Esquestria: The House of the Sun - A pony cultist experience

[Zxzx24]

[X] Plan: Most Value for the options
-[X] What of the merchant, who engaged in bribery?
--[X] Ask for a small "donation" (gain 100 bits)
-[X] What of the public servant, who needed a pony to "disappear"?
--[X] Have him work for his misdeeds (gain FIVE "servant actions", on turn 21 only)
-[X] What of the great noble, who conspired against the Crown?
--[X] Have Mareinette deal with it (unpredictable result, that will still benefit you)

 

[Earth-Destroyer]

[X] Plan: Most Value for the options

 

[Bakkasama]

[X] Plan: Balanced Rewards
-[X] What of the merchant, who engaged in bribery?
--[X] Ask for a small "donation" (gain 100 bits)
-[X] What of the public servant, who needed a pony to "disappear"?
--[X] Have him work for his misdeeds (gain FIVE "servant actions", on turn 21 only)
-[X] What of the great noble, who conspired against the Crown?
--[X] Put him behind bars, where he belongs (gain a great deal of respect from the Bureau)



I am tempted to vote for the following plan, but I think there might be a misconception:

[] Plan: Most Value for the options
-[] What of the merchant, who engaged in bribery?
--[] Ask for a small "donation" (gain 100 bits)
-[] What of the public servant, who needed a pony to "disappear"?
--[] Have him work for his misdeeds (gain FIVE "servant actions", on turn 21 only)
-[] What of the great noble, who conspired against the Crown?
--[] Have Mareinette deal with it (unpredictable result, that will still benefit you)

It seems that people assume that Mareinette dealing with ponies means that something terrible will happen to them but this is supposed to be about Mareinette trying to reap what she thinks will be the most beneficial from the blackmail. There is no guarantee that these ponies won't simply walk free after she is done. And I don't know about you guys, but when I read about the noble my thought was "Nobody can betray the crown and get away with it except me!"

 

[des-pair-2]

[X] Plan: Servant, Bureau, Mareinette
-[X] What of the merchant, who engaged in bribery?
--[X] Ask for a few favors (gain TWO "servant actions", on turn 21 only)
-[X] What of the public servant, who needed a pony to "disappear"?
--[X] Equestria will be better off without him in power (gain a reasonable amount of respect from the Bureau)
-[X] What of the great noble, who conspired against the Crown?
--[X] Have Mareinette deal with it (unpredictable result, that will still benefit you)

[X] Plan: Servant, Mareinette, Bureau
-[X] What of the merchant, who engaged in bribery?
--[X] Ask for a few favors (gain TWO "servant actions", on turn 21 only)
-[X] What of the public servant, who needed a pony to "disappear"?
--[X] Have Mareinette deal with it (unpredictable result, that will still benefit you)
-[X] What of the great noble, who conspired against the Crown?
--[X] Put him behind bars, where he belongs (gain a great deal of respect from the Bureau)

I wish for Bureau/Mareinette to be the two latter options and servant action for the merchant. Bureau for its loyalty and Mareinette because how can you not be curious about what's in the mystery box, doesn't the intrigue just make you want it more? I'm sure whatever she finds will help us climb Glory.

 

[Shaper47]

And I don't know about you guys, but when I read about the noble my thought was "Nobody can betray the crown and get away with it except me!"

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We are going to need sacrifices later.

You know for things like befriending Mareinette.

So having a pony we don't mind sacrificing on hoof isn't really letting them get away with it in the end.

 

[OurLadyOfWires]

I think that i asked about this before and the answer was that a prison was still needed, although i believe that Biedde should be able to just contain the prisoner by himself.

Edit: Actually... @OurLadyOfWires any change on this?

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No.

For now, if you have a prisoner, and no prisoner to hold them, you will have to keep them in a "makeshift prison". Maintaining said makeshift prison will require two actions per turn, from minion-level followers or summons (Velvet will not be allowed to take this action), and will carry a chance that the prisoner will escape.

The narrative for that will be that your prisoner is LITERALLY tied to a tree in some distant place, and that you need a pony 24/7 to keep them alive and make sure they don't escape.

"Nobody can betray the crown and get away with it except me!"

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This made me laugh so hard.



Anyways, voting seems to be proceeding apace. I'll try to write some of your social visits, but no promise.

Good night to us all.

 

[Bakkasama]

Ok, hear me out on this:

->Be Velvet
-> Get 16 ponyservant actions worth of blackmail. Use 15 of those to bring her corpses. Order the last one and her own servants to cover her bases for an extra AP.
-> Use her free action and five actions to create 11 Risen. Order 7 of those Risen to cover Velvet's bases for 2 extra AP.
-> Use the 2 extra AP to create 4 more Risen (so 8 Risen left). 5 of those Risen cover Velvet's bases for an extra AP, 2 get more corpses.
-> Use last of Velvet's AP to create 2 more Risen.
-> Have Baldomare scry for Windy using RotT
-> Send 17 Risen after Windy next turn to prank him.
-> ????
-> Probably not profit.

Edit: Or, you know, get 16 servant actions, use 14 for 4 Velvet actions, 1 and our own ponyservants to make a prison/vault on Jade's house and the last one to bring us a corpse to make a risen for an extra minion AP next turn, for what it's worth (probably not worth the suspiscion)

 

[Nevermort]

[X] Plan: Balanced Rewards
-[X] What of the merchant, who engaged in bribery?
--[X] Ask for a small "donation" (gain 100 bits)
-[X] What of the public servant, who needed a pony to "disappear"?
--[X] Have him work for his misdeeds (gain FIVE "servant actions", on turn 21 only)
-[X] What of the great noble, who conspired against the Crown?
--[X] Put him behind bars, where he belongs (gain a great deal of respect from the Bureau)

With Mareinete I am worried that she would show her true colors and would waste the goodwill that she has gathered this turn. Like if pony we send her after have a family or something .
I'd prefer if we give more friendship lessons to her first, or gather elements of harmony which are known as the best way to befriend ponies (by shooting it at them).

 

[Shaper47]

Like if pony we send her after have a family or something .

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If your worried about that why are you feeding them to Daybreaker?

Either option would ruin this hypothetical family.

 

[Anjaxis]

[X] Plan: Balanced Rewards
-[X] What of the merchant, who engaged in bribery?
--[X] Ask for a small "donation" (gain 100 bits)
-[X] What of the public servant, who needed a pony to "disappear"?
--[X] Have him work for his misdeeds (gain FIVE "servant actions", on turn 21 only)
-[X] What of the great noble, who conspired against the Crown?
--[X] Put him behind bars, where he belongs (gain a great deal of respect from the Bureau)

 

[Limabot]

If your worried about that why are you feeding them to Daybreaker?

Either option would ruin this hypothetical family.

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I would presume what would happen to the noble would be basically a smaller version of what happened to the Bluebloods, where the Bureau arrests and holds them until they get dragged in front of Fair Trial for final sentencing without needing to get Celestia involved. Speaking of, I don't think she is taking that much active role in governance right now, and is mainly just making sure her new ministries are working and not trying to tear each other and/or the country apart.

 

[Maer]

[X] Plan: Balanced Rewards
The most valuable of the options that have predictable and therefore helpful options.

[X] Plan: Much Respect
Another good one, though with fewer AP benefits. Still good for getting ourselves a LOT of leeway in the Bureau and therefore getting the bonuses we need from them ASAP instead of wasting more Bureau Commissioner AP on it.

[X] Plan: Servant, Mareinette, Bureau
This... I'm willing to compromise on, but I don't really like it. I'd rather she was going after the Merchant, but I want to actively make a plan involving Mareinette even less. I'll vote for this as a compromise, but I don't like or trust it.

I've said it before, I'll say it again, Mareinette is NOT guaranteed to give us anything that boosts our chances of getting to Glory. There's a chance. It's a gamble, and until we KNOW, it's equally likely she'll get us books or Artifacts. If it costs AP, it isn't worth it for at least another entire turn. If it doesn't cost AP, it's as likely to be useful for the Wake or Bureau, as for Glory, or even something long-term over an immediate benefit.

Sure, MAYBE she'll give us 2 free study actions with a +50 base bonus. And She may convince Stormchaser to let us bring Comet hoof and Shining in for a six-way pony love affair with Cadence and Fluttershy. Or she could use the Noble to sneak into the Palace and Transform Celestia into a filly before eating her, or bringing her back to us for proper mothering. But none of those are likely at all. Honestly, it's insanely hopeful, wishful thinking, and I cannot place my faith in something that isn't realistic, and isn't guaranteed beyond "It'll be useful". She could use the chance to cast a ritual and turn us into a batpony for all we know. Or cause the formation of other cults that will offer her tribute, some of which she'd share with us. Just as likely as anything else, and still not ideal or helpful.

I say we get something guaranteed to be immediately useful in progressing at least SOME of our goals so we can focus on other more important things without needing to waste more of our valuable Glory-seeking AP in order to do so. Not to mention possible Shining loyalty action of restoring his and Twilight's horns being easier/possible once the Bureau is more loyal to us. Which is more AP, and thus more chances to work on Glory. I'm not focusing on 'not losing', I'm focusing on Victory- Glory- without letting the shiny and delightful Slaaneshi Daemonette in our midst trip me up because she was helpful and nice that one time when she had no reason to be.

That is suspicious, not trust-inducing. Not with Her.

 

[Greymere]

[X] Plan: Balanced Rewards

[X] Plan: Much Respect

[X] Plan Morals and Measures
-[X] What of the merchant, who engaged in bribery?
--[X] Ask for a few favors (gain TWO "servant actions", on turn 21 only)
-[X] What of the public servant, who needed a pony to "disappear"?
--[X] Equestria will be better off without him in power (gain a reasonable amount of respect from the Bureau)
-[X] What of the great noble, who conspired against the Crown?
--[X] Put him behind bars, where he belongs (gain a great deal of respect from the Bureau)

 

[Steady Gaze]

The Bureau is not on the path to victory

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I was going to say I respect this opinion even if I don't fully subscribe to the notion that the game is about to end. I would estimate we have at least 3 and more like 5 turns left? (Though I wonder if we can continue playing after we "win".) But the QM did like your post (and has expressed some frustration that we left the outsider lead hanging around for so long), so you may be onto something. The main definitive benefit of getting the Bureau loyal is to get them to not be suspicious of us when evidence of our involvement in occult activities surfaces. But we currently basically have zero suspicion on us. The only other thing I can think of is good vibes. Getting them lore-equipped is more of a longer-term thing, and our attempts to launder the lores might just get sucked up by Eclipse, which is the organization whose mission more aligns with studying the lores. Honestly, should we have been trying to get Midday Dew's loyalty with the same vigor we've been trying to get the Bureau's? Still, I don't know if Bureau loyalty isn't worth pursuing at all, though that may be sunk cost fallacy speaking.

I suppose one "advantage" of getting major Bureau loyalty using the noble will be so that even the people who value Bureau loyalty a lot will be more amenable to switching focus to something else, since we just got a bunch/enough. I'm definitely going to advocate for spending our next commissioner action on making inroads with Midday Dew.

You know, a true Esquestria speedrunner would've probably rejected the Bureau position to begin with. Didn't we used to have, like, 6 AP as a forgotten backwater noble? And much more time to spend in Ponyville. And no commute all the way to Canterlot.

Someday (e.g. if we die/win/fail) I wish we could play a new Esquestria selecting a different starting scenario, rather than a continuation quest with Soft Sweeps. If only so I can read about Twilight while she's still whole.

[X} Plan: Play to Win

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Not sure if "[X}" would work; maybe fix it to be sure?

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

Or she could use the Noble to sneak into the Palace and Transform Celestia into a filly before eating her, or bringing her back to us for proper mothering.

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Look
I will admit
If Marinette said she would bring us filly Celestia, I would be sorely tempted. However I am pretty sure she's do this by draining her of all of her alicorn-ness like a juice box and thus not able to be popped back to full power like Luna was, so I will pass.

 

[Shaper47]

You know, a true Esquestria speedrunner would've probably rejected the Bureau position to begin with. Didn't we used to have, like, 6 AP as a forgotten backwater noble? And much more time to spend in Ponyville. And no commute all the way to Canterlot.

Click to shrink...

We also would have stayed under worst dad's hoof. And he was setting up for something big along with not paying us anymore.

More work would mean less AP and we still wouldn't be payed.

Someday (e.g. if we die/win/fail) I wish we could play a new Esquestria selecting a different starting scenario, rather than a continuation quest with Soft Sweeps. If only so I can read about Twilight while she's still whole.

Click to shrink...

I don't really care about miss Leroy Jenkins but I do wish there wasn't some world ending threat so we could just do mad science with the lores.

Still, I don't know if Bureau loyalty isn't worth pursuing at all, though that may be sunk cost fallacy speaking.

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In compassion to other more valuable things it's not really worth pursuing.

Besides it's a long run thing anyways. If things go on long enough that Bureau loyalty is actually useful we'd have passively gained enough to use it anyways.

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

Look, I want Bureau Loyalty. And to accidentally strengthen the Velvet Dagger associations by being the scourge of nobility on behalf of the Crown. But most importantly, I desire to punish the bastard conspiring against poor Luna by conspiring against her friend and her sister. There is only one option where that is a certainty.

 

[Shaper47]

I desire to punish the bastard conspiring against poor Luna by conspiring against her friend and her sister. There is only one option where that is a certainty.

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Then give them to Mareinette or use them as a sacrifice later.

The sending them to trial is the only option where they can get away with what they've done.

 

[Sintonir]

[X] Plan: Most Value for the options
[X] Plan: Balanced Rewards
[X] Plan: Servant, Bureau, Mareinette

 

[Arrkhon]

[X] Plan: Mareinette
-[X] What of the merchant, who engaged in bribery?
--[X] Have Mareinette deal with it (unpredictable result, that will still benefit you)
-[X] What of the public servant, who needed a pony to "disappear"?
--[X] Have Mareinette deal with it (unpredictable result, that will still benefit you)
-[X] What of the great noble, who conspired against the Crown?
--[X] Have Mareinette deal with it (unpredictable result, that will still benefit you)

[X] Plan: Mareinette but we still jail the traitor
-[X] What of the merchant, who engaged in bribery?
--[X] Have Mareinette deal with it (unpredictable result, that will still benefit you)
-[X] What of the public servant, who needed a pony to "disappear"?
--[X] Have Mareinette deal with it (unpredictable result, that will still benefit you)
-[X] What of the great noble, who conspired against the Crown?
--[X] Put him behind bars, where he belongs (gain a great deal of respect from the Bureau)

[X] Plan: Servant, Mareinette, Bureau
[X] Plan: Marinette in the Middle
[X] Plan Morals and Measures

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

Then give them to Mareinette or use them as a sacrifice later.

The sending them to trial is the only option where they can get away with what they've done.

Click to shrink...

Mareinette is not guaranteed to punish them, hers is the mystery box option. We have no guarantees of being able to sacrifice them later either.

 

[Shaper47]

Mareinette is not guaranteed to punish them, hers is the mystery box option. We have no guarantees of being able to sacrifice them later either.

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As long as they're alive and not in protective custody there's nothing stopping us sending Biedde to go collect them as a sacrifice later.

 

[DelightedOne]

[X] Plan: Balanced Rewards

 

[Rafuki22]

[X] Plan: Marinette in the Middle

[X] Plan: Balanced Rewards

[X] Plan: Most Value for the options

[X] Plan: Servant, Mareinette, Bureau

rather than Close Friend to Confidante, since then we'd gain her follower action.

Click to shrink...

There is always the leash.

 

[MisRAR1]

[X] Plan: Balanced Rewards

 

[Greymere]

You know, if we keep following our current tentative plans, it's very likely that our first three Sacraments will be Secret Histories, Knock, and Moth (not necessarily in that order). I think that'd be a very appropriate combination of Lores for an Hour Velvet

 

[ashkay]

[X] Plan: Balanced Rewards

[X] Plan: Much Respect

[X] Plan Morals and Measures

 

[Venerable Ro]

[X] Plan: Much Respect

[X] Plan Morals and Measures

I wanted to start talking about this hours ago, but work was work more than usual. Such is life I suppose.

Now, my three cents. I am firmly on the side of improving our ties to the Bureau, and I will absolutely talk about why.

Glory. We're looking for glory and right now we have two things on that to-do list. We need to conclude the [Search for the Outsider] which will get us the next step on that front, and we need to find a method/tool/opportunity/whatever that will allow us to harvest the [Blood of an Outsider] which can presumably be found in the ruins of the Malleary. I sincerely doubt that the Mansus exploration will lead us to a Maple Tree tap lying out on a pedestal in the courtyard, and I likewise doubt that "The Outsider" is going to be somewhere that we or even our Names can just go to without a care in the world. There is still work to do, difficult work.

We are very near to the edge of something significant here, we have immense confidence invested in us through our associations. Selene is our superior and our daughter; Cadance is our patron and Shining is our deputy, they're effectively our confidantes already and we haven't even fixed Shining's horn yet! With the personal acclaim we stand to gather through Marinette's generous assistance we can kick our reputation well ahead of where it would otherwise be. As I said before, the other two choices for each piece of blackmail are breakpoints, it stands to reason that the third ones are also breakpoints for Bureau admiration.

We do this thing, we go into the Lore discussion next turn with far more institutional reverence than we might otherwise have, and we will have a lot more than leeway, we will have enthusiasm. We will have credence, confidence, clarity and consideration. We may even have some storms-be-damned government funding!

Because we need to do two things. After Baldomare finds that Outsider this turn and after we eventually go visit the Forge's old home, we will need to develop the thingummywut and we will need to get to the Outsider in such a way as to successfully acquire its blood with aforementioned thingummywut and then we will need to safely get to sleep so we can climb the Mansus to Glory's gate!

A smash-and-grab won't work if Sun Pony keeps us awake by setting us and everything else on fire.

So, access. Approved access. That means institutional cachet and a reason that we can't just let Eclipse handle everything. Because that's what the first roadblock would be, explaining why the Lunar Bureau should be involved, why Commissioner Velvet Covers should be involved in something like "The Outsider".

And the answer is that this is The Lunar Bureau. The Lunar Bureau, not "The Velvet Bureau", our mandate stems from Princess Luna's solemn duty, to guard the night, to protect the nation from threats unseen and unknown. This bureau, our daughter's bureau, shall not be a one-trick pony, it will not be "the changeling police", it will not be an unreasonably powerful anti-corruption division or a temporary affectation of Celestia's paranoia.

Selene's Bureau will be magnificent, it will be everything she wants to do in and for the world, it will be the reason ponies walk in the night without fear under the Moon's light. In the Wake, in the Mansus, in Dreams, Selene's Bureau will Know and keep the bounds so that ponies will go without fear of Evil or Paranoia, in time.

But what about Bits? Well what are we going to buy?
More artifacts? We still have a Knock tool knocking around that we've been ignoring for ages.
More books? We've quite a pile of books already to procrastinate on.
An expedition? Why? It'd get us more books and more artifacts when we're still sitting on what we've got already.

AP, now AP is valuable, but it's also still a one-turn benefit. Aside from Axe's Sacrament which we were already planning on effecting the only other thing we'd be able to do is assorted FOs or try to follow up on the social actions we're attempting this turn. That's notable, which is why I lean towards taking the two actions off the first piece of blackmail rather than the 100 bits.

But the Bureau, the Bureau offers the opportunity to reengage the organization mechanics we had access to back when we were with the Cult. Real facilities, room to work in peace, competent assistance to handle AP-draining busywork like "scout for books/artifacts/expeditions", a trained coterie again so we wouldn't have to perform every single gorram ritual ourselves, a detail of actual Edge-trained bodyguards, ect.

Now before I hear the hypothetical reader tell me this is wishful thinking, I want to bring up the Bureau's own information sheet.

THE LUNAR BUREAU
"If the badge doesn't feel heavy on your chest, then you are not fit for the job."​

The Lunar Bureau is a relatively small organization, but one that makes up for its size with skill and competency. Very little is known about it, especially by the public at large. But the one thing everypony has heard about one, way or the other, is that they act with the Princess' own authority.

However, and rather unfortunately, you know that even competency has its limits. Especially mortal competency.

After all, the agents and constables of the Bureau are still just that. Only ponies.



Relevant Capabilities

"What is the worth of carriages and armor, and how can the ponies who bear them truly succeed, if they lack the tools that really matter?"

[Candle Dust]
-A small powdered crystal that can be used to detect changelings, with varying degrees of reliability. Widely available for your agents, and present in every one of your detectives' saddle-bags.
-In practice, a Lantern Level 0 Artifact of single use. Developed, produced and distributed to you by "Eclipse".

[You have NOT introduced the Lores to the Bureau, due to the risks currently involved. No other Lore capabilities to note.]

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-Presently, the Secret Library is NOT available to the Lunar Bureau. (You might want to change that)

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That, thwacks pointer on rhetorical blackboard, is absolutely full of seeds of potential. Practically every line suggests the possibility of greater things, the possibility of development and benefits thereof. We have, potentially, once again leaped well ahead of where we should be, though this time instead of careening up the Mansus we have chained together an improbable series of events including nearly dying in a heroically dramatic fashion and the Name of The Grail robbing our Enemy of every shred of blackmail she possessed. This is an absurd opportunity we have here people, forget AP or money, this is a chance to summarily skip Bird-only-knows how many turns of dedicated "Bureau befriending" and step right into endgame benefits.

We take this thing, we take it with both hands, and Velvet Covers will once again remind us all how she does things at her own speed. That's why I'm voting the way I am; because it's the right thing to do, it's the in-character thing to do, it's the economical thing to do, and most importantly it's the absolute funniest thing we could do.

 

[Portec]

[X] Plan: Balanced Rewards
[X] Plan Morals and Measures
[X] Plan: Servant, Mareinette, Bureau

I like these. The nobel gets what they deserve and we get some actions out of it.

 

[Pittauro]

If it actually progressed Mareinette's friendship, I'd be all for picking her options. But right now? We need to guarantee Glory. Handle the Wake issues with massive Progress, get AP to use on Sacraments, and MAYBE get Bits for the upcoming turns as a buffer. Mareinette can definitely get MORE, but it's been explicitly stated by Bird that "She will try to extract value out of them in another way that is not listed in the options." That means no Bits, no AP, and no Bureau relationship. While it could MAYBE be more AP/Bits, that is not likely given the Word of Bird. What exactly it could even BE I don't know, other than 'valuable', but it's an UNKNOWN.

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I suspect it might be minions or income-per-turn. I think we need AT LEAST some actions to convert in Velvet APs, but we can probably make do with just one option worth of those.

I'm with Pit on this. Noble to Bureau, the other two for AP, OR Public Servant for AP and Merchant for Bits. None of the other options are worth giving to Mareinette when the opportunity cost is so high, compared to what we could get with the known quantities.

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Bits-AP-Bureau is definitely a good combo.

I'm now also fine with Mareinette-AP-Mareinette though, or even AP-Bureau-Bureau.

We NEED either first or second options to be APs, I'm willing to compromise on basically everything else.

Though if we don't get at least one BIT options it means we most likely won't be able to do Canterlot Part 3 before turn 23. WITH bits I think we could manage it turn 22.

Mareinette will extract MORE. Of course that more is a mystery box, which is why we shouldn't do it for things we can't afford risking. As you said, if she gives us minions or artifacts or reagents we might not be in the best position to use them. and we REALLY need at least the APs.

Other options could be possibility of buying books/artifacts/reagents at a discount or better aimed. maybe a chance to SELL things easily too. The Noble could be blackmailed to give us the name of other traitors. There's interesting possibilities.

So MAYBE one or even two Mareinette options, but definitely not 3. We need the APs too badly.

With 2 servant actions, we can add 3 more (Fluttercomet, House Servants and one more probably from Biedde/Selene) for 2 Velvet APs, and with 5 servant actions we can add 4 more (FlutterComet, House Servants, and two more probably from Biedde/Selene) for 3 Velvet APs.

Both are acceptable, though I'd rather get the 5.

Maybe we'll even get Filthy and/or Spoiled as confidants, in which case we can use THEIR actions as well.

Maybe we get a minion. Maybe we get a Level 6 artefact. Maybe we get a Level 7 book to secure Baldomare's friendship.

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lvl 7 book feels very unlikely. I COULD believe she'd get a lvl 6 artifact out of the noble though. Something like a family heirloom that just so happens to be a lore artifact.

If anyone could have ancient artifacts of that tier it would be a great and wealthy noble family.

The main thing is that, as we can't predict what it will be, we need to satisfy our minimum requirement. Which to me means either the 2 or 5 servant actions.

Once we have the bare minimum we NEED, we can bet on Mareinette.

It's a similar argument to what I'd make for Baldomare's special ability. She's guaranteed to give us something good if we give her lots of bits... but we NEED lots of bits already, so I'd avoid sending her on searching stuff for us UNLESS we've run out of expeditions and rituals needing bits.

We cannot pre-plan the action as well. We cannot cross the box or tick the checkmark saying we will get bits, or we will get action. But you forget yourself. We cannot plan what will happen till the time comes.

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To be fair, we also can't pre-plan on what we'll get out of expeditions.

Which is at least part of why, for the longest time, we BOUGHT books with our bits instead of going on expeditions, because we had the bits for them, we could partially control what we got, and it costed fewer actions.

Now instead we're planning to do more expeditions instead, because books cost too much.

I see Mareinette in a similar light. It's probably BETTER, in absolute value, than what we'd get directly. But we might need the certainty of knowing, or we might need something that's technically worth less (servant actions for example, or bits), because we need them for something specific (Velvet actions, funds for an expedition).

So I repeat, as I said multiple times: We need AT LEAST one actions-reward. Rest is debatable.

Wow, that's pretty sweet! I wonder if an occult war with Windy would be so profitable.

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well, potentially, if he established a new cult. If he's acting on his own probably not.

Ugh. So artifacts are kind of bottlenecked right now. This is good info though, thanks.

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There's been a question to Bird about using Baldomare to study at least "X lore levels worth of artifacts" with her action, and Bird basically replied "maybe, we'll see on follower turn".

If we could do it for the low-tier artifacts it would be fairly nice.

Even if not that way, we NEED a way to deal with low level artifact study. Otherwise they'll just gain dust, we can't afford using one full action for two lvl 1 artifacts with everything else we need to do.

Lvl 4, sure. Lvl 3, probably worth it.

Lvl 2? MAYBE, just because we don't yet have a Knock artifact and that can help if we have followers summon stuff.

But the lvl 1s? Probably not worth it.

I salivate at the thought. A wide playthrough that never was. Or Copper!Quest.

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In our defense Cover Your Bases was introduced only recently. If it had been there from the start we might actually have tried for a wide playthrough.

Rarity: Made her dreams come true by negotiating a contract with a noble family where we paid all of the initial costs(300 bits if my memory is right).

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which, by the way, was narratively basically just a symbolic way to express we wanted our family to keep control of Rarity or something, because that's peanuts to noble families.

reminder that 80-100 bits is an average wage. Velvet is possibly the poorest noble in all of Equestria in terms of bits. Her father is very stingy with her, though he AT LEAST gave her a good mansion and servants... but I'm guessing that's mostly a matter of image.

Velvet not having disposable income is not as apparent to other noble families as her living in a not-up-to-par-house.

The Leash also has it's uses and we should keep that in mind if it is free(no way I'm letting another Element out of our sight) OR we could have Selene order her to help using her authority as a Princess.

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Leash is there for if we REALLY need to use it at this point.

also hey, maybe we got Filthy and Spoiled all the way to confidant this turn! The obvious way to do that narratively would be to fix their marriage, and it's not out of the question Mareinette managed it... if not in the way Velvet would have gone about it.

So how about we gift this to Steppes?

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Why would we give our "honest businesspony uncle" documents about criminals in Manehattan?

This is likely an expedition site, I'd rather keep it to ourselves.

-> Send 17 Risen after Windy next turn to prank him.
-> ????
-> Probably not profit.

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...that's kind of tempting

But... can you imagine, narratively, using all those Risen to get Velvet APs?

How would that even work?

Do we get stealth-zombies doing all of our chores while NOBODY notices them?

And She may convince Stormchaser to let us bring Comet hoof and Shining in for a six-way pony love affair with Cadence and Fluttershy.

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wait, that's an option? You're NOT doing a good job of arguing AGAINST Mareinette now you know!

You know, a true Esquestria speedrunner would've probably rejected the Bureau position to begin with. Didn't we used to have, like, 6 AP as a forgotten backwater noble? And much more time to spend in Ponyville. And no commute all the way to Canterlot.

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a true Esquestria Speedrunner would have not betrayed the cult, killed our dad and maybe our brother too to get the family under our control, probably killed Selene...

You know, if we keep following our current tentative plans, it's very likely that our first three Sacraments will be Secret Histories, Knock, and Moth (not necessarily in that order). I think that'd be a very appropriate combination of Lores for an Hour Velvet

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and after that PROBABLY Lantern. we have one artifact for one scrap already, and can get 2 from an influence from Baldomare whenever we want. We just need one more scrap!

Winter and Edge are also close, though they come with their own problems.

We'll likely be wounded AGAIN after Edge, if hopefully NOT Dancing With Death, and Winter requires us to willingly doom 3 random ponies to death.