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So unless I am grossly misreading things, which is possible because the hell do I know about this game's UI, does the Patton Quadrant have any kind of a military left, or did they all get mulched when you kicked in the door at Ross 128 with the dregs getting mangled at Haldus? Because if so, then I am obviously in favor of a "nice system you have there, be a shame if something happened to it" annexation. And if anybody objects, well you know, these installations aren't always great, sure would be a shame if one of the administrators accidentally tripped into an airlock that after falling backwards on some conveniently sharp metal bits thirty-seven times.
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Apr 28, 2022 08:39
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I think some of the "demand for justice" bits are kind of funny. "An unknown person wants justice because an unknown person did an unknown thing to another unknown person, who went to an unknown person for justice, who kicked it up the ladder to an unknown person, who kicked it up the ladder to an unknown person, who kicked it up the ladder to your vassal, who is now pointing at your THE BUCK STOPS HERE sign and telling you to do something about it." The solution, of course, is  because money doesn't fix everything, but if you tell them it does, they will give it to you, and then you can use that money to continue building, expanding, and improving things.
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May 12, 2022 00:48
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I have a few questions about the whole thing between Archon Jane and Duchess Coligny. The first and either most or least important depending on answers I get later, does the Duchess even like women? Because if not, then even overlooking that the Archon is already married, that may present a bit of a problem. Which leads to "is it possible to just say TOO BAD, GRAB THAT BRASS RING, DIG FOR THAT GOLD and hook up anyway?" Because I could see a situation where some low-rank schmuck is like "but I'm not gay," to which they are told "no, but the prince is and he's taken a liking to you, this is our ticket to the big time so don't screw this up for us." And even assuming that Coligny is willing to go for it (either because she's genuinely interested or willing to deal because hey, powerful Archon), would factors like "Weiss had to fine her for a few things" or "there's a difference in rank" matter? I'm guessing there's other factors in play here, like even assuming the stuff I brought up were handled and Jane and Coligny were down, this seems the kind of game to model "it's a bad look for Jane to get divorced from her wife of many years (that she no longer loves but pfft they're nobles since when did that matter) to marry some other woman." I may not be able to follow the high level political maneuvering too well, but this soap-opera relationship drama? Oh yeah. This I can do.  Also I think it's funny because it's Weiss x White, ha ha.
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May 12, 2022 15:59
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It's just the nature of the genre and political realities that a lot of marriages are going to have some  and  involved, because "how is this politically advantageous" is pretty much the only consideration.
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May 29, 2022 07:11
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So what exactly is the diplomatic situation with Pruitt? Because as near as I can tell, they've just got the three or four stars (I don't know how many have colonies) compared to our hell of a lot more than three, and while it looks like there's a star just to the upper left of their logo that has links to the purple one and the red one, I don't know if that one has links to anyplace in the Gilmore Guild. So it is entirely possible that Pruitt's basically trapped in a corner, and from the talk of the Duke's attitude, he isn't too keen on us. I assume that there is not enough justification to go full  and take all their poo poo, since that'd make everybody else go "look at those warmongering jerks, we are well within our rights to kick the poo poo out of those honorless dogs (any profit we get from taking their stuff is totally a benefit really)."...also, I gotta ask, of those 26 people who have a thing for our boring nerd, how many are women?
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Jun 5, 2022 09:01
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Being a boring nerd runs in the family, and yet there's all those people who have a thing for Jane. I guess power really is an aphrodisiac.
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Jun 7, 2022 04:14
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I am in favor of System Leaders, because "getting our domestic ducks in a row" is the big reason we aren't stomping a mudhole in Pruitt. So if we convince our flunkies that we're the raddest baddest motherfuckers on the block and they should love our boring-rear end nerd of a leader instead of scheming, that will mean that instead of "convincing" people that it is in their best interest to "play ball" and "pay taxes" or they will get a "truncheon" to the "head," we can go tell the much smaller Pruitt system that they have a very lovely group of colonies and it'd be a real shame if something happened to them, and maybe they're in the market for a little protection. Of course it always comes back to pointless belligerence with me, what else did you expect? 
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Jun 29, 2022 09:12
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I did indeed have an incorrect view of how that works. You can let my vote stand or disregard it at your discretion, because I only kind of understand most of this anyway. This is focusing on all the parts of the 4X games that I'm not super great at, after all.
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Jun 29, 2022 19:03
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nweismuller posted:Close relatives are significantly less likely to fall in love with other close relatives, but it can happen. And becoming a secret lover with your own child is breaking an additional moral rule over and above the other moral rules being broken with secret love affairs. The moral rules involved, all of which have honor impacts, are 'don't have sex with somebody who you are not married to', 'don't betray your own spouse with an affair', 'don't harm somebody else's spouse by having an affair with somebody married', and 'don't lie with close kin'. Mostly all of that "all of this poo poo is marked to be Highly Unlikely but it can still happen" stuff reminds me of that screenshot from one of these types of games, I think it was a Crusader Kings but I am not sure, that basically was a letter saying "oh poo poo boss, I found out Loyal Spymaster Jimmy is plotting to whack Loyal Spymaster Jimmy, better watch out for that shifty fucker; signed Loyal Spymaster Jimmy." I don't know if that kind of thing can happen in this game, but I hope it can and it does, just to see how you spin it. 
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Jun 30, 2022 19:03
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The Pruitt Systems and Lindsey Coalition look pretty small. I suspect you could roll them like cheap cigars, but swooping in with a fleet and going "nice systems you have, I'll take 'em" is still the kind of thing that would leave everyone shocked and horrified, possibly enough that you might face severe consequences. I further suspect that slapping them across the face with a wad of cash and saying "you're my vassal now" wouldn't work, because that requires them to accept, which they probably won't. Not that any of this matters, because I take it that the current task for the military is "make sure the peasants don't do a revolt" or something, and we don't really have the manpower to spare to police new places that came under our control either through bribery or force.
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Aug 1, 2022 21:40
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nweismuller posted:As Mariko indicated, we're currently trying to sweeten up the Pruitt Systems for eventual annexation, but this is being slowed by the fact that, on a personal level, the current Pruitt duke can't stand Jane's personality (largely because he's a Rulebreaker). His son is Honorable, and may well be able to be sweetened up enough for a diplomatic annexation... once the current duke dies of old age. Given that he's 59, he's getting to the point where that may happen soon-ish. And yes, Military is having a fun time of keeping our systems from boiling over. Parts of the league are basically under control. Other parts... really aren't. I assume that there are, shall we say, methods to book an express ticket on Charon's boat that cannot be employed because too many people in House Weiss frown on that sort of thing.
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Aug 2, 2022 05:16
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As tempting as it is to go OH GIMME GIMME as a bit, I think we both know it's a really bad idea and, were I to speak up for a character that did not leave you grasping for a way to ensure my bloodstained hands can't get near the levers of power, the loving diplomat is the worst person to give me with my constant calls for boundless belligerence. On an actually serious and relevant note, holy poo poo that unrest, is this normal for this kind of game?
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Aug 4, 2022 11:07
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A happy serf is a productive serf, after all, because a happy serf is a serf who's busy working for their lord and not trying to figure out which insecure airlocks you'll be near. For taking Vanida, I think I will hold off for that perfect character, because I suspect that whatever Vanida winds up doing will require a level of tact that, as you have seen, I do not really employ here. And while I exaggerate for (hopefully) comedic effect, I really do play games of this nature for the military side of things and use diplomacy to buy time for building super doom fleets. Dropping me in this game is handing a bicycle to a fish and saying "okay buddy have fun at the Tour de France," but it sounds like you're ready to write around what I will euphemistically call "certain militaristic tendencies" of mine. I would not seriously push for "Lindsey has two systems let's just take 'em" but, y'know. I am sure someone would want to put on the table that we're rich as hell and can probably afford a lot of ships and they can't, and Vanida doesn't strike me as the type who'd do that unless the Lindsey Coalition did something to make her think "fuckers got it coming." A long winded way of saying "thank you but this is Diplomacy: The Game and I suck at that" but hey there you go. As for that nanoweave, the thing that kind of confuses me is how is there enough that you can make one protective suit or patch up an entire colony? I suppose it's "nanoweave is so rad you only need a square inch or two for patching up problem areas," but who knows. I assume the protective suit makes you harder to assassinate, but I'm especially curious what the "unique garment" does.
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Aug 18, 2022 04:15
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I think I am starting to lose the plot, so let me ask some stuff to make sure I'm properly calibrated here. 1: Who owned Tseen at the start while it was constantly being attacked? Was it Patton, that dude everybody hates? And who owns it now? 2: How come Tseen kept getting left hanging? I assume it was a "stay out of internal disputes" thing, and if your vassals want to slap the poo poo out of each other, gently caress it that's between them, no need for the big boss to get involved for every squabble. (They are your vassals, right?) 3: How much territory is Patton in charge of now? I assume that the Lamb Clan still wants his head on a pike (metaphorical or literal, take your choice), and the fighting is going to keep going and draining everyone's money because they keep blowing up their poo poo. Which is actually your poo poo that you're letting them use. While I already know that it's off the table, I get the impression that if Patton "accidentally" mixes up his toothbrush with a dagger and stabs himself in the face a few dozen times one evening, everyone will do the "oh no, anyway" thing. There might be some token investigation because, y'know, a noble died and you gotta keep up appearances, but they'll just go "yeah, crazy accident, never know what'll happen, case closed" and go about their day because while obviously nobody actually assassinated the man, that'd be terrible, there's a lot of people who aren't going to be too broken up by news of his untimely passing that they totally don't think is far too long coming.
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Oct 13, 2022 19:38
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I'm not sure what the political standing of Rotanev is going to be once the Patton Quadrant is dissolved, but I suspect that "the dude everyone hates is still in charge" means that while the immediate wars and stuff will be solved, you're going to be seeing poo poo flare up again. I already know that dealing with the dude quietly is off the table, due to "even if our house didn't disapprove, nobody has the chops to do the stabbing," but things may get bad enough for some regime change.
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Oct 15, 2022 14:59
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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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As much as I would like to be all  about the upcoming fight, and make no mistake I am 100% chortling like the warmongering little gremlin that I am, one of the major things in this game seems to be "everything is always on the verge of collapse and self-destruction because keeping unrest in check is really loving hard, you guys."Part of the war chest being built up is, I assume, making sure that the colonies you recently "acquired" do not promptly rip themselves apart with unrest or gently caress off back to someone else.
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Jan 12, 2023 00:03
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While I am sure you can guess that my thoughts on the war are "go full and roll it up," I actually do have a good reason for it, and am not doing my "belligerent warmongering dipshit" bit. We have the momentum, and as noted, that first fight we had to retreat from is because they broke all the piggy banks in order to field a massive mercenary force, and they can't do that again. Everybody walked away from that second fight bloody, but we can absorb the losses and they can't. There's no point in dragging this out, just rip the bandage off and get it over worth. I don't know how effective "make an example of some of these dipshits" would be, but I am in favor of it, because I think it will be funny.
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Feb 3, 2023 23:32
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Someone around here needs to bring the pointless belligerence.
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Mar 23, 2023 13:57
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The idea of handing out sparkly stickers to the administrators of colonies that fixed all their facilities, and it's done in a ceremony treated with great dignity and gravitas, because That's What The Ancients Did, and the fact that it was done for small children is lost to time, is absolutely precious. I have no input on much of anything else at this time, except for the obvious "sure would be a shame if that guy you allowed to keep the throne who then thanked you by immediately defecting accidentally fell into a pile of KNIFE GRENADES" thing.
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May 17, 2023 19:02
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What's the current order of succession? I know Alice is in the Big Chair for now, and Thomas was next in line, but after that I'm not sure. I figure the next three or four in line for the throne should be fine, since it would take things going pretty wrong for poo poo to have to go that far down the line before people getting married and having children shuffles the org chart anyway. There's probably protocols in place for a King Ralph situation, but that's the kind of thing that would require, shall we say, outside engineering. (And by "outside engineering" I mean a whole lot of murderin'.)
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Jun 6, 2023 19:54
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 I'm not expecting a full on "well we tried begging and bribing, time for beatings  " or anything, but I suspect the galaxy's about to get a mite uncomfortable for some folks.
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Sep 5, 2023 20:07
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| # ¿ May 15, 2024 01:35 |
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Capella seems really important. We'd better make sure every star within three jumps of it is either ours or a cinder. Y'know. For safety. Buffer states. Sending a message.  Although to dial the bit back, it really does sound like we may need to take Atlas by force, so as to ensure we have an uninterrupted lane of poo poo We Own that leads to Potential New Earth. And to ramp the bit back up, in for a penny in for a pound, we got the band together and a full team, let's go dancing. And by "dancing" I mean "carve a trail of conquest across the galaxy."
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Apr 16, 2024 06:04
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