Long Game 85/Anonymous Game 12: Do Kandra Dream of Electric Sparrows?

[Amber Vulture]

24 minutes ago, Coral Swan said:

I was going to just ignore this, but the reasoning is so flawed that I'm going to respond. For starters, you are only suspicious of a single player that voted Scorp; Penguin. I'm not sure how a train with a single elim on it could take off fast enough for the elims to be worried about said train revealing themselves. But, suppose we are in that unlikely world. Then why in the Lord Ruler's name would the elims start a countertrain on a teammate (you have Falcon as suspicious)? Also, there are likely 2-3 elims. So that means that if you are right, the elims have seriously overcommitted themselves this cycle (not that a recent AN didn't have this situation).

So basically this looks like reaching. Not going to change my vote but might want to vote out Vulture next cycle. My hesitance is because in a different game/different cycle, this could be a valid village train of thought. But I don't think it makes sense in C1 of a game with at most 3 elims (hopefully this statement isn't too contentious).

Why do you assume I'm only suspicious of one Scorp voter? I didn't include Alb or Beagle in my elim reads but that does not equate to them being in my village reads - like I said, I am suspicious of the way the Scorp train gained traction. In my reads list I included the people I had reads on off tone and gut right off the top of my head (editing parts into a previous post is more stressful than it needs to be - I had to make sure I said my piece before anybody else posted). Honestly if you asked me at that stage who the other Scorp voters were I'd have told you I have no idea. You also assume that I'm reading you and Falcon as e/e which I never implied. Suppose I have 5 people down as 'mild elim'; does that mean I believe there are five elims? No. Because all five of those people are not e/e. Putting down more than one person in my elim bucket does not equate to all of them being teammates with each other. If you flip elim, Falcon is likely village.

You should consider changing your vote, actually. I believe we're at a tie right now and ties are resolved by no-death. And everybody wants death, no? 

[Emerald Falcon]

I think distro is even harder to determine in this game, as it could be a smaller team with with more jumps available (the number isn't revealed to us right?) or a larger team with less or no jumps. I'm guessing no more than four, and probably no less than two. 

[Chartreuse Penguin]

1 minute ago, Indigo Weasel said:

Did kel decide the distribution or did the game designer pick it? 

The answer is yes, if you get my meaning  

2 minutes ago, Emerald Falcon said:

I think distro is even harder to determine in this game, as it could be a smaller team with with more jumps available (the number isn't revealed to us right?) or a larger team with less or no jumps. I'm guessing no more than four, and probably no less than two. 

Four is 36%, which seems high, and I think the bodyhopping mechanic would equate to a lower percentage before a higher one.

[Kasimir he/him]

18 minutes ago, Chartreuse Penguin said:

The answer is yes, if you get my meaning  

the answer to an or question is always yes 

is this a good time to admit orlok picked the distro actually

i thought it'd be a nice switch from asking wyrm since u all used to wyrm by now

ok no as much as it would be nice to watch all of u panic & troll

kas bro tells me i can't do that

edited to add: i have corrected/updated the rule clarifications and everything i have been asked should be in there as well. do check the rule clarifications for each cycle.

Edited April 26, 2022 by <kel>

[Coral Swan]

31 minutes ago, Amber Vulture said:

Why do you assume I'm only suspicious of one Scorp voter? I didn't include Alb or Beagle in my elim reads but that does not equate to them being in my village reads - like I said, I am suspicious of the way the Scorp train gained traction. In my reads list I included the people I had reads on off tone and gut right off the top of my head (editing parts into a previous post is more stressful than it needs to be - I had to make sure I said my piece before anybody else posted). Honestly if you asked me at that stage who the other Scorp voters were I'd have told you I have no idea. You also assume that I'm reading you and Falcon as e/e which I never implied. Suppose I have 5 people down as 'mild elim'; does that mean I believe there are five elims? No. Because all five of those people are not e/e. Putting down more than one person in my elim bucket does not equate to all of them being teammates with each other. If you flip elim, Falcon is likely village.

You should consider changing your vote, actually. I believe we're at a tie right now and ties are resolved by no-death. And everybody wants death, no? 

For the reasoning you used to vote me to make sense, IMO, it basically requires the elim team to be me + 2 Scorp voters.

Also, Scorp was honestly acting very suspicious and hasn't done anything that I've seen to allay that suspicion. All the Scorp votes seem pretty reasonable to me.

[Azure Mouse]

"Hauer, report."
"Hauer. Personnel Code R-2-1-T-0-7-E-1-8. Project Osprey."
"Confirmed. Report, agent."
"Subjects under observation. Actions being observed. Statements, recorded."
"Statements are being analyzed?"
"Yes, sir. Segregation has begun. We'll discover the targets soon enough."
"What's the basis for segregation?"
"Instinctive Model, for now. Immediate first response to their statements are used to perform segregation. To be more precise, in an anthropological sense, similar to what one may describe as gut-feeling in a human being."
"That... might not provide accurate results, agent. That is a cause for concern."
"Instinctive Model is only used in the initial phase of the mission. As observational data volume increases, analysis will shift to the Superimposition Model - combining all data from a subject to form a clearer picture."
"Move forward with it. Anything else to note?"
"Yes, sir. Subject Falcon has created all permutations of 3-subject lines of communication with two stationary lines at my port and Falcon's. According to observation, similar lines of communication has been opened with other subjects. Order?"
"Talk if information is deemed important to be gathered. Otherwise, do not waste your time. If the subject wants to speak with you, they can open a private line of communication."
"Understood."
"Agent, affix your Segregation Report, along with your Kill Target post-call. Command, out."
"Roger that. Hauer and out."

Quote

Hauer's Segregation Report:

FF0000 - Scorpion, Albatross, Falcon, Weasel, Crocodile
00FF00 - Penguin, Swan, Vulture, Dragonfly

Instinctive Model does not allow for further segregation. Other subjects are Code 000000.

Kill Target - Crocodile

[Emerald Falcon]

Amethyst Scorpion (2): Magenta Albatross, Oxblood Beagle

Emerald Falcon (2): Coral Swan, Amethyst Scorpion

Chartreuse Penguin (1): Mauve Crocodile

Indigo Weasel (1): Charcoal Hyena

Coral Swan (1): Amber Vulture

Mauve Crocodile (2): Chartreuse Penguin, Azure Mouse

Fuchsia Ostrich (1): Emerald Falcon

Should be correct vote count. Currently, it's a tie which results in no kill which isn't what we want. Plus, if elims have vote manip, it won't actually be a tie because they'll choose a villager to kill. 

As it stands, I'd be more willing to change my vote to croc than scorp. 

[Coral Swan]

I would definitely prefer to vote out Scorp over Croc. And since Scorp is the other vote with me on Falcon, I don't feel too bad about retracting that vote.

[Amber Vulture]

Updated VC:

Amethyst Scorpion (3): Magenta Albatross, Oxblood Beagle, Coral Swan
Mauve Crocodile (2): Chartreuse Penguin, Azure Mouse
Emerald Falcon (1): Amethyst Scorpion
Chartreuse Penguin (1): Mauve Crocodile
Indigo Weasel (1): Charcoal Hyena
Coral Swan (1): Amber Vulture
Fuchsia Ostrich (1): Emerald Falcon

Going out on a limb here, but rereading Beagle's posts, I get a gut-feeling that they're putting up a show of sounding more naively inquisitive than they really are. Doesn't necessarily point towards an elim mindset but I feel like this is an older player trying something new :P. 

Edited April 26, 2022 by Amber Vulture
wrong count

[Oxblood Beagle]

2 minutes ago, Amber Vulture said:

Going out on a limb here, but rereading Beagle's posts, I get a gut-feeling that they're putting up a show of sounding more naively inquisitive than they really are. Doesn't necessarily point towards an elim mindset but I feel like this is an older player trying something new :P. 

Trying to keep the spirit of an anon game is all

 

[Amber Vulture]

4 minutes ago, Oxblood Beagle said:

Trying to keep the spirit of an anon game is all

 

Can I get you to reconsider your Scorp vote?

Same goes to @Magenta Albatross - would you consider placing your votes elsewhere? I'm down to start a new train.

edit:

For now, Mauve Crocodile To keep the pressure up

Edited April 26, 2022 by Amber Vulture

[Oxblood Beagle]

I'm happy enough to keep my vote where it is. What's your reasoning for wanting to save Scorp? And who would you like to see the train on?

 

[Kasimir he/him]

Is this a good time to remind you you have nineteen minutes to rollover?

I guess I can't nip off for a quick game before this. Would be a crying shame to miss rollover by accident... 

[Amber Vulture]

3 minutes ago, Oxblood Beagle said:

I'm happy enough to keep my vote where it is. What's your reasoning for wanting to save Scorp? And who would you like to see the train on?

 

Well like I've said before, it's mainly our PM interactions and their confusion regarding the rules seems genuine. In our PMs I asked them whether they were being intentionally confusing to mislead the elims and as a response they sent me a copy of each of their in-thread posts with detailed annotations outlining what each phrase meant. That, uh, felt village to me :P. As for who I'd like to see the train on, frankly, anybody who isn't Weasel or Scorp at this stage.

Edited April 26, 2022 by Amber Vulture

[Oxblood Beagle]

1 minute ago, Amber Vulture said:

Well like I've said before, it's mainly our PM interactions and their confusion regarding the rules seems genuine. In our PMs I asked them whether they were being intentionally confusing to mislead the elims and as a response they sent me a copy of each of their in-thread posts with detailed annotation outlining what each phrase meant. That, uh, felt village to me :P. As for who I'd like to see the train on, frankly, anybody who isn't Weasel or Scorp at this stage.

20 minutes to go, and you'd rather risk no exe than lose someone you've got village vibes from? We'd lose useful information if we didn't get an exe. Seems both risky and odd that you'd push for it this late on.

[Amber Vulture]

Just now, Oxblood Beagle said:

20 minutes to go, and you'd rather risk no exe than lose someone you've got village vibes from? We'd lose useful information if we didn't get an exe. Seems both risky and odd that you'd push for it this late on.

My votes been off Scorp for quite a long time now :P. Obviously I will not leave it to a tie, I'm not going anywhere till EoD :P.

[Chartreuse Penguin]

1 minute ago, Oxblood Beagle said:

20 minutes to go, and you'd rather risk no exe than lose someone you've got village vibes from? We'd lose useful information if we didn't get an exe. Seems both risky and odd that you'd push for it this late on.

How do you feel about Croc?

[Salmon Meerkat]

3 hours ago, Chartreuse Penguin said:

I mean, sure, but what’s gained by purposely acting suspicious? There’s no reason for a villager to want to do that that I can think of, but there’s no reason for an elim to either.

Not wanting to get converted possibly? They abandoned that tactic pretty quickly so they must not have gotten the desired results. An elim being suspicious on purpose, getting suspected, and promptly bailing could make sense but in a game that could have village scanners and shooters it's risky.

I'd rather keep Mauve alive for longer to see what else we can get out of them. At least find out why they voted for Penguin. Honestly I'm going to vote Chartreuse Penguin as well. A fully populated tier list D1 strikes me as knowing too much, even if it's claimed as tentative.

Spoiler

After putting my armor on, I feel safer. Heron Industries produces far more protective armor for its less covert soldiers, but my fiber armored jacket and leggings can deflect bullets at long range and dissipate some of the force of electric weaponry. Most importantly, it doesn’t look out of place for a mistrunner. Besides the bronze medallion to stave off fatigue and cheap imitations of technology embedded in me, most of the other equipment is electric. E-rifle, e-knife, e-patch, e-card. For all that Edrena told me my primary mission was the other mistrunners, she must be worried about me having to fight whatever version of Kandra Heron Industries has under development. My only lethal implements are a pistol loaded with aluminum bullets and the knife, which has a cutting edge if the electric field is turned off.

 I head to the hangar to arrange transportation to the Electric Sparrow. My team is already there waiting for me. Their briefings must have been less involved. I recognize most of the faces, but the only operative whose name I know is Claude, who inclines his head to me. “Ma’am”, he says. I nod back. He was the first person to address me as such when we were first assigned to the same mission six years ago, and it’s still gratifying these days. Edrena doesn’t like him but still puts him on important missions because he’s been part of Heron Industries longer than she has and there’s never been anyone better than him as a sniper or a demolitions expert. After all this time, I still know almost nothing about his personality. If I offered him the chance to join Tamara’s Tern’s, would he leap at the chance or put a bullet in my brain? It’s never been worth the risk of finding out and tonight doesn’t look like a good opportunity either.

The other operatives don’t speak to me. None of them ever do. I think they resent me, or they’re scared of Edrena, or both. I don’t want to find out what will happen if I speak to any of them except to relay orders, so we all sit in silence as our shuttle carries us to Project Replicant’s laboratory to get them situated. <What are we getting ourselves into?> Claude asks subvocally into his comm so as to not alert the others.

<Security lockdown. Code Red. Radio silence. Maintain perimeter.>

<What will you be doing?>

<Infiltration. Mistrunner team.>

<An entire squadron to guard a building and we’re only sending one of us in while they hire a bunch of expensive mercenaries?> I make a gesture he must interpret as helpless because he sighs and continues <Well, you’ve made it past the past six years so at least you must know what you’re doing.> He shakes his head, discouraging a response. I wonder how well a Replicant Kandra could fake his death as we return to silence. He would be a valuable asset if turned against Heron Industries.

After dropping the other operatives off, the shuttle heads towards the Electric Sparrow. Now that I’m outside Heron Industries territory and not in view of other passengers, I activate the duplication function one of the Terns added to my tracker. Heron Industries will still know where I am at all times, but now the Terns will as well. If I can get one of them to the Electric Sparrow I can get them in to find out about Project Replicant and either sabotage or subvert it. The shuttle takes a long time to get there because it has to pick up and drop off other travelers to maintain its disguise as a normal shuttle. By the time I arrive, Sandhya is already there and recruiting. I scan the booths, looking for somewhere I can blend with the crowd when I spot Tamara sitting in one of the booths across from two other Terns; the tech who’d been tracking me I recognize as Sal, and a heavily armed person I don’t know. I freeze in the doorway. Nononononononono. She’s not supposed to be here. Edrena issued a kill on sight order on her after she escaped an assault team eight months ago. She’s wanted enough that Sandhya or any other Heron Industries operatives in the bar would know her by name and by face. Why is she risking her life this way? Her self-preservation skills must have gotten even worse since the last time I saw her.

Sal reaches over the table and taps Tamara on the wrist. She looks up to see me, smiles, and waves me over to her booth. I flinch and step backwards, running into another mistrunner coming in through the door. When I recover my bearings, I see that she’s still waving to me. I tilt my head. I’ve told her about all my trackers and recording devices I know about, but there could be more I’m unaware of. Even though Edrena turned off my official audiovisual recording, she could have a private set that only she knows about. She could be looking through my eyes right now. Even if she’s not, this is a big memory I’m going to have to rewrite when I give my report. Sandhya is moving to address the room again and I’m too conspicuous standing by the door, so I have no choice but to walk over to the booth and sit down next to Tamara. As I get closer, I notice that her appearance shifts to become unrecognizable. Good. She took some safety precautions at least. Still, this is dangerous. I’m not supposed to be friends with any mistrunners so this remains an anomaly.

As Sandhya begins to speak, giving a brief, heavily redacted version of the mission briefing, Tamara takes my hand and taps out a message. Hologram. Disguised to cameras and eyes. It’s unlikely I have touch sensors since Edrena wouldn’t want to feel all the times I get injured on missions, so this method of communication should be safe. I keep my attention on Sandhya as I relay everything I know about Project Replicant, as well as my mission to kill any mistrunner who refuses to work for Heron Industries full-time like I do. She acknowledges this. I hesitate. The only two orders she’s ever given me are to make my own decisions, and not to protect her. She doesn’t think I should treat her any differently than any of the other mistrunners I’ve worked with over the years, many of whom I’ve killed. Those two orders frequently conflict, since it is my decision to keep her safe. Helping the Terns is my only opportunity to do something good for once, to have something productive come from me slaughtering hundreds just to keep myself alive a little longer. Nothing will stop Tamara from entering Project Replicant’s facility, but I can make sure her and her companions are able to leave.

 

Edited April 26, 2022 by Salmon Meerkat
Added RP

[Amber Vulture]

Also vote manip exists, and judging by the amount of people viewing the thread at this moment, I suspect the votes won't stay tied even if we leave it at 3-3.

[Chartreuse Penguin]

3 minutes ago, Salmon Meerkat said:

A fully populated tier list D1 strikes me as knowing too much, even if it's claimed as tentative.

Take another look at that list and tell me how many of those reads are much more than ‘uh… I feel this way :)’. None of the reads are strong, but everyone has posted and that means everyone has some amount of content to read

It’s not like I’m the first person to post a reads list D1, either.

Edited April 26, 2022 by Chartreuse Penguin

[Indigo Weasel]

Not a fan of Beagle pressuring for a kill in the general sense. 

[Oxblood Beagle]

2 minutes ago, Chartreuse Penguin said:

How do you feel about Croc?

VERY mild village. Mostly due to the tone and presentation of their posts. It seems to be a lot of effort to go to for someone who didn't have to worry about being taken over.

[Amethyst Scorpion]

1 hour ago, Melon Dingo said:

To me, group PMs are kinda scary bc there are more chances for elims to be there too. Also they're weirder bc if I'm talking to just you I feel weird abt talking to just you when there's a person I'm kinda leaving out of the conversation.

This is not a good post for the first part. 

Weasel/Melon can both die probably. 

[Chartreuse Penguin]

I think I’ll let someone else untie this xD

…Right?

Edited April 26, 2022 by Chartreuse Penguin

[Amber Vulture]

Kinda want to let the emotional allomancy decide