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

[Qudrim8054]

[X] Plan Reasonable Treaty

 

[King crimson]

True.

Could we distribute Venom and have Count Vertigo work with us on experimenting with it, perhaps including on his army, as part of a larger program aimed at super-soldier research? I mean, Venom is in and of itself not the the greatest thing for enhancement, because it has some nasty long term side effects and doesn't give 'true superpowers' in some sense of the word. But there's room to work on it, especially with it being the target of research by billion-dollar corporations rather than random Gothamite weirdos. I can easily see it as part of a larger project to develop super-soldier formulas.

If nothing else, it could plausibly be something we'd hope to develop into something like the serum that empowers Deathstroke, or Captain America over in Marvel. Which would be pretty respectable progress, especially if we could mass produce the stuff for a change.

Click to shrink...

You could certainly make the offer to do so.

@King crimson: I mean, is there anything stopping us from making Animal Bone Metas and letting them roam wild? Granted, that's just asking for all kinds of ecological damages, and it would be kind of suspicious if "bone wolves" or whatever emerged in large number...

Yet if there's too few, the issue becomes explaining why they (still) exist and how we even "found" them... Huh, besides the L-Phones, our Intrigue/sneaky spying deceitfulness as a collective is pretty low outside of brute-forcing with megaproject teams (like Beowulf Sword is still barely out of plain sight, despite shoving it in a vault being easy).

Like, just way too much effort if we wanna trick people into thinking there are wild animals/entities we "conveniently" found and reverse-engineered. Do we have options geared specifically for recruiting Intrigue type employees?

Click to shrink...

No there isn't beyond the dangers of unleashing hard to kill animals in the wild (you know the kind of thing that can wipe out whole species and cause massive damage).

Not yet no because you haven't laid much groundwork for a spy network beyond the technological ways you have if listening in. There are multiple ways to get intrigue specialists so I don't feel obligated to tell you exactly how to do so.

 

[Simon_Jester]

Yet if there's too few, the issue becomes explaining why they (still) exist and how we even "found" them... Huh, besides the L-Phones, our Intrigue/sneaky spying deceitfulness as a collective is pretty low outside of brute-forcing with megaproject teams (like Beowulf Sword is still barely out of plain sight, despite shoving it in a vault being easy).

Click to shrink...

The big problem with that is that it's literally a whole Action Point to hide the damn thing any better. Like, "hide a sword that is not visibly different from other swords except maybe to a wizard" is as big a resource drain on whatever AP account (Lex's attention?) as "build a giant-ass skyscraper in a foreign country to start up business operations there" or "start mass production of entire new product line" or "literally invade and conquer a small country."

The reason it never gets done is that spending a whole AP on it just feels... off, somehow, I think,... when there's so much else to do and when there are only a limited number of things that could get through our security to find the sword in the first place.

Like, just way too much effort if we wanna trick people into thinking there are wild animals/entities we "conveniently" found and reverse-engineered. Do we have options geared specifically for recruiting Intrigue type employees?

Click to shrink...

We do.

[ ] Recruit skilled criminals (DC 20)
[ ] Recruit competent assistants (DC 55)
[ ] Recruit unusual individuals (DC 46) (borderline)

[ ] Hire a private investigator (DC 58)
[ ] Hire Ex-Cons (DC 11) (potentially)

[ ] Create a worldwide spy network (DC 72) (potentially)
[ ] Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (DC 55)

Note that the first three are Diplomacy actions, the next two Stewardship, and the last two Intrigue.

...

By the way...

@King crimson , did getting some shell companies lower the DC of anything? I've lost track. What do they do for us in mechanical terms? I know what my intuition expects, but that's not much to go on.

 

[Lockheart]

We can give him a stockpile of venom and bone enhance couple of his soldiers that valunteered with the promise that we will work on perfecting those formulas in the future. But also warn him about the existence of DOMA and caution him to be as discreet as possible for a while.

If for some time we couldn't provide him with tangible results, we could cybernetically enhance a group of his soldiers to stretch the time.

 

[King crimson]

@King crimson , did getting some shell companies lower the DC of anything? I've lost track. What do they do for us in mechanical terms? I know what my intuition expects, but that's not much to go on.

Click to shrink...

It did mess with DC's

Mechanically it makes it lowers corporate takeover and tax evasion DC's, raises an intrigue investigation check against you from a certain direction and make it easier to hide and purchase illicit materials.

 

[Simon_Jester]

The Metropolitan Clan, Ch. 37​

The Powder Keg

Luthor's attempt to blow the whistle on James Durand's Crédit Mobilier scheme in 1867 came at an extremely awkward time for the republic.

The end of the Civil War in the final weeks of Abraham Lincoln's first term in office had not spelled the end of violence in the South. Confederate-sympathizing bitter-enders laid low and began organizing guerilla and terrorist bands, most of which directed their violence at the most conspicuous symbol of Union victory: the African-American freedmen of the southern states. Meanwhile, the region was still under Union military occupation, and legally unable to elect representation to Congress due to that status.

President Lincoln, hoping to avoid an endless civil strife that would force the U.S. to maintain a huge military and fight internecine conflicts indefinitely, had begun to outline a relatively forgiving series of amnesties for former Confederate supporters and officials. If followed, this pattern of policy would see the southern states re-integrated relatively quickly.

President Johnson had continued and even expanded this program, despite a reputation during the war for harshness against Confederate sympathizers in his home state of Tennessee. Johnson issued broad, blanket pardons, and worked to organize new state governments for the southern states as quickly as possible- even if that meant they were formed largely from former Confederate officials.

This put him into conflict with Congress. With the southern delegations out of the picture, Congress was dominated by radical Republicans from the northern states who favored harsh treatment of the South and an aggressive program of military occupation and legal prosecution aimed at firmly establishing and protecting the status of the freedmen. But Johnson, a Democrat who had run with the Republican Lincoln on a National Union ticket, was far more conciliatory to the South than most of the radical Republicans, and opposed many of the pro-freedmen measures Congress enacted, frequently vetoing them, along with the aforesaid approach to restoring local government in the South.

Lit Fuse

Johnson and the congressional Republicans spent 1866 in sharp conflict. The Republicans struggled to assemble veto-proof majorities to pass bills such as the Civil Rights Act of 1866. Johnson, again despite his strong opposition to secession during the war, largely accepted the complaint of southern whites that the radical Republicans were unduly interfering with states' rights, and tried to stir up support for this position with public speaking tours throughout the nation. The tours backfired, giving Johnson a reputation as a man prone to vitriol, indiscipline, and angry exchanges with hecklers who attended his speeches. The midterm elections of 1866 were a major reverse for Johnson- with many southern states still unable to send delegations to Congress, the radical Republicans swept the field, securing veto-proof majorities in both houses of Congress for one of the few times in American history.

Exasperated with Johnson's obstructionism towards their intended program to reconstruct the South and eliminate not only de jure slavery but the institutions that had enabled it to flourish, the Republicans began to lay the groundwork for impeachment of President Johnson, starting by passing a bill that forbade him from firing certain government officials, under terms that made it likely he would violate them in the future due to existing antagonisms within his cabinet (inherited in large part from Lincoln).

Meanwhile, with a supermajority of the House of Representatives in radical Republican hands, Durant had of course focused his efforts on bribing Republican congressmen; Democrats were of little use to him. Several senior Republican congressmen were invested in his Crédit Mobilier scheme... including Speaker of the House Schuyler Colfax, a major leader of the radical Republican caucus.

The president was locked in a fight with Congress, who were locked in a fight to reshape the South, who were themselves in turn fighting a guerilla war that pitted Confederate sympathizer whites against the federal government and the African-American people of their own states. The situation was tense in the extreme, if not in the same way the recent war had been. In the 19th century Congress was at the height of its powers, the single most significant force in American politics.

And then Leland Luthor's increasingly indiscreet criticisms of Durant, his methods, and his congressional associates appeared on the scene, to hack at Congress's feet of clay.

The Explosion

Colfax and the congressional Republicans initially did not take Leland's efforts seriously, when he met with House Republicans in an attempt to get Durand ousted. Exasperated, Leland returned to Metropolis aboard his private train in an angry state, and recounted a few hints of the scandalous conduct to a trio of young reporters from the Metropolis Star (today known as the Metropolis Daily Planet). The next day, a conciliatory telegram from the House of Representatives convinced Luthor to inform the reporters that his angry words about Crédit Mobilier and the Union Pacific were no more than the tipsy ramblings of a famously ill-tempered man.

But the reporters were not convinced. They investigated. They hit paydirt. And the Democratic-leaning, Johnson-supporting Metropolitan who was editor of the Metropolis Star at the time saw no reason whatsoever not to publish.

By late 1867, the Crédit Mobilier scandal was spreading far beyond all hope of control by anyone, even Leland Luthor who'd started it, and even Congress. Outrage flamed across the nation. Democrats- and many Republicans- demanded the resignation of the offending congressmen. Cries for an investigation mounted to the skies, and the investigation was started. As it became clear just which congressmen Durant had focused his efforts on, Southern politicians denounced the radical Republicans as corrupt. And with the Speaker of the House in danger of being discredited and broken, along with several members of the radical caucus, Johnson was in an excellent position to flex his muscles.

The American political scene dissolved into a crazed flurry of accusations and counter-accusations of corruption. This was perhaps inevitable, as the American political system of the time was corrupt. Laws restricting unethical stock manipulations and corporate governance were in their infancy. The civil service system did not exist. Government offices of all kinds were routinely allocated based on patronage and the efforts of elected officials to build up "machines" of men loyal to them and effective at mobilizing supporters. American politicians had gotten into the painful position of being embroiled in a stone-throwing fight, in a neighborhood consisting almost entirely of glass houses.

The uproar severely damaged the credibility of the radical Republicans, Reconstruction… and the transcontinental railroad. Had Congress not been so preoccupied dealing with the allegations- whipped up to hurricane force with President Johnson's active encouragement- the railroad might have been canceled entirely. However, it was mostly lost in the shuffle… after the Union Pacific stopped asking for more money. Construction of the UP line slowed and then virtually stopped, with the railhead located near the newly founded town of Cheyenne, Wyoming. Work on the Central Pacific Railroad, advancing eastward from California through the extremely forbidding mountains of the Sierra Nevada, slowed as well. Leland Stanford, president of the CP, fought desperately to keep his men working on the tunnels they were laboriously digging through solid granite mountains.

Leland Luthor had set in motion forces he couldn't hope to control, and which were dragging the country through chaos.

 

[LollipoPReapeR]

[X] Plan Reasonable Treaty


Regarding Star Labs, I really want to buy them next turn. And maybe get more magic users.

 

[Swedish15]

[X] Plan Reasonable Treaty

 

[Defiant Roar]

[X] Plan Reasonable Treaty

 

[Defiant Roar]

@King crimson

I wonder if we can offer Vertigo enought venom for his whole army ? essentially a whole army of discount supersoldiers instead of few supersoldiers.

and since Vlatava is smaller country it might be within our logistical capabilities.

 

[ebolasos]

@King crimson
When we buy star labs are we able to direct actions for start labs to complete or have access to their hero units to work on our own projects if they any hero's?

 

[Reader of all]

@King crimson
When we buy star labs are we able to direct actions for start labs to complete or have access to their hero units to work on our own projects if they any hero's?

Click to shrink...

Not king crimson but he did mention that the acquiring of heroes is through the point buy system so we may wanna crit on that action to get as many points as possible.

 

[MysteryCPU]

For Oswald, we may want to do the Daphne Dean action soon. She wants to work with us, has a reasonably okay diplomacy and stewardship. If we get her, we could have her team with Oswald in all Oz and Lightyear actions. And, every now and then, recruit.

According to last turn, the DC was 23. Which Oswald can solo.

Edit: Also we probably want to work on the Improve Wards action. The wards we have already prevented Blindspot from entering. We could work on improving them even more to make LexCorp Towers much more secure.

 

[Night_stalker]

[X] Plan: Lights, Camera & Backroom Deals

 

[King crimson]

The Metropolitan Clan, Ch. 37​

The Powder Keg

Luthor's attempt to blow the whistle on James Durand's Crédit Mobilier scheme in 1867 came at an extremely awkward time for the republic.

The end of the Civil War in the final weeks of Abraham Lincoln's first term in office had not spelled the end of violence in the South. Confederate-sympathizing bitter-enders laid low and began organizing guerilla and terrorist bands, most of which directed their violence at the most conspicuous symbol of Union victory: the African-American freedmen of the southern states. Meanwhile, the region was still under Union military occupation, and legally unable to elect representation to Congress due to that status.

President Lincoln, hoping to avoid an endless civil strife that would force the U.S. to maintain a huge military and fight internecine conflicts indefinitely, had begun to outline a relatively forgiving series of amnesties for former Confederate supporters and officials. If followed, this pattern of policy would see the southern states re-integrated relatively quickly.

President Johnson had continued and even expanded this program, despite a reputation during the war for harshness against Confederate sympathizers in his home state of Tennessee. Johnson issued broad, blanket pardons, and worked to organize new state governments for the southern states as quickly as possible- even if that meant they were formed largely from former Confederate officials.

This put him into conflict with Congress. With the southern delegations out of the picture, Congress was dominated by radical Republicans from the northern states who favored harsh treatment of the South and an aggressive program of military occupation and legal prosecution aimed at firmly establishing and protecting the status of the freedmen. But Johnson, a Democrat who had run with the Republican Lincoln on a National Union ticket, was far more conciliatory to the South than most of the radical Republicans, and opposed many of the pro-freedmen measures Congress enacted, frequently vetoing them, along with the aforesaid approach to restoring local government in the South.

Lit Fuse

Johnson and the congressional Republicans spent 1866 in sharp conflict. The Republicans struggled to assemble veto-proof majorities to pass bills such as the Civil Rights Act of 1866. Johnson, again despite his strong opposition to secession during the war, largely accepted the complaint of southern whites that the radical Republicans were unduly interfering with states' rights, and tried to stir up support for this position with public speaking tours throughout the nation. The tours backfired, giving Johnson a reputation as a man prone to vitriol, indiscipline, and angry exchanges with hecklers who attended his speeches. The midterm elections of 1866 were a major reverse for Johnson- with many southern states still unable to send delegations to Congress, the radical Republicans swept the field, securing veto-proof majorities in both houses of Congress for one of the few times in American history.

Exasperated with Johnson's obstructionism towards their intended program to reconstruct the South and eliminate not only de jure slavery but the institutions that had enabled it to flourish, the Republicans began to lay the groundwork for impeachment of President Johnson, starting by passing a bill that forbade him from firing certain government officials, under terms that made it likely he would violate them in the future due to existing antagonisms within his cabinet (inherited in large part from Lincoln).

Meanwhile, with a supermajority of the House of Representatives in radical Republican hands, Durant had of course focused his efforts on bribing Republican congressmen; Democrats were of little use to him. Several senior Republican congressmen were invested in his Crédit Mobilier scheme... including Speaker of the House Schuyler Colfax, a major leader of the radical Republican caucus.

The president was locked in a fight with Congress, who were locked in a fight to reshape the South, who were themselves in turn fighting a guerilla war that pitted Confederate sympathizer whites against the federal government and the African-American people of their own states. The situation was tense in the extreme, if not in the same way the recent war had been. In the 19th century Congress was at the height of its powers, the single most significant force in American politics.

And then Leland Luthor's increasingly indiscreet criticisms of Durant, his methods, and his congressional associates appeared on the scene, to hack at Congress's feet of clay.

The Explosion

Colfax and the congressional Republicans initially did not take Leland's efforts seriously, when he met with House Republicans in an attempt to get Durand ousted. Exasperated, Leland returned to Metropolis aboard his private train in an angry state, and recounted a few hints of the scandalous conduct to a trio of young reporters from the Metropolis Star (today known as the Metropolis Daily Planet). The next day, a conciliatory telegram from the House of Representatives convinced Luthor to inform the reporters that his angry words about Crédit Mobilier and the Union Pacific were no more than the tipsy ramblings of a famously ill-tempered man.

But the reporters were not convinced. They investigated. They hit paydirt. And the Democratic-leaning, Johnson-supporting Metropolitan who was editor of the Metropolis Star at the time saw no reason whatsoever not to publish.

By late 1867, the Crédit Mobilier scandal was spreading far beyond all hope of control by anyone, even Leland Luthor who'd started it, and even Congress. Outrage flamed across the nation. Democrats- and many Republicans- demanded the resignation of the offending congressmen. Cries for an investigation mounted to the skies, and the investigation was started. As it became clear just which congressmen Durant had focused his efforts on, Southern politicians denounced the radical Republicans as corrupt. And with the Speaker of the House in danger of being discredited and broken, along with several members of the radical caucus, Johnson was in an excellent position to flex his muscles.

The American political scene dissolved into a crazed flurry of accusations and counter-accusations of corruption. This was perhaps inevitable, as the American political system of the time was corrupt. Laws restricting unethical stock manipulations and corporate governance were in their infancy. The civil service system did not exist. Government offices of all kinds were routinely allocated based on patronage and the efforts of elected officials to build up "machines" of men loyal to them and effective at mobilizing supporters. American politicians had gotten into the painful position of being embroiled in a stone-throwing fight, in a neighborhood consisting almost entirely of glass houses.

The uproar severely damaged the credibility of the radical Republicans, Reconstruction… and the transcontinental railroad. Had Congress not been so preoccupied dealing with the allegations- whipped up to hurricane force with President Johnson's active encouragement- the railroad might have been canceled entirely. However, it was mostly lost in the shuffle… after the Union Pacific stopped asking for more money. Construction of the UP line slowed and then virtually stopped, with the railhead located near the newly founded town of Cheyenne, Wyoming. Work on the Central Pacific Railroad, advancing eastward from California through the extremely forbidding mountains of the Sierra Nevada, slowed as well. Leland Stanford, president of the CP, fought desperately to keep his men working on the tunnels they were laboriously digging through solid granite mountains.

Leland Luthor had set in motion forces he couldn't hope to control, and which were dragging the country through chaos.

Click to shrink...

I don't have much to say beyond acknowledging that once again it is good. Simon Jester has earned another 500 exp.

@King crimson

I wonder if we can offer Vertigo enought venom for his whole army ? essentially a whole army of discount supersoldiers instead of few supersoldiers.

and since Vlatava is smaller country it might be within our logistical capabilities.

Click to shrink...

You can make the offer but I will say that it isn't possible to discreetly send Vertigo enough Venom to cover the whole army. If you take this option be aware that everyone will know you are doing it.

@King crimson
When we buy star labs are we able to direct actions for start labs to complete or have access to their hero units to work on our own projects if they any hero's?

Click to shrink...

As Reader of all stated it's on a point buy system. You wouldn't get all S.T.A.R. labs hero units and would be picking and choosing what you want to keep.

 

[King crimson]

So today is going to be a bookkeeping day and I'm unlikely to get an update up today (I've got forms to fill out irl). I will be closing the Legion of Superheroes creative writing contest today. The winners are MysteryCPU and NMS. I will be delivering the prizes they have earned sometime in the coming week. Thank you for your patience

 

[Simon_Jester]

@King crimson

I wonder if we can offer Vertigo enought venom for his whole army ? essentially a whole army of discount supersoldiers instead of few supersoldiers.

and since Vlatava is smaller country it might be within our logistical capabilities.

Click to shrink...

We'd need to start actively producing Venom first (that's an action we'd spend an AP on). But I bet we could.

Not king crimson but he did mention that the acquiring of heroes is through the point buy system so we may wanna crit on that action to get as many points as possible.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, I'd definitely want to make the buyout a Stewardship megaproject.

Lex+Mari+Mercy gives us a 31+(1.3*18)+(1.85*9) = +31+24+17 = +72 bonus stack, with an additional +20 from bonuses that don't count towards a reroll. We could get up to two rerolls if we roll well, though we might not get any and have 'only' a result between 93 and 119 (versus a DC of 58, I think) if things go poorly.

Lex+Mari+Carol+Mercy would be 31+(1.3*18)+(1.3*14)+(1.85*9) = +31+24+19+17 = +91 bonus stack, with +25 of extra bonuses. However, we couldn't get more than one reroll- though we'd have a better than 90% chance of having that reroll.

I don't want to put Felicity on the action because a big chunk (though far from all) her value as a hero unit comes from the DC reductions she applies to computer actions. This isn't one of those.

For Oswald, we may want to do the Daphne Dean action soon. She wants to work with us, has a reasonably okay diplomacy and stewardship. If we get her, we could have her team with Oswald in all Oz and Lightyear actions. And, every now and then, recruit.

According to last turn, the DC was 23. Which Oswald can solo.

Click to shrink...

Is that "recruit Daphne Dean" or "meet with Daphne Dean?"

Also, we know @King crimson has an upcoming vote planned for Lightyear Entertainment's huge critical success. We may want to postpone discussion of what we do with Oswald, and Daphne, and so on, until after that discussion.

Edit: Also we probably want to work on the Improve Wards action. The wards we have already prevented Blindspot from entering. We could work on improving them even more to make LexCorp Towers much more secure.

Click to shrink...

Ehh.

It's a good action, don't get me wrong, but maybe not specifically this turn. We may want to throw Rebecca at something else, and she's our only magic hero unit. Remember that we've got a good deal of required/opportunity action next turn, what with getting a good chance to investigate Cerise and with also wanting to make sure she recovers from her coma.

 

[Simon_Jester]

@King crimson

I'd like to buy a Lobo interlude for 400 XP. Because Lobo.

@Ukrainian Ranger , you have 700 XP.
@invictus1829 , you have 600 XP
@Swedish15 , you have 1000 XP

Are any of you interested in going in with me to buy a Brotherhood of Evil interlude? We might get some useful intelligence. At 6000 XP it is really fricking expensive, but doable. I'm looking for co-investors though.

While we're at it, do any of you have any other projects you're interested in splitting on?

Click to shrink...

I consent

Click to shrink...

@King crimson

From the sound of it, @invictus1829 is interested in chipping in 600 XP towards a Brotherhood of Evil omake update. I'll pay the other 5400 of the total price of 6000 XP (If I'm misremembering the price, then as long as it's not more than I have, I'm paying it).

Dealio?

 

[King crimson]

@King crimson

From the sound of it, @invictus1829 is interested in chipping in 600 XP towards a Brotherhood of Evil omake update. I'll pay the other 5400 of the total price of 6000 XP (If I'm misremembering the price, then as long as it's not more than I have, I'm paying it).

Dealio?

Click to shrink...

Alright I'll get around to it. Expect the interlude to land sometime tomorrow or on Monday.

 

[NMS]

I will be closing the Legion of Superheroes creative writing contest today. The winners are MysteryCPU and NMS.

Click to shrink...

Is it weird that I'm mildly upset about winning this?

 

[King crimson]

Is it weird that I'm mildly upset about winning this?

Click to shrink...

Considering you won by default (there was plans for a first, second and third place prize and only two entries) no I don't consider it weird if it's a little upsetting to win that way.

At the end of the day you're still going to win something though and the prizes will hopefully be interesting.

 

[Simon_Jester]

I'm sorry, personally, I just don't know the Legion well enough to write stories about it.

 

[NMS]

I'm sorry, personally, I just don't know the Legion well enough to write stories about it.

Click to shrink...

Neither do I. I just did a little wiki walk and then cobbled my entry together. The fact that I still manged to win with such low effort, despite knowing there are much better writers than me partaking in this quest....

That's what really has me upset with this. I made my entry fully expecting to not win anything for it.

 

[Simon_Jester]

Neither do I. I just did a little wiki walk and then cobbled my entry together. The fact that I still manged to win with such low effort, despite knowing there are much better writers than me partaking in this quest....

That's what really has me upset with this. I made my entry fully expecting to not win anything for it.

Click to shrink...

Writing a good story takes a combination of knowledge and inspiration. I don't appreciate being shamed for not writing the specific stories other people want.

 

[NMS]

Writing a good story takes a combination of knowledge and inspiration. I don't appreciate being shamed for not writing the specific stories other people want.

Click to shrink...

Sorry, I didn't mean to shame you or anyone else who didn't participate.