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!"

Click to shrink...

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?

Click to shrink...

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!"

Click to shrink...

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 .

Click to shrink...

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.

Click to shrink...

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.