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

[spiderhellian]

Spending action fixing celestial is just actions spent on not lossing.

We need need to be spending actions on winning. We should spend what actions we can on prepping this turn and just go for the win. We will have 3 names, Selene, Jade, Rarity, and some mares in the light. All with Velvet rocking several influences. That more then enough lore power to handle it.

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This is a good point.

If we are basically planning for All In at the end of T24, are we probably better off going Glare?

We don't have that many actions left to strengthen ourselves that need rolls.

Cherenkolt/Mareinette/Smiles friendship are roll-free.

SH Sacrament (Baldomare) and Lantern Sacrament (Baldomare) may need rolls but don't seem like they'll be too scary. One would probably benefit.

Moth Sacrament/Grail Saframent are both free from rolls.

It's really the L7 book expedition it would hurt on, but even that is… likely quite manageable?

And the penalty applies to All In, that's likely the worst part, but I'm not sure if -10 outweighs a full turn of Velvet actions.

It hurts more the longer things go, but if we're planning for T24 All In — it's might be the right call.

 

[Sveta08]

If we are basically planning for All In at the end of T24, are we probably better off going Glare?

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Negative.

1: How can Luna sooth the night if the sun does not set?
2: What kind of world is it for Silky if the sun does not set?

You may be correct mechanically, but I would highly disagree narratively

 

[spiderhellian]

What if instead… We spend Velvet actions on summons and crafting reagents for Calling of Influence.

I think we can't actually do CoI next turn for it to apply between T24/T25, but we can set up for decent bonuses?

Might be bits-capped though, hm.

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Negative.

1: How can Luna sooth the night if the sun does not set?
2: What kind of world is it for Silky if the sun does not set?

You may be correct mechanically, but I would highly disagree narratively

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Well Selene will still literally roll the same table with no malts, lol.

Silky point is fine you're allowed to dislike it — but given all the convo around All In T24, I think it might be the mechanically right play.

 

[Limabot]

Personally, I always got the impression that doing All In on Turn 24 wasn't something we wanted to do so much as something we were being essentially forced to do by Celestia's doom counter.

Even while planning under that assumption for the past few turns, there are a good amount of potential allies, summons, and Sacraments that are still around that is decently likely we will be unable to use by the time the actual expedition rolls around: an expedition that we know very little about, and have a non-zero chance of being terribly underleveled for, especially since it was likely balanced around Velvet having a good-sized cult to use as cannon-fodder for it (and the Bureau can't be used for that as far as I remember).

Under that understanding, delaying (or potentialy even breaking) the Doom Counter would only be a good thing due to granting us more time to fully prepare for the end-stretch of the game.

[X] The Royal Apartment has become distressingly hot, to the point that even Princess Celestia's guards (ceremonial as they were) have been prohibited from approaching it. This has become the most crucial issue on Princess Cadance's agenda.

 

[Earth-Destroyer]

Negative.

1: How can Luna sooth the night if the sun does not set?
2: What kind of world is it for Silky if the sun does not set?

You may be correct mechanically, but I would highly disagree narratively

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Ponies can make nighttime very easy if they want. Just put up thick storm clouds they can easily make it dark enough.

 

[Shaper47]

You know, after a while I started thinking this was Celestia killing Discord. And getting Blood of the Outsider.

It would have given Velvet a Scrap of every lore and it is a Trait. An unknown trait, hard to tell what else it would do or what killing Discord could mean.

If that is true then this option is way worse than just having Daybreaker as a rival.

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???

Celestia already has that trait.

She's (half) an Outsider already.

but curiosity has always been my weakness...

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Inner Lionsmith cat wanting to hit glass onto the floor to see what happens.

I'm still leaning towards 4 at most personally.

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Don't underestimate Mareinette, her actions are worth at least two of ours on this given her speciality.

We could probably get away with only using one Velvet ap (free social) and all Mareinette actions to solve this.

Velvet actions: 4 +1 (free social) + 1 (Cover your bases from Risen and Servants) + 1 (Constables) = 7 (or more, with more cover your bases)

1) Moth Sacrament
2) Grail Sacrament
3-4-5-6) Velvet. Potentially replace with (or add) a Mareinette action here.
7) possibly more Celestia defusing, but we might have other fleeting moments actions here. or Mayor Mare maybe

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I'm not sure if Grail Sacrament takes an ap?

Should definitely do Baldomare's SH Sacrament and probably spend an ap on the Mansus to try and get a Lantern scrap.

Spending action fixing celestial is just actions spent on not lossing.

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If we are basically planning for All In at the end of T24, are we probably better off going Glare?

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Glare makes All In a lot harder given how a bunch of it happens in the Wake.

Besides we should probably prepare more beforehand.

Mareinette is good for dealing with Celestia this turn anyways.

 

[ses]

unrelated, but...

Leashing Cheerilee on turn 24 to help Smiles spread Freedom is hilarious.

Yes that's right Selene, we're asking you to use your dreamwalking access to Pony subconscious to mind control ponies into loving Freedom
Yes, that's right Cheerilee, we're mind controlling you to spread Freedom as well!

 

[Shaper47]

unrelated, but...

Leashing Cheerilee on turn 24 to help Smiles spread Freedom is hilarious.

Yes that's right Selene, we're asking you to use your dreamwalking access to Pony subconscious to mind control ponies into loving Freedom
Yes, that's right Cheerilee, we're mind controlling you to spread Freedom as well!

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A pity we don't have Biedde around to also put on such an action.

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

As much as I would love to stretch my smut chops, you will not, in fact, fuck Celestia out of her insanity

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Well of course, as ses has made abundantly clear in the following statement:

>Ash and Daybreaker mood kindreds

>scandalous violation


KNOTTED

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Any fucking is reserved by Ash to drive Celestia into further insanity.

 

[Greymere]

Ponies can make nighttime very easy if they want. Just put up thick storm clouds they can easily make it dark enough.

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1) Stormcloud cover is not the same as true night, would take significant effort, and would likely have other adverse effects besides (like flooding).

2) If an unsetting sun wasn't a big deal and easily coped with, there wouldn't be a Glare penalty at all, nor would hyperthermia have been a Daybreaker mechanic.

Tbh, I'm not entirely convinced that Glare isn't going to lead directly into hyperthermia. It kind of seems that the only difference between that and full Daybreaker is that Celestia hasn't gone full tyrant yet.

 

[dcoconeo]

are we probably better off going Glare

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Never, remember that All-In Hurdles are also affected by Glare?

 

[Shaper47]

Actually hold on a minute, we have a solid hold over the Bureau now.

So...

-[] [CONSTABLES] Plan and execute a raid. Within Equestria, or anywhere else that is needed. (WRITE IN an Expedition, OR an Opponent the Bureau has investigated. The Bureau will attempt to perform the Expedition, or will assault an Opponent)

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@OurLadyOfWires Can we send our Bureau Constables on expeditions like The Chocked City so that the Bureau is paying the expedition costs?

 

[DelightedOne]

???

Celestia already has that trait.

She's (half) an Outsider already.

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I personally think Blood of the Outsider is a different trait from just outright being a Outsider.

And her being half of one made me think "What happens if she kills one?"

So that was my line of thought.

 

[Greymere]

Went through and calculated what our bonuses should look like for All In, with our known resources. Assumes we get Moth 5 (obv.), SH 5 and Lantern 5 in addition to our current Knock 5 and Edge 5, we successfully befriend all our Names, and we study that one Moth 3 artifact. This doesn't include Befriended Cherenkolt's variable Lore 4, or any bonus from Calling an Influence.

Knock: +125

• +50 Specialty
• +30 Knock 6 (DoA)
• +25 Knock 5 (Velvet)
• +20 Knock 4 (Selene)

Moth: +110

• +50 Specialty
• +25 Moth 5 (Velvet)
• +20 Moth 4 (Selene)
• +15 Moth 3 (Artifact)

Lantern: +125

• +50 Specialty
• +30 Lantern 6 (Baldomare)
• +25 Lantern 5 (Velvet)
• +20 Lantern 4 (Artifact)

Winter: +115

• +50 Specialty
• +20 Winter 4 (Velvet)
• +20 Winter 4 (Selene)
• +20 Winter 4 (Artifact)
• +5 Winter 1 (Artifact)

Forge: +100

• +50 Specialty
• +30 Forge 6 (Cherenkolt)
• +20 Forge 4 (Velvet)

Edge: +140

• +50 Specialty
• +30 Edge 6 (Smiles)
• +25 Edge 5 (Velvet)
• +20 Edge 4 (Selene)
• +15 Edge 3 (DoA)

Grail: +110

• +60 Specialty
• +30 Grail 6 (Mareinette)
• +20 Grail 4 (Velvet)

Heart: +125

• +50 Specialty
• +30 Heart 6 (Mareinette)
• +15 Heart 3 (Smiles)
• +15 Heart 3 (Velvet)
• +15 Heart 3 (Artifact)

Secret Histories: +120

• +50 Specialty
• +30 Secret Histories 6 (Baldomare)
• +25 Secret Histories 5 (Velvet)
• +15 Secret Histories 3 (Artifact)

 

[AuthorTransient]

matthewmcconaughey_smoking.jpg and benaffleck_smoking.jpg

It's like Celestia and her disciple are cursed. You had a 70% chance! ಥ_ಥ I'm leaning towards Sister Finding right now, if only because I can't trust the rolls anymore. _orz

 

[Shaper47]

Went through and calculated what our bonuses should look like for All In, with our known resources

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There's also normal summoned Minions like Ash-Ghoul's to consider.

A handful of Maids, Windigos and a Ash-Ghoul or two pretty much covers Lantern, Winter and Edge.

Also you forgot Rarity, Soft, Jade and whichever confident we Leash to add on.

 

[des-pair-2]

As much as in the vacuum I would prefer the Candance option, it is true that we need to focus on winning instead of not losing. And since I doubt we will resolve the Changeling situation, I think we'll have to deal with the loss of Bureau and Social action.

And the Lionsmith clearly channeled the house cat within me, because I'm too curious for our own good.

[X] Princess Celestia has spoken once more, at last. She decrees that her sister be found. Equestria moves to obey.
[X] Outsiders are forbidden from entering the House of the Sun. What did she do? What. Did. She. Do?

 

[Greymere]

I am admittedly feeling a bit warmer toward the Bureau option.

With Cadance, since chances are our personal AP would be pretty much be maximally tapped for defusing the 'bomb', we'd be relying on Follower AP for Smiles progress. So, feasibly, two AP from Selene and one from one of our regular mortal followers (+8), for a final total 0f 9/40 at the end of the turn. Which is definitely still possible to finish on T24, don't get me wrong, it's just we're going to have to shove in a lot more points.

If we go Bureau, even with losing our social and constables action, we also don't have to try and max out our personal AP. So we could use two Selene AP and four mortal Follower AP for helping Smiles (+14). If we go for SH Sacrament next turn, that still leaves us an AP to give to Smiles (+5), for a final total of 20/40 when added to his own natural +1. That's halfway there, and 20 points would be easy enough to get on T24, on account of the lack of anything absolutely necessary save the Blue Gold alchemy and a Forge's Redemption, and we do get the Constables back to push some paperwork on T24. It also potentially frees up Mareinette's T24 AP to do stuff like give us Heart or Grail lessons.

Edit: In order to get to four mortal follower AP, it does admittedly require Smiles to go on Cover Your Bases along with the Risen, so that our Servants, Jade, Filthy Rich, and Comet/Fluttershy are available to each add +2, since Smiles can't contribute to his own progress beyond the passive. If we can get an AP out of Cheerilee by switching our Leash from Spoiled to her after Dinner, that's another +2 and/or frees up Smiles from doing our chores.

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

Bah I say, I want to see Cadance doing cool things and that requires Celestia doing a wee bit of castle melting.

 

[Pittauro]

mh... next turn if I remember right we should have 508 bits.

180 on Forge 4 + 6
300 if we send two people on Lantern 7

that's 480.

mh... What if we scried for Lantern 7, so we can send just Axe + Cherenkolt in the appropriate configuration? That would save us many bits.

Maybe enough to also do Canterlot Part 3?

180 bits on forge 4+6

Scrying (Selene) 30 bits +150 Axe and Cherenkolt artifact to lantern 7

Smiles + Cherenkolt to Canterlot part 3 (120 bits)

total: 480 bits.

Actually add a Manehattan Expedition (free Smiles) for another 25 bits. 505 out of 508 bits.


And then next turn we presumably have lots of valuable artifacts and books to study.


This way we have certainty for Forge 4+6, we can pick the best suited Name (and Cherenkolt form) for Lantern 7 (potentially sending Mareinette if there's Grail challenges instead of Axe), we get (hopefully) extra loot from Canterlot part 3...

Next turn we'd probably then be able to get another lantern influence from Baldomare to study all that loot. It might be enough to reach the threshold for some more sacraments.

 

[DelightedOne]

Maybe enough to also do Canterlot Part 3?

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Why don't we just throw this at the Bureau later with a Axe action as a consultant?

Is it not allowed?

 

[Pittauro]

Why don't we just throw this at the Bureau later with a Axe action as a consultant?

Is it not allowed?

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We don't get to keep all the Bureau loot. Presumably it depends.

Look at Tall Tale. If we had done it alone, we could have brought the weird changeling thingy back to Ponyville. We probably could have studied it for lore gains as if it was an artifact, maybe applied the Leash or used Incision to make it a minion, or used it as a powerful reagent for a ritual.

We weren't allowed here, though.

Presumably there could have been more loot we didn't get a chance to find if we had gone alone as well, as we'd have had more time to explore, instead of a single run-through.

 

[DelightedOne]

We don't get to keep all the Bureau loot. Presumably it depends.

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I think we do if we get our hoofs dirty. It really looks like the reason we had so many small issues with Tall Tale(choosing between lore progress or safety, chance to lose loot) is because we chose a Velvet action instead of using the action made for participating in these things.

Also unrelated but I ended up finding this:

To put it in perspective, if Cadance handed you the throne for a turn for her to unwind and you had to roll a "Run Equestria" dice.

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I wonder if that is one of the ways that we may help Cadance next turn. Flex the Mare Admnistrator muscles a bit.

Imagine if Velvet's luck goes so high she basically does a better job than Cadance. If Celestia knew she would think Velvet was the next Alicorn.

 

[Greymere]

mh... What if we scried for Lantern 7, so we can send just Axe + Cherenkolt in the appropriate configuration? That would save us many bits.

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It's not worth the Selene AP, not when we need to wring every last possible point out of our followers on T23 for Smiles's friendship progress if we go for the Cadance option. Even with two Selene and a mortal follower's assistance, we're still going to have to cram in 30 points of progress in one turn on T24.

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

It's not worth the Selene AP, not when we need to wring every last possible point out of our followers on T23 for Smiles's friendship progress if we go for the Cadance option. Even with two Selene and a mortal follower's assistance, we're still going to have to cram in 30 points of progress in one turn on T24.

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Assuming Selene fails at Soothing enough to pause the doom clock, of course.

 

[Greymere]

Why don't we just throw this at the Bureau later with a Axe action as a consultant?

Is it not allowed?

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Later meaning T24 I assume? Since if Cadance wins I imagine that the constables will be on paperwork duty, and Axe should be busy with the Quarry regardless. Though it could be interesting, having the Constables tackle BtRC3 with Velvet getting her hooves dirty and Smiles consulting. Especially if we can have the investigators studying the husk, which I feel like could be a ripe opportunity for another "do a thing, get a Bureau Lore" that we've seen are possible from the assault. Could we bring our artifacts with us, if we're getting our hooves dirty, I wonder?

Assuming Selene fails at Soothing again, of course.

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Well, yes, but right now we have to make our T23 plans under the assumption that she does fail again, or at least doesn't succeed enough to delay Celestia's Lore progression.

 

[DelightedOne]

Later meaning T24 I assume? Since if Cadance wins I imagine that the constables will be on paperwork duty, and Axe should be busy with the Quarry regardless.

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Yes, that is what I was thinking... Except I forgot about the Constables and only remembered Axe not being available.

Especially if we can have the investigators studying the husk, which I feel like could be a ripe opportunity for another "do a thing, get a Bureau Lore" that we've seen are possible from the assault.

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Hopefully 2, since the Husk has Grail and Knock.

With one action as a Director serving to introduce another lore(Heart, because of Cadance).

We would be at 7/9 if the Husk gives 2 lores or 6/9 if it gives 1. If we go on a expedition we could teach more(possibly Moth or SH by the vibes).

Imagine if the secret to taking the Bureau to All In is to make them a full cult first.
Probably not but it is funny to think about.

Could we bring our artifacts with us, if we're getting our hooves dirty, I wonder?

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Probably yes? We have Names masquerading as specialists, Artifacts can't be much worse.

 

[Greymere]

Hopefully 2, since the Husk has Grail and Knock.

With one action as a Director serving to introduce another lore(Heart, because of Cadance).

We would be at 7/9 if the Husk gives 2 lores or 6/9 if it gives 1. If we go on a expedition we could teach more(possibly Moth or SH by the vibes).

Imagine if the secret to taking the Bureau to All In is to make them a full cult first.
Probably not but it is funny to think about.

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Hm...

This is genuinely tempting me to do Investigators on the husk (if possible), Constables on BtRC Part 3, Smiles on consultation, and Velvet on getting her hooves dirty... especially if we can potentially pick up even more Lores for them in the process...

 

[ses]

Went through and calculated what our bonuses should look like for All In, with our known resources. Assumes we get Moth 5 (obv.), SH 5 and Lantern 5 in addition to our current Knock 5 and Edge 5, we successfully befriend all our Names, and we study that one Moth 3 artifact. This doesn't include Befriended Cherenkolt's variable Lore 4, or any bonus from Calling an Influence.

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You're leaving out +40 Name Influences, which are the major reason to Befriend Names instead of brute forcing with generic summons and artifacts. Velvet can't take Name Influences into all in from the turn vote because All In is between turns, but Befriended Names can invoke influences in the dungeon itself.

The real challenge isn't even All In, it's the Malleary, which presumably requires us to be able to hit CD 120 in each Lore, while wearing Influences only from Befriended Names or a single Called Influence. That means we're stuck with either Moth or Winter as our weakness.

 

[DelightedOne]

@OurLadyOfWires was Smiles's bonus not bonusing on purpose like Biedde?

EDGE: Level 1 ( [1/1] + [3/2] )

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And also the Expedition info threadmark needs to have Tall Tale go on Completed Expeditions.