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Shame about the mad-max scenario not working out, but that's what happens sometimes. For the upcoming vote, I really want to C what the Taurians are up to.
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Nov 18, 2016 01:40
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B. We've been passing this up too long, but tough vote as usual.
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Nov 18, 2016 02:08
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The actions of that star captain and the BA write-ups has me going for B. How are they in the fluff? I only recall reading the ones from the clan invasion novels (which tend to really screw with IS forces).
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Nov 18, 2016 02:29
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Most of the other Clan Battle Armors don't appear in any of the fiction, with the exception of the Gnome which appeared in one book revolving around the Hell's Horses and Ghost Bears hating each other.
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Nov 18, 2016 02:38
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I'm voting A in support of the Demon Hawks doing well off-screen. I really want to see the players get to actually play with battle armor on their side, though.
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Nov 18, 2016 02:45
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I completely understand the people who are voting for something because they think the one they want will win and it will be safe to vote for off-screen improvement, but it seems to throw off the voting. Maybe for future votes (or ones where PTN specifies interest will be counted towards off-screen success) we can just vote for what we want to play, and then vote separately for which of the remaining ones , if any, we would most like to see succeed off screen. It gets kind of meta-gamey otherwise, especially with so few votes. If we've already got people voting for two different things (on-screen play and off-screen support), we might as well just have to separate ballots. Then everybody gets to vote for both instead of early voters getting denied the off-screen vote and late voters feeling like they can ONLY vote for the off-screen vote if the one they wanted to see win is way behind.
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Nov 18, 2016 02:56
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If it comes to it and I don't already have a planned 'default' outcome, I weigh the roll of the dice more an option's position in the vote. While many choices default to some sort of failure, not all of them do. Most of the time I favor the defender, unless the defender's the Free Worlds League. People can vote for whatever option they like for whatever reason they choose, a vote of "I am personally interested in this even if it doesn't win" is still useful to me. PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 03:41 on Nov 18, 2016 |
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Nov 18, 2016 03:34
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PoptartsNinja posted:If it comes to it and I don't already have a planned 'default' outcome, I weigh the roll of the dice more an option's position in the vote. Right, but now people are voting for their second favorite to boost it up because the thing they would actually vote for is far enough ahead they feel comfortable not "wasting" their vote on what they actually want. I don't fault those people for doing that, but it does artificially juggle the relative strength of the numbers. I'm fine with whatever. I was just throwing it out there as a suggestion.
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Nov 18, 2016 03:38
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Zaodai posted:it does artificially juggle the relative strength of the numbers.  At the end of the day, the only thing that matters is what wins. If their real first choice doesn't make it because they voted for something else instead they may regret it but I'm not going to be overly concerned.
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Nov 18, 2016 03:49
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If I really wanted one scenario to be played out above all the others, I'd vote for that one. In this case, I like all three scenarios, and the one I like the most is currently winning by a pretty fair margin, so I'm instead using my vote to give PTN some more info on how people feel about the other scenarios. I actually don't vote very often because I'm usually content to let whatever everyone else wants to see the most win.
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Nov 18, 2016 03:53
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I'm gonna vote for C regardless.
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Nov 18, 2016 04:04
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Zaodai makes a fair point, and I'm amenable to any change that allows us to both choose the immediate scenario and manipulate other events as they unfold. Credit to PTN's writing skills that goons are interested in multiple storylines and want to see things end up favorably for characters they've invested in.
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Nov 18, 2016 04:09
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anakha posted:Credit to PTN's writing skills that goons are interested in multiple storylines and want to see things end up favorably for characters they've invested in. This may also be my not so subtle motivation. I like everything and it's hard to choose just one.  Regardless, we're always guaranteed a fun time.
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Nov 18, 2016 04:25
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anakha posted:manipulate other events as they unfold. But that's really not what's happening, except in the visceral "I can see what people are interested in" sort of way. I usually have some sort of default in mind when a vote is presented, for example: when the mystery option didn't win the vote last time it meant the Taurian nuclear attack was only going to be partially successful while opening the door for a hard-fought and bloody ground invasion. Even if it'd come in with zero votes the Taurians weren't suddenly going to go home and decide to rethink their invasion of the DNS. Edit: Player votes can influence the outcome, but they're more likely to influence whether or not an option shows up again in the next combat theater vote if it's reasonable for it to do so. If D Company had earned 0 votes last time it wouldn't have made the cut to appear on the current vote. PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 04:36 on Nov 18, 2016 |
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Nov 18, 2016 04:27
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Can someone get me up to speed on the situation with the Goliath Scorpions and Widowmakers? this thread is so long it's /really/ hard to re-read for remembering poo poo.0
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Nov 18, 2016 04:36
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Goliath Scorpions are pretty chill, Widowmakers decidedly less so. If the NRWR are charismatic villains who are kind of fascinating to watch and kind of dubiously sympathetic, Widowmakers are assholes you want to see get knocked down a peg. Other than that, though, we haven't really been following them because we've always voted to do something else.
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Nov 18, 2016 04:43
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Gotcha, and I understand we're not quite dictating events with our non-political votes to a large degree. Every little bit that keeps things we're invested in in the limelight helps though.
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Nov 18, 2016 04:43
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Neopie posted:Can someone get me up to speed on the situation with the Goliath Scorpions and Widowmakers? this thread is so long it's /really/ hard to re-read for remembering poo poo.0 The
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Nov 18, 2016 04:48
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B Because seriously how long has PTN been dangling air dropped elementals in front of us.
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Nov 18, 2016 05:20
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everydayfalls posted:B Because seriously how long has PTN been dangling air dropped elementals in front of us. Titanfall.... imminent
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Nov 18, 2016 06:28
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sebmojo posted:Titanfall.... imminent I'm thinking more 'Klendathu Drop' starts blaring, but that's just me.
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Nov 18, 2016 06:37
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sebmojo posted:Titanfall.... imminent Now I have the horrible mental image of Elementals actually tearing the reactor out of a mech and running off with it. 
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Nov 18, 2016 06:46
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anakha posted:Zaodai makes a fair point, and I'm amenable to any change that allows us to both choose the immediate scenario and manipulate other events as they unfold. There is a voting method to make this work: instant runoff election. Instead of just picking one option to vote for, you rank all of the options by preference. In an election format, everyone's first picks are counted, and then the option that got the fewest votes is out: everyone who ranked that option first then gets their second option added to the tallies of the remaining options. You then again eliminate the option with the fewest votes, and proceed etc. until you have one winner. This method of tallying votes allows voters to pick a hopeless option as their first choice, without "wasting" their vote - because their second option will wind up counting. That removes the spoiler-risk that comes from voting for an unpopular option: you can basically say "I really want <outsider thing> to win, but of the options that are actually likely to win, my preference is B rather than A" and have that wind up counting. For a scenario like this thread, it would give a ranking of all the options that reflected the sum of every voter's preferences. People could safely vote for underdogs while still weighing in on the choice between the two front-runners. The issue with instant-runoff election is that it is more complex to administer. Specifically, counting votes is a pain in the rear end, especially if you do the runoffs manually instead of using software. I don't think PTN needs to do instant-runoff voting for a Let's Play on the subforum of a comedy website where we play space shooty robot games, though. If he did, though, the way I'd advise doing it is by setting up a Google Form that voters could go vote on, which dumps data to Google Sheets, which a motivated person who likes wasting their time on silly nonsense could then process using spreadsheet formulas and/or scripting.
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Nov 18, 2016 07:05
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I wasn't trying to suggest a bunch of extra work to bog PTN down. I was just making a recommendation in case PTN thought it was warranted. He doesn't think it is, so it's fine. We get fun missions either way.
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Nov 18, 2016 07:26
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Leperflesh posted:There is a voting method to make this work: instant runoff election. Instead of just picking one option to vote for, you rank all of the options by preference. In an election format, everyone's first picks are counted, and then the option that got the fewest votes is out: everyone who ranked that option first then gets their second option added to the tallies of the remaining options. You then again eliminate the option with the fewest votes, and proceed etc. until you have one winner. Another goon, Ralith, has coded an automated vote counter that will evaluate whatever you rank the given options as using the Schulze method to find the most preferred option. It's neat and works very well, but you have to vote in a specific format for the automated scraper to be able to get the votes. You can still run it and hand count, but that's more labor intensive. Voting is a very big topic in the Game Room CYOA threads, of which there are many.
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Nov 18, 2016 07:43
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A is my vote.
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Nov 18, 2016 07:49
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PoptartsNinja posted:But that's really not what's happening, except in the visceral "I can see what people are interested in" sort of way. Dammit! We missed out on a DNS Capital Strike?  Hope the ship makes it home, for future mayhem. Any chance we can get this mission again, later? I think everyone would just love to interfere with the Capellan plant, win or lose.
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Nov 18, 2016 13:25
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Do the Goliath Scorpions in this time line still dose themselves on neurotoxin?
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Nov 18, 2016 18:02
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PoptartsNinja posted:Most of the time I favor the defender, unless the defender's the Free Worlds League. 
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Nov 18, 2016 18:31
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I mean, he's not wrong
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Nov 18, 2016 18:54
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Xarbala posted:I mean, he's not wrong No, you shut up! (The Free Worlds League will rise up and save us all you wait and see)
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Nov 18, 2016 19:00
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I really wanted to do C, but there seems to be no chance of that so B
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Nov 18, 2016 19:31
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No matter what happens, the FWL will stand strong.  Voting for C.
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Nov 18, 2016 22:16
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Technowolf posted:Do the Goliath Scorpions in this time line still dose themselves on neurotoxin? I don't believe so
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Nov 18, 2016 22:33
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Finished a few more of Warhansa's bootleg PGI redesigns. Mostly Clan `Mechs this time, but I'll start with everyone's favorite:  The Warhammer is a very good model. I wish the SRM rack on the shoulder were vertical rather than horizontal (if it were vertical it'd make the `Mech look a little less chufty), but the SRM rack is modeled as a separate piece so it wouldn't take too much effort to do so with a little trimming. The lack of a searchlight on the left shoulder makes me a little sad, but leaving it off was probably an effort on PGI's part to avoid a lawsuit. Otherwise it's very similar to the original Warhammer. I like it more than the current Iron Winds Metals version. It looks pretty loving good with the other three members of the Second Sword of Light.  As a random aside: the spray dullcoat I applied (after letting the models dry for 2 days, giving them a topcoat of high-durability gloss and letting that dry for another two days) still managed to completely destroy the metallic paints I used (a problem I've had with dullcoat in the past). I'm not sure how it infiltrated but in some places the metallics clearly got wet again and ran, which did a number on the Stormcrow's smoke jaguar emblem and gave the Warhammer's PPCs a mottled appearance (as well as completely ruining all the detail work I'd done around the cockpits). I'm going to touch that up later but they're good enough for pictures now. So, on to the Clan `Mechs:   You never realize how fat PGI's models are until you compare them with something from Iron Winds Metals. It's no wonder the Warhawk is poo poo in Mechwarrior Online, their model is fat cow. It is bigger than the Iron Wind Metals model by a little bit, but I'm not sure the chuftiness is worth the lack of details and the conjoined, lopsided PPCs. Definitely give this one a pass.  The Stormcrow is a different story. It's more detailed than the Iron Wind Metals version and for once it's not fatter. It's identifiable and apart from a few minor irritations (I hate how tiny PGI's autocannons are, and the square lasers are weird) I'd actually recommend the Stormcrow. It comes with four spare arms so you can put it in multiple configurations (I went with the prime here). PGI's version looks more like a toilet than the original's "a headless chicken" appearance, but I don't hate it.  Pass on the Hellbringer. As far as I'm concerned, the Iron Wind Metals Hellbringer is one of the best models they've ever sculpted. Compared to it, the PGI version manages to look both fat and stunted at the same time, like it didn't get enough nutrition as a Mist Lynx and overeats now that it's grown up.  The Ebon Jaguar is the best of the lot. It comes with extra arms like the Stormcrow, but since it doesn't sport any weird square lasers it comes across looking very nice. Unfortunately it didn't come with a shoulder SRM-4 rack for the prime configuration, and two of the arms included feature PGI's skinny and ugly Ultra AC/5s which just look bad, but I still like it a lot. My only wish is that the hips were positioned just a bit closer to the rear of the `Mech, PGI's Ebon Jaguar always looks a bit back-heavy. This may surprise some people to learn, but the fact that it has hips is actually not unusual. The Cauldron Born had hips during its first appearance in Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries (back then it was an "oh poo poo, what's that?!" moment for a lot of people, because it didn't turn up in a TRO until much later. As 'bad' as it is, the Cauldron Born's original art is still a personal favorite of mine. It's just so weird and alien it's fantastic, and I think the PGI model did a good job capturing the same feel. So, here they are together, one star of Clan Smoke Jaguar's Alpha Galaxy. 
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Nov 18, 2016 22:42
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Voting B! I Like A but I want to see this!
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Nov 18, 2016 22:49
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C, because I love the idea of a carefully crafted plan involving puppet governments and false flags falling apart because the side that was supposed to be fall-guys and patsies actually pull off their improbable mission. It's got a sort of The Mouse That Roared vibe to it. Edit: A question about how Battletech as a franchise handles its changing aesthetic over time - I'm assuming when they do stuff like redesign what a mech looks like, that's just for the sake of the new edition and we're to quietly assume a Warhammer always looked like that and not the old way, right? Rather than being an explicit in-universe "new model" of mech that is replacing the old model (especially since people jump around the timeline a lot). I guess if ever pressed there could be some hand-waving about there existing lots of variant appearances for the more common mechs. It's kind of neat how redesigns manage to capture the 'aesthetic' of some of the more famous mechs of the series. You can't mistake an Atlas for anything else no matter how many times it's been redesigned for different video games and books. Dolash fucked around with this message at 23:15 on Nov 18, 2016 |
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Nov 18, 2016 23:11
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Going to have to vote B - although both it and C sound hilarious, B sounds slightly moreso. Also, airdropped Elementals. 
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Nov 19, 2016 00:00
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PoptartsNinja posted:As a random aside: the spray dullcoat I applied (after letting the models dry for 2 days, giving them a topcoat of high-durability gloss and letting that dry for another two days) still managed to completely destroy the metallic paints I used (a problem I've had with dullcoat in the past). I'm not sure how it infiltrated but in some places the metallics clearly got wet again and ran, which did a number on the Stormcrow's smoke jaguar emblem and gave the Warhammer's PPCs a mottled appearance (as well as completely ruining all the detail work I'd done around the cockpits). I'm going to touch that up later but they're good enough for pictures now. What kind of paint are you using? Enamels, maybe? I've heard of bad matte sprays (Games Workshops' is notoriously bad when sprayed in humid conditions), but never heard of one that actually softens or melts the underlying paint. Goons in the painting thread generally rant about Testor's Dullcote, but I don't think that comes in a spray can (I have some for airbrushing or brush-on).
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Nov 19, 2016 01:00
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PoptartsNinja posted:The Cauldron Born had hips during its first appearance in Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries (back then it was an "oh poo poo, what's that?!" moment for a lot of people, because it didn't turn up in a TRO until much later. As 'bad' as it is, the Cauldron Born's original art is still a personal favorite of mine. It's just so weird and alien it's fantastic, and I think the PGI model did a good job capturing the same feel. It's no surprise it looks alien - that's a Cybrid HERC!
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Nov 19, 2016 01:04
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