, and the project is getting harder because that hurdle is itself difficult to achieve?

I asked about this a turn or two ago, but I think the question got lost in the shuffle. It's kind of an important question because it impacts our decision-making process. We're looking at very different outcomes if:
1) Ivo has already developed a workable robot body he can upload into and is trying to make it super-duper-perfect before he dies, versus
2) Ivo is close to a workable robot but not close to giving it super-duper-powers, versus
3) Ivo is deliberately leaving the "figure out how to upload my consciousness" parts for last and fussing around perfecting
No he cannot upload himself right now. The main problem he has right now is developing a perpetual power source for it to get it operational. After getting the working power source Ivo is going to try and then solve the uploading his mind problem and then after that is ensuring that his mind can actually handle running such a complicated piece of machinery so that he isn't hobbled like Snowy is by extra pieces he doesn't know how to intuitively control.
 
[] Improve your dedicated lab space
[] Release what you have
[] Restore damaged environments
[] Repair the damaged Supercomputer
[] Develop and sell high fashion clothing
[] Begin producing computers
[] Learn about genetics
[] Learn more about the brain
[] Learn about chemistry
[] Learn about robotics
[] Learn more about engineering
[] Learn about military strategy
[] Learn more about space
[] Learn more about computers
[] Improve wards
[] The A.M.A.Z.O. project
[] Develop countermeasures to pheromone spray

I REALLY want to improve Lex right now
ivy action-restore enviro
oswald action - release what we have
ivo - amazo
mari - high class clothing
fix super comp
make anti pheremone
work on comps
work on wards
everything else to making Lex Better so we can do harder actions
I think you have too many learning actions- it risks losing focus. We already have an enormous mountain of options for things we can do; learning how to build better tech only helps us if we have the resources to use what we've already got. We're sitting on a mountain of exotic alien technology Ivo reverse-engineered for us, for instance, and we haven't even put all of it into production!

And remember that acquiring resources like more HQ towers and spy satellite networks ALSO "improves Lex" by increasing his capacity for action.

Lex Luthor's power doesn't come from what he personally knows- though he knows a lot.

And it doesn't come from what he personally can do- though he can do a lot, more than almost any person on the planet without powers.

Lex Luthor's power comes from his organization.

A lot of my vote is about leveraging the power of the organization.

No he cannot upload himself right now. The main problem he has right now is developing a perpetual power source for it to get it operational. After getting the working power source Ivo is going to try and then solve the uploading his mind problem and then after that is ensuring that his mind can actually handle running such a complicated piece of machinery so that he isn't hobbled like Snowy is by extra pieces he doesn't know how to intuitively control.
Has he considered a kryptonite power supply? Those are pretty good. Are they not powerful enough, not permanent enough, or what?

In any case, it sounds like we need some significant breakthroughs in fundamental physics and such here. Awkward.

If it was me, I'd try to do the uploading first; if I have to rely on a subpar power supply or a plug-in cable that's still better than dying, and if he doesn't crack the upload problem, he's gonna die.
 
[ ] Fortify LexCorp tower (DC 35)
[ ] Assist the US Government with the war effort in Santa Prisca (DC 20)

[ ] Recruit Lucy Lane as a personal lawyer (DC 33)
[ ] Consult with the DOMA (DC 12)

[ ] Build a new LexCorp building in Vienna (DC 21)
[ ] Develop and sell high fashion clothing (DC 28)
[ ] Release what you have (DC 0)
[ ] Develop a social media platform (DC 54 (DC 34 if Felicity is assigned))
[ ] Begin producing hologram technology (DC 10)
[ ] Repair the damaged Supercomputer (DC 0)
[ ] Build a secret lab in a remote location (DC 16)

[ ] Build surveillance satellites (DC 32)
[ ] Investigate the unknown individual (DC 88)
[ ] Investigate Bradford Sackett's death (DC ???)

[ ] Learn about Kryptonite (DC 44)
[ ] Learn from the Red Tornado data (DC 78)
[ ] The A.M.A.Z.O. project (DC 250, 175 if Ivo assigned)
@Simon_Jester what would be your Hero assignment for this?
 
Why another LexCorp building in Vienna before we secure what we have? It seems like we are just opening LexCorp to more and more avenues of attack without securing them.

Also, I disagree with Assisting the US Government in Santa Prisca as it seems that is mostly mopped up and would give us some reputation with the military, which we already have.

Rather, we should use those actions somewhere else- perhaps to get more Stewardship or Diplomacy characters beyond Ms. Lane?

Also, perhaps we should do either Red Tornado or AMAZO Rather than both. If there is an overlap, having Ivo look through it to try and short-cut his development should keep him satisfied while giving us another action.
 
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Has he considered a kryptonite power supply? Those are pretty good. Are they not powerful enough, not permanent enough, or what?

In any case, it sounds like we need some significant breakthroughs in fundamental physics and such here. Awkward.

If it was me, I'd try to do the uploading first; if I have to rely on a subpar power supply or a plug-in cable that's still better than dying, and if he doesn't crack the upload problem, he's gonna die.
Yes he has considered a Kryptonite power supply.

Unfortunately for the power he needs a Kryptonite battery would need to be way too large to provide the necessary power required and it wouldn't last long enough.

If he doesn't have the power necessary to get AMAZO working then there is no point in uploading since his mind will not properly survive the transition when the power starts to run out.

Being stuck in an immobile useless body despite it's incredible power, helpless to save himself is kind of Ivo's worst nightmare hence why he is going for the power solution rather than the upload first.
 
@King crimson
Just want to clarify something, if we take

[ ] Build surveillance satellites

will that also launch them into space, or will we have to take another action to launch them, and are we going to run into penalties for not having done prior testing?
 
@King crimson

Just wanted a clarification: we launched the computer product last turn to good success. Has it had no affect on Kord Communications and its purchase DC? Also, I believe the "Begin producing computers" action is still there.
 
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