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

[Amethyst Scorpion]

50 minutes ago, Chartreuse Penguin said:

I mean, looking at the post in question I'm not really wrong  (Post in question)

Similarities found:

  Reveal hidden contents

• Swan read is identical
• Meerkat read became first Croc read
• Iguana read, slightly modified, became Dingo read
• Dingo read became Mouse read
• Cham read became Vulture read
• Second Croc read is identical (the one meant to be me)
• Penguin read became Falcon read
• Gorilla read became Ostrich read
• Ostrich read, slightly modified, became Alb read
• Octo read, slightly modified, became Hyena read

Now, I don't think that makes your reads any less legitimate, even if they might be less useful than they would be in your own words (unless they are in your own words ) and I don't want to imply that. I also don't think you're necessarily elim for this either. If you're elim for anything, it's for implying that my assumption was wrong when it clearly wasn't  I also did a quick scan of your posts and I can't find where you clarified your approach, so could you kindly do that again?

Quote

It's in the interest of everyone to beat those loot piñatas, and see what falls out.

 

[Salmon Meerkat]

10 hours ago, Chartreuse Penguin said:

Idk what you want me to say when your argument is ‘elims give reads lists D1’ and you cite two recent examples of elims doing just that. It looks like that form of effort is elim meta, which is disappointing, but like if you want to kill me because I told y’all my thoughts on everybody then go ahead :P.

I do see Experience doing something similar with buckets in LG 84 so it's not elim-exclusive. And now Scorpion is doing more copying of AG 8 elims with different reads while omitting me for some reason.

4 hours ago, Indigo Weasel said:

Meerkat, why did you think wanting to hear Crocodile’s reasons for voting Penguin was a good enough reason not to vote for them? You suspected them, yet seemed hopeful you would mindmeld on a Penguin read.

I didn't suspect Crocodile. I thought that by leaving her alive we'd be able to get more alignment information and that Penguin was a better choice than her or Scorpion.

Spoiler

We’re arranged in teams of four. Tamara, Sal, and the third Tern I’ve learned is named Underscore, recruit me onto their team quicker than I can protest. Why do they want me with them? Whatever their plan is, surely it can only be hindered by having the eyes and ears of Heron Industries upon them. At least Tamara didn’t trust me with the details of what they were trying to do, even if that makes it harder for me to keep her safe. I can’t talk to her either since I can’t get close enough to touch her. We have other codes, but none of them are discreet enough to be sure they’ll be undetected around this many people, and constantly looking for a code could betray my interest.

We pass the dead SynthKandra on our way through the blast door. So that’s what they look like when they’re dead. I resist the urge to touch my throat, my eyes, the back of my skull. If I was translucent everyone would see the metal inside of me too. Great gifts, once upon a time. They still are, I remind myself. I wouldn’t want to lose them, even if… I wonder why this Kandra tried to run. Surely they knew there was nothing out there for them. Perhaps nothing was what they sought to find, and if so they were successful. It’s a partial failure on my part though. Heron Industries will not be pleased to have lost such a valuable specimen, and a dead SynthKandra can’t help Tamara either.

The other mistrunners are afraid that the SynthKandra might have killed and eaten members of our party. Some of them were close to tearing each other apart to see if anyone else’s skin will turn translucent when they die. I join in but hesitate when the opportunity comes to actually kill anyone. Why? Don’t all of them have to die anyway? That’s how I’ve been ordered, and surely all these mistrunners who took Heron Industries coin deserve to die. The Terns would never want someone who willfully collaborated with the enemy, and for the rest of them, Edrena’s orders are clear. Typically on kill or recruit missions she’s amenable to a high kill rate. Though this time may be different since these mistrunners have already shown willingness to work for Heron Industries. I can’t be the one to kill Kesed and Whyren since they already work for Heron Industries. Unless that’s why she turned off my official recording devices? If Whyren died in a crisis starting under his watch, and the problem was then solved by one of Edrena’s operatives, she might be placed in charge of Project Replicant. If she never gave the order, she can honestly claim not to be responsible if there’s ever an investigation.

I notice I’ve been standing still for too long when I stop hearing the sounds of footsteps, and hurry to catch up. I decide I didn’t kill anyone because one of my mission objectives was not to terminate SynthKandra, no prototypes, unless necessary to prevent them from escaping. Yes, that’s correct. I compose the memory in my copperminds. I think of the SynthKandra who died within an arm’s length of the door. Do the others possess similar goals? Tamara may be counting on that, but if so she’ll be disappointed. If the Project Replicant researchers took any reasonable security precautions, no SynthKandra will ever be free of Heron Industries.

 

[Amber Vulture]

13 hours ago, Mauve Crocodile said:

I gud with vote manips making this decision between this person who i gots a null read on and this person i trus

What was I supposed to do? Unvoting would’ve condemned ‘this person I trust’  to the exe, and people were not on board with starting a new train. I did briefly consider voting Penguin, but had I done so, Penguin surely would’ve moved their vote from you to Scorp in the name of self defense. So Scorp dies either way. 

13 hours ago, Mauve Crocodile said:

just a few hours before they were like "my stab on croc was impulsive to see the reaxtion and i didnt get anything so imma let that sit" and they'd mentioned a few players that did not include croc on their elims read and croc had NOT posted since that elims read, all of a suddens, vulture stabs croc (me) saying they're trying to keep the pressure up.

Yes, ‘pressure’ on elims. By keeping the votes tied I expected the elims to intervene if either of the people on the chopping block were elims. Need to go back and analyze what exactly happened there and what that could imply, but the pressure was to force  the elims to vote one way or another instead of sitting on the sidelines.

13 hours ago, Mauve Crocodile said:

and then u be like "y u not say stuff before EoD when u be on????" maybe because like, almost 3 pages had been added to thread and i was at work and doing work stuff and only able to check thread during light downtime which wasn't much, so yeah was online but was also busy. like busy enough that i totes missed rollover had happened and had been composing a post for day turn and went to post and then was told "NOPE YOU CAN'T POST THIS THREAD BE CLOSED"

Can you really blame me for asking? If I see suspicious behavior of course I’m going to call people out on it. I can’t know why you didn’t post unless I ask you about it. It was an important question.

edit:

Tentative Reads List (unordered within tiers):

Village: Scorp, Weasel
Null+: Croc, Ostrich, Dingo, Meerkat, Hyena
Null: Mouse
Null-: Dragonfly, Beagle, Alb
Elim: Falcon, Swan, Penguin

Edited April 27, 2022 by Amber Vulture

[Kasimir]

And now the Night has ended. Have some soothing music while I work out the results...

 

[Kasimir]

Day Two: Body of Lies

As far as he could tell, the evidence was clear. And Kesed didn’t like it one bit.

“Traces of gas residue in the vents, Arnkell,” Solovey reported.

n3oN shook her head. “Sorry, I can’t access the systems from here. I’ve tried but it’s locked down tight. I’d need physical access through one of the security consoles, and Solovey hasn’t been able to find me one at this point of the facility.” She brushed hair away from her eyes. “Probably further in. Segmentation is a pain. If I had more time, I could maybe try to run the local Cognitive Matrix here, see if I can cobble together access into the deeper parts of the overall Cognitive Matrix for this facility, but…” she shrugged. 

“Do your best with what you can,” Kesed said, at last. “I think we’ll be here some time yet.” He didn’t want to advance deeper into the facility with the teams this separated. 

The fate of Red Team,  at least, had become grimly clear. “They flooded the vents,” Kesed grunted. This was part of Red Team, crumpled on the floor, and the traces of a firefight pointed to confusion. They’d started firing on each other. 

He knelt by the bodies, examining security tags, and swallowing down the pain. They hadn’t been close, but those were all people Kesed had known, had worked with, had lunch with. Talin liked his games of chance. You never threw down with Balog in cards. And so on, each body a face with a history, someone Kesed knew once.

All of them gone now, and they’d never stood a chance.

Behind the forensic calm and the flash of grief was anger like glowing embers. The SynthKandra had infiltrated Red Team, probably somewhere deeper in the facility. He tried to understand their thought process. They were likely retreating—they’d failed to lift the security lockdown, then. Were they trying to call for help? What was deeper in the facility? Perhaps it wasn’t the gas. Perhaps they had been trying to hit the SynthKandra. What were the SynthKandra’s combat capabilities? The last he’d worked on Project Replicant, they’d only imagined spies, but Kesed thought to himself that an entity that could assume another person’s form could just as easily shape itself to be lethal. Or difficult to shoot.

Still, the use of the gas vents meant that they were up against an adversary that had access to at least part of the facility’s security systems.

“Do what it takes to gain that foothold in the local Matrix,” Kesed told n3oN. “I don’t want us dealing with nasty surprises from the building’s systems as we go further in.”

Unhappiness was written all over her features, but n3oN only nodded tersely and got to work after conferring with Solovey and some of the remaining mistrunners who specialised in hacking systems.

“You three, help me,” Kesed called out.

The mistrunners he’d singled out looked at each other, seemingly poleaxed.

“They shouldn’t lie there like this,” Kesed insisted. “Let’s at least get them elsewhere, for the recovery team later on.” He didn’t add that he’d privately hoped at least one of them carried a shock knife. 

Whyren was squatting by one of the bodies, and Kesed thought he saw Whyren pocket something, but then Whyren was standing up and walking away before Kesed had the chance to call him on it.

Did he want to confront Whyren on that right now?

No, Kesed decided. There was little enough he could do for the dead at this point, until the lockdown was lifted and Sandhya could get a recovery team into the facility without further concerns, but he’d be damned if he didn’t at least grant the remnants of Red Team what dignity he could.

Sometimes, you didn’t do things because they were the pragmatic thing to do. You did them because they were right.

 

 

It was one thing knowing how much potential Project Replicant had.

After all, he’d seen it firsthand, all those years ago. 

It was another thing, years later, watching the results of Project Replicant litter the floor of his workplace. Whyren squeezed his eyes shut. He’d like to think he was a pragmatist, and he certainly wasn’t squeamish. But the idea of the research facility turning into a charnel-house, death and gunfire leaking into the place he’d spent years of his life working and researching on various corporate projects—it threatened to turn his stomach.

He stepped away from the bodies, and tried not to think too hard about the new weight in his pocket. 

He felt no guilt at all about palming it, and no guilt at all about saying nothing.

Whyren knew all about secrets, and knew that some secrets had to be kept.

No matter the cost.

And if it came down to it?

It was always best to have an ace up your sleeve. Whyren wasn’t so dedicated to his work for Heron Industries that he’d gladly die for them. A man had to have his limits, and whatever Kesed was up to, however angry Sandhya would be at him afterwards, Whyren preferred being alive and dealing with the fallout later.

 

 

There was a loud outcry from the returning mistrunner team, and Kesed sighed quietly and strode over to see what the new problem was. 

Bones clattered onto the floor, and Kesed raised an eyebrow at them. “You want to tell me what’s going on here?” he asked the mistrunners.

“Do you want to start?” Jack Ladrian asked Vulture, and Kesed didn’t know how someone could be so eager to explain the grisly find. “Well, alright, I’ll do it. See, we think that’s Falcon. Or what’s left of Falcon. We found the bones and what was left of Falcon’s gear. He was supposed to be looking for a way to get us into the armoury, not that we needed his help in the end.”

Kesed was beginning to understand why Vulture seemed so done-in.

“And you found the bones. Just like that.”

“Yes,” Jack Ladrian said, cheerfully, as though he didn’t at all understand the implications.

“Maybe he ate them!” Crocodile said, just as cheerfully. “First finder first keeper, easy to lie, easy to say he saw it when he murdered Falcon and then murdered Jack, naughty boy Jack, shouldn’t have gone off aloneeeee…”

“Of course I didn’t!” Jack protested. “I just found them, and—”

“And we specifically told you not to go off alone,” Vulture stated, flatly. “It’s too dangerous, in a facility with unknown opposition, and now with this business with the SynthKandra.”

“Falcon wasn’t checking in. What did you want me to do? I saved us time.”

“When was Falcon replaced?” Atari wanted to know. 

A good question, Kesed thought. It was important they worked out when there had been time for a replacement to happen. He did not doubt the SynthKandra were capable of ambushing and replacing their prey discreetly, but instinct told him they were likely seizing opportunities to strike.

What did they want, though? He filed that question away to be considered later. Failure to consider the opposition’s goals and desires was always dangerous, but right here, right now, that line of thought was a distraction from the problem at hand.

“This means than the SynthKandra who replaced Falcon could have hijacked one of the returning mistrunners,” Kesed said, flatly. “Or it could be currently monitoring us, and making plans to strike when we are vulnerable. I don’t want anyone going alone from here on out. It’s too risky.”

“And if both of a pair are replaced?” Scorpion challenged him.

“Well,” said Kesed. “Then they’re at least not interfering with other pairs or replacing them. This should keep them out of trouble.”

He frowned down at the bones, and hunkered down to take a closer look. He lifted one of them to the light and called up the magnification function on the HUD. He was right, then. If you looked at them carefully, in the right light, you could see small scratches. Not knife marks. Knife cuts were cleaner than that. But Falcon had been devoured.

Tooth marks.

He hid his shiver from the others. As Blue Lead, the last thing he needed was for them to sense he was starting to have his misgivings about the operation. It was one thing to deal with a strike team from another megacorp. He’d tangled with a group from Tekiel Enterprises before; it wasn’t pretty, and it wasn’t clean, but he’d walked away from the fight with a limp that had healed after months, which was more than some of the other Heron employees could say.

This though? The idea of being devoured and replaced, with no one the wiser, by the very creation a foolish young Kesed and Whyren had proposed a long time ago…

Was it something like justice? Kesed didn’t know.

The corridors of the installation seemed to narrow, throttling him, caging him in. He took in a deep breath, and let it out. And then another. And then another. The dream remained a hazy, ill-defined threat in the confines of his head. But he had a job to do, here and now.

What a world, Kesed thought idly, if Whyren of all people had been devoured and replaced by a SynthKandra. But no, he’d had his eye on Whyren most of the time. More likely for it to be one of the mistrunners, if at all. Or Blue Team—with a pang, Kesed realised that even Blue Team was not above trust.

“What about the shock knives?” he asked, aloud.

Jack Ladrian shook his head solemnly. “Weren’t any left. Armoury had been cleaned out.” None of the others contradicted him, at least, so he wasn’t lying. Had Red Team taken the knives? But it hadn’t been found on them. No, Kesed thought: the SynthKandra had likely come by and destroyed the knives, or taken them elsewhere. Perhaps they’d known of the knives, and disposed of them.

“Whyren,” he said. “I’m not familiar with SynthKandra biology. Do you know if there’s a way we can improvise a shock knife, if we give you the right materials?”

The look Whyren shot him—bemused, condescending, interest—brought back more memories than Kesed’d wanted. 

“Possibly,” Whyren said. “At least, we won’t know if we don’t try.”

That Kesed could work with.

“What do you need?”

 

 

Emerald Falcon was killed! Falcon was a SynthKandra Field Operative!

Found pinned to a bulletin board near one of the labs:

Spoiler

The Day has begun! It will end at 0100hrs SGT (GMT+8) on the 30th April! PMs continue to remain open!

As always, please do not post until I have reserved the second post.

Edited April 29, 2022 by <kel>
write-up god

[Kasimir]

Rule Clarifications:

Spoiler

• Taken should not be piloting the kandra - while I accept I have offered guidelines rather than hard rules, I will intervene and issue a warning if I notice that the kandra is delegating too much cognitive work to the Taken. The Taken is allowed to offer strategic guidance and their own thoughts on the gamestate.
   
• Players are not allowed to continue using PMs with a dead player inside. They are required to create a new PM if they want to talk. This is because the kandra retains access to their original account, and it would be unfair to unsuspecting Village players otherwise.
   
• Players are not allowed to delete PMs. If you want to leave a PM, please just tell people you don't want to use the PM any longer and cease further engagement. This is to prevent the use of scorched earth tactics.

Player List:

Spoiler

1. @Chartreuse Penguin - Jack Ladrian
2. @Magenta Albatross
3. @Salmon Meerkat - Vel
4. @Mauve Crocodile
5. @Coral Swan - Atari
6. @Melon Dingo - AuRel
7. @Indigo Weasel
8. @Azure Mouse - Hauer
9. Emerald Falcon - SynthKandra Field Operative
10. @Charcoal Hyena
11. @Oxblood Beagle
12. @Amethyst Scorpion
13. @Fuchsia Ostrich - Cody Eight
14. @Ivory Dragonfly
15. @Amber Vulture

 

Edited April 29, 2022 by <kel>

[Oxblood Beagle]

So, I've got 2 minutes before I'm off for a while, but some food for thought from the end of the night cycle. Sorry for the awful formatting, but I copy/pasted it to Notepad while waiting for the new thread.

   6 hours ago, Amber Vulture said:

Quote

    Yes, ‘pressure’ on elims. By keeping the votes tied I expected the elims to intervene if either of the people on the chopping block were elims. Need to go back and analyze what exactly happened there and what that could imply, but the pressure was to force  the elims to vote one way or another instead of sitting on the sidelines.

 

This doesn't necessarily track. Why would the elims interfere in the vote? If one of their own was on the block, a tie saves them and keeps everyone guessing, but using a vote manipulation to condemn a villager immediately casts suspicion on the survivor. This way, we get far less information from the exe then if someone had died.

Also, I would point out that you did say during the day cycle that you weren't going to leave it as a tie. @Amber Vulture

[Amber Vulture]

5 minutes ago, Oxblood Beagle said:

 

This doesn't necessarily track. Why would the elims interfere in the vote? If one of their own was on the block, a tie saves them and keeps everyone guessing, but using a vote manipulation to condemn a villager immediately casts suspicion on the survivor. This way, we get far less information from the exe then if someone had died.

Also, I would point out that you did say during the day cycle that you weren't going to leave it as a tie. @Amber Vulture

That’s a good point - I was thinking more on the point that they would want a death rather than a no-death. So regardless of the alignment of the people on the chopping block, I expected elims to intervene. But I suppose it makes sense that they chose not to as that would have attracted unwanted attention to them. 
As for your second point, please read my last post from the previous turn. I explained why it was that I decided not to move my vote. 

Edited April 27, 2022 by Amber Vulture
Unwanted letters

[Kasimir]

Please be reminded that you are not allowed to continue using PMs if there is a dead player in them. You are required to make a new PM to talk to the player you want to. This particular point is a deviation from Tyrian rules.

[Amethyst Scorpion]

Does this mean that no one was killed? Does this mean that a kandra recruited? can elims both kill and convert?

[Amber Vulture]

Swan is probably good 

1 minute ago, Amethyst Scorpion said:

Does this mean that no one was killed? Does this mean that a kandra recruited? can elims both kill and convert?

From what I understand, they can only use the Perfect Mimicry on targets that die on the same turn that they use the action on, so there was almost certainly a conversion last night and the Real Falcon is still among us. 

[Amethyst Scorpion]

2 minutes ago, Amber Vulture said:

Swan is probably good 

From what I understand, they can only use the Perfect Mimicry on targets that die on the same turn that they use the action on, so there was almost certainly a conversion last night and the Real Falcon is still among us. 

So this is functionally a flipless game? or someone shot falcon?

[Kasimir]

1 minute ago, Amethyst Scorpion said:

So this is functionally a flipless game?

sure, if they have infinite conversions

6 minutes ago, Amber Vulture said:

From what I understand, they can only use the Perfect Mimicry on targets that die on the same turn that they use the action on, so there was almost certainly a conversion last night and the Real Falcon is still among us. 

10 minutes ago, Amethyst Scorpion said:

Does this mean that no one was killed? Does this mean that a kandra recruited? can elims both kill and convert?

i feel like im channelling kas bro's TA mode rn

'it's on the syllabus i stg'

'hwhy u no read the syllabus'

yes, they can both kill and convert and the conversion requires a successful kill on the same Night.

[Amber Vulture]

4 minutes ago, <kel> said:

sure, if they have infinite conversions

smh kas conversion game + potentially flipless game dont tell me theres arson too because that would complete the holy trinity 

Disclaimer to everyone:

I am not playing this game like I normally play SE games because RL things - while I'm trying my best to post regularly, I'll admit I have merely skimmed through 80% of all posts in the thread and have only thoroughly read the parts of people's posts that pertain to me so that I can respond to them. So if it seems like I'm being inconsistent in my arguments and being forgetful, it's because I am :P. Please forgif. I will probably be like this for the rest of the game unless the game drags on for longer than usual, in which case my schedule should calm down a bit.

[Coral Swan]

Just now, Amber Vulture said:

Swan is probably good 

While I appreciate that, someone who was good now isn't (barring really weird circumstances that I don't give any credence to). I will say that I'm reconsidering my read of you. If you were elim and your team was planning to reveal Falcon as evil, you could have had a less abrupt change of opinion about me.

My thoughts on conversion: the elims would want to convert someone that hasn't drawn much attention, that isn't very connected to Falcon, and ideally that also has a role.

However, other elims would have likely pushed against the Falcon votes at least a little bit. Posts that involve Falcon in some way:

Spoiler

 

Hyena:

Quote

  On 4/25/2022 at 3:40 PM, Emerald Falcon said:

Love being sick

Not really it sucks

Can finally think a little bit so time to reread the thread yayyy

Get well soon. Try not to die.
Sick Bro can't be evil. 

Good - 1

.Scorp:

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Have you got any reasons for why you think no one looks suspicious?

Falcon

@Emerald Falcon Please stop putting me in PMs.

Falcon:

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I still don't really understand why people think not voting D1 is a good idea. The vote is the villages strongest tool, and vote analysis is usually one of the strongest tools for finding elims. I know I haven't voted yet, but I definitely plan to by the end of the turn. 

Me:

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I'm switching from Albatross to Falcon. I think opening lots of group PMs is a way to look village without directly contributing to discussion. 

Penguin:

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  On 4/25/2022 at 9:23 PM, Coral Swan said:

I'm switching from Albatross to Falcon. I think opening lots of group PMs is a way to look village without directly contributing to discussion. 

I think it’s NAI if anything… opening PMs isn’t something that typically gets a village read so there wouldn’t be an obvious gain for e!Falcon to take up this endeavor. I don’t see why a villager would be kayana enough to do it either, which is why I think it’s NAI.

Apologies for my pop-in-with-random-comments playstyle; IRL circumstances make longer and more defined posts harder than usual (good IRL circumstances though ) but I have been reading the thread and I’ll hopefully put out a somewhat cohesive reads list later tonight.

Scorp:

Quote

  On 4/25/2022 at 9:23 PM, Coral Swan said:

I'm switching from Albatross to Falcon. I think opening lots of group PMs is a way to look village without directly contributing to discussion. 

I'm the first and the last person to always talk about how Effort Clears are bad and shouldn't be used, but in this case the effort falcon put in doesn't make sense to do for an Elim. The Reward is way too low for the time put in.

Weasel:

Quote

The potential reward is higher for a scum than for a townie who has to worry about the amount of information they could expose to a kandra if their network is fruitful. For the record, I think having ninety ongoing conversations to monitor is a good excuse to not be particularly active in any one of them, which undercuts Falcon's stated purpose for doing this. 

Beagle:

Quote

Wow! That is a LOT of Falcon spam!!!

Albatross:

Quote

I do agree with Penguin about how it's not really alignment indicative, but I do think Swan's immediate jump on them is a little opportunistic. Same with Scorpion's lampshaded effort clear, but in the other direction. 

Penguin:

Quote

Falcon- I think their PMing is NAI, and that there are valid arguments for it being villagery and for it being elimmy. I lean towards gut/tone reading them village, but that has little to do with the PMing itself, coming more from their other comments. A better exe today than some, but not the best imo.

TL;DR (ordered within tiers):

• Village: Vulture, Alb, Weasel
• Light Village/Null+: Falcon, Swan
• Null: Beagle, Meerkat, Dingo
  • Low/No Posters: Ostrich, Dragonfly, Mouse
• Null-/Light Elim: Croc, Scorp

Meerkat:

Quote

Had to do other things but I'll be around more possibly. I think page 1 Scorpion was being suspicious on purpose, especially re: quoting elims from AG 8 " Especially D1, when votes are made up and reasonings don't matter." Or maybe Scorpion is Elandera. Verdict: unlikely. Who told Scorpion that Kandrafication wasn't a body swap? Or was it a misreading of the rules?

I can't see what Falcon accomplishes by opening so many PMs. No discussion has happened in the ones I'm in.

Having a difficult to imitate style makes one less likely to be impersonated but not less likely to start as elim, unless villagers try harder to be unmimicable.

Vulture:

Quote

Restating my reads list:

Village: Scorp, Weasel
Mild Elim: Hyena, Falcon, Penguin 
Elim: Swan 

Therefore my vote goes to Swan for radiating suspicious vibes. I dislike how fast the Scorp train took off and Swan jumping onto the Falcon train just seems like an elim trying to start a counterwagon to make the Scorp train look less opportunistic. 

Falcon:

Quote

  On 4/26/2022 at 0:06 AM, Indigo Weasel said:

The potential reward is higher for a scum than for a townie who has to worry about the amount of information they could expose to a kandra if their network is fruitful. For the record, I think having ninety ongoing conversations to monitor is a good excuse to not be particularly active in any one of them, which undercuts Falcon's stated purpose for doing this. 

There are a couple that have been somewhat active. I made all the pms, and am talking in the ones where others are as well. It also helps give me some info based on which pms players respond to because I made basically every possible combination with three players. (Excluding the last ones after scorp asked not to be in any more pms). Scorps reaction to my making pms seems more villagery to me, but most of that is from things they said in pms.

  On 4/26/2022 at 1:33 AM, Salmon Meerkat said:

Had to do other things but I'll be around more possibly. I think page 1 Scorpion was being suspicious on purpose, especially re: quoting elims from AG 8 " Especially D1, when votes are made up and reasonings don't matter." Or maybe Scorpion is Elandera. Verdict: unlikely. Who told Scorpion that Kandrafication wasn't a body swap? Or was it a misreading of the rules?

I can't see what Falcon accomplishes by opening so many PMs. No discussion has happened in the ones I'm in.

Having a difficult to imitate style makes one less likely to be impersonated but not less likely to start as elim, unless villagers try harder to be unmimicable.

I've basically been talking in the ones where people have been responding. The best way to get them active is to talk in them.

I have some pms to go through, and after that I'll post my reads list and vote. 

Falcon:

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Sorry for the double post, but have a vote so can't edit it in. 

I feel like at least one elim responded to my pms. Ostrich is the only one who responded to all of them. Scorp didn't want to be in any of them (as did many players I would assume). Penguin, Meerkat, Vulture, Dingo, Albatross, Swan all responded to at least one. I might have missed one or two because there are so many. That's 8/15 players. Would be surprised if no elims are in there. 

Feel pretty good about Scorp, Weasel, Meerkat and Dingo because of reactions. 

Alb was the only player who made a 1 on 1 pm with me after I made a bunch of them, which might indicate that they don't want to risk talking in group pms because they are elim and don't want to be caught slipping somehow. 

Don't know what to think about Ostrich being the only player to respond to all the pms. Almost all of the responses were just saying hi or hello. 

Penguin, Vulture, and Swan gave good vibes when responding to pms. 

Mouse, Dragonfly haven't really posted that much (or at all) so no idea. 

Don't have current reads on Crocodile, Hyena, or Beagle. 

 

For now I'll put my vote on Ostrich

Falcon:

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Was this analysis outcome forseen as part of your strategy or a serendipitous byproduct? 

I assume this is addressed to me? If so, yes I was expecting to be able to form some reads based on making all the pms.

Dingo:

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  On 4/26/2022 at 10:18 AM, Emerald Falcon said:

Alb was the only player who made a 1 on 1 pm with me after I made a bunch of them, which might indicate that they don't want to risk talking in group pms because they are elim and don't want to be caught slipping somehow. 

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.

Falcon:

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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. 

Penguin:

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  On 4/26/2022 at 11:25 AM, 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.

Mouse:

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"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."

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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

Falcon:

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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. 

 

People that have negative comments about Falcon: Scorp, Weasel, Mouse, me
People with positive comments about Falcon: Hyena, Scorp, Penguin, Vulture (the comment from Hyena was in regards to IRL stuff so I'm mostly discounting it)
People with NAI comments about Falcon: Penguin, Albatross, Meerkat

People that Falcon made negative comments about: Albatross, Ostrich, Croc
People that Falcon made positive comments about: Scorp, Weasel, Meerkat, Dingo, Penguin, Vulture, Swan
People that Falcon made NAI comments about: Mouse, Dragonfly, Croc, Hyena, Beagle

So my best guess for a Falcon teammate is one of Scorp/Penguin/Vulture, less on Vulture because of what I said above. And maybe Meerkat is my best guess for a convert, but I don't have much confidence in that. Vote is on Scorp because I also think their D1 was suspicious independent of Falcon.

[Chartreuse Penguin]

20 minutes ago, Coral Swan said:

So my best guess for a Falcon teammate is one of Scorp/Penguin/Vulture, less on Vulture because of what I said above.

I’m not sure if we can profile this the same way, since elim behavior was likely changed by knowing that Falcon wouldn’t stay Falcon for very long. I’m not a huge fan of anticipating elim behavior but I don’t think that an elim would buddy up with Falcon in an obvious way immediately prior to their hop.

[Ivory Dragonfly]

I dunno this is less flipless than other kandra games

at least we know falcon was a kandra

now we can look for their style and stuff

other kandra games they flip with the converted players role so at least we have something more than the assumption theyre good and we're always good

[Coral Swan]

1 hour ago, Chartreuse Penguin said:

I’m not sure if we can profile this the same way, since elim behavior was likely changed by knowing that Falcon wouldn’t stay Falcon for very long. I’m not a huge fan of anticipating elim behavior but I don’t think that an elim would buddy up with Falcon in an obvious way immediately prior to their hop.

And this take isn't at all influenced by the fact that you are also on this list?

Besides, none of the "buddying up" here is super overt. I just think the natural elim response to to agree with/support your teammates, especially if all the votes are coming from a behavior that is arguably NAI.

[Chartreuse Penguin]

42 minutes ago, Coral Swan said:

And this take isn't at all influenced by the fact that you are also on this list?

Besides, none of the "buddying up" here is super overt. I just think the natural elim response to to agree with/support your teammates, especially if all the votes are coming from a behavior that is arguably NAI.

The timing of my post was, I initially was going to wait until I had time to go and reread C1 to mention it, but it’s something I’ve been thinking about since I saw Falcon’s flip. I haven’t had time to go back and reread C1 yet but I will later.

That’s fair, but only in some cases  Bussing has been a semi popular strategy as of late, but again that’s somewhat warped by Falcon hopping away.

Edited April 27, 2022 by Chartreuse Penguin

[Charcoal Hyena]

[Activating defense protocols]

I would like Amber Vulture to die.

[Coral Swan]

39 minutes ago, Charcoal Hyena said:

[Activating defense protocols]

I would like Amber Vulture to die.

Do you think Vulture's suspicion of Falcon last cycle fits with them being elim? Also, any thoughts on my notes abut Falcon's player interactions?

[Amber Vulture]

For what it's worth I think any posts that Falcon made should be deemed NAI due to the fact that they planned their flip and likely planned every move. Trying to read into them will only lead us to IKYKs. But to entertain Falcon's actions just a little bit, what do people think of the Ostrich/Falcon interactions? Ostrich was the only player to respond to each and every group PM Falcon created, and Falcon's vote also landed on Ostrich with little reasoning. 

For now I'll throw my vote on Penguin. They've been a bad gut-read for some time and while I can probably find other concrete reasons to support my suspicion, this is what mostly stands out:

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I still prefer Scorp to Falcon so I’ll switch back later if the trains remain as they are.

From this post. This was posted a little under four hours before rollover and seems like pre-emptive defence for Falcon.

 

[Coral Swan]

1 hour ago, Amber Vulture said:

For what it's worth I think any posts that Falcon made should be deemed NAI due to the fact that they planned their flip and likely planned every move.

I suppose that we should at least assume that Falcon's reads list came after the team made that call. Maybe not the earlier posts, although there isn't really much of substance in the interactions with Meerkat and Scorp.

1 hour ago, Amber Vulture said:

But to entertain Falcon's actions just a little bit, what do people think of the Ostrich/Falcon interactions?

My first thought is that it would be weird for the elims to draw a specific connection to a teammate like that so early on in the game. It's possible that the whole PM thing was just a ploy for Ostrich to get trust, combined with a vote for more distancing. But for now I'm gonna lean village there, on the principle that attention=bad for the elims.

[Chartreuse Penguin]

3 hours ago, Amber Vulture said:

From this post. This was posted a little under four hours before rollover and seems like pre-emptive defence for Falcon.

That’s cutting out the context of my vote/unvote and the rest of that post, which is not focused on Falcon. It’s also not considering my reads list in which I expressed uncertainty regarding Falcon.

My view of preferring Scorp to Falcon shifted by rollover, ironically prompted by your mention of your PM with them, but I don’t think I can prove that because idk if the progression is anywhere but in my head. Last cycle my chosen order at rollover would have been Croc -> Hyena -> Falcon -> Scorp. Those last two were very close and also included mainly because they were candidates to begin with.

1 hour ago, Coral Swan said:

But for now I'm gonna lean village there, on the principle that attention=bad for the elims.

In a similar vein, I lean village on Scorp for their interaction with Falcon about not wanting PMs.

[Salmon Meerkat]

If any Falcon posts are real it's probably missing the fact that there was vote manipulation D1 and I think publicly stating they'd rather vote Croc than Scorpion D1 is relevant since that would make it difficult to vote in defense of teammate Croc if the situation called for it.

From Falcon's PMs, notable reactions are Dingo being upset and making 1 on 1 PMs instead and Swan saying three people was too much in the only PM they responded to.

Spoiler

Another SynthKandra, but this time it’s just discarded bones. That means one of our number has been killed and replaced. It can’t be any of the Terns, I’ve been watching them the whole time. Except for the minute I spent considering whether Whyren should be killed. Surely that’s not enough time to kill someone, strip them to the bone, and consume them. But if it was, would I notice? I’m confident I could tell whether Tamara was still in her body, but I barely know Sal and never met Underscore before tonight. If one of them was replaced, Tamara and the unscathed Tern would have a better chance of telling the difference. If I was replaced, would any of them notice? Would they like the SynthKandra better than me? A being who’d been trained in impersonation could surely live my life better than I could. The thought is painful. Unexpected.

Now that it’s confirmed there are SynthKandra in our midst, the other mistrunners are increasingly suspicious of each other. The Terns do not add their accusations to the mix, and neither do Kesed and Whyren. The latter two aren’t surprising, Whyren especially must have a better way to detect SynthKandra than interrogation. A simple tracker buried in the metal implants would let him pinpoint their location. My tracker is accurate to within two meters according to Sal’s experimentation. So why isn’t he doing anything? Is he responsible for the containment breach? I should find out. I start to move towards him. I don’t know if I want to find out the truth, but I have no other choice. I don’t manage more than a few steps when I hear a voice coming from behind me, much closer than I expected.

“Hey! Woman with the shock rifle!” I jolt around in surprise to see Sal has followed my path. I blank my look of recognition and look at her confusedly. “We were assigned to groups for a reason,” she continues. “We don’t want anyone wandering off when there are rogue Kandra out there just waiting to pick us off one by one. In a group of four, we’ll have plenty of witnesses, and if any of us turn out to be imposters it’ll be three against one if they try anything.”

It startles me that he would note my absence from the group enough to come after me. My expression must concern them because they ask, “Why are you looking at me like that? Are you on of those Kandra? What’s your name?”

I shouldn’t speak to them, but if I don’t respond, they might think I’m a SynthKandra. “Vel.”

“Is that short for anything?”

“No.” Even though it is, but I’ve never told anyone else.

“Would you like it to be?” That’s the same thing they asked when we had this conversation a year ago. I tilt my head to indicate confusion, as I did then to avoid having to lie. He shrugs. “Well you were quick about it. Come back to the group. If you do turn out to be a bloodthirsty Kandra, Jade and Underscore will take care of you. My name’s Sal, by the way. That’s not short for anything either.” She holds out his hand. I stare at it blankly. “No? Well, after you,” he says, gesturing to Tamara and Underscore. I can’t think to do anything other than comply, abandoning my investigation of Whyren for the time being. As I pass by, I feel them slip something heavy into my jacket pocket. What could that be? I’ll have to investigate when I get the chance.