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Eliminate the Taxation Without Justification problem
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Nov 21, 2022 19:05
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Convinced to join the Justified Taxation Thresshold. And if I only had the time and creativity to take on a character I would... If only inspiration gave enough, alas.
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Nov 21, 2022 23:27
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I will continue to lurk in the background.
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Nov 22, 2022 03:09
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Justified Taxation
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Nov 22, 2022 06:00
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wedgekree posted:Convinced to join the Justified Taxation Thresshold. I started as pure RP shitposter, then bought and played the game myself. We're a land of contrasts.
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Nov 22, 2022 06:10
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Justified TaxationIlario Weiss posted:As much as I would like to support Technologists Bloodline, to leverage our technological brilliance, I cannot fault my father-in-law's arguments for Justified Taxation. Our Terraforming efforts will be our greatest bragging rights. However, it seems quite clear that we need much increased finances to support that undertaking. Furthermore, much of our league's strength has come from our great administration and our mercantile strength, even moreso than our technological superiority. And I'm not just saying that because I don't want to agree with Polly. Ilario Weiss posted:The medical aspect of Technology has been looking for a secondary supply of modern drugs and medicine, in order to secure our supply lines in the event of disruption. This maybe somewhat outside of my wheelhouse, but I have noticed that with the high levels of unrest on Haldus, combined with their prior epidemic of Rattle Lung, we may be able to score both a medical and stability coup by repairing the hospital there. The residents should be grateful that we remember their plight, and are outfitting them in a way to protect them from future outbreaks. Ilario Weiss posted:I can't even be annoyed with Polly and its incessant questions today today. No, I still will not call it "her", but I'm finally a dad! Sally is so adorable! Clearly she got her looks from her dad. General Revil posted:I'll just post this without context. Everything will become clear soon So, this is Sally Emil from Super Robot Wars Gamecube. I was part of the translation team (working on writing and inserting custom PPC code), and she's a cutie. Hence why I named Ilario's daughter Sally (formalized to Salome).
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Nov 22, 2022 06:24
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Doctor Prudence Weiss posted:I admit, my brother makes a strong case for taxation reforms, but I remain convinced that understanding all the technological marvels around us, known and forgotten, grand and minute, is the only way we can survive and thrive as a House, as a League, indeed as a species. (Technologist Bloodline)
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Nov 22, 2022 18:35
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I'm happy to run the numbers on the other bloodline perk trees, for the sake of giving our other options a fair shake. Loremasters: The Technologist Bloodline perk increases our Technology rating by 10, which would be an increase of about 4.2% over what we already have, or in laymen's terms, a drop in the bucket. Skilled Educators has the potential to pay some significant long-term dividends, but will take over a decade to truly show its value, and it's not as though house members are currently lacking for skills. Natural Doctors sounds great on paper, but the current state of our technology department means that we already never have to worry about illness, injury, or bad births. Similarly, Spreaders of Knowledge is also gilding the lily somewhat, as we're already very highly respected. Its main utility would be to recover our respect after stealing a bunch of vassals at once, which is something we can only do once our income is boosted by the administration tree. Popular Approval: Beloved by the People reduces unrest gain on Vega, but Vega is the one colony we haven't had unrest problems on, at least not in quite a number of turns. Restorers of the cosmos improves the speed at which we can repair installations somewhat, but that's also not something that's been a problem for us thus far. Master Instigators and Welcome Leaders are, I imagine, a bit too underhanded for Jane to approve of, and even if she was okay with them, deliberately increasing unrest (or relying on a colony having high unrest to begin with) in territory we seek to add to our domain is just asking for a repeat of the chaos from a few years ago. Internal Affairs: System Leaders improves our relationship with our minor houses, who have thus far been completely irrelevant, and their opinions of anything and anyone meaningless. Funeral Rites gives +10 to a single skill to Jane, and it will be automatically inherited by every future ruler. Given personal skills cap at 99, this could be a way to shore up a consistently weak skill, but Jane has plenty of years left in her and no major weaknesses left of her own, so I imagine it can wait. Stable house improves relations between Jane and the rest of the house, but we all already think the world of Jane. Home Surveillance improves our ability to spy on Vega, but again, it's kind of a moot point as Vega is not even the least bit troublesome for us. Lastly, Dedicated Officers provides the most value, by improving house members' effectiveness by 15%. Individually, the bonus isn't much, but it could add up, it's just a shame it requires us to go through so many pointless perks to get to it. Engineers: Flexible Vessels and Fast Builders streamline the management of our fleet, which barely sees use, and the Flexible Vessels perk in particular can be rendered pointless just by properly planning our fleet's composition up-front. Improved Communication increases our vassal limit by one, which is certainly handy, but it's hardly a major bonus. Ship Donations would let us give ships to our colonies, but I think we can all agree that the last thing our idiot vassals need is more tools with which to shoot each other. Now, at the end of this, we get Supercharged Fleet, which is a little like Renowned Markets in that it spawns a special facility that our other colonies can eventually spawn their own copies of, but its benefit is simply improving our military replenish rate by 50%. We engage in combat so rarely that replenish speed is hardly an issue for us, and allowing our vassals' fleets to recover quicker is, again, just going to let them blow up each other's installations more frequently, so I'm not a fan. Strength and Discipline: Disciplined House and Renowned Peacekeepers are more perks for the pile of "solving problems we don't have", though the latter's bonus to quelling unrest may be somewhat useful as we acquire more new vassals. Focused Dogfighters improves our interceptors, which does little for our largely peaceful strategies, and improves tournament effectiveness, and, as much as Thomas supports his wife's hobbies, I don't think that's really the best use of our resources. Leading Through Peace improves our vassals' opinion of Jane as long as we keep unrest low on Vega. Our vassals already love Jane, but it may be handy by the time Rebecca takes over. Martial Law adds a new tool to our toolbox, but I can't imagine a scenario in which we'd need it. So much would need to go wrong first that I shudder to think of it. Diplomats: Diplomat Bloodline adds 10 to our Diplomacy, which would represent about a 4.3% increase over our current total. Skilled Legalists would remove the action point cost of charging other rulers to dispense justice on our behalf, but that almost never happens to begin with, it's usually other rulers charging us (and frankly, I dislike giving rivals the option of extracting fines from their vassals, given how much we've benefitted from such opportunities, ourselves; seems like a bad move). Natural Charm is another perk that wouldn't show its value for a long time, as it only applies to the house's children, though it also comes with a small boost to improving relations, which isn't terrible. Reputable House improves the reputation of every house member by a small amount, which isn't too bad, but also isn't that big a bonus. Friendship Forgers is mostly a novelty, as we'll get to see all the unique bits of writing associated with it, though making pals with people we intend to bribe into becoming our vassals can also be quite useful. Fleet and Conquest: Most of the benefits in this line are for combat, and have little relevance to us, given that we rarely engage militarily, and even then, almost always defensively. The one useful perk in the entire tree is Conqueror's Legacy, which is another +1 to our vassal limit, but we have to go through a lot of perks that we'd get little benefit from to get there. Spymasters: Espionage Pairs boosts the effectiveness of running spy networks, which is not an action we take very often. Total Surveillance is actually pretty handy, as we can get detailed reports on colonies without needing to waste house members' time establishing spy networks. Clearance Levels reduces the chances of our secrets being discovered but I think that particular ship has long since sailed. Professional Assassins would probably go against Jane's personal ethos, but I, as a player, would love being able to murder annoying nobles with impunity (it's the Dwarf Fortress player in me). Elite Agents, like Total Surveillance, is another genuinely handy perk, as we'd be able to get reports without spending action points, basically giving us completely free info on any colony we want, and we'd get more spy-related random events, which are always nice. Pirates: Jane doesn't want to pursue this tree at all, but Hired Protection causes tax assistance to randomly generate bonus money. One may think I'd love this one, but the random nature of it, as well as unclear information on exactly how much we'd get, makes it a middling choice at best. History of Raiding makes it easier to spread dissent, which I already explained is not a great idea if we plan to take over a colony, and the money we randomly get from it is, again, not consistent enough for me to really consider it an asset. Scrappy Fighters is probably the best perk in this tree, as it halves the chance of house members being injured during tournaments, reducing the chances of anyone else ending up like Bella Garcia. Sneak Attacks would be useful for a much more militant house, as it gives targets less time to mount a defense. Smash and Grab, on the other hand, is terrible for us. Since our goal is to eventually absorb colonies, wrecking their infrastructure just means more work for us, putting it back together. All this being said, here is my suggested order of bloodline perks to acquire: 1. Bullrush down the rest of the Merchants and Administrators tree. 2. Acquire Technologist Bloodline and Skilled Educators. 3. Acquire Diplomats perks up through Natural Charm. 4. Grab System Leaders and then Funeral Rites. With Skilled Educators, Natural Charm, and Funeral Rites, future rulers and house members will be powered up as much as possible. 5. Finish the Diplomats tree so we can hopefully see some personalized gifts during the LP. 6. Finish off Loremasters, since Spreaders of Knowledge will let us steal vassals much more often without tanking our respect. 7. Maybe work our way to Improved Communications and Conqueror's Legacy? More vassal limit is always nice, especially given that the personalized gifts and Spreaders of Knowledge will make it so much easier to gain those additional vassals. Finishing Internal Affairs to get that 15% bonus to all of our actions is also a good option. EclecticTastes fucked around with this message at 20:18 on Nov 22, 2022 |
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Nov 22, 2022 20:16
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Jane, Ilario, and Prudence has all mentioned things for Administration's attention; might be worth hearing what Thomas thinks of those. E: There's definitely places I might differ with the analysis about the bloodline perks, but I'll leave that for 'if somebody asks me'. E again: and at least one place in the analysis where it's just flat wrong... nweismuller fucked around with this message at 02:26 on Nov 23, 2022 |
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Nov 22, 2022 23:26
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Director-Heir Thomas Weiss posted:It's honestly a little strange to think of myself as a grandfather, but one imagines that's a natural feeling. Celebrations may be expensive, but assuming our tax code gets its needed overhaul, we should be able to afford it with the added income. Additionally, let's earmark some of that added income to repair the hospital at Haldus, as Illario suggests. We'll have plenty to throw around, so while my usual priorities list stands, once our income passes the 120 threshold, consider any specific repair requests costing 60 or less approved, regardless of the installation's usual priority, as long as there's someone free in the department to oversee it. As for the hospitals aside from Haldus, let's give our vassals some time to initiate the repairs themselves. Let's say, two council meetings* from now, if they still haven't started, we can bump them to the front of the line. nweismuller posted:E: There's definitely places I might differ with the analysis about the bloodline perks, but I'll leave that for 'if somebody asks me'. I was basing my analysis off your descriptions of the perks, and my admittedly limited understanding of the game's mechanics, so I'd be interested in seeing your more informed take on the matter. *In other words, two updates of the LP.
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Nov 23, 2022 03:34
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EclecticTastes posted:I was basing my analysis off your descriptions of the perks, and my admittedly limited understanding of the game's mechanics, so I'd be interested in seeing your more informed take on the matter. Well, first off, the bit that's 'completely wrong' is how Strength Through Peace works. That improves opinion of colony rulers if unrest at their colony is low, not unrest at Vega. There's places where that would help, but plenty of places where that wouldn't. I think in general you're underselling the value improvement of opinion for House members for the House leader, as that's a major factor in work efficiency and not every house leader is going to be as massively beloved as Jane. +10 bonuses to House skills (for Technologists Bloodline and Diplomats Bloodline) are consistently valuable and help buffer against weaker rulers or council members, which will eventually be a consideration. Likewise, we have... mostly been avoiding too many revolts in our territory, but managing unrest across our holdings is more like 'being kept from the verge of meltdown' than 'well under control' overall; anything that speeds up the rate at which our peacekeepers work so they can be shuffled to new problem spots gets us more margin. With our current setup, I'll agree Restorers of the Cosmos isn't too important, but if we have a thinner Administration bench, it will allow us to get repairs done in a reasonable timeframe even if we're using relatively weak nobles as project managers for the repairs, and I think that's valuable. Skilled Legalists can also be a lifesaver in the later game, because there are times you're just bombarded with justice requests you basically just need to pass on to preserve your reputation, and not spending the action points on that is very valuable. Home Surveillance is a subtle point, but 'spying on Vega' is primarily a defensive move that interferes with enemy attempts to run spy networks here, and make it so you'll likely discover if somebody foments unrest here, runs an assassination, or the like. Running a spy network on your home colony and running personal protection on your ruler are basically the two big defensive Security moves you want in place to make it harder to get screwed over by enemy covert action. They seem useless right up until the time where they really, really aren't. (This is also why we have somebody in Security dedicated to running a local spy network. Thankfully, it hasn't looked like it's been necessary yet, but that can change without warning and you want the contingency in place.) I appreciate you want to increase taxes, but I tend to be of the opinion that stability is hard enough to maintain that the option to effectively buy loyalty across your holdings by consistently running low taxes is close to priceless. (On the other hand, discounted mercenaries makes it cheaper when you do need mercs, which will eat through your war chest very quickly and are frequently needed for decisive military action.) We're getting a full +41 to opinion for most of our vassals from long-term low taxes, or +57 for greedy vassals. This is a non-trivial contributor to the fact that our vassals do love us and aren't looking to jump ship. It also has the subtle effect that it makes our vassals happier, which makes them that little bit more productive (and the unrest gain that little bit less, which is minor and subtle but absolutely a thing). Because of this, I tend to view Justified Taxation as the least useful part of the Merchants and Administrators path, the 'one you need to get in order to get the valuable fourth upgrade and the incredibly valuable fifth upgrade'. That's part of a larger point in how I've learned to play, 'stability is priceless'. The post-Collapse colonies are tumultuous, with it being a difficult balancing act for the various states of the era to hold together and with vassals willing to break off when they get better offers. My path to victory in Star Dynasties relies on being better at maintaining a stable, loyal domain than my neighbors, and waiting for opportunity. Opportunity will turn up, sooner or later. You've seen the churn in neighboring states. It's not always exploitable, but when it is, we want to be able to take and secure gains and cement them into a rock-solid foundation. 'Being the dynasty that doesn't screw up' may not be dramatic, but it gets lasting results. This is something that Thomas, who's both Honorable and Intelligent, should honestly be able to feel in his bones. 'Upholding social stability to make lasting gains' is practically what you'd expect of somebody who has both those personality traits. Also worth noting the respect gain for the final Loremasters perk is a respect gain, which means we can effectively consistently farm respect that translates into more bloodline upgrade points. (Likewise, throwing a feast when we can afford it is a good way to change money into upgrade points via respect gain.) Working on our general prestige is absolutely a valuable thing. Assuming we don't place in the tournament for the feast, the expected respect is, I believe, 40 points of bloodline progress bought for the price of throwing the feast. Up to 24 more if our champion wins the tournament outright. nweismuller fucked around with this message at 04:09 on Nov 23, 2022 |
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Nov 23, 2022 04:07
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nweismuller posted:Also worth noting the respect gain for the final Loremasters perk is a respect gain, which means we can effectively consistently farm respect that translates into more bloodline upgrade points. (Likewise, throwing a feast when we can afford it is a good way to change money into upgrade points via respect gain.) Working on our general prestige is absolutely a valuable thing. Assuming we don't place in the tournament for the feast, the expected respect is, I believe, 40 points of bloodline progress bought for the price of throwing the feast. Up to 24 more if our champion wins the tournament outright. Ah, see, this was one thing I was missing. I still hold to my (thus far wildly successful, I should point out) strategy of "cash rules everything around me", but this definitely makes it important to grab the Loremasters capstone as our second priority, after we've got Renowned Markets (the sooner we have it, the sooner our colonies can start popping markets of their own to generate that sweet sweet snowball effect). And my understanding of Justified Taxation is that it reduces the opinion hit from taxes, which would allow us to go up to medium taxes much more safely. Like, a single turn's worth of the extra taxes will basically pay for our celebration on its own, and we can afford to repair more hospitals and other unrest-reducing buildings more quickly. The money turns into Stability, and then also other things.
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Nov 23, 2022 04:35
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EclecticTastes posted:Ah, see, this was one thing I was missing. I still hold to my (thus far wildly successful, I should point out) strategy of "cash rules everything around me", but this definitely makes it important to grab the Loremasters capstone as our second priority, after we've got Renowned Markets (the sooner we have it, the sooner our colonies can start popping markets of their own to generate that sweet sweet snowball effect). And my understanding of Justified Taxation is that it reduces the opinion hit from taxes, which would allow us to go up to medium taxes much more safely. Like, a single turn's worth of the extra taxes will basically pay for our celebration on its own, and we can afford to repair more hospitals and other unrest-reducing buildings more quickly. The money turns into Stability, and then also other things. Justified Taxation reduces opinion reductions from taxation. There's an immediate opinion reduction (that fades with time) for raising taxes, but no opinion modification associated either way with medium taxes. So the equilibrium opinion of our vassals is still 41 or so lower at medium than at low, but Justified Taxation will reduce the temporary hit for raising taxes. Where it will influence the equilibrium is at high taxes, which I tend to be of the opinion 'absolutely aren't worth it'.
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Nov 23, 2022 04:39
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The pirates one where you mess up a colony can be especially useful if you get a or can arrange for a colony next to your borders to be on the verge of collapse, a reclaimed colony is if I remember correctly considered RIGHTFULLY yours right away because you were the one to reclaim it, I used it as a sneaky way to build my territory whilst rival houses turmoiled themselves to a constant state of near collapse.
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Nov 23, 2022 05:00
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Commissioner Oriole Weiss posted:Loremasters - one and done
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Nov 23, 2022 05:19
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OK, I think I'll play through the next update now, with Justified Taxation as our (eventual) next bloodline perk. E: Update is played through. And I think I see opportunity glimmering for us... E again: That said, image processing will definitely have to wait until after Thanksgiving. Hope everybody who celebrates it has a good one! E YET AGAIN: Despite all this, I'd be interested in exploring some lore stuff, does anybody have any suggestions for what I might do for a lorepost while I'm away from home? nweismuller fucked around with this message at 13:15 on Nov 23, 2022 |
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Nov 23, 2022 08:46
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nweismuller posted:OK, I think I'll play through the next update now, with Justified Taxation as our (eventual) next bloodline perk. Did you already do lore about why everything is kingdoms again? If not, it'd be interesting why everything is feudal again, and not having a mixture of other forms of governance. Lady Jaybird fucked around with this message at 17:55 on Nov 23, 2022 |
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Nov 23, 2022 16:04
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The Collapse Following the destruction of Earth and the loss of human habitation in Sol, the colonies were cut off from regular resupply, and had to face the dire truth- as things stood, they were not self-sufficient. The period that followed- for perhaps the next twenty years- was known as the Collapse. Famines and technical breakdowns were commonplace, and networks of trade that might have mitigated the severity of the situation were disrupted by the intensity of violent competition for the resources needed for survival. In some places, older social systems endured, for a time, but the fact was that endemic violence scrambling for the means of continued survival pushed very strongly for de facto military dictatorship at a local level, with a single strongman controlling a colony, while the relative difficulty of travel between colonies limited the scope any dictator could truly control to a single colony. The few colonial holdouts to dictatorial rule were ultimately crushed by the slow rise of pocket empires, as populations plummeted and efforts to convert elements of colonial infrastructure to ensure local provision of basic necessities took place in surviving colonies- for many colonies simply crashed out during the Collapse, those still relatively intact eventually to be resettled during the time of the reign of House Khalil. Intense violence caused massive attrition of heavy military ships, but House Khalil retained a small force of cruisers that helped provide the sword to back their diplomacy as they brought one after another pocket empire to heel. Thus began the glorious reign of House Khalil, which helped establish many of the traditions that have lasted to the modern era. By the time House Khalil had risen to power, immense amounts of resources had simply been destroyed, and the deaths of the Collapse were incalculable. Large amounts of knowledge had been lost by the simple fact that so many had died, while the logistic networks that had once supported a highly sophisticated and productive interstellar economy had effectively been destroyed, replaced by local subsistence. The Dark Age that followed the fall of House Khalil, although perhaps less desperate than the Collapse, once again brought human civilisation to the brink of extinction as violence, savagery, and tyranny had free reign. By comparison, this modern era has seen a slow restoration of lost infrastructure and the development of simple trade networks within leagues, helping make the modern era relatively prosperous, even if time has effaced much of the knowledge we would need to build up beyond the position we currently hold- and the modern era has learned from the lessons of the Dark Ages, having developed the honor codes and sense of morality that keeps us from plunging to the depths our ancestors once occupied. Colonial resources, it is true, are strained by the fact that overall populations have steadily risen since the Collapse, dropping again during the Dark Ages but still not dropping to pre-Collapse levels. Modern population figures are significantly higher than designed life support limits, supported by improvised hydroponics, recycling, and a strong tradition of population controls to prevent populations from growing beyond a level that the overstrained support systems can manage. nweismuller fucked around with this message at 00:54 on Nov 25, 2022 |
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Nov 23, 2022 19:41
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That effectively answer your question?
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Nov 23, 2022 19:41
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nweismuller posted:That effectively answer your question? Yes! Thanks!
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Nov 23, 2022 19:54
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dervinosdoom posted:Yes! Thanks! And yes, the difficulty of maintaining direct control over multiple colonies is why what has arisen are feudal monarchies, with higher ranks of rulers ruling indirectly by the support of vassals- because any monarch ultimately only has the span of control to effectively hold a single colony as their powerbase.
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Nov 23, 2022 20:03
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nweismuller posted:And yes, the difficulty of maintaining direct control over multiple colonies is why what has arisen are feudal monarchies, with higher ranks of rulers ruling indirectly by the support of vassals- because any monarch ultimately only has the span of control to effectively hold a single colony as their powerbase. I can see different types of governments coming back eventually. Because people will start thinking past just surviving once the living situation is more stable. I'm thinking in the hundreds of years, barring any more collapses, of course.
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Nov 23, 2022 20:13
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Speaking of the bloodline stuff, do the NPC houses get bloodline stuff, or is that reserved for the player character? If they can take it, can we see what they have? I'm thinking that if anybody wants to get a little too deep into the Spy Tree, we might want to keep an eye on them (which is looking through the targeting site for an artillery piece).
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Nov 24, 2022 00:23
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MechaCrash posted:Speaking of the bloodline stuff, do the NPC houses get bloodline stuff, or is that reserved for the player character? If they can take it, can we see what they have? I'm thinking that if anybody wants to get a little too deep into the Spy Tree, we might want to keep an eye on them (which is looking through the targeting site for an artillery piece). As things stand, bloodlines upgrades are only for the player House. I've talked to Glen about how it would be nice for creating personality to have at least major Houses develop some list of upgrades from bloodlines paths over time, even if it's more limited than what the player House sees. But knowing that this rival is a diplomatic House inclined that way by its upgrades would make it feel different than another House that focuses on espionage or is in bed with pirates. So perhaps later updates will start allowing some NPC Houses to eventually get some upgrades of their own. He agrees it would be a nice thing for establishing story and character, which is part of the point of Star Dynasties, so I don't think it's out of the question in the future. Also, MechaCrash, have no fear, I am still keeping an eye out for the expedition character that is perfect for you. That particular expedition has yet to pop up, but I'm sure it will happen at some point. nweismuller fucked around with this message at 02:33 on Nov 24, 2022 |
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Nov 24, 2022 02:31
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dervinosdoom posted:I can see different types of governments coming back eventually. Because people will start thinking past just surviving once the living situation is more stable. I'm thinking in the hundreds of years, barring any more collapses, of course. We also have a massive crab pot problem where an evolved form of government has to withstand its neighbors long enough to create its own momentum. some of these yahoos would cut you for a song and sixpence.
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Nov 24, 2022 06:03
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Anything else people are interested to hear about? I still have several more days away from home, and don't mind making snippets for people.
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Nov 24, 2022 08:01
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We've seen what the nobles do, it what do the lower classes do for entertainment? Bread and circuses is what keeps the peasants from revolting after all.
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Nov 24, 2022 08:50
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Entertainment and Recreation Amongst the Commons Entertainment amongst the commoners in the colonies varies in tastes, from members of the officer class and wealthy freemen who mimic noble tastes and habits to such extent as they may to the lowliest serfs with access to gutter entertainments. Along this spectrum of tastes, still, various entertainments can be identified. Amongst the serfs heavy drinking and use of designer drugs of varying safety is common, helping numb them to their lot; within the bulk of the Weiss League legal practises actively encourage use of blue dust from Rotanev in the place of other, more dangerous designer drugs- which, although it does not eliminate the designer drugs of the slums, has actually succeeded in greatly reducing their use in favor of a legal and generally affordable euphoriant with minimal side-effects. The 'power bout', a sport involving personal combat between combatants in armored exoskeletons seeking to disable each others' exoskeletons, is little watched by the nobility, who view it as 'low-class', but wildly popular amongst the serfs. Far more socially-acceptable than regular viewing of the power bout by nobles is actual participation by members of the nobility with a taste for adventure; Oriole Weiss was a sometime contestant in the power bout at Vega in her younger years. The cramped conditions on the colonies tend to render sports that require open fields and large amounts of space impractical, but wrestling and fisticuffs are occasionally the recreations of some more active members of the commons. Although the private showings by players of formal theater for the nobility are beyond the means of the commons, occasional ticketed showings of plays for officers and freemen in a structure that can serve as a gathering hall basically mirror formal theater, while loose and quick adaptations of plays for street theater can be seen, at times, watched by serfs in a marketplace, as are impromptu performances by street musicians (of extremely variable quality). Each colony generally has a local media library tied into the central colonial computer system; although much pre-Collapse media is not accessible, a patchwork of a few pre-Collapse books, post-Collapse books, musical recordings, and the occasional video (mostly post-Collapse historical chronicles funded by a House for propaganda purposes) can be viewed via a personal handheld terminal tied into colonial library systems. All nobility and almost all officers and wealthier freemen have their own personal terminal, but access to personal terminals is extraordinarily spotty amongst the serfs. Vega, as well as several other more prosperous colonies, has several freemen entrepreneurs who have invested in a small collection of terminals that they allow poorer clients to rent in order to access media libraries- even some of the poorer serfs at Vega can support a reading habit (at least, if they budget their precious scrip). The bulk of post-Collapse literature suitable for entertainment (as opposed to dense- and classified- technical materials recording hard-won knowledge) is histories, philosophical texts, theological dissertations, poetry, and 'tales of adventure and romance' that are, effectively, fictional stories of fictional Houses in a colony sufficiently exotic to not be immediately familiar to the reader, but nonetheless essentially identical to the real world- the fantastical elements of the Wars of the Stars and other such traditional plays are only rarely found in written literature of the post-Collapse era. Director-General Jane Weiss has followed a policy of allowing public access to Goodman-era propaganda videos, even those whose content is considered contrary to House Weiss policy- but, in those cases, an introductory statement indicating House Weiss disagreement with the content has been edited in. Feasting, as with the nobility, is a means for celebration, although the feasts of the commoners obviously do not match even the small family feasts for House gatherings, let alone the great events held by the Houses that draw guests from across a league or beyond. Still, if commoners can muster the food and drink, and perhaps find a friend with a musical instrument or a street musician for hire, they can, occasionally, throw celebrations. These are most common to celebrate weddings, births, and for the traditional Feast of the Lord Christ held on the last day of every year (at least amongst the commoners- amongst the nobility, the celebration of the Feast of the Lord Christ traditionally spans the last six days of the year, although the celebrations of the first five days are relatively low-key), six days after the Festival of the Lord Christ (which, despite the name, is a solemn religious observance rather than a party). Donations from the Houses and from wealthier citizens of the colonies to the pastors that minister to the commons are traditionally used by these pastors to help provide food and drink for the commons on the Feast of the Lord Christ. The extent of these donations can vary, depending on the prosperity of the colony, the generosity of its rulers, and whether or not the use of arranged 'charity' to launder tribute payments by minor Houses to the ruling House of a colony has been plugged by the tax assessment practises of the ruling House of the state. Likewise, of course, attendance of religious services by the commons- if not, perhaps, strictly speaking 'entertainment'- is nonetheless a popular activity in the free time of most commoners (to greater or lesser extent depending on their piety). The fact that religious services traditionally incorporate music and provide a venue for socialisation, as well as offering spiritual comfort, is not a small factor in their attendance. Some congregations will arrange to have attendants stay after the service proper for a communal meal supplied in 'potluck' style by the attendants, which- although far from a true 'feast'- nonetheless provides a more casual environment for socialisation amongst the attendants than the service itself and helps bring the congregation together. nweismuller fucked around with this message at 19:04 on Feb 3, 2023 |
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Nov 24, 2022 10:19
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How's that for a treatment of entertainment and recreation?
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Nov 24, 2022 10:20
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I rather like! I'd be interested in seeing how religion has developed as well if that's something that might be interesting to explore.
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Nov 25, 2022 04:28
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Especially for whatever organization defines orthodoxy. Without overarching archon authority what keeps the dogma consistent over time?
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Nov 25, 2022 07:51
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wedgekree posted:I rather like! I'd be interested in seeing how religion has developed as well if that's something that might be interesting to explore. In Star Dynasties as it stands, there is no religious organisation exercising political influence, but there are generally-agreed standards of moral and honorable behavior. As such, I'm assuming a decentralised religious establishment that's dependent and subordinate on the local secular authorities, but that can potentially exercise some level of moral persuasion. Basically we're looking at local chaplains and pastors with no central organisation to match something like the Catholic Church, but with networks of correspondence and theological discussion that help maintain some level of agreement on basic moral/religious premises. (Which is why it's not difficult to make a divorce, even if it impacts your overall reputation for morality and honor.) This also means there absolutely is some level of variance in local teachings, within the fairly broad outlines established by tradition. Theological consensuses thus aren't actively enforced and can be taken with a grain of salt- there might well be a pastor or chaplain somewhat who dissents from the 'normal theological consensus'. I have posited that following the Dark Ages, in which the colonies convinced themselves of the dangers of unchecked human aggression and lack of moral restraint, there's been something of a religious renaissance in the colonies alongside the revival of strict moral codes by which the people of the colonies hope to remain better than the savagery of those times. Of course, given that politics is still a full-contact sport in the modern era, these strict moral codes still often see breach, but at least these breaches are recognised as breaches. nweismuller fucked around with this message at 08:04 on Nov 25, 2022 |
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Nov 25, 2022 08:01
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I'm back home after Thanksgiving, and am now in the process of trying to get my sleep back in order. I'll process images as soon as I can, but, for now, I'll add the two new loreposts to the index. I hope everybody had a good one! For what it's worth, both Glen and I agreed earlier on the colonies are likely to have a pretty high importance on religion, but he pointed out after the fact on my post on witchcraft that he doesn't necessarily view them as uniformly Christian. That said, my interpretation of the setting (given the lack of notable religious conflict and other mechanics or lack thereof about religious) made me incline towards assuming relatively high levels of religious consensus, and I assumed some variant of Christianity was the most likely candidate for the consensus religious system of the colonies post-Collapse. Take that as you will. nweismuller fucked around with this message at 07:28 on Nov 27, 2022 |
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Nov 27, 2022 07:23
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Just an update: I dithered for a while, but I've now finished image processing and uploading. I'll start (and maybe finish) writing tomorrow. Sorry for the delays, for lo, I am lazy and handling the images is a great annoyance. And my irregular sleep doesn't help.
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Dec 16, 2022 06:20
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Been way too sleepy and distracted in the run-up to Christmas to write a full update, despite having gotten all the images sorted. If somebody has a request for a bit of lore I can explore, that might be light-weight enough for me to do while people wait until after Christmas for me to do the actual update. Come on, give me a suggestion.  Also, I wanted to share something from Glen, since he gave me permission...Glen Pawley posted:I caught up with the update and lore posts. The update was great! Love how the league is becoming more consolidated and the strategic considerations around how to go forward are being analysed and discussed. I really liked your post in response to the breakdown of the bloodline perks and the explanation around stability, since I feel that's the heart of the strategic side of the game. But I also loved the lore post around entertainment. I experienced that sense of awe, for want of a better word, when a creator comes across someone who has so well understood their work that they know it almost as well, and are certainly capable of extending it seamlessly. Nicely done. Looking forward to the next bit. That praise of my grasp of the lore was, frankly, amazing to me, and I just wanted to share something that made me feel satisfied. nweismuller fucked around with this message at 12:29 on Dec 22, 2022 |
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Dec 22, 2022 12:26
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I'm also too sleepy to even think about lore requests, Christmas season is just incredibly busy at work. But I'm also too distracted to digest updates, so I wouldn't mind a post delay until after Christmas when I actually have time to read it.
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Dec 22, 2022 12:44
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The Festival It was the day of the Festival of the Lord Christ, and across the Vega colony, streets and passageways were quiet. All work save that immediately necessary for continued life support and emergency response was set aside, by order of the Director-General, and the vast bulk of the people were gathered in their congregations to listen to their preachers and pray in remembrance. Now and then, a solitary figure rushed through the uncanny quiet of the central marketplace, overseen by a pair of peacekeepers nearly dozing at their posts. In the quarters of House Weiss, the whole House was gathered in their private chapel, this space at the end of the year the only time in a normal year where every member of the House was in Vega. Couples sat together, minor children with their parents or with the council member set as their guardian. Harold Garcia had contrived to slip away from his father Noelle to sit next to Lucy Weiss, and the barely-teenaged boy and nearly teenaged-girl spoke in lulls in the sermon in hushed whispers. Even Polly Weiss was present, her holographic representation sitting quietly on one of the cushioned pews of the small but handsome chamber. Old Jacob Worth stood behind the pulpit, his voice now much-diminished from what had been a fine, resonant preacher's voice in his youth, clad in the black robe that marked him as the personal chaplain of House Weiss- officially an officer under the Diplomacy department, although far detached from the normal operations of the department that employed him. "Today, two thousand five hundred twenty and five years ago, the Lord God, the great King of Kings, sent His Son, the Lord Christ, to Earth, that man might be redeemed of the sins that would otherwise cut us off from that great King's presence. As was written by Luke..." In the front of the chapel, Director-General Jane Weiss squeezed her wife Mariko's hand and smiled. Surrounded by family and supported by faith, she knew that, at least for the moment, all was well. nweismuller fucked around with this message at 20:05 on Dec 30, 2022 |
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Dec 24, 2022 21:02
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Let me wish a happy holiday season to everybody, howsoever you celebrate it. I hope everybody has a chance to enjoy time with their friends and family!
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Dec 24, 2022 21:24
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Just a heads up, I've had catsitting with little advance warning sprung on me, which will further delay the update. My fuzzy Mrrshan overlords must be appeased. I hope people enjoyed the little piece of seasonal fiction, and I'll try to get on writing once I get back from obeying the adorable whims of my Mrrshan overlords.
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Dec 27, 2022 22:12
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| # ? May 31, 2024 11:39 |
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Mrshanns shall not be denied the shiny red dots of the Orion Cluster!
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Dec 30, 2022 02:10
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