Your name is Jinn Garastra, and you're a long way from home.It was but a few short years ago you left the Hegemony on a one-man craft capable of traveling faster then the speed of light; a miracle of fusion miniaturization, all for your self-appointed mission of exploration to the farthest reaches of known space. There are no other Jaxtians out here, especially not high blooded ones like yourself. You're honestly still a little amazed Halam agreed to it, practically with his dying breath...You enter the shop of one 5Sara, a Quinapode merchant and partial owner of this very space station hidden within the interstellar space between stars. You aren't in the Hegemony anymore, nor among the Aristocrats or even the Kuwgonit clans whose territory stretches all across this sector of space. No, you are a part of the Galactic Underground, the loose peoples and diaspora of the great and mighty space empires. You've been traveling up and down the length of the Kuwongit clan territory, mapping out their relations and long blood feuds, all the way to the edge of Aristocrat space. But whenever you need supplies, she is always right here, and she doesn't even try to rip you off!”Ahh! Look who it is! Jinn! My favorite customer!”You're never exactly sure where to look. Her voice is projected from the chest of the robotic exoskeleton that holds her; and the other quinapodes in her collective; along with an animated screen that shows a simplified female face. It's even a nice Jaxtian cyan color too, at least when she's talking to you. But her actual body? You'd assume it's up in the head, along with the other little squirming, faceless cephalopods...
”Jinn dearest, what can I get you? Some deuterium rich heavy-water? Some raw mineral ingots? Or some fruit some of the crew grow down in hydroponics? Oh! Are you headed towards the “Put-People-In-Soup” clan? I'll sell you some ammunition...”You laugh. “Yeah, we translated that at first as “Fighters & Soup Makers”... that was not correct.”5Sara giggles. You really like the sound.Truthfully, you're a little lonely out here in space. While certainly not the main reason for your incredible journey out here, you can't deny your juvenile fantasy to bed exotic alien babes, just like your ancestral Garastras before you. Though it's certainly much tougher when so few alien species have attractive females... You know you must be getting desperate when you've got a crush on a face on a screen!While she starts to do inventory and ready your supplies, you notice the face on her screen changes color, and the position of the little 'podes in the water on top of her head. The darker green one seems to become the most “dominant” in position, coming to the front of the glass to examine the inventory. You guess that one does the counting? But she never mentions being a co-owner of her store.“Hey, 5Sara...” The voice comes out in the same cadence, but she doesn't turn her body, the little cyan one comes close to the glass facing you. “Do you just handle the customers and the other 'podes in your collective do other things?””Oh yes! But we are the same person. These are my aspects, my personalities, each quinapode is unique and requires others in its collective to survive.”“Well, you act as a group, yeah. But I mean, while he's doing the inventory you can talk to me, then?””Come on Jinn... you know there are no “hes” or “hers” for us! I mean, technically we're all female, but we don't reproduce sexually. You're asking such silly questions! Quit distracting me!”
“Yeah but you said you're one being, but clearly, there are multiple organisms. I know you're bound together for life, but you're obviously not thinking each others thoughts. How is me talking to you distracting that other 'pode from counting when there are five of you in there?””Just call me 5Sara! That's my name! All of our names!”“No but your consciousness. I'm talking to you, the blue one, right? I know the robot synthesizer can only do one at a time but like-””They are all me! We are one being!”“Are you a hivemind then... Do you have instinctual Starsight?!””We have eyes silly... She shows you the end of one of her tentacles, a tiny black dot in the center indicating an eyespot. One for each arm? You realize that is how she is controlled the machine, but how does it know which one to follow? The level of coordination for all five to puppet the robot land-skeleton at once would be immense. ”Like I said- we're just one person. We all think together to make up the whole.”“That's not possible. Each one of your 'podes is a living organism with an entirely separate nervous system. That is where the conciseness comes from. Unless your brains are literally linked together. Do you have nerve endings out the end of those tentacles? Oh- or do you release pheromones in the water like a eusocial insect? Oh! Or-”Suddenly, the voice changes cadence. It's the exact same, but rough and abrasive. The face on the screen changes color, and the purple colored quinapode takes center as the others swim behind it, rearing up like it was about to attack, tattoos made to look like scars to give it a tough appearance mark its smooth skin.”You think you know my species better then I do, huh? Punk!?”You really did not think it was that serious of a discussion! The sudden change in personality was immediate and shocking to you; 5Sara never raised her voice like that! The robot exoskeleton balls up a fist, like its ready to punch you good. If she was a biological organism you wouldn't be too scared, but there's no telling how strong that land-walking exoskeleton made so those 'podes can interact with terrestrial species may actually be...>Apologize>Dodge out of the way with your superior monkey speed
>>6468833>Dodge out of the way with your superior monkey speedFucking awesome start dude
>>6468833>ApologizeOh cool, monke thread. Would be cooler if we hadn't chosen the lame-ass NERD ad a leader when we had two cool action dudes, but anyway...be nice!
Complaints by the second post might be a new record
>>6468842It's the fifth post, stooped. Read the reply count.
>>6468833>Dodge out of the way with your superior monkey speedAction herooooo
>>6468833>>Dodge out of the way with your superior monkey speedAsGod im so fucking ready for a Gastara adventure, Jinn is gonna be such a fucking cool character, or a total doofus trying to live up to his name, I think hes gonna be a good mix of both though and I am eager to see what he gets up to, good or bad and all the dhades between
>>6468833>>Dodge out of the way with your superior monkey speed
>>6468833>Dodge out of the way with your superior monkey speedGotta learn to do the kirk roll
>>6468833>Dodge out of the way with your superior monkey speed
It's good to see the Garastras being based as usual
As the robot shell approaches, the sudden personality change of 5Sara giving off a very threatening aura, your tail perks up as you nimbly dodge the first and second punches. Machines are quick and accurate, but this one was not designed for striking. You are faster. You dodge the second and third mad swing, before the face on her chest changes again. Replacing the purple, a new dark green face you haven't seen much of before appears. The robotic skeleton's punches no longer swing with anger, but more a kind of extreme focus, like trying to reach some kind of goal or highly competitive contest between you two.You backstep, the bipedal skeleton made for interacting with terrestrial races can't keep up. “Hey! What's got into you?”Immediately, the face changes back to blue. 5Sara's cadence returns to how you remember it. ”Oh! Jinn, you made me so mad there. But your moves! I'm impressed, hahaha!” Talk about a mood swing... You relax for the moment, with the 'pode lady returning to running her shop and preparing your supplies once again, looks like your quick thinking let you get out of anything...”So when are you coming back, Jinn? You always leave for a while...”“At least a few months. Probably, we'll see, depends on how this delegation goes.””Well in that case, I want to show you something important! It's in the other room.”5Sara leads you to a second room where a large, bed-sized device with a sunken recess in the middle exists. It looks like it was designed hold a large amount of water, with several devices, filters, and small screens installed along its inside.”This... is going to be my spawning pool!”
“Oh... That's nice. It looks, uhh, comfortable?””Yeah! Our species nymph stage is very fragile and requires almost perfect conditions... if the spawn can't find other nymphs to connect with and the right enrichment they wither away and die. Reproduction is slow even on the homeworld; too many predators and pollution. I've got to do my part, you know? I'm just trying not to think about it too much, it makes me sad.”“I had no idea this is how your species... reproduces?””Yeah, we our born alone, but we form our connection-bond as nymphs. Each quinapode's brain is very plastic but develops its connections very strongly and quickly in childhood. Then, that pattern is locked in for life. We literally can't survive without multiple aspects, personalities, of multiple 'podes put together. Your species might call it something like “autism”, but it isn't a developmental disorder to us. Just think of all the new pairs and groupings that will come from this! I'm excited.”“But you said it... makes you sad?”The face changes to another new color, a sad and pensive yellow.”Oh well... That's just because in order to reproduce, one of my aspects has to die.”You are now Nare Ogum, the Supreme Ruler of the Hegemony, and currently you have reached the next encounter in your fantasy combat sim. As the powerful Vetucker Hill Lord class, you are expected to go in first, and have the toughness and survival abilities to help you soak up as much damage as possible. Not to mention your giant double axe. Just behind you, your Overseers are backing you up as you engage the enemy formation. You just hope you can pick up their slack...
”Have at you, pricks!”With a mighty cleave, you rend apart the first foe. But at this difficulty multiplier, there is never just one foe. Enemies never break morale and are enhanced by many modifiers and teamwork bonuses. Glancing ahead at the next group of enemies, you can see the spellcasters increasing the power level of the enemy close range soldiers, while granting speed benefits to the skirmishers. Naturally, while their appearance doesn't truly matter in this game, your AI models them after the Hegemony's racial enemies.”Come on, let's go!”Examining the group of enemies closing in, you know you're gonna take some hits. That's alright, it's part of your role as the group's tank. You have damage reducing abilities. But based on the enemy attacks, what's the best way to withstand them and minimize the damage you take?Enemy Attacks (Order is random, but you can see each coming before it lands)Crushing Fists x4- Deal 200 Dmg eachCurse- Deals 15 Dmg and 10 Stamina Dmg each turn until dispelled (will do 10 only this turn)Stabs x2- Deal 350 Dmg back to backThrown Stones x3- Deal 100 Dmg eachScathing Insults- Deals 20 Dmg and Taunts, forcing you to attack this enemy in retaliationCalculated Strike- Deals 550 Dmg after preparing for one roundAbilities (You may use every ability)>Withstand- Reduces three attacks in a row by 50% (One Use)>Armor- Reduces an attack by -10 Dmg (Three Uses)>Parry- Negates One Attack (One Use)>Endurance- Heals 40 HP per round as long as you don't attack, three rounds in a row (One Use)>Combat Rage- After attacking, reduces the damage of the next attack you take by 15% (Passive)What is your battle plan?
Quick correction: You get to pick the order of the incoming attacks but you must suffer all the attacks.
Uhh, I don't know. Slopmachine, tell me what makes the least damage or something.
>>6469211>Endurance - Thrown Stone x1Start with the least of their direct damage and sets us up to heal this damage in the subsequent rounds. We also want to use this before we attack ourselves in any form.>Withstand - Stabs x 2, Crushing Fist x1The stabs come in back to back and are the second highest direct damage, so here we cut their effectiveness in half then reduce a fist as well.>Parry - Calculated StrikeThe biggest single damage spike needs to get our Parry to be entirely negated.>Combat Rage - TauntSince we have to attack the taunter, best to take this minimal damage and use it to set our defences slightly stronger for the next incoming attack.>Armour - Crushing Fist x1>Combat Rage - Thrown Stone x1>Armour - Crushing Fist x1>Combat Rage - Thrown Stone x1>Armour - Crushing Fist x1Take the remaining three fists on the turns where we're raging and armoured. This does however mean that we simply have to accept the stones.>Combat Rage - CurseWe take this attack last, so that the turn stacking damage won't stack up.
>>6469314Isn't combat rage like.. a passive?
>>6469314I assumed that was because it's the only move that doesn't have a number limitation, and because the damage reduction is an additional effect to the next attack you face rather then the current one you're facing now (the current one you're facing now gets the attack portion, but that isn't relevant to our damage control).
>>6469314uhh fuck it giving my +1 to this so we don't have literally one vote
>>6469205I sense a thematically meaningful metaphor.>>6469339If it is, then I guess it just activates right after Parry, maybe? That's our only listed ability which is an attack.>>6469211>>6469219So is our Combat Rage already active from the first attack prior to the vote? If so...>Scathing Insults to set up another attack, resetting Combat Rage17 damage, we spend our turn attacking because we have to due to the taunt.>Stones x 3Rage mitigates first one to 85, 200 from the other rocks.>Activate Endurance, Parry vs Calculated StrikeNo damage this turn, heals 40, removes single strongest attack.>Activate Withstand, vs Stab x2350 damage after mitigation, heal 40 from Endurance.>Activate Armor vs Crushing FistsFirst punch is reduced by 50% and 10 from Armor to 90, next two are reduced to 190, last one is full 200. We heal 40 more from Endurance.>We attack, tank the Curse, and gain Rage again after taking 15 damageThis all assumes that each grouped attack comes all at once and we can't respond in between like Fury Swipes in Pokemon, and that each impact is treated as a separate attack for damage absorption. I think it means we take 1217 damage?
Of course... your game plan is to minimize the amount of damage you take. Thinking quickly, you make sure to parry the largest damaging attack, while allowing yourself to be taunted and attacking into a weaker foe. Using percentage defenses against the largest hits, and flat defensive moves against the weakest ones, for proportional higher damage reduction. You even allow moves that land bad status effects to hit you; the curse won't matter if you play this right. You attack nearby foes to lower their health but don't focus fire to defeat them, keeping them alive even though they can still attack you. This is a high risk strategy that nobody would employ; but you know exactly what you're doing! As the enemies lower your health lower and lower, you wait until you're right at the cusp of being defeated, less then 1% Hit-Points...”GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”Then you unleash your BATTLE BELLOW!, an ability of the Vetucker Hill Lord class. It deals weak damage, but scales in power the lower your health goes, and as such your powerful roar blasts away and defeats the last of your nearby foes all at once. You're managed to maximize your hit points and damage in such a way you defeated this pack of mobs! You wait a moment to revive notification that your teammates have begun healing you back up, but seeing your HP remains at such a low level, you turn your head over to see what the rest of them are doing.TEAMMATE DOWN!”Are you fucking JOKING me right now?!”You look back to see Coolia defeated. She isn't actually hurt, of course, but she is laying on the ground to play the part. She's a Tidehunter Swallian, even brought fake fins to your game sessions. You don't expect her to survive too long as a pure damage dealer. But Okuga isn't using any of his Jaxtian Volcano Priest abilities; no Lava Shield or Magma Discharge. Are they all on cooldown or something?TEAMMATE DOWN!
Finally, Ribbonfin looks to you with a shrug. His Priest of the One God, another Vetucker class, grants him some defense but ultimately at this high difficulty level and his class having no offensive options, he can't do much either as he's downed too. The last group of enemies run towards you with unnatural speed and bloodlust. You don't even try to fight back.TEAMMATE DOWN!YOU'RE DOWN!GAME OVERThe simulation clicks off, revealing the hologram chamber you've been playing in for the past several hours. The lighting is dim at first to let your eyes adjust, before you stomp over to them.”What... Where were you? All of you!? What were you all doing!?””Your Majesty...” Okuga begins, seemingly out of breath from his hyper-realistic beating, or maybe it's just the fake Jaxtian muzzle he put over his own for his costume. ”We were overwhelmed. The game is just set too high of a difficulty level, it's not like there is a limit...””I handled that whole pack by myself! What are the rest of you even doing?! We were so close to beating it, come on!””My Lord, we've already beat four times harder difficulties then the next highest team. I think that's enough of this game...””No! How could we lose that... Hold on- Threes, show the stats.”
”What the...”You look over the stats screen. Not only are you on top of your whole team's performance, but your damage is almost as high as Coolia's and Okuga, both of who are damage-focused classes.”Look! Look at my stats! Look at that damage prevented! And you still wiped! I did almost as much damage as you did! As a tank! And where was my healing!? Unbelievable!””You can't just point to the amount of attacks you took and amount of damage you absorbed. That's not your role.””Oh?” You look towards the screen slowly just to double check the figures, then back to him. You take a moment of silence to note his lack of speaking to you without your noble title. ”Not my role? The tank's role isn't to absorb damage and aggro, huh?””I mean...””I think you were slacking off and not taking this seriously. How else can you explain this stat disparity?””Well... your Lordship... Erhm...”>Tell him to get ready to run the simulation again so we can do it right this time>Hear him out>Order the computer to count that as a successful run; you won't stand these idiots taking it from you
>>6469618NERRRRRRRRRD
>>6469618>Order the computer to count that as a successful run; you won't stand these idiots taking it from you
>>6469618>Hear him outForgot to vote, maybe someone will tell him thar he shouldn't be spending all his time larping.
>>6469618>Tell him to get ready to run the simulation again so we can do it right this time
>>6469618>Hear him outThis better be good.
>>6469618>Hear him outGuy needs to listen to advice
>>6469618>Hear him outIf his answer is stupid, he’ll be running solo simulations till he collapses from exhaustion
>>6469618I love this guy lmao>Hear him outTHREEMIND, PREPARE THE WHIPS
You're still angry with the Vetucker for underperforming and contributing to your failure to beat this, admittedly, very high level encounter in your new favorite game. You've been trying for weeks with your Overseers to get the highest scores, but instead of blaming him or cheating, you take a deep breath and hear him out.”Alright then, Okuga. Please enlighten me. How did I fail tanking for us? I thought my stats were more then sufficient, and I was playing optimally, but maybe I am mistaken.””Well as I, uhh, said, my Lord. I'm not saying you did anything wrong-””Oh spare me. If I made a mistake, I want to know it. You've always been the tactical combat expert. Just spit it out!””Well... The engagement you made with the bulk of the enemy force? The damage you prevented and the amount of enemy attention you held? That was all great, but it wasn't being put to useful work. It's the same thing as on a Jute mound. If you can stand there and take all the enemy's pushing as you can, that's good, but eventually they can push you out of the ring no matter how much you can endure it. When you were fighting with the majority of the enemies, the rest of them came up behind us and overwhelmed us. We had to use all of our efforts just to survive, not able to really play as efficiently as you. If you played back with the team, we would be able to work much better as a unit.””Hmm...”He makes a good point. The new perspective, which you hadn't considered before, does show that your high stats and good performance was deceiving. You've always had more of a data-focused mindset, but this is a new vector you hadn't considered.”...So just having good efficiency and metrics isn't enough, I see. It's not just about dealing and taking damage.””Right. That's the tricky thing about that role. It's not about just surviving against all the enemies, it's about making room for your allies to shine. In other words, it's about taking space.””Interesting... Interesting. Thank you Okuga.”
”...Speaking of which, your Majesty, it is getting quite late. I'd like to retire and work on some of the more pressing military concerns. New weapon and armor designs, for the next time we have to fight the Esaal's forces.”Suddenly, another voice speaks up. ”And I need to get back to working on the Fusion Core Mark 3. It's more important then a silly game.” Ribbonfin, the science Overseer says.Coolia shrugs. “Oh! We've made great strides in our Cultural experiments mixing Jaxtian & Vetucker parenting styles. I'd like to get back to that... with your Majesty's permission, of course.”You wave your hand, dismissing your Overseers. Unfortunately, you weren't able to beat this high difficulty level of your new favorite game, but with their urging you suppose it'd be best to get back to work. You keep thinking about the failed level over the next few days, but then you basically forget all about it and are ready to move on to new things.
It is the Year 209 of the Resurrection Era. You have spent the last year or so of your life settling into your role as the Supreme of the entire Hegemony; a lofty position indeed. As a Blonde Jaxtian, you are bit of an outsider to the normal highest echelons of power within the Hegemony. Though you suppose with the two other fully incorporated races of Vetuckers and Swall within the Hegemonic hierarchy in modern times, your outside status has been a bit minimized. Blondes are both given and expected a bit more quirkiness and flair in their ruling and fashion, as your “authentic” culture is all that remains of the great cultural unification of the Jaxtian people. But the real reason why you were chosen as the Supreme Ruler by your predecessor, the terminally ill Halam Anak, was because you were the one he trusted to defeat the Esaal once and for all.Previous Thread- https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2026/6374043/...Of course, you haven't actually figured out how to do that yet.In the meantime, the Threemind, the collective intelligence of your entire empire computer & surveillance system and your most trusted advisor, has been helping you adjust by easing you into the role and clearing room in your itinerary.”I'm surprised you haven't criticized me for focusing on trying to beat all the records for the fantasy game. I hope work hasn't piled up over the past few weeks”“Of course not, your Majesty. You are the Supreme, you may do as you please. And if I may, you spending time and building a relationship with your Overseers may yet be fruitful in the future.””Hmph. Well, what can I work on today?”“Rebuilding the destroyed Battleship from the Esaal's attack has gone significantly faster and under-budget then expected due to our new fabricator and recycling technology, leaving a small surplus. What would you like to spend it on?”>Experiment with some unconventional weapons for space warfare>Upgrade our general drones and robotics technology>Make large public works on Skik IV to impress the foreigners who stay at your “port city” planet>Give it to the Accord, our small protectorate state, to improve our relations>Invest in the newly created Starsight Academy, out of respect for Halam and his great interest in it>Send out an exploratory craft towards the galactic rim for possible future colonies>Other (Write-In)
>>6470045I swear, there was something we wanted to do which wasn't included in these options. I know there was something...
>>6470045>Invest in the newly created Starsight Academy, out of respect for Halam and his great interest in itI like this stuff
>>6470053Did it have to do with those... Algae robots? Bacteria? I can't remember their exact deal.
>>6470053If I forgot something it might come up later but feel free to mention it as a write-in; I may or may not accept it though since some upgrades require certain special resources or other choices to "unlock".
>>6470056No, it was something else. Something minor. I just can't remember what.
>>6470058Just check the archive anon.
>>6470045>Send out an exploratory craft towards the galactic rim for possible future coloniesHopefully we can take them ourselves; but at the very least we need to know if the Esaal have been moving in - we don't want to be surprised by an unknown second front when the War kicks off.
>>6470214I tried, but I just couldn't find nuthing.So I guess I'll just go for whatever seems interesting.>>6470045>Invest in the newly created Starsight Academy, out of respect for Halam and his great interest in it'cause uhh Starsight's cool.
>>6470045To take space, huh? The question is whether it's better to take space in the literal sense of looking into distant expansion options, or to take space in the civilizational conversation closer to home. Since we already have a Garastra kirking around distant systems, let's>Make large public works on Skik IV to impress the foreigners who stay at your “port city” planet
>>6470045>Invest in the newly created Starsight Academy, out of respect for Halam and his great interest in it
>>6470045>Invest in the newly created Starsight Academy, out of respect for Halam and his great interest in itout of respect is enough and upholding a legacy built upon the shoulders of supremes.hmmm i am interested in looking at stuff like our living thinking crystals
>>6470045>Invest in the newly created Starsight Academy, out of respect for Halam and his great interest in it.More than respect, Starsight is going to be the Hegemony's next big advantage. Aside from the Worms and maybe the Seekers, we have the most advanced understanding of it in the local stellar neighbourhood.
>>6470045>Invest in the newly created Starsight Academy, out of respect for Halam and his great interest in itKnowing Bananas this is probably a bad choice. But I don't care! I want monke Jedi!
>>6470538>Knowing Bananas this is probably a bad choice. My guess, knowing the usual bananisms? If we continue to let them grow without getting curtailed (or, I suppose that point might have already passed) they're going to eventually turn into a full on real faith that takes over the hegemony and makes akule's ashes turn into a tornado from how much he'd be spinning from beyond his grave.
>>6470541Honestly, good.
You decide to invest some of the surplus into the Starsight Academy. While already a massive research project in and of itself, and already heavily invested in, a little extra wouldn't hurt. Their facilities can expand, gifts for high achievement, and increased social presence. The general public, who view the Academy and Starseers as a whole as a source of mystic wisdom and the future of space travel and "philosophy" over the materialistic-science process, will be impressed by just a little bit more adornment and prestige. It's quite a change. Even in your father's and grandfather's time, the Starseers were looked on as pseudoscientific, or disliked due to the Hegemony's inherit anti-religious predilection. Now? They are becoming very highly respected and venerated for being on the cutting edge of thought and understanding our place in the cosmos.Unfortunately, you have a new concern. Because you chose not to choose an immediate Health Overseer, the responsibilities of the office fall to you, at least until the prehistoric Swall hatchling can be trained and fit for the office. You will have to spend some of your valuable time dealing with this.All of the Hegemony's citizens, but Jaxtians especially, highly value longevity. Longevity and health are seen as among the highest virtues, directly contesting entropy and decay of the physical form. While softened softened by your "prophecy" that Halam will return one day, the sudden death of the young Supreme Ruler has caused a lot more health related paranoia and concern. While directly lengthening lifespan is still beyond your level of genetic engineering, some sort of progress in this area would greatly help along the concerns of the average citizen.The only problem? There's no easy way to do that. At least, not without the life machine...>Let's get rid of Cancer (expensive)>Vow to come back to this in the future, when your reign and technology has matured (Vow, double choices next time WHEN YOU CHOOSE)>Make customized health plans and protocols for all species on all planets and ecosystems (Slow)>Ignore this issue, you have more important concerns (Unpopular)>Improve your end of life care with more pleasurable euthanasia>Shop around your galactic neighbors for some longevity treatments or resources>Take a chance on an untested gene and aging theory from a random researcher (Chance to succeed or cause more problems)No Write-Ins are allowed for this post
>>6470659Okay, question1. Do you mean like brain and ass cancer, or the GPC which causes all Jaxtians to fucking crumble and die when they get old? 2. By "when you choose" do you mean when we get the super swall?
>>6470659>>Let's get rid of Cancer (expensive)Worth it
Also considering it has been literal years here's a quick refresher.Some choices in this quest have "status effects" or slight mechanical consequences that are built in. These are:>UnpopularThe Superme's word is law, but that doesn't mean people always like it. You can safely take one of these per reign and the citizens will simply grit their teeth and bear it, but taken twice in one reign shows a pattern of not having their interests in mind and causing civic depression and small amounts of unrest, but no full blown rebellion given the cultural power of the UNSPEAKABLE>ExpensiveCost a bunch of money and resources. Similar to Unpopular, you can take one safely per reign, and your economy can handle it. However, this is contingent on your current money situation and is often the "best" choice during emergencies. If you take an expensive choice at a bad time it can lead to having to make a bad choice to balance the budget.>VowsEach Supreme Ruler can make one unshakable VOW which lets you make an extra choice during a prompt, essentially letting you do two things at once or double action. You receive the extra choice upon making the promise, and the people will follow you with great energy. But if you fail to uphold your promise by the end of your reign, this Supreme Ruler's legacy will end in disgrace and will lower the prestige of the office in general. This VOW choice is special as you'll get to choose when you want to use it.>SlowNew(?) Status; essentially just takes a few extra years to finish the task and advances the "timer". Because Supreme Rulers only live to be ~100 and most start their reign at 20 or so years old, you have a limited time with each main "playable character". Even if you don't like the current Supreme, wasting time is never a good thing since you never know how much you have left.
>>6470663Cancer in this case is related to regular Cancer, which is one of the few semi-serious health concerns of regular Jaxtians have. Because of eugenics and really good bio-tech, they have few health concerns but they do live a long time AND are exposed to a lot of radiation living in space and stuff, so cancer is more common among them then any other major health concern since the rest have been bred out or you can just like grow new organs as needed.Second Question: Answered above but no, it's when you want. You'll just relate it to the longevity research, but you need to actually deliver a real, tangible increase to your citizens ~100 year average lifespan.
>>6470670Huh...well, you'd think that trying to gure GPCS would be the main goal of any such thing given it makes all Jaxtians have to commit suicide or die horribly and painfully.I presume that the super swall might be one of the few people who could do it, so it seems a bit weird to work on cancer when every single jaxtian ever has SUPERMEGADISINTEGRATION DEATH DISEASEAnyway...I'm gonna save the expensive because we chose the guy that wants to beat the Esaal through economic power and I get the feeling that's gonna require an expensive option. Cancer gets to live...for now.>>6470659>Make customized health plans and protocols for all species on all planets and ecosystems (Slow)It's slow, sure, but we really really should have this anyways? Given how obsessed we are with health.
I think if we develop a cure for cancer - even if it's very costly to do so - the scientific breakthroughs underpinning that treatment will themselves be instrumental in longevity as a project. In effect we could be investing in both, but getting tangible results in the short term curing cancer, and getting us closer to our long term goal by learning a lot about cellular health along the way.
>>6470674>Huh...well, you'd think that trying to gure GPCS would be the main goal of any such thing given it makes all Jaxtians have to commit suicide or die horribly and painfully.The point of the choice is that you don't actually have any method to fix the actual problem and you're just running damage control to make your citizens feel better. At least not yet. This is a Quest about running a government after all, even if alien and layered in philosophy.
>>6470676As much as I want to sign the fuck cancer bill, I feel like this is a reign that will have a lot of expensive options.
>>6470659>Vow to come back to this in the future, when your reign and technology has mature (and we can delegate this to a specialist)
>>6470659>Make customized health plans and protocols for all species on all planets and ecosystems (Slow)Spreadsheet choice for the spreadsheet monke.
>>6470659>>Make customized health plans and protocols for all species on all planets and ecosystems (Slow)If a thing is Slow to do, best to start it as soon as possible,
>>6470659>Make customized health plans and protocols for all species on all planets and ecosystems (Slow)There is no rush with this. Steady health progress is good
Going to skip today and update Friday instead, since it seems like we have a vote already with a big majority the customized health plan is certainly going to win with the smaller number of voters these newer threads have.In the meantime I'll ask: How do you feel about the samefag protections rule? I used to add it in each time that some prompts may not allow 1-Post IDs but as people care less and less it feels less necessary. Obviously if someone spams a bunch of votes for a contentious prompt then it makes sense to ignore them but overall I'm wondering if it really matters. Do you have an opinion on this?
>>6471079Well, I do get it, and maybe it helps somewhat though it's not really stopping any determined samefag
>>6470659>Make customized health plans and protocols for all species on all planets and ecosystems (Slow)>>6471079I think it makes sense to weight 1 post IDs lower in some way or another.
>>6471148>I think it makes sense to weight 1 post IDs lower in some way or another.Yeah that's mostly what I've been doing, just kinda counting them all as "one" vote so the most popular 1-post choice shows some kind of popularity with the pick. Though I only really consider it during contentious choices like the Supreme Ruler succession choices or what have you
>>6470659>>Make customized health plans and protocols for all species on all planets and ecosystems (Slow)We'll probably have to build another battleship after the Essal explode ours a second time.
”Our average lifespan is always becoming slightly longer and more optimized as technology and space exploration is expanded. Show me the data, Threes.”“In the past twenty years, average Jaxtian lifespan has increased by three days and four hours, Swall lifespans by one day, and Vetucker lifespans by four months. Migrators are expected to have longer lifespans as well, but due to their very slow lifecycle more data is needed for accurate statistics.””Wow! That's pretty good progress.”“...The general public does not consider this meaningful improvement or progress, your Majesty. Especially when in the past longevity was directly enhanced with genetic engineering. These are only marginal improvements.””Sigh... I guess I have to do this myself.”Without an Overseer to handle the grunt work, you'll have to step in. While the Hegemony is already pretty good about its colonization efforts and homogenization of health and safety, certain standards are kept across similar planets and colonies. Different equipment loads and uniform standards for high gravity worlds to reduce impact on joints, caustic atmospheres are countered with stronger ventilation systems, more shelters and readiness for worlds rife with dangerous weather or hostile lifeforms. These are all handled by the AI system and its parameters. But now, you decide to go in with a fine grooming comb and really get in there. Picking the pith from the fruits, as it were.It consumes a lot of your time. And you have to admit, you get a little absorbed in the activity. Traveling to each world within the Hegemony, asking locals and examining the data, creating new protocols and specialized diet considerations for each individual Hegemonic species. While entire planets were easy enough to average, going as far as making custom plans and safety equipment for every single biome on every planet was yet to be explored territory. One after another, you optimize the Hegemony's colonization efforts and end up with a meaningful impact, shoving the pre-euthanasia early death and especially injury and discomfort back. The vast majority of Jaxtians don't die before their time is up, and you've shrunk the number who do to an even smaller amount. Due to improved health, you've even managed to push back the Protein-Collapse for a large portion of the population by a small amount, and there is a measured improvement in citizen happiness.Year 217 of the Resurrection EraPhew. You come out of this fugue with a sudden realization. Despite it being important and useful, you really haven't done anything about the main goal of your entire reign!
It's the Esaal, of course.After their betrayal at the cold-ocean planet, and the slaughter of millions of Migrators and Swall, they have become your most hated enemy in space. One of the reasons you were chosen by Halam was because of your plan to defeat them, not like Okuga or Jinn, whose plans revolved around direct conflict or superiority doctrine. In your case, you know there was some small detail everyone had missed. He chose you for your analytical mind. While you're sure there were other reasons he picked you, you can't forget what you promised. You must defeat the Esaal.On a screen you graph the Esaal's total economic output. Unlike the Consortium, which is capitalist, the Esaal operates under a similar centralized economy to your own. However, it lacks the strong scientific and citizen-need driven economic engine yours has, since it is more based on the constant expansion, replenishment, and maintenance of its military. But even in this violence driven culture, the money, its driving force, has to come from somewhere. The most maddening part? You can't seem to find the actual driver. All economies have a driver. In the Consortium, its private equity investment. For the Aristocrats, its luxuries and art. In the Accord, its colony maintenance and environmental clean-up. For you, the will of the Supreme. But what about them, the red-faced lump headed fucks?
“We've examined it every way... Show me the graph of the Esaal's economy compared to military victories? Maybe birthrates? How about opinion among foreign states; especially the Consortium?”Threemind obeys, the graph showing a small correlation, but no direct link. You shake your head. None of these factors are exactly correct. Long before you ascended to become Supreme, you knew that the only way to defeat the Esaal was on a datasheet, somewhere in their economy or society. Their supply lines and infrastructure. Every time you directly fought them, it ended in a draw or a loss. But an army, no matter how powerful, can't survive without its logistics. The trouble is, despite its many sources and the vast amount of information your spy and drone network has managed to gather, you still can't find the exact main link or correlating part of the Esaal that fuel their war machine. There must be something you're missing. But what?>Send a legion of biobot spies into the Esaal to infiltrate it as best you can (Expensive, reveals Biobots to all nearby factions)>Message the Accord and order them to engage in some skirmishes with the Esaal, so you can study them from afar and get a new perspective (Lowers Accord relations)>Work on preparing your military ships for a future encounter with them, instead of doing this silly analysis of their finances>Another piece of data you haven't considered? (Write-In)
>>6471427The presence of the write-in makes me think there's something.But it can't be as simple as the Womenfolk, can it? They are the ones who control their economy after all. I don't know if they're a valid answer because Nare doesn't mention them *at all*, but like, I don't know if the update is explicitly overlooking them, or if Nare just didn't call them by name but already considered them as a factor?It's just not clear in the update.
>>6471430Nare not mentioning them at all could be the clue that they're the missing part of the Esaal picture, i guess?>>6471427>The WormsThere's also the Worms. We know that the Worms are somehow integrated into Esaal logistics, as they rely on them for Starsight and keep them on stations and beacons throughout their space. Given that we know that the Worms are present throughout the Consortium and the Esaal...Perhaps we need to consider that neither the Consortium nor the Esaal are truly independent? They have the outward appearance of being independent states, but in reality they're both puppets on the fingers of the worms, being wriggled where the worms please to suit the worm's purposes. If they worms want military support for the Consortium, they can arrange the Esaal to send battleship schematics. If the worms want logistics support for the Esaal, they can arrange for the Consortium to send food and material. If they think that a species or area can be subdued through commerce and diplomacy they use the consortium; and if they think it'll take military power and thousands dead they unleash the Esaal. But both, and possibly more, have really just made themselves into tools that the Worms use to control the Galaxy, the shifting of borders and the rise and fall of stellar empires.
>>6471559>Nare not mentioning them at all could be the clue that they're the missing part of the Esaal picture, i guess?Sure but the issue with that is that it'd be kinda dumb if I put them as a write-in just to be told>actually I was already considering them. I just didn't mention them by name. Guess we'll do literally nothing about it since you wasted the option.
>>6471559>>6471430Both of these are true. The women run all the non-war functions and the Aanel are probably how they confound supply chain logic. But the Supremes already knew both those things, didn't they?
>>6471580Well that's what I'm saaaying, anon. It's not very clear whether the women (and the aanel) are already part of the calculations.
>>6471559>Perhaps we need to consider that neither the Consortium nor the Esaal are truly independent?Do not want to influence the vote once again, but all of the major factions in your area of space rely on the Worms for Starsight navigation. So all of them have a "worm embassy" or they hold important positions as navigators, but are still politically independent. Essentially they act kinda like a protection racket for space navigation and you don't give them status and an ear to the leadership of your space empire then they black mail you from FTL communications. (unless if you have your own Starsight which only a few species do)
>>6471562Do you think Bananas would do that instead of just asking you to cast a different vote?
>>6471427>It's the females!We'll ruin them with gendercide, or feminism, or that gesture Korean men hate, something!>>6471587Hopefully not.
>>6471427>FemalesIf it was a Bananas oversight he should tell us OOC. Otherwise this seems like the obvious answer.
>>6471427Alright, well, if Bananas hasn't said it's a moot vote..>Another piece of data you haven't considered? (The Women)
>>6471427>>Another piece of data you haven't considered? (Write-In)>Foids
>>6471794Supporting this Pretty sure in a past thread one of their women spoke to us and admitted that they perform all of the economic functions to keep their men busy and away from home Here are some relevant parts: >you receive a message from the Esaal, specifically, the womanfolk in support of the military. You recognize her as the highest ranking woman of the Esaal's entire species; a rear admiral in charge of supply lines>In our culture, the menfolk believe any task that is not related to killing and conquest is weak and effeminate.Given their love of conflict, they also likely have client states / slaves to help them produce resources. As we know that our AI tech is superior
They also have or had a slave underclass that they went to war with for fun, Sparta style. It's likely not a big component of their logistics though. And the women likely aren't the missing link in logistics, since we're looking for physical logistics rather than the administrative side of the logistics (although both are targetable. Something to corrupt their cloning process would likely cause major social disruption and possible population collapse). The worms are definitely technically capable of doing this. It's just a question of how much effort they are willing to expend. Therefore:>>6471427>Worm related logistics. If the worms can teleport themselves, they can teleport supplies. In their stomachs if need be. This can be relatively quickly assessed by monitoring how many crew are on a ship, how much they eat, and if that amount of food is being shipped out or not. If the baseline materials aren't being hardshipped out. Smaller, critical components are possibly a better indicator than food, but also harder to track. As a side benefit (to our foe) worm based logistics is more secure and secretive. They could have special tech that gets picked up in secret laboratories, and worm deployed where it's needed. It might even be worm operated, which would make biobot and mind-scan useless since the grunts wouldn't know anything and the worms can likely perceive our spys with starsight.
>>6472051> And the women likely aren't the missing link in logistics, since we're looking for physical logistics rather than the administrative side of the logisticsIsn't it the literal opposite? He's talking about the DRIVE. He mentions private equity investment, luxiries and art, the will of the supreme...he's tlaking about the DRIVING FORCE of the economy, and for the Esaal that's the women, no?
”What's their secret...”You think about it long and hard. You know of the basic Esaal social structure; the segregation between the more aggressive men and the women & children who run the logistical and commercial back-end. But that's not the purpose of their society. The purpose of their society is to wage war, right? That should be the primary driver of their society. Their entire stratocracy is based around the concept of endless war and expansion. But then again...”Threemind, show me the extant of Esaal expansion. Compare to if they had been underneath Hegemonic expansion policy-”“They would have already conquered the majority of our stellar neighborhood, your Majesty.””How curious...”Despite their great strength and glorification of their bronze-age-mindset, the Esaal haven't exactly lived up to that promise either. Judging from historical data, they go to war when they have the advantage or not. Just as many of their campaigns fail as they do succeed, and they extract minimal wealth from client states, though they do successful keep their client states under control.”Threes... Could it be the women?”“We've already examined the birth rates, your Majesty.””Well that's part of it, but women do more then that. Pull all available data on the “inner empire” of Esaal females. Combine the following factors; intensity of their rivalries. Cultural output. Luxury imports or trade. Romance. Development, done by females. All of that. Call it “female activity”. Chart against the Esaal's economic output.”The Esaal are a very belligerent species. They are constantly fighting other races, always a big threat, but never enough to actually attack someone their own size. It's almost like they're a distraction.
The graph appears on the screen, and it follows the peaks and valleys exactly. It's a perfect match.You knew the Esaal womenfolk were more important then they let on. Yes, they are the main supplier for the Esaal's all-male military, but more then that, they are also the driver of what it actually values. The male Esaal will go to war with overwhelming support or with almost none. They'll fight when they're likely to win, or likely to lose. They'll even team up or work with other empires, but only at the behest of their female side performing the real strategy behind the scenes, even though they constantly get tricked by them. This kind of strategy seems insane and like a losing position if they're intended to dominate all of known space, but that's not their purpose.The economic output of any automated, space-fairing civilization with AI technology is so vast and exponential that a few warships and munitions factories are well within the budget of such a vast empire. The Consortium wastes their excess in capitalist inefficiency, the Aristocrats in the production of art, and even your nation does, though yours is reinvested in science and betterment of the common person. It doesn't take much to outfit and feed billions of soldiers who are willing to live in flying metal tubes and throw their lives away for nothing. Because they aren't trying to really win, even if they think they are. They are trying to be so troublesome, so dangerous, so constantly a threat and projection of force that they create a barrier. It doesn't matter how many Esaal men die if the women can just birth them all back in a single generation. In other words, they real purpose of the Esaal military? It is just to make space.”I got you.”>Quest continues tomorrow
>>6472216It make sense. I mean, these guys had battleships - not one, but whole fleets of them - all the way before even Eoba II. And yet they never invaded us. All their conflicts were just randomly committing warcrimes on worlds and then fucking off.It's kinda stupid in comparison with how easy they could have conquered us back then, but if the Jingoism is more of a paper tiger meant to protect an "inner" state that's actually normal, that explains it a little.
>>6472216Well damn, it was the women. But it goes deeper than we thought. Women aren't just secretly in charge of their society, they are the only "real" society with the male Esaal just being a soldier caste with pretty much no free will or ambition. fascinating.
>>6472216Looks like they pulled a Predator before they made it lame. The men were limited to warfare and hunting for trophies to 'prove' themselves worthy to the females who actually ran and operated society. They were limited to being hunters and warriors ultimately disposable and having to 'prove' themselves worthy via trophies(tributes) 'gifted' to the females. Only the most worthy males had the right to mate. Strictly Matriarchal, but ONLY if you look underneath the hood. From an outside perspective, they have a brutish, tribalistic overly primitive mindset.Luckily Esaal females are much weaker than Predator females, who can easily accidentally kill their mates during coitus. Seems like they are definitely far more intelligent and wiser, however. The females are the brains and the males are the brawn.
>>6472237>the male Esaal just being a soldier caste with pretty much no free will or ambition.I wouldn't go so far as to say that. They've certainly shown a lot of will. It's more like they've got the brain of a tribal warrior to whom "war" is going over a few villages, killing a bunch of people, kidnapping women, and then going back.
I am working on the update but it is taking much longer then I anticipated, my apologies.
>>6472556It happens. Looking forward to it!
You are now Jinn Garastra. Aboard your personal ship, your computer gently wakes you from cyrosleep. While only a few days of hyperspace between 5Sara's station and the Kuwongit world, a stay in a cyropod wasn't really necessary, but you believe optimizing your lifespan during your physical prime is for the best.Your ship, officially the HV-SEC1, but what you call the Razor, is like a Hegemonic colonial apartment in space. It has all the amenities, including two fabricators, cyropods, and airlocks for redundancy. It also has a science lab, a communications array, and a spacious living area with several luxuries to bring you all the comforts of home... as best it can anyway. The entire ship is also run by a branch of the mighty Threemind, the hyperintelligent AI in charge of the Hegemony. Though yours obviously lacks the full strength of the network, your own fusion powered AI core provides the necessary companionship and help running things... and keeps an eye on you for the Hegemony, you are sure. You are a free man, as free as any Jaxtian can be, and yet you are still investigating and gathering information about the culture the previous Supreme had a fascination with, in a region of space just far enough to be out of reach but relevant in their proximity to the Aristocrats, Accord, and the ever-expanding Machine Collective. Quite the coincidence this is exactly where you found some opportunity...
The Kuwongit are a race of centauric aliens with nomadic, clan-based governments. Unlike most other powers in known space, they do not have a strong central government or monopoly on power, instead spreading out over a vast area of constantly shifting borders and partial ownership. They primarily stretch across the territory on the other side of the Aristocrats from the Hegemony, and here on the border between two strong clans, is a solar system with not much of note besides one strange habitable planet. Simply known as the Red World, it is a rarity to find a habitable planet not jealously guarded by one stellar authority for its own use and colonization. Home to colonists of both the “Soup Makers” and “Worm Tamers” clans; there are also colonists of all different races of the Galactic Underground. Here, skills as a diplomat and interpreter are in high demand, and this is where you are headed next.You touch down and park your ship in the “Soup Maker's” fortified walled city, the space port being central and almost as well protected as the Harem in the center of the city. As you walk the streets and make your preparations for your journey, you notice the male Kuwongit and their children, who they carry in little pouches, but also notice the complete lack of women. Locked up safe and sound. You aren't exactly sure how Kuwongit breeding works, but you know something about the men being infertile without some kind of “gift” being given to them, and as such most of them are raising children that are not their own. They don't seem to mind though, perhaps it's a Leeray situation? Or are they more matriarchal?Banishing the desire for easy and direct comparison in such an alien place, you reach the edge of the city and come across a shanty camp of Kuwongit belonging to the rival clan, the Worm Tamers. They aren't allowed inside the city, but there is still some trade. Seems relations are friendly between these tribes. You hear grunting and groaning from within a tent, and take a peak inside. Inside, you see a Kuwongit man with a severed stump where one of his legs once was. A jar is opened, and a parasitic worm you believe they call “Kuwa” is put into the opened wound. He writhes in pain as the worm digs into his flesh, but you see a sudden change as the once dead stump bleeds fresh blood, slowly, his cells are regenerating!
The worm is then extracted, and the old warrior is told to return for the next few days to continue the treatment. You look towards the jar, and you can almost swear you see the worms looking at you, as though they see you as a curious, fresh piece of meat to dig around in. Aren't those the same worms the Aristocrats used as bioweapons that turn people into worm-infested zombies? But the Kuwongit use them for healing instead. How fascinating...Traveling with a group of the Soup-Makers from the city, you make your way across the landscape of the Red World. Far away, you examine the great “flower islands” unique to this planets biosphere. Entire chunks of the earth held up in the air, a ecological epoch behind kept separate and safe from the fast growing pink grass which have become core to many Kuwgon craft industries. Then, you are spoken to.In the tongue of the Soup-Makers, which you find strange how much different it is to the other Kuwongit languages, the leader of your little band asks you about the Hegemony. It takes your translator a second to keep up.”So, oh adventurous Jinn, how did you feel living at home, in the Hegemony? Compared to here?””Oh well, it's where I am from. I suppose it is normal to me. In the same way this place is normal to you?””But what is it like? I have heard many tales. Where women do not don veils when they walk the streets, and you let your little ones walk-””Climb.””-Climb out of their pouches. And instead of listening to the elders of the clans with the most experience, you listen to the Supreme Ruler... who could be younger then everyone? How curious!””When you put it that way it sounds strange. But it is my home.””Tell me more!”With nothing much else on the horizon for your long trek with the meeting with a Worm-Tamer clan leader, you look to the red-pink sky and consider it. This may be the first time many Kuwongit have ever heard about the Hegemony. What should you tell him?>They would make powerful allies to your clan>About the rich culture and history of your peoples>Great scientific wonders and an advanced society>You should stay away.>Other (Write-In)
>>6472854>About the rich culture and history of your peoplesThis seems like the most Jinn option.
>>6472854>Great scientific wonders and an advanced societyWe're iced tf up big dawg
>Current Culture, but not History.Culture seems to be what he cares about, but we don't need to talk about the old times or the genocides. Just the current multi-cultural society, the unity of the people as one great tribe, and the great struggle to overcome entropy.
>>6472854>>About the rich culture and history of your peoples
>>6472854>About the rich culture and history of your peoples
>>6472854>Current Rich Culture, but not History. As its what he is asking aboutHmmm the worms seems like a long ploy by aristokratic aliens spreading the worm for generations until all are infected letting them think it tamed, or its rouge creations. Its the logical thing to do
>>6472854>Current Rich Culture, but not History.>>6473348Or this is the original state of the worms, and the Aristocrats genetically engineered them into weapons, but yours is more cynical so it's probably right.
>>6472854>Current Culture, but not History.We're the endpoint of history, friendly space-centaur!
>>6473447The past is the past do not feet for every stone walked upon as it cannot be changed so walk the path of now and foreverhttps://youtu.be/6W_fzCW0L84?
Given how much different society, technology, environment, and everything else is different; you decide to share with him about your culture instead. You might whitewash the genocides a bit, but you give an otherwise fairly accurate report, and especially about your noble culture and highborn dueling traditions, which is something the Kuwongit can easily relate to.“Your dueling knife, can I see it?”You take it from your waist and hand it to him, holding it by the blade. As he takes the handle, he makes a small clicking hiss from his mandible, and you let it go. He examines it, feeling the edge's sharpness. You hope he's impressed.“High carbon steel?””They're mostly ceramic polymer actually. At one point, every noble family would have had a set made of Azurium, but they were stripped down for budget cuts...”He hands the blade back to you in the same way you did, holding it by the blade. You try to copy his hiss to say when you have a hold of the blade so he can let go. He nods approvingly.“I respect you, Garastra, and your people's dueling tradition. So I'll give you a warning, you are not in Kuwong, a clan, so you will not be given opportunity to prove your worth in single combat. If things go poorly and we're surrounded by Worm-Tamer, you'd be as a drone in the midst of all a clan's females.””...I don't recognize that idiom.”“It means you would be fucked.”Finally, your group approaches the meeting ground, a large tent compound in the middle of the great red and pink plains, but you feel shock when you see other foreigners here like you from other races. You see a Urgi with white tiles carven into his beak like the Egg-Breaker cultists of old, who you assumed all died out, the uncannily tall Drodic... Is that an Esaal!?
You learn his name is Cerano. He is the leader of a small mercenary band, acting as guards and interpreters for the Worm-Tamer Kuwong. You didn't know any of them existed outside of the Esaal military. You thought they just execute any soldiers who fail in their duties or act dishonorably. But then you decide to ask your guide.“...The only crime that gets an Esaal removed from the military is to kill a superior officer. The Esaal believe that defeating someone in single combat is the greatest show of moral righteousness; that might makes right. You can't exactly just court martial anyone who does that, but you can't keep them around when they ruin the chain of command like that. It'd cause too much chaos. So they hit them with the scourge that burns their flesh orange like that, and then discharge them from the military into open space.”You need to meet this Cerano.
”Jinn Garastra.” You say, extending your hand for a friendly greeting. He slaps it away.”Jaxtian scum.””Woah, what's that about? You aren't a real Esaal anymore anyway-””What did you just say to me!?” He balls a fist. You raise your hands defensively and put on the Jinn charm.”Relax. I'm not a real Jaxtian highborn anymore either. Out here, we're just two alien mercenaries working for these primitive who refuse to develop working translators. I am looking forward to working together.””Psch...”The two clans arranged this meeting over diplomacy and territorial disputes, hoping to split this planet habitable land cleanly and peacefully. For whatever reason, the Kuwongit clans all have their own very distinct languages and can only communicate with each other through pictographs and vague trade-speech, lacking the same social unification of other races. You suspect the reason they don't develop the best translation software, trivial for most space-fairing civilizations, is to keep a layer of separation between the clans and make treaties like this harder to make on purpose...As the talks go on, Cerano looms over the shoulder of the Worm-Tamer clan diplomat, whispering in his ear. He seems to be stirring them up against the Soup-Makers, pointing out things your diplomat is saying that are unfair or a lie, when they aren't. You get the feeling he's trying to start conflict on purpose, but the two clan-envoys are keeping things peaceful, for now. What should you do?>Try to use your Charisma to sway things back towards a peaceful resolution>Warn your Envoy what is happening>Belittle Cerano in front of the group to lower his credibility>Keep a hand on your pistol>Other (Write-In)
>>6473852>Try to use your Charisma to sway things back towards a peaceful resolutionI don't know, I guess this is what he's good at? I can't really think of that much else.
>>6473852>Other (Write-In)>Openly accuse Cerano of trying to instigate hostilities and duel him for dishonoring negotiations. Swashbuckling option
You won't be given the chance to prove your honor in a duel. >Warn your Envoy what is happening. The Envoy likely knows, but we can be the mirror whisperer to this Cerano. Alas that he has no large nose to insult.
>>6473852>Warn your Envoy what is happeningWhat's charismatic to one group will be insulting to the other, maybe. They're very deliberately culturally distinct.
>>6473852>Warn your Envoy what is happening
I don't feel quite ready to update again today, so I'll have to postpone. While I usually prefer a one per day update schedule, this thread has averaged more of once every other or every two days. Do you feel this update speed is too slow for you, or do you not mind?
>>6474122Well, it's certainly a change from the usual.
>>6473852>>Warn your Envoy what is happening
>>6473852>Warn your Envoy what is happening>>6474122I like Monke, so I like more Monke vs less Monke. Slower updates provide no advantage to me. If you have to do it you have to do it, but I wouldn't aim for it.
>>6474177I appreciate your honesty.
You don't know why Cerano is trying to stir up trouble, though you have a few guesses. You aren't intellectually lazy enough to just assume it's just his nature, but you figure the best course of action is to simply warn the envoy you've been sent with. You tap him on the shoulder, and whisper to him. You warn him the envoy of the Esaal's plan, and he looks up at you with concern.“But why?””I don't know. But Cerano is a mercenary, right? Mercenaries make more money in war then in peace.”“Hmh. You are wiser then your years, Jinn Garastra. Thank you for the warning. I'll be extra friendly, that will show the war-monger...”The discussion moves towards a territorial dispute over a body of water on the Red World, a lake. The worm tamers want it to breed more worms in their larval, aquatic stage; but this would make the water unfit for drinking. You relay this information to your envoy, who says we'll simply take the source of the water at the stream instead to keep it fresh, that way both parties can profit.”But they could dam the water!” Cerano interjects, trying to put a wedge between them again. You watch as his own envoy from the Worm-Tamers looks at him with confusion.“But they wouldn't do that... Would you?” You translate for your envoy, who shakes his head and gives a friendly smile. The Worm-Tamer seems satisfied with that. “-See? They say they wouldn't.””It's a lie! They're trying to draw you out and defeat you!”Your envoy doesn't change expression, and the worm tamer envoy raises his hand in irritation to the Esaal.“...Why do you think you know them better then I do? They want to be allies and would not make bad-blood for no reason. You forget your place.””Wha- I didn't-!”By warning your envoy, you think you helped turn the discussion towards mutual understanding, and stopping Cerano from causing issues between the two clans. You smile at him smugly, and he storms off as the two envoys make final arrangements for the treaty. It seems peace has been successfully made.“Let's celebrate! We will make you the Soup of Friendship from our people!” Your envoy says, clapping his hands to bring out a package.
Is that tactile platinum?!Many cultures valued gold, silver, gemstones, and other precious metals in their infancy. They are useful materials for currency, being easy to work with, not degrading over time, and rare enough to avoid hyperinflation. But once species gain access to space, the abundance of gold or silver makes them worthless for this purpose, only useful as electronic parts. But a rare form of gold, tactile gold, has an additionally property of being very pleasurable and enjoyable to be held. Similar to Azurium, it can't be easily made in a laboratory, requiring specific conditions to form over millions of years, and as such have become a symbol of luxury and status even in space fairing civilizations.Tactile platinum is even more rare then tactile gold. You don't think even the Hegemony has more then a few trace amounts of it found in a few deep space asteroids. To have enough to make an entire soup bowl and spoons would require an insane amount of trade routes and time just to source it all. Just imagine feeling the warm broth while holding the bowl in your hands...“Where is the water for boiling? We have the aromatic herbs-”Just then, two loud pops are heard. Just ahead, you can see two of the worm-tamers double over in pain, their fresh blood pooling onto the ground. While everyone is distracted looking at the aftermath, you turn your head around quickly as you recognize they came from behind you.”You!”The Urgi you saw earlier has set up some kind of automatic turrets. The single shot devices curl up and become unrecognizable in an instant, with none of the centauric Kuwongit able to turn around quick enough to see it. He was so small and lightweight, nobody heard him behind you.“S-Soup Makers?! What is the meaning of this!?”“They're shooting at us!” Cerano roars.“Cowardly dogs! Fight us with sword-whip and flail, not with guns!””WAIT! IT'S A TRICK! DON'T SHOOT!”
The Worm-Tamers pull out their firearms, and the confused Soup-Makers also ready their own weapons, even though outnumbered. No! Within seconds, a firefight begins. You tip over the discussion table and use it as cover; your envoy stands just besides you, demanding a fair fight with melee weapons over the foreigners and their ranged weapons, but it is too late.Dammit!Cerano has caused a fight between the two clans now. Once the shots came over from your side, all your peaceful progress and delegations fell apart. Both sides think they were shot at first, and neither will likely stop fighting to actually investigate who was the actual culprit. You don't think the Worm-Tamers would trust you, a foreigner and speaker for the rival clan, anyway. Damn you Cerano!Now you gotta focus on getting out of here. While to the Kuwongs these projectiles are little more then dart-guns that tickle and annoy each other, you'd really like to avoid getting shot, even with your smartmaterial jacket protecting you from the worst of the danger. You really want to explain what happened to both the clan envoys, but you can't do that in the middle of a firefight. You pull out your trust pistol, and decide what you need to shoot.>Shoot at Cerano>Fire upon the Worm-Tamer soldiers and disable them>Aim at the tent seams and shed some light on the situation!>Focus on getting out of here with your Envoy and rounding up Cerano's gang later>Other (Write-In)
Shoot the bowl. Why? Because that'll get Everyone's attention.
>>6474391I'll tentatively allow this write in but just know this is the Soup-Maker (the clan you're working for) extremely precious and expensive artifact.
>>6474381>Shoot at CeranoJust don't like him
>>6474381>Shoot the Urgi, ideally in such a way that it doesn't die, but also can't flee.
The giant sniper is probably around somewhere too, but I don't see a sign of them, so I don't see how we could shoot the sniper.
>>6474381>Shoot at Cerano
>>6474381>Aim at the tent seams and shed some light on the situation!Let's see if this will reveal the truth of what's happening and where everyone is
>>6474381>Aim at the tent seams and shed some light on the situation!
Alright well, my write in's definitely got no chance of winning, so...I'll change >>6474391 to>>6474381>Aim at the tent seams and shed some light on the situation!
Would try to get the next update out tomorrow.
>>6474975Alright, looking forward to it!
He's the one that planned this, after all. You decide to shoot at Cerano.Poking out of cover quickly, you fire off your Ricochet Pistol right at him! However, he ducks down and the plates of his armor shield his vital organs, shifting into place thru a magnetic defense system. While the first bullet bounces off harmlessly, you fire off two more rounds, the AI inside your gun calculating their trajectories. The bullets split and scatter upon impact, breaking off in just the right size or direction to bounce off objects and in the environment to cause maximum damage. Some bullets even graze his thinner orange skin, nice to see the gun's AI was listening in that previous conversation.You duck back behind cover to avoid any stray fire as you look up, realizing the massive Drodic had picked up the tactile platinum and is lifting it out of the tent, just stepping out with the prize.Cerano had no way of knowing that the Soup-Makers would bring something so valuable. Looks like they have no problem dropping their contract with the Worm-Tamers to steal something more valuable then any small conflict they could foster. They're opportunistic to a fault, you'll give them that. The mercenaries begin to back off, ducking under the tent flaps on the other end of the arena, leading the two Kuwongs to fight over nothing. Both Worm-Tamers and Soup-Makers are starting to fall with their injuries mounting. You look around to see where your own side's leader has gone, only to see him far out of cover towards the fleeing Cerano.
Cerano takes the large weapon he was carrying with its capsule ammunition and aims it at the envoy, grinning in pure malice as he fires, releasing a cloud of silvery flakes."Gah! GraaahHHHH!!"The aerosolized version of the water barbs are light enough to get into his skin; he has only minutes to live as they search out every pocket of moisture in his body."Pull back!"The envoy, and the remaining soup makers do as you say, but only as the other sides rounds seem to fall silent, with you not being able to see any of them left. Eventually, you try to regroup outside of the tent with anybody left, but only the envoy answers you. He falls onto the grass in agony."Ooofff- Jinn, it's bad.""I know.""Listen- Jinn, it's important. The Soup-Makers, they'll blame the Worm-Tamers for this. They'll attack nearby Worm-Tamer settlements to try and find the clan treasure, and when they don't find it, the Worm-Tamers will attack back in retaliation. It's an eye for an eye.""I know.""This will be war between the clans. Millions of people will die.""I know, it's okay, don't talk. You're causing yourself a lot of unnecessary pain."You see him suddenly seize, tiny pinpricks of his blood start to appear on his hands, like microscopic needles are pushing out from under his too-thin skin. He shuts his eyes as blood leaks from them, the water barbs having reached his vitreous humor."Listen Jinn- one more thing. I release you from service. Get off this planet. The Soup-Tamers won't bother to distinguish between you and the other mercenaries if they find out Cerano stole the bowl. They'll simmer you alive until your meat falls right off the bone.""...">Slit his throat to ease his suffering>Take this opportunity to slip away>Promise him you will get revenge upon Cerano>Other (Write-In)
>>6475485>Promise him you will get revenge upon Cerano>Stab his brain to ease his suffering
>>6475496Stabbing his brain seems like a very weird choice
>>6475496You couldn't stab his brain through a thick Kuwongit skullI'll allow a write-in to shoot him in the head though if you want, that could work.
>>6475498I feel like bleeding out from the throat would be less pleasant than brain death. >>6475503I'd like to shoot him in the head instead of slit his throat, unless there is some cultural taboo Jinn would be mindful of
>>6475485What if you throw him in the lake so the water thing goes into the lake and allowing the worms to heal him?
>>6475485>Promise him you will get revenge upon CeranoMendoooozaaaa!>>6475567He seems too far gone for that, I think.
>>6475485>Promise him you will get revenge upon Cerano
>>6475485>Take this opportunity to slip away
Maybe you should end his suffering... but you don't think your knife can pierce his skull. And if you can help it, you'd like to avoid any of the water barb-infected fluid touching your skin. It wouldn't kill you, but any moisture in your glands could just grow out more barbs to further irritate and dig in to your flesh. Shooting him in the head would be more generous, but then you might give away your position. It might be best to just leave him, but you feel that's even more cruel.Within a few moments, you can hear him grunt, choking on his own blood. If the barbs have reached the arteries and veins in his neck, it's only a matter of time before his heart is totally lacerated. It could even travel to his brain next. What little comfort you can offer him you give out loud, hopefully, he can still hear.”I'll avenge you. I'll make that Cerano pay for this, and bring him to justice. This I solemnly swear.”The envoy seems to nod his head, new cuts opening along the seams of his neck as he does so. Perhaps it is a small comfort to him as you begin to make your escape. With the mercenaries distracted and likely fleeing with their stolen prize, you start to consider how you'd make your way back to the Soup-Maker city from here on foot. It would take a few days journey to-
You look back towards the camp and suddenly realize a large silhouette upon the darkening sky is pointed your direction. Wait- The Drodic! Can he see you from here?The lookout begins to raise his rifle, the other distant shapes motioning. You turn tail and begin to run.You figured at this distance you wouldn't be spotted, but that alien mercenary is like his own personal watchtower. Jaxtians are pretty agile and quick, but you're more built for climbing then sprinting. There's no cover out here! Unless-You run towards the nearest water source, a small river whose depression in the landscape will provide the only cover from that tall sniper. You begin to zig-zag in your movements but, feeling yourself as a target, you prioritize trying to make it over trying to throw off the accuracy systems and training of that Drodic. You hear a loud crack behind you, and as a last ditch effort you fire your pistol forward at the smooth river stones just now coming close, closing your eyes as the shrapnel from your gun is bounced backwards just a hairs width from your body, attempting to predict and deflect the incoming bullet...It feels like a soft shove from behind. There's no pain at first, but a warm wetness appearing on your chest as the bullet strikes you. You fall forward, rolling across the muddy stream bank and carrying your momentum forward. You don't have the luxury of keeping the wound clean, as much as it lowers your chance of survival out here to possibly infect your own wound, you'd only be an easier target if you tried to nurse your bullet hole.
Finally, you reach the water, the cold splash making you aware of the ache throughout your chest. The current quickly sweeps you away, and the slight incline of the riverbank grants you a little protection from a follow up attack, but it's too late, you've already been shot. Your blood pressure has dropped enough that you feel faint, and the pain starts to come on all over. With the last of your strength, you turn yourself around so you are floating down feet first instead of head first, to protect yourself in case you run into rapids, but with blood pouring from your wound and turning the water red you know you don't have much time left.Damn that Cerano... If you survive this, it's personal now. That's the last thing you think about, that and hoping there aren't any flesh-eating fish on this planet, before it all goes black.>Quest will continue in a few days
Thanks for running Bananas.
>>6476336Tfr
>>6476336>waiting intensifies
Hey>>6477241Hey it's not my fault 4chan went down for like 24 hours so I couldn't work on it lole
>>6477304It was a serious security flaw getting patched. Somebody leaked a pair of zero days that could allow bad actors to remotely execute code on site visitors. Oopsie-doodles.
Rolled 9, 12, 8, 12, 12, 7 = 60 (6d12)
You are Nare Ogum, the Supreme Ruler of the Hegemony. It is the Year 218 of the Resurrection Era.For the past year, you have been sending out your spies and drones into Esaal space, using powerful imaging telescopes and spy-stations located in the cold quiet vastness between stars, and even Starsight; the new college paying off with highly trained Seers who can spy on FTL communications and travel routes in Esaal space. All of this just to understand an economy. Much of your training and expertise lay in capitalist systems, after all, your dummy account in the Consortium made a few million credits from your high risk investments and practice in flipping assets on the market. But compared to the total economic output of an entire space faction, that's barely even the twigs of this tree...Just as their society is split along gender lines, so to is their economy. The Esaal men have a very long and culturally deep system of bartering, trade, dueling, and sharing of resources based on need and respect. Money is almost never used. They will sometimes seize raw resources from local outposts of other races or even females in times of scarcity, but even this is another “resource” they can spend. Even betting extra shifts of undesirable work labor is yet another soft form of currency among the menfolk. But this is such a complex system, so mired in layers of interpersonal relationships, you didn't even think about trying to untangle or use this. But the womenfolk? They are another story. They have markets.While the Esaal are not capitalist, at the end of the day, all economies require some kind of liquid unit of value. While the Esaal women are smart enough to understand the value of investment, they are not smart enough to understand exactly how it could be weaponized. This is where you found your opening.“Your majesty, we've managed to finally infect a sizable number of AI cores in the Esaal's heart systems, far away from the front. They were much less well defended and had less self-checking routines then their battlefield and ship computers.””Of course. Give me a full breakdown, I want exact figures- for everything!”In the core Esaal systems, the one populated with client states, the womenfolk, and the dishonorable “civilians”; an industrial base exists of a few trading markets. While nothing like the capitalist systems you've studied, the womenfolk Esaal have empowered a few AI cores, who you have named Agents, to invest and optimize these industries. The Consortium Credit is their currency. The Threemind shows you a list of these industries, as well as their total outputs and maintenance costs, simplified to their values in Credits (c).
“Would you like me to explain the basic reasoning behind these Agents for redundancy, your Majesty? I am sure you already know the reason, but as a refresher-””No, Threes. I will tell you why these Agents exist, and you'll correct me on anything that I miss.”“Oh! I quite like that idea, your Majesty. Explain away.””The Esaal know how powerful investment and free-flowing currency is for economies. But they are not capitalist and find any work other then warfare, or raising the next generation of warriors, to be beneath them. As such, they assign such grunt work to basic AI Agents, like assigning tasks of cleaning or basic maintenance. And as such, they allow their AI Agents to invest in their different non-military industries for the growth potential. It's far more efficient to simply let free AI Agents invest in these industries and let them adapt to the market conditions then trying to centrally plan all these, especially when the Esaal do not care about his back end... which is where the AI Agents we control come in.”“And your goal?””To crash the Esaal economy... by earning their trust, and then wasting their money by investing poorly. If we can make their GDP go negative, valued beneath their debt and maintenance costs, we could begin an inescapable death spiral.”“Not we, your Majesty. You. This is your area of expertise your Majesty. I have nothing to correct.””But I still need specifics... About the industries we're working with, if you please?”The Threemind lays out the information, even going so far to give them little names and logos just like the Consortium companies you traded with before. How nice of your all-knowing machine assistant!
First is FemTech, an all-encompassing collection of technologies and manufacturing for all non-essential products and services for the womenfolk of the Esaal. While it includes products related to contraception, hygiene, and childbirth; it also includes almost all furniture, fashion, and non-essential luxury products made for the entire Esaal social structure. As such, it is the largest industry by far and contributes a great amount to their total Gross Domestic Product.Second, RadStk, which includes all of the fissile radioactive material stockpiled and not in active use. Unlike your more enlightened and advanced society, much of the Esaal's dosmetic and back-end power systems still use radioactive fission instead of fusion power, and even their warships must be “stoked” with a fission reactor until fully powered by a fusion core capable of sustaining FTL hyperdrive reactions. Due to the sheer scale of the Esaal's empire; material loss from the half-life of this radioactive material means it has a much higher maintenance cost then the other industries.Next is ExMed, which covers all non-first aid medical research and medication for things like chronic conditions or developmental diseases and care for injured veterans too old or wounded to fight. Needless to say, this is not a priority among the Esaal. Still, as a primarily research and knowledge-based industry, its value is highly resistant to loss and value reduction.The Infrastructure AI Cores or IAC is an industry based around optimizing industry, as well as the small neglected market for civilian and non-ship or battlefield AI. This industry is one your empire has directly contributed to in the past by mass-producing AI cores for the Esaal. While an industry like any other, a high value of this industry will reduce the maintenance costs for all industries as it calculates more efficiencies. Every 10 Billion market value reduces the maintenance cost of all other industries by -1%CivSurp is the total market output of the Esaal's client species and subjugated planets, as well as the total output of its civilian base. As much more capitalistic and forward-thinking then the rest of the Esaal, this industry can grow and expand much faster then the others, but has a hard limit of 50 Billion before any excess will simply be seized by force. They want to expand, but are hemmed in...Finally, UrgiTrade is the final market, representing the output of economic trade and positive relations with the newly founded Urgi Accord state; your protectorate nation. This could give you a unique opportunity for manipulation...
“Because our currency, the DanboMark, isn't directly convertible with the Consortium Credit, and its impossible to just create more credits and hyperinflate their economy or delete their money supply; the credit just too cryptographically secure; we only have a limited amount of money to work with using our compromised AI Agents. But good performance can increase our control percentage, which includes the amount of money we can spend.””I'm sure we have better prediction algorithms then they do. So our projected growth and loss in their markets are likely more accurate then theirs. This is a good thing, they won't throw off our estimates by trying to forecast their own economic growth...”“Still, your Majesty, any actions we take could upset our projections. Or even random chance. It's just a prediction after all. Remember, your Majesty, your goal is to make them lose all their money.””I understand. I like that we don't know what their economy will look like in the future, not meticulously planned like ours. No risk, no reward...”You have the ability to control and move a maximum of the control percentage of the Esaal's money within each market. For example, you could take out up to 22,500,000,000 of FemTech, which is 15% of its total value, and transfer it to the CivSurp Fund, as it has a higher growth percentage for next year.>Transfer money between Markets (Specify)>Pay off Debt (Specify funds to draw from)>I don't like this game, give me another one
>>6477409Alriight, lememe try to get this. So we can basically "change" up to 15% of a company's value to another company, and this will allow that company to...grow? Do we have like, an amount of money or something? I don't quite get what moving between companies does, other than the fact that we want to eventually be able to get enough control to fuck it all up.
"What's wrong, your Majesty? No schemes? No strategy is coming to mind? I thought this was your expertise!""No no, it's not that... It's just a lot to consider all at once. Especially considering I'm still out a Health Overseer to manage day-to-day operations...""Why don't you break down the problem and explain it to me like you did before? That seemed to help clear your mind.""Good idea Threes. Let me think for a moment..."You currently have limited control over the Esaal's monetary supply and economic development.Your goal is to leave them bankrupt, by reducing the value of their funds and industries to beneath their maintenance costs + total accumulated debt.Currently, you have a 15% control percentage, allowing you to move around 15% of any individual fund's wealth. Funds can be used to pay off debts, or invested in different funds.Generating profit will increase your control percentage and increase the maintenance cost of each fund, but also put you father from their goal of leaving them totally broke!The percentage change is the predicted change of all money in that fund over the next 5 year cycle. Meaning if you transfer money to that fund, it will grow or shrink by that percentage, based on if its positive or negative.The best strategy to generate wealth in the short term is to buy low and sell high, and to lose it, would be the opposite.
>>6477517Alright, I see, I see. I don't know exactly whose debt that is, and why we would pay it, but I do generally see it.I'm thinking that if we want to collapse them, perhaps a way would be to generally grow our control with the idea of pumping IAC to reduce maintenance cost, allowing the general growth of all the companies, then at the end, when they're all pretty high, and we have an opportunity, we kick it out from under them and crash it, making maintenance shoot up and make everything go kablooey. So for the start, I guess the smart answer would be to...take some funds from a company going down and put them in a company going up? I think that's how it works?
>>6477409>TRANSFER MONEY BETWEEN MARKETS (15% of Radstk's value into IAC)Mostly just spitballing and proposing something for the sake of proposing it. I like the idea of pumping money into IAC to offer a false level of growth. Really, I'm voting so we have something to go off of.
>>6477517>over the next 5 year cycle. Meaning if you transfer money to that fund, it will grow or shrink by that percentage, based on if its positive or negative.If it will take that long to grow our control to 30%, and that's like a best case scenario, I guess I would vote to>Transfer from Radstk to Civsurp And just wait. We can't do anything substantial yet. We need to bide our time.
>>6477549Yeah see what I don't get is how the growth works if we don't like, *own* specific stock, right? Like, we don't own 15% of a company or something and the value goes up and therefore profit, I don't get how the company value being up or down matters.It's not a bad minigame but I'm trying to get it fully to draw up a plan.
If it wasn't clear, you're kinda supposed to have control over 15% of the total money supply, but divided by markets. (Because I didn't want to make the players add all those values up to see what they totally have control over). So I'd say you can transfer from multiple markets as multiple actions. Let's say Three just to keep it workable.So >>6477544 this is validAnd >>6477549 this would also be valid if the you transferred money from something other then Radstk
>>6477555I can't worsen Rad's deficit?
>>6477553The entire economy is your account. But you can only move or control a small amount of it at a time.>>6477557If you're referring to the Maintenance value, then no, it's auto-adjusting. You can only move 15% of a stock's amount at a time. I'm limiting it to 3 actions just to keep it sane but you're kinda supposed to have control or influence over 15% of their investment robots is kind of the idea. Originally your control was just 15% of the total money supply whatever you wanted but then it'd be too easy to pull out all money in funds to 0 which isn't realistic enough for me if you're trying to pretend to be an investement AI Agent IMO
>>6477558Ok well I would rather the money from Radstk go to Civsurp than IAC, so can my vote still be counted even though it is mutually exclusive with the other vote? I'd rather more money be in their more volatile/capitalist market rather than enhancing the kind of technology that could potentially foil our plot.
Alright well, I suppose since I can't think of anything else...>>6477409>Transfer money between Markets (Specify)Transfer from Radstk to CivsurpThat would give us overall more return than IAC, and our goal is to grow our general percentage so we can do big moves, right?
So looks like right now consensus is Radstk into CivSurp for growth potential. In good faith, I will also add taking 15% of UrgiTrade into IAC to fulfill this Anon's wishes >>6477544 of increasing the AI market/lower maintenance costs so it doesn't contradict with the other write-ins AND also because UrgiTrade is predicted to go down for the next cycle, but if anyone doesn't want me to do that I will relent since you're the voters.I know this game is slightly more complex then the others but I'd really like to be hands off and let you guys figure it out as to fulfill the "fantasy" of being this Supreme. In any rate, I'll try to update Friday or the next day as long as everyone is happy with the votes.
>>6477747I'm fine with that. As long as IAC gets bumped up, I won't complain.
>>6477747I won't object
>>6477747I back this compromise.>>6477409>Radstk into CivSurp for growth potential>15% of Radstk's value into IAC
>>6477507>Move all funds from Civsurp to Femtech because CIVSURP will otherwise be liquidated>Move all funds from IAC to ExMed in order to increase liabilities across their economy. Femtech would also work, but this is a slight diversification. >Burn as much of IAC as possible to pay off the debt, again to increase liabilities across the system.There might be a more effective strategy, but in my opinion the best way to burn their system down is to peel money from the AI sector and reinvest elsewhere, riding the waves of the private sector as we can for profit, and using those profits elsewhere. Also, we control so much of the economy that if this is like an actual stock market, what we sell will also be sold by others, and what we buy will also be bought by others.
>>6477776>Wonder what this guy means when he says "CivSurp will be liquidated">reread promptNew value of automatic seizure of CivSurp assets is supposed to be ~200-300 billion, not 50, my mistake.
This will result in moving 9B from IAC to ExMed, 13.5 from CivSurp to Femtech (leaving CivSurp at 46.5, so really we probably only want to pull about 9B from CivSurp and move it to Femtch so that the CivSurp market flatlines this turn so we can invest in it better next turn, unless it 'resets' to 50B at the beginning of each round without investment, in which case we'll have to leave it to burn itself down for a round. IAC would be left with 41K before growth and costs. Not sure if profits are calculated before payments or after, but I assume before, in which case without added investment AI would go to about 26B after the divestment. I didn't run the numbers to see if the system will collapse its self on its own or not. I'm also not considering the societal implications of the various investments at the moment, other than breaking their AI, nor have I done a plan of action spreadsheet to see how long it will take to collapse the economy. Also, the maintenance on these sectors already massively outweighs the growths, so I may be misunderstanding the nature of the Value and Maintenance columns. Change +9% might indicate that we expect Femtech to make 63.5B before maintenance for an overall +9%, which if true would show IAC as making 27.2B, in which case the 19B divestment won't crash the sector as much as initially planned, but would still be a significant drawdown (an overall value loss of about 8B instead of a loss of 19B).
Reminder that IAC has the extra effect of reducing the maintenance of everything else. It might be worth fattening it up only to divest into other industries, yanking the buff out from everything else.
My initial plan was poor. However, I'm not sure how this is supposed to work. We can move money around, but we can not eliminate the base capital right, only our stake. The IAC improves their whole economy, so we'd like to eliminate it, but I don't see a way to eliminate the base percentage. Maximizing our gains this turn is relatively simple. It's Value x delta percentage, and find the three biggest values. Probably Radstk to Civsurp is one (30 x .24 = 7.2). Then Urgitrade to Civsurp (4.75), then Femtech to Civsurp (4.5), which would leave a CivSurp value of about 120.75 pre-growth. It doesn't damage the economy though, it just maximizes our expected profit. I don't see a way to actually damage the baseline economy, only slow it down. Instead of going for Civsurp, could go for IAC, in which case we'd own about 44% of the IAC, but 0% of most other things.
>Hard limit of 50 billion for CivsurpI see 90 billion on the screen, does this mean they will have 40 taken away by the end of the year?Either way, I vote for taking that 15% from Radstk and giving it to Femtech.Overinvesting in non-essentials will hurt them long term and maybe cause further resentnent between the men and women
>>6478103That was a mistake on my part, I adjusted a few of the numbers during development (I wanted them to be "big" enough you could realistically see them as an entire nation's economy in various sectors but didn't want to write out literally quadrillions of numbers or whatever, but decided tens of billions was too small). It's really supposed to be a hard limit of 300 billion, as stated here >>6477778
