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

[Solace2117]

[X] Plan: Maximum Rewards
-[X] (TROOPS) "I will be in there. Watch for imposters."
-[X] (LORES) "Try to keep up."

I have no desire to tip off Eclipse. This at least mitigates it if we go all out. Eclipse seems to functioning as Celestia cult. Another hornet nest. The Bureau is useful, but I don't know that one extra lore is really worth more potential hassle.

 

[Diamondfiend]

[X] Plan: Maximum Rewards
-[X] (TROOPS) "I will be in there. Watch for imposters."
-[X] (LORES) "Try to keep up."

 

[DelightedOne]

[X] Plan: Maximum Lore Bequeathing

 

[Cochimetl]

[X] Plan: Maximum Lore Bequeathing

 

[SolemLupus]

[X] Plan: Maximum Lore Bequeathing

 

[Demilich]

[X] Plan: Maximum Lore Bequeathing
-[X] (TROOPS) "I will take point."
-[X] (LORES) "Try to keep up."

 

[Sk1lz3r]

[X] Plan: Maximum Lore Bequeathing

 

[spiderhellian]

[X] Plan: Maximum Rewards

 

[des-pair-2]

[X] Plan: Maximum Rewards

[X] Plan: Practical Demonstration

And I will make this Plan, just so people know it exists.

[X] Plan: Maximum Safety
-[X] (TROOPS) "I will take point."
-[X] (LORES) "Lucky Brush and Steady Step will be our on-the-grounds expert."

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

[X] Plan: Maximum Rewards
-[X] (TROOPS) "I will be in there. Watch for imposters."
-[X] (LORES) "Try to keep up."

I really hope to hunt down a Worthy Opponent in there to avoid Biedde beating the crap out of us and then getting to carve Velvet's soul if we win. I do not trust him.

Failing that, I hope for Artifacts, or bits.

 

[DelightedOne]

I really hope to hunt down a Worthy Opponent in there to avoid Biedde beating the crap out of us and then getting to carve Velvet's soul if we win. I do not trust him.

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You know what? Good point, even if we don't have a 100% chance of finding one.

[X] Plan: Maximum Lore Bequeathing

[X] Plan: Maximum Rewards

 

[Random Anon]

[X] Plan: Maximum Rewards
-[X] (TROOPS) "I will be in there. Watch for imposters."
-[X] (LORES) "Try to keep up."

Don't see why so many people are interested in maximum suspicion minimum rewards. Maximum immediate security, but c'mon.

 

[Greymere]

Don't see why so many people are interested in maximum suspicion minimum rewards. Maximum immediate security, but c'mon.

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Mostly I just think we don't have much reason to believe that a half-built proto-hive will have that good of loot or a strong enough opponent to be counted as Worthy. Bird even pointed out that this is a job expedition, not a 'vault' expedition, and we shouldn't necessarily expect it to explode into loot.

And I mean. We've seen examples of that already. The Luna-finding and Twilight-rescuing expeditions did only exactly what they were intended to do, and no further. I wouldn't be surprised if our only 'loot' for Tall Tale is "you did a really good job and won't need to deal with any loose threads from this hive". Hence, going for the extra free Lores, since those will definitely and measurably bring us closer to having actual cult benefits like a cadre, a ritual site large enough for 3 circle rituals, and infrastructure bonuses. Also the sooner the entire Bureau is Lore'd and "initiated", the sooner we can stop worrying about information leaks happening because our people didn't know any better re: not telling Eclipse things we don't want them to hear about.

 

[Solace2117]

And I mean. We've seen examples of that already. The Luna-finding and Twilight-rescuing expeditions did only exactly what they were intended to do, and no further. I wouldn't be surprised if our only 'loot' for Tall Tale is "you did a really good job and won't need to deal with any loses threads from this hive". Hence, going for the extra free Lores, since those will definitely and measurably bring us closer to having actual cult benefits like a cadre, a ritual site large enough for 3 circle rituals, and infrastructure bonuses. Also the sooner the entire Bureau is Lore'd and "initiated", the sooner we can stop worrying about information leaks happening because our people didn't know any better re: not telling Eclipse things we don't want them to hear about.

Click to shrink...

As a counter point I don't know that the Bureau is ever going to be fully leak free. We're not teaching everyone lores, it seems more like we're focused on specific members we know we can trust. The point and full lore option also has the most risk despite teaching moth. Eclipse seems to be Celestia's "cult" in the same way the Bureau is ours and they have the advantage of not having to hide it in the same way we do. I also don't think the Bureau is ever going to be as useful as we want it to be because it's not a pure cult. It has specific goals. Those goals are useful to us, but I doubt we'll be able to utilize them in the same way we do our own followers or a more pure cult.

 

[Alan975]

[X] Plan: Maximum Rewards

 

[Greymere]

As a counter point I don't know that the Bureau is ever going to be fully leak free. We're not teaching everyone lores, it seems more like we're focused on specific members we know we can trust. The point and full lore option also has the most risk despite teaching moth. Eclipse seems to be Celestia's "cult" in the same way the Bureau is ours and they have the advantage of not having to hide it in the same way we do. I also don't think the Bureau is ever going to be as useful as we want it to be because it's not a pure cult. It has specific goals. Those goals are useful to us, but I doubt we'll be able to utilize them in the same way we do our own followers or a more pure cult.

Click to shrink...

...yes, because the Bureau, currently, is just starting out as a Lore institution. How much of the Bureau is "in the know" is directly proportional to how far along we are in Lore development. And quite frankly, the Bureau could do nothing but give us a cadre bonus and a place to do three circle rituals so we can actually summon lesser spirits and I'd still consider it worth it, considering how allergic people seem to be to taking any meaningful action to acquire a three-circle ritual site.

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

I personally don't think maximal chance of suspicion/0% chance of loot/2 Bureau Lores is worth more than minimal chance of suspicion/?% chance of loot/1 Bureau Lore.

Mostly because Name Befriendings and some of our Sacraments happen to be rather expensive (looking at you, Long Expeditions and Nuclear Enrichment Program).

 

[DelightedOne]

Should we take a Commissioner action to talk with Midday Dew again?

If a solo velvet plan wins it won't really reduce the amount of turns we need to turn the Bureau into a proper cult so we could check if something leaked to Eclipse, unless we get a roll or warning to see what happens first.

 

[Solace2117]

...yes, because the Bureau, currently, is just starting out as a Lore institution. How much of the Bureau is "in the know" is directly proportional to how far along we are in Lore development. And quite frankly, the Bureau could do nothing but give us a cadre bonus and a place to do three circle rituals so we can actually summon lesser spirits and I'd still consider it worth it, considering how allergic people seem to be to taking any meaningful action to acquire a three-circle ritual site.

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And that's fair as far as Bureau use goes, but teaching them Moth by taking point does nothing to reduce the risk in the immediate scene. No matter what troop option we pick, it teaches a lore if Velvet goes full lore. It's just a matter of if the extra lore is worth the risk. Also Eclipse is a government organization as well. Unless we can deal with Celestia, there's probably always going to be some risk. Sure Selene is going to approach us about it soon, but considering how long it took to heal Luna, I doubt it'll be a quick fix.

I don't really find the middle ground options appealing. They reduce risk, but offer little gain in return. Going point and full lore, could be an awesome scene, but greatly increases opsec risk for an extra Bureau lore. I don't know if that risk is worth it.
Going solo and full lores, gives one lore, reduces risk, though it's still there and takes a chance on some possible benefits. No guarantee, but even some extra bits could be helpful. It does increase the risk of injury, but the scene could be just as awesome.
Going point, least lores is the safest option while still guaranteeing some benefit.

 

[DelightedOne]

Sure Selene is going to approach us about it soon, but considering how long it took to heal Luna, I doubt it'll be a quick fix.

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To be fair, Luna was damaged by a thousand years of nonstop-out-of-the-World torture + offensive trauma ritual by Moth 7 Name.

Celestia snapped after seeing her beloved city be overrun with monster after realizing she lost her sister again + 1000 of repressed frustration and rage.

Celestia is also awake and aware of the issue while Luna was asleep and diminished within Selene.

 

[Solace2117]

To be fair, Luna was damaged by a thousand years of nonstop-out-of-the-World torture + offensive trauma ritual by Moth 7 Name.

Celestia snapped after seeing her beloved city be overrun with monster after realizing she lost her sister again + 1000 of repressed frustration and rage.

Celestia is also awake and aware of the issue while Luna was asleep and diminished within Selene.

Click to shrink...

Counter point though she rolled one break point away from Daybreaker taking control. We've seen from Luna's dream exploration how much effort Celestia is putting into containing her. If it ends up being super easy to fix her awesome. Considering the doom clock, what we've seen of her mental state, and just to fact nothing good has come easy so far, I wouldn't count on it.

 

[Earth-Destroyer]

[X] Plan: Maximum Lore Bequeathing

I would like to see at least one turn with a proper cult before the final turn.